I remember the date clearly: Monday, November 2, 2015.
I had a bender of a different sorts: a sports bender. My Sunday started with the Giants being outscored 52-49 in one of the most exhausting games. Eli Manning’s 5 touchdown passes fell short of 7 from Drew Brees. After taking a few hours off to recharge, I turned the tube back on to watch game 5 of the World Series. I watched all 4 hours and 15 minutes, the inevitable end of the baseball season: a heartbreaking Mets loss.
My usual morning routine was to watch a bit of SportsCenter before work. After consuming thousands of hours of sports in my life, I had reached a limit that day. I was paralyzed navigating the TV guide. Should I try to find something else? Should I suck it up and watch sports? Should I turn the TV off (this was not really considered)? Instead, I did nothing, and the default Time Warner Cable opening channel continued to play NY1.
With inspiration drawn from that questionably edited morning news content on that sports-less Monday morning, I decided to use data to figure out the Voice of New York City in this week’s edition of 2xParked
Voice of New York City
Howard Beale would probably be really angry today. The role of the newscaster was not to have an agenda but to make you feel comfortable and welcomed in your own living room. That being said, local news is still considered a good unbiased resource for the happenings of the day. Although the nation may never have a Walter Cronkite “most trusted voice in America” again, it does not mean NYC can’t have its own trusted voice.
So who is the voice of NYC? I looked at the data of our local newscasters to decide who that ultimate one voice might be. This included looking at all the personalities from all the local channels: NY1, CBS2, NBC4, Fox5, ABC7, Pix11, News12, NY1 Noticias, WXTV, and WNJU.
That left a lot of personalities.
1st Cut - Make the List More Manageable: To get from hundreds to tens, sweeping cuts were necessary. The voice of NYC had to be a news anchor. This is not to discredit the work of the great reporters, but anchors serve as the quarterback of the team. This means that some very promising prospects will be cut, including ABC7’s Sam Champion, a weatherman of GMA fame, and NY1’s Jamie Stelter, a media personality/ traffic reporter on the flagship morning show.
2nd Cut - Incorporate Social Media: According to the Pew Research Center, about 1 in 5 Americans get their news from social media. The voice of NYC should have a strong social media presence, especially Twitter. Only those with more than 25,000 followers will move on to the next cut.
3rd Cut - Social Media Diversity: Of course, different age groups use different social platforms. That is why I wanted to make sure that our voice has multiple outlets to communicate online. There was a clear distinction between those who use and did not use IG (Erol Louis and Liz Cho), which was the next cut.
4th Cut - Build Trust: Trust takes time to build, and most of the remaining anchors have been associated with New York for quite some time. Most of New York was alive for the single most impactful day in the city: 9/11. Having the perspective of that tragic day as a NYC reporter can help build trust and empathy with the NYC audience, so I will use 2001 as the cutoff point for working in NYC.
5th Cut - Ambassador to the World: Since 2012, there have been over 67k film permits issued in NYC. That means a lot of the world is only experiencing New York through the silver screen. Using acting credits from IMDB, it is clear who stands out as a news representative of New York City in these productions. Pat Kiernan is now part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Rosanna Scotto appears every Christmas in Miracle on 34th Street.
The Finals: We have entered the final cut: Pat Kiernan of NY1, who appeared on my fateful November morning television in 2015, and Rosanna Scotto of Fox 5, a long time Emmy-award veteran of the New York morning news scene. It is fitting that both have morning talk shows (Mornings on One and Good Day New York) in this epic last battle.
I do not think it is fair for me to decide. Rather, I will let the people decide. Unfortunately this question will not be on November's ballot and I do not want to spend money on Nielsen ratings. Instead, I will interest measured by Google Search Trends.
It is not even close; Rosanna Scotto, a Brooklyn native, is the voice of NYC. Have a good day, New York.
MayorModel
The model is now updated with the newly updated campaign financing data.
Four things from this update:
Andrew Yang might be more of a favorite than the model indicates. Twitter might tell the better story. Twitter shows the other candidates throwing a little shade at some of Yang’s videos and quotes, indicating they are afraid of his candidacy. His fundraising started too late for the data release.
Wow to Ray McGuire’s fundraising: $5 million. It is basically twice the amount as the next closest candidate. As we saw with former Mayor Bloomberg’s presidential campaign: money does not buy victory, but it does put you in the conversation.
Wiley rises. Maya Wiley received enough fundraising in this checkpoint to partner with her large public interest. She has the potential be the deblasian candidate of 2021.
Adams is the favorite: I still think Eric Adams is the favorite. The added data in this week should have hurt him by helping others. Instead, he maintained favorite status.
"Reporting" was drawn by Ink&thyme, drawing life's unforgettable moments. For unique art drawn just for you, check them out on Facebook and on Instagram.
To subscribe to future newsletters, click here.
For more content, follow 2xParked on Twitter @2xParked.
Comments? Suggestions? Questions? Email me at 2xParked@gmail.com.