Those looking to basketball or the Academy Awards ceremony as a distraction from war may be disappointed.
KVLY, the local NBC affiliate, will broadcast the North Dakota Class B basketball tournament this weekend, but war coverage will take precedence, general manager Charley Johnson says.
Johnson knows that as a programmer, the war has put him in a no-win situation.
"We're going to play this whole tournament thing by ear," he says. "I feel obligations and pulls both ways. I can't make the right decision for everybody. It kind of depends on what's happening with the progress of the war."
KVLY will provide news summaries during halftimes and between games, Johnson says. It also may run a news ticker from NBC or MSNBC across the bottom of the screen during games.
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But if war action gets heavy, the tournament will take a very distant backseat to network coverage, Johnson says.
KVLY may send Grand Forks-based reporter Neil Carlson and Fargo-based photographer Dave Grant to Iraq. They would accompany North Dakota National Guard troops overseas when they go.
Al Aamodt, news director for ABC affiliate WDAY, says his reporters have been preparing for war during the past several weeks by lining up contacts everywhere from West Acres to the National Guard to North Dakota's congressional delegation.
He compared the war coverage planning to that done for the 1997 flood.
WDAY also is checking into sending a reporter and photographer to Iraq.
WDAY general manager Mark Prather says he had heard nothing Thursday about the Academy Awards ceremony. Broadcast of that is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Sunday, but, like everything else, was dependent on ABC's network coverage.
Planning for coverage at CBS affiliate KXJB has been complicated by changes in the network's plan.
KXJB was 10 minutes away Thursday from doing its 11 a.m. cut-in with local news when the network notified news director Mike Morken it wouldn't break.
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Likewise, it wasn't until about 11 a.m. Thursday that CBS finalized a decision to go with war coverage and let this week's NCAA basketball tournament move to the ESPN and ESPN2 cable networks.
Morken received network planning updates at 10:56, 11:03 and 11:05 a.m. and each carried the disclaimer, "The information is current as of this moment but is subject to change."
"That seems to be the way we're going along here," Morken says dryly.
Weekend programming plans remained fluid, Morken says.
"Now, it's just evaluate as we go along," he says. "We're just hour-by-hour."
KXJB isn't planning on sending reporters to Iraq, Morken says.
KVRR's situation is slightly different, news director Jim Shaw says.
The Fox network, of which KVRR is the local affiliate, has Fox News cable channel to provide coverage around the clock. That means the local station will have regular network programming to carry -- maybe.
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"The network gives us very short notice on what they do," Shaw says. "What it comes down to with us is, will we be mandated to carry Fox News channel?"
As of Thursday afternoon, Shaw was still planning on a normal programming schedule over the weekend. But he was concerned that, as it was Wednesday, the station's 9 p.m. newscast could be pushed back by network cut-ins.
Shaw says KVRR won't be sending anybody to Iraq.
"The networks have the equipment, they have the people," he says. "What we'll do here is cover the local angle, the home front."
Readers can reach Forum reporter Tom Pantera at (701) 241-5541
