NBC4 Boss Shoots for No. 1

Steve Carlston, the new president and general manager at NBC4 Los Angeles, once managed to get past Michael Jordan on the basketball court. He has the pictures to prove it. Now the television news veteran is working to dominate the local news market as NBCUniversal invests millions of dollars to improve the news operations at its 10 stations nationwide. His goal: to return NBC4 to its dominant position in the local news market, a spot the station enjoyed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. “It is always about the storytelling,” Carlston said. “We will tell more and better stories and provide news that is specific and helpful.” With a track record of turning around low-rated stations and hiring a diverse workforce, Carlston was drafted to lead the local station through a period of sweeping change. It’s no easy task, as the Burbank-based NBC4 continues to lag behind some of the 10 other local stations in the viewer ratings and was criticized by journalism groups last summer for having a reporting staff that failed to reflect the region’s Latino demographic. But NBCUniversal and corporate parent Comcast are giving him resources — and several high-tech gadgets — to do the job, despite a struggling economy and slumping broadcast media advertising sales. He’s charging forward. Since joining the staff in November, he has hired six new employees, launched a 30-minute noon broadcast, expanded the consumer investigative unit and has lined up new high-tech news gathering equipment, more news trucks and a $2.5 million Eurocopter A-Star helicopter. Starting today, NBC4 will sport a new logo and redesigned news set. “When I talked to people (in the industry) about who they thought was the best general manger out there, his name kept coming up,” said Valari Staab, president of NBC Owned Television stations. ‘Time to play’ Carlston Over a 30 year span, the Orange County native climbed the corporate rungs in broadcast media. He spent the past two years as the general manager and vice president at sister stations KUTV-TV in Salt Lake City and KMYU-TV in St. George, Utah. He replaced Craig Robinson, who was promoted to executive vice president and chief diversity officer of NBCUniversal. Those who have worked with Carlston describe him as someone who doesn’t shrink in the face of competition. “He is decisive and moves at a quick pace,” said Kent Crawford, the former sales director at KUTV, who moved into the general manager slot after Carlston left. “He moves quicker than the competition.” Carlston, 56, says he leads a news gathering operation just as a coach would on game day. “I tell them we are here to win,” he said. “We don’t put on a newscast without knowing that it is time to play.” The executive doesn’t sit still much. He plays basketball, surfs and rides a skateboard to relieve stress. And when it comes to NBC4, he says he has mapped out his winning strategy. One prong aims to use state-of-art technology to lure viewers to NBC4 during major news events such as elections or natural disasters. During such events, he said, the station will present the story with the InTouch 4000, an 82-inch touch display monitor that operates as a giant tablet device. With the swipe of the hand, a reporter can move between displaying live or pre-recorded video, still photos, an online map or aerial image, and even photos supplied by viewers. “We won’t overuse it,” Carlston said. “We want it to be special and used for the big moments.” Live at noon NBC4 also started a new 30-minute noon news show in September, a move that makes the station more competitive with others that broadcast mid-day newscasts, including KCAL 9 and KTTV Fox 11. The station’s last foray into a mid-day newscast was canceled in February 2010. But with cable giant Comcast as its owner, the environment has changed and the noon news broadcast represents that change, Carlston said. If the station wants to be serious about news coverage it needs the noon show, he said. “It is a stronghold we can do well with and be competitive against the other guys.” The new show is meant to appeal to people who like to get news throughout the business day and watch during the lunch hour. Lucy Noland and Michael Brownlee co-anchor the broadcast. Social Media Reporter Mekahlo Medina leads the social media conversation by inviting viewers to participate in the news coverage by connecting with NBC4 on Facebook, Twitter and NBCLA.com. In the November sweeps period, KCAL drew in 1.3 percent out of 5.6 million households in the Los Angeles market for its noon news broadcast. NBC4, by comparison, had just less than 1 percent of the market, according to one TV industry source. In the audience range coveted by advertisers, adults ages 25 years old to 54 years old, KCAL’s noon show brought in a half percent of the 7.2 million people falling in that age range. NBC4 was right behind with .4 percentage of that market. Paddling ahead Carlston has been studying the competition, looking for ways to differentiate the station’s approach to news. His office, located on the second floor of NBC’s long-time home on Alameda Avenue, has eight televisions, and he says he sometimes watches up to three hours of television a day. What he doesn’t watch live, he records. His take: KABC in Glendale is the station to be beat — the Michael Jordan to get around, so to speak. In January, NBC lagged behind in third place with its morning news show. It was No. 2 in the 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. slot, and was No. 3 behind KABC and KCBS for the 11 p.m. broadcast. “They (KABC) are hitting on all cylinders and have network support with strong lead-ins to their shows,” Carlston said. In the coming year, Carlston believes that NBC4 will have lead-ins that are just as strong. The network has the Super Bowl in February, the return of singing competition show “The Voice,” and new mid-season programs with Elle McPherson and Sherman Oaks native Katharine McPhee. The summer brings the Olympics from London. “All of this is saying there is something going on at NBC in 2012,” Carlston said. Staab declined to say how much Comcast has invested in the NBC4, but she said the company has a different view of news operations than former majority owner General Electric. It believes in its local stations, and news as a driver of audiences. General Electric was concerned with long-term viability. Carlston says the money being spent is proof that the company believes broadcast television has a bright future — a vision he shares. But he knows that becoming the local news leader will not happen overnight. News shows are like cruise liners that take time to turn around and pick up speed, he said. “If I can put it into a surfing analogy, when I see a wave coming, that is the NBC resurgence and we are just paddling. Then, when the wave comes, we are propelled along at a great rate.”