Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 7, 1994 TAG: 9401080001
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: melanie hatter
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It came in third with a five rating and 15 share after WSLS-TV's ``First News,'' which earned an eight rating and 23 share. (A rating is the percentage of all TV households, and a share is the percentage of households watching TV.) ``Saved By the Bell'' on Fox affiliate WFXR/WVFT (Channel 21/27), had a three rating and seven share.
The winner at 5 p.m. was ``The Oprah Winfrey Show'' on WSET (Channel 13). It had a 10 rating and 26 share. WSET won the contract to air ``Oprah'' from WDBJ and began airing the talk show at 5 p.m. in September.
Jerry Heilman, general manager at WSET, said, ``it was a little bit of a risk factor moving [`Oprah'] from 4 to 5.'' The station's goal was to increase women viewers at 6 p.m., and it succeeded, he said. Women 18 to 34 increased from an 11 share to a 19 share.
``This is a good start for us. We didn`t expect to garner the same numbers [from] when she was at WDBJ,'' Heilman said. In May's Arbitron ratings, ``Oprah'' made a 13 rating and 38 share at 4 p.m. on Channel 7. The 4-to-8 p.m. time period is important to stations because they get local advertising money in those hours.
The much-talked-about new police drama, ``NYPD Blue,'' which airs Tuesday nights at 10, got a four rating and seven share. ``I'd say it's mediocre at best,'' Heilman said. But ``as long as ABC carries it we'll probably keep it.''
Channel 7 had aired ``The Cosby Show'' at 5 p.m., and it tied for first place with Channel 10's news with an eight rating and 24 share in the Arbitron ratings.
WDBJ is not discouraged, though. ``We had built up our expectations that we'd be number one,'' said General Manager Bob Lee, but he expects the ratings to increase. One reason for the low numbers, he said, was because the newscast started airing two days before the rating period began. But the ``hometown station'' scored big with ``The Andy Griffith Show'' at 5:30 p.m. with a 12 rating and 27 share. ``Cops`` on WSLS got a 7 rating and 15 share.
Channel 10 ``withstood the test of time,'' said its general manager, Jim DeSchepper. ``We didn't lose any momentum with what we had going before.... If we can come close to `Oprah' that's a good day.''
No one came close to toppling WDBJ's continued 6 p.m. reign with a 24 rating and 41 share. WSLS had an 11 rating and 20 share; WSET, a 10 rating and 17 share; and WFXR with ``Full House,'' a three rating and six share.
Despite new management and heightened promotions, WFXR's ratings showed only a marginal increase. But that's good enough for Stan Marinoff, the station's new general manager. ``I feel we're on target. I feel we made some progress.''
In the past, WFXR - formerly WVFT - has had problems staying on the air, but this rating period it had none. It continues to make equipment improvements. A new transmitter recently was installed, and a new antenna will be in place by February, Marinoff said. The antenna should increase the affiliate`s picture quality within its coverage area and reach those who couldn't get it before.
This is the first rating period in which all TV stations are using the A.C. Nielson Co. All stations in the local market had used Arbitron, but the company announced in October that it would stop providing TV ratings at year's end.
In radio news: Russ Brown, former program director at K92, has become the operations manager of Virginia Networks Inc., which owns Lynchburg-based stations WRDJ (105.3 FM)/WLDJ (102.7 FM), General Manager Jack Alix announced. Brown had been a consultant with the new station. In other staff changes, Slam Duncan, formerly K92's morning man, returns to mornings on the new ``Good Time Oldies'' station. Duncan spent the holiday season working the evening shift before shifting to mornings. He is paired with longtime Lynchburg DJ Randy Hahn, who was with WJJS (101.7 FM). Meanwhile at K92, evening DJ Mofo, short for Monty Foster, has replaced Sammy Simpson in the morning as co-host with Sally Severeid. Simpson left Dec. 31 to work in radio in Lexington, Ky.
by CNB