NBC affiliates buck the trend in Detroit, D.C.

Believe it or not, there are places where NBC affiliates actually won late news despite having The Jay Leno Show as its lead-in. What’s notable is these two NBC affiliates – WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. and WDIV in Detroit, rose in the ratings ranks as recently as ten years ago, when NBC was enjoying ratings dominance – surpassing former market […]

Follow up: Is Leno killing late local news?

Remember back last December when yours truly wrote how stripping The Jay Leno Show was a creative counter-programming idea? I think I might want to retract that statement. Since it debuted September 14, The Jay Leno Show has been a hot topic of debate in television circles across the country – especially in newsrooms, where Leno leads in to late […]

This just in: Local news trumps reruns

KRON-TV San Francisco to dump Dr. Phil? It looks like these days viewers prefer the corruption, depression, politics, and crime to escapist fare. It what could be yet another blow to the syndication business, a story by Bloomberg News suggests local stations are dumping entertainment fare to air more local news especially in major markets. This comes as the fight […]

Detroit’s WWJ-TV re-enters the new game – sort of

CBS-owned WWJ-TV in Detroit is returning to the news business. This is not a April Fool’s joke. Really. WWJ, which has been out of the news business since 2002, is hooking with the Detroit Free Press to produce a new morning newscast airing from 5 to 7 a.m. with cut-ins during The Early Show (you mean its no longer called […]

CBS may end "Guiding Light"

The Guiding Light may soon be extinguished. CBS and Procter & Gamble Productions are expected to decide soon on the fate of television and radio’s longest-running program (combined) currently clocked in at 70 years. Light, which began on radio in 1937 and moved to television in 1952, has fared poorly in the ratings over the last two decades. It is […]

WFLD (and WPWR) grab "5th Grader" (updated)

Fox-owned WFLD-TV here in Chicago (and sis station KTTV in Los Angeles) have picked up the half-hour syndicated version of Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader from Twentieth Television for this fall. The game show, produced by Survivor creater Mark Burnett and hosted by Jeff Foxworthy, has aired on prime-time on Fox to respectable ratings. The program has cleared […]

Detroit’s papers to cut back on delivery

Detroit’s two main newspapers (The Free Press and News) are scaling back their delivery due to the worsening economic conditions. Beginning in March, both papers will be delivering to homes only three days a week, while being exclusively on newsstands and retail outlets the other four in a slimmed-down version. Both papers are refocusing on their respective online sites, with […]

WMYD to launch new newscast

Detroit-area residents finally now have another news operation. Granite-owned WMYD-TV, a My Network TV affiliate, is launching a new 10 p.m. newscast beginning on Monday titled TV 20 News at 10. The half-hour newscast is going head-to-head with Fox-owned WJBK-TV’s long established 10 p.m. show. This marks the first time there has been a competing newscast at 10 since 2005, […]

Local May sweeps numbers, Part 1

Overall analysis: While the major networks lost steam in the recently concluded May sweeps, many local stations actually saw increases year-to-year in late news and in other time periods. Translation: Viewers are tuning out the prime-time shows on the major networks, but not local programming or local news on their affiliates. Boston: CBS-owned WBZ-TV pulled off a major upset by […]

Local stations’ sweeps numbers hit by writers’ strike

Affiliates – who depend on their network’s prime-time programs to draw viewers to their late newscasts – suffered ratings declines during the just-concluded February sweeps as the writer’s strike forced the networks into reruns and were forced to air less-appealing reality shows. Judging by the few markets available for review, NBC affiliates seemed to be affected less, thanks to a […]

Syndicated "Idol" jumps to Fox stations

A month after acquiring the syndication rights to air American Idol Rewind from now-defunct Tribune Entertainment, Trifecta has sold the series’ third season to thirteen Fox O&O markets. That means Idol Rewind in Chicago will switch this October from Tribune-owned WGN-TV to Fox-owned WFLD-TV and WPWR-TV. The program will also shift from Tribune to Fox stations in New York, Los […]

WJBK, WDIV duke it out on Web

In this corner, it’s Fox-owned WJBK-TV – in the other corner, it’s Post-Newsweek’s NBC affiliate WDIV – and they are boxing to see who will come out on top in the ultimate battle to become Detroit’s ultimate website champion… (don’t count out the spoiler, either – ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV.) Both stations are upping the ante, including streaming their newscasts (WDIV […]

WJBK back in the news game at 11

We have The Ten, they will have The Edge. WJBK-TV, the Fox-owned station in Detroit, is returning to the 11 p.m. newscast race effective on September 24 named The Edge. WJBK had news in the 11 p.m. slot when it was a CBS affiliate, but was moved to 10 p.m. when the station was switched to Fox by then-owner New […]

Are Detroit advertisers getting ripped off by TV?

A ratings decline of 24 percent for local newscasts over the last ten years on Detroit’s television stations haven’t stopped ad rates for those newscasts from escalating, according to Crain’s Detroit Business. Ratings are down for the early-fringe and 11 p.m. newscasts on the market’s three stations that does late news: Fox owned-WJBK-TV, Post-Newsweek’s NBC affiliate WDIV, and Scripps’ ABC […]