Jan 2009
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Thurs., Jan. 29) -- more Idol worship
01/31/09 10:29 AM
By ED BARK
Fox's extra night of American Idol dominated as usual while also successfully launching the season premiere of Hell's Kitchen, starring flaming a-hole Gordon Ramsay.
Idol's last round of auditions before the show heads to Hollywood led all programming Thursday with 538,083 D-FW viewers. Kitchen followed at 8 p.m. with 259,077 viewers. That put it a distant second behind a new episode of CBS' competing CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (451,724 viewers). But Kitchen led the 8 p.m. field in advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds, with CSI a close second.
CBS also won in total viewers at 9 p.m with Eleventh Hour, but trailed ABC's Private Practice in the 18-to-49 age range.
Local news derby results put WFAA8 on top at 10 p.m. in total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 won in both ratings measurements at 6 a.m. and also trounced the three network morning shows during the 7 to 9 a.m. portion of Good Day.
WFAA8 as usual swept the 6 p.m. newscast ratings. At 5 p.m., CBS11 recorded an exceedingly rare win in total viewers while NBC5 was tops with 25-to-54-year-olds.
Fox's extra night of American Idol dominated as usual while also successfully launching the season premiere of Hell's Kitchen, starring flaming a-hole Gordon Ramsay.
Idol's last round of auditions before the show heads to Hollywood led all programming Thursday with 538,083 D-FW viewers. Kitchen followed at 8 p.m. with 259,077 viewers. That put it a distant second behind a new episode of CBS' competing CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (451,724 viewers). But Kitchen led the 8 p.m. field in advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds, with CSI a close second.
CBS also won in total viewers at 9 p.m with Eleventh Hour, but trailed ABC's Private Practice in the 18-to-49 age range.
Local news derby results put WFAA8 on top at 10 p.m. in total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 won in both ratings measurements at 6 a.m. and also trounced the three network morning shows during the 7 to 9 a.m. portion of Good Day.
WFAA8 as usual swept the 6 p.m. newscast ratings. At 5 p.m., CBS11 recorded an exceedingly rare win in total viewers while NBC5 was tops with 25-to-54-year-olds.
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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Wed., Jan. 28) -- Fox again frolics (updated with extended morning news numbers)
01/29/09 05:59 PM
By ED BARK
Luxuriating in the bosom of an American Idol lead-in, Fox's second episode of Lie to Me knocked off ABC's Lost in head-to-head competition Wednesday night.
Lost also fell short of the audience for CBS' competing Criminal Minds in both total D-FW viewers and advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds.
Idol's Salt Lake City audition round piled up 631,085 viewers in surpassing the total audience for 7 p.m. programming on ABC, CBS and NBC. The CBS' lineup included a half-hour prime-time edition of Katie Couric's CBS Evening News, which had 119,574 viewers from 7 to 7:30 p.m. in beating the first half-hour of a Lost recap (79,608 viewers).
Lie to Me then held 358,722 viewers to comfortably win at 8 p.m. opposite Criminal Minds (279,006 viewers), a new Lost (205,933 viewers) and NBC's Law & Order: SVU repeat (126,217 viewers).
ABC's return of the freshman series Life On Mars dipped to 179,361 viewers in the 9 p.m. hour to finish third ahead of Fox4's 9 p.m. local newscast (159,432 viewers). But Mars fell to fourth place among 18-to-49-year-olds. CBS' CSI: NY as usual led the 9 p.m. pack in both ratings measurements.
In the local news derby, WFAA8 again rolled to comfortable wins at 10 p.m. in total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the preferred advertiser target audience for news programming.
WFAA8 also ran the table at 6 p.m. and recorded a lately rare win at 6 a.m. among 25-to-54-year-olds. Fox4 had the 6 a.m. edge in total viewers.
Fox4 and NBC5 tied for first place at 5 p.m. in total viewers, with the Peacock owning the lone gold with 25-to-54-year-olds.
Also of note: NBC5, WFAA8 and CBS11 all extended their ice storm-infused morning shows until 10 a.m. or beyond while Fox4 mostly yielded to Live With Regis & Kelly at 9 a.m. There was a ratings price to pay for that. Here's a telescoped look at the 7 to 9 a.m. and 9 to 10 a.m. total viewers Nielsens:
7 to 9 A.M.
Fox4 news -- 272,363
NBC5 news -- 245,791
WFAA8 news -- 205,933
CBS11 news -- 99,645
9 to 10 A.M.
NBC5 news -- 338,793
WFAA8 news -- 192,647
Live with Regis & Kelly -- 159,432
CBS11 news -- 139,503
NBC5 also scored big among 25-to-54-year-olds between 7 and 10 a.m., ballooning to 230,683 viewers in that age range in the 9 a.m. hour. That was more than twice as many viewers as runnerup WFAA8, which drew 106,236 viewers in 25-to-54 demographic from 9 to 10 a.m.
Luxuriating in the bosom of an American Idol lead-in, Fox's second episode of Lie to Me knocked off ABC's Lost in head-to-head competition Wednesday night.
Lost also fell short of the audience for CBS' competing Criminal Minds in both total D-FW viewers and advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds.
Idol's Salt Lake City audition round piled up 631,085 viewers in surpassing the total audience for 7 p.m. programming on ABC, CBS and NBC. The CBS' lineup included a half-hour prime-time edition of Katie Couric's CBS Evening News, which had 119,574 viewers from 7 to 7:30 p.m. in beating the first half-hour of a Lost recap (79,608 viewers).
Lie to Me then held 358,722 viewers to comfortably win at 8 p.m. opposite Criminal Minds (279,006 viewers), a new Lost (205,933 viewers) and NBC's Law & Order: SVU repeat (126,217 viewers).
ABC's return of the freshman series Life On Mars dipped to 179,361 viewers in the 9 p.m. hour to finish third ahead of Fox4's 9 p.m. local newscast (159,432 viewers). But Mars fell to fourth place among 18-to-49-year-olds. CBS' CSI: NY as usual led the 9 p.m. pack in both ratings measurements.
In the local news derby, WFAA8 again rolled to comfortable wins at 10 p.m. in total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the preferred advertiser target audience for news programming.
WFAA8 also ran the table at 6 p.m. and recorded a lately rare win at 6 a.m. among 25-to-54-year-olds. Fox4 had the 6 a.m. edge in total viewers.
Fox4 and NBC5 tied for first place at 5 p.m. in total viewers, with the Peacock owning the lone gold with 25-to-54-year-olds.
Also of note: NBC5, WFAA8 and CBS11 all extended their ice storm-infused morning shows until 10 a.m. or beyond while Fox4 mostly yielded to Live With Regis & Kelly at 9 a.m. There was a ratings price to pay for that. Here's a telescoped look at the 7 to 9 a.m. and 9 to 10 a.m. total viewers Nielsens:
7 to 9 A.M.
Fox4 news -- 272,363
NBC5 news -- 245,791
WFAA8 news -- 205,933
CBS11 news -- 99,645
9 to 10 A.M.
NBC5 news -- 338,793
WFAA8 news -- 192,647
Live with Regis & Kelly -- 159,432
CBS11 news -- 139,503
NBC5 also scored big among 25-to-54-year-olds between 7 and 10 a.m., ballooning to 230,683 viewers in that age range in the 9 a.m. hour. That was more than twice as many viewers as runnerup WFAA8, which drew 106,236 viewers in 25-to-54 demographic from 9 to 10 a.m.
Henderson weighs staying with Good Day, other options
01/28/09 09:57 PM
By ED BARK
Will she stay or will she go?
That's still an open question for Fox4 and Good Day co-anchor Megan Henderson, whose latest contract with the station expires in February.
"I have yet to make any decisions about my future," Henderson said in an email response. "I'm currently looking at all options, including staying with Fox4."
Henderson joined Fox4 and Good Day in 2003, replacing Julia Somers, now going by the name of Julie Summers at Miami ABC affiliate WPLG-TV. Good Day generally has been at or near the top of the early morning ratings during Henderson's tenure with incumbent Tim Ryan. But the show also did well with the Ryan-Somers team.
Fox4 management, which has a policy of not commenting on ongoing personnel matters, declined Wednesday to discuss Henderson's situation.
As previously reported, Henderson filled in twice last year on Fox News Channel's weekend edition of Fox & Friends, which is based in Manhattan. Several sources say that Henderson lately has drawn interest from the West Coast as well.
Henderson, who was raised in San Clemente, CA, arrived in D-FW from Fox's Salt Lake City affiliate, KSTU-TV.
NBC5 and WFAA8 may stand to profit, at least in the short term, if Henderson decides to leave Good Day.
The Peacock, with a veteran anchor duo of Deborah Ferguson and Brendan Higgins, has been battling for the top spot in recent weeks after Fox4 ran a solid No. 1 in the November "sweeps" ratings. And as reported last week on unclebarky.com, WFAA8 soon will be introducing a new male anchor -- Chris Flanagan from Des Moines, Iowa's WOI-TV -- to its No. 3-rated Daybreak program.
No. 4 CBS11, which has made slow ratings improvement in the past year, would have the second longest-standing anchor team, Scott Sams and Ginger Allen, if there's a changeover at Fox4.
It's safe to say that management at NBC5, WFAA8 and CBS11 would all heartily welcome a breakup of the Ryan-Henderson team, which also pays big ratings dividends for Fox4 during Good Day's extended 7 to 9 a.m. hours opposite the network morning shows.
But as Somers' departure proved, no one is irreplaceable. And the ever-underestimated Ryan isn't going anywhere.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Tues., Jan. 27) -- Idol and weather-fueled newscasts call the tune
01/28/09 01:12 PM
By ED BARK
A stay-at-home night helped kick American Idol's ratings up a notch before Fox4's 9 p.m. newscast again put competing network programming on ice.
Idol had 684,239 D-FW viewers on Fox, a sharp upturn from the 478,296 who watched on Inauguration night a week ago. CBS' competing NCIS held strong, too, drawing 471,653 viewers opposite Idol.
Fox's Fringe then plummeted in the 8 p.m. hour, dropping to third with 219,219 viewers against CBS' frontrunning repeat of The Mentalist (378,651 viewers) and the second hour of NBC's The Biggest Loser (358,722 viewers). But Loser had a substantial edge in that hour among advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds.
Fox4's weather-infused 9 p.m. newscast dug out of the Fringe valley despite early technical problems caused by power outages at the downtown Dallas mothership. For the second straight night it led the 9 p.m. hour in both total viewers (418,509) and 18-to-49-year-olds (230,126), with CBS' new episode of Without A Trace running second in both measurements.
"The 33"'s 9 p.m. local newscast had 59,787 total viewers, improving on a lead-in from the CW network's incompatible Privileged (39,858 viewers).
WFAA8 took over at 10 p.m. pulling in 411,866 viewers despite little lead-in help from ABC's Prime Time: What Would You Do? (a third place 172,718 viewers from 9:45 to 10 p.m.).
WFAA8 also won comfortably at 10 p.m. among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Tuesday's early morning parade again was led by NBC5, which swept the 6 a.m. competitions. The Peacock's haul of 169,977 viewers in the 25-to-54 age range was up from 103,200 on Monday, when it also led the field.
WFAA8 ran the table at 6 p.m. and also won at 5 p.m. in total viewers. NBC5 had the 5 p.m. edge among 25-to-54-year-olds.
A stay-at-home night helped kick American Idol's ratings up a notch before Fox4's 9 p.m. newscast again put competing network programming on ice.
Idol had 684,239 D-FW viewers on Fox, a sharp upturn from the 478,296 who watched on Inauguration night a week ago. CBS' competing NCIS held strong, too, drawing 471,653 viewers opposite Idol.
Fox's Fringe then plummeted in the 8 p.m. hour, dropping to third with 219,219 viewers against CBS' frontrunning repeat of The Mentalist (378,651 viewers) and the second hour of NBC's The Biggest Loser (358,722 viewers). But Loser had a substantial edge in that hour among advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds.
Fox4's weather-infused 9 p.m. newscast dug out of the Fringe valley despite early technical problems caused by power outages at the downtown Dallas mothership. For the second straight night it led the 9 p.m. hour in both total viewers (418,509) and 18-to-49-year-olds (230,126), with CBS' new episode of Without A Trace running second in both measurements.
"The 33"'s 9 p.m. local newscast had 59,787 total viewers, improving on a lead-in from the CW network's incompatible Privileged (39,858 viewers).
WFAA8 took over at 10 p.m. pulling in 411,866 viewers despite little lead-in help from ABC's Prime Time: What Would You Do? (a third place 172,718 viewers from 9:45 to 10 p.m.).
WFAA8 also won comfortably at 10 p.m. among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Tuesday's early morning parade again was led by NBC5, which swept the 6 a.m. competitions. The Peacock's haul of 169,977 viewers in the 25-to-54 age range was up from 103,200 on Monday, when it also led the field.
WFAA8 ran the table at 6 p.m. and also won at 5 p.m. in total viewers. NBC5 had the 5 p.m. edge among 25-to-54-year-olds.
B-r-r-r-r-eaking news -- and a big power outage at Fox4
01/28/09 08:27 AM
By ED BARK
Neither rain, sleet, snow -- or two power outages in the hour beforehand -- could stop Fox4's 9 p.m. newscast from its appointed icy rounds Tuesday.
It didn't look good, though, when color bars initially greeted viewers who'd been watching the Fox network's Fringe.
Anchor Steve Eagar turned up shortly, though, from a camp-out in Fox4's newsroom instead of at the anchor desk with Heather Hays.
"We're kind of in a mess here at Fox4," Eagar told viewers before throwing it to meteorologist Dan Henry, who had a lone static weather map in play before it froze on-screen and his audio went out.
"Fox4 news is experiencing technical difficulties," viewers were told via a "crawl" at the bottom of home screens. "If you are experiencing loss of audio it is not your television set. Please be patient while we correct the problem."
Henry shortly returned to the living and vamped with his lone weather map before Eagar again stepped in.
"We've had some power failures. Computers are down," he said.
But Fox4 reporters were still visible and audible via live shots from multiple locations. We'll get to them and rival stations' coverage after noting that Eagar and Hays made it back to their anchor desk after the first commercial break.
Things went reasonably well from there, although Henry's weather computers remained sluggish. A little tech-speak kicked in after a map failed to materialize. "If you can, John, let's go back to Weather 7, and I'll hop back in the chroma-key here," Henry said. And so he did.
Fox4, NBC5, WFAA8, CBS11 and even "The 33" performed admirably under the circumstances Tuesday night. But Fox4 gets a gold star for holding its 9 p.m. newscast together after all seemed lost just a few minutes before start time. This is no small deal. As posted earlier on unclebarky.com, Fox4's weather-heavy Monday 9 p.m. newscast had more viewers than any another program that day. So the stakes were high, and a total blackout would have robbed Fox4 of hundreds of thousands of potential viewers.
OK, here's a look at who hit the streets on Tuesday's local late night newscasts. (P.S. NBC5, WFAA8 and CBS11 all knocked out their morning network shows Wednesday and then continued with local weather coverage past 9 a.m. Fox4's homegrown Good Day, which runs until 9 a.m., yielded to Live with Regis and Kelly a few minutes after the hour. By 10:30 a.m., only CBS11 was still sticking with non-stop local weather coverage.)
FOX4 (9 p.m. news)
Frozen chosen -- Sophia Reza in Carrollton at the George Bush turnpike & I-35E; Lari Barager in Fort Worth at I-30/I-35W; Brandon Todd in Denton; Mike Doocy outside American Airlines Center, where the Dallas Stars were playing; Emily Lopez in North Dallas.
"It's hitting my face, it hurts and it's cold," Todd said of the sleet he'd encountered.
Todd also displayed his ice-encrusted coat, which was "frozen."
Reza could be seen jumping up and down to stay warm during her second live shot.
Lopez declared, "It's not cold out here, Heather. It is fuh-reezing." She then showed off her sleet-laden hat. "That's the best $10 I ever spent."
Barager noted that her can of Coke had slush in it, rendering it more refreshing.
Doocy, initially under an umbrella and later in a stocking cap, said that the Stars drew just 6,900 fans Tuesday night, likely their smallest crowd ever.
NBC5 (10 p.m. news)
Frozen chosen -- Scott Gordon in Fort Worth at the "Mixmaster"; Ellen Goldberg at the "High Five" in Dallas; Randy McIlwain in Denton; Scott Friedman outside D-FW Airport. David Finfrock manning the weather maps.
Gordon, encased in a light gray coat with hood, said, "It's not only a mess, it's downright dangerous here tonight."
"It's pretty much a ghost town out here," Goldberg observed from her post.
McIlwain crumpled an ice-crusted bush in his hand.
Addendum: At mid-Wednesday morning, NBC5's anchors spent a good deal of time amusing themselves with motorists slowly skidding to a "standstill" on a nearby freeway. "The El Camino's making a move," co-anchor Brendan Higgins said drily. "This is better than a glass of ice tea on a hot summer day," enthused co-anchor Deborah Ferguson. Consider it the yin of a car chase yang. And OK, I couldn't turn away. So I guess it was "good television."
WFAA8 (10 p.m. news)
Frozen Chosen -- Chris Hawes in Fort Worth; Jason Whitely in Lewisville; Steve Stoler in Collin County; Craig Civale off of I-75 and later in West Dallas where a man had slipped off a bridge and fallen to his death in the icy Trinity River. Pete Delkus manning the weather maps.
Hawes, Whitely and Civale all went topless, er, hatless, and didn't seem cold at all. But Stoler bundled himself in a long black coat and big black hat. Nobody engaged in any histrionics.
CBS11 (10 p.m. news)
Frozen chosen -- Carol Cavazos at the Fort Worth "Mixmaster"; Jay Gormley at the "High Five" in Dallas; J.D. Miles in Lewisville; Jack Fink in Plano; Larry Mowry manning the weather maps.
Miles was a blurry spectre in a yellow and white vest, and Eskimo-ish hood. His cameraman's lens had fogged up.
Mowry was summoned from a vacation in San Diego to head the weather team.
"THE 33" (9 p.m. news)
Frozen chosen -- meteorologist Bob Goosmann in the station parking lot; Shana Franklin at I 35E and Fort Worth Drive; Dawn Tongish in Fort Worth; Barry Carpenter at Loop 12 and Hwy. 408; Rebecca Miller woman-ing the weather maps.
"Take a look at some of the cars in the ol' parking lot," Goosmann said before trying to scrape some ice off a front windshield.
In a second live shot, Goosmann noted that a nearby American flag was stuck to its frozen pole. Miller then rejoined from the toasty indoors, "I double dog dare you to go lick that pole. Naw, I'm kiddin'. Don't try to do that." (That's a reference to a famed playground scene in A Christmas Story for those who might have been puzzled.)
Franklin, sporting a Sherlock Holmes-esque hat, said to no one in particular, "If we're not frozen to death, we will rejoin you in about a half hour to update you on conditions."
She never returned. Send out a search party.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Mon., Jan. 26) -- bad weather day a boon for Fox4's 9 p.m. newscast
01/27/09 10:18 AM
By ED BARK
Profiting from a mix of impending icy weather and a CSI: Miami repeat, Fox4's 9 p.m. local newscast had more viewers than any other program Monday.
Amassing 358,722 D-FW viewers, the news easily outdrew CBS' competing CSI rehash (259,077 viewers), a new episode of ABC's True Beauty (179,361 viewers) and the last hour of NBC's The Last Templar miniseries (also with 179,361 viewers).
Fox4 also drew a wealth of advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds for its 9 p.m. news, again ranking as Monday's top draw with 171,784.
Earlier Monday, a new episode of Fox's House won the 7 p.m. hour in both measurements against CBS' sitcom repeats, the first hour of ABC's The Bachelor 13 and NBC's Superstars of Dance finale, the night's least-watched prime-time attraction on the Big Four broadcast networks with 126,217 viewers.
But Fox's 24 slipped to second from 8 to 9 p.m. opposite the second hour of The Bachelor. A repeat of CBS' Two and a Half Men topped both shows in total viewers from 8 to 8:30 p.m. before the network's Worst Week cratered.
In the cable universe, TNT's premiere of Trust Me, starring Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanaugh as Chicago ad men, got off to a sluggish start in D-FW with 66,430 viewers. Its 8 p.m. lead-in, a new episode of The Closer, had 126,217 viewers.
And on PBS, the first of three Antiques Roadshow episodes from Dallas had a nice-sized 166,075 viewers in the 7 p.m. hour.
In local news derby results, WFAA8 topped the 10 p.m. field in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
NBC5 likewise ran the table at 6 a.m. while WFAA8 swept the 6 p.m. competitions.
Fox4 and WFAA8 tied for first at 5 p.m. in total viewers, with Fox4 winning outright among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Profiting from a mix of impending icy weather and a CSI: Miami repeat, Fox4's 9 p.m. local newscast had more viewers than any other program Monday.
Amassing 358,722 D-FW viewers, the news easily outdrew CBS' competing CSI rehash (259,077 viewers), a new episode of ABC's True Beauty (179,361 viewers) and the last hour of NBC's The Last Templar miniseries (also with 179,361 viewers).
Fox4 also drew a wealth of advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds for its 9 p.m. news, again ranking as Monday's top draw with 171,784.
Earlier Monday, a new episode of Fox's House won the 7 p.m. hour in both measurements against CBS' sitcom repeats, the first hour of ABC's The Bachelor 13 and NBC's Superstars of Dance finale, the night's least-watched prime-time attraction on the Big Four broadcast networks with 126,217 viewers.
But Fox's 24 slipped to second from 8 to 9 p.m. opposite the second hour of The Bachelor. A repeat of CBS' Two and a Half Men topped both shows in total viewers from 8 to 8:30 p.m. before the network's Worst Week cratered.
In the cable universe, TNT's premiere of Trust Me, starring Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanaugh as Chicago ad men, got off to a sluggish start in D-FW with 66,430 viewers. Its 8 p.m. lead-in, a new episode of The Closer, had 126,217 viewers.
And on PBS, the first of three Antiques Roadshow episodes from Dallas had a nice-sized 166,075 viewers in the 7 p.m. hour.
In local news derby results, WFAA8 topped the 10 p.m. field in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
NBC5 likewise ran the table at 6 a.m. while WFAA8 swept the 6 p.m. competitions.
Fox4 and WFAA8 tied for first at 5 p.m. in total viewers, with Fox4 winning outright among 25-to-54-year-olds.
WFAA8 tabs Des Moines anchor for Daybreak slot
01/26/09 04:19 PM
By ED BARK
WFAA8 has hired Des Moines, Iowa news anchor Chris Flanagan to join incumbent Cynthia Izaguirre on the station's ratings-challenged Daybreak program.
Flanagan, who will be a newcomer to an early morning shift, has been the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. anchor for ABC affiliate WOI-TV, which he joined in November 2004.
"He is one of the genuinely nicer people that I've met, and I think his personality will really mesh well with Cynthia's," WFAA8 news director Michael Valentine said in a telephone interview Monday. "There's an energy on the air that I think will differentiate him in this market. He's very, very funny."
Flanagan likely will join Daybreak by late February, Valentine said.
WFAA8 currently trails Fox4 and NBC in the early morning Nielsen ratings. The ABC station has had ample male churn in the past year, dating to Justin Farmer's decision to take an evening anchor post at WSB-TV in Atlanta.
Farmer informed WFAA8 management of his decision on the same day -- Jan. 4, 2008 -- that Izaguirre made her Daybreak debut. The station held him to the remaining seven months on his contract, but left Farmer out of Daybreak promotions.
Farmer was succeeded last August by in-house anchor Brad Hawkins, who then left WFAA8 late last year to take a PR position with Dallas-based Southwest Airlines. Jeff Brady, the station's 5 p.m. co-anchor, lately has been filling in.
"I think we need some stability," Valentine said. "We need people who have been on the show for more than six months and to get away from the cycle of turning over people."
Valentine said he discussed the rigors of an early morning shift with Flanagan, and is confident that he'll be a "long-term player" for WFAA8.
Flanagan, who has a journalism degree from Southern Connecticut State University, also has worked at television stations in San Francisco, Indianapolis and Hartford, Conn., according to his WOI biography.
The station said he moved to Iowa "because he was looking for a 'family friendly' area to live with his wife and raise their two children."
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., Jan. 23-25) -- Mavs die on national stage, Peacock scores with Last Templar
01/26/09 11:09 AM
By ED BARK
The Dallas Mavericks once again imploded on ABC's national stage Sunday afternoon, prompting network commentators to skewer them at halftime while D-FW viewers mostly looked away.
Boston's home court rout of the Mavs -- a thorough beating from start to stop -- drew 126,217 viewers locally, with ratings receding during the game's second half. The following Lakers-Spurs contest, not nearly as one-sided, averaged 132,860 D-FW viewers.
NBC's part one of The Last Templar, which ends on Monday night, gave the Peacock a nice boost from 8 to 10 p.m. with 305,578 viewers. It slightly trailed the closing hour of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (318,864 viewers) but won the 9 p.m. hour against CBS' competing Loving Leah Hallmark Hall of Fame movie (192,647 viewers) and ABC's Desperate Housewives rerun (152,789 viewers).
On Friday night, the Mavs' decisive man-up win against Detroit drew just 46,501 D-FW viewers on TXA21 to run sixth overall in prime-time. CBS' Numb3rs had the biggest prime-time audience with 279,006 viewers from 9 to 10 p.m.
NBC's second episode of Austin-made Friday Night Lights ran second in total viewers and 18-to-49-year-olds in the 8 p.m. hour, with CBS' Flashpoint the frontrunner in both measurements.
In the local news derby, WFAA8's 10 p.m. edition was Friday's most-watched program with 312,221 viewers. It also won among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
NBC5 swept the 6 a.m. competitions and WFAA8 did likewise at 6 p.m. The 5 p.m. golds in total viewers were shared by WFAA8 and NBC5, with WFAA8 tops in the 25-to-54 demographic.
The Dallas Mavericks once again imploded on ABC's national stage Sunday afternoon, prompting network commentators to skewer them at halftime while D-FW viewers mostly looked away.
Boston's home court rout of the Mavs -- a thorough beating from start to stop -- drew 126,217 viewers locally, with ratings receding during the game's second half. The following Lakers-Spurs contest, not nearly as one-sided, averaged 132,860 D-FW viewers.
NBC's part one of The Last Templar, which ends on Monday night, gave the Peacock a nice boost from 8 to 10 p.m. with 305,578 viewers. It slightly trailed the closing hour of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (318,864 viewers) but won the 9 p.m. hour against CBS' competing Loving Leah Hallmark Hall of Fame movie (192,647 viewers) and ABC's Desperate Housewives rerun (152,789 viewers).
On Friday night, the Mavs' decisive man-up win against Detroit drew just 46,501 D-FW viewers on TXA21 to run sixth overall in prime-time. CBS' Numb3rs had the biggest prime-time audience with 279,006 viewers from 9 to 10 p.m.
NBC's second episode of Austin-made Friday Night Lights ran second in total viewers and 18-to-49-year-olds in the 8 p.m. hour, with CBS' Flashpoint the frontrunner in both measurements.
In the local news derby, WFAA8's 10 p.m. edition was Friday's most-watched program with 312,221 viewers. It also won among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
NBC5 swept the 6 a.m. competitions and WFAA8 did likewise at 6 p.m. The 5 p.m. golds in total viewers were shared by WFAA8 and NBC5, with WFAA8 tops in the 25-to-54 demographic.
Finders keepers: Antiques Roadshow does Dallas
01/26/09 09:26 AM
By ED BARK
Most of us think our stuff's worth a lot more than it really is.
That's why you should stick around all the way through the closing credits of Monday's first Dallas edition of PBS' Antiques Roadshow. You'll certainly want to see and hear an unidentified old-timer declare, "My sister asked me to bring this plate. And we found out it wasn't worth jack diddly hoo-hoo." Priceless.
The first of three hours from Dallas, taped last summer, premieres in the usual spot at 7 p.m. Monday on KERA (Ch. 13). Seventeen items are appraised tonight, including the already well-publicized 1847 painting by James Henry Beard that supposedly would sell at auction for between $300,00 and $500,000. Roadshow waits until the end to showcase this find. The Plano woman who owns it already has been featured on WFAA8 in a story by reporter Shelly Slater. But she still doesn't want her name used.
We won't disclose any of the other appraisals because that's part of the fun, of course. For instance, what might a miniature Beggs steam train set from the late 1800s be worth? The guy who brought it in says he got it as a kid from his Uncle Bob.
Another treasure-bearer has a "turned burl bowl" made in the 1820s. It had been sitting atop her TV set as a receptacle for videotapes and DVDs, she says.
The daughter of former New York Yankees outfielder Gene Woodling arrives with a collection of World Series rings, team-signed baseballs and autographed pictures from her dad's days with the team. The Yanks won a record five consecutive world championships from 1949-'53, with Woodling on the roster throughout.
Roadshow host Mark L. Walberg, who lately has been soiling himself on Fox's The Moment of Truth, also takes a road trip to the Hall of State at Fair Park, where a longtime flag collector shows off some of his prizes.
It's still all very addictive, and has been since the original British version premiered in 1979 followed by a U.S. adaptation in 1997. The price is usually right for those items deemed interesting or valuable enough to make Roadshow's final cut. In D-FW's case, some 6,000 items were brought to the Dallas Convention Center, with only 45 chosen for the show.
No matter. The guy who brought the basically worthless plate still makes the very best of his few seconds of air time. All together now: Jack diddly hoo-hoo.
The other Antiques Roadshow episodes from Dallas are on Feb. 2nd and 9th.
Gold and Green for WFAA8
01/23/09 12:13 PM
By ED BARK
WFAA8 officially became the first local television station ever to win a duPont-Columbia Gold Baton at Thursday night's awards ceremony in New York City.
As previously posted, reporters Brett Shipp and Byron Harris were honored for three investigative series. Also cited by duPont jurors were producer Mark Smith, editor and photographer Kraig Kirchem and news director Michael Valentine, all pictured above at a ceremony hosted by CBS Evening News Katie Couric at Columbia University.
***WFAA8's Good Morning Texas will be giving Texas singer/songwriter Pat Green's new CD a big promotional push.
Green is set to perform singles from "What I'm For" on all of next week's GMTs, beginning with the Monday, Jan. 26th show.
"We are pleased to help him introduce these new songs . . . and talk with him about the inspiration behind his life and music," GMT executive producer Dave Muscari says in a WFAA8 publicity release.
GMT airs at 9 a.m. weekdays.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Thurs, Jan. 22) -- the address is CBS
01/23/09 09:17 AM
By ED BARK
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation continued to prosper in its first episode without William Petersen's Gil Grissom.
The king of CBS' crime "procedurals," with Laurence Fishburne now in play, drew 411,866 D-FW viewers in the 8 p.m. hour to easily beat ABC's competing Grey's Anatomy (312,221 viewers). CSI also whipped Grey's, but by a lesser margin, in the fight for advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds.
CBS kept rolling at 9 p.m., where its first-year Eleventh Hour was Thursday's most-watched program with 418,509 viewers. ABC's Private Practice dipped to 219,219 viewers.
Fox's Bones won at 7 p.m. in both measurements before a second 8 p.m. helping dropped to third place in total viewers and fourth among 18-to-49-year-olds. A new episode of NBC's once super-potent ER ran fourth across the board at 9 p.m.
WFAA8's The Gordon Keith Show drew 39,858 viewers at 12:35 a.m. with its 100th and final episode. That was good enough to beat NBC's competing Carson Daly late-nighter. Gordo also beat Daly in the key 18-to-49 demographic, where his show improved on its lead-in from the last 15 minutes of ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live.
In the local news derby, CBS11 capitalized on its strong lead-in from Eleventh Hour to handily beat runnerup WFAA8 in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the favored advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 swept the 6 a.m. competitions and did likewise at 5 p.m. WFAA8 had twin wins at 6 p.m.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation continued to prosper in its first episode without William Petersen's Gil Grissom.
The king of CBS' crime "procedurals," with Laurence Fishburne now in play, drew 411,866 D-FW viewers in the 8 p.m. hour to easily beat ABC's competing Grey's Anatomy (312,221 viewers). CSI also whipped Grey's, but by a lesser margin, in the fight for advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds.
CBS kept rolling at 9 p.m., where its first-year Eleventh Hour was Thursday's most-watched program with 418,509 viewers. ABC's Private Practice dipped to 219,219 viewers.
Fox's Bones won at 7 p.m. in both measurements before a second 8 p.m. helping dropped to third place in total viewers and fourth among 18-to-49-year-olds. A new episode of NBC's once super-potent ER ran fourth across the board at 9 p.m.
WFAA8's The Gordon Keith Show drew 39,858 viewers at 12:35 a.m. with its 100th and final episode. That was good enough to beat NBC's competing Carson Daly late-nighter. Gordo also beat Daly in the key 18-to-49 demographic, where his show improved on its lead-in from the last 15 minutes of ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live.
In the local news derby, CBS11 capitalized on its strong lead-in from Eleventh Hour to handily beat runnerup WFAA8 in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the favored advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 swept the 6 a.m. competitions and did likewise at 5 p.m. WFAA8 had twin wins at 6 p.m.
WFAA8 drops The Gordon Keith Show and Young Street as part of layoffs announced Wednesday (updated Thurs. a.m.)
01/22/09 11:58 AM
By ED BARK
Layoffs announced Wednesday at WFAA8 have ended the runs of The Gordon Keith Show and Young Street.
WFAA8 news director Michael Valentine said that no on-camera newsroom personnel are affected, but that an editor has been laid off.
Dave Muscari, WFAA8's vice president of product development, confirmed Thursday that 12 people were let go. Also, six open positions now will not be filled. Young Street co-anchors Henry Guerrero and Angelique Tege are the only on-camera WFAA8 personnel being dropped. Neither Young Street or The Gordon Keith Show was produced by WFAA8's news division.
In a stationwide meeting Wednesday, employees were told that much lower ad revenues than expected are projected in the coming year.
"It's a difficult business environment," Muscari said.
It was the second round of layoffs at WFAA8 in the past half-year. In August, 5 p.m. anchor Macie Jepson was let go as part of a downsizing that eliminated 14 workplace positions. Ten of them had already been vacant.
Keith, better known as the resident court jester on KTCK (1310 AM) "The Ticket," says in a post on WFAA.com that The Gordon Keith Show will be taking a "long vacation" after Thursday's 100th episode (12:35 a.m. following ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live). The show will "recharge and possibly retool with more hot chicks and explosions," Keith writes. "There also has been talk of adding some small, adorable, adopted children (focus group driven)."
Last week's show had 26,572 viewers according to Nielsen Media Research.
In a later email response sent Thursday to unclebarky.com, Keith said, "Bottom line is that these are tough economic times and we lost our budget . . . I know we are not everyone's cup of tea, but I am proud of the work we have done."
The Gordon Keith Show won three Lone Star Emmy Awards last year. It premiered in February 2007, originally on KFWD-TV (Ch. 52), with which Belo-owned WFAA8 has a programming arrangement.
"What a great and wonderful opportunity Channel 8 gave me to get my feet wet in a new medium," Keith said, sounding uncommonly sincere. "I have nothing but happiness and gratefulness for my years with Channel 8. More importantly, I hope to continue my relationship with WFAA in new ways in the near future. On a sadder note, I really feel bad for people who lost their real jobs. That, to me, is the headline."
Young Street premiered on Jan. 6, 2008 as a young adult lifestyles magazine that replaced the canceled La Vida and Metro, which respectively targeted Hispanic and African-American audiences. It's been airing at 5 p.m. Sundays on WFAA8. The Jan. 18th edition had 19,929 viewers according to Nielsen.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Wed., Jan. 21) -- mixed results for Lost's premiere, Lie to Me's premiere
01/22/09 11:57 AM
By ED BARK
ABC's two-hour return of Lost prospered with advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds while falling short in Wednesday's total viewer Nielsens.
The 8 to 10 p.m. unveiling of Season 5 averaged 245,792 viewers overall from 8 to 10 p.m. That put it behind CBS' frontrunning crime combo of Criminal Minds (338,793 viewers) and CSI: NY (285,649 viewers).
Fox 8:03 p.m. launch of Fox's Lie to Me -- it intentionally let American Idol run a bit long in hopes of blunting the tune-in for Lost -- ran second in total viewers with 305,578. That was a sharp falloff from the 531,440 viewers inherited from Idol.
ABC and Lost emerged victorious, however, in the key 18-to-49-year-old demographic. Lost averaged 162,060 viewers in this age range, with Lie to Me (132,889) running second in the 8 p.m. hour and CSI: NY the runnerup at 9 p.m. (100,477).
NBC ran fourth across the board with its prime-time lineup of Knight Rider, Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order.
In the daily local news derby, WFAA8 swept the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. competitions in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
At 6 a.m., Fox4 nipped NBC5 and WFAA8 in total viewers, with the Peacock narrowly on top among 25-to-54-year-olds.
ABC's two-hour return of Lost prospered with advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds while falling short in Wednesday's total viewer Nielsens.
The 8 to 10 p.m. unveiling of Season 5 averaged 245,792 viewers overall from 8 to 10 p.m. That put it behind CBS' frontrunning crime combo of Criminal Minds (338,793 viewers) and CSI: NY (285,649 viewers).
Fox 8:03 p.m. launch of Fox's Lie to Me -- it intentionally let American Idol run a bit long in hopes of blunting the tune-in for Lost -- ran second in total viewers with 305,578. That was a sharp falloff from the 531,440 viewers inherited from Idol.
ABC and Lost emerged victorious, however, in the key 18-to-49-year-old demographic. Lost averaged 162,060 viewers in this age range, with Lie to Me (132,889) running second in the 8 p.m. hour and CSI: NY the runnerup at 9 p.m. (100,477).
NBC ran fourth across the board with its prime-time lineup of Knight Rider, Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order.
In the daily local news derby, WFAA8 swept the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. competitions in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
At 6 a.m., Fox4 nipped NBC5 and WFAA8 in total viewers, with the Peacock narrowly on top among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Tues., Jan. 20) -- Inauguration nation
01/21/09 11:46 AM
By ED BARK
Barack Obama's inauguration and first speech as the 44th U.S. president were watched in many ways, shapes and forms Tuesday. In D-FW, here are the old-school TV viewing numbers from 11 to 11:30 a.m.:
ABC (Ch. 8) -- 259,077 viewers
CBS (Ch. 11) and NBC (Ch. 5) -- 152,783 viewers apiece
Fox (Ch. 4) -- 146,146 viewers
CNN -- 139,503 viewers
Univision (Ch. 23) -- 73,073 viewers
Fox News Channel -- 66,430 viewers
MSNBC -- 63,109 viewers
PBS (Ch. 13) -- 21,258 viewers
CNBC -- "hashmarks" (no measurable audience)
That's a grand total of 1,074,162 viewers on these 10 channels. Both of Sunday's NFL championship games also had a bit over one million viewers on single networks, although many potential inauguration viewers were otherwise occupied during working hours Tuesday.
In prime-time, ABC's two-hour exclusive telecast of the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball averaged 425,152 viewers from 7 to 9 p.m. That was good enough to beat all competing programming except Fox's American Idol, which led prime time's parade with 478,296 viewers opposite the first hour of ABC's special (391,937 viewers). Idol dropped significantly from last Tuesday's Season 8 launch, which had 637,728 viewers.
CBS' one-hour inauguration wrapup ran fourth in the 8 p.m. hour with 159,432 viewers. ABC won the 9 p.m. hour with its followup inauguration news special (325,507 viewers), outpointing CBS' competing repeat of The Mentalist (285,649 viewers). NBC's 9 p.m. inauguration special had 132,860 viewers, edging Fox4's local 9 p.m. newscast for third place from 9 to 10 p.m.
In local news derby results, WFAA8 took the 10 p.m. golds in total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 swept the 6 a.m. competitions and WFAA8 did likewise at 5 p.m. The local 6 p.m. newscasts on NBC5, WFAA8 and CBS11 were wiped out by their networks' extended national news editions. ABC's World News had the most viewers.
Barack Obama's inauguration and first speech as the 44th U.S. president were watched in many ways, shapes and forms Tuesday. In D-FW, here are the old-school TV viewing numbers from 11 to 11:30 a.m.:
ABC (Ch. 8) -- 259,077 viewers
CBS (Ch. 11) and NBC (Ch. 5) -- 152,783 viewers apiece
Fox (Ch. 4) -- 146,146 viewers
CNN -- 139,503 viewers
Univision (Ch. 23) -- 73,073 viewers
Fox News Channel -- 66,430 viewers
MSNBC -- 63,109 viewers
PBS (Ch. 13) -- 21,258 viewers
CNBC -- "hashmarks" (no measurable audience)
That's a grand total of 1,074,162 viewers on these 10 channels. Both of Sunday's NFL championship games also had a bit over one million viewers on single networks, although many potential inauguration viewers were otherwise occupied during working hours Tuesday.
In prime-time, ABC's two-hour exclusive telecast of the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball averaged 425,152 viewers from 7 to 9 p.m. That was good enough to beat all competing programming except Fox's American Idol, which led prime time's parade with 478,296 viewers opposite the first hour of ABC's special (391,937 viewers). Idol dropped significantly from last Tuesday's Season 8 launch, which had 637,728 viewers.
CBS' one-hour inauguration wrapup ran fourth in the 8 p.m. hour with 159,432 viewers. ABC won the 9 p.m. hour with its followup inauguration news special (325,507 viewers), outpointing CBS' competing repeat of The Mentalist (285,649 viewers). NBC's 9 p.m. inauguration special had 132,860 viewers, edging Fox4's local 9 p.m. newscast for third place from 9 to 10 p.m.
In local news derby results, WFAA8 took the 10 p.m. golds in total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 swept the 6 a.m. competitions and WFAA8 did likewise at 5 p.m. The local 6 p.m. newscasts on NBC5, WFAA8 and CBS11 were wiped out by their networks' extended national news editions. ABC's World News had the most viewers.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Mon., Jan 16-19) -- Cowboys or not, NFL conference championships ride high
01/20/09 12:31 PM
By ED BARK
No contest. The NFL bone-crunched all competition Sunday with its NFC and AFC championship games.
Fox's Arizona Cardinals-Philadelphia Eagles matchup amassed an overall average of 1,009,736 D-FW viewers from mid-afternoon to early evening.
CBS then took over with the Pittsburgh Steelers-Baltimore cold war, which averaged 1,023,022 viewers. The Dallas Cowboys' last regular season game, a blowout road loss to the Eagles, drew 1,209,026 viewers on Dec. 28th.
A new episode of ABC's Desperate Housewives (225,862 viewers) had the biggest audience opposite football Sunday. CBS' post-game episode of the season's biggest new hit, The Mentalist, drew a formidable 451,724 viewers in wiping out competing 10 p.m. local newscasts.
On Monday night, Fox's first episode of House on its new night and time had 219,219 total viewers at 7 p.m. to place second behind CBS' comedy combo of The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother (272,363 viewers apiece).
Fox's 24 likewise ran second to CBS' comedies from 8 to 9 p.m., drawing the same number of viewers as House.
24 dropped to third -- behind ABC's The Bachelor -- among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds. House held steady in second place. CBS' CSI: Miami as usual ruled at 9 p.m. in both audience measurements.
Friday's return of NBC's Austin-made Friday Night Lights, which first aired on DirecTV, ran fifth from 8 to 9 p.m. in total viewers (86,359) and fourth with 18-to-49-year-olds. CBS' Flashpoint cop drama dominated the hour with 285,649 total viewers while also winning handily among 18-to-49-year-olds.
Local News Derby
In Friday's results, CBS11 swept the 10 p.m. ratings in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the key advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 finished first at 6 a.m. in total viewers, but NBC5 prevailed with 25-to-54-year-olds.
Fox4 ran the table at 5 p.m.; the 6 p.m. golds went to WFAA8 in total viewers and CBS11 in the 25-to-54 demographic.
CBS11 again won both 10 p.m. competitions on Monday's Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
NBC5 had twin wins at 6 a.m. while WFAA8 won across the board at 5 and 6 p.m.
Of note: WFAA8 opted for a holiday designation for all of its local newscasts, which exempts them from the official January averages. NBC5 took the exemption for only its 6 a.m. newscast, which in effect gave runnerup Fox4 a pair of next-to-meaningless wins.
No contest. The NFL bone-crunched all competition Sunday with its NFC and AFC championship games.
Fox's Arizona Cardinals-Philadelphia Eagles matchup amassed an overall average of 1,009,736 D-FW viewers from mid-afternoon to early evening.
CBS then took over with the Pittsburgh Steelers-Baltimore cold war, which averaged 1,023,022 viewers. The Dallas Cowboys' last regular season game, a blowout road loss to the Eagles, drew 1,209,026 viewers on Dec. 28th.
A new episode of ABC's Desperate Housewives (225,862 viewers) had the biggest audience opposite football Sunday. CBS' post-game episode of the season's biggest new hit, The Mentalist, drew a formidable 451,724 viewers in wiping out competing 10 p.m. local newscasts.
On Monday night, Fox's first episode of House on its new night and time had 219,219 total viewers at 7 p.m. to place second behind CBS' comedy combo of The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother (272,363 viewers apiece).
Fox's 24 likewise ran second to CBS' comedies from 8 to 9 p.m., drawing the same number of viewers as House.
24 dropped to third -- behind ABC's The Bachelor -- among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds. House held steady in second place. CBS' CSI: Miami as usual ruled at 9 p.m. in both audience measurements.
Friday's return of NBC's Austin-made Friday Night Lights, which first aired on DirecTV, ran fifth from 8 to 9 p.m. in total viewers (86,359) and fourth with 18-to-49-year-olds. CBS' Flashpoint cop drama dominated the hour with 285,649 total viewers while also winning handily among 18-to-49-year-olds.
Local News Derby
In Friday's results, CBS11 swept the 10 p.m. ratings in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the key advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 finished first at 6 a.m. in total viewers, but NBC5 prevailed with 25-to-54-year-olds.
Fox4 ran the table at 5 p.m.; the 6 p.m. golds went to WFAA8 in total viewers and CBS11 in the 25-to-54 demographic.
CBS11 again won both 10 p.m. competitions on Monday's Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
NBC5 had twin wins at 6 a.m. while WFAA8 won across the board at 5 and 6 p.m.
Of note: WFAA8 opted for a holiday designation for all of its local newscasts, which exempts them from the official January averages. NBC5 took the exemption for only its 6 a.m. newscast, which in effect gave runnerup Fox4 a pair of next-to-meaningless wins.
More changes at "The 33"
01/19/09 05:40 PM
ED BARK
"The 33" has dropped reporter Michael Rey from its news team as part of an ongoing staff shakeup by news director David Duitch.
At the same time the Dallas-based CW station has added reporter Aaron Smith, who arrives from Waco's KCEN-TV, and Dallas native Roni Proter, who will cover entertainment news after earlier hosting Simply Beautiful on Veria TV and Metroscene TV out of Chicago.
Rey joined "The 33" in April 2006 as a general assignment reporter and substitute anchor on 9 p.m. local newscasts. Before that he co-anchored WFAA8's Daybreak program with Debbie Denmon before the station replaced them with Justin Farmer and Jackie Hyland, both of whom since have left for other markets.
Rey also anchored at the TXCN cable news network after earlier logging 15 years at KVIL-FM in a variety of positions.
Smith is a Texas State University graduate who previously was a reporter and weekend anchor at KETK-TV in Tyler, TX before filling those same positions at KCEN. He's a Michigan native.
Proter's station biography and personal Web site says she began her broadcasting career "in a small Texas town" as a reporter for an NBC station.
Mea culpa: CBS11 news director says his station should have cited a Fox4 exclusive; pledges to give full credit from now on
01/16/09 10:51 AM
CBS11 news director Scott Diener Photo: Ed Bark
By ED BARK
CBS11 news director Scott Diener has taken a pledge that his counterparts should replicate.
From now on, he says, the station will specifically credit a competitor whenever it uses material from one of their stories.
Diener responded to a Jan. 14th unclebarky.com post that criticized CBS11's handling of a report by KDFW-TV/Fox4 reporter Shaun Rabb.
On Tuesday's 10 p.m. newscast, CBS11 excerpted portions of Rabb's exclusive, same-day jailhouse interview with Charles Payne, who admitted to fatally shooting Dallas police officer Norman Smith last week, but claimed he acted in self-defense.
CBS11 anchor Doug Dunbar credited "a local television station" with the interview before four printed excerpts were shown on-screen next to a picture of Payne. Fox 4 was never mentioned.
Diener, in an email sent Thursday, said that Rabb's interview "was newsworthy and needed to be shared in some form with our viewers and on-line readers."
"What I would do differently," he said, "is give an on-air credit to KDFW-TV as opposed to a 'local television station.' Unfortunately, it has been the practice in this market for years for our competitors to not air or publish our call letters or channel number. In fact I could give you numerous, documented examples in the past year where we broke a big story, fed it to the Associated Press -- only to have our print, on-line and television brothers and sisters take out our call letters and call it a 'local television station' or use 'reports say.' "
Not fully crediting rival news outlets is "a little silly," Diener acknowledged before taking an unsolicited pledge. "From here on forward," he wrote, "if we use video or information from our competitors, they'll get the full credit."
That should be a hard and firm policy at all news outlets.
Diener also said that CBS11 had requested an interview with Payne, "but he decided, after consulting with his pastor, to do one with Shaun Rabb . . . No credible news outlet would ignore an interview of this nature in such a high-profile crime. We don't believe that any one media outlet has the monopoly on the important stories in this market."
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Thurs., Jan. 15) -- Gil Grissom's CSI goodbye boosts CBS to top spot
01/16/09 10:49 AM
By ED BARK
President Bush's farewell address mucked up prime-time schedules, but viewers still found CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Gil Grissom's goodbye at 15 minutes past the show's usual 8 p.m. start time.
CSI drew 558,012 D-FW viewers to easily rank as Tuesday's top draw. CBS was the only network to push back its prime-time lineup by 15 minutes. ABC NBC and Fox all chose to join substitute programming "in progress." Namely Scrubs on ABC, My Name Is Earl on NBC and Kitchen Nightmares on Fox. Their combined 498,225 viewers fell short of CSI's total.
Bush's 7 to 7:15 p.m. goodbye speech played this way with local audiences:
CBS -- 298,935 viewers
ABC -- 225,862 viewers
Univision -- 166,075 viewers
Fox -- 152,789 viewers
NBC -- 119,574 viewers
Fox News Channel -- 66,430 viewers
MSNBC -- 33,215 viewers
CNN -- 26,572 viewers
PBS -- 13,286 viewers
In local news derby results, WFAA8 recovered from Wednesday's very rare shutout to win at 6 and 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
WFAA8 also took the 5 p.m. gold in total viewers and shared the 25-to-54 lead with Fox4.
At 6 a.m., Fox4 narrowly won in total viewers but NBC5 again countered with a strong first place finish among 25-to-54-year-olds.
President Bush's farewell address mucked up prime-time schedules, but viewers still found CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Gil Grissom's goodbye at 15 minutes past the show's usual 8 p.m. start time.
CSI drew 558,012 D-FW viewers to easily rank as Tuesday's top draw. CBS was the only network to push back its prime-time lineup by 15 minutes. ABC NBC and Fox all chose to join substitute programming "in progress." Namely Scrubs on ABC, My Name Is Earl on NBC and Kitchen Nightmares on Fox. Their combined 498,225 viewers fell short of CSI's total.
Bush's 7 to 7:15 p.m. goodbye speech played this way with local audiences:
CBS -- 298,935 viewers
ABC -- 225,862 viewers
Univision -- 166,075 viewers
Fox -- 152,789 viewers
NBC -- 119,574 viewers
Fox News Channel -- 66,430 viewers
MSNBC -- 33,215 viewers
CNN -- 26,572 viewers
PBS -- 13,286 viewers
In local news derby results, WFAA8 recovered from Wednesday's very rare shutout to win at 6 and 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
WFAA8 also took the 5 p.m. gold in total viewers and shared the 25-to-54 lead with Fox4.
At 6 a.m., Fox4 narrowly won in total viewers but NBC5 again countered with a strong first place finish among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Wed., Jan. 14) -- Idol rolls again while WFAA8 newscasts come up snake eyes
01/15/09 09:57 AM
By ED BARK
Fox's American Idol again dominated the prime-time ratings. That's pretty much a no-brainer. But when was the last time that none of WFAA8's four principal newscasts failed to win a gold? That pretty much never happens.
Idol second two-hour audition edition amassed a symmetrical 657,657 total D-FW viewers Wednesday, improving on Tuesday night's haul of 637,728. But it fell a little short with advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds, drawing 298,190 compared to 330,602 on the previous night.
Fox4's 9 p.m. local newscast again profited from Idol's largesse, winning the time period with 352,079 total viewers and also taking the gold among 18-to-49-year-olds in competition with network programming.
Meanwhile, ABC flopped with the last three Lost episodes from the previous season. They averaged just 112,931 viewers to run third from 7 to 10 p.m.
CBS held steady with new episodes of Criminal Minds (325,507 viewers) and CSI: NY (272,363 viewers). NBC's biggest prime-draw, Law & Order, had 172,718 viewers in the 9 p.m. slot.
The 10 p.m. local newscast golds went to CBS11 in total viewers and Fox4 among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
The 6 a.m. competitions also brought a split decision, with Fox4 tops in total viewers but NBC5 prevailing with 25-to-54-year-olds.
The Peacock ran the table at 6 p.m. and tied with Fox4 at 5 p.m. for first place in total viewers. Fox4 won outright at the earlier hour among 25-to-54-year-olds.
That left WFAA8 out in the cold, with its 5 p.m. news numbers especially dismal. The ABC station ran fourth with just 66,430 viewers and tied for a distant third place with CBS11 in the 25-to-54 age range (just 18,212 viewers apiece).
WFAA8's recent 5 p.m. woes -- it won the November sweeps in both ratings measurements -- underscore its long-held dependence on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Once invincible, it's now a loss-leader on many late afternoons.
In Wednesday's Nielsens, Oprah had just 53,144 total viewers in the 4 p.m. hour to run third behind NBC's First At Four local newscast (126,217 viewers) and Fox4's two doses of Judge Judy (112,931 total viewers).
Fox's American Idol again dominated the prime-time ratings. That's pretty much a no-brainer. But when was the last time that none of WFAA8's four principal newscasts failed to win a gold? That pretty much never happens.
Idol second two-hour audition edition amassed a symmetrical 657,657 total D-FW viewers Wednesday, improving on Tuesday night's haul of 637,728. But it fell a little short with advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds, drawing 298,190 compared to 330,602 on the previous night.
Fox4's 9 p.m. local newscast again profited from Idol's largesse, winning the time period with 352,079 total viewers and also taking the gold among 18-to-49-year-olds in competition with network programming.
Meanwhile, ABC flopped with the last three Lost episodes from the previous season. They averaged just 112,931 viewers to run third from 7 to 10 p.m.
CBS held steady with new episodes of Criminal Minds (325,507 viewers) and CSI: NY (272,363 viewers). NBC's biggest prime-draw, Law & Order, had 172,718 viewers in the 9 p.m. slot.
The 10 p.m. local newscast golds went to CBS11 in total viewers and Fox4 among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
The 6 a.m. competitions also brought a split decision, with Fox4 tops in total viewers but NBC5 prevailing with 25-to-54-year-olds.
The Peacock ran the table at 6 p.m. and tied with Fox4 at 5 p.m. for first place in total viewers. Fox4 won outright at the earlier hour among 25-to-54-year-olds.
That left WFAA8 out in the cold, with its 5 p.m. news numbers especially dismal. The ABC station ran fourth with just 66,430 viewers and tied for a distant third place with CBS11 in the 25-to-54 age range (just 18,212 viewers apiece).
WFAA8's recent 5 p.m. woes -- it won the November sweeps in both ratings measurements -- underscore its long-held dependence on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Once invincible, it's now a loss-leader on many late afternoons.
In Wednesday's Nielsens, Oprah had just 53,144 total viewers in the 4 p.m. hour to run third behind NBC's First At Four local newscast (126,217 viewers) and Fox4's two doses of Judge Judy (112,931 total viewers).
Heavy lifting: CBS11 poaches on Fox4 story
01/14/09 10:59 AM
By ED BARK
Ripping off a rival station's story is an all too common practice in most TV markets. But CBS11 should get at least 10 days in ethical purgatory and a hot lead enema for what it did to Fox4 Tuesday night.
Reporter Shaun Rabb led his station's post-American Idol 9 p.m. newscast with "a story you'll see only on Fox4," anchor Steve Eagar told viewers. It was Rabb's jailhouse interview with Charles Payne, who admitted to shooting and killing Dallas police officer Norman Smith last week but claimed he was acting in self-defense.
Rabb asked all the right questions, including why Payne had a gun and whether there were drugs in the house at the time. Payne's rambling answers spoke volumes.
Then along came CBS11, which displayed four printed quotes next to Payne's picture in a story that ran during the opening five minutes of the station's Tuesday, 10 p.m. newscast.
Anchor Doug Dunbar played the front man, telling viewers, "In an interview with a local television station, Payne said that when someone knocked at his door that night and forced it open, he reacted and shot because he felt his life was in danger."
CBS11 obviously went to considerable lengths in lifting, re-packaging and then prominently playing Rabb's story. In that context, generically citing a "local television station" is simply inexcusable. Either ignore the story, give specific credit where it's due or try to get your own interview.
In this instance, Rabb's enterprise and legwork were simply too much for CBS11 to handle. It was easier to "re-purpose" his efforts and then let CBS11 viewers guess where they came from.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Tues., Jan. 13) -- Season 8 Idol opener propels Fox4 to prime-time sweep
01/14/09 09:56 AM
By ED BARK
Here we go again. American Idol's two-hour return crunched all opposition Tuesday night, although CBS' NCIS fought its way to a solid second place finish in the 7 p.m. hour.
The Fox juggernaut, which devoted its entire opener to auditions in Phoenix, averaged 637,728 D-FW viewers overall, with more than half of them -- 330,602 -- in the advertiser-craved 18-to-49 age range.
Idol's first hour had 577,941 total viewers opposite a game NCIS (438,438 viewers). Idol then built to 697,515 viewers from 8 to 9 p.m., with CBS' The Mentalist far back with 405,223 viewers.
Left for dead opposite Idol were NBC's two-hour The Biggest Loser (146,146 viewers) and ABC's trio of Homeland Security USA (132,860 viewers) and two Scrubs episodes (106,288 and 119,574 viewers).
Fox4's 9 p.m. local newscast fell sharply from its bounteous Idol lead-in, but still won its time slot with 318,864 viewers. It also beat all rival programs in the 18-to-49 demographic. That's an impressive showing opposite venerables such as NBC's Law & Order: SVU and CBS' Without A Trace.
In the local news derby, WFAA8 again prevailed at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 returned to the winner's circle at 6 a.m. in total viewers, but NBC5 topped the field among 25-to-54-year-olds.
The Peacock swept the 5 p.m. news competitions, where it's been running strong of late. At 6 p.m. the golds were shared by WFAA8 in total viewers and Fox4 in the 25-to-54 demo, where it won for the second straight day in a time slot that long has been dominated by WFAA8.
Here we go again. American Idol's two-hour return crunched all opposition Tuesday night, although CBS' NCIS fought its way to a solid second place finish in the 7 p.m. hour.
The Fox juggernaut, which devoted its entire opener to auditions in Phoenix, averaged 637,728 D-FW viewers overall, with more than half of them -- 330,602 -- in the advertiser-craved 18-to-49 age range.
Idol's first hour had 577,941 total viewers opposite a game NCIS (438,438 viewers). Idol then built to 697,515 viewers from 8 to 9 p.m., with CBS' The Mentalist far back with 405,223 viewers.
Left for dead opposite Idol were NBC's two-hour The Biggest Loser (146,146 viewers) and ABC's trio of Homeland Security USA (132,860 viewers) and two Scrubs episodes (106,288 and 119,574 viewers).
Fox4's 9 p.m. local newscast fell sharply from its bounteous Idol lead-in, but still won its time slot with 318,864 viewers. It also beat all rival programs in the 18-to-49 demographic. That's an impressive showing opposite venerables such as NBC's Law & Order: SVU and CBS' Without A Trace.
In the local news derby, WFAA8 again prevailed at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 returned to the winner's circle at 6 a.m. in total viewers, but NBC5 topped the field among 25-to-54-year-olds.
The Peacock swept the 5 p.m. news competitions, where it's been running strong of late. At 6 p.m. the golds were shared by WFAA8 in total viewers and Fox4 in the 25-to-54 demo, where it won for the second straight day in a time slot that long has been dominated by WFAA8.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Mon., Jan. 12) -- CBS sitcoms clock in with win over 24 before sun rises higher for CSI: Miami
01/13/09 09:17 AM
By ED BARK
The Big Four broadcast networks all offered new product Monday night, with CBS making the biggest ratings haul.
Its 7 to 8:30 p.m. blend of The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother and Two and a Half Men took the top spots in total D-FW viewers before the last half-hour of Fox's 24 slipped into first opposite CBS' runnerup Worst Week. The 9 p.m. hour then belonged to CBS' CSI: Miami, Monday's most-watched attraction with 418,509 viewers.
CBS had its way throughout Monday night with advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds, winning across the board opposite second place 24 from 7 to 9 p.m. and ABC's runnerup True Beauty in the 9 p.m. hour.
NBC's 9 p.m. dollop of Momma's Boys was by far the least-watched prime-time offering among the Big Four networks, luring just 66,430 viewers. It fell to fifth place with 18-to-49-year-olds, behind The 33's 9 p.m. local newscast.
ABC's two-hour edition of The Bachelor ran fourth from 7 to 9 p.m. in total viewers, with the Peacock's competing Superstars of Dance narrowly taking the bronze. But Superstars fell to a distant fourth among 18-to-49-year-olds in its first hour before deep-dipping to fifth place from 8 to 9 p.m. behind The CW's One Tree Hill.
The daily local news derby gave each of the four combatants a grin or two.
CBS11 capitalized on its network's CSI: Miami lead-in by winning at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
NBC5 ran first at 6 a.m. in total viewers, but by a statistically insignificant three-one hundredths of a rating point (1,992 viewers) over Fox4. The Peacock won a bit more comfortably -- by three-tenths of a rating point -- among 25-to-54-year-olds. Fox4 rebounded to beat the three network morning shows in both ratings measurements during the 7 to 9 a.m. portion of Good Day.
NBC5 took the 5 p.m. competitions in both ratings measurements. At 6 p.m. the golds went to WFAA8 in total viewers and Fox4 among 25-to-54-year-olds, where it won resoundingly over the usually frontrunning WFAA8.
The Big Four broadcast networks all offered new product Monday night, with CBS making the biggest ratings haul.
Its 7 to 8:30 p.m. blend of The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother and Two and a Half Men took the top spots in total D-FW viewers before the last half-hour of Fox's 24 slipped into first opposite CBS' runnerup Worst Week. The 9 p.m. hour then belonged to CBS' CSI: Miami, Monday's most-watched attraction with 418,509 viewers.
CBS had its way throughout Monday night with advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds, winning across the board opposite second place 24 from 7 to 9 p.m. and ABC's runnerup True Beauty in the 9 p.m. hour.
NBC's 9 p.m. dollop of Momma's Boys was by far the least-watched prime-time offering among the Big Four networks, luring just 66,430 viewers. It fell to fifth place with 18-to-49-year-olds, behind The 33's 9 p.m. local newscast.
ABC's two-hour edition of The Bachelor ran fourth from 7 to 9 p.m. in total viewers, with the Peacock's competing Superstars of Dance narrowly taking the bronze. But Superstars fell to a distant fourth among 18-to-49-year-olds in its first hour before deep-dipping to fifth place from 8 to 9 p.m. behind The CW's One Tree Hill.
The daily local news derby gave each of the four combatants a grin or two.
CBS11 capitalized on its network's CSI: Miami lead-in by winning at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
NBC5 ran first at 6 a.m. in total viewers, but by a statistically insignificant three-one hundredths of a rating point (1,992 viewers) over Fox4. The Peacock won a bit more comfortably -- by three-tenths of a rating point -- among 25-to-54-year-olds. Fox4 rebounded to beat the three network morning shows in both ratings measurements during the 7 to 9 a.m. portion of Good Day.
NBC5 took the 5 p.m. competitions in both ratings measurements. At 6 p.m. the golds went to WFAA8 in total viewers and Fox4 among 25-to-54-year-olds, where it won resoundingly over the usually frontrunning WFAA8.
WFAA8 getting first local station Gold Baton at duPont-Columbia awards ceremony
01/12/09 02:05 PM
By ED BARK
WFAA8 and investigative reporters Brett Shipp and Byron Harris will make history by winning a Gold Baton at a Jan. 22nd Alfred I. duPont-Columbia awards ceremony hosted by CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric.
As noted in November on unclebarky.com, Shipp is being cited for stories on high school grade-fixing and faulty gas couplings while Harris is being honored for his reports on millions of dollars in fraudulent loans tied to the obscure Export-Import Bank.
The big difference is that duPont jurors are folding those awards into a single Gold Baton for WFAA8 rather than three silvers. It's the first time a local station has won the gold since the award was instituted 20 years ago. WFAA8 will be joining 12 other recipients of the Silver Baton at this month's ceremony. Winners were officially announced Monday.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., Jan. 9-11) -- 24 and Golden Globes make for an eventful Sunday night, but CBS still kicking with regular lineup
01/12/09 10:10 AM
By ED BARK
24's seventh season premiere and NBC's latest three-hour Golden Globes glob got the big Sunday night buildups. But leave it to CBS to mostly win the night anyway in the total viewers Nielsens while the Globes cleaned up with advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds. Biggest loser? ABC with an all-new lineup.
The Globes averaged 332,150 total viewers locally while Fox's 24 clocked in with 272,363 from 7 to 9 p.m. Now let's look at the hour-by-hour breakdowns in both total viewers and advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds (Note that CBS' regular lineup was pushed back more than an hour by the Steelers-Charges playoff game and a short post-game show):
TOTAL VIEWERS
7 to 8 P.M.
Post-game show/60 Minutes (CBS) -- 372,008
Golden Globes (NBC) -- 338,793
24 (Fox) and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC) -- 259,077 apiece
8 to 9 P.M.
Golden Globes -- 332,150
60 Minutes/Cold Case -- 298,935
24 -- 292,292
Desperate Housewives (ABC) -- 219,219
9 to 10 P.M.
Cold Case/The Unit (CBS) -- 385,294
Golden Globes -- 318,864
Fox4 local news -- 239,148
Brothers & Sisters (ABC) -- 179,361
18-to-49-YEAR-OLDS
7 to 8 P.M.
Golden Globes -- 171,784
Post-game show/60 Minutes -- 142,613
24 and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition -- 129,648 apiece
8 to 9 P.M.
Golden Globes -- 178,266
24 -- 136,130
60 Minutes/Cold Case -- 116,683
Desperate Housewives -- 97,236
9 to 10 P.M.
Golden Globes -- 171,784
Cold Case/The Unit -- 149,095
Fox4 local news -- 106,960
Brothers & Sisters -- 74,548
The NFL's quartet of weekend playoff games outdrew all of the above on both Saturday and Sunday. Here are the top-to-bottom total viewer Nielsens:
Steelers- Chargers (Sun., CBS) -- 744,016
Cardinals-Panthers (Sat., Fox) -- 704,158
Eagles-Giants (Sun., Fox) -- 637,728
Ravens-Titans (Sat., CBS) -- 571,298
In Friday's local news derby, WFAA8 swept the 6 and 10 p.m. competitions in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the key advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 and NBC5 tied for first place at 6 a.m. in total viewers, with the Peacock prevailing among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Fox4 logged twin wins at 5 p.m.
24's seventh season premiere and NBC's latest three-hour Golden Globes glob got the big Sunday night buildups. But leave it to CBS to mostly win the night anyway in the total viewers Nielsens while the Globes cleaned up with advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds. Biggest loser? ABC with an all-new lineup.
The Globes averaged 332,150 total viewers locally while Fox's 24 clocked in with 272,363 from 7 to 9 p.m. Now let's look at the hour-by-hour breakdowns in both total viewers and advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds (Note that CBS' regular lineup was pushed back more than an hour by the Steelers-Charges playoff game and a short post-game show):
TOTAL VIEWERS
7 to 8 P.M.
Post-game show/60 Minutes (CBS) -- 372,008
Golden Globes (NBC) -- 338,793
24 (Fox) and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC) -- 259,077 apiece
8 to 9 P.M.
Golden Globes -- 332,150
60 Minutes/Cold Case -- 298,935
24 -- 292,292
Desperate Housewives (ABC) -- 219,219
9 to 10 P.M.
Cold Case/The Unit (CBS) -- 385,294
Golden Globes -- 318,864
Fox4 local news -- 239,148
Brothers & Sisters (ABC) -- 179,361
18-to-49-YEAR-OLDS
7 to 8 P.M.
Golden Globes -- 171,784
Post-game show/60 Minutes -- 142,613
24 and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition -- 129,648 apiece
8 to 9 P.M.
Golden Globes -- 178,266
24 -- 136,130
60 Minutes/Cold Case -- 116,683
Desperate Housewives -- 97,236
9 to 10 P.M.
Golden Globes -- 171,784
Cold Case/The Unit -- 149,095
Fox4 local news -- 106,960
Brothers & Sisters -- 74,548
The NFL's quartet of weekend playoff games outdrew all of the above on both Saturday and Sunday. Here are the top-to-bottom total viewer Nielsens:
Steelers- Chargers (Sun., CBS) -- 744,016
Cardinals-Panthers (Sat., Fox) -- 704,158
Eagles-Giants (Sun., Fox) -- 637,728
Ravens-Titans (Sat., CBS) -- 571,298
In Friday's local news derby, WFAA8 swept the 6 and 10 p.m. competitions in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the key advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 and NBC5 tied for first place at 6 a.m. in total viewers, with the Peacock prevailing among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Fox4 logged twin wins at 5 p.m.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Thurs., Jan. 8) -- Fox's national championship game runs up the score
01/09/09 09:52 AM
By ED BARK
ABC's new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice went to intensive care Thursday night opposite Fox's Florida-Oklahoma college football finale.
The game averaged 883,519 D-FW viewers, hitting high points of 983,164 between 9:30 to 9:45 p.m. and again from 10:30 to 10:45 p.m.
Grey's Anatomy staggered in with 279,006 viewers in the 8 p.m. hour, losing to a repeat of CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (305,578 viewers). Private Practice then slid to 232,505 viewers, but otherwise moved up to second ahead of an Eleventh Hour repeat on CBS (172,718 viewers).
Football also scored big with advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds. Here are the breakdowns by gender between Florida-Oklahoma and Grey's Anatomy, which generally has a much higher percentage of women viewers.
Florida-Oklahoma
Men 18-to-49 -- 251,356
Women 18-to-49 -- 170,893
Grey's Anatomy
Men 18-to-49 -- 35,700
Women 18-to-49 -- 83,300
Florida-Oklahoma also outdrew Monday's Texas-Ohio State thriller, which averaged 790,517 total viewers in D-FW.
The Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars had scant chance opposite college football's showcase game Thursday. The Mavs' win over the Knicks attracted 26,572 viewers on Fox Sports Southwest. The Stars' loss to the Red Wings had 13,286 viewers on MY27. NBC's biggest prime-time draw, a new episode of My Name Is Earl, had 152,789 viewers.
In Thursday's local news derby, WFAA8 won a downsized three-way race at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the primary advertiser target audience for news programming.
NBC5 continued its recent strong run at 6 a.m. by running the table. The Peacock also swept the 5 p.m. news competitions.
The 6 p.m. golds were split between WFAA8 in total viewers and NBC5 in the 25-to-54 demographic.
ABC's new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice went to intensive care Thursday night opposite Fox's Florida-Oklahoma college football finale.
The game averaged 883,519 D-FW viewers, hitting high points of 983,164 between 9:30 to 9:45 p.m. and again from 10:30 to 10:45 p.m.
Grey's Anatomy staggered in with 279,006 viewers in the 8 p.m. hour, losing to a repeat of CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (305,578 viewers). Private Practice then slid to 232,505 viewers, but otherwise moved up to second ahead of an Eleventh Hour repeat on CBS (172,718 viewers).
Football also scored big with advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds. Here are the breakdowns by gender between Florida-Oklahoma and Grey's Anatomy, which generally has a much higher percentage of women viewers.
Florida-Oklahoma
Men 18-to-49 -- 251,356
Women 18-to-49 -- 170,893
Grey's Anatomy
Men 18-to-49 -- 35,700
Women 18-to-49 -- 83,300
Florida-Oklahoma also outdrew Monday's Texas-Ohio State thriller, which averaged 790,517 total viewers in D-FW.
The Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars had scant chance opposite college football's showcase game Thursday. The Mavs' win over the Knicks attracted 26,572 viewers on Fox Sports Southwest. The Stars' loss to the Red Wings had 13,286 viewers on MY27. NBC's biggest prime-time draw, a new episode of My Name Is Earl, had 152,789 viewers.
In Thursday's local news derby, WFAA8 won a downsized three-way race at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the primary advertiser target audience for news programming.
NBC5 continued its recent strong run at 6 a.m. by running the table. The Peacock also swept the 5 p.m. news competitions.
The 6 p.m. golds were split between WFAA8 in total viewers and NBC5 in the 25-to-54 demographic.
Downsizing claims Fox4 sports reporter Nita Wiggins
01/08/09 05:29 PM
By ED BARK
Sports reporter Nita Wiggins is out at Fox4 after joining the station in 1999.
She was laid off Thursday, becoming the latest TV journalist caught in an ongoing cycle of staff downsizing that's impacted all of D-FW's television newsrooms in the past year.
"Her contract had ended," said Fox4 news director Maria Barrs, who declined further comment.
Wiggins' departure leaves Fox4 with two on-camera sports personalities -- featured anchor Mike Doocy and weekend anchor/reporter Max Morgan.
Her Fox4 bio, since removed, says she's been a sports fanatic since childhood, when "I believe I was the only 8-year-old girl in my neighborhood watching NFL doubleheaders every Sunday."
Wiggins grew up in Augusta, GA, and earned a license to judge amateur boxing matches while working as a news reporter/anchor at a West Virginia station. Wiggins also has refereed more than 100 basketball games, according to her bio.
She previously worked at television stations in Augusta, Memphis and Seattle. Wiggins could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday evening.
Antiques Roadshow's three Dallas editions coming soon
01/08/09 12:47 PM
By ED BARK
January's biggest programming event won't be the return of Lost, 24 or American Idol in the minds of many North Texans.
Instead they'll be glued to PBS' Antiques Roadshow when the first of its three editions from Dallas premieres on Monday, Jan. 26th at the usual 7 p.m. hour on KERA-TV (Channel 13).
Two more Dallas shows follow on Feb. 2nd and 9th, with a grand total of 45 items selected from among the more than 6,000 toted to the Dallas Convention Center last June.
The bigger finds include a James Henry Beard painting, a handmade gold necklace and a first edition of the Book of Mormon, circa 1830. We won't disclose their actual retail values, but they're all worth a bit more than Uncle Barky's miniature Cheryl Ladd pewter statue from the not-so-acclaimed 1983 CBS movie Kentucky Woman. Someday, though . . .
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Wed., Jan. 7) -- WFAA8 scores big with Russ Martin interview
01/08/09 09:43 AM
By ED BARK
Barbara Walters' one-on-one with cancer-stricken Patrick Swayze paced Wednesday's prime-time ratings before WFAA8 drew by far the biggest audience of the day with a 10 p.m. newscast featuring a heavily promoted interview with deposed radio jock Russ Martin.
Martin, still collecting a seven-figure salary after 105.3 FM went to an all-sports format, spat a little tobacco juice and otherwise said little to reporter Janet St. James after taking her for a spin in his orange Dukes of Hazzard Dodge Charger. Still, it was by and large entertaining, with a playful St. James more or less impersonating Becky Oliver/Brett Shipp/Bennett Cunningham by scurrying after Martin while asking, "Russ, why won't you talk to us? What are you afraid of?"
She used to be a recurring guest on his show, St. James told viewers. So Martin didn't really mean it when he groused, "Leave me alone. Geez!"
He did say this, though: "Stations change formats, companies make decisions. You got a bottom line, you have to worry about things like that. So no, I don't take it personally."
Martin also made it clear that the Russ Martin Listeners Foundation is still intact. As proof, St. James showed a $30,000 check made out to the family of Dallas police officer Norm Smith, who was killed outside an apartment complex Tuesday night while serving a felony warrant. The newscast drew 458,367 D-FW viewers following the Walters special, which had 292,292 viewers in dominating its 9 p.m. time slot.
Over on CBS, the network's annual two-hour People's Choice Awards averaged 186,004 viewers. That put it second in the 8 p.m. hour and third from 9 to 10 p.m.
The CW's premiere of 13 -- Fear Is Real was a blockbuster in its own little way. Fear had 119,574 viewers, outdrawing the return of NBC's sputtering Knight Rider (106,288 viewers) to finish fourth from 7 to 8 p.m. And it tied Fox's Bones for third place among advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds.
Fear fared even better among CW's principal target audience of 18-to-34-year-olds. It ran first from 7 to 7:30 p.m. and then dropped to second, behind ABC's Scrubs repeat, in the 7:30 to 8 p.m. slot.
In the cable universe, the second season premiere of FX's Damages drew 39,858 viewers at 9 p.m. and 46,501 for the 10 p.m. repeat.
The local news derby Nielsens showed WFAA8 also dominating at 10 p.m. among 25-to-54-year-olds, the key advertiser target audience for news programming. It had more than twice as many as runnerup NBC5.
NBC5 and Fox4 tied for first in total viewers at 6 a.m., with the Peacock tops among 25-to-54-year-olds.
NBC5 swept the 5 p.m. competitions; the 6 p.m. golds went to WFAA8 in total viewers and Fox4 in the 25-to-54 age range.
Barbara Walters' one-on-one with cancer-stricken Patrick Swayze paced Wednesday's prime-time ratings before WFAA8 drew by far the biggest audience of the day with a 10 p.m. newscast featuring a heavily promoted interview with deposed radio jock Russ Martin.
Martin, still collecting a seven-figure salary after 105.3 FM went to an all-sports format, spat a little tobacco juice and otherwise said little to reporter Janet St. James after taking her for a spin in his orange Dukes of Hazzard Dodge Charger. Still, it was by and large entertaining, with a playful St. James more or less impersonating Becky Oliver/Brett Shipp/Bennett Cunningham by scurrying after Martin while asking, "Russ, why won't you talk to us? What are you afraid of?"
She used to be a recurring guest on his show, St. James told viewers. So Martin didn't really mean it when he groused, "Leave me alone. Geez!"
He did say this, though: "Stations change formats, companies make decisions. You got a bottom line, you have to worry about things like that. So no, I don't take it personally."
Martin also made it clear that the Russ Martin Listeners Foundation is still intact. As proof, St. James showed a $30,000 check made out to the family of Dallas police officer Norm Smith, who was killed outside an apartment complex Tuesday night while serving a felony warrant. The newscast drew 458,367 D-FW viewers following the Walters special, which had 292,292 viewers in dominating its 9 p.m. time slot.
Over on CBS, the network's annual two-hour People's Choice Awards averaged 186,004 viewers. That put it second in the 8 p.m. hour and third from 9 to 10 p.m.
The CW's premiere of 13 -- Fear Is Real was a blockbuster in its own little way. Fear had 119,574 viewers, outdrawing the return of NBC's sputtering Knight Rider (106,288 viewers) to finish fourth from 7 to 8 p.m. And it tied Fox's Bones for third place among advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds.
Fear fared even better among CW's principal target audience of 18-to-34-year-olds. It ran first from 7 to 7:30 p.m. and then dropped to second, behind ABC's Scrubs repeat, in the 7:30 to 8 p.m. slot.
In the cable universe, the second season premiere of FX's Damages drew 39,858 viewers at 9 p.m. and 46,501 for the 10 p.m. repeat.
The local news derby Nielsens showed WFAA8 also dominating at 10 p.m. among 25-to-54-year-olds, the key advertiser target audience for news programming. It had more than twice as many as runnerup NBC5.
NBC5 and Fox4 tied for first in total viewers at 6 a.m., with the Peacock tops among 25-to-54-year-olds.
NBC5 swept the 5 p.m. competitions; the 6 p.m. golds went to WFAA8 in total viewers and Fox4 in the 25-to-54 age range.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Tues., Jan. 6)
01/07/09 10:06 AM
By ED BARK
New episodes of CBS' regularly scheduled crime dramas left a collection of dead opposing shows in Tuesday's prime-time Nielsens.
NCIS, The Mentalist and Without A Trace all won their time slots in total viewers, with NCIS as usual racking up the biggest crowd (438,438 viewers).
But Mentalist and Trace tripped and fell among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds, with NBC's combo of The Biggest Loser and Law & Order: SVU on top. The second hour of Loser had more 18-to-49-year-olds than any other Tuesday show, weighing in with 178,266.
ABC struggled with the premiere of Homeland Security USA and the network's first two new episodes of Scrubs, which spent its first seven seasons on NBC.
Homeland ran third in both ratings measurements, beating only Fox's repeat of House in the 7 p.m. hour. Scrubs was third in total viewers, ahead of Fox's Fringe rerun. It improved to second among 18-to-49-year-olds with Tuesday's first episode before falling back to third from 8:30 to 9 p.m.
It'll only get worse for ABC next Tuesday, when Fox's American Idol splashes back into play with a two-hour eighth season premiere.
The local news derby at last had something for everyone, with all four major TV news providers claiming at least one first.
WFAA8 again dominated at 10 p.m., winning in total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
NBC5 took a pair of golds at 6 a.m., in each case nipping the usual frontrunning Fox4.
CBS11 recorded a very rare win at 6 p.m. in total viewers, with WFAA8 on top with 25-to-54-year-olds.
Fox4 won at 5 p.m. in total viewers, but NBC5 had the edge in the 25-to-54 age range.
New episodes of CBS' regularly scheduled crime dramas left a collection of dead opposing shows in Tuesday's prime-time Nielsens.
NCIS, The Mentalist and Without A Trace all won their time slots in total viewers, with NCIS as usual racking up the biggest crowd (438,438 viewers).
But Mentalist and Trace tripped and fell among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds, with NBC's combo of The Biggest Loser and Law & Order: SVU on top. The second hour of Loser had more 18-to-49-year-olds than any other Tuesday show, weighing in with 178,266.
ABC struggled with the premiere of Homeland Security USA and the network's first two new episodes of Scrubs, which spent its first seven seasons on NBC.
Homeland ran third in both ratings measurements, beating only Fox's repeat of House in the 7 p.m. hour. Scrubs was third in total viewers, ahead of Fox's Fringe rerun. It improved to second among 18-to-49-year-olds with Tuesday's first episode before falling back to third from 8:30 to 9 p.m.
It'll only get worse for ABC next Tuesday, when Fox's American Idol splashes back into play with a two-hour eighth season premiere.
The local news derby at last had something for everyone, with all four major TV news providers claiming at least one first.
WFAA8 again dominated at 10 p.m., winning in total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
NBC5 took a pair of golds at 6 a.m., in each case nipping the usual frontrunning Fox4.
CBS11 recorded a very rare win at 6 p.m. in total viewers, with WFAA8 on top with 25-to-54-year-olds.
Fox4 won at 5 p.m. in total viewers, but NBC5 had the edge in the 25-to-54 age range.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Mon., Jan. 5)
01/06/09 11:25 AM
By ED BARK
Texas' dramatic Fiesta Bowl comeback win over Ohio State rolled to a dominating prime-time win Monday.
The Fox telecast averaged 790,517 D-FW viewers, easily the biggest crowd for college football's conveyor belt of bowl games. But Thursday night's climactic Oklahoma-Florida national championship game clearly has a great shot at topping that number and perhaps even hitting the one million mark.
Throughout the night, Texas-Ohio State outdrew the combined programming on ABC, CBS, NBC and The CW. Among the also-rans, a two-hour edition of NBC's new Superstars of Dance had 225,862 viewers from 7 to 9 p.m. opposite ABC's two-hour premiere of The Bachelor 13 (186,004 viewers). But The Bachelor beat Superstars among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds.
At 9 p.m., ABC's first episode of True Beauty scraped up 199,920 viewers to run third behind football and a repeat of CBS' CSI: Miami (265,720 viewers). True Beauty outdrew CSI: Miami in the 18-to-49 demo, though.
NBC's new Momma's Boys lagged with just 99,645 total viewers at that hour pulling in fifth behind CW 33's 9 p.m. local newscast (112,931 viewers). The Peacock also ran fifth with 18-to-49-year-olds.
In the daily local news derby, WFAA8 topped a downsized three-horse field at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the preferred advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 again scored twin wins at 6 a.m. while also as usual whipping the three network morning shows from 7 to 9 a.m.
WFAA8 had the golds at 5 p.m and also won in total viewers at 6 p.m. WFAA8 and NBC5 shared first place in the later hour among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Texas' dramatic Fiesta Bowl comeback win over Ohio State rolled to a dominating prime-time win Monday.
The Fox telecast averaged 790,517 D-FW viewers, easily the biggest crowd for college football's conveyor belt of bowl games. But Thursday night's climactic Oklahoma-Florida national championship game clearly has a great shot at topping that number and perhaps even hitting the one million mark.
Throughout the night, Texas-Ohio State outdrew the combined programming on ABC, CBS, NBC and The CW. Among the also-rans, a two-hour edition of NBC's new Superstars of Dance had 225,862 viewers from 7 to 9 p.m. opposite ABC's two-hour premiere of The Bachelor 13 (186,004 viewers). But The Bachelor beat Superstars among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds.
At 9 p.m., ABC's first episode of True Beauty scraped up 199,920 viewers to run third behind football and a repeat of CBS' CSI: Miami (265,720 viewers). True Beauty outdrew CSI: Miami in the 18-to-49 demo, though.
NBC's new Momma's Boys lagged with just 99,645 total viewers at that hour pulling in fifth behind CW 33's 9 p.m. local newscast (112,931 viewers). The Peacock also ran fifth with 18-to-49-year-olds.
In the daily local news derby, WFAA8 topped a downsized three-horse field at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the preferred advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 again scored twin wins at 6 a.m. while also as usual whipping the three network morning shows from 7 to 9 a.m.
WFAA8 had the golds at 5 p.m and also won in total viewers at 6 p.m. WFAA8 and NBC5 shared first place in the later hour among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Miller time at The 33 (updated with new quotes Tuesday p.m.)
01/05/09 11:05 PM
By ED BARK
Former NBC early morning meteorologist Rebecca Miller officially became The 33's new weeknight forecaster Monday night, with previous occupant Bob Goosmann still in the mix for now.
Meanwhile, sources say that sports anchor Bob Irzyk has been let go after 10 years at the station.
No one in management could be reached for comment, but news director David Duitch lately has not been returning repeated phone messages left at his office. The already thinly staffed Ch. 33 newsroom has been fear-struck of late, with veteran news anchor Terri Chappell abruptly dropped early last month.
Miller did the indoor weather segments on Monday's 9 p.m. newscast, with Goosmann out in the cold -- literally. He reported live from a location outside the studio, re-informing viewers that they'd just experienced a rainy, shivery day after temperatures had hit the 80s over the weekend. After "Rebecca's 5-Day Forecast," news anchor Tom Crespo welcomed her as "now a permanent member of The 33 staff."
As previously reported on unclebarky.com, Goosmann was offered an opportunity to stay on staff as a weekend weather anchor and three-days-a-week general assignment reporter. A 30 percent pay cut also would be part of the deal.
"Yes, I have decided to stay," Goosmann said Tuesday. "In this economy and the state that the media business is in, I thought it was the best thing for me and my family at this time."
Management informed him Monday that Miller would be replacing him on Ch. 33's weeknight newscasts, Goosmann said.
"I have the utmost respect for Rebecca and have already enjoyed working with her," he said. "Not only is she very good at what she does, but more importantly she's a nice person."
Goosmann said he's "very saddened" that sports anchor Irzyk has been dropped. "I'm sure he'll land on his feet. As you know, when there's a management change in this business, they often want to move in a different direction. That's clearly the case here."
Duitch, a former WFAA8 news director, took that position at CW33 in July of last year.
Miller said Tuesday that she took the full-time chief meteorologist job at CW33 after being assured that Goosmann would be staying on.
"I would not take any position if it meant someone else lost theirs," she said.
Goosmann "has been absolutely wonderful about the whole thing," Miller said. "Apparently he'd been talked to about doing weekends awhile ago, As far as I know he's going to continue to be part of the 9 p.m. weather and news as much as he chooses. I'm happy to share on-air responsibilities as a team anytime. Both of us will do weather-related, environmentally-related stories."
Goosmann also will work on improving The 33's website, Miller said. "He's great with computers."
Miller had been filling in on weekends at The 33, with former NBC5 weekend meteorologist Krista Villarreal also taking a few shifts during the holidays after recently returning to North Texas from WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh. Miller worked at NBC5 for 17 years before the station decided not to renew her contract last March. Her termination generated more than 400 comments to unclebarky.com.
***On a somewhat less eventful note, WFAA8 veteran Jeff Brady is temporarily filling in on the station's Daybreak program while the search is on for a permanent anchor to join incumbent Cynthia Izaguirre. He began his stint this week.
"I'm told it will not be the permanent fix, and I'll be back to 5 p.m. (anchoring) before too much longer," Brady said in a video blog Monday. He expects to be working the early morning shift at least through January.
WFAA8 management is looking outside the station for a permanent replacement. Brad Hawkins co-anchored Daybreak from August to late December, when he left WFAA8 to take a PR position at Dallas-based Southwest Airlines. Hawkins had been getting an extended tryout in the seat vacated by Justin Farmer, who went to Atlanta's WSB-TV.
Budget cuts knock the wind out of Sky 4, Chopper 5 and Chopper 11
01/05/09 01:10 PM
By ED BARK
Three of D-FW's four major TV news providers are lowering their overheads by opting for cheaper choppers.
Gone are the bigger Bell helicopters that long have assumed the identities of Sky 4, Chopper 5 and Chopper 11. The veteran pilot/reporters who flew them, Fox4's Scott Wallace, NBC5's Ken Arnold and CBS11's Hector Cavazos, also are out of the picture.
"We all had our final flights on New Year's Eve," Wallace said in a telephone interview.
The three stations instead are turning to Garland-based Sky Helicopters, Inc. and its smaller Robinson R44 whirlybirds. The company offers less costly weekly, monthly and long-term "turnkey aircraft/pilot packages" to clients. WFAA8 also uses Sky Helicopters on occasion, but otherwise still deploys its trademark HD Chopper 8 with pilot/reporter Troy Bush.
"TV stations aren't making the money they used to make, and one of the biggest budget items is a helicopter," Wallace says. "We're like the fire trucks at the stations. We hop in the helicopters and we go to wherever the news is happening."
Wallace, who was president of the National Broadcast Pilots Association from 2001-'08, piloted Sky 4 for 13 years before the station grounded him. Under the new arrangement with Sky Helicopter, stations "won't have the experienced pilot or reporter on board describing the action on the ground," Wallace says. "That's something they're going to lose. The anchors are going to have to figure out some context for the picture. All they're going to receive is the video feed."
It's debatable how much of value viewers will be missing. It wouldn't hurt a bit, for instance, if stations all but ended their live, blow-by-blow reports of ongoing car chases. We also could survive with fewer overhead shots of burning buildings, car wrecks or neighborhoods that may or may not have a fugitive on the loose or in hiding.
Helicopters obviously can show the bigger picture, too, particularly in times of natural disasters. And they're still the optimum way to go when a reporter and cameraman need to travel fast to a distant, breaking story.
However it all shakes out, this looks like the end of an era. Helicopters used to be major players in typically overblown promotional campaigns. They were considered part of the news team, let alone a "flying billboard for the station," as Wallace puts it. In 2005, CBS11 sold "limited edition" mini-replicas of Chopper 11 to benefit the North Texas and Tarrant Area food banks.
Now you can slap a "For Rent" sign on Sky 4, Chopper 5 and Chopper 11 while their trusty pilots all look to fly for someone else.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., Jan. 2-4)
01/05/09 12:01 PM
By ED BARK
A flurry of weekend activity, dominated by college and pro football, brought 2009 into full view on home screens.
Let's look first at Mississippi's high-scoring win over Texas Tech in the homegrown Cotton Bowl. It drew a symmetrical 365,365 D-FW viewers on Fox, which probably shouldn't let Pat Summerall do the play-by-play anymore. Sometimes you just have to know when your day is done. And the 78-year-old Summerall is way too slow on the draw these days. Analyst Brian Baldinger should be sent elsewhere, too. Bring in a new team for 2010's inaugural Cotton Bowl in Jerry's Arlington Palace. Just keep Tony Siragusa out of it.
In prime-time, Utah's upset win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl lured 358,722 viewers to Fox's telecast. Kenny Albert and Daryl Johnston made for a high caliber announcing team, with the former Cowboys fullback getting better each season. Has he surpassed Troy Aikman, Fox's A-team analyst for pro games? Johnston's at least his equal, but Aikman still has a hammerlock on the top spot in tandem with Joe Buck.
Saturday's pro playoffs on NBC both outdrew Friday's college bowls. Arizona's win over Atlanta averaged 504,868 viewers. San Diego's overtime victory over Indianapolis then ballooned to 770,588 viewers.
On Sunday, Baltimore beat Miami to the tune of 544,726 viewers on CBS. Philadelphia's win over Minnesota jumped to 717,444 viewers on Fox.
Sunday also brought the premiere of NBC's Superstars of Dance, which drew 292,292 viewers in the 8 to 10 p.m. slot. That put it a respectable second in the first hour opposite ABC's new episode of Desperate Housewives (312,221 viewers). Dancing then waltzed to first place at 9 p.m., outscoring ABC's new episode of Brothers & Sisters (279,006 viewers).
Dancing ran second for the entire two hours among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds, with ABC on top.
CBS barely bothered promoting a double dollop of its new Game Show In My Head, which ran fourth from 7 to 8 p.m. Saturday in both total viewers and 18-to-49-year-olds. GSIMH did manage to outdraw ABC's competing combo of a Peanuts reprise and the first half-hour of Sleepless in Seattle. But it fell short of CW's pair of Simpsons repeats among D-FW viewers.
In Friday's local news derby, WFAA8 won at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming. It was a downsized three-station field, though, with Fox4 still carrying the Sugar Bowl.
The 6 a.m. golds again went to Fox4, which also continued its recent strong run at 5 p.m. with a pair of first place finishes. The 6 p.m. top spots were shared by WFAA8 in total viewers and NBC5 in the 25-to-54 demographic.
A flurry of weekend activity, dominated by college and pro football, brought 2009 into full view on home screens.
Let's look first at Mississippi's high-scoring win over Texas Tech in the homegrown Cotton Bowl. It drew a symmetrical 365,365 D-FW viewers on Fox, which probably shouldn't let Pat Summerall do the play-by-play anymore. Sometimes you just have to know when your day is done. And the 78-year-old Summerall is way too slow on the draw these days. Analyst Brian Baldinger should be sent elsewhere, too. Bring in a new team for 2010's inaugural Cotton Bowl in Jerry's Arlington Palace. Just keep Tony Siragusa out of it.
In prime-time, Utah's upset win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl lured 358,722 viewers to Fox's telecast. Kenny Albert and Daryl Johnston made for a high caliber announcing team, with the former Cowboys fullback getting better each season. Has he surpassed Troy Aikman, Fox's A-team analyst for pro games? Johnston's at least his equal, but Aikman still has a hammerlock on the top spot in tandem with Joe Buck.
Saturday's pro playoffs on NBC both outdrew Friday's college bowls. Arizona's win over Atlanta averaged 504,868 viewers. San Diego's overtime victory over Indianapolis then ballooned to 770,588 viewers.
On Sunday, Baltimore beat Miami to the tune of 544,726 viewers on CBS. Philadelphia's win over Minnesota jumped to 717,444 viewers on Fox.
Sunday also brought the premiere of NBC's Superstars of Dance, which drew 292,292 viewers in the 8 to 10 p.m. slot. That put it a respectable second in the first hour opposite ABC's new episode of Desperate Housewives (312,221 viewers). Dancing then waltzed to first place at 9 p.m., outscoring ABC's new episode of Brothers & Sisters (279,006 viewers).
Dancing ran second for the entire two hours among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds, with ABC on top.
CBS barely bothered promoting a double dollop of its new Game Show In My Head, which ran fourth from 7 to 8 p.m. Saturday in both total viewers and 18-to-49-year-olds. GSIMH did manage to outdraw ABC's competing combo of a Peanuts reprise and the first half-hour of Sleepless in Seattle. But it fell short of CW's pair of Simpsons repeats among D-FW viewers.
In Friday's local news derby, WFAA8 won at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming. It was a downsized three-station field, though, with Fox4 still carrying the Sugar Bowl.
The 6 a.m. golds again went to Fox4, which also continued its recent strong run at 5 p.m. with a pair of first place finishes. The 6 p.m. top spots were shared by WFAA8 in total viewers and NBC5 in the 25-to-54 demographic.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Wed.-Thurs., Dec. 31/Jan. 1)
01/02/09 12:11 PM
By ED BARK
Here's a little turn-of-the-year ratings whoopee.
WFAA8's last telecast of 2008, its live, locally produced Big D NYE special from Victory Park, easily had more viewers than any other program Wednesday. It also drew almost as big a crowd as the following day's Rose Bowl game on ABC/WFAA8. That's a huge boost for localism.
Big D NYE, with sports anchor Dale Hansen and weathercaster Pete Delkus as the principal hosts, averaged 465,010 D-FW viewers, peaking at 544,726 between midnight and 12:15 a.m.
The Rose Bowl, in which Southern Cal mostly toyed with Penn State, drew 484,939 viewers with a peak audience of 577,941 between 5:15 and 5:30 p.m.
Big D NYE also clicked with advertiser-favored 18-to-49-year-olds, clocking in with 217,160 of 'em overall and a high of 275,502 at the midnight hour. The Rose Bowl averaged 236,608 viewers in the 18-to-49 age range, peaking at 281,984 from 5:15 to 5:30 p.m.
The other New Year's Day bowl game ratings pictures looked like this, with winning teams listed first:
Georgia and Michigan State in the Capitol One Bowl on ABC -- 259,077 total viewers and 100,477 in the 18-to-49 demographic.
Virginia Tech-Cincinnati in the Orange Bowl on Fox -- 245,791 total viewers and 106,960 in the 18-to-49 demo.
Nebraska and Clemson in the Gator Bowl on CBS -- 139,503 total viewers and 51,859 in the 18-to-49 demo.
Iowa and South Carolina in the Outback Bowl on ESPN -- 59,787 total viewers and 35,653 in the 18-to-49 demo.
Over on NBC, the NHL's outdoor "Winter Classic" between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks averaged 39,858 viewers, with 19,447 in the 18-to-49 age range.
CBS took a ratings bath on New Year's Eve afternoon with Oregon State's 3-0 win over Pittsburgh in El Paso's Sun Bowl. The game drew just 39,858 D-FW viewers, only 6,482 of 'em in the 18-to-49 demo.
The local TV news providers wrote off their Wednesday and Thursday editions with "Holiday" designations, which means they're not officially counted by Nielsen Media Research. For the record, though, the last day of 2008 went like this:
WFAA won at 10 p.m. Wednesday in total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 ran the table at 6 a.m. and also placed first among 25-to-54-year-olds at 5 p.m.
WFAA8 won at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. in total viewers. At 6 p.m. it shared the top spot with with Fox4 in the 25-to-54 demo.
Here's a little turn-of-the-year ratings whoopee.
WFAA8's last telecast of 2008, its live, locally produced Big D NYE special from Victory Park, easily had more viewers than any other program Wednesday. It also drew almost as big a crowd as the following day's Rose Bowl game on ABC/WFAA8. That's a huge boost for localism.
Big D NYE, with sports anchor Dale Hansen and weathercaster Pete Delkus as the principal hosts, averaged 465,010 D-FW viewers, peaking at 544,726 between midnight and 12:15 a.m.
The Rose Bowl, in which Southern Cal mostly toyed with Penn State, drew 484,939 viewers with a peak audience of 577,941 between 5:15 and 5:30 p.m.
Big D NYE also clicked with advertiser-favored 18-to-49-year-olds, clocking in with 217,160 of 'em overall and a high of 275,502 at the midnight hour. The Rose Bowl averaged 236,608 viewers in the 18-to-49 age range, peaking at 281,984 from 5:15 to 5:30 p.m.
The other New Year's Day bowl game ratings pictures looked like this, with winning teams listed first:
Georgia and Michigan State in the Capitol One Bowl on ABC -- 259,077 total viewers and 100,477 in the 18-to-49 demographic.
Virginia Tech-Cincinnati in the Orange Bowl on Fox -- 245,791 total viewers and 106,960 in the 18-to-49 demo.
Nebraska and Clemson in the Gator Bowl on CBS -- 139,503 total viewers and 51,859 in the 18-to-49 demo.
Iowa and South Carolina in the Outback Bowl on ESPN -- 59,787 total viewers and 35,653 in the 18-to-49 demo.
Over on NBC, the NHL's outdoor "Winter Classic" between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks averaged 39,858 viewers, with 19,447 in the 18-to-49 age range.
CBS took a ratings bath on New Year's Eve afternoon with Oregon State's 3-0 win over Pittsburgh in El Paso's Sun Bowl. The game drew just 39,858 D-FW viewers, only 6,482 of 'em in the 18-to-49 demo.
The local TV news providers wrote off their Wednesday and Thursday editions with "Holiday" designations, which means they're not officially counted by Nielsen Media Research. For the record, though, the last day of 2008 went like this:
WFAA won at 10 p.m. Wednesday in total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 ran the table at 6 a.m. and also placed first among 25-to-54-year-olds at 5 p.m.
WFAA8 won at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. in total viewers. At 6 p.m. it shared the top spot with with Fox4 in the 25-to-54 demo.