Ask the T Dog Media Blog

Going back through some old posts, I discovered a question asked by an anonymous reader regarding the original version of American Gladiators. Instead of answering in the comments section of the post, I decided to answer in a new post here: Q: Anonymous said… Do you know what the ratings were for the original American Gladiator series? Also did it […]

WNBC goes off the wagon

NBC owned WNBC-TV in New York has decided to accept hard-liquor ads after 11 p.m. (except during Saturday Night Live.) A New York station can do it because they don’t have the holy rollers (i.e. Rev. Pflager) that Chicago has (of course, Comcast SportsNet and the former FSN Chicago has been accepting hard-liquor ads for years. Who is the sponsor […]

WNBC blinks first

The first station to make a move in the new fall season is NBC-owned WNBC-TV in New York, which is dropping its soft news-oriented News4You, and replacing it with a traditional newscast at 5:30 p.m. Ratings for the show were behind ABC-owned WABC-TV, which ranks number one at 5 and 5:30 p.m. WNBC has also removed the second half-hour of […]

Local news no longer feel for the drive at five

There is a notable trend of big-market television stations on the East Coast dropping news at 5 p.m. for syndicated fare. WPLG in Miami went to No.1 in the time period when it inserted Dr. Phil several years ago, and its 6 p.m. newscast got a boost, too. WXIA-TV in Atlanta also scored ratings success with a similar move. That […]

NBC O&Os to start 7 p.m. newscasts

(Editor’s Note: The links in this story are provided by TV Newsday. Registration may be required.) The news expansion continues: Two NBC owned-and-operated stations in New York (WNBC-TV) and Miami (WTVJ) will be launching 7 p.m. weeknight newscasts, beginning on September 10. WNBC had a 7 p.m. network newscast until several years ago, when it moved NBC Nightly News to […]

Program Partners scores coup in New York

Let’s Play Crosswords, the new game show from small syndicator Program Partners, nabbed a big timeslot in the biggest market in the country – by getting the 4 p.m. time slot on WNBC-TV in New York City. This comes as syndicators are gearing up to launch their new shows in September. (registration may be required to click on link) Among […]

Wallace named head of NBC-owned stations

NBC Universal announced this morning that John Wallace will succeed Jay Ireland as president of the NBC-owned stations (Ireland took a position with GE Capital management. GE owns NBC Universal.) Wallace will report directly to NBC Universal President and CEO Jeff Zucker. NBC owns and operates ten English-language stations in New York (WNBC), Los Angeles (KNBC), Chicago (WMAQ), Philadelphia (WCAU), […]

Sweeping up

We’re back, and we’re sweeping up from the recent February ratings period in local markets (All ratings are measured by Nielsen): New York: WABC-TV dominated the ratings and in all local news time periods as usual, but it was WCBS-TV that surged to second place overall. A bad book for WNBC-TV, which fell to third, but it was an even […]