Originally Posted by
MikeyinBrooklyn
313WX, I suspect you are correct about where the TV staffs live, but I don't think that would be a big factor in their deciding not to move downtown. First, each station has grown a much younger [[and cheaper-working) staff in recent years. Downtown would be more appealing to those people. Also, in a notoriously shrinking industry [[station consolidations, farming out traffic/weather/sports, sharing reporters with stations in other cities, corporate consolidation of tech, programming & admin functions, etc), it's not like everyone can afford to be picky about where they work. Every station in town has fewer staff [[on and off the air) than they did 10 or 20 years ago.
I think the cost of building out studios and production facilities is the main inhibitor of moving any station. The plus side to moving a studio to Detroit would have 3 main selling points:
1) Downtown studios and offices would provide greater visibility for the station, and make them seem more like a part of the community. If everyone going to the theatre or a game downtown also saw the "WXYZ Building" or "Fox 2 Studios" it could help build brand loyalty over time. Far better than a highway billboard promoting the Five O'Clock News.
2) By far, Detroit is the place that makes the most news in our market. Being near the stadiums, courthouses, city hall, GM HQ, etc means your reporters and photographers are always physically close to the news.
3) Downtown Detroit at this point is home to more companies that advertise on TV than any other single place in the area, and that number is likely to grow. Building a long-term relationship with advertisers is key to a station being profitable. Being a friendly neighbor can benefit that.
That all having been stated, I think the leaders of the local stations would find it a tough sell to convince their bosses that the upfront many-million dollar investment is warranted. Had Detroit been in it's current [[downtown) growth mode before the switch to digital, I think they would already be located downtown. Now it's much less likely.