Kuttsywood's Couch: Content Survey Live: U.S.A: Pool 3, Night 1: The Great Chicago Content Survey.

This content survey is not originating in Mrs O'Leary's barn.

Surprise!

Welcome, to the beginning of Pool 3, for Content Survey Live U.S.A.
When, we were with you last, we had a decisive winner for Pool 2, in Boston with a 7.65/10. This pool, is America, literally all over: beginning tonight in Chicago, with tomorrow night being in Denver, Friday night (Thursday night US time) in Atlanta, and a Saturday night special (Friday night US time) from Sacramento.

Four surveys, and four different timezones (inc. the only Mountain Time CBS O&O) Now, that's something to see.

As we reach out to the world in 2026 and beyond (a teaser for the future perhaps), we are emphasizing your safety on the internet in the age of AI. And, that is why we believe the best choice for a VPN (where you can lock in US pricing for your trip to secure tickets for a trip up Willis Tower, or figuring out how much a trip to Navy Pier will cost, or just checking out pricing at Walmart/Target without leaving your house in Australia) is Surfshark VPN. A VPN can make your life a whole lot easier when organizing your next trip to Chicago in general, (or Australia, if reading from the US: we'll leave the shrimp out to defrost while you come across the Pacific). Follow our link, and it helps deliver better content for you, and drives the challenge home.

And, now: onto the ground rules.

THE GROUND RULES

Our focus, in Content Survey Live will be monitoring multiple news services over a significant timespan (a benefit of technological change, now allowing us to watch American news bulletins here in Australia), using a slight modification of the same criteria we used in the “Great Local News Study” from Kuttsy's Pitch XI in August, 2019 and in Content Survey Live between 2020 and 2024.

-Locally sourced stories: that is stories reported by local journos. Really big local market stories with national impacts, also fit here. Voiced over local stories are counted separately.

-Live crosses: stuff that is used to embellish a story.

-Weather and traffic reports are not counted.

-Sport stories are counted for one point if it’s a voiced over piece: but… if you have a reporter on the scene reporting on the event, it counts for two points. This sports reporting scoring system is a modified version of the “Ray Robinson Number” from the 2024 special event, and the 2025 edition of Content Survey Live, which was utilized to examine overnight news, and will be counted up at the end of the regular season as a special secondary achievement going to the market who has the highest sports score.

This number, will be named… the David Hill Number: in commemoration of the role Hill played in revolutionizing sports coverage in Australia (as VP for sport for Nine in the mid eighties), the United Kingdom (launching UK cable powerhouse Sky Sports) and in the US (the founding father of Fox Sports, whose innovations reshaped NFL and other sport coverage for the better).

In addition, all scores in 2026 will be reported in a new format: a ranking out of 10: David Hill Number (e.g. 5.8/10 and a David Hill Number of 3) rather than separating these figures out.

THE TALE OF THE TAPE... CHICAGO.

Chicago, is in many people's minds the most important city in the Midwest: it's a major international gateway, a events hub, and much like LA and New York, is pretty much guaranteed a baseball game on any given day of the season. But, it is also a city dependent on it's suburban growth, to the point that some of the last remaining interurbans in the US serve the Windy City (most famously the South Shore line to South Bend in Indiana), alongside it's eponymous L elevated railway, and a subway network.

It's 10pm, and WBBM 2's news is about to hit the air from within the Chicago Loop... and show you that Chicago news... is not a load of hot air.

We open tonight's news with a live cross and a preview of the Obama Presidental Center (fancy name for a presidential library), set to open in June (tickets set to go on sale Wednesday 6/5 US time), along with a plug for the Obama/Colbert interview on the Late Show (10:30 in Chicago).

We then, have a piece on a retrieval at the 49th St Beach of a body, a piece on a triple shooting in The Yards, Illinois State Police beginning investigations of events during the Midway Blitz by federal officials last year, Chicago Mayor pleading his case to prevent state funding for a Chicago Bears relocation from Soldier Field, a full piece on a busker robbery, and a fairly significant I-Team piece on AI scams and the elderly (take note Australia).

We then get a good sports segment: led by the fact that the Cubs are on a significant home winning streak right now, although you've gotta keep the momentum going for a longtime if you truly want a winning season (10yrs this year since the Cubs broke their World Series duck), while the Blackhawks are looking forward to the NHL Draft, and the AHL Wolves at Allstate Arena take their series with authority.

A post sport window, leads to Coast Guard drones for the Great Lakes, eggs and Alzheimer's study results, the Stranger Things Happy Meal hits Chicago and our laugh for the night... mosquitoes.

Overall, a big night for the product, that overshadowed their sports shortcomings.

THE SCORES:
Four local stories.
One live cross.
Nine voiced over pieces.
A very quick sports segment...

Tonight's score, is 7.85/10 with a David Hill Number of 3.

Chicago, literally coming into it's pool with a emphatic message... but a win in this pool could well see it labeled the lucky loser, in light of it's combined number of 10.85.

So, we'll leave you with this: why argue about AMS or NWA certification... when your weather presenter can get both, and call his virtual studio a sphere to boot.

AMERICA, YOUR SEASON LAUNCH IS READY.
9. Something’s Happening: ABC, 1987-88

ABC (quietly steaming toward a Disney-owned future a decade from now), finally caught onto the two word slogan trend that NBC had inspired in the 1987 fall season. Taking a step away from the celebrity driven concepts of the early eighties, ABC simply went hard on the idea of focusing on real people in the launch package. Give them a badge that said “Watch for me on ABC”, and away they went.

A interesting side note: a post-receivership 10 in Australia made a duplicate of this style of campaign (based loosely on the ’87 ABC promo): the “That’s (market)” series in 1994, after the success of a similar promo (one that was far fatter than the 30sec spots 10 ran in 1994) running in Melbourne around the time of 10 Melbourne’s big move: from Nunawading to South Yarra in mid-1992.

1988, led straight out of a lengthy writers strike… for some reason, they thought it’d be wise to celebrate with a party and a half, a all-singing, all dancing affair…

By the time 1989 rolled around, ABC went with a heavily program-focused attempt concerning the campaign, which ultimately was the finale for a launch push that started life as something not seen in America, and ultimately became a tired buzzword that would not fit in with ABC’s image after the TGIF age really got cooking.