So the Newscast is a Game Now?

WTLV (Jacksonville) First Coast News Anchor Lewis Turner will do anything to get ratings. Even if that means turning the newscast into a game. 

Turner started at the station as a weather anchor and was moved to news.  

Turner wrote on his blog that he has been made the news anchor of the struggling 7PM newscast and he wants people to watch and help boost the show's ratings. 

He writes: 

"If you haven't noticed, or don't watch too much of the news... First Coast News has allowed me to anchor the 5:30 and 7:00pm shows.

This is a mega-huge honor for me, as being a news anchor has been something I've wanted to do my whole life.

But, let's face it, I'm no Tom Brokaw. 

I'm no Brian Williams.

Turns out I'm going to do this my way.

So, the 7pm show is where I'm going to start. 

It needs the biggest boost, ratings are tough at that time because let's face it... We're up against Pat Sajak and Vanna "North Myrtle Beach" White on NBC (also First Coast News).

Gonna start getting aggressive with social media and web interaction. If you haven't been to the 7pm chatroom on www.firstcoastnews.com yet, come in during the show. That's going to shape parts of the newscast... just straight stop the news and read chat/talk to folks mid stream.

Why not? Is that something that would make you curious enough to watch every so often? Every night?

Maybe DVR it at least and watch while you crochet? 

I'm also starting to do a daily twitter/facebook challenge. Something that will air during the 7pm show, something that will come from viewers.

To prove my dedication to this, here's a look at how the twitter challenge went down on Wednesday:"

He then writes: 

"Yes, that's ridiculous... A gimmick? Maybe. But it's evidence that I'm listening intently and not just blindly posting my stories from the day and ignoring everything else. Sure I post my stories, I love my stories and I want to share, but that's just a small part of it.

There will be more twitter and facebook challenges... BIGGER challenges."  

Oh Boy! So now the newscast has become a game to see if the anchor will use a certain word or not.

This should put the ratings through the roof. 

And yet, the station still wonders why the ratings suck at 7PM?