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THE WAR IN IRAQ AND CONTINUED JITTERS ABOUT THE ECONOMY ARE SENDING SOME uncomfortable tremors through Las Vegas. Many gamblers, already leery of travel, have been increasingly unwilling to spend freely on hotel rooms, blackjack tables and stage shows at Sin City casinos. Many high-roller guests are holding on tighter to their cash, and MGM Mirage and Mandalay Resort Group, two of the larger players in America's gaming capital, reported that their earnings for last year's fourth quarter were hurt by the slowdown.
Beyond tourism and gambling, Nevada is facing some other financial hardships. The state must find a way to fill a gaping $1 billion shortfall in its budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Since Nevada does not have a state income tax, legislators are discussing other methods to cover the gap, such as raising the "sin tax" on items like cigarettes.
Still, troubling economic indicators are not stopping several TV stations in Las Vegas from making new investments in their local news programming. The market ranks No. 52 in the country with 585,440 TV households, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Sinclair Broadcast Group's WB affiliate, KVWB, and its local independent station, KFBT, are both jumping feet first into the local news race. KVWB will launch a 10 p.m. late newscast in June. Rob Weisbord, general manager for both outlets, says the newscast is tentatively scheduled to run an hour, which would make it the first of its kind in Vegas at that hour. Both KVVU-TV, Meredith Corp.'s Fox affiliate, and KTUD-LP, Four Seasons Las Vegas' low-power UPN affiliate, carry half-hour 10 p.m. newscasts.
"It's just a natural evolution for this station to do news," Weisbord says of KVWB, which became a WB affiliate in March 1998 after being purchased by Sinclair. "It's always been a blueprint for us to do news." Weisbord says he is still conducting a nationwide search for the right on-air talent.
In line with Sinclair's strategy to expand local news in a number of markets, KVWB will use a live feed from the company's centralized corporate news studio in Baltimore. The hub will provide national news while a Las Vegas anchor will read local stories. Weisbord says his set will be a smaller replica of Sinclair's, making the back-and-forth...