Channel 7 Tops Local Ratings; ABC Wins Nationally

The returns are in and the polls are closed, and no matter how you count the vote, KABC-TV Channel 7 was the big local winner during TV’s just-completed February ratings sweeps.

The only debate at this point is how large a plurality the station received.

The A.C. Nielsen Co. on Thursday released two separate sets of ratings averages for the sweeps--one covering the entire period from Feb. 3 to March 2, the other covering only those nights on which there was no Winter Olympics programming (since that comes only once ever four years and therefore isn’t considered normal competition).

In both reports, the local ABC-owned outlet scored wins across the board. It was just a matter of by how much.

To make the victory doubly sweet for KABC, its parent network, ABC, captured the sweeps crown in the network race, scoring its first sweeps win in nearly four years. (Please see story, page 20).

From sign-on to sign-off during the sweeps, KABC-TV averaged an 8.8 rating and a 22 share of the TV audience. KNBC-TV Channel 4 was second with a 7 rating and a 17 share and KCBS-TV Channel 2 was third with 5.4 rating and a 14. (Each rating point represents 46,527 homes.)

KABC’s newscasts won every half-hour in competition with KNBC and KCBS, even against the NBC and CBS network newscasts at 6:30 p.m. KNBC was second throughout, with NBC’s Tom Brokaw proving more popular than CBS’s Dan Rather among 6:30 p.m. news viewers.

KABC’s most impressive news win came weeknights at 11 p.m. with a two rating point lead over KNBC. Minus Olympics nights, however, that same newscast beat KNBC by only one-tenth of a rating point.

KNBC also was a very close second at 4 p.m. thanks to a slight viewership gain and a substantial decline for KABC compared with the same period a year ago. KABC’s newscast averaged a 7.8 rating, KNBC’s a 7.6. KCBS got a 4.4 at 4 p.m. with reruns of “Simon & Simon.”

Among the independents, KTLA Channel 5 and KCOP Channel 13 tied in sign-on to sign-off totals with 4 ratings and 10 shares. KTTV Channel 11 was a close third with 3.9/10, while KHJ-TV Channel 9 remained an also-ran with its 2.5 rating and 6 share.

In Monday-through-Friday sign-on to sign-off totals, KTTV came out on top with the 4 rating while KTLA and KCOP tied at 3.9.

KTLA remained the indie leader in all time slots from 6 p.m. to midnight, with the exception of the 7-8 p.m. period, when KCOP’s “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy” continued to outdraw their rivals. “Wheel of Fortune” led all programs at 7 p.m., in fact, while “Jeopardy” ran second to KABC’S “Eye on L.A.” at 7:30--and slightly ahead of “MASH” reruns on KTTV.

Among other results:

“Oprah” vs. “Phil”: Both KABC’s presentation of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and KNBC’s “Phil Donahue Show” showed ratings declines compared with figures from a year ago but Oprah still won the local 3 to 4 p.m. fight with an 8.8 rating to Phil’s 6.1.

“Magnum, P.I.”: In its second year of reruns on KTLA at 6 p.m., the action-drama was No. 1 in its time slot with a 9.3 rating. It beat all other programming, including local and national newscasts.

Battle of the Checkerboards: KTLA handily beat KNBC with its syndicated comedy lineup at 7:30 p.m. in both sets of totals. The NBC-owned stations already have cancelled checkerboard scheduling for next year.

Movies at 8: KTLA took this head-to-head-to-head competition in the inclusive rating totals with a 7.3 rating to KCOP’s 6.6 and KTTV’s 6.5. The win was more decisive in the exclusionary book, with KTLA maintaining the same average, KTTV registering with a 6.4 and KCOP a 6.

News at 10: KTLA’s newscast remained No. 1 in the market with a 4.9 rating but KTTV moved up to second with a 3.3 and KCOP dropped to third with 3. In the exclusionary book, the ordering remained the same, but KTLA’s numbers jumped to 5.5 while KTTV and KCOP dropped to 3.5 and 2.5, respectively. (For comparison, KHJ’s half-hour newscasts at 8 and 9 p.m. respectively scored 4.9 and 3.6 without the Olympics factored in, and 4.2 and 3.4 with them.)

Network News: ABC’s “World News Tonight” was the most-watched network newscast in the market, averaging an 8.6 rating at 7 p.m. The “NBC Nightly News” had a 7.9 and “The CBS Evening News” got a 5.8 at 6:30 p.m.

Early News: “Today in L.A.,” a homegrown KNBC offering, showed ratings growth over the previous February to easily nab a win in the 6:30 a.m. slot with a 4.7 rating. “ABC Morning News” was second with a 3 and “CBS Morning News” third with a 1.5.