Channel 4 Emerges as News Leader

KNBC-TV Channel 4 grabbed control of the local news race, winning all head-to-head ratings battles with chief rival KABC-TV Channel 7 for the first time in eight years, according to figures released Wednesday by Nielsen Media Research for the just-concluded November sweeps.

With ratings in for all but the last day of the monthlong sweeps period, Channel 4 held a comfortable lead among newscasts at 4, 5, 6 and 11 p.m., as well as in the early morning. During the last major sweeps in May, Channel 7 had registered the most popular 4 and 6 p.m. newscasts.

Despite the station’s high-profile hidden-camera series on unsanitary conditions in local restaurants, KCBS-TV Channel 2 still finished third in all news time periods.

Though data from Wednesday, the final day of the sweeps month, might affect the official totals slightly, those figures were not expected to change the final standings. The November sweeps are one of three annual ratings periods used by some local stations to set advertising rates--and, of course, to establish bragging rights of who is No. 1.

Yet bragging aside, all three of the network-owned stations actually suffered a loss of audience for the 11 p.m. weeknight newscasts compared to the same period a year ago.

For the entire seven-day week, KCBS’ 11 p.m. news, buoyed by the CBS network’s ratings advantage in prime time on Sundays, did inch upward over last year and closed to within about 10,000 homes of second-place Channel 7. But on weeknights--when all the high-paid, heavyweight anchors are on the air--Channel 2 trails Channel 7 by about 50,000 households and top-dog Channel 4 by more than 130,000 homes.

Part of the problem for all three stations has been the remarkable resurgence of “The Jerry Springer Show,” which airs on KCAL-TV Channel 9 from 11 p.m. to midnight. The talk show, which frequently features fistfights between guests, nearly doubled its rating of last year here, making it the second-most-watched program in that hour. Only Channel 4’s newscast topped it.

“Springer” beat all other news programs, including ABC’s “Nightline,” and all other talk shows, including “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” and “The Late Show With David Letterman.”

The 10 p.m. news race saw KTTV-TV Channel 11, riding the advantage provided by parent network Fox in prime time, again knock off KTLA-TV Channel 5 by approximately 35,000 homes each weeknight. When weekend newscasts are included, Channel 11’s lead soars to about 70,000 homes.

Channel 9 finished third in the 10 p.m. news competition while KCOP-TV Channel 13 again brought up the rear.

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Channel 5’s morning news program continued to slump, surpassing Channel 11’s rival program from 7 to 9 a.m. but lagging behind two network programs out of New York, “Good Morning America” on Channel 7 and “Today” on Channel 4. Last year, Channel 5’s “KTLA Morning News” easily won its time period.

Former KABC anchor Lisa McRee, who replaced Joan Lunden on ABC’s “Good Morning America” last summer, helped that show regain the lead locally.

McRee’s departure, which forced Channel 7 to shuffle its anchor lineup, coupled with the fact that “The Oprah Winfrey Show” no longer dominates the 3 p.m. lead-in hour to news, seemed to batter Channel 7’s numbers in the afternoon.

KABC had been winning the 6 p.m. news battle for years, but the station moved anchor Laura Diaz off that show to replace McRee at 5 and 11 p.m. The program promptly lost more than 12% of its audience of a year ago.

Diaz and co-anchor Harold Greene, meanwhile, were unable to make a dent in Channel 4’s formidable pairing of Paul Moyer and Colleen Williams at 5 and 11 p.m.

“Oprah” on Channel 7 and “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” on Channel 4 were stuck in a virtual dead heat locally, as “Oprah’s” audience at 3 p.m. here tumbled more than 15%. The show’s weakness hurt Channel 7’s ensuing newscast at 4 p.m., which saw its audience decline about 8% from a year before.

Perhaps most impressive--because of the intense and widespread competition in the predawn hours--Channel 4’s early-morning newscast, anchored by Kent Shocknek and Kathy Vara, continued to thump all rivals, cruising to victory in the 6 a.m. hour by a margin of nearly 100,000 homes. Channels 7, 11 and 5 finished within two-tenths of a rating point of one another for the runner-up spot, while Channel 2 ended up far behind.

KNBC’s Shocknek and Vara also won the battle at 5:30 a.m. by a lesser margin over Channels 7 and 5.

Peter Jennings of ABC and Tom Brokaw on NBC finished tied here with their respective national news programs at 6:30 p.m. Last year, Jennings on Channel 7 held a commanding 75,000-home lead. Dan Rather’s “CBS Evening News,” airing at 5:30 p.m. on Channel 2, grew about 25% from last year, but still finished a distant third.

Channel 2’s hourlong 6 p.m. newscast also improved about 10%, even as it drew just over half the audience of top-rated Channel 4’s competing broadcast. Channel 2 was able to beat KMEX-TV Channel 34’s hour of news in Spanish for the first time in more than a year. KMEX, meanwhile, again stood as the market’s top-ranked Spanish-language broadcaster.