Baseball fans in Philadelphia received a startling “Breaking News” alert this afternoon: the New York Yankees, hated rival of the Phillies, had win the 2011 World Series. An impressive feat considering that today is opening day of Major League Baseball’s 2011 season.
WCAU, an NBC O&O, sent out a test email today to subscribers of its “Breaking News” email list with the subject line “Breaking News: [Yankees WIN the 2011 World Series].”
The return address on the email belongs to New York’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the home of NBC Local Media. As NBC O&Os across the country increasingly use uniform systems originated in New York for sharing news with local viewers, the WCAU email gaffe is an illustration of how local news, especially sports, is getting less local.
Here’s the full email, passed along by a tipster…
From: NBC Philadelphia <nbcphiladelphia@nbclocal.com>
Subject: Breaking News: [Yankees WIN the 2011 World Series]
Date: 3/31/2011
[Headline in Title Caps] [Summary/lede in sentence format.]
Complete details from NBC Philadelphia:
[Put complete URL here]
Please, do not reply to this e-mail.
Cancel or change your email subscriptions online: http://click1.nbclocal.com…
©2011 NBC Universal
NBC Local Integrated Media
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112
>Update: WCAU now has a post about the pro-Yankees email on its website:
Yes, this indeed would be Breaking News. And thank God it’s not true.
Truth is, a “glitch” we traced back to our tech team – conveniently located in New York, where folks are obviously NOT Phillies fans. They’re clearly still bitter that Cliff Lee loves us more.
No doubt, we’ll have the last laugh and punish New York come October.