ON THE AIR, ALL THE TIME: News 10 Now begins 24-hour service Nov. 7

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Oct 31, 2003 by Dickinson, Casey J

SYRACUSE - Many Central New Yorkers will soon be able to get their local news around the clock. Time Warner Cable's 24-hour news channel will launch Nov. 7 at 2 p.m., says Ron Lombard, general manager of News 10 Now. The all-news channel serves nearly 350,000 Time Warner Cable subscribers from Ithaca to Lake Champlain. News 10 Now will provide local news, weather, and sports coverage in a halfhour, "newswheel" format similar to that used by CNN Headline News.

Two weeks before the launch date, workers were putting finishing touches on News 10 Now's downtown Syracuse headquarters. The renovated transportation facility is the home base for the station's 96-member staff. News bureaus in Ithaca, Oswego, Watertown, Rome, and Potsdam keep reporters close to breaking stories throughout Time Wainer's vast service territory. The station will help "put a face" on the cable company and provide content not available from other news outlets, Lombard explains.

Though the station has yet to go live, the staff has been rehearsing for the big day for more than a month. Lacey Johnson, News 10 Now's traffic anchor, monitors the roadways from her desk inside one of the station's three studios. A satellite map allows her to pinpoint the locations of traffic problems gathered from police and a network of spotters. Time Warner Cable's army of installers and maintenance personnel, says Lombard, give the station extra "eyes" throughout the coverage area. Johnson will deliver four traffic reports per hour.

In the main studio, anchor JoDee Kenney reads through a segment of the news wheel, while in the control room behind her, producers and engineers add new stories to the mix. The main studio has sub-areas for stand-up or interview shots. In an adjacent studio, meteorologist Jack Church delivers "Weather on the 10s" during the newscast.

The station's format is updated as new stories come in and News 10 Now plans live coverage of breaking-news events throughout the day. There will be six commercial breaks per hour.

"The wheel that a viewer sees at 7 a.m. isn't going to be the same one that she'll see at 7 p.m.," says Lombard.

Lombard and many other News 10 Now staffers are Syracuse natives or have other ties to the area. More than 4,000 people from around the world applied for positions at News 10 Now. Among the new workers are several locals who are returning to Syracuse as well as recent Syracuse University graduates from outside the area who have chosen to make their start in Syracuse. Lombard recently spoke at a meeting of "Come Home to Syracuse," the organization aimed at attracting natives back to Central New York.

Lockers line a side entryway at News 10 Now's building where the station's 14 reporter-videographers and eight videojournalists pick up their cameras. The station's Sony DV cameras hold the only tape involved in the news-gathering process. The reporters' cameras feature video screens and remote controls that allow for one-person operation.

Engineers upload the completed video into News 10 Now's digital servers where it can be accessed by several people simultaneously. Fiber-optic cables link Syracuse with the regional bureaus while satellite trucks link crews from anywhere in the coverage area.

Two years ago, Time Warner began restoring the former train and bus station which was originally built in 1936. The project cost approximately $8 million and included all new building systems from plumbing to air conditioning. News 10 Now uses approximately 25,000 square feet on the building's first and second floors, says Lombard. An unfinished third floor holds 12,000 square feet of expansion space. Hueber-Breuer Construction Co., Inc. served as contractor for the project.

The station's headquarters will serve as Time Warner Cable's new customer-service center in Syracuse; currently the center is located at 500 S. Salina St. Near the customer-service center, an historical display prepared by the Onondaga Historical Association celebrates the building's history as a gateway to Syracuse. Across the street, a high-mounted outdoor camera allows News 10 Now to zoom in on its own building or other downtown areas. An enclosure on the station's top floor also allows for sweeping shots of the city.

News 10 Now will also provide news over its www.newslOnow.com Web site, says Lombard.

"We want to be an information utility," he adds. "We don't care how you get the news as long as the information comes from us."

Time Warner Cable began offering local news channels over its cable systems in 1992 with the launch of NY1, its New York City news channel. The cable company also has news stations in Albany, Rochester, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin, Texas, as well as Charlotte-Raleigh, N.C.