NY1 News is launching "The Call," the first television newscast programmed exclusively by viewers – and we invite you make your own submission through our exclusive online rundown tool.
"The Call," which makes its debut on July 25, airs each weeknight at 9 p.m.
To allow viewers to program the show, NY1 provides web users with the exact same-looking tool that our producers use in the newsroom: a computer-generated rundown of all the stories available for that night's broadcast, listed in alphabetical order.
Users create their own rundown by dragging-and-dropping the stories into the order they desire, the same way NY1's own producers do. At 9 p.m. all the submissions are tallied and the top five stories are aired live on the show.
The complete breakdown of all stories, ranked by points and percentage, is also posted on The Call page starting at 9 p.m.
"The Call" webpage is available at http://ny1.com/TheCall.
The show also features live phonecalls and viewer e-mail on the top news topics of the day.
"Viewers can already choose from among thousands of programs on hundreds of channels — and now, for the first time, they'll get to decide how the programs will be produced, as well," said Steve Paulus, NY1's senior vice president and general manager. "By becoming more interactive and giving our viewers a choice about what they'll be watching, NY1 will become even more indispensable.”
"The Call" is hosted by veteran NY1 anchor John Schiumo, and airs each weeknight at 9 p.m. on NY1 News.
The custom rundown technology was programmed by the Chicago-based company Outlook Technologies.