Heather Gray was recently named interim general manager for WRAL and WRAZ. Gray joined WRAL-TV in 2017 as the creative services director and quickly ascended through key leadership positions, including brand director and station manager. Before joining Capitol Broadcasting, Gray held leadership roles at 12 News/KPNX (Gannett/TEGNA), worked in the newsrooms for First Coast News in Jacksonville, Florida (NBC/ABC duopoly – Gannett), KCRA-TV (NBC-Hearst), Good Day Sacramento (then WB/Paramount) in Sacramento, California, and KHSL-TV (CBS) in Chico, California. Gray talks about areas of “massive transformation” she’s seeing in the local media industry.
How has the local media industry transformed since you started working on it?
It has transformed so much, but there are a few areas I consider most transformed.
Everything we do to create our work has changed. Look at technology and tools, which have been revamped or reformatted repeatedly in the last few decades.
This could be film to tapes to digital video from a formatting perspective. It could be large satellite trucks for remote transmission to small “LiveU” backpack broadcasts from around the world. The journey from typewriters to word processing seems slow when you look at the explosive path of growth since the advent of the web. The pace of new tech, new tools and new software advancements is both headwind and tailwind.
The output and frequency of storytelling, news gathering, writing, creating and programming have all also increased dramatically over the last three decades. The hours of news produced per day, written or consumed each day and the speed at which we need to move, publish and produce is remarkable.
Another key area of massive transformation are the outlets, platforms, and distribution channels we feed. Think about the growth in this area, especially with FAST channels and CTV over the last few years, and you begin to understand the rapid journey to keep up with the pace of our audience.
Lastly, we are swimming in a sea of data. We have endless insights and metrics, which can be shaped to produce countless narratives around audience demand and interest. In the early days of my career, for local television news, we still relied on handwritten diary information for ratings. It seems archaic now, but all of this change has happened in just one career lifetime.
What initiatives or areas of focus do you think will have the most positive impact on your organization’s future?
Understanding and responding to audience demand, particularly for mobile users, will be critical for our organization’s future. Strategy around audience-centric local journalism is key, but we also need unrelenting focus on solutions for partners and community. Adapting to new revenue streams and personalizing content by platform will be another area of focus.
What do you think are the biggest challenges and opportunities in the local media industry today?
The biggest challenge is the breakneck speed at which our business model changes.
The biggest opportunities include doubling down on local content and solutions across all distribution channels.
Why are you excited to join the LMA board of directors?
I’m most excited by the ability to learn, to lead and to (best-case scenario) be additive to a collective that is forging new thinking. I’m hoping my experience and expertise can help shape future-proofing conversations.
What keeps you up at night related to the journalism industry? What gets you up in the morning?
Middle of the night musings: What levers can we pull to encourage audience curiosity and critical thinking? How might we effectively create habit-forming consumption of our products in this overcrowded information ecosystem?
Wake up, fired up: Daily, meaningful work and decision making that can move people to think, to change, to challenge and to rally.