From the recently concluded March ratings period: Chicago: WLS-TV remained on top, as usual at 10 p.m., but CBS-owned WBBM-TV is up 50 percent in the same time period in households. At 9 p.m., WGN-TV’s newscast had a 43 percent advantage over an above-average WFLD-TV, despite popular Fox prime-time lead-ins. Milwaukee: And lead-ins didn’t matter here either, as NBC affiliate […]
In a move that could put its fourteen-year NBC affiliation at risk, WHDH-TV in Boston has told NBC it plans not to run Jay Leno’s new weeknight show at 10 p.m. (ET) but instead run a prime-time newscast. Leno got the 10 p.m. time slot after losing his longtime 11:35 p.m. Tonight Show slot to Conan O’Brien. Leno leaves Tonight […]
Playing in Peoria is hard these days… The owners of NBC affiliate WEEK-TV and ABC affiliate WHOI-TV in Peoria have decided to merge their operations, effective immediately. WEEK’s owner (Granite Broadcasting) took over the operations of Barrington Broadcasting-owned WHOI in a local marketing agreement, leaving just Nextstar’s CBS affiliate (WMBD-TV) as their sole local competitor. A similar scenario has played […]
The Super Bowl XLIII matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals drew 95.4 million viewers, making it the third most-watched TV show of all time, trailing the 1983 series finale of M*A*S*H and Super Bowl XLII between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants. Here’s the breakdown: – In the 56 markets metered for overnight and/or […]
With Oprah Winfrey scheduled to run her new cable network in a joint venture with Discovery beginning next year, there is increasing speculation she may discontinue her daily talk show strip when her contract with CBS Television Distribution expires in 2011. The speculation increased when Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav revealed in an earnings report a few days ago that […]
(Editor’s Note: A rough draft appeared earlier here by mistake, resulting in an error in the second paragraph which has since been corrected. In other words, the word “repeat” should have been where “new” was. – T.H.) Maybe yesterday’s White Sox-Royals brawl may serve as an indication people in Kansas City (and certainly Minnesota) may be sick of anything coming […]
Now the Favre watch never ends. Journal Communications’ WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee is adding a 3 p.m. newscast to its lineup beginning Sept. 8, as well as adding a 6:30 p.m. newscast at the end of August, which displaces the Warner Bros.-syndicated Extra from the time slot. The move brings the total number of local news hours at the NBC affiliate […]
News & Notes: – The Chicago Cubs may start its own television network if the team is sold, according to an article in today’s Chicago Tribune. The model would be the New York Yankees successful YES network, and the Cubs are looking to maximize revenues. Current owner Tribune has a 25 percent in Comcast SportsNet, and the Cubs are contracted […]
… except at 10 p.m., where NBC affiliate WTMJ (despite lousy network lead-ins) won. But WISN, Milwaukee’s ABC affiliate owned by Hearst-Argyle, dominated everything else. WISN won at 5 and 6 p.m. and in prime-time and total-day numbers, but finished behind WTMJ at 10 p.m. by a hair. WTMJ actually increased its rating at 10, while WISN dropped two share […]
Thanks to harsh weather in Wisconsin all month long, Journal Broadcasting’s WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee won at 10 p.m. in February, beating Hearst-Argyle-owned ABC affiliate WISN-TV. The NBC affiliate benefited from a resurgent network line-up (albeit filled with second-hand fare), while WISN suffered without popular ABC shows out of episodes due to the writer’s strike and alt shows like Dancing With […]
WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee and several other stations are scheduled to air a live, one-hour syndicated special originating from Las Vegas on March 18 called Better at Night, celebrating Better TV’s first year on the air. Better TV airs at 3 p.m. weekdays on the NBC affiliate, and airs on stations primarily owned by Meredith (such as KCTV in Kansas City) […]
– Twentieth Television has renewed The Morning Show with Mike & Juliet for a second season the Fox O&O’s, including WFLD-TV in Chicago. The program has done on many stations, especially in southern markets such as Birmingham (WBRC) and Greensboro, N.C. (WGHP). Other pickups include San Francisco (KTVU), Seattle (KCPQ-TV), and Portland, Ore. (KPTV). – Mighty Oak’s Whacked Out Sports […]
A melancholy happy trails to John Drury. The former WBBM-TV, WLS-TV and WGN-TV news anchor who retired in 2002, lost his battle with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He died last night at the age of 80. Drury got his started in television at Milwaukee’s WTMJ, where he was a staff announcer. He began anchoring the news at the station […]
Some things I guess you can’t blame on NBC’s prime-time lineup: Journal Broadcasting’s WTMJ-TV replaced Mark Strachota with a returning Steve Wexler as general manager. This comes as once-dominant WTMJ is coming under siege in the ratings from ABC affiliate WISN-TV. Those two Milwaukee stations have been neck-and-neck in the ratings. And don’t expect a return to the glory days […]
Remember when I said NBC stations get no help from their network lead-ins, hurting them? Turns out they don’t need them. NBC stations in Boston, Milwaukee, and Baltimore won the 11 p.m. late news races, according to recent July numbers from Nielsen. Among the highlights: Boston: NBC affiliate WHDH won the 11p.m. news race, but finished behind ABC affiliate WCVB-TV […]
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