Stay Tuned

It is often said that there are more televisions than indoor toilets in this country—today, slightly more than two per household. But that doesn’t account for non-residential sets, and it also confuses the issue of how many sets there may be in bathrooms.

Still, it’s obvious that TVs have infiltrated the non-domestic world, too. It is nearly impossible, for example, to have a drink at a bar without finding yourself surrounded by hovering flat-screens. Airports, restaurants, fitness clubs, doctors’ offices—even elevators—are now occupied by yammering boob tubes. It is not clear whether we want them, or they want us.

The other day we noticed at Larson Allen, a prestigious accounting firm in the US Bank Building in downtown Minneapolis, kindly provides passersby with uninterrupted Fox News Channel programming on a couple of huge screens on the building’s skyway level. These days, people have strong feelings about their preferred news channel, so we wondered if anyone had asked Larson Allen to change the channel. Also, why tune in any channel at all?

Jackie Moser, a marketing executive with Larson Allen, was a little defensive when a reporter asked about this. “Our televisions are a public service for passersby and guests,” she said. But why Fox? “The picture quality of Fox News is the highest,” she said. But it’s cable, the reporter said. “We connect using a PC and special cables,” she said. Besides, she added, the plasma screen in the reception area is tuned to CNN.

We were surprised to learn that not a single skyway-level liberal has complained. After all, the US Bank Building is home, too, to super-lefty Vance Opperman’s media empire. One expert told us that 13,000 taxpayers pass by the Larson Allen television every day. Considering how much NBC pays to have its programming played twenty-four-seven on the jumbotron in Times Square, Larson Allen might consider sending Rupert Murdoch a bill.

“As a marketing tool I think it is quite savvy,” said Adam Wahlberg, a senior editor at Minnesota Law & Politics, whose offices are in the same building. “I regularly see big crowds gather to catch up on breaking stories … the company does a good job of capturing eyeballs.” One tax consultant, standing outside the Larson Allen offices, said she appreciates the televisions as a source of quick information, especially if national news is breaking.

This is an amenity—and a controversy—that is spreading to buildings and public spaces all over the city. While bars throughout the city tune into a wide variety of sports, most white-collar environments seem to tune into CNN, Fox, or MSNBC. At North Star West, a building just a skyway from the US Bank Building, there is an oversized screen in the food court. Building officials there report that CNN and Fox alternate from week to week, to satisfy ornery tenants on opposite ends of the political spectrum. When we stopped in, CNN was blasting away. Two working stiffs having lunch said they’d prefer The Simpsons.

One man’s news is another man’s nausea. Back in his office, five floors above Larson Allen, Adam Wahlberg said, “I have to admit there are times when I see Brit Hume pontificating on the screen while on my way to lunch. And it nearly makes me lose my appetite.”

—Angela Guimond