Channel A News
Channel A News was the newscast and also the name for the news operation of Channel A. It operated from launch in 1993 to 2013, where it was shut down along with the channel.
History[edit | edit source]
Initially Channel A had basic news updates at the top of the hour, especially during The Morning Crew, as means to emulate a basic radio program. At launch these updates were shown during The Morning Crew, but within weeks they were now a part of the daily schedule, on weekdays and weekends. This represented a massive problem for Channel A's news operation and the weekend news were reduced to four updates in June 1994.
In 1995, its news operation "got serious" when their news operation began running selected footage of the O.J. Simpson murder case trial, however, due to technical schedule limitations and timezone issues, it couldn't afford a live broadcast. A solution was made for Channel A to relay the footage to other television channels in Flarland and broadcast it live on Sat News (Flarland's only dedicated news channel at the time) live. Eventually Channel A won an award for its coverage, a feat that was challenged due to limitations in its slot, and Not Another Movie Channel continued the live broadcast, as the two channels were broadcasting under the same building.
It wasn't until expansions to the schedule where a half-hour program was considered viable. It debuted in 1996 and quickly the news updates were removed. As Channel A was building its demographic, it became apparent that a news bulletin at 7pm was needed. By then, FBC 3 and Channel 14 already had 7pm news bulletins catering the youth demographic, and Channel A News would be another competitor.
Unlike its competitors, it initially relied heavily on hard news, a fact further boosted by the trial coverage in 1995. However it did manage to cover less mainstream stories, often within Flarland. Of particular note was a report about Dolly's cloning.
By 1999, Channel A had become a predominantly youthful television channel and the program was retooled. Young presenters tested the waters of the basics of presenting the news like a respected presenter, while keeping a few traits of informality. All of this while the program in itself carried serious stories, similar to its competitors. This format worked and Channel A's ratings grew.
As part of a special policy, large-scale tragedies like terrorist attacks were easily avoided. However, there was one notable exception: the 2004 Hindic Ocean tsunami that affected one of its overseas territories, the Pakifas, and under Flarlandian law, it had to operate special reports and basic aid information.
Even with the channel available on Freeview, its performance was largely affected by 14 National News. Not even changing the basic scope to serious stories did help.
Channel A News was affected by the closure of the channel. In December 2013, most of the staff left the channel often leaving presenters alone. The last edition was broadcast on December 30, 2013. The channel's first news and weather presenters returned for this special occasion, thus acting as some sort of reunion, twenty years later. Most of the edition was about Channel A's history and the petitions to keep it on air.
Format[edit | edit source]
Presenters[edit | edit source]
- Charles Mesure (2003)
