Gnomedex '05: Nashville TV Station Experiments With Blogging For Profit, Local Search Engine

Speaking at Gnomedex, local TV news consultant Terry Heaton gave the first report on the intense online initiative underway at WKRN in Nashville. The station wanted to raise its profile and Heaton advised them that an online initiative could do that and bring in revenue, too. WKRN launched a local search directory — Nashville411.com, which is now represents a six-figure revenue stream. On the community side, the station went deep into blogging: it held a blogger meetup, launched a local blog aggregator with search, and started its own blog with a full-time staff blogger who writes about the community. One blog sponsorship just went for $4,000 a month. Heaton says the station will begin posting some unaired news video for use under a Creative Commons License and may create a monthly subscription package that would include access to the video archives.

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