NBC President Will Oversee Network’s Daytime Programs

In a significant shake-up of NBC’s Burbank-based programming department, John Rohrbeck, president of NBC television stations, has been given the added responsibility of overseeing the network’s daytime program schedule.

The move came a day after NBC confirmed that it was replacing its 6-year-old struggling soap opera, “Santa Barbara,” with another hourlong show and returning half an hour of time to its affiliates. In recent years, it has cut its daytime schedule by a third, from six hours to four.

Rohrbeck, 52, the hard-nosed former general manager of KNBC-TV in Burbank, brushed off reports that NBC was planning further cutbacks in its daytime schedule, whose ratings lag other networks’.

“Daytime TV is extremely important for guaranteeing an audience flow into the valuable afternoon time period,” he said. “We’re going to use our owned stations as a laboratory to develop talk and game shows as replacements.”

The appointment of a station executive to oversee network programming surprised veteran TV executives, who noted that traditionally the jobs have been separated. Sources said NBC wants the network and stations divisions to work more closely.

John Miller, who previously oversaw daytime programming, will continue to head up the network’s marketing, promotion and children’s programming efforts.