I just watched part of the NATAS Northwest presentation of Emmy awards for the Northwest region online. The ceremony had one running theme: small markets are awful. Host Pat Cashman took repeated jabs at small market TV. Markets 81 and higher were torn apart for having rat infested buildings, shoddy equipment, a lack of stories to cover… there was even a pre-recorded skit decrying the looks of talent (which got a huge roar of laughter from the beautiful Seattle crowd). There are at least 15 markets in the NATAS NW region – but the vast majority of the awards go to the Seattle folks. Even the relatively large Portland market only gets a few scraps. While Mr. Cashman and many of the folks in the Seattle audience look at their time in small market TV as a sort of jail sentence they had to serve to get to where they are now – many folks choose small markets across the country over large for a variety of reasons. As a former Seattleite, I can honestly say that bigger isn’t always better.
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