THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 20, 1994 TAG: 9412200072
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
TODAY'S LOCAL TV buzz:
Memo to Barbara L. Hamm, WTKR news director: May I suggest a different shade of red for your news set?
To juice up the ratings for Channel 3's nightly newscast at 6, the WTKR brass recently made over the broadcast by picking up the pace with clocks tick-tick-ticking all over the tube. They gave a new twist to Duane Harding's weather reports - you can actually see rain falling - and sent in a colorblind decorator to redo the news set.
It's alarmingly red.
Have viewers been turned on by Hamm's new-look news? Not according to the latest ratings released by Arbitron after the November sweeps.
The No. 1 newscast at 6 belongs to WVEC with higher numbers than ever - a 16 rating and 28 share - helped no end by a strong lead in from ``American Journal.'' No clocks ticking on this WVEC newscast.
WAVY is second (12/22) with WTKR third (12/21) by the width of Jane Gardner's eyelash.
Not only that. WVEC's newscast is also first at 5 p.m. and has been since it signed on earlier this year.
``These numbers are probably the best I've seen since I've been the news director here. And they may be the best ever,'' said WVEC news director David Cassidy.
Before the cosmetic changes, WTKR was No. 3 at the dinner hour. One year ago, WTKR's newscast was first at 6 p.m. by one ratings point.
After the recent changes, WTKR did not recapture the magic of a year ago.
WTKR is still No. 3 at the dinner hour when most people (about 272,000 households) watch TV. But there is a consolation prize: Channel 3's ratings at 6 went up by a point since the May sweeps.
When Ann Keffer was co-anchoring Channel 3's news at noon, her ratings were sensational - an 11 rating, 40 share. When Keffer moved off that broadcast to anchor a Peninsula newscast, Channel 3's numbers fell off by 3 ratings points and 4 share points.
Are the viewers who watch at noon saying, ``We want Ann back?''
I think so.
In other parts of the broadcast day, WAVY's newscast leads at 11 p.m. and in the early morning. At 5 p.m., when all three news organizations go against each other, WVEC is 2 rating points better than WTKR, helped no doubt from the strong lead in of ``Oprah.''
Here are the results of the November Arbitron sweeps:
Early morning newscasts
Rating/Share
WAVY (6/33)
WTKR (4/23)
WVEC (4/21)
Noon
WTKR (8/36)
WVEC (4/16)
WAVY (3/11)
5 p.m. newscast
WVEC (10/25)
WTKR (8/18)
WAVY (6/15)
5:30 lineup
``American Journal'' (12/26)
``Hard Copy'' (7/18)
WAVY News (6/14)
6 p.m. newscast
WVEC (16/28)
WAVY (12/22)
WTKR (12/21)
11 p.m. newscast
WAVY (10/27)
WTKR (9/25)
WVEC (8/22)
You made it a merry Christmas for the folks in public broadcasting - During WHRO's December pledge drive, viewers vowed to send in $123,042 to help lighten the cost of the PBS station's annual $6.2 million budget for programming. Repairs on the transmission lines will be made January.
The nasty weather of late has delayed that process. by CNB