Classic(ally Bad) TV Commercials: WDAZ, Where the Difference is Stock Footage
As a broadcast news junkie, one of my favorite things to do when I have free time is check out vintage TV news promos and newscasts. I know, I’m a big fat dork, but some of these are truly entertaining. Others are classic(ally bad) like this one from 1983 in the bustling metropolis of Grand Forks, North Dakota!
Gee… makes you just want to jump in the car and drive to North Dakota, doesn’t it?
We start with our bright, young reporter proudly announcing there’s good news on WDAZ-TV, channel 8. And that shot is followed up by a shot of… snow! I guess the good news is there appears to only be a couple of inches on the ground, which means that shot of the state capitol in Bismarck must have been recorded in May or early June. After this odd selection of establishing shots, we’re presented with an even odder selection of other shots supposedly from North Dakota. I say supposedly because a doctor answering the phone and an oil pump can be anywhere, but we’re reminded this is North Dakota with a shot of a plane pulling up to a jetway in snow! Keep hitting the snow!
Now up until this point the random shots of people and things doing things was at least set to the beat of the 1983 news music. But the intern putting this together apparently got bored or was forced to rush the job because we’re inundated with more random shots randomly put in to wherever the hell they fit. Telephone operators, surgery in process, a locomotive at a round house… remember, this is good news North Dakota! Typing, dialing the phone, weird green waves, buses driving, and some schlep fiddling around with a piece of paper! More at 6 p.m.!
Then we’re left with an Atari 800 graphic, followed eventually by a voice-over, that at WDAZ news, the difference is people. Well that sounds nice, but where are the people? If your whole positioning statement is your people make the difference in being better than the competition, why did you bombard us with stock footage of buses and typing and trains spinning around in circles? In fact the only person from the news staff we saw was the unidentified guy in the first two seconds of the promo!
Twenty-five years later, WDAZ-TV is still on the air and now they’re calling themselves “Your Home Team”. I’m sure the latest promos for the station feature fuzzy bunnies, a house of cards on a coffee table, and a kid setting ants on fire with a magnifying class to remind folks that, yes indeed, we are your home team!
