Ahhh sweeps. Those four lovely times of year that the newsroom loses its mind in order to garner another viewer. Every station across the country pulls out every stop -- from saving their best investigative pieces for ratings, to staffing as many reporters as humanly possible, to pushing the weather staff to warn of upcoming storms. As Lewis Black would say -
" It's the worst storm ever, it's the worst! Don't go out, don't go out, don't go out! There's gonna be an inch of snow, it's the WORST inch of snow! "
Camera shots and mini opens that have never been seen before rear their ugly head. Promos for the news run every 5 minutes on TV ...and you are even bombarded on the drive to work with radio ads. Billboards around town flash the ultra white smiles of your anchors, pleading for you to tune in at 5. And if you do happen to tune in, and if you see a news format that you like, don't get used to it. You won't see it again until the next book. The newsroom only brings its A game during sweeps.
Oh...we've all heard the speech that ever since Neilsen has changed its system and can bring you detailed ratings minute by minute that it will be like we are ALWAYS in a rating period. But alas, that is just a speech. The staff is cut back to bare bones, the interns are allowed to write stories again, and the newsroom hum grows quiet. But don't worry...your next ratings period is only a few months away!
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