Good News, West Coast Grammy Awards Fans

Over the past few years, awards shows like the Emmys and the Golden Globes have made the decision to, like the Oscars have for decades, broadcast live on both coasts. Which makes sense, because in a world of social media, it's frustrating to have fun moments from the events spoiled by looking at your Twitter feed. However, the Grammys have held strong, not changing their time. Without the change, West Coasters had to wait three whole hours — a position that, if you've ever seen Angelenos stuck in LA traffic, you will know these people are not good at doing. Finally, though, CBS is poised to make the call to do a live recording of the Grammys on both coasts as well.

Finally, live tweeting the Grammys will make sense! Thank you, CBS, you beautiful eye, you. According to the LA Times, here are the specifics:

Starting with the 58th Annual Grammy Awards held on Feb. 15 at the Staples Center, the live feed of the ceremony previously shown only in the Eastern and Central time zones will be seen at 5 p.m. PT and 6 p.m. MT on CBS-owned stations. CBS affiliates that currently run the telecast on a delayed basis also have the option to take the live feed.

In other words, if CBS owns the station — like they to KCBS in Los Angeles, or KPIX in San Francisco — the show will air early, at the same time as the East Coast. If the station is a CBS affiliate, then the network has the option to air the show later, or at the same time as the East Coast.

Perhaps the reason it took so long for the Grammys to possibly follow the suit of their fellow award shows is the time the show was shown (8 p.m.) is prime time for people to tune in. As detailed by the LA Times, the Grammy's ratings just kept going up — it made sense they wouldn't want to change anything. But, change is now happening — at least as an experiment. According to Vulture, if CBS goes ahead with this plan, they won't be forcing any station to live broadcast the hours, it'll merely be a suggestion. But will it really benefit the Grammys?

With the Grammys reportedly considering the switch to live telecast on both coasts, it's worth looking at how the choice has affected other awards shows. Over the past few years, even with the live telecasts on both coasts, according to Variety the ratings for the Golden Globes have been going down — and according to EW, things were also not so hot for the Emmys ratings. Even without the telecast change, the Grammys had been doing better since the advent of social media — but in 2015, the ratings dipped.

Personally, I don't think the ratings for the Golden Globes or Emmys not improving has any effect over how the Grammys will fare. I think the true ratings culprit is one that once helped the Grammys in the past: Social media. The truth is, why would I actually watch the Grammys when I can read all about what went down in tweets and articles that people on the East Coast are posting? Airing the show on both coasts at the same time would eliminate that, and possibly entice more people to tune in.

So, overall, I think this decision to air the show simultaneously on both coasts on CBS-owned networks — and to give CBS affiliates the option to air the show live on the West Coast — definitely a good move.

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