Wallace: Local Newscasts Still Matter

NBC Local Media president John Wallace says the station group’s on-air newscasts will remain vital even as NBC Universal reengineers the station group to distribute content on a wider range of platforms, not just the evening or late news. "It’s an evolution," he says. "It’s not that their roles are less important. We’re asking them to change their roles and do more than newscasts–it’s an expansion of their duties." 

He says NBC is ultra-committed to instilling its new philosophy, crystallized in a staff meeting with WNBC earlier this week, in staffers. "It’s easy to say you’re a multiplatform entity," he says. "But you have to be committed to changing the process and walking the walk…We’ll be changing the whole work environment."

WNBC’s 24/7 news channel is slated to debut on the station’s digital tier in November.