Apr 2008
This just in: A night in the lives of D-FW's late night newscasts (Tues., April 29)
04/30/08 06:04 PM
By ED BARK
Sometimes it's best to cleanse the palate and accentuate only the positive, particularly in light of CBS11's horrendously sophomoric mistake regarding the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
The station officially apologized on its Tuesday 10 p.m. newscast after the wrongness of Jay Gormley's Wright report was detailed in these spaces that same afternoon.
Frankly, it was depressing to see a generally solid reporter put his name to such a travesty while his peers and newsroom superior officers either intimidated him, looked the other way or cowered in fear.
The completely irresponsible airing of that story also had me questioning whether the time and effort put into watching all of this stuff is really worth it during the May, November and February ratings "sweeps" months. After all, why try to either discourage or encourage them? They're going to do whatever they want anyway. Trying to police local newscasts in the country's fifth-largest television market is akin to telling Steve Nash to comb his hair. Fruitless.
So this particular dispatch will highlight only the genuinely praiseworthy aspects of Tuesday's late nighters. Thankfully there was enough of this to generate a little renewed enthusiasm, though not all that much. Sorry if this sounds melodramatic -- and it probably does. But I can't remember being as disappointed in a local TV news station as I was with CBS11 on Monday night.
OK, on to the meritorious stuff.
***NBC5's Ken Kalthoff had a breezy but informative story on Flamingo Lane, which lately attracts the most complaints of any Dallas street on a Web site called rottenneighbor.com. He interviewed two cat-trappers who have been targeted by many of their neighbors. The story didn't move the earth, but it definitely shed a light on this particular neighborhood's prickly dynamics.
***NBC5 Night Ranger Scott Gordon followed up on a story the station broke the previous night about a battered Chihuahua left in a box on the front porch of Irving's mayor. Its sender, who unapologetically fessed up on-camera, said he was trying to send a message about the city's allegedly lax animal control policies. WFAA8's Chris Hawes reported roughly the same story Tuesday night. But NBC clearly had the lead on it, and Gordon has proven himself to be very good at digging deeper.
***WFAA8's Steve Stoler reported from Plano on five small businesses, including a popular restaurant and barber shop, that will have to make way for a new apartment/retail development backed by city leaders. In some ways it's the same old story -- little guys in the way of "progress." But it's always good to bring these stories home.
***Brett Shipp, WFAA8's multi-award-winning investigator, had another report on questionable test grading by the DISD. It seemed to be balanced and noteworthy, although an emailer to unclebarky.com said that "grade scaling" -- by school administrators rather than teachers -- is a common and justifiable practice. But complaining teachers contend that the practice is "blindly inflating grades for everyone" while turning flunking students into passing ones. Here's a Web site link sent by the reader to explain the "rationale" for grade scaling. Have to admit it's Greek to me, but I stunk at foreign languages in both high school and college.
***Fox4 investigator Becky Oliver presented Part 2 of her series on the apparently very crooked AG Total Care agency, whose offices were raided Tuesday afternoon by law enforcement officials. The station had video of numerous boxes of potentially incriminating evidence being removed. Oliver also revealed that agency's since jailed owner, Irene Anderson, had been operating under an alias. She nailed this one throughly, with no small amount of legwork required.
***CBS11's Jack Fink had a dogged and telling report on staged car accidents that can cost consumers hundreds of dollars a year in jacked-up insurance bills. His story also included video of scammers at work and the angry retort of a convicted sub-human who will be going to jail for two-and-half-years.
"What do you want me to say? The federal system is corrupt," he whined. Throw away the key.
***Gormley quickly returned to the living by leading off Tuesday's CBS11 late nighter with video of Dallas County Commissioners John Wiley Price and Kenneth Mayfield having a heated argument over the amount of overtime being paid to sheriff deputies and staffers. Unlike the Wright "expose," this county-officials-gone-wild video both seemed genuine and spoke volumes.
***Finally, all praise, even if it's tongue-in-cheek, goes to WFAA8 news anchor Gloria Campos for revving up Dallas Stars fans outside the station's Victory Park studios. Campos brandished a four-game "sweep" broom and trotted to and fro while the crowd roared its approval.
Weatherman Pete Delkus again was the instigator. "Hey Dale, we've got some video to show you here," he told nightly arch-foil Dale Hansen. "Ed Bark's gonna love this. Gloria had 'em all wound up tonight, didn't she, John?"
News anchor John McCaa wondered if she'd get her broom back and Campos laughed agreeably before sports anchor Hansen chimed, "You wouldn't see John and me doing that. We're journalists."
Aw hell, might as well roll with it. Thanks for the memories -- and the mention.
Sixteen nights to go.
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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Tues., April 29)
04/30/08 09:51 AM
By ED BARK
Last gasping in New Orleans, the Dallas Mavericks ended their season Tuesday night with less than stellar ratings on a combo of TXA21 and TNT.
The local telecast drew 121,780 D-FW homes while 65,031 watched on cable. A not-so-grand total of 186,811 homes was the second smallest crowd for the Mavs' five NBA playoff games. The Game 2 blowout loss to New Orleans drew 165,621 homes. Another Dallas loss, in Game 4, drew the most homes (309,321) during another short but sour run for the NBA title.
With the Mavs on ice, attention turns to the Dallas Stars, who iced San Jose in overtime while playing mostly opposite the Mavs on MY27. The game averaged 72,865 homes, peaking at a nice-sized 129,087 from 9 to 9:15 p.m. That was good enough to outdraw the first 15 minutes of Law & Order: SVU on NBC.
In the prime-time entertainment Nielsens, Fox's American Idol performance show (270,352 homes) ranked No. 1 for the night by a few smidges over ABC's Dancing with the Stars results show (255,738 homes), which evicted former American Pie eyeful Shannon Elizabeth. Meanwhile, contestant Cristian de la Fuente said he'll dance on for his fans despite rupturing a tendon in his biceps earlier this week. Boy, are they gonna milk that.
At 9 p.m., ABC had nice returns for the return of Women's Murder Club, which won the time period in total homes and tied Fox4's 9 p.m. local newscast for first among advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds.
The major four-way news competitions saw NBC5 come down off its early morning ratings high -- for a day at least. WFAA8 won decisively at 6 a.m. in total homes and nipped Fox4 among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
The Peacock slipped to a distant third in both measurements. WFAA8 now has a slim lead over its two main early morning rivals after the first four weekdays of the May "sweeps."
WFAA8 also cruised to comfortable wins at 10 p.m. in total homes and in the 25-to-54 demo. It added a pair of 6 p.m. victories and ran first in total homes at 5 p.m. WFAA8 and Fox4 shared the lead in that earlier hour among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Last gasping in New Orleans, the Dallas Mavericks ended their season Tuesday night with less than stellar ratings on a combo of TXA21 and TNT.
The local telecast drew 121,780 D-FW homes while 65,031 watched on cable. A not-so-grand total of 186,811 homes was the second smallest crowd for the Mavs' five NBA playoff games. The Game 2 blowout loss to New Orleans drew 165,621 homes. Another Dallas loss, in Game 4, drew the most homes (309,321) during another short but sour run for the NBA title.
With the Mavs on ice, attention turns to the Dallas Stars, who iced San Jose in overtime while playing mostly opposite the Mavs on MY27. The game averaged 72,865 homes, peaking at a nice-sized 129,087 from 9 to 9:15 p.m. That was good enough to outdraw the first 15 minutes of Law & Order: SVU on NBC.
In the prime-time entertainment Nielsens, Fox's American Idol performance show (270,352 homes) ranked No. 1 for the night by a few smidges over ABC's Dancing with the Stars results show (255,738 homes), which evicted former American Pie eyeful Shannon Elizabeth. Meanwhile, contestant Cristian de la Fuente said he'll dance on for his fans despite rupturing a tendon in his biceps earlier this week. Boy, are they gonna milk that.
At 9 p.m., ABC had nice returns for the return of Women's Murder Club, which won the time period in total homes and tied Fox4's 9 p.m. local newscast for first among advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds.
The major four-way news competitions saw NBC5 come down off its early morning ratings high -- for a day at least. WFAA8 won decisively at 6 a.m. in total homes and nipped Fox4 among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
The Peacock slipped to a distant third in both measurements. WFAA8 now has a slim lead over its two main early morning rivals after the first four weekdays of the May "sweeps."
WFAA8 also cruised to comfortable wins at 10 p.m. in total homes and in the 25-to-54 demo. It added a pair of 6 p.m. victories and ran first in total homes at 5 p.m. WFAA8 and Fox4 shared the lead in that earlier hour among 25-to-54-year-olds.
This just in: A night in the lives of D-FW's late night newscasts (Mon., April 28)
04/29/08 03:53 PM
By ED BARK
CBS11 and Jay Gormley clearly have made an egregious error in reporting that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright branded Texas Christian University a "Godless Christian college" during his Sunday guest sermon at Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas.
Instead, the videotape that the station used as evidence during Monday's 10 p.m. newscast shows that Wright actually said "Jarvis Christian College," which is a predominantly black institution located in Hawkins, TX.
In his prominently played story, though, which since has been removed from CBS11's Web site, Gormley told viewers that the already controversial Wright "appeared to take a potshot at TCU."
He then went on to interview supposedly "outraged" TCU students, one of whom said, "How can you call people Godless if you don't know them? You know what I mean, like blanketing TCU as a Godless Christian University is just absolutely ridiculous."
Another student said in part, "We'll take the higher ground."
Shortly before 6 p.m. Tuesday, CBS11 responded to a mid-afternoon phone call and email inquiring about the story. The station plans to air a correction on Tuesday's 10 p.m. newscast. News director Scott Diener also issued this statement: "Upon further review of the tape of the speech, we were mistaken. We regret the error and offer our sincere apologies to Reverend Wright, Friendship West Baptist Church, TCU and our viewers."
(Update: CBS11 in fact issued what anchor Doug Dunbar called a "clarification" on Tuesday's 10 p.m. news. He made no mention of the station's specific allegation against Wright. Nor did CBS11 tell viewers what Wright actually had said. Dunbar read the official station statement bold-faced in the above paragraph while also noting that video of Wright's sermon had been provided to CBS11 by Friendship West Baptist Church.)
Gormley's 10 p.m. Monday piece included videotape of Wright saying, "Rape takes place not just on dates . . . not just in college -- Texas Christian University, Jarvis Christian College. Rape also takes place in marriage."
There can be no doubt after repeatedly watching and listening to the tape that Wright in fact said "Jarvis," not "Godless." So it's hard to believe that CBS11 aired such a potentially inflammatory story without giving it a better listen.
Compounding the problem, Gormley told viewers Monday night, "If you weren't listening closely Sunday morning, you just might have missed it."
No, he's the one who misunderstood what Wright said and then went with an erroneous story that clearly should have been red-flagged before doing its damage.
Gormley also said during his report that Wright's "jab at TCU may have been in response to the university's decision to move an event by Brite Divinity School off campus."
Wright eventually decided not to attend the March 29th Brite event, which honored him as part of the organization's fourth annual Black Church Summit. TCU moved the event off-campus because of security issues, the university said.
Gormley told viewers that TCU had "declined comment" on Wright's "Godless" reference, which in fact hadn't been made. Wright indeed has made other controversial comments that continue to dog the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who in turn has been distancing himself this week from his former pastor.
CBS11 fueled that fire when it had no real basis to do so. The station did win Monday's 10 p.m. ratings competition in the total homes Nielsens, though.
AND IN OTHER NEWS
BLOOPER REEL -- NBC5 anchors Mike Snyder and Jane McGarry returned together to duty Monday night after she took time off during the first two weeknights of the May "sweeps" while he stayed away on Friday. They presided over a newscast that was replete with technical problems and painful pauses when the expected video didn't materialize.
McGarry also told viewers that an estimated five percent of girls are diagnosed with "precocious puberty" . . . and "often hereditary plays a role." She meant to say "heredity."
Meanwhile, CBS11 threw up a "Too Much Mylie?" graphic in connection with the 15-year-old pop idol's provocative photo shoot for Vanity Fair magazine. The correct spelling is "Miley."
GOOD WORK -- Fox4 had an interesting story by Jason Overstreet on a steady increase in gas thievery, with high-capacity tanks most vulnerable. He interviewed a funeral home operator whose van had a hole punched in its tank.
***The station's Saul Garza also had another worthwhile "What's Buggin' You?" segment, this one on waterlogged gravesites at a veterans' cemetery.
***And veteran Fox4 investigator Becky Oliver appeared to have the goods on a Dallas in-home care agency with clients who look to be quite capable of getting out on their own to see the doctor. Fox4 had the surveillance footage to prove it, although the patients' faces were blurred to otherwise provide anonymity. Meanwhile, she said, taxpayer-funded Medicare payments totaled more than $8 million to AG Total Care in the past two years.
Oliver plans to finger the company's owner on Tuesday's 9 p.m. Fox4 newscast. Viewers also will learn "why she's now behind bars."
The veteran gumshoe still has a brawling style that can be hard to take. Oliver's rubbed-raw, sandpaper voice can be grating, too. But this particular investigation looks solid, even if Oliver had to apologize at the end of it for an opening station graphic that pictured the wrong woman as the story's featured wrongdoer.
***CBS11 reporter Brooke Richie had an informative piece on increased dry-cleaning costs fueled by major hikes in the price of wire hangers. Customers might be able to get a small discount if they return those hangers on their next visit, she said.
Pete 'n' Dale's Playhouse -- Weatherman Pete Delkus began Monday's festivities by reading an email from a viewer who said, "I really like the way you and Dale go at each other. Pete, I think you win most of the time. (Dale) Hansen is a good sports anchor, but he likes himself way too much."
Anchor Gloria Campos praised the viewer's "very insightful comment" before Hansen of course returned serve.
"I don't actually like myself that much," he said. "I love myself."
Anchor John McCaa, again speechless, understandably looked as though he yearned to have a trap door beneath him and the means to use it.
Seventeen nights to go.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Mon., April 28)
04/29/08 09:09 AM
By ED BARK
NBC5's 6 a.m. news numbers continued to rise and shine Monday while CBS11 broke into the winner's circle at 10 p.m.
On Day Three of the four-week May "sweeps," the Peacock nipped WFA8 in the total homes Nielsens at 6 a.m. and won by a slightly larger margin among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Thought to be an almost certain third-place finisher in this race, NBC5 now holds thin leads in both ratings measurements, with WFAA8 and defending February "sweeps" champ Fox4 very close behind. It's a long way to the finish line, but the Peacock no doubt is surprising both rivals and critics with an early morning perk-up despite the controversy sparked by its recent termination of veteran meteorologist Rebecca Miller.
At 10 p.m., CBS11 took is first sweeps gold in the total homes competition after holding on to the lion's share of a strong lead-in from CBS' potent CSI: Miami. WFAA, a close second in this measurement, rebounded to win at 10 p.m. among 25-to-54-year-olds. CBS11 ran a strong second, though, in its fight to beat out NBC5 for the silver medal at the end of this sweeps road.
WFAA8 again swept the 6 p.m. local news competition and also won at 5 p.m. in total homes. NBC5 had the 5 p.m. gold in the 25-to-54-year-old demo.
In prime-time, ABC's latest 90-minute Dancing with the Stars performance outing continued to hold strong, pacing all attractions with 277,658 homes. Dancing also performed well with advertiser-courted 18-to-49-year-olds, the key audience for entertainment programming. But it was nipped from 8 to 8:30 p.m. by CBS' Two and a Half Men.
The return of Fox's House, with its first new episode since the writers' strike settlement, finished second overall from 8 to 9 p.m. in both total homes (199,719) and with 18-to-49-year-olds. Still, Two and a Half Men (211,897) edged House in total homes and tied it in the 18-to-49 demo before the Eye network's Rules of Engagement drew smaller crowds from 8:30 to 9 p.m.
NBC's two-hour, Star Wars-themed Deal or No Deal ran fourth from 7 to 9 p.m. in both measurements. The Peacock's Medium then improved to second place at 9 p.m.
NBC5's 6 a.m. news numbers continued to rise and shine Monday while CBS11 broke into the winner's circle at 10 p.m.
On Day Three of the four-week May "sweeps," the Peacock nipped WFA8 in the total homes Nielsens at 6 a.m. and won by a slightly larger margin among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Thought to be an almost certain third-place finisher in this race, NBC5 now holds thin leads in both ratings measurements, with WFAA8 and defending February "sweeps" champ Fox4 very close behind. It's a long way to the finish line, but the Peacock no doubt is surprising both rivals and critics with an early morning perk-up despite the controversy sparked by its recent termination of veteran meteorologist Rebecca Miller.
At 10 p.m., CBS11 took is first sweeps gold in the total homes competition after holding on to the lion's share of a strong lead-in from CBS' potent CSI: Miami. WFAA, a close second in this measurement, rebounded to win at 10 p.m. among 25-to-54-year-olds. CBS11 ran a strong second, though, in its fight to beat out NBC5 for the silver medal at the end of this sweeps road.
WFAA8 again swept the 6 p.m. local news competition and also won at 5 p.m. in total homes. NBC5 had the 5 p.m. gold in the 25-to-54-year-old demo.
In prime-time, ABC's latest 90-minute Dancing with the Stars performance outing continued to hold strong, pacing all attractions with 277,658 homes. Dancing also performed well with advertiser-courted 18-to-49-year-olds, the key audience for entertainment programming. But it was nipped from 8 to 8:30 p.m. by CBS' Two and a Half Men.
The return of Fox's House, with its first new episode since the writers' strike settlement, finished second overall from 8 to 9 p.m. in both total homes (199,719) and with 18-to-49-year-olds. Still, Two and a Half Men (211,897) edged House in total homes and tied it in the 18-to-49 demo before the Eye network's Rules of Engagement drew smaller crowds from 8:30 to 9 p.m.
NBC's two-hour, Star Wars-themed Deal or No Deal ran fourth from 7 to 9 p.m. in both measurements. The Peacock's Medium then improved to second place at 9 p.m.
This just in: A night in the lives of D-FW's late night newscasts (Fri., April 25)
04/28/08 10:46 AM
By ED BARK
Comedy of errors? That's usually right out of the Texas Rangers' playbook, but CBS11 stole a page on Friday's 10 p.m. newscast.
Technical difficulties happen, but usually not to this extent. Add a mangled story introduction by reporter/anchor Chris Salcedo and this ain't no train to Happytown.
Problems began after the station sailed smoothly through reporter J.D. Miles' lead story on a cocaine-crazed mother whose five-year-old-son also ingested some of her stash. NBC5 and WFAA8 didn't report this at all on their late nighters while Fox4 relegated it to a news brief on its 9 p.m. edition. Whether the story deserved the marquee treatment CBS11 gave it is debatable.
The meltdown then began after anchor Karen Borta touted Jay Gormley as "the only television reporter allowed inside the reception" for the controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who made a "surprise appearance" Friday night at the Friendship West Baptist Church before his scheduled sermon on Sunday.
But Gormley immediately got rubbed out by a transmission problem, with the scene then shifting to new reporter Marianne Martinez, who was on CBS11's runway awaiting clearance for her story on the transfer of some children from a West Texas polygamist sect to Catholic Charities of Fort Worth.
Reboot to Borta, who threw it to anchor Doug Dunbar, who re-introduced Martinez's story.
"Doug, the children . . ." she began before tape rolled for about 20 seconds on Gormley's interview with Friendship senior pastor Dr. Fredrick Haynes, Sr. Next came an abrupt transition to Martinez's story, already in progress.
After her sign-off, CBS11 started all over again with Gormley, who this time made it through the night. The station didn't have any interview with Wright, just brief video of him greeting parishioners. So this wasn't much of a story in the first place, although Gormley did have an interesting nugget on Wright's less than cost-efficient travel plans. He went back to Chicago on Friday in order to attend another event in that city on Saturday before returning to Dallas for his previously announced Sunday sermon.
Reporters can't be blamed for technical disasters, but they can be faulted for clumsily-worded standups. Enter Chris Salcedo, who still needs a lot of work out in the field. This time he was stationed live outside American Airlines Center, where the Dallas Mavericks had just defeated the New Orleans Hornets in Game 3 of their playoff series.
Salcedo's assignment was the controversy over Mavs' forward Josh Howard, who earlier Friday told ESPN radio that he smoked pot in the off-season, as did many NBA players. Howard also had disclosed his off-court drug of choice as part of a recent profile in The Dallas Morning News. Verbatim, here's how Salcedo tried to communicate this to viewers:
"In his five seasons in the NBA, Josh Howard has been pretty candid about his marijuana use. But today, on national radio, as he said, he actually all came out and admitted that he had used marijuana in the off-season." Maybe that makes some sense -- if you're high.
Dunbar then teased a story on how "you can literally melt belly flab from your body." Oh mercy.
AND IN OTHER NEWS . . .
PREGNANT PAUSE -- An extended "Viewers' Voice" segment on Fox4 included this out-of-the-box exchange between bluntly inquiring "Keith from Fort Worth" and anchor Heather Hays:
"When's Heather gonna drop that baby?" he wanted to know. "Boy, that baby sho gettin' big."
Hays, on tape, responded while eating a fruit salad with her feet up.
"I do wanna tell ya," she said, "the belly, it's gonna get a whole lot bigger. We've got eight weeks to go before Lilly gets here. Between now and then, baby and mama have a lot of eatin' to do." She then waved goodbye before anchor Steve Eagar chimed, "Well, that's somethin' you don't see every day."
GOOD WORK -- CBS11 vet Mark Johnson had a tongue-wagger on "Green Burial" advocate George Russell of Huntsville, who spares caskets and embalming in favor of deep-sixing the dead in the wild so that their bodies can become part of the eco-system.
Why not make death "a fun experience?" he asked before providing video of his mother being interred in a white quilt the day after she died.
"You've gotta know that some people feel a little creepy about that," Johnson told him.
But Russell noted that nearly everyone's "great, great grandaddy" was buried the same way. He's got a point.
WFAA8 investigator Byron Harris had a revealing probe into how the Texas Medical Board goes about citing doctors.
"Critics say they don't discriminate between real bad guys and petty offenders," Harris said. Board members, all unpaid, couldn't talk to WFAA8 because they're currently being sued, he added.
Also on WFAA8, reporter Craig Civale may end up saving lives or preventing serious injuries with his piece on what looks to be a very poorly marked Loop 12 at I-30 lane that has led to repeated close scrapes and run-ins with a concrete barrier. A TXDOT engineer told him they'd now take another look at it.
On Fox4, consumer reporter Steve Noviello looked closely at the often high prices of "bereavement fares" on American Airlines. It was a solid and informative piece with AA's side included.
KEY INGREDIENT MISSING -- NBC5 reporter Brett Johnson stood live in the dark to tell viewers that "a lot of the folks that we talked to" said they'd be spending their federal income tax rebate checks "on something fun" such as electronics at Best Buy.
But his story came and went without any evidence of those interviews. So just take his word for it while chalking up another NBC5 infomercial disguised as a news story.
ADVERTISEMENT FOR ITSELF -- NBC5 Night Ranger Scott Gordon stood in a Walgreen's drug store to hawk weather radios being sold at a discounted $29.95 each as part of a partnership between the merchant and the Peacock.
Anchor Meredith Land, again subbing for Jane McGarry, primed the pump by telling viewers, "Tonight we begin a bold initiative to help you get the most important storm warnings as quickly as possible."
The radios are being sold from a display affixed with a picture of NBC5 meteorologist David Finfrock and an "Are You Ready?" chill-inducer.
WHEN IN DOUBT, JUST ADD PORN -- New WFAA8 reporter Jason Whitely had a story on how police property rooms are becoming repositories for pornography, drugs, prescription drugs and weapons being confiscated from a growing number of foreclosed-on homes.
But the station's teases predictably went only skin deep, with anchor John McCaa informing the populace that the prop rooms are "filling up with porn." The story itself was titled "Property Room Porn."
CROWD CONTROL -- WFAA8 weatherman Pete Delkus stood live outside the station's Victory Park studios amid happy fans exiting American Airlines Center after the Mavericks' Friday night win over New Orleans.
Crowd noise seemed to rise and fall on cue, with the decibel level soaring as Delkus prepared to segue from weather to sports anchor Dale Hansen.
"Folks are just happy to see Dale walk in the studio," he said, "because after that scorched earth attack last night, I don't know if they were sure if he was gonna be back."
He referred to Hansen's "Unplugged" Thursday night assault on the Dallas Cowboys' signing of oft-arrested cornerback "Pacman" Jones.
"You got pretty favorable comments," anchor Gloria Campos told him before Hansen said that only three emailers officially "hate" him so far.
Eighteen nights to go.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., April 25-27)
04/28/08 09:34 AM
By ED BARK
Sunday night's wake before Tuesday's scheduled burial drew the weekend's biggest TV audience.
You know what we're talking about. The Dallas Mavericks' lopsided home loss to New Orleans, which all but sealed their playoff crypt, amassed 207,026 D-FW homes on TXA21 and added another 102,295 for the TNT presentation.
That easily outpointed a new episode of ABC's Desperate Housewives, which had 253,302 homes to rank as the No.2 draw in the Fri.-Sun. Nielsens.
Meanwhile, the Dallas Stars' second consecutive Stanley Cup playoff win against San Jose managed 63,326 homes on MY27. Those numbers should enjoy a nice growth spurt in the coming weeks as the Stars make what now appears to be a very serious run for the Cup while the Mavs wilt like daffodils in the Mojave.
Also Sunday, the final round of the Byron Nelson golf tournament holed out with just 58,454 homes on CBS. ABC's competing Spurs-Suns NBA playoff game drew 158,314 homes.
Friday's Mavs-Stars doubleheader looked like this:
The Mavs' win over New Orleans had 136,394 D-FW homes on TXA21 and 85,246 on ESPN. The poor Stars, stuck in virtual Siberia on the VS cable network, drew 29,227 homes. But hey, the pucksters beat the Texas Rangers-Minnesota game on Fox Sports Southwest (24,356 homes).
Now on to the local news derby, where the early morning race remains an eye-opener thanks to NBC5's continued surprising performance.
The Peacock tied WFAA8 in total homes at 6 a.m. Friday and nipped the ABC station among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming. Fox4 ran a close third in both measurements. And the 7 to 9 a.m. portion of its Good Day again swept the competing network morning shows.
The May "sweeps," which actually began on April 24th, have just two weekdays under their belt. But NBC5 is looking like a player in the early mornings, where it's tied for first with WFAA8 in total homes and has a paper-thin edge with 25-to-54-year-olds.
The Peacock also made some noise in the other local news competitions, winning among 25-to-54-year-olds at 10 p.m. and also taking first place in that key demo at 5 p.m.
WFAA8 had a comfortable win in total homes at 10 p.m. and ran the table at 6 p.m. It also had the gold in the 5 p.m. total homes competition.
Sunday night's wake before Tuesday's scheduled burial drew the weekend's biggest TV audience.
You know what we're talking about. The Dallas Mavericks' lopsided home loss to New Orleans, which all but sealed their playoff crypt, amassed 207,026 D-FW homes on TXA21 and added another 102,295 for the TNT presentation.
That easily outpointed a new episode of ABC's Desperate Housewives, which had 253,302 homes to rank as the No.2 draw in the Fri.-Sun. Nielsens.
Meanwhile, the Dallas Stars' second consecutive Stanley Cup playoff win against San Jose managed 63,326 homes on MY27. Those numbers should enjoy a nice growth spurt in the coming weeks as the Stars make what now appears to be a very serious run for the Cup while the Mavs wilt like daffodils in the Mojave.
Also Sunday, the final round of the Byron Nelson golf tournament holed out with just 58,454 homes on CBS. ABC's competing Spurs-Suns NBA playoff game drew 158,314 homes.
Friday's Mavs-Stars doubleheader looked like this:
The Mavs' win over New Orleans had 136,394 D-FW homes on TXA21 and 85,246 on ESPN. The poor Stars, stuck in virtual Siberia on the VS cable network, drew 29,227 homes. But hey, the pucksters beat the Texas Rangers-Minnesota game on Fox Sports Southwest (24,356 homes).
Now on to the local news derby, where the early morning race remains an eye-opener thanks to NBC5's continued surprising performance.
The Peacock tied WFAA8 in total homes at 6 a.m. Friday and nipped the ABC station among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming. Fox4 ran a close third in both measurements. And the 7 to 9 a.m. portion of its Good Day again swept the competing network morning shows.
The May "sweeps," which actually began on April 24th, have just two weekdays under their belt. But NBC5 is looking like a player in the early mornings, where it's tied for first with WFAA8 in total homes and has a paper-thin edge with 25-to-54-year-olds.
The Peacock also made some noise in the other local news competitions, winning among 25-to-54-year-olds at 10 p.m. and also taking first place in that key demo at 5 p.m.
WFAA8 had a comfortable win in total homes at 10 p.m. and ran the table at 6 p.m. It also had the gold in the 5 p.m. total homes competition.
This just in: A night in the lives of D-FW's late night newscasts (Thurs., April 24)
04/25/08 10:11 AM
By ED BARK
WFAA8's Dale Hansen went Donkey Kong on "Pacman" Jones and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
CBS11 reporter Carol Cavazos and her station strove to portray a hidden camera story on cheating husbands as a civic-minded public service.
And NBC5 again went deep into the personal life of longtime meteorologist David Finfrock, this time in tandem with co-anchor Jane McGarry.
If all of this smells like "sweeps" spirit, it is. The highly competitive four-week May "book" opened for business Thursday. And we'll once again be chronicling the weeknight plusses and minuses of the 10 p.m. newscasts on NBC5, WFAA8 and CBS11, plus Fox4's featured 9 p.m. editions.
Hansen goes "Unplugged" whenever he gets really revved up about something. But he billed this one as a "scorched earth commentary," which it pretty much was.
"Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has reached a new low, even by his standards," Hansen began in reference to the team's signing of oft-arrested cornerback "Pacman" Jones after already tempting fate with Terrell Owens and Tank Johnson.
No TV sports anchor in this market has -- or likely ever will -- throw verbal grenades with such gleeful abandon. And Hansen will answer all your emails, too.
"I've always liked Jerry Jones," he continued, preparing viewers for more heavy weapons fire. "Even defended him when he broke up one of the NFL's best radio teams. He had me fired the day after I quit. But I was fine with it then, and still am because I couldn't do it anymore looking at the team they had become and the coach they had. I don't know how Brad Sham and (CBS11 sports anchor) Babe Laufenberg can do it now."
Furthermore, "if character really doesn't matter, why don't they sign Osama bin Laden to play wide receiver? They need one. He's 6 (feet) 4, and we know nobody can catch him." Pause to insert sonic laugh from co-anchor Gloria Campos.
Well-heeled season ticket-holders who live and die with the Cowboys wouldn't hire Jones at their companies, Hansen continued. And they'd "shoot him through the glass" if he showed up on their front porches to date their daughters.
His big finish was more than a bit of a stretch, but it still took some balls to throw it out there.
"I've always thought he (Jones) was a good man with a good heart trying to win the right way. But not anymore," Hansen said. "At long last have you no sense of decency, sir?"
That referred to Joseph Welch's famed Senate subcommittee denunciation of communist-hunting Sen. Joe McCarthy, who during the 1950s "was destroying the careers of many people," Hansen said. "Jones is destroying the legacy of a once-proud football franchise. At long last, have you no sense of decency, sir?"
Campos quickly distanced herself, urging viewers to "get busy with those emails."
"I'm looking forward to 'em," Hansen said. And in fact he is. Whatever you think of him, here's a guy who answers back and likely always will. He's a big-mouthed, straight-shootin' sonofagun who welcomes your return fire. And yes, there's still a lot to be said for that.
Over on CBS11, reporter Cavazos popped into view for the night's featured story, "Looking to Cheat," after a pitchman informed viewers, "What they told us about their affairs could save your marriage."
"They" were responders to an unidentified female CBS11 producer who signed on to the Web site ashleymadison.com to solicit married men.
"We spent about $50 dollars and set up a profile," said Cavazos. Clearly CBS11 spares no expense when it's doing the public's business.
Three would-be mail suitors were selected to meet for "coffee dates" at a venue where hidden cameras rolled. Their faces were blurred and their voices disguised. A 40-year-old married father from Plano said "he's not unhappy in his marriage, but he's not happy either," Cavazos told viewers.
Dallas marriage counselor and sex therapist James Robbins later was brought in to throw out a few deep thoughts. Such as, "If couples would just discuss their sexual desires, it might end the tension and lead to compromise."
Cavazos noted that CBS11 also deployed a male decoy, but got only one emailed response, from a woman in New York. So drat, that was a non-starter.
Co-anchor Doug Dunbar wondered why the report didn't identify those nasty would-be philanderers.
"Doug, we did not want to 'out' these men," said Cavazos, as if any of them would have been dumb enough to waive their rights to privacy under such circumstances. "We didn't want to ruin their lives. We just wanted to know why."
Anyone's eyes rolling yet?
The Finfrock story is a tough one to really criticize. On the first night of the February 2007 ratings sweeps, NBC5 took viewers behind the scenes of his persistent on-air coughing jags, following a heavy round of promotions. The Peacock had D-FW's most-watched 10 p.m. newscast that night.
Now, sad to say, Finfrock's 34-year-old daughter, Jennifer, has been undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments for breast cancer. So NBC5 kicked off the May "sweeps" with a look at how he's coping.
McGarry, who otherwise had the night off, did the piano-accompanied narration while Finfrock showed viewers kindergarten, wedding and other pictures of his daughter.
"But for our friend David Finfrock, there are now times that shake a dad's soul," McGarry then said gravely while he was shown solemnly nodding his head in a black-and-white closeup shot.
Obviously, everyone should wish his daughter a full recovery. Jennifer has much to live for, including her four- and six-year-old daughters.
But gosh, does this really belong in a newscast? Or does it smack way too much of ratings sweeps exploitation? Can't anything be private anymore when it comes to a prominent news personality's trials and tribulations?
"There's no way she's gonna give up," Finfrock said at story's end before he re-appeared at his NBC5 weather center in the company of substitute anchor Meredith Land.
"Of course, David, the entire NBC5 family is so proud of your strength," she told him before Finfrock promoted Saturday's annual Susan G. Komen "Race for the Cure," which he'll be attending. He also displayed some tissue provided by the newscast's producer. But "I wasn't sad," Finfrock said. "I was proud."
In the end, anchor Mike Snyder of course couldn't resist injecting himself.
"David, I'd be remiss without saying I'm proud of you and I'm proud of Jennifer," he said. "I'm glad I know you."
Again, here's hoping that Jennifer will have a full recovery. Enough said.
AND IN OTHER NEWS
"DOOC" IS WILD -- Fox4's 9 p.m. newscast was a largely forgettable mix of national video and local stories that mostly were also covered in varying degrees by rival stations.
Still, sports anchor Mike Doocy, lately worried about the longterm future of his sports segment, put a little hop in his step with a closing riff on the terrible baseball being played by the Texas Rangers.
He earlier had speculated that manager Ron Washington might not last beyond Memorial Day, Doocy said. But now Cinco de Mayo could be the cut-off point.
"Man, this thing is just way off the tracks," he told anchors Steve Eagar and Heather Hays. "No signs of gettin' any better. See ya at the ballpark this weekend, everybody."
GOOD WORK -- WFAA8 veteran Jim Douglas turned in another interesting report, this one on a "DWI Loophole" that has given some offenders a basic slap on the wrist if they're passed out behind the wheel when discovered by police.
Also of note: CBS11 reporter Jay Gormley raised questions about whether American Airlines was behind the sudden removal of a prominent pilots' union billboard that encouraged passersby to tell their AA horror stories on a new Web site.
BLOOPER REEL -- WFAA8 anchor Campos blurted, "Well, my allergies are acting up tonight" without further explanation while the station mistakenly put up a "Housing slump" graphic over video of the latest developments from the polygamist sect compound in Eldorado.
During a break from Thursday's 10 p.m. show, NBC5 teased a scary tornado story (titled "When Second Count') that supposedly would be blowing in "Tonight at 10." The station meant to wait until Friday to flog that one.
PETE 'N" DALE'S PLAYHOUSE -- Following his weathercast, WFAA8's Pete Delkus turned to Campos and said, "Dale was telling me that you've got a new wig."
Actually, though, it's just a shorter hairstyle, he added.
"I like it," said Hansen. "I mean, seriously, I like women who go for the little boy look."
Boys will be boys, particularly on WFAA8's late nighters. Anchor John McCaa again sucked it up and shook his head silently.
AND NOW A WORD ABOUT GLORIA'S CLEAVAGE -- It was notably prominent Thursday night, particularly in recurring close-up shots at news desk level.
This used to be a strict taboo, but women anchors seem to be showing progressively more skin at all levels of TV news. WFAA8 reporter and weekend anchor Shelly Slater, seen live Thursday night from a Wylie spillway, also invariably shows more than a little skin whether she's in the field or at an anchor desk.
Meanwhile, the station's male reporters are supposed to wear ties during their dispatches. That includes the reasonably hunky Craig Civale. Perhaps the ladies would like to see a little more?
Nineteen nights to go.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (opening night of the May "sweeps," April 24)
04/25/08 08:50 AM
By ED BARK
Wow, what's up with that percolating Peacock?
The four-week May "sweeps" began Thursday, and the early morning local news numbers continue to be an eye-opener. NBC5, a third place non-factor in the February competition, has been aglow with rising, shining Nielsen ratings of late.
In Thursday's 6 a.m. home opener, it tied WFAA8 for the top spot in total homes and took the gold among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming. So much for paying a price for dumping veteran meteorologist Rebecca Miller last month. NBC5 has been prospering with fill-ins until The Weather Channel's version of Jennifer Lopez joins the station in June.
Here's the 6 a.m. break-down of Thursday's close three-way race:
Total Homes
NBC5 and WFAA8 -- 94,988 apiece
Fox4 -- 85,246
25-to-54-Year-Olds
NBC5 -- 79,502
Fox4 -- 73,613
WFAA8 -- 70,668
It's not as if viewers are "warming up" their sets for the NBC network's 7 to 9 a.m. Today show. Fox4's Good Day again comfortably won that time period in both ratings measurements Thursday, with Today finishing third in total homes and in a second-place tie with ABC's Good Morning America among 25-to-54-year-olds.
The other three key local news battlegrounds were pretty much business as usual Thursday.
WFAA8 swept the 10 p.m. ratings, with NBC5 running second ahead of CBS11 despite a comparatively weak lead-in audience from the Peacock's once super-potent ER. WFAA8 also opened defense of its 5 and 6 p.m. titles with across-the-board wins.
In prime-time, the first new post-writers' strike episode of ABC's Grey's Anatomy ran just a hair behind CBS' competing CSI: Crime Scene in the total homes Nielsens. But Grey's edged CSI among 18-to-49-year-olds, the advertiser target audience for entertainment programming.
At 9 p.m., a new and very compelling episode of ABC's Lost lost to CBS' Without A Trace in total homes, but easily vanquished it among 18-to-49-year-olds.
The 7 p.m. competition went to CBS' Survivor: Micronesia in both measurements.
NBC had its largest audience with The Office, which nonetheless ran fourth at 8 p.m. in total homes while moving up to third in the 18-to-49 demo.
Wow, what's up with that percolating Peacock?
The four-week May "sweeps" began Thursday, and the early morning local news numbers continue to be an eye-opener. NBC5, a third place non-factor in the February competition, has been aglow with rising, shining Nielsen ratings of late.
In Thursday's 6 a.m. home opener, it tied WFAA8 for the top spot in total homes and took the gold among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming. So much for paying a price for dumping veteran meteorologist Rebecca Miller last month. NBC5 has been prospering with fill-ins until The Weather Channel's version of Jennifer Lopez joins the station in June.
Here's the 6 a.m. break-down of Thursday's close three-way race:
Total Homes
NBC5 and WFAA8 -- 94,988 apiece
Fox4 -- 85,246
25-to-54-Year-Olds
NBC5 -- 79,502
Fox4 -- 73,613
WFAA8 -- 70,668
It's not as if viewers are "warming up" their sets for the NBC network's 7 to 9 a.m. Today show. Fox4's Good Day again comfortably won that time period in both ratings measurements Thursday, with Today finishing third in total homes and in a second-place tie with ABC's Good Morning America among 25-to-54-year-olds.
The other three key local news battlegrounds were pretty much business as usual Thursday.
WFAA8 swept the 10 p.m. ratings, with NBC5 running second ahead of CBS11 despite a comparatively weak lead-in audience from the Peacock's once super-potent ER. WFAA8 also opened defense of its 5 and 6 p.m. titles with across-the-board wins.
In prime-time, the first new post-writers' strike episode of ABC's Grey's Anatomy ran just a hair behind CBS' competing CSI: Crime Scene in the total homes Nielsens. But Grey's edged CSI among 18-to-49-year-olds, the advertiser target audience for entertainment programming.
At 9 p.m., a new and very compelling episode of ABC's Lost lost to CBS' Without A Trace in total homes, but easily vanquished it among 18-to-49-year-olds.
The 7 p.m. competition went to CBS' Survivor: Micronesia in both measurements.
NBC had its largest audience with The Office, which nonetheless ran fourth at 8 p.m. in total homes while moving up to third in the 18-to-49 demo.
Barkin' with NBC5's "Newdawg"
04/24/08 04:28 PM
By ED BARK
You can't teach an old dog new tricks, or so it's often said. But the NewDawg, nickname of NBC5 sports anchor Newy Scruggs since his college days, says he's learned to roll with less on-air time for him and more freedom for other pursuits.
"I used to take it personal. And for a while there I was mad," Scruggs says of a weeknight sports segment that's gradually been cut in half -- from four minutes to two -- since his April 2000 arrival in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Scruggs says he finally went toe-to-toe with NBC5 news director Susan Tully during a closed-door meeting in December 2006. He recalls her being angry and on the verge of suspending him for venting publicly in his weekly column for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
"There were tears involved on both sides," says Scruggs, who cleared this interview with Tully before agreeing to be profiled. "It was a really, really long, deep conversation. And since then I've been cool with it."
On a typical night, Scruggs gets roughly two-thirds or sometimes just half the time given to his competitors at Fox4, WFAA8 and CBS11. Scruggs also has to deal with having his sports segment split in two by a three-minute commercial break. And his downsized staff, being depleted further with the announced departure of Derek Castillo, could make Scruggs virtually a one-man band until a reinforcement arrives.
Still, Scruggs, 37, says life is very good, both personally and professionally.
"I'm thankful to her (Tully)," he says. "If my time's not cut, then I never get into real estate. I never start getting involved with other companies that I have now. I changed my mentality. It's not Channel 5's responsibility to make me rich. If this hadn't happened, then I'm still one of these people who thinks, 'I'm on TV. I'm OK.' This industry's changed, so I needed to do something to protect my family."
Since arriving in Dallas from Los Angeles -- "I'm in year nine of my four-year plan to get back there," he laughs -- Scruggs has gotten married and is the proud father of two daughters. Back in the day in L.A, he loved living next door to a male porn star -- Vince Voyeur -- who did much of his filming at home with a variety of well-appointed women. But being a family man changes a guy.
"You think differently," Scruggs says. "I've learned to shut up. My agent says I've learned to dance. . . Two minutes a night are easy for me. So I get to spend more time on my dinner break and at home with my kids. This is a good station, and I'm blessed enough to realize that.
"People get tired of us anchors saying, 'I want this. Me, me, me.' For the money they pay me, people will take my two minutes a night. Friends have told me, 'I'll do it. And I'll do it all damned day long.' "
Scruggs also has his own sports blog -- newdawg.com -- and an "Out of Bounds" Sunday night show during football season that gives him the extra space he doesn't get on weeknights.
"I'd like to have more time! But it is what it is," he says.
Earlier this month, veteran Fox4 sports anchor Mike Doocy blogged on his own station's Web site about what he sees as the possibly imperiled future of his regular 9 p.m. newscast sports segment.
Doocy, whom Scruggs considers a friend, "is almost where I was at a while back," he says. "He's not happy. And when you're not happy, you start to wonder, 'OK, are they gonna cut out my job?' But I think Mike's gonna be fine.
"They've got a damned good sportscaster over there," he adds, "and I think at the end of the day, Mike did what he had to do. The dog's gotta bark a little bit, and I think his station will understand. It'd be one thing if he was producing some bad stuff. but Mike's done good work. And you've gotta keep that in there."
Scruggs has another, deep-seated reason for backing NBC5 despite the station's downsizing of his nightly sports reports. Station management, and Tully in particular, had his back, he says, when racially motivated death threats were aimed at his family a couple of years ago.
His wife was pregnant with their now one-and-a-half-year-old daughter at the time. And Scruggs says he was getting calls on his cell phone from knuckledraggers who told him in so many words, "You wanna die? You want your daughter to die?"
"You get used to people saying stuff like 'You're a nigger and niggers can't do sports here.' You don't like it but you deal with it. You don't like me, fine. But don't take it out on my kid. That was frustrating and it really made me mad. You're scared, too, because they know where you are at 6:20 and at 10:20."
Scruggs says he "kept it in for a while. But I finally went to her (Tully), and she got the police involved. The station did everything it could. Those are the little things that people don't know about. But we got through it, and I'm thankful that when I told management, they immediately asked, 'What can we do?' That says a whole lot. They rallied around me. But part of me really just wanted out. I never had to deal with this in California. Never.
"I never will feel guilty about the money I make when you have to experience that kind of stuff. It was very tough, and the folks at Channel 5 were very good to me. And it stopped."
A good part of Scruggs still longs to make it back to L.A., where he left KCOP-TV (then a UPN station) after "I got into a contract battle, lost that and ended up here. I actually tried to kill the deal off after I agreed to it at Channel 5. I tried to back out."
Scruggs still had a radio show in L.A. at the time, and was dabbling in both TV acting and production. He played a sportscaster in the short-lived TV series version of Clueless and had hoped to host a reality show called Big House that he put together in partnership with the then unknown standup comic Dave Attell.
As Scruggs tells it, CBS instead went with Big Brother, an almost identically formatted import from Europe that remains on the network.
"I just liked living in L.A. so much," he says. "There's a lot to do, a lot of different people, a lot of different cultures. It's an international city, and I'd come to fall in love with that."
Instead he stuck to an agreed-on four-year deal with NBC5 that put him in D-FW just a few months before the Peacock's presentation of the 2000 Summer Olympics. The station quickly teamed him with veteran meteorologist David Finfrock in a series of odd couple promotional spots in which they played golf, baseball and basketball together.
During filming of the hoops segment, "I ran David over," Scruggs says. "Those were fun. They were cool to do."
The station made ample room for both Scruggs and his sports commentaries in the early years. But as time wore on, his time got shorter. Athletes in action supposedly are of little interest to most advertiser-courted 25-to-54-year-old women, who watch D-FW's late night newscasts in significantly larger numbers than men of the same age range. And with NBC5 dominating the 10 p.m. ratings race from February 2002 until early 2007, "What could I say?" Scruggs asks rhetorically.
His latest contract with NBC5 is up in January, and Scruggs already has stayed in D-FW for twice as long as anywhere else. As an "Army brat" born on a German military base, he got used to moving at least every four years.
"I loved it," he says, noting that a nomadic life as a kid also prepared him for the television business. Before L.A. and Dallas, he worked at TV stations in Myrtle Beach, S.C. (his first job), Austin and Cleveland, where two winters were enough for him.
The Scruggs family currently resides in Arlington, home base for dad's expanding side businesses. Scruggs says he's amassed $1.7 million in real estate holdings in recent years. It may be enough to make him stay put in North Texas unless NBC5 at some point gets out of the sports business all together.
"People often leave situations and don't realize how good they have it," says Scruggs, sounding more like a wizened old pro these days than the sometimes impulsive gypsy he used to be. "What it comes down to is 'Are you happy?' And I've got a good life, man. I make more money than I ever thought I could.
"Sometimes you've got to step back and appreciate it."
Aguilar vs. Barrs: That's the crux of reporter's "Charge of Discrimination" against Fox4
04/24/08 11:16 AM
By ED BARK
Former Fox4 reporter Rebecca Aguilar's "Charge of Discrimination" against Dallas-based KDFW-TV (Channel 4) basically boils down to a battle between two strong-willed women with many years of experience in local television news.
Aguilar's two-page complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, obtained Thursday by unclebarky.com, names veteran Fox4 news director Maria Barrs as her primary antagonist.
Under the "Summary of retaliatory conduct" segment, Aguilar says, "I have a documented history of complaining about the treatment of Hispanic and Latinos by Fox4 specifically, and Fox News, generally. Prior to the last incident (my termination) this has yielded little for me save frustration and generated considerable enmity from Maria Barrs, the Vice President of News for Fox4."
Barrs said Wednesday that it's station policy not to comment on personnel matters. "Fox4 looks forward to defending our decision in the appropriate forum," the station said in its official statement.
In her complaint, Aguilar says that in September 2007, "I proposed to Ms. Barrs that the station at least apply the Rooney Rule when it came to interviewing Latino and Hispanic candidates for management positions. My demands were ignored, and in a calculated rebuff to me personally, no Hispanics or Latinos were interviewed for an open management position. The next month the station, specifically Barrs, trumped up an incident that resulted in my termination."
(The Rooney Rule is named after Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, chairman of the NFL's diversity committee. It requires teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching positions.)
Aguilar's much-debated, televised interview with 70-year-old salvage yard owner James Walton, who had shot and killed two property trespassers in three weeks' time, led to a paid suspension from Fox4 on Oct. 16th. She was officially terminated on March 6th.
In the complaint, Aguilar says that her lengthy suspension from Fox4 was based on "completely pretextual and fabricated criticism" of the Walton story . . . I was ultimately terminated for bogus and retaliatory reasons."
Including the time she spent on paid suspension, Aguilar, 49, had a 14-year career at Fox4.
Barrs, 51, joined KDFW in 1994 when it was still a CBS affiliate. She became news director of the newly christened Fox4 in 1998.
"I'm not a yeller, shouter and kicker," Barrs said in a September 2006 interview that became the first story posted on unclebarky.com. "I mean, I've been known to, but that's real unusual. I don't like to intimidate or scare people into doing their jobs.
"I really try to encourage a democratic -- small 'd' newsroom. I'm real proud of the people here. And I like them."
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Wed., April 23)
04/24/08 09:40 AM
By ED BARK
Another wind-blown, stormy night provided ample exposure for North Texas' TV weathermen. Unlike last Thursday, though, they largely confined their updates to commercial breaks, giving TXA21 a clear path to robust ratings for its 7 to 9 p.m. newscast.
CBS11's sister station and its weather-dominated coverage drew 85,246 homes in its first hour Wednesday and 90,117 in its second. Those are more than twice the station's averages for the February "sweeps," when TXA21 respectively averaged 38,970 and 41,405 homes.
Also of note: the 7 p.m. hour of TXA21's newscast beat big brother CBS11's Big Brother 9 among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds and also with 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox's latest American Idol results show as usual topped all entertainment programming with 294,708 D-FW homes. But Fox4's following 9 p.m. local newscast was the day's most-watched attraction, drawing a Goliath-sized 340,984 homes in crushing NBC's runnerup new episode of Law & Order (192,412 homes) in which Jesse L. Martin's detective Ed Green said goodbye to the series.
Fox4's 9 p.m. news also dominated the 25-to-54 and 18-to-49 ratings in notching its best Nielsen numbers of this year.
The 10 p.m. local news golds again went to WFAA8, though, with Fox4 slipping to third place in both total homes and among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Early mornings continued to percolate, with a suddenly resurgent NBC5 taking the two top spots. The Peacock has scrambled the 6 a.m. time slot just in time for the May "sweeps," which start Thursday (April 24). Could it now be a highly caffeinated three-way race in both ratings measurements among Fox4, WFAA8 and -- soo-prize! -- NBC5?
The 5 and 6 p.m. local news slots were swept by WFAA8.
Another wind-blown, stormy night provided ample exposure for North Texas' TV weathermen. Unlike last Thursday, though, they largely confined their updates to commercial breaks, giving TXA21 a clear path to robust ratings for its 7 to 9 p.m. newscast.
CBS11's sister station and its weather-dominated coverage drew 85,246 homes in its first hour Wednesday and 90,117 in its second. Those are more than twice the station's averages for the February "sweeps," when TXA21 respectively averaged 38,970 and 41,405 homes.
Also of note: the 7 p.m. hour of TXA21's newscast beat big brother CBS11's Big Brother 9 among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds and also with 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox's latest American Idol results show as usual topped all entertainment programming with 294,708 D-FW homes. But Fox4's following 9 p.m. local newscast was the day's most-watched attraction, drawing a Goliath-sized 340,984 homes in crushing NBC's runnerup new episode of Law & Order (192,412 homes) in which Jesse L. Martin's detective Ed Green said goodbye to the series.
Fox4's 9 p.m. news also dominated the 25-to-54 and 18-to-49 ratings in notching its best Nielsen numbers of this year.
The 10 p.m. local news golds again went to WFAA8, though, with Fox4 slipping to third place in both total homes and among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Early mornings continued to percolate, with a suddenly resurgent NBC5 taking the two top spots. The Peacock has scrambled the 6 a.m. time slot just in time for the May "sweeps," which start Thursday (April 24). Could it now be a highly caffeinated three-way race in both ratings measurements among Fox4, WFAA8 and -- soo-prize! -- NBC5?
The 5 and 6 p.m. local news slots were swept by WFAA8.
Picky Picky (Vol. 13)
04/23/08 10:25 AM
By ED BARK
Barring an immediate, season-ending injury to Chris Paul, the Mavericks' NBA championship window is pretty much slammed shut -- for this season and now for the foreseeable future, too.
Tuesday's embarrassing, nationally televised no-contest in New Orleans raises one big question -- who's most responsible for two double-digit losses to a team the Mavs supposedly wanted in the first round? Let's leave owner Mark Cuban out of it for now while we ask these further questions about three players and their coach.
Is it Jason Kidd, the mostly brick-shooting, lost-a-step defender who's become a walk in the park for the jet-quick Paul? At least Devin Harris could have stayed in his face. Old Man Rivers gets gassed too easily while Paul plays the entire second-half, save for garbage time.
Is it Josh "J. Ho" Howard, the often quick-starting penetrator who vanishes in second halves? It happened again Tuesday night, with Howard playing about as effectively as surname-sharing Juwan. And that's about as ineffective as it gets.
Is it Erick Dampier, the lumbering, foul-prone center who's let the Hornets' hip-hoppers sky over his block-of-cement frame? "Damp" can't run with the deer or pogo-stick with the kangaroos. And his only dependable shot is a point-blank dunk.
Is it the "Little General" himself, Avery Johnson, whom rival, savvier coaches have been busting down to private in the playoffs? Avery seems befuddled and unable to adjust to some very bad things happening on court. Should he be the first to go?
Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse haven't been gems either, but these are our four flies in the ointment. Your comments will get this ball rolling. To repeat:
A. Jason Kidd
B. Josh Howard
C. Erick Dampier
D. Avery Johnson
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Tues., April 22)
04/23/08 09:52 AM
By ED BARK
As the Mavs' midnight hour nears, their ratings slide accordingly.
Tuesday night's horror show in New Orleans drew 114,473 D-FW homes on TXA21 and added another 51,148 on TNT, with both telecasts in HD. That's a combined 165,621 homes, well short of the 215,219 tuned to Saturday night's opener on TXA21 and ESPN.
Both games had early 6 p.m. start times, but Tuesday's (which ended at 8:35 p.m.) had tougher competition from Fox's American Idol at 7 p.m. and then the first half-hour of ABC's Dancing with the Stars results show.
Idol drew 299,579 homes to again lead all Tuesday programming. Dancing, with Marlee Matlin sent home, had 258,174 homes overall.
Fox's juggernaut again ruled among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds, but Dancing ran second in that demographic against Fox's competing Hell's Kitchen. The 9 p.m. hour was dominated in both ratings measurements ABC's Boston Legal.
Over in the cable universe, CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC devoted their prime-time hours to Pennsylvania's Democratic presidential primary, handily won by Hillary Clinton.
CNN won all three hours, averaging 32,475 D-FW homes from 7 to 10 p.m. FNC drew 22,732 homes, barely holding off MSNBC (21,108 homes).
Feasting on an already nice-sized Boston Legal lead-in, WFAA8's 10 p.m. newscast improved on it by 46,276 homes to crush its three rivals. The ABC station added another win among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
The early morning remains a battleground, though, with NBC5's 6 a.m. newscast again showing it could be a factor in the looming May "sweeps" competition, which starts on Thursday.
The Peacock nipped Fox4 in the total homes race by one-tenth of a rating point (2,436 homes) and lost by just two-tenths of a point to Fox4 among 25-to-54-year-olds. WFAA8, also certain to be a contender, was close behind in third place.
WFAA8 took the 5 p.m. competition in both ratings measurements and also prevailed at 6 p.m. in the 25-to-54 demo. Fox4 had the 5 p.m. gold among 25-to-54-year-olds.
As the Mavs' midnight hour nears, their ratings slide accordingly.
Tuesday night's horror show in New Orleans drew 114,473 D-FW homes on TXA21 and added another 51,148 on TNT, with both telecasts in HD. That's a combined 165,621 homes, well short of the 215,219 tuned to Saturday night's opener on TXA21 and ESPN.
Both games had early 6 p.m. start times, but Tuesday's (which ended at 8:35 p.m.) had tougher competition from Fox's American Idol at 7 p.m. and then the first half-hour of ABC's Dancing with the Stars results show.
Idol drew 299,579 homes to again lead all Tuesday programming. Dancing, with Marlee Matlin sent home, had 258,174 homes overall.
Fox's juggernaut again ruled among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds, but Dancing ran second in that demographic against Fox's competing Hell's Kitchen. The 9 p.m. hour was dominated in both ratings measurements ABC's Boston Legal.
Over in the cable universe, CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC devoted their prime-time hours to Pennsylvania's Democratic presidential primary, handily won by Hillary Clinton.
CNN won all three hours, averaging 32,475 D-FW homes from 7 to 10 p.m. FNC drew 22,732 homes, barely holding off MSNBC (21,108 homes).
Feasting on an already nice-sized Boston Legal lead-in, WFAA8's 10 p.m. newscast improved on it by 46,276 homes to crush its three rivals. The ABC station added another win among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
The early morning remains a battleground, though, with NBC5's 6 a.m. newscast again showing it could be a factor in the looming May "sweeps" competition, which starts on Thursday.
The Peacock nipped Fox4 in the total homes race by one-tenth of a rating point (2,436 homes) and lost by just two-tenths of a point to Fox4 among 25-to-54-year-olds. WFAA8, also certain to be a contender, was close behind in third place.
WFAA8 took the 5 p.m. competition in both ratings measurements and also prevailed at 6 p.m. in the 25-to-54 demo. Fox4 had the 5 p.m. gold among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Unclebarky.com goes to college, keeps students awake
04/22/08 03:04 PM
Your friendly unclebarky.com proprietor met Monday with SMU graduate students of Belo Distinguished Chair in Journalism Tony Pederson.
No one appeared to doze off during their class on New Media and Society. Thanks for having me and for all the great questions and kind words!
Ed Bark
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Mon., April 21)
04/22/08 10:32 AM
By ED BARK
The usual suspects held Monday's balance of power, led by a new episode of CSI: Miami.
CBS' sun-drenched crime caper drew 302,014 D-FW homes to rank as the day's most-watched attraction. ABC's Dancing with the Stars won as usual from 7 to 8:30 p.m., but had a lower-than-usual tally of 231,382 homes. The network's following Samantha Who? then fell to 146,136 homes at 8:30 p.m., running well behind CBS' competing Rules of Engagement (207,026).
At 9 p.m., ABC's The Bachelor continued to scrape bottom, running fourth in the time slot.
In the cable universe, USA's Monday Night Raw found the three remaining presidential candidates all debasing themselves with videotaped messages aimed at corralling the wrestling fan vote. Its three prime-time hours drew 24,356 homes at 7 p.m.; 43,841 at 8 p.m.; and 48,712 in the final hour, during which a fake Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both were knocked "unconscious" by Umaga the Samoan Bulldozer.
The 10 p.m. newscast ratings again found WFAA8 on top in total homes despite CBS11 inheriting twice the 9:45 to 10 p.m. "lead-in" audience from CSI: Miami. The tale of the tape went like this:
CSI: Miami -- 302,014 homes
The Bachelor -- 148,572 homes
WFAA8's 10 p.m. newscast -- 224,075 homes
CBS11's 10 p.m. newscast -- 194,848 homes.
But CBS11 countered with a first-place finish over runnerup WFAA8 among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming. Again, though, its lead-in advantage in that demographic was huge. Take a look:
CSI: Miami -- 223,782 viewers
The Bachelor -- 91,280 viewers
CBS11's 10 p.m. news -- 141,336 viewers
WFAA8's 10 p.m. news -- 111,891 viewers
Meanwhile, the 6 a.m. ratings were scrambled.
Fox4 won in total homes (92,553), outlasting NBC5 (85,246) and WFAA8 (80,375). But the Peacock prevailed among 25-to-54-year-olds, drawing 79,502 of 'em to win fairly comfortably over WFAA8 (67,724) and Fox4 (58,890).
WFAA8 again swept the 5 and 6 p.m. Nielsens in both measurements.
With the May "sweeps" starting Thursday, WFAA8 has a lock on the 5 and 6 p.m. races. But it could be a three-horse race at 6 a.m., with NBC5 perhaps peeking back into the picture.
At 10 p.m., WFAA8 is a prohibitive favorite to finish first in total homes and with 25-to-54-year-olds. The real race likely will be for second place, where CBS11 will have the edge over NBC5 thanks to post-strike new episodes of its network's popular 9 p.m. crime dramas.
WFAA8 and its fellow ABC affiliates might want to scream foul over the network's decision to air two-hour season finales of both Grey's Anatomy and Lost outside the May sweeps period. The four-week competition ends on May 21st, with the Grey's and Lost season closeouts respectively set for May 22nd and 29th.
The writers' strike somewhat tied ABC's hands. Still, you've got to plan better than that.
The usual suspects held Monday's balance of power, led by a new episode of CSI: Miami.
CBS' sun-drenched crime caper drew 302,014 D-FW homes to rank as the day's most-watched attraction. ABC's Dancing with the Stars won as usual from 7 to 8:30 p.m., but had a lower-than-usual tally of 231,382 homes. The network's following Samantha Who? then fell to 146,136 homes at 8:30 p.m., running well behind CBS' competing Rules of Engagement (207,026).
At 9 p.m., ABC's The Bachelor continued to scrape bottom, running fourth in the time slot.
In the cable universe, USA's Monday Night Raw found the three remaining presidential candidates all debasing themselves with videotaped messages aimed at corralling the wrestling fan vote. Its three prime-time hours drew 24,356 homes at 7 p.m.; 43,841 at 8 p.m.; and 48,712 in the final hour, during which a fake Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both were knocked "unconscious" by Umaga the Samoan Bulldozer.
The 10 p.m. newscast ratings again found WFAA8 on top in total homes despite CBS11 inheriting twice the 9:45 to 10 p.m. "lead-in" audience from CSI: Miami. The tale of the tape went like this:
CSI: Miami -- 302,014 homes
The Bachelor -- 148,572 homes
WFAA8's 10 p.m. newscast -- 224,075 homes
CBS11's 10 p.m. newscast -- 194,848 homes.
But CBS11 countered with a first-place finish over runnerup WFAA8 among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming. Again, though, its lead-in advantage in that demographic was huge. Take a look:
CSI: Miami -- 223,782 viewers
The Bachelor -- 91,280 viewers
CBS11's 10 p.m. news -- 141,336 viewers
WFAA8's 10 p.m. news -- 111,891 viewers
Meanwhile, the 6 a.m. ratings were scrambled.
Fox4 won in total homes (92,553), outlasting NBC5 (85,246) and WFAA8 (80,375). But the Peacock prevailed among 25-to-54-year-olds, drawing 79,502 of 'em to win fairly comfortably over WFAA8 (67,724) and Fox4 (58,890).
WFAA8 again swept the 5 and 6 p.m. Nielsens in both measurements.
With the May "sweeps" starting Thursday, WFAA8 has a lock on the 5 and 6 p.m. races. But it could be a three-horse race at 6 a.m., with NBC5 perhaps peeking back into the picture.
At 10 p.m., WFAA8 is a prohibitive favorite to finish first in total homes and with 25-to-54-year-olds. The real race likely will be for second place, where CBS11 will have the edge over NBC5 thanks to post-strike new episodes of its network's popular 9 p.m. crime dramas.
WFAA8 and its fellow ABC affiliates might want to scream foul over the network's decision to air two-hour season finales of both Grey's Anatomy and Lost outside the May sweeps period. The four-week competition ends on May 21st, with the Grey's and Lost season closeouts respectively set for May 22nd and 29th.
The writers' strike somewhat tied ABC's hands. Still, you've got to plan better than that.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot -- weekend playoffs edition (Fri.-Sun., April 18-20)
04/21/08 09:57 AM
By ED BARK
The Stars put Anaheim on ice while the Mavericks melted down in New Orleans.
And the Rangers? More ick-poo baseball left them swept in Boston. Let's go to the ratings stat sheets.
At home Sunday night, the Stars at long last advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in a prime-time outing on Fox Sports Southwest. D-FW hasn't yet to warmed to hockey, though, even if temperatures are slowly rising. An average of 38,970 homes had the game in tune, with those numbers peaking at 77,939 homes in the final 15 minutes.
Friday's late night Game 5 loss, in Anaheim on MY27, averaged 77,939 homes for the entire matchup, with a high of 99,860 between 10:45 and 11 p.m. It still helps to be on free TV. High-definition would be nice, too, especially with hockey. C'mon, FSS, get in the game.
Viewers had two choices Saturday night when the Mavs met the Hornets and left hanging their heads. The conventional analog telecast on TXA21 averaged 129,087 homes, peaking at 163,185. ESPN's high-definition presentation drew 86,132 homes, with a high mark of 131,522.
The Rangers' dispiriting three game series at Fenway Park opened Friday night with a dinky 21,920 homes on FSS. Saturday night's game, also on FSS, built a bit to 31,663 homes. Sunday afternoon's closer on MY27 had 68,197 homes. The Lakers-Nuggets NBA playoff game on ABC averaged 112,038 D-FW homes after beginning opposite the closing innings of the Rangers' latest loss.
In Sunday's prime-time entertainment results, ABC's season finale of Oprah's Big Give topped all competing attractions from 7 to 8 p.m. with 185,106 homes. ABC also cleaned up with time slot-winning performances from new episodes of Desperate Housewives (211,897 homes) and Brothers & Sisters (168,056 homes).
On Friday night, a Dale Hansen Mavericks special on WFAA8 drew 53,583 homes to run a distant second at 6:30 p.m. opposite CBS11's Wheel of Fortune (165,621 homes). Hansen did outdraw two of ABC's prime-time shows, though -- a rerun of Desperate Housewives (43,841 homes) and a new edition of the big money game show Duel (34,098 homes).
Advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds mostly looked away, though. The Hansen special ran a cellar-dwelling seventh with those viewers while also trailing DH and Duel in that demographic.
The local news derby Nielsen saw WFAA8 warming up at 10 p.m. for the May "sweeps," which start Thursday. It again took the late night golds in both total homes and with 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 ran first at 6 a.m. in total homes while tying WFAA8 among 25-to-54-year-olds. In the latter race, third-place NBC5 ran just a hair behind the two frontrunners while CBS11 again lagged.
WFAA8 won at 5 p.m. in both measurements and also took the 6 p.m. contest in total homes. Fox4 had a paper-thin edge over WFAA8 in the 6 p.m. battle for 25-to-54-year-olds.
