‘Nightline’ Powers Late-Night Ratings : Television: The political season sends Ted Koppel’s ratings racing to the front, but Jay Leno’s rocky start is settling into solid viewership.

Six months have passed since Johnny Carson’s farewell broadcast after nearly three decades as host of “The Tonight Show,” when the king of late-night television’s unofficial crown went up for grabs.

The odds-on favorites to seize it were Jay Leno, who injected some freshness into the successful “Tonight Show” institution as its new host, and Arsenio Hall, whom Paramount Domestic Television gave a major promotional push over the summer to nab Carson’s “floating” audience.

But the surprise ratings champ has turned out to be a wild card. Ted Koppel, the 28-year veteran of ABC News and host of the network’s 12-year-old “Nightline,” capitalized on America’s political appetite during the presidential race to charge ahead of his late-night competition.

“Hey, I was watching ‘Nightline’ when the election was going,” Leno confessed.

Leno’s ratings are climbing after a precipitous drop in August and are approaching Carson’s numbers of a year ago. Hall, on the other hand, has been unable to halt a two-year ratings slide--his audience is down 20% from last season.

Meanwhile, “Nightline” has been steadily building. For the month of June, ABC’s half-hour interview program received a 4 rating. But as the Nov. 3 election drew near, “Nightline” turned to more political topics--such as a day in the life of Dan Quayle and Bill Clinton on the campaign trail--and ratings picked up steam.

“Nightline” peaked at 5 during the first three weeks of the November ratings sweeps, according to A. C. Nielsen Co. “The Tonight Show” averaged a 4.6 and “Arsenio Hall” (for the first two weeks) received a 2.7. CBS’ collection of crime dramas averaged a 2.9. (Each rating point represents 931,000 homes.)

“I don’t think that this success is just a matter of a political season,” said Tom Bettag, executive producer of “Nightline.” “Since the election, we’ve been doing a lot of non-political broadcasts that received very high ratings.”

Bettag cited a program two weeks ago about the unearthing of 300-year-old corpses in Maryland that received an 8.2 rating in the big cities where overnight ratings are available. On the average, “Nightline” receives a 5.8 rating in those markets. He said that people are finally beginning to recognize that “Nightline” is not just “three middle-age white guys talking about foreign policy.”

Bettag credits “Nightline’s” breaks from format--such as a prime-time special on President-elect Clinton a day after the election and traveling to Los Angeles in the wake of the riots last spring--for bringing in new viewers. For that reason, he shrugs off his critics, mostly competitors, who expect “Nightline” ratings to fall after Clinton takes office.

“The (late-night) audience has been tossed up in the air and kind of shaken up with new programs,” Bettag said. “Old habits were broken when Carson left, and people are out shopping. This is an opportunity for us. ‘Nightline’ is a different broadcast from what it was two years ago, and we’re beginning to have an impact now with people who recognize that.”

An onrush of syndicated competition has, indeed, jammed the late-night time period since June, with programming ranging from the sex-minded “Studs” to talk-show hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Rush Limbaugh to reruns of “Married . . . With Children.”

Still, Leno has made what sources in the TV industry consider to be a successful transition from Carson, although the road has been bumpy.

Leno scored a big 5.2 rating in June as millions of curious viewers tuned in to his celebrity-filled premiere month. But he was then plagued with preemptions and delays because of two events that come around once every four years--the Summer Olympics and the presidential election. Furthermore, “The Tonight Show” faced a whirlwind of bad publicity in September when executive producer Helen Kushnick was fired by NBC for heavy-handed tactics she used in booking guests on the show.

“I don’t think we could have picked a more unfortunate set of circumstances to try to launch Jay Leno as host of ‘The Tonight Show,’ ” said Rick Ludwin, senior vice president of variety programs, specials and late night for NBC.

Nonetheless, Leno and NBC are pleased with the program’s performance during the first three weeks of the November ratings sweeps (the sweeps concluded last week but ratings for the late-night period are slower to arrive than the prime-time figures). During that time, “The Tonight Show” rebounded to a healthy 4.6 rating--down 11% from Carson’s ratings one year ago. In addition, Leno has brought in a slightly larger composition of young viewers--for whom advertisers pay a premium.

Paul Schulman of Paul Schulman Co., a New York advertising agency, said that ad sales have not suffered during the transition from Carson to Leno. “The ratings are fine, and the demographics are fine,” he noted. “Leno has not been a disappointment in any way. He has not hurt the price of advertising on the show at all.”

“Any time you can hold your own, that’s great,” Leno said. “When you look at the late-night market, especially this year with the curiosity over all these new shows, and you can hold your own, that’s something to be proud of.”

Ludwin strongly denied rampant press speculation that NBC might move David Letterman--whose talk show airs at 12:35 a.m., one hour later than “The Tonight Show”--into Leno’s time slot.

“I can’t see any need or desire to do that,” Ludwin said.

Letterman, who wants to be on earlier, has been entertaining lucrative bids to take his talk show elsewhere when his NBC contract expires at the end of June. Before he does that, NBC will be given the opportunity to match any offers to keep him on the network. The matter is expected to be wrapped up before the end of the year.

“Obviously we are hoping that David Letterman will choose to stay at NBC,” Ludwin said. “We will be as aggressive as his competitors to keep him here. He is brilliant, and his show is brilliant. But there is no thought of flipping ‘The Tonight Show’ with David Letterman.”

Just in case Letterman does go, NBC earlier this year signed “Saturday Night Live” star Dana Carvey to an exclusive television deal. Ludwin explained: “If David chooses to leave NBC, Dana would certainly be the person we would go to and ask to take over that time period. That’s no secret. But that’s only if David chooses to leave.”

ABC was believed to have been a strong contender for Letterman until last week, when ABC Entertainment President Robert Iger said at a news conference that the network didn’t make an offer because he wanted 11:30 p.m. and ABC has no intention of messing with “Nightline.”

If Leno was the talk-show host in the hot seat six months ago, Hall has taken his place today. His rating for the month of October was 2.7, down from 3.6 last year. During the first two weeks of the November sweeps, he held at 2.7.

Frank Kelly, president of creative affairs and first-run programming for Paramount Domestic Television, suggested that in some ways Hall has become a victim of his own success. When his syndicated show premiered in 1989, the comedian was credited for bringing in young, urban viewers who had never before watched late-night television. His show quickly became a ratings success, without taking viewers away from Carson’s older-skewing “Tonight Show.”

Now other syndicators are scrapping to steal away Hall’s youthful audience. “Studs” has increased its TV stations to cover 86% of the nation. The Goldberg and Limbaugh talk shows were launched. And Fox has announced a late-night program for the fall hosted by Chevy Chase. As part of their contract renewal agreements, Fox affiliates now carrying Hall (about 80 of them) must agree to air Chase at 11 p.m. Paramount has already taken aggressive action in many of those markets to move Hall to CBS or ABC affiliates.

“The atmosphere is dramatically different than it was 4 1/2 years ago,” Kelly said. “The pie is getting split up in more different ways, no question. The choices are greater. And in that atmosphere, our slice of the pie might end up being smaller.”

Goldberg’s celebrity interview show has been a wash, but Limbaugh, who airs during the day in some markets, also benefited from the political climate. Since his premiere Sept. 14, ratings for the brash conservative have grown, exceeding those for Hall in October and the first half of November.

Two weeks ago, the industry publication Mediaweek reported that Hall has been clashing with Paramount executives over the creative direction of his show. Several independent program consultants interviewed for this story suggested that the ethnic mix of Hall’s guests does not appeal to middle America.

But Kelly dismissed the charges as ones that he has been hearing for years and said Hall’s personal style and bookings are what made him successful in the first place. He said Paramount backs Hall completely--evidenced by the fact that the studio did not put in a bid for Letterman. “If anything can indicate our loyalty to Arsenio or our endorsement of his show, it’s that,” Kelly said.

Late-Night TV: It’s a Jungle National monthly late-night ratings since June, when Jay Leno replaced Johnny Carson as permanent host of “The Tonight Show”: “The Tonight Show,” NBC June: 5.2 July: 4.5 Aug.: 4.1 Sept.: 4.4 Oct.: 4.4 Nov. (through Nov. 22): 4.6 “Nightline,” ABC June: 4.0 July: 4.1 Aug: 4.2 Sept.: 4.5 Oct.: 4.9 Nov. (through Nov. 22): 4.9 “Crimetime,” CBS June: 3.4 July: 3.1 Aug: 2.7 Sept: 2.4 Oct: 2.7 Nov. (through Nov. 22): 2.8 “Arsenio Hall,” syndicated June: 3.4 July: 3.5 Aug.: 3.1 Sept.: 2.8 Oct.: 2.7 Nov. (through Nov. 15): 2.5 “Rush Limbaugh,” syndicated *Sept: 2.7 Oct.: 2.9 Nov.: (through Nov. 15): 3.2 “Whoopi Goldberg,” syndicated *Sept.: 2.3 Oct.: 1.8 Nov. (through Nov. 15): 1.6 Note: * Premiered in September. Each ratings point represents 931,000 television households Source: A.C. Nielsen Co.