Tuesday, February 17, 2004
This last weekend, my sister and I braved a propeller plane flight up to our hometown of Missoula, MT to see our dad for the holidays (Valentine's Day and Presidents' Day). We always have a great time up there thanks to the company, the incredible location and the wonderful people of Missoula, but I have to admit that one of the things I still like most about visiting home is the Missoula media.
Missoula is part liberal college town, part proud old west, part small town and part melting pot, so its media is eclectic to say the least. On the print side, Missoula offers a mainstream paper in The Missoulian and a more left-wing mag in The Independent (I'm sure there are right-wing papers there, too... they just don't stock them at the University or in Butterfly Herbs, Bagels on Broadway, Crystal Video or any of the other places I go). And on TV, visitors can see several Montana-themed television shows and two main newscasts: KPAX (yes, it was marketing madness when the Kevin Spacey movie opened) and KECI.
My dad likes to switch back and forth between the two broadcasts at night so he can see his favorite anchors. On KPAX, he likes Oralia Ortega (mostly because it's fun to watch her blow through foreign words), Jill Valley and Tom Katz (it's pronounced 'cots'). On KECI, Dad likes Heidi Meili and Gina Titus , while my sister and I prefer Justin Sacher (who we've decided is secretly gay in a land of cowboys) and Chris Nettleton (who despite his blazing need for a jacket that fits him right, is the object of my sister's affection).
So where is this all going? A small story to illustrate just why it is such a joy to switch on Missoula's newscasts after watching LA's depressingly polished productions:
People who move to Montana usually do so to get away from it all. Montana news producers know this and try to appeal to their audience by keeping national and international news to a minimum. In its place, they concentrate on local, environmental and fun human interest stories. So, this being Valentine's Day, KECI's producers decided to focus on love and romance by telling us single girls where we're most likely to find eligible, single men in America.
So where is the number one place to find eligible, single men? You guessed it - San Francisco. I looked at my dad after the chirpy anchor finished saying the name of the gay & lesbian capital of the world and asked, "Did she just say what I think she said?" He smiled and said, "Well... it does have the most single, eligible men."
To the hoards of Montana girls checking Travelocity for good fares to this landing of love - San Francisco is beautiful, but please visit with no expectations. To KECI - thank you for staying so sweetly naive while the rest of the world grows up around you. That's exactly why I love Montana so much.
Why else do I love Montana?
Missoula is part liberal college town, part proud old west, part small town and part melting pot, so its media is eclectic to say the least. On the print side, Missoula offers a mainstream paper in The Missoulian and a more left-wing mag in The Independent (I'm sure there are right-wing papers there, too... they just don't stock them at the University or in Butterfly Herbs, Bagels on Broadway, Crystal Video or any of the other places I go). And on TV, visitors can see several Montana-themed television shows and two main newscasts: KPAX (yes, it was marketing madness when the Kevin Spacey movie opened) and KECI.
My dad likes to switch back and forth between the two broadcasts at night so he can see his favorite anchors. On KPAX, he likes Oralia Ortega (mostly because it's fun to watch her blow through foreign words), Jill Valley and Tom Katz (it's pronounced 'cots'). On KECI, Dad likes Heidi Meili and Gina Titus , while my sister and I prefer Justin Sacher (who we've decided is secretly gay in a land of cowboys) and Chris Nettleton (who despite his blazing need for a jacket that fits him right, is the object of my sister's affection).
So where is this all going? A small story to illustrate just why it is such a joy to switch on Missoula's newscasts after watching LA's depressingly polished productions:
People who move to Montana usually do so to get away from it all. Montana news producers know this and try to appeal to their audience by keeping national and international news to a minimum. In its place, they concentrate on local, environmental and fun human interest stories. So, this being Valentine's Day, KECI's producers decided to focus on love and romance by telling us single girls where we're most likely to find eligible, single men in America.
So where is the number one place to find eligible, single men? You guessed it - San Francisco. I looked at my dad after the chirpy anchor finished saying the name of the gay & lesbian capital of the world and asked, "Did she just say what I think she said?" He smiled and said, "Well... it does have the most single, eligible men."
To the hoards of Montana girls checking Travelocity for good fares to this landing of love - San Francisco is beautiful, but please visit with no expectations. To KECI - thank you for staying so sweetly naive while the rest of the world grows up around you. That's exactly why I love Montana so much.
Why else do I love Montana?
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