Ballantine Communications Inc., parent company of The Durango Herald, on Monday will debut 4CornersTV, a video website that aims to bring original, local video content to the Four Corners.
www.4cornerstv.com features three daily shows: Wait-A-Minute Weather, The Local Roundup and In the Neighborhood.
The website seeks to attract the age 25-to-45 demographic that has largely eluded newspaper companies. The site was built with mobile-savvy users in mind, Ballantine Communications CEO Doug Bennett said.
“One of the biggest challenges that media companies face today is how to build new audience,” he said. “There’s a demographic, though, that’s not growing up with our traditional products.”
Wait-A-Minute Weather, at 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m., will provide a daily weather report. The Local Roundup, at noon, is a brief newscast of major events in the region. And In the Neighborhood, at 3 p.m., features people, places and events in the community.
Viewers “want to find out about things going on here, but they want to be entertained,” Bennett said.
The website is free to users and is supported by video advertisements.
One early episode of In the Neighborhood will feature Chad and Annie Cheeney, co-founders of the Durango DEVO bicycling program. Other shows will cover the Follies and other Snowdown events.
All the video clips are archived to watch on demand. 4CornersTV also has a YouTube channel.
Bennett said the impetus for 4CornersTV came when he first visited Durango and turned on the hotel room TV to find an Albuquerque news broadcast. A longtime complaint of local viewers, Durango receives TV news from Albuquerque, a state away.
Ballantine Communications hired new staff to produce the video segments.
“It’s all in our effort to broaden our audience with new and original content,” Bennett said.
Bennett said to expect future videos to cover everything from sports to cooking to business.
cslothower@durangoherald.com