All news, all the time

There's a new player in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton market, even if it's just in Olyphant. A 24-hour cable news operation from New York, News 10 Now, is dipping down into Pennsylvania to cover stories. Time Warner's news channel doesn't even pose a threat to WNEP, WBRE, or WYOU, but a lot of you have been hounding me to opine about the feasibility of 24-hour local news.

Simply put, I don't think it will work, at least not here. As large as the market is, I honestly don't think there is enough news to cover, without the coverage becoming redundant. How often are you going to loop the same story about that fire in Wilkes-Barre, or the shooting in Williamsport? And what can a 24-hour local news channel offer, that you don't already get from the "big three," or the smaller independent or cable stations?

What say you?

NEPA journalism pioneer dies

Tom Bigler, who guided WNEP and WBRE during its early years, has died at the age of 85. He was an anchor, and later news director, at WNEP in the late 1950s, and later jumped to WBRE, where he stayed until he resigned in 1986. Bigler also taught journalism at Wilkes University, and until recently, was a Times Leader columnist.

WNEP has an obituary article, while I haven't seen or heard a peep on WBRE viewers say WBRE mentioned it throughout its Friday newscasts.