…And at the station, February means sweeps. Sweeps, which is the term for a ratings period, is when everyone in TV Land goes all-out in trying to rope in viewers with those mysterious Nielsen boxes. At the end of the rating period, we get to find out just how far ahead — or behind — we are in our particular market compared to the other stations.

How do we do that, you ask? Simple! Cram as many pre-packaged, hard-hitting, locally-relevant stories down the viewer’s throat as possible. Sometimes there’ll be something exciting, like an Asheville native-gone-medic who removed a live RPG from a fellow soldier during a tour in Iraq. Or a local musician who was told he would never walk again, but through sheer grit and determination is now a drummer in a semi-famous band.

Of course, there are a few duds as well: stories about spam and scams, trying to get you to be afraid without knowing exactly why; or the inherent corruption in the commercial clothing industry, as proven by a crack reporter comparing the slight difference in the same dress sizes in different stores at the mall.

And then, there is the sheer “WTF” factor — a story so out of left field that the viewer can’t help but watch and scratch his head, wondering why in the world a reporter would choose such a subject for a package. I know we’re bound to have one coming, so I’ll be sure to highlight it as soon as it airs.

Also, ratings means less work for production assistants. I’m not sure why, but our parent company slashes hours across the board during this period. Thank goodness for the flu, since I’m covering so much for people that I haven’t really noticed a difference.

Cripes, what a boring post.