Old News: KNBC Wins Again at 11
The outcome of the local news wars during the just-concluded May sweeps appropriately enough looks like a summer rerun of February, with KNBC-TV continuing on top during the highly competitive 11 p.m. slot, and KABC-TV dominating the afternoon daytime race, according to local Nielsen figures released Thursday.
But there were a few other twists.
While KCBS-TV injected some much-needed juice into its struggling 11 p.m. newscast with its investigative report about crooked auto dealers, its afternoon news entry, “Women 2 Women News,” which has never caught on with viewers, continued its precipitous slump, as the station continued to trail its news rivals in the afternoon and evening.
Meanwhile, the competition between the four local stations broadcasting news at 10 p.m. is proving to be one of the more interesting local contests. KTLA-TV (owned by Tribune Co., which is acquiring the Los Angeles Times) repeated its February win over its closest rival KTTV-TV, but it was a squeaker of a race, with KTLA coming in only two-tenths of a ratings point ahead of KTTV. KCAL’s “News at 10” came in third.
Also, KCOP-TV, which has traditionally fallen behind the other three at 10 p.m., was the only newscast in the time slot to show viewer growth from last year. The newscast is reaping the benefits of its hit wrestling lead-in from network UPN, and its anchor team of Rick Chambers and Lauren Sanchez, which arrived last December, is also helping to attract a bigger audience. News director Larry Perret, who just joined the station after leaving KCBS last year, is promising to heighten KCOP’s news presence.
Meanwhile, it was business as usual at 11 p.m. for the “Channel 4 News,” which scored its 41st consecutive sweeps victory over its primary rival, KABC’s “Eyewitness News,” by 16% in rating and 20% in share. KABC’s newscast increased its rating by 12% in the time period.
And KABC continued to knock around the competition with its 4, 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts, showing a year-to-year audience growth while both KNBC and KCBS lost ground from last year. It was the third time in three years that KABC has beaten all its afternoon rivals.
One of the most publicized May sweeps news events was KCBS’ weeklong investigative report “What Some Car Dealers Don’t Want You to Know,” which premiered May 14 after CBS’ hit miniseries “Jesus.” The news series was significant in that almost all viewers watching CBS shows at 10 p.m. stayed tuned for the newscasts.
The car dealer-scam series was conducted by Joel Grover, head of the station’s special investigations unit. Grover was behind KCBS’ award-winning investigations “Behind the Kitchen,” which exposed unsanitary conditions at restaurants, and “License for Sale” which showed how Department of Motor Vehicles employees illegally sold driver’s licenses. Both series resulted in widespread reform.
The promotion of the auto-scam series angered some car dealers, who threatened to pull their advertising. But the series did little to improve the overall rating of the 11 p.m. KCBS news.
Also, the station’s “Women 2 Women News” at 4 p.m., which is targeted to a female audience, has failed to find viewers. The station’s rating in that time period has gone down 57% in rating and 75% in share since last year, when “Inside Edition” and a newscast shared the hour.
In talk-show news, “Oprah Winfrey” scored her best Los Angeles-area ratings in two years, while former talk-show king Jerry Springer continued to flounder in fifth place on KCAL at 11 p.m. behind KNBC, KABC, KTLA and KCBS.
In Spanish-language television, local news shows on both network affiliates continue to draw larger audiences.
KVEA-TV, a Telemundo affiliate, continued its ratings rebound from a poorly received programming schedule two years ago. Overall, KVEA’s audience grew by 83% over last May, and the audience for KVEA’s local 11-11:30 p.m. news increased by 43% over the same time period. But KVEA’s biggest success originates from the network--the weekday 4 p.m. talk show, “Laura en America,” which is hosted by a Peruvian lawyer. The local audience for “Laura” increased by 91% over last May’s telenovela.
KMEX-TV, the flagship station of the country’s largest Spanish-language television network, Univision, was rewarded for its new sunrise news show. “Noticias 34 Primera Edicion,” airs from 5-7 a.m., replacing a rebroadcast of the network news from the night before. This month, the show drew a 35% larger audience than the rehashed evening news last May.
And KMEX’s 6 p.m. news grew by 16% over last May, the largest jump in ratings of any other local newscast in the market, regardless of language.
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Times staff writer Dana Calvo contributed to this report.
