KNBC News Holds Off KABC in L.A. Sweeps

KNBC-TV Channel 4 captured its second consecutive “sweeps” victory in the local news ratings this month, edging out KABC-TV Channel 7, which until this year had been the king of local news for most of the 1980s.

According to figures released Thursday by the A.C. Nielsen Co., Channel 4 won the three head-to-head afternoon news races at 4 p.m., 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. by a clear margin, in spite of Channel 7’s highly rated simulated earthquake stunt on the first day of the four-week ratings period, April 27.

Channel 4 also won in Arbitron’s ratings for those time periods, but by such a slim margin as to be statistically meaningless.

Buoyed by NBC’s continuing dominance in prime time, however, Channel 4 news trounced its rivals at 11 p.m. in both ratings services, extending its lead over Channel 7 in the Nielsen survey to nearly three ratings points (where each point represents 48,002 households).

Ratings for news on all three network-owned stations, especially KABC and KCBS Channel 2, were down from last May at 11 p.m. as fewer people overall were watching television at that hour and those watching tuned their sets elsewhere. Reruns of “Cheers” on KTLA Channel 5, for example, clobbered Channel 2’s anchor team of Jim Lampley and Bree Walker at 11 p.m. and also beat Channel 7’s late news for the first time ever.

It didn’t get any better for Channel 2’s other newscasts as the station once again finished a distant third in all news time periods--its numbers down from February at 5, 6 and 11 p.m. despite a great deal of high-profile anchor shuffling over the past nine months.

But declining news numbers were only a small part the bad news for KCBS during the May sweeps. From 6-8 p.m., the most competitive and most important time period in terms of generating local ad revenues, the station finished dead last among all seven local VHF stations. With the exception of “The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather,” which just squeaked past reruns of “The A-Team” and “Webster” for an anemic fifth place at 6:30 p.m. in the Nielsen book, Channel 2’s programs finished last in both ratings services throughout those two hours.

The much-ballyhooed and expensive reruns of “The Cosby Show” at 6 p.m. also continued to be a major disappointment for KCOP Channel 13. Ratings for the syndicated reruns, which were supposed to boost the fortunes of the shows that precede and follow it, were down nearly two ratings points from February’s lackluster numbers. In fact, “Cosby” even failed to win its time slot for the first time since it debuted on Channel 13 last October.

Nationally, NBC won the May sweeps by a wide margin over CBS and ABC, but the total three-network share of the audience slipped another 2% from the previous May. The three networks pulled in an average of only 65% of the people watching television in prime time this month.

NBC measured a 14.6 rating in prime time to register its 16th sweeps win in the last 17th sweeps periods. CBS was second with an 11.8 rating and ABC, despite boasting the top-rated series in “Roseanne,” finished third with an 11.4 mark. Locally, CBS’s prime-time schedule fared far worse, managing only an 8.1 rating for the sweeps month.

In other sweeps highs and lows (using Nielsen numbers unless otherwise specified):

Oprah, Phil and Geraldo: “The Oprah Winfrey Show” again beat back her two male talk show rivals, though the total audience for all three shows slipped from last February. Geraldo Rivera’s lurid brand of talk, which included a trip to the Mustang Ranch brothel complete with video of an orgy in progress, lured more viewers than “Donahue,” but it failed to win its time slot in either Nielsen or Arbitron.

“Family Ties” that bind: The long-running sitcom may have breathed its last gasp in prime time, but reruns of Michael J. Fox and the gang on Channel 11 won the 6:30 p.m. time period in both ratings services. “Family Ties” scored an 8.3 rating, beating KNBC’s national news, KABC-TV’s local news, “Magnum, P.I.” on KTLA, national news on KCBS, “Webster” on KCOP and “The A-Team” on KHJ-TV Channel 9 in that order. Though finishing last in Nielsen, “The A-Team” recorded a second-place finish for Channel 9 in Arbitron.

Peter, Tom and Dan: Tom Brokaw unseated Peter Jennings as L.A.’s favorite network news anchor this month as “The NBC Nightly News” registered a 7 rating at 6:30 p.m. Jennings’ “ABC’s World News Tonight” slipped two points to a 6.6 mark at 7 p.m. while Dan Rather and “The CBS Evening News” mustered only a 5.2.

As the Wheel Turns: “Wheel of Fortune” with Pat Sajak and Vanna White continued to dominate the 7 p.m. time period for Channel 13. KNBC’s “Entertainment Tonight” finished second, KTLA’s “Charles in Charge” third, KABC’s national news fourth, reruns of “MASH” fifth on KTTV, KHJ’s “Love Connection” sixth and KCBS’ “Inside Edition” last. In Arbitron, “Wheel of Fortune” and “Entertainment Tonight” still finished one-two, but “Love Connection” moved up to a close third.

Who are Maury Povich and Alex Trebek?: Povich and “A Current Affair” on Channel 11 nipped Trebek and “Jeopardy!” on Channel 13 in Nielsen for top honors at 7:30 p.m., but “Jeopardy!” beat its tabloid rival in Arbitron. KABC’s long-time ratings winner “Eye on L.A.” dropped to a distant third, while Channel 2’s “The Newlywed Game” could muster only a pathetic 5% of the available local audience. (Channel 2 can take solace in the fact that come this fall, it will have the rights to air top-rated “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy.”)

No Stopping Hal: As always, KTLA and anchorman Hal Fishman dominated the independent news race, scoring a 5.4 rating at 10 p.m., almost a full rating point more than Channel 2’s news received at 11 p.m. KTTV Channel 11 pulled a 3 rating for its news at 10 p.m., while Warren Olney, Channel 13’s new anchorman, failed to boost the fortunes of that station’s 10 p.m. news as Channel 13 registered only a 2.3 rating. Channel 9’s news at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. earned a 2.8 and a 2.4, respectively.

No Johnny Come-Latelys: Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show” continued its stranglehold on the local late-night talk-show audience again this month, trouncing Pat Sajak, Arsenio Hall and Ted Koppel’s “Nightline.” Sajak’s show on KCBS fared the worst, trailing even reruns of “Taxi” and “The Honeymooners” on KTLA.

Up with the Birds: Kent Shocknek and Carla Aragon’s early morning newscast on Channel 4 crushed its competition again this month, pulling in a 4.1 rating and a whopping 30% of the audience watching television from 6-7 a.m. KABC’s half-hour newscast at 6:30 a.m. grabbed a 2.4 rating and 14 share, while KCBS’s half-hour newscast at 6 a.m. scored a 1.2 rating with a 10 share.