A Favorite Story

Seeing what WKYC did with their spot reminds me of something I did while at KHOU in Houston.

We had the confession tapes of a notorious serial killer - who, by a flaw in the system, could have been released from prison.

The confessions were graphic. They were haunting. They were creepy as hell.

We did the typical "hear from a madman" spots... but I wanted to do one more.

So in true television whore fashion, I aired a spot in primetime the night of the piece - probably during CSI. It featured grainy black and white footage and a voice over:

Tonight, a warning for our viewers of 11 News at 10.

Our report on the confession tapes of Coral Eugene Watts contains disturbing recollections of a serial killer's Houston slayings.

Be advised this material may be upsetting to some. Viewer discretion is advised.

We kind of got in trouble because it caught the GM off guard(oops... don't make that mistake again) but we won that night... big.

Who can resist a news story about a serial killer that comes with a warning!!!

Sensational? Probably. Effective? You bet.