KCOP Shapes News to Fit Its Viewer Profile.

Are you ready for designer news?

KCOP-TV Channel 13, looking to boost the ratings of its long-sagging 10 p.m. newscast, is tailoring the nature of its coverage to match the audiences watching the prime-time shows that precede it.

On Monday nights, for instance, when the UPN affiliate programs comedy shows like "Moesha" that appeal to African Americans, the 10 p.m. newscast focuses on stories and issues that affect the African-American community -- in addition to covering the main news of the day.

On Thursday nights, when World Wrestling Federation matches are aired in prime time, the newscast includes wrestling stories and other news that's aimed at young males, the main audience for professional wrestling. "We did something on what is the most effective way to bench press," said KCOP News Director Steve Cohen.

KCOP has also done Thursday-night stories on men who want to be professional wrestlers, the financial acumen of WWF boss Vince McMahon, and the decline in the number of Marine Corps recruits. During the November sweeps, there also were several sexually themed pieces, though Cohen claims that the intent is not to be lascivious. "Sex, violence and celebrity are not part of our news at all," he said. "People don't want this in their news and if they do, they can get it in other vehicles."

What KCOP is doing might seem horrifying to journalism purists, but local stations have a long tradition of piggybacking off network entertainment programming. The most common examples are celebrity interviews or behind-the-scenes stories about a network TV series or film that viewers have just seen or are about to see.

KCOP is taking that practice a bit further by, in essence, programming the news product to fit viewer demographics. In the highly competitive world of 24-hour news channels and the Internet, local news programs are looking for ways to establish brand recognition. Designing news or targeting a specific audience could help stop the hemorrhaging as niche audiences and key demographics become more important than total viewer-ship.

"This is a basic business strategy," said Lynn Spigel, a professor at USC's School of Cinema and Television. "You wan the audience to spill over. It's just more noticeable when it is an African-American audience. Everything is becoming narrowcasting."

In fact, Spigel is pleased by the strategy to target African-American viewers because she says that community long has been ignored by the mainstream media. But she warned that targeted news could easily degenerate into a search for ad revenues at the risk of just "telling a story," which, she added, "is kind of sad."

This type of targeting is not done by other UPN affiliates, many of which do not have local newscasts or news departments. UPN does not have a national news organization, and many of its stations are multiple affiliates like UPN/WB or UPN/Fox.

For KCOP, the strategy already seems to be paying off. During the November sweeps it generated a 2.0 rating for the 10 p.m. newscast -- only No. 4 in the market, but still representing a 54 percent increase over November 1998. KCOP was the only L.A. station to show an increase in its 10 p.m. audience year over year.

Much of the gain can be attributed to an improved prime-time lineup, especially on Thursday nights with the successful addition of WWF wrestling. The station estimates that it has a low tune-out factor from UPN programming, with about 80 percent of the people who watch the network's prime-time shows sticking around to watch the 10 o'clock news.

The new strategy could be part of the reason the station has been successful in keeping its audience. In addition, it recently hired Rick Chambers from KNBC-TV Channel 4 and Lauren Sanchez from Fox Sports Net.

"We are an alternative newscast," Cohen said. "Their hiring was a very conscious change in our direction. We are not doing a mainstream broadcast like the others."

Sanchez, a former KCOP intern, replaces Tawny Little, who left KCOP after her contract expired. The move to hire a Latina reflects the effort by many English-language stations to lure more Latino viewers. "When I was younger, the only role model I had was Connie Chung, who was the only minority," Sanchez said. "Now there are a lot of us."

Media buyers generally favor KCOP's approach.

"It's a good idea, although it does put news gathering into a stunt environment," said Pam McNeely, a media buyer for Dailey & Associates. "From a programming point of view, it's smart, but it may be lacking journalistically."

She says KCOP's targeting strategy pales beside a recent move by another local station, which she declined to reveal. Station officials apparently learned where the highest concentration of viewers with Nielsen metering systems in their homes were located, and programmed their weathercasts to appeal to them.

"All of a sudden there was a lot of weather reports on Pasadena," she said.

Currently, Monday and Thursday are the only nights when KCOP's "designer" news is in evidence. Cohen said the audience target for Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays is less specific, other than viewers in their 30s.

Cohen, a former KCBS-TV Channel 2 news director and co-creator of Court TV, says the tailored concept is "news designed for people who have special socioeconomic needs that are different from the general news audience."

Cohen plans to hire several more reporters and beef up the station's investigative news unit. He also plans to stress political coverage in this presidential election year. The station has held discussions about adding an early-morning news show and even a late-night news broadcast, but nothing has gone beyond the talking stage, Cohen said.