Looks like Charlotte's out and a step down is in...Market Info needed..

[DevinDavis]

Howdy... UNCCharlotte deniedthe girl admisson, so Charlotte's out.

We are now trying to decide between Chattanooga and Radford (Roanoke market).

Does anyone know anyone who knows anyone who knows about either market? I know theyre steps down from WV, market wise, but I'm optimistic aout the move, wherever itll be.

What are the stations like in both cities? Is the pay any better than the site says? What are the better places to live in teh cities?

Thanks guys

[Bismarck]

I worked in Roanoke for 5 years at the NBC affiliate, WSLS.

Roanoke can be a fun place to shoot, and personally I think it's a great place to live. There's a wide variety of things to cover, and you're only 30 minutes away from Virginia Tech and all their sports.

It's also kind of a weird market because it's split with Lynchburg. So WSLS, WDBJ (CBS) are both in Roanoke, while WSET (ABC) is in Lynchburg.

WFXR (FOX) has a newscast that is actually fully produced by WSLS.

WSLS is a Media General Station, and I can't remember who owns WDBJ. WDBJ is perennially the #1 station there, with WSET and WSLS evenly sharing #2.

WDBJ pays a little bit more than any of the other places, I believe, but it's also staffed with lifers who have been there forever and aren't going anywhere, so getting a good shift would be next to impossible. They are also quite a bit more straightlaced in what they cover and how they cover it, so you won't have that many chances to do any off-the-wall feature kind of things.

WSLS can be a tumultuous place sometimes, and right now they're going through a bit of an upheaval, it seems, at least with some of the on air people. Their talent is always young for the most part, being in their mid-20s.

The shooting crew there is almost always pretty solid though. They're young guys who like what they do and have fun with it. They just recently switched to a Grass Valley NLE for the newsroom, and I believe they're getting P2s sometime either late this year or next year.

Anyway, I take it your daughter may be going to Radford University.

If she does, what I would do, if I were you, would be to let her go to Radford while you live in either Blacksburg or Roanoke.

Blacksburg is only 10 minutes away from Radford, is a much nicer place (it's always in those "Top 10 Places To Live In The US" lists), and it's also closer to Roanoke than Radford.

If you live in Roanoke you'd only be 45 minutes away from Radford, and you'd be in the main city in that half of Virginia.