National Numbers Don’t All Add Up in L.A.

Despite CBS’ strength nationwide, its local station, KCBS-TV, tanked during the just-concluded November ratings sweeps, finishing an astonishingly poor fifth in prime time, behind even the fledgling WB network, according to figures released Wednesday by Nielsen Media Research.

KNBC-TV swept all the major newscast competitions, extending its recent dominance in local news by simply losing fewer viewers than either of its major competitors when compared to last year. Both second-place KABC and runner-up KCBS suffered double-digit percentage losses in their viewer totals for most of their newscasts. Channel 2’s 11 p.m. news, for example, plummeted nearly 30% from a year ago, while Channel 7’s 4 p.m. newscast, despite following the ever-popular “Oprah Winfrey Show,” dove 21%.

Meanwhile, with just one day (Wednesday) still to be tallied, the growth of the WB helped KTLA’s 10 p.m. news narrow the gap with KTTV’s top-rated newscast to just two-tenths of a rating point, or about 10,000 of the market’s nearly 5 million homes. Though data from the final day of the four-week ratings survey might affect the totals slightly, it’s unlikely to change the final standings.

The November sweeps are one of four annual ratings periods used by some stations to set advertising rates. They also allow for bragging rights about who is No. 1.

Channel 4 crowed about its victories in news, even as its own numbers were down slightly from the previous November. It won in the early morning and at 4, 5, 6 and 11 p.m. The triumph at 11 p.m. was the station’s 28th consecutive sweeps victory, covering virtually the entire decade of the ‘90s.

The station also boasted the most popular network news program, “The NBC Nightly News With Tom Brokaw,” and the top late-night offering, “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.” As usual, Los Angeles-area viewers also preferred NBC’s prime-time entertainment schedule. Fox’s KTTV was second in prime time, KABC third, the WB on Channel 5 a surprisingly strong fourth, followed by CBS on Channel 2 and UPN on Channel 13.

All three 11 p.m. local newscasts were down compared to last year; both Channel 4 and Channel 7 fell about 3% in addition to Channel 2’s big dip--even though their primary nemesis, “The Jerry Springer Show” on KCAL, also lost about 20% of its audience. Some of those defectors likely moved over to reruns of “Friends,” which debuted on Channel 5 earlier this fall and lifted the station’s fortunes at 11 p.m. about 50% compared to a year ago.

KTLA’s reruns of “Seinfeld” at 7:30 p.m. also scored well, winning the ultra-competitive time period over “Wheel of Fortune” on Channel 7, “The Simpsons” on Channel 11, Channel 4’s “Access Hollywood” and “The Hollywood Squares” on Channel 2. The latter program, starring Whoopi Goldberg in the center square, improved on Channel 2’s audience by just a few thousand households compared to last year, when the station carried “Hard Copy” in that time slot.

Channel 9’s fortunes soared in prime time as the station’s three-hour news block bucked the overall market trend by showing an audience increase of more than 25% compared to last fall. The station also scored big with “A Change of Heart,” a program that is the polar opposite of news. The twisted dating show beat everything except “The Tonight Show” in its 12:15 a.m. slot, including “The Late Show With David Letterman” and “Politically Incorrect.”