January 21, 2004

TV weather news baffles Russians

BY ANDY SMITH
Journal Television Writer

Executives from Russia visit Channel 12's studio and learn America's fascination with weather reports and ratings.

EAST PROVIDENCE -- Imagine if Buddy Cianci owned a local TV station.

Tatyana Penskaya, general manager of a station in Murom, Russia -- a city of 140,000 about 160 miles from Moscow -- doesn't have to imagine. Her station is owned by the mayor's office.

Through an interpreter, Penskaya said station staffers told their mayor that if they are allowed to criticize the local administration, the station will have more credibility with viewers. She said the mayor seems to buy it -- up to a point.

Penskaya was one of four Russian broadcasting executives touring Channel 12 (WPRI) yesterday, sitting in on staff meetings, getting briefed on the equipment and watching from a corner of the studio as Pat Mastors and Steve Aveson anchored the 5 p.m. news.

Monday, the Russians toured a station in Springfield; today they are scheduled to be at Rhode Island PBS station, Channel 36 (WSBE).

They're here under the auspices of the Internews Network, a nonprofit organization that supports independent media throughout the world.

Internews gets some of its budget from the U.S. government, and this trip is being financed by a grant from the State Department.

The visit from the Russian managers grew out of something called the Russian-American Media Entrepreneurship Dialog. As part of that program, Gary Chapman, CEO of Providence-based LIN TV, which owns Channel 12, visited Russia in 2002.

Internews regional director Persephone Miel said Chapman was a logical person to contact when the organization was looking for American TV stations that could host the Russians.

Miel said private TV in Russia is still in its infancy, although the powerful government-run channels have been around for decades. It was only in 1990 that private, commercial TV stations were allowed to exist.

Penskaya said she was impressed with how closely Channel 12's managers followed the ratings. In Russia, she said, only the national channels, still owned by the state, have ratings information.

"We are always trying to figure out who our audience is," she said.

The emphasis American stations put on weather seemed a bit puzzling to the Russians.