THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 20, 1995 TAG: 9503180043
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
EVER WONDER HOW many folks settle into their La-Z-Boys at 6 p.m. to watch the local newscasts on the three network affiliates in Hampton Roads?
To check out co-anchor Cynthia Lima's 'do on WVEC? To hear sports guy Bruce Rader on WAVY say ``Roll the videotape''? To catch meteorologist Duane Harding on WTKR doing his five-day forecast with the help of that ``WeatherVision'' thing?
According to figures released by Michael A. Mastrullo, WAVY's manager for promotions and marketing, the local news delivered by his station, WTKR and WVEC at 6 p.m. attracts 314,000 people Monday through Friday. Nielsen Media Research supplied the numbers to WAVY based on the February ratings sweeps.
Nielsen includes viewers starting at the age of 2. That's old enough to pull the trigger on a remote control box, isn't it?
Mastrullo couldn't wait to release the Nielsen figures because his station's ``WAVY News Ten'' has the most viewers (114,000) at the 6 p.m. hour, although Channel 10 trails WVEC in ratings and share points. How is that possible?
The Nielsens measure both households and viewers. While WVEC leads in households at 6 p.m. with 78,000, the diaries kept by local Nielsen families indicate there are more people watching in households tuned to WAVY.
It's an anomaly that happens frequently, said a Nielsen spokesman in New York City.
No matter what numbers you address - ratings, share points or the total daily viewers - this fact is as obvious as the orange in WTKR's news set: The three network affiliates in this, the 40th largest TV market, are as tightly bunched as elephants in a phone booth when it comes to local news. At 6 p.m., WVEC (13/21) is one share point and one rating point ahead of WAVY, three rating points and four share points better than WTKR. At 11 p.m., WTKR and WAVY (9/22) are tied with WVEC just one rating and share point behind.
Cozy.
The ratings, which measure viewers in 628,700 households from the Eastern Shore to Northeasten North Carolina, are down for all three local 6 p.m. newscasts compared to the November 1994 sweeps. Could it be that coverage of the O.J. Simpson murder trial on cable has caused the viewership to erode?
While WTKR's ratings at 6 p.m. fell from November, the numbers at 11 p.m. must please news director Barbara L. Hamm. Channel 3 leads with most adult viewers (73,000) at the hour after intense campaigns by WAVY and WVEC to win the ratings war at 11.
WAVY has been dissing Channel 3's ``Eleven at Eleven'' feature in on-air promotions. Channel 13 put on a nightside reporter (Lauren Yee) to punch up its 11 p.m. report. WTKR still beat them both in total viewership.
``A team effort,'' said Hamm.
Have you noticed, she asked, that WAVY is using an on-screen clock during its newscasts? WAVY didn't lift Channel 3's color orange, however. The NBC affiliate instead bathed its news set in passionate purple.
Channel 3's big numbers at 11 p.m. come at just the right time. The CBS affiliate was sold recently to The New York Times Co. What better way to impress the new bosses than to be No. 1 at 11, No. 1 at noon - by a big margin - and close at 5 p.m.?
WAVY's numbers for its early-morning local newscast double that of No. 2 WTKR. The station's newly installed 5:30 p.m. newscast leads the time period, which was good enough for Mastrullo to announce with emotion, ``The Nielsens show more people get their news from WAVY.''
Those Nielsens also show that WTKR needs to work on its 6 p.m. newscast. A female co-anchor might help.
The New York Times Co. will soon be in the market with scads of money to throw in the ratings war at 6 p.m. Watch out, WAVY. Watch out, WVEC. by CNB