Want a behind-the-scenes explainer for why TV news changed, why it feels cheaper, louder, and less trustworthy, and what comes next? Recently retired Fox 13 (WTVT Tampa) legend Lloyd Sowers—nearly 40 years in local television news—walks Steve Barrett through the slow, weird death of the old newsroom model… and how cable news, social media, and streaming turned “reporting” into “retweeting.” He covered Florida Man, OJ, and hurricanes… and watched local news slowly get eaten by the internet.
Steve and Lloyd swap war stories from the glory days: the Fox affiliate switch, wall-to-wall OJ Simpson trial coverage, “one computer connected to the internet,” and the era when photographers, reporters, live trucks, and producers were basically a traveling circus with deadlines. Then it gets real: the modern reality of being live at 3/4/5/6/7, writing web scripts, feeding social, and still somehow expected to do enterprise reporting—while everyone else is doomscrolling.
They also tackle the big question: how does America regain trust in the media when AI deepfakes are coming for everyone’s eyeballs? Lloyd lays out why “straight-down-the-middle news” is harder than people think (because audiences want their flavor), why hyper-local journalism might be the future, and why the “million-channel universe” can feel like a 24/7 cacophony of noise. If you love media criticism, newsroom nostalgia, or you just want to understand why your parents watched the 6 o’clock news and your kids don’t even know what a newscast is—this one’s for you.
From live trucks to LiveU: the behind-the-scenes truth about how the business changed.
Media Schmedia | #98
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