Jan 2015
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Thurs., Jan. 29) -- return of TGIT gives ABC a leg up on opening night of Feb. "sweeps"
01/30/15 12:03 PM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
ABC broke fast out of the starting gate with the return of its “Thank God It’s Thursday” lineup on night one of the February “sweeps.”
The network’s three-pronged attack of Shonda Rhimes-produced dramas was paced by a new 8 p.m. episode of Scandal. It easily won its time slot in both total viewers (299,882) and advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds (145,075).
ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder held serve at 9 p.m. with 258,038 total viewers and 138,767 in the 18-to-49 demographic.
In the 7 p.m. hour, CBS’ The Big Bang Theory reigned with a prime-time leading 425,414 total viewers and 157,690 in the 18-to-49 realm. The second half of Fox’s American Idol then won from 7:30 to 8 p.m. with respective totals of 313,830 and 122,998 viewers.
Fox’s 8 p.m. second episode of Backstrom took a tumble from Week 1, but still beat the second hour of NBC’s The Biggest Loser and CBS’ fading The McCarthys in total viewers. But Biggest Loser moved ahead of Backstrom among 18-to-49-year-olds.
NBC’s 9 p.m. series finale of Parenthood ran third in total viewers with 153,428, edging CBS’ competing Elementary (146,454). The Bravermans’ swan song likewise took the bronze with 18-to-49-year-olds. Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast registered solid second place finishes in both ratings measurements, in each case bouncing up from Backstrom.
Thursday also marked the start of the four-way local news wars among Fox4, NBC5, Gannett8 and CBS11. Here’s how it went.
Gannett8 started strong at 10 p.m., winning by comfortable margins in both total viewers and with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming). CBS11 had a sub-dismal showing in the 25-to-54 demographic, drawing just 14,817 viewers compared to Gannett8’s 133,353.
Fox4 swept the 6 a.m. competitions, with Gannett8 taking the silver in both measurements. But the 25-to-54 numbers for Gannett8, NBC5 and CBS11 were closely bunched. Fox4 led the way with 59,268 viewers, followed by Gannett8 (38,524), NBC5 (32,597) and CBS11 (29,634).
Gannett8 had the most total viewers at both 5 and 6 p.m. while NBC5 took the top spots at those hours among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
ABC broke fast out of the starting gate with the return of its “Thank God It’s Thursday” lineup on night one of the February “sweeps.”
The network’s three-pronged attack of Shonda Rhimes-produced dramas was paced by a new 8 p.m. episode of Scandal. It easily won its time slot in both total viewers (299,882) and advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds (145,075).
ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder held serve at 9 p.m. with 258,038 total viewers and 138,767 in the 18-to-49 demographic.
In the 7 p.m. hour, CBS’ The Big Bang Theory reigned with a prime-time leading 425,414 total viewers and 157,690 in the 18-to-49 realm. The second half of Fox’s American Idol then won from 7:30 to 8 p.m. with respective totals of 313,830 and 122,998 viewers.
Fox’s 8 p.m. second episode of Backstrom took a tumble from Week 1, but still beat the second hour of NBC’s The Biggest Loser and CBS’ fading The McCarthys in total viewers. But Biggest Loser moved ahead of Backstrom among 18-to-49-year-olds.
NBC’s 9 p.m. series finale of Parenthood ran third in total viewers with 153,428, edging CBS’ competing Elementary (146,454). The Bravermans’ swan song likewise took the bronze with 18-to-49-year-olds. Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast registered solid second place finishes in both ratings measurements, in each case bouncing up from Backstrom.
Thursday also marked the start of the four-way local news wars among Fox4, NBC5, Gannett8 and CBS11. Here’s how it went.
Gannett8 started strong at 10 p.m., winning by comfortable margins in both total viewers and with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming). CBS11 had a sub-dismal showing in the 25-to-54 demographic, drawing just 14,817 viewers compared to Gannett8’s 133,353.
Fox4 swept the 6 a.m. competitions, with Gannett8 taking the silver in both measurements. But the 25-to-54 numbers for Gannett8, NBC5 and CBS11 were closely bunched. Fox4 led the way with 59,268 viewers, followed by Gannett8 (38,524), NBC5 (32,597) and CBS11 (29,634).
Gannett8 had the most total viewers at both 5 and 6 p.m. while NBC5 took the top spots at those hours among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Take it from Ernest: "Get that ol' TV antenna fixed . . . the Channel 4 news is about to come on"
01/29/15 03:35 PM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
It’s been 30 years since KDFW-TV (now Fox4) went the cornpone comedy route in a series of newscast promos starring the late Jim Varney’s Ernest P. Worrell character and his unseen friend, Vern.
As another ratings “sweeps” period begins, here’s a look at how they sold the product back in 1985. Ernest is climbing to a rooftop to urge Vern to “get that ol’ TV antenna fixed” in a hurry. Because the Channel 4 news would soon be on the air, starring anchors Clarice Tinsley and Steve Bosh, weatherman James Spann and sports dude Paul Crane. Clarice is still standing, of course. The others are long gone from D-FW.
WFAA-TV (now known as Gannett8 in these spaces) countered two years later with some very earnest homespun spots starring the late actor Dennis Weaver. But those Ernest/Vern promos are still a hoot -- even if it’s hard to imagine them ever happening in the first place. Have a look.
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
It’s been 30 years since KDFW-TV (now Fox4) went the cornpone comedy route in a series of newscast promos starring the late Jim Varney’s Ernest P. Worrell character and his unseen friend, Vern.
As another ratings “sweeps” period begins, here’s a look at how they sold the product back in 1985. Ernest is climbing to a rooftop to urge Vern to “get that ol’ TV antenna fixed” in a hurry. Because the Channel 4 news would soon be on the air, starring anchors Clarice Tinsley and Steve Bosh, weatherman James Spann and sports dude Paul Crane. Clarice is still standing, of course. The others are long gone from D-FW.
WFAA-TV (now known as Gannett8 in these spaces) countered two years later with some very earnest homespun spots starring the late actor Dennis Weaver. But those Ernest/Vern promos are still a hoot -- even if it’s hard to imagine them ever happening in the first place. Have a look.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Tues.-Wed., Jan. 27-28) -- Empire rules again
01/29/15 11:31 AM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Thursday mornings are still sunshine and lollipops for Fox, which is treated to the sweet ratings returns for Empire.
Wednesday’s Episode 4 again ruled with both the night’s biggest haul of D-FW viewers (418,440) and the most advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds (220,766).
ABC and NBC both made it easier with reruns in the 8 p.m. hour. But in previous weeks, Empire has been beating their first-run programming anyway. A new episode of CBS’ Criminal Minds again ran second at 8 p.m. with 306,856 total viewers and 94,614 in the 18-to-49 demographic.
Fox also easily won the 7 p.m. hour with American Idol’s 334,752 total viewers and 116,691 in the 18-to-49 realm. Fox4’s local newscast then cleaned up at 9 p.m. with respective winning totals of 244,090 and 97,768 viewers.
Tuesday also provided a prime-time mix of first-runs and reruns. CBS’ won from start to stop in total viewers with reprises of NCIS and NCIS: New Orleans and a new episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. The winners in the 18-to-49 demographic were NCIS, NCIS: New Orleans and Fox4’s 9 p.m.local news.
ABC’s new 8 p.m. episode of Marvel’s Agent Carter managed an overall second place finish among total viewers in that time slot while falling to the No. 3 spot with 18-to-49-year-olds.
Here are the local news derby results.
Tuesday -- Gannett8 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m. and tied Fox4 for the top spot among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
NBC5 uncommonly notched a pair of twin wins at 6 a.m. while Fox4 ran the table at 5 p.m. The 6 p.m. golds went to CBS11 in total viewers and Fox4 with 25-to-54-year-olds.
Wednesday -- CBS11 won at 10 p.m. in total viewers but Fox4 ran first among 25-to-54-year-olds while CBS11 fell to fourth.
Fox4 returned to the top at 6 a.m. with twin wins and also had the most 25-to-54-year-olds at both 5 and 6 p.m. Gannett8 ran first in total viewers at 5 and 6 p.m.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Thursday mornings are still sunshine and lollipops for Fox, which is treated to the sweet ratings returns for Empire.
Wednesday’s Episode 4 again ruled with both the night’s biggest haul of D-FW viewers (418,440) and the most advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds (220,766).
ABC and NBC both made it easier with reruns in the 8 p.m. hour. But in previous weeks, Empire has been beating their first-run programming anyway. A new episode of CBS’ Criminal Minds again ran second at 8 p.m. with 306,856 total viewers and 94,614 in the 18-to-49 demographic.
Fox also easily won the 7 p.m. hour with American Idol’s 334,752 total viewers and 116,691 in the 18-to-49 realm. Fox4’s local newscast then cleaned up at 9 p.m. with respective winning totals of 244,090 and 97,768 viewers.
Tuesday also provided a prime-time mix of first-runs and reruns. CBS’ won from start to stop in total viewers with reprises of NCIS and NCIS: New Orleans and a new episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. The winners in the 18-to-49 demographic were NCIS, NCIS: New Orleans and Fox4’s 9 p.m.local news.
ABC’s new 8 p.m. episode of Marvel’s Agent Carter managed an overall second place finish among total viewers in that time slot while falling to the No. 3 spot with 18-to-49-year-olds.
Here are the local news derby results.
Tuesday -- Gannett8 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m. and tied Fox4 for the top spot among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
NBC5 uncommonly notched a pair of twin wins at 6 a.m. while Fox4 ran the table at 5 p.m. The 6 p.m. golds went to CBS11 in total viewers and Fox4 with 25-to-54-year-olds.
Wednesday -- CBS11 won at 10 p.m. in total viewers but Fox4 ran first among 25-to-54-year-olds while CBS11 fell to fourth.
Fox4 returned to the top at 6 a.m. with twin wins and also had the most 25-to-54-year-olds at both 5 and 6 p.m. Gannett8 ran first in total viewers at 5 and 6 p.m.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Mon., Jan. 26) -- CBS/ABC get the most out of prime-time
01/27/15 10:59 AM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Paced by a Super Bowl’s Greatest Commercials special, CBS swept Monday’s prime-time total viewers ratings but again stumbled with advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds.
The one-hour Supie special led off with 258,038 D-FW viewers, followed by time slot-winning numbers for CBS’ Scorpion (237,116) and NCIS: Los Angeles (202,246).
ABC’s 7 to 9 p.m. edition of The Bachelor won among 18-to-49-year-olds, though, nipping Supie before winning more comfortably from 8 to 9 p.m. over NBC’s second half of The Celebrity Apprentice. Fox4’s local newscast then stepped into the winner’s circle by easily drawing the most 18-to-49-year-olds in the 9 p.m. hour.
Here are Monday’s local news derby results.
Gannett8 ran first at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 nipped runner-up NBC5 at 6 a.m. in both ratings measurements. But the big news at that hour was Gannett8’s continued slippage in the 25-to-54 demographic. CBS11 has outdrawn Gannett8 the majority of the time since Karen Borta stepped in as the station’s early morning co-anchor on Monday, Jan. 12th. But Monday’s numbers were especially dismal for Gannett8, which had just 17,780 viewers in the 25-to-54 age range compared to third-place CBS11’s 35,561.
The four-week February ratings “sweeps” begin on Thursday, Jan. 29th. CBS11’s early morning news has never finished better than fourth among 25-to-54-year-olds in any sweeps period. But perhaps it has a fighting chance for the bronze this time around. Then again, Gannett8 could just as easily vault back into third place.
Fox4 added twin wins at 5 p.m. and also finished first at 6 p.m. with 25-to-54-year-olds. CBS11 had the most total viewers at 6 p.m.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Paced by a Super Bowl’s Greatest Commercials special, CBS swept Monday’s prime-time total viewers ratings but again stumbled with advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds.
The one-hour Supie special led off with 258,038 D-FW viewers, followed by time slot-winning numbers for CBS’ Scorpion (237,116) and NCIS: Los Angeles (202,246).
ABC’s 7 to 9 p.m. edition of The Bachelor won among 18-to-49-year-olds, though, nipping Supie before winning more comfortably from 8 to 9 p.m. over NBC’s second half of The Celebrity Apprentice. Fox4’s local newscast then stepped into the winner’s circle by easily drawing the most 18-to-49-year-olds in the 9 p.m. hour.
Here are Monday’s local news derby results.
Gannett8 ran first at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 nipped runner-up NBC5 at 6 a.m. in both ratings measurements. But the big news at that hour was Gannett8’s continued slippage in the 25-to-54 demographic. CBS11 has outdrawn Gannett8 the majority of the time since Karen Borta stepped in as the station’s early morning co-anchor on Monday, Jan. 12th. But Monday’s numbers were especially dismal for Gannett8, which had just 17,780 viewers in the 25-to-54 age range compared to third-place CBS11’s 35,561.
The four-week February ratings “sweeps” begin on Thursday, Jan. 29th. CBS11’s early morning news has never finished better than fourth among 25-to-54-year-olds in any sweeps period. But perhaps it has a fighting chance for the bronze this time around. Then again, Gannett8 could just as easily vault back into third place.
Fox4 added twin wins at 5 p.m. and also finished first at 6 p.m. with 25-to-54-year-olds. CBS11 had the most total viewers at 6 p.m.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
The scoop -- and the poop -- on Kaley O'Kelley's impromptu CBS11 anchoring debut
01/26/15 10:15 AM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
CBS11 opted to sneak preview new anchor Kaley O’Kelley Friday night during a 10 p.m. newscast that might best be remembered for her touting of a “glowing toilet seat.”
The saucy import from Phoenix wasn’t scheduled to make her on-air debut until Monday, Jan. 26th, when she’ll officially succeed Karen Borta on the D-FW station’s 5, 6 and 10 p.m. weekday newscasts.
But to hear Dunbar tell it, “We couldn’t wait . . . It came down to rock, paper, scissors. You lost -- and you’re on the air right now.”
Wearing a salmon-colored dress for the occasion, O’Kelley made it through her impromptu maiden voyage without stumbling through any news copy or mis-pronouncing any North Texas cities within CBS11’s viewing area. But she teamed with Dunbar for a memorable exchange after both anchors termed the impending demise of SkyMall “a bummer.”
Dunbar chose the Litter Robot as his spotlight SkyMall product, saying it would help keep his cat’s leavings from smelling quite so much. Then O’Kelley went with SkyMall’s glowing toilet seat, which likewise was shown on screen. It would be a nice plus for those late night returns home, she explained.
Meteorologist Larry Mowry quickly pounced at the outset of his segment. “It’s rather telling that both of your items had something to do with poop,” he jabbed. Kelley later joked, “I’ve got class with a capital K.”
Dunbar, who was all atwitter on Twitter both before and after O’Kelley’s debut, hugged his new desk partner at newscast’s end, telling her, “We love you, buddy. Welcome to CBS. Welcome to Texas.”
This came after he had joked, “Better bring a better effort, though.”
Neither Dunbar nor O’Kelley mentioned Borta, who now is CBS11’s early morning news co-anchor after nearly two decades of working the P.M. shift. It would have been nice had Dunbar said something on the order of, “You have big shoes to fill, Kaley, but I know Karen is rooting for you.” You know, just a bone.
O’Kelley is the first major hire by CBS11 news anchor Mike Garber, who joined the station in July with an eye toward improving some pretty dismal ratings among 25-to-54-year-olds (the main advertiser target audience for news programming). In that respect, Borta’s addition to the early mornings has improved CBS11’s standing in this key demographic -- at least in the battle for third place with Gannett8.
Garber has a number of other anchor vacancies to fill, including a replacement for longtime 6 and 10 p.m. sports anchor Babe Laufenberg, who left CBS11 earlier this month after the two sides couldn’t agree on a new contract.
O’Kelley looks like a live wire addition who will ratchet up the anchor banter with the jab-throwing Dunbar. Glowing toilet seat notwithstanding, “You guys have been so warm,” she said on Friday’s newscast. And so have he viewers.” So it’s been a “much easier transition than I figured it would be.”
The four-week February “sweeps” ratings period fires up on Thursday, Jan. 29th, with CBS11 hoping to pack a stiffer punch at 10 p.m. after running second in total viewers and fourth with 25-to-54-year-olds in the November sweeps. Stiffer punchlines also seem to be in the playbook, although the bathroom humor perhaps will have to be flushed.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., Jan. 23-25) -- Pro Bowl blows out Miss Universe, SAG awards
01/26/15 09:37 AM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Meaningless? Yes. Still, they were high-priced athletes playing football. And that’s all D-FW viewers needed to make Sunday’s prime-time Pro Bowl a ratings hit.
Airing opposite both NBC’s Miss Universe pageant and the Screen Actors Guild awards on TNT/TBS, the Pro Bowl averaged 334,752 viewers on ESPN.
Miss Universe, which aired from 7 to 10 p.m., drew 153,428 viewers while SAG had a combined 104,610 viewers from 7 to 9 p.m. on TNT/TBS.
The Pro Bowl also rolled among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, easily topping the Sunday night ratings from start to stop. For the record, Michael Irvin’s team rallied to beat Cris Carter’s team by a score of 32-28.
Irvin seemed much more into it, judging from his live mic repartee on the sidelines. But analyst Jon Gruden had the wrong-headed quote of the night, saying of Tony Romo, “Great to see him injury-free this season for the Cowboys.” Not even close. Romo missed one full game due to injury and suffered broken ribs during the season in addition to his ongoing back problems.
Friday’s prime-time Nielsens were paced by CBS’ Undercover Boss in both total viewers (237,116) and 18-to-49-year-olds (72,537).
Here are Friday’s local news derby results.
Gannett8 topped the 10 p.m. competitions in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming). CBS11, which opted for the impromptu debut of Kaley O’Kelley as the new 10 p.m. co-anchor (she wasn’t scheduled to hit the air until Monday), ran second in total viewers and tied for third with NBC5 in the 25-to-54 demographic.
Fox4 again swept the 6 a.m. ratings while also running the table at 5 p.m. The 6 p.m. golds went to Gannett8 in total viewers and Fox4 among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Meaningless? Yes. Still, they were high-priced athletes playing football. And that’s all D-FW viewers needed to make Sunday’s prime-time Pro Bowl a ratings hit.
Airing opposite both NBC’s Miss Universe pageant and the Screen Actors Guild awards on TNT/TBS, the Pro Bowl averaged 334,752 viewers on ESPN.
Miss Universe, which aired from 7 to 10 p.m., drew 153,428 viewers while SAG had a combined 104,610 viewers from 7 to 9 p.m. on TNT/TBS.
The Pro Bowl also rolled among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, easily topping the Sunday night ratings from start to stop. For the record, Michael Irvin’s team rallied to beat Cris Carter’s team by a score of 32-28.
Irvin seemed much more into it, judging from his live mic repartee on the sidelines. But analyst Jon Gruden had the wrong-headed quote of the night, saying of Tony Romo, “Great to see him injury-free this season for the Cowboys.” Not even close. Romo missed one full game due to injury and suffered broken ribs during the season in addition to his ongoing back problems.
Friday’s prime-time Nielsens were paced by CBS’ Undercover Boss in both total viewers (237,116) and 18-to-49-year-olds (72,537).
Here are Friday’s local news derby results.
Gannett8 topped the 10 p.m. competitions in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming). CBS11, which opted for the impromptu debut of Kaley O’Kelley as the new 10 p.m. co-anchor (she wasn’t scheduled to hit the air until Monday), ran second in total viewers and tied for third with NBC5 in the 25-to-54 demographic.
Fox4 again swept the 6 a.m. ratings while also running the table at 5 p.m. The 6 p.m. golds went to Gannett8 in total viewers and Fox4 among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Thurs., Jan. 22) -- more high times for Fox/Fox4
01/23/15 11:15 AM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Continued strong ratings for American Idol and a solid premiere for Backstrom gave Fox/Fox4 another prime-time ratings sweep Thursday.
There’s an asterisk, though. CBS had two Big Bang Theory repeats in its mix, ABC burned off its last two-hour episode of The Taste and NBC punted with the series finales of two canceled sitcoms, Bad Judge and A to Z.
Still, Fox will take it.
Idol led off with 334,752 D-FW viewers to hold off Big Bang (265,012) and a new episode of CBS’ Mom (271,986) in the 7 p.m. hour.
Backstrom, starring Rainn Wilson as a very disagreeable detective, then pulled in 244,090 viewers to beat a first-run Two and a Half Men (209,220) and a second Big Bang rerun (195,272).
Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast held serve with a time slot-winning 216,194 viewers while CBS again came in second with a new episode of Elementary (160,402).
All three Fox/Fox4 hours also won among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds.
NBC’s 9 p.m. second-to-last episode of Parenthood, given no ratings help at all from the preceding A to Z, ran third in total viewers with 132,506 but beat Elementary for the No. 2 spot with 18-to-49-year-olds. Among the Big Four broadcast networks, ABC’s The Taste was Thursday’s worst prime-time performer in this key demographic. It averaged just 22,077 viewers in the 18-to-49 range.
Here are Thursday’s local news derby results.
CBS11 beat NBC5 by a sliver at 10 p.m. in total viewers, but the Peacock won among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 rang up another pair of 6 a.m. firsts and also swept the 5 p.m. competitions.
The 6 p.m. golds went to CBS11 in total viewers and Fox4 in the 25-to-54 demographic.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Continued strong ratings for American Idol and a solid premiere for Backstrom gave Fox/Fox4 another prime-time ratings sweep Thursday.
There’s an asterisk, though. CBS had two Big Bang Theory repeats in its mix, ABC burned off its last two-hour episode of The Taste and NBC punted with the series finales of two canceled sitcoms, Bad Judge and A to Z.
Still, Fox will take it.
Idol led off with 334,752 D-FW viewers to hold off Big Bang (265,012) and a new episode of CBS’ Mom (271,986) in the 7 p.m. hour.
Backstrom, starring Rainn Wilson as a very disagreeable detective, then pulled in 244,090 viewers to beat a first-run Two and a Half Men (209,220) and a second Big Bang rerun (195,272).
Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast held serve with a time slot-winning 216,194 viewers while CBS again came in second with a new episode of Elementary (160,402).
All three Fox/Fox4 hours also won among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds.
NBC’s 9 p.m. second-to-last episode of Parenthood, given no ratings help at all from the preceding A to Z, ran third in total viewers with 132,506 but beat Elementary for the No. 2 spot with 18-to-49-year-olds. Among the Big Four broadcast networks, ABC’s The Taste was Thursday’s worst prime-time performer in this key demographic. It averaged just 22,077 viewers in the 18-to-49 range.
Here are Thursday’s local news derby results.
CBS11 beat NBC5 by a sliver at 10 p.m. in total viewers, but the Peacock won among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 rang up another pair of 6 a.m. firsts and also swept the 5 p.m. competitions.
The 6 p.m. golds went to CBS11 in total viewers and Fox4 in the 25-to-54 demographic.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Wed., Jan. 21) -- Fox/Fox4 again rule prime-time
01/22/15 10:57 AM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Episode 3 of Empire fell from its Episode 2 ratings highs but still made CBS’ Criminal Minds its loyal subject Wednesday night.
The Fox newcomer won the 8 p.m. hour with 355,674 D-FW viewers, again pushing Criminal Minds (306,856 viewers) into second place. It was a blowout among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, though. Empire called that tune with 157,690 viewers compared to Criminal Minds’ 88,306.
Although still imposing, Empire couldn’t match last week’s eye-popping ratings highs of 425,414 total viewers and 233,381 in the18-to-49 demographic.
Fox also swept the 7 p.m. ratings with American Idol, which drew 348,700 total viewers and 116,691 in the 18-to-49 range.
Fox4’s 9 p.m. local news likewise again came up a winner, edging CBS’ competing Stalker in total viewers (292,908 to 285,934) while enjoying a wider margin with 18-to-49-year-olds (100,922 to 85,153).
In Wednesday’s local news derby results, CBS11 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m. while Fox4 prevailed with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 again ran the table at 6 a.m. and added a 5 p.m. win in the 25-to-54 demographic. NBC5 had the most total viewers at 5 p.m.
The 6 p.m. golds went to CBS11 in total viewers and NBC5 among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Episode 3 of Empire fell from its Episode 2 ratings highs but still made CBS’ Criminal Minds its loyal subject Wednesday night.
The Fox newcomer won the 8 p.m. hour with 355,674 D-FW viewers, again pushing Criminal Minds (306,856 viewers) into second place. It was a blowout among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, though. Empire called that tune with 157,690 viewers compared to Criminal Minds’ 88,306.
Although still imposing, Empire couldn’t match last week’s eye-popping ratings highs of 425,414 total viewers and 233,381 in the18-to-49 demographic.
Fox also swept the 7 p.m. ratings with American Idol, which drew 348,700 total viewers and 116,691 in the 18-to-49 range.
Fox4’s 9 p.m. local news likewise again came up a winner, edging CBS’ competing Stalker in total viewers (292,908 to 285,934) while enjoying a wider margin with 18-to-49-year-olds (100,922 to 85,153).
In Wednesday’s local news derby results, CBS11 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m. while Fox4 prevailed with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 again ran the table at 6 a.m. and added a 5 p.m. win in the 25-to-54 demographic. NBC5 had the most total viewers at 5 p.m.
The 6 p.m. golds went to CBS11 in total viewers and NBC5 among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Tues., Jan. 20) -- State of the Union takes over
01/21/15 10:55 AM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
The major broadcast networks and cable newsers mostly cleared out their prime-time space for President Obama’s State of the Union message Tuesday night. Reruns otherwise filled in the gaps, save for Fox’s new episode of Masterchef Junior.
The kid cooks won the 7 p.m. hour among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, but were spanked by CBS’ competing NCIS rerun in total D-FW viewers. NCIS drew 341,726 viewers, far more than any single network had for its State of the Union coverage.
Obama’s speech ended shortly before 9:15 p.m., with State of the Union coverage beginning at 8 p.m. During that one hour, 15 minute window, here’s how the networks ranked in total viewers.
CBS 153,428
ABC/Fox -- 125,532 apiece
NBC -- 69,740
Fox News Channel/MSNBC -- 62,766 each
CNN -- 48,818
PBS -- 34,870
Following the brief Republican response, NBC went all the way until 10 p.m. with State of the Union coverage while Fox yielded to an abbreviated edition of Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast. ABC and CBS respectively opted for repeats of black-ish and Mike & Molly that delayed the start of 10 p.m. newscasts on Gannett8 and CBS11.
Here are Tuesday’s local news derby results.
Fox4 won a two-station race at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Both of the 6 a.m. golds also went to Fox4 while CBS11 continued to inch forward -- in the key 25-to-54 demographic -- by again nipping Gannett8 for third place. The station is in its second week with veteran Karen Borta as co-anchor after her transplant from the 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts.
CBS11 ran first at 6 p.m. in total viewers, but Gannett8 had the edge with 25-to-54-year-olds. At 5 p.m., NBC5 had the most total viewers while Fox4 outdrew the Peacock by a paper-thin margin among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
The major broadcast networks and cable newsers mostly cleared out their prime-time space for President Obama’s State of the Union message Tuesday night. Reruns otherwise filled in the gaps, save for Fox’s new episode of Masterchef Junior.
The kid cooks won the 7 p.m. hour among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, but were spanked by CBS’ competing NCIS rerun in total D-FW viewers. NCIS drew 341,726 viewers, far more than any single network had for its State of the Union coverage.
Obama’s speech ended shortly before 9:15 p.m., with State of the Union coverage beginning at 8 p.m. During that one hour, 15 minute window, here’s how the networks ranked in total viewers.
CBS 153,428
ABC/Fox -- 125,532 apiece
NBC -- 69,740
Fox News Channel/MSNBC -- 62,766 each
CNN -- 48,818
PBS -- 34,870
Following the brief Republican response, NBC went all the way until 10 p.m. with State of the Union coverage while Fox yielded to an abbreviated edition of Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast. ABC and CBS respectively opted for repeats of black-ish and Mike & Molly that delayed the start of 10 p.m. newscasts on Gannett8 and CBS11.
Here are Tuesday’s local news derby results.
Fox4 won a two-station race at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Both of the 6 a.m. golds also went to Fox4 while CBS11 continued to inch forward -- in the key 25-to-54 demographic -- by again nipping Gannett8 for third place. The station is in its second week with veteran Karen Borta as co-anchor after her transplant from the 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts.
CBS11 ran first at 6 p.m. in total viewers, but Gannett8 had the edge with 25-to-54-year-olds. At 5 p.m., NBC5 had the most total viewers while Fox4 outdrew the Peacock by a paper-thin margin among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Kris Gutierrez returning from Chicago to be NBC5's new 5 p.m. co-anchor
01/21/15 10:25 AM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Kris Gutierrez is circling back to North Texas to become co-anchor of NBC5’s 5 p..m. weekday newscasts.
The Fort Worth-based station made the announcement Wednesday, with Gutierrez scheduled to start in March.
“This is a Texas homecoming for a journalist seasoned by regional stories like the Fort Hood shootings and the devastating Joplin tornado,” NBC5 Vice President of News Susan Tully said in a statement.
Gutierrez had been a Dallas-based national correspondent for Fox News before leaving in early 2012 to co-anchor the early morning newscasts on Chicago’s WBBM-TV. The Texas Christian University graduate also has worked for TV stations in Sherman, Austin and Houston.
Gutierrez’s wife, Krystle Gutierrez, had been a Fox4 news reporter during his time in Dallas. She then left the station to join him in Chicago.
In the four-week November “sweeps” ratings period, NBC5 ran first at 5 p.m. in total viewers and third among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming). Gutierrez will team with incumbent NBC5 anchor Deanna Dewberry. Brian Curtis, the station’s 6 and 10 p.m. weekday co-anchor, had been filling in at 5 p.m. while management sought a permanent replacement.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Mon., Jan. 16-19 -- a collapse of epic proportions blasts past one million viewers mark
01/20/15 01:59 PM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
No matter how many times your friendly content provider tries to dream it away, the score still stands.
Sunday’s meltdown of Uncle Barky’s cheese state Packers ran up the ratings score en route to a 28-22 Seahawks overtime win that left Green Bays fans feeling number than an ice fisherman in the nude.
Running from 2:05 to 5:29 p.m. on Fox, the game averaged 1,185,580 D-FW viewers with a peak crowd of 1,443,618 for the closing minutes.
The subsequent prime-time game on CBS, a 45-7 blowout of the Colts by the Patriots, performed in completely opposite fashion. Starting at 5:50 p.m. and ending at 9:02 p.m., it averaged 997,282 viewers while hitting its lowest audience in the final full 15-minute segment (788,062).
For each game, well less than 50 percent of the audience landed within the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old demographic. The same was true for most of this season’s Dallas Cowboys games. Cause for concern? If you’re the NFL, an aging viewership is not the way to go when you’re charging exorbitant prices for networks to carry your product. The overall tonnage is still there. But the NBA Finals, for instance, continue to draw well over half their viewership from the 18-to-49-year-ld motherlode. That’s what the NFL also would like to see.
Let’s move on to Monday, where CBS topped the prime-time Nielsens from start to finish in total viewers. 2 Broke Girls led off with 216,194 viewers, followed by Mike & Molly (223,168), Scorpion (348,700) and NCIS: Los Angeles (237,116).
But ABC’s latest two-hour dollop of The Bachelor won from 7 to 9 p.m. with 18-to-49-year-olds (97,768) before Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast called the tune at that hour with 69,384 viewers in this key measurement.
On Friday in prime-time, the highest scorers were CBS’ Blue Bloods in total viewers (265,012) and ABC’s Shark Tank among 18-to-49-year-olds (88,306).
Here are the local news derby results.
Friday -- Gannett8 ran first at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 likewise swept the 6 a.m. competitions while CBS11 fared pretty well during its first full week of Karen Borta-infused waker uppers. The station tied Gannett8 for third place in total viewers with both of them just slightly behind second-place NBC5. And for the third time in the last five weekdays, CBS11 ran ahead of fourth place Gannett8 in the 25-to-54 demographic.
CBS11 also drew the most total viewers at 6 p.m., but Gannett8 took the 25-to-54 gold. At 5 p.m., NBC5 was tops in total viewers and CBS11 uncommonly won among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Monday -- CBS11 was the only one of the four stations to take holiday knees on Martin Luther King Day in all four major battlegrounds. So their numbers don’t officially count. NBC5 joined CBS11 in taking a holiday exemption at 6 a.m., but otherwise played for keeps.
Gannett8 won the three-way 10 p.m. race in total viewers but Fox4 landed atop the 25-to-54 heap.
Fox4 also won both ends of the two-way 6 a.m. competition while Gannett8 ran the table at 6 p.m. in a three-way field. NBC5 took both 5 p.m. golds, also with just three stations officially competing.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
No matter how many times your friendly content provider tries to dream it away, the score still stands.
Sunday’s meltdown of Uncle Barky’s cheese state Packers ran up the ratings score en route to a 28-22 Seahawks overtime win that left Green Bays fans feeling number than an ice fisherman in the nude.
Running from 2:05 to 5:29 p.m. on Fox, the game averaged 1,185,580 D-FW viewers with a peak crowd of 1,443,618 for the closing minutes.
The subsequent prime-time game on CBS, a 45-7 blowout of the Colts by the Patriots, performed in completely opposite fashion. Starting at 5:50 p.m. and ending at 9:02 p.m., it averaged 997,282 viewers while hitting its lowest audience in the final full 15-minute segment (788,062).
For each game, well less than 50 percent of the audience landed within the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old demographic. The same was true for most of this season’s Dallas Cowboys games. Cause for concern? If you’re the NFL, an aging viewership is not the way to go when you’re charging exorbitant prices for networks to carry your product. The overall tonnage is still there. But the NBA Finals, for instance, continue to draw well over half their viewership from the 18-to-49-year-ld motherlode. That’s what the NFL also would like to see.
Let’s move on to Monday, where CBS topped the prime-time Nielsens from start to finish in total viewers. 2 Broke Girls led off with 216,194 viewers, followed by Mike & Molly (223,168), Scorpion (348,700) and NCIS: Los Angeles (237,116).
But ABC’s latest two-hour dollop of The Bachelor won from 7 to 9 p.m. with 18-to-49-year-olds (97,768) before Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast called the tune at that hour with 69,384 viewers in this key measurement.
On Friday in prime-time, the highest scorers were CBS’ Blue Bloods in total viewers (265,012) and ABC’s Shark Tank among 18-to-49-year-olds (88,306).
Here are the local news derby results.
Friday -- Gannett8 ran first at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 likewise swept the 6 a.m. competitions while CBS11 fared pretty well during its first full week of Karen Borta-infused waker uppers. The station tied Gannett8 for third place in total viewers with both of them just slightly behind second-place NBC5. And for the third time in the last five weekdays, CBS11 ran ahead of fourth place Gannett8 in the 25-to-54 demographic.
CBS11 also drew the most total viewers at 6 p.m., but Gannett8 took the 25-to-54 gold. At 5 p.m., NBC5 was tops in total viewers and CBS11 uncommonly won among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Monday -- CBS11 was the only one of the four stations to take holiday knees on Martin Luther King Day in all four major battlegrounds. So their numbers don’t officially count. NBC5 joined CBS11 in taking a holiday exemption at 6 a.m., but otherwise played for keeps.
Gannett8 won the three-way 10 p.m. race in total viewers but Fox4 landed atop the 25-to-54 heap.
Fox4 also won both ends of the two-way 6 a.m. competition while Gannett8 ran the table at 6 p.m. in a three-way field. NBC5 took both 5 p.m. golds, also with just three stations officially competing.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Rebutting some of the quick trigger fingers on Twitter and Facebook when it comes to commenting on two recent unclebarky.com posts
01/19/15 01:26 PM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
It’s ridiculously easy in these times to cross-check the web -- or even read the original story -- before firing off an impulsive Tweet or Facebook post.
But some people still can’t be bothered. So here’s some return fire.
Friday’s post on all the latter day anchor departures and relocations at D-FW’s CBS11 was written after a lot of research and interviewing. It noted that not all of these changes are the doing of news director Mike Garber, who joined the station in July with a mandate to improve ratings, particularly among 25-to-54-year-olds (the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
A link to the lengthy piece was posted on my Twitter account. Former early morning traffic anchor Whitney “Rollin’ With” Drolen, among those who have left the CBS11 building during Garber’s still brief reign, responded on Twitter with, “Great article but you forgot Steve Dennis, Teresa Frosini, Susy Solis and Jane Slater -- all gone too.” A number of Twitter people then “Favorited” this.
No. 1, I didn’t “forget” them at all. The point of the piece, as stated in the third paragraph, was to spotlight the unprecedented volume of anchor departures at CBS11. Reporters are hardly a dime a dozen. But for the most part they come and go without many viewers taking much notice. Anchors are high-profile commodities. People keep asking where they are. And I’ve been writing about D-FW television since 1980 without ever seeing this kind of exodus and displacement in so short a time on one of D-FWs four major television news providers.
But let’s take a closer look at the four former CBS11 colleagues named by Drolen, who’s decidedly not a member of Team Garber and cites him for also causing mass upheaval at his previous West Palm Beach, FL station before coming to D-FW.
STEVE DENNIS -- After 16 years at the station, sports reporter Dennis was told his services were no longer required. Or as he put it to unclebarky.com at the time, “They just up and took my ball away from me and told me to go home.” Problem is, Dennis was dropped in late May of last year, a month and a half before Garber’s arrival. So let’s absolve him of that one.
SUSY SOLIS -- She left in August of last year to join Real News PR, a consulting firm run by former Fox4 reporter Jeff Crilley. Solis, who joined CBS11’s reporting staff in 2011, earlier spent four years with D’FW’s NBC5. She didn’t sound like someone who had been tossed out on the street by a news director who still had less than a month on the job at CBS11. “Along with pitching clients, we plan to eventually expand the business and launch a Hispanic Division,” Solis said of joining Real News PR.
By the way, Solis is no longer pictured as a member of the Real News PR “Team” and describes herself as “self-employed” on her Facebook page.
TERESA FROSINI -- She also left CBS11 in July, with Garber barely in the door and playing no role in her departure. Frosini in fact was supplanted by Drolen herself as the station’s early morning traffic anchor in August 2012. She then became a comparatively invisible “general assignment reporter” while the station lavished promotion on Drolen. The shift happened under Garber’s predecessor, new director Adrienne Roark, who’s now the general manager at Portland, Oregon’s CBS affiliate, KOIN-TV.
JANE SLATER -- The CBS11 sports reporter and fill-in anchor left in September to join the Austin-based, ESPN-owned Longhorn Network as a studio host and reporter. So she was jettisoned by Garber, right? Hardly. Earlier this year, Slater sent an unsolicited email in which she praised him as a great boss. She’s now given unclebarky.com permission to quote from it.
“A lot of people thought Tracy (Kornet) and I left because we were unhappy,” Slater says. “Couldn’t have been further from the truth. In my case, ESPN was calling about a job in Austin that would allow me a real opportunity at upward mobility later down the line that local sports just can’t offer.
“Mike Garber made it really tough to leave. He was only there a month but in that time and before he even arrived he was reaching out to reporters to give helpful critiques on how to better tell our stories, deliver live shots and -- a first for me -- critique my sports anchoring. I saw myself grow more in that one month than I had in my two years under Adrienne (Roark) as a freelancer and eventual full-timer.
“Mike really gets it and I believe he will turn that newsroom around. It was becoming rather toxic and that was unfortunate because I have never worked for a better group of people.”
This isn’t a brief in Garber’s defense. He in fact was a key participant in CBS11’s two biggest moves in a long time -- the transfer of veteran nighttime anchor Karen Borta to early mornings and the departure earlier this month of longtime sports anchor Babe Laufenberg after the two sides reached an impasse on a new contract. Garber also hand-selected new 6 and 10 p.m. co-anchor Kaley O’Kelley, who will debut with incumbent Doug Dunbar later this month.
But as I hope this rebuttal shows, Garber is hardly responsible for laying waste to the CBS11 news room. At least not yet.
OK, let’s briefly move on to the wonders of Facebook, where former Fox4 reporter Rebecca Aguilar posted a link late last year to unclebarky.com’s annual “And To All A Good Night” list of the year’s on-camera anchor and reporter departures.
This alphabetical list takes a lot of work, including linking to my previous stories plus updates of where some of these D-FW newspeople are now. It’s not Aguilar’s fault that some of her Facebook friends immediately knee-jerked it rather than taking a few specks of time to check whether some people might have been on previous yearly lists.
Right off the top, Stephanie Cook wondered, “How come Rebecca Miller didn’t make the list? She worked for CW33 as a meteorologist.”
Scott Finley jumped in with, “Carol Cavazos also gave it up and went to work for Salvation Army.”
Carol Quintanilla griped that Monika Diaz hadn’t been included. And Paul Riggs added the name of Emily Lopez.
No, none of these people in fact were included on the 2014 list. Why? Because they all left their stations in earlier years and were included on those lists.
Rebecca Miller dated all the way back to 2012. Cavazos, Diaz and Lopez were all part of the 2013 roll call.
I’m not above criticism. Not at all. But it would be nice to see it based on at least a facsimile of factual accuracy. On Twitter and Facebook, that’s still sometimes asking too much. And every once in a while, it’s cathartic to call people to account for being so quick on their “social media” triggers.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Intended first impression of new CBS11 news anchor Kaley O'Kelley: She rocks
01/19/15 10:24 AM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
New rule: There are absolutely none anymore when it comes to introducing new anchors to the D-FW market.
CBS11’s decidedly different promo for Kaley O’Kelley, in tandem with CBS Radio-owned KJKK radio (103.3 Jack FM), in truth could be subtitled “Desperately Seeking 25-to-54-Year-Old Viewers.”
CBS11 is woefully deficient in this key news demographic. And news director Mike Garber, who assumed that position in July, has made no secret of his plans to rectify that. He clearly has the backing of CBS corporate, which very much wants that mission accomplished.
O’Kelley was scheduled to arrive at CBS11 on Monday, Jan. 19th before joining incumbent news anchor Doug Dunbar on the station’s 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts later this month. As previously posted, she’s coming from Phoenix’s KTVK-TV, where she’d been a morning show personality. Veteran Karen Borta has been sent to the early mornings after nearly two decades on the P.M. shift.
The newly unveiled 30-second CBS11/Jack FM spot positions O’Kelley as a music-loving on-the-go girl who’s “smart, friendly and a big Jack FM fan.” She’s behind the wheel sequentially grooving on The Who’s “Who Are You?”, the Fine Young Cannibals’ “She Drives Me Crazy” and, finally, Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl?” O’Kelley laughs it up when hearing that question-in-a-song. Only then is she shown grinning along with Dunbar at the CBS11 news desk.
The spot ends with O’Kelley drum-beating her steering wheel.
There’s inherently nothing wrong with this, even if that dwindling tribe known as “traditionalists” might have renewed visions of a full-blown news apocalypse. Before being sold to Gannett by Dallas-based Belo Corp., WFAA8 effectively introduced early morning co-anchor Ron Corning via a series of comedy spots before eventually over-doing it. But A.M. newscasts are supposed to be more fun and personality-driven according to latter day TV news play books. CBS11 in effect is giving something of an opposite impression with this first O’Kelly promo. Welcome to the party at 6 and 10 p.m., the station is saying. Meanwhile, Borta is being positioned far more conventionally as a comfy ol’ trusty Texas gal now riding the early morn range.
Of course it’s only one promo. And CBS11’s re-tooled 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts, now also without longtime sports anchor Babe Laufenberg, are unlikely to be introduced any time soon with R.E.M.’s “Shiny Happy People.”
Still, this is another telling example of the pendulum swinging. CBS11 ran last across the board in the November “sweeps” among 25-to-54-year-olds, with the 10 p.m. newscast its biggest loss leader. News director Garber wasn’t brought in to do nothing about that. So get ready to rock the status quo, with older viewers mostly beside the point and younger ones very much encouraged to take the wheel.
Here’s the scene-setting Kaley O’Kelley promo
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Turbulent times at CBS11 news, where anchor departures and relocations are suddenly commonplace
01/16/15 02:40 PM
By ED BARK
Cynthia Izaguirre, co-anchor of WFAA8's early morning Daybreak, gave birth to twins a month ahead of schedule Thursday evening.
The Dallas-based station announced the arrivals on Friday's program. Daughter Karina arrived at 5:06 p.m., with her brother, Simon, born at 5:45 p.m. Both babies weighed just over 5 pounds, the station said on its website.
Izaguirre had been on complete bed rest while awaiting the arrivals. She is expected to be on maternity leave for at least the next three months. Traffic reporter Alexa Conomos, who's filling in for Izaguirre at the anchor desk, is pregnant with her third child and due this summer.
Here's the video of Friday's Daybreak announcement.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Thurs., Jan. 15) -- that freight train rollin' is Fox4's 9 p.m. local news
01/16/15 10:45 AM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
It always helps to have help from your network. And on Wednesdays and Thursdays of late, Fox has been very good to Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscasts.
The news again flourished after two hours of American Idol averaged 285,934 D-FW viewers and beat everything in its path except a 7 p.m. rerun of CBS’ The Big Bang Theory. Fox4 held on to most of that crowd at 9 p.m., drawing 265,012 viewers in thumping competition from CBS’ new episode of Elementary (146,454 viewers), NBC’s first-run Parenthood (125,532) and ABC’s repeat of How to Get Away with Murder (83,688).
Fox4’s news also beat all competing programming among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds. But Idol stumbled a bit, losing from 7 to 8 p.m. to Big Bang and CBS’ new episode of Mom before winning the 8 p.m. hour.
CBS’ freshman comedy The McCarthys continued to tap nails into its coffin, falling off sharply in both ratings measurements from the audience drawn by CBS’ preceding Two and a Half Men.
Over on The CW, a two-hour 7 to 9 p.m. special, The World Dog Awards, was mostly pooped on by humans. Hosted by George Lopez, it had just 27,896 total viewers and 3,154 in the 18-to-49 realm. R-r-r-r-r-uff. Our two cats didn’t much like it either.
Here are Thursday’s local news derby results.
Gannett8 ran first at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 and NBC5 tied for the top spot in total viewers at 6 a.m. while Fox4 was alone in first among 25-to-54-year-olds. CBS11 flexed a small muscle during Karen Borta’s first week as the transplanted new early morning co-anchor. For the second time in four days, it ran third among 25-to-54-year-olds, ahead of Gannett8. Fourth place is CBS11’s usual habitat.
CBS11 had the most total viewers at 6 p.m. Fox4 otherwise controlled the early evening news terrain, winning at 6 p.m. among 25-to-54-year-olds and sweeping the 5 p.m. competitions.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
It always helps to have help from your network. And on Wednesdays and Thursdays of late, Fox has been very good to Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscasts.
The news again flourished after two hours of American Idol averaged 285,934 D-FW viewers and beat everything in its path except a 7 p.m. rerun of CBS’ The Big Bang Theory. Fox4 held on to most of that crowd at 9 p.m., drawing 265,012 viewers in thumping competition from CBS’ new episode of Elementary (146,454 viewers), NBC’s first-run Parenthood (125,532) and ABC’s repeat of How to Get Away with Murder (83,688).
Fox4’s news also beat all competing programming among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds. But Idol stumbled a bit, losing from 7 to 8 p.m. to Big Bang and CBS’ new episode of Mom before winning the 8 p.m. hour.
CBS’ freshman comedy The McCarthys continued to tap nails into its coffin, falling off sharply in both ratings measurements from the audience drawn by CBS’ preceding Two and a Half Men.
Over on The CW, a two-hour 7 to 9 p.m. special, The World Dog Awards, was mostly pooped on by humans. Hosted by George Lopez, it had just 27,896 total viewers and 3,154 in the 18-to-49 realm. R-r-r-r-r-uff. Our two cats didn’t much like it either.
Here are Thursday’s local news derby results.
Gannett8 ran first at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 and NBC5 tied for the top spot in total viewers at 6 a.m. while Fox4 was alone in first among 25-to-54-year-olds. CBS11 flexed a small muscle during Karen Borta’s first week as the transplanted new early morning co-anchor. For the second time in four days, it ran third among 25-to-54-year-olds, ahead of Gannett8. Fourth place is CBS11’s usual habitat.
CBS11 had the most total viewers at 6 p.m. Fox4 otherwise controlled the early evening news terrain, winning at 6 p.m. among 25-to-54-year-olds and sweeping the 5 p.m. competitions.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Wed., Jan. 14) -- Empire again drives Fox to dominance
01/15/15 11:27 AM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Just two weeks into its reign, Fox’s Empire is showing strong signs of being the show that could turn the network’s entire season around.
Wednesday’s Episode 2 not only crushed all competing programming. It also improved on its eye-catching ratings for last week’s Episode 1.
Empire drew 425,414 D-FW viewers in the 8 p.m. hour, up from the premiere episode’s 348,700. And its performance among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds accelerated from 163,998 viewers to 233,381.
That easily makes the hip-hop soaper the biggest breakout hit of this season. And it also demonstrates that a drama series with a predominantly black cast can pull in a large mainstream audience. That’s never happened before on the Big Four broadcast networks. That’s right. Never.
Serving as Empire’s 7 to 8 p.m. lead-in, Fox’s American Idol also improved on last week’s performance while likewise dominating its time slot. Idol had 362,648 total viewers and 154,536 in the 18-to-49 demographic.
Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast then capped the night with a two-pronged time slot win. It drew 258,038 total viewers, with 94,614 in the 18-to-49 age range.
Empire doesn’t have it easy in the 8 p.m. hour, going against CBS’ Criminal Minds, ABC’s Modern Family and black-ish and NBC’s Law & Order: SVU. Criminal Minds was the runner-up in total viewers (251,064) while Modern Family ran second among 18-to-49-year-olds (132,460).
Here are Wednesday’s local news derby results.
CBS11 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m., enabling sports anchor Babe Laufenberg to go out a winner with his sign-off after 17 years at the station. But CBS11 again dipped to fourth among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming) while NBC5 rose from third to first.
Fox4 ran the table at 6 a.m. The 6 p.m. golds were split between CBS11 in total viewers and NBC5 with 25-to-54-year-olds.
The Peacock won in total viewers at 5 p.m.. But Gannett beat Fox4 by a paper-thin margin in the 25-to-54 demographic.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Just two weeks into its reign, Fox’s Empire is showing strong signs of being the show that could turn the network’s entire season around.
Wednesday’s Episode 2 not only crushed all competing programming. It also improved on its eye-catching ratings for last week’s Episode 1.
Empire drew 425,414 D-FW viewers in the 8 p.m. hour, up from the premiere episode’s 348,700. And its performance among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds accelerated from 163,998 viewers to 233,381.
That easily makes the hip-hop soaper the biggest breakout hit of this season. And it also demonstrates that a drama series with a predominantly black cast can pull in a large mainstream audience. That’s never happened before on the Big Four broadcast networks. That’s right. Never.
Serving as Empire’s 7 to 8 p.m. lead-in, Fox’s American Idol also improved on last week’s performance while likewise dominating its time slot. Idol had 362,648 total viewers and 154,536 in the 18-to-49 demographic.
Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast then capped the night with a two-pronged time slot win. It drew 258,038 total viewers, with 94,614 in the 18-to-49 age range.
Empire doesn’t have it easy in the 8 p.m. hour, going against CBS’ Criminal Minds, ABC’s Modern Family and black-ish and NBC’s Law & Order: SVU. Criminal Minds was the runner-up in total viewers (251,064) while Modern Family ran second among 18-to-49-year-olds (132,460).
Here are Wednesday’s local news derby results.
CBS11 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m., enabling sports anchor Babe Laufenberg to go out a winner with his sign-off after 17 years at the station. But CBS11 again dipped to fourth among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming) while NBC5 rose from third to first.
Fox4 ran the table at 6 a.m. The 6 p.m. golds were split between CBS11 in total viewers and NBC5 with 25-to-54-year-olds.
The Peacock won in total viewers at 5 p.m.. But Gannett beat Fox4 by a paper-thin margin in the 25-to-54 demographic.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Tues., Jan. 13) -- a CBS sweep
01/14/15 11:57 AM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
The address was CBS Tuesday night, with the network’s tried-and-true crime lineup carrying the freight in D-FW from starting point to finish line.
NCIS set the table with 460,284 viewers before NCIS: New Orleans (397,518) and Person of Interest (237,116) also won their time slots. The threesome likewise prevailed among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds.
At the other end of the ratings teeter totter, ABC’s new Marvel’s Agent Carter continued to crater in the 8 p.m. hour. Losing audience in each 15-minute segment, it barely beat only NBC’s 8 p.m. episode of Marry Me in total viewers and tied the Peacock’s About a Boy with 18-to-49-year-olds.
Agent Carter also was ABC’s least-watched program in both ratings measurements. Inheriting 75,691 viewers in the 18-to-49 demographic from ABC’s Shark Tank, it plunged to 25,230.
NBC’s two-episode return of Parks and Recreation also struggled in the 7 p.m. hour, running last among the Big Four broadcast networks in total viewers and 18-to-49-year-olds.
Here are Tuesday’s local news derby results.
Gannett8 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m. and Fox4 ran first among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 again swept the 6 a.m. competitions while Karen Borta fared better on her second day as CBS11’s new early morning co-anchor. CBS11 tied Gannett8 for third in total viewers and ran third outright with 25-to-54-year-olds.
Gannett8 took the total viewers prize at 6 p.m., but Fox4 had the most 25-to-54-year-olds.
At 5 p.m., NBC5 and CBS11 tied for first in total viewers while the Peacock had the top spot to itself with 25-to-54-year-olds.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
The address was CBS Tuesday night, with the network’s tried-and-true crime lineup carrying the freight in D-FW from starting point to finish line.
NCIS set the table with 460,284 viewers before NCIS: New Orleans (397,518) and Person of Interest (237,116) also won their time slots. The threesome likewise prevailed among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds.
At the other end of the ratings teeter totter, ABC’s new Marvel’s Agent Carter continued to crater in the 8 p.m. hour. Losing audience in each 15-minute segment, it barely beat only NBC’s 8 p.m. episode of Marry Me in total viewers and tied the Peacock’s About a Boy with 18-to-49-year-olds.
Agent Carter also was ABC’s least-watched program in both ratings measurements. Inheriting 75,691 viewers in the 18-to-49 demographic from ABC’s Shark Tank, it plunged to 25,230.
NBC’s two-episode return of Parks and Recreation also struggled in the 7 p.m. hour, running last among the Big Four broadcast networks in total viewers and 18-to-49-year-olds.
Here are Tuesday’s local news derby results.
Gannett8 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m. and Fox4 ran first among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 again swept the 6 a.m. competitions while Karen Borta fared better on her second day as CBS11’s new early morning co-anchor. CBS11 tied Gannett8 for third in total viewers and ran third outright with 25-to-54-year-olds.
Gannett8 took the total viewers prize at 6 p.m., but Fox4 had the most 25-to-54-year-olds.
At 5 p.m., NBC5 and CBS11 tied for first in total viewers while the Peacock had the top spot to itself with 25-to-54-year-olds.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Latest new Gannett8 reporter is David Goins from Little Rock
01/14/15 11:32 AM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
David Goins, a Houston native who spent the last decade at Fox affiliate KRLT-TV in Little Rock, Ark., will be joining Gannett8’s reporting staff next month.
The Texas State University graduate earlier worked as a crime and courts reporter for WICS-TV, the ABC station in Springfield, Ill. He also interned at Austin’s NBC affiliate, KXAN-TV.
Goins’ first day at D-FW’s Gannett8 will be Feb. 9th, news director Carolyn Mungo confirms. This story was first reported by the national TV industry site, TV Spy.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Mon., Jan. 12) -- Bucks/Ducks dominate
01/13/15 12:08 PM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
It drew well less than half the audience for Sunday’s Cowboys-Packers game. But 850,828 D-FW viewers for Monday night’s first new era college football championship game is well worth ESPN’s investment.
Airing from 7:33 to 11:11 p.m. in Jerry’s Palace, the Ohio State Buckeyes’ 42-20 thrashing of the Oregon Ducks lost audience down the stretch as the outcome became clear. The final minutes of the game bottomed out at 690,426 viewers. The game hit a high of 948,464 viewers from 8:45 to 9 p.m.
Among advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds, Bucks-Ducks averaged 400,533 viewers for the entire game.
ESPN’s satellite stations all offered smaller screen coverage spiced with continuous commentary from gaggles of sports figures. D-FW ratings were available only for ESPN2, which made just a scant dent with an average of 6,974 viewers.
Over in the broadcast network universe, NBC’s The Celebrity Apprentice and ABC’s The Bachelor dueled from 7 to 9 p.m. Apprentice won in both key measurements, whipping The Bachelor 167,376 to 125,532 in total viewers and 72,537 to 50,461 in the 18-to-49 demographic.
Good news for Fox, though. It’s 7 to 8 p.m. repeat of Empire won that hour with 18-to-49-year-olds in the non-sports arena.
In the 9 p.m. hour, Fox4’s local newscast ran first among the broadcast stations in both total viewers (160,402) and 18-to-49-year-olds (72,537).
Here are Tuesday’s four-way local news derby results.
Gannett8 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m. but Fox4 won among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 again swept the 6 a.m. competitions while the ratings needle didn’t move for Karen Borta’s debut as an early morning anchor after nearly two decades behind nighttime news desks. CBS11 ran fourth in both ratings measurements.
Gannett8 had the most total viewers at both 5 and 6 p.m. The 25-to-54 golds at those hours respectively went to NBC5 and Fox4.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
It drew well less than half the audience for Sunday’s Cowboys-Packers game. But 850,828 D-FW viewers for Monday night’s first new era college football championship game is well worth ESPN’s investment.
Airing from 7:33 to 11:11 p.m. in Jerry’s Palace, the Ohio State Buckeyes’ 42-20 thrashing of the Oregon Ducks lost audience down the stretch as the outcome became clear. The final minutes of the game bottomed out at 690,426 viewers. The game hit a high of 948,464 viewers from 8:45 to 9 p.m.
Among advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds, Bucks-Ducks averaged 400,533 viewers for the entire game.
ESPN’s satellite stations all offered smaller screen coverage spiced with continuous commentary from gaggles of sports figures. D-FW ratings were available only for ESPN2, which made just a scant dent with an average of 6,974 viewers.
Over in the broadcast network universe, NBC’s The Celebrity Apprentice and ABC’s The Bachelor dueled from 7 to 9 p.m. Apprentice won in both key measurements, whipping The Bachelor 167,376 to 125,532 in total viewers and 72,537 to 50,461 in the 18-to-49 demographic.
Good news for Fox, though. It’s 7 to 8 p.m. repeat of Empire won that hour with 18-to-49-year-olds in the non-sports arena.
In the 9 p.m. hour, Fox4’s local newscast ran first among the broadcast stations in both total viewers (160,402) and 18-to-49-year-olds (72,537).
Here are Tuesday’s four-way local news derby results.
Gannett8 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m. but Fox4 won among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 again swept the 6 a.m. competitions while the ratings needle didn’t move for Karen Borta’s debut as an early morning anchor after nearly two decades behind nighttime news desks. CBS11 ran fourth in both ratings measurements.
Gannett8 had the most total viewers at both 5 and 6 p.m. The 25-to-54 golds at those hours respectively went to NBC5 and Fox4.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Sports anchor Babe Laufenberg abruptly leaving CBS11 after 17-year stint
01/13/15 11:15 AM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
The above tweets, posted Tuesday morning by Babe Laufenberg, pretty much say it all.
The longtime CBS11 sports anchor and former backup quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys is parting ways with the D-FW station over a contract stalement. His last 10 p.m. sportscast will be Wednesday of this week, he says. He’s been CBS11’s head sports anchor for 17 years.
But, as Laufenberg notes, he’ll still be doing Cowboys radio broadcasts with partner Brad Sham. On Tuesday Sham tweeted, “One of the BEST parts of anncng Cowboys games is working with Babe. More than a b’cast partner he’s my friend. Trust Bambino. All’s well.”
CBS11 representatives could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday morning.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
NBC5's new weekend morning meteorologist is Amarillo's Brian James
01/12/15 12:49 PM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
NBC5 has tabbed Brian James as the D-FW station’s new weekend early morning meteorologist.
The Michigan native is scheduled to arrive in March from KVII-TV, Amarillo’s ABC affiliate. He joined the station in 2008 and currently is KVII’s weekday 6 and 10 p.m. weathercaster. The University of Oklahoma graduate also worked at KVII from 2003-’07.
James, whose full name is Brian James Swiatowy, will team with the newly hired Katy Blakey, who made her NBC5 debut this past weekend. They respectively are replacements for anchor Lindsay Wilcox and meteorologist Lindsay Riley.
NBC5 vice president of news Susan Tully said in a memo to staffers that James also will be the station’s Senior Weather Producer. Early in his career, he was hired out of college by current NBC5 chief meteorologist Rick Mitchell to be Weather Producer/Storm Chase Coordinator for Oklahoma City’s KOCO-TV.
Email comments or questions to; unclebarky@verizon.net
CBS11's Karen Borta segues into sleep deprivation phase
01/12/15 11:31 AM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
CBS11’s early morning picture remains a work in progress but its new centerpiece is now in place.
Veteran 6 and 10 p.m. anchor Karen Borta officially made the switch Monday, dawning bright and seemingly wide awake at 4:30 a.m. to minimal fanfare.
Colleagues made only brief mentions of her debut, with Borta herself saying at the end of the two-and-a-half hour shift, “And I’ve got the first show under my belt.”
CBS11 has never been better than fourth in the waker upper competition, running behind Fox4, NBC5 and Gannett8 in that order during the four-week November “sweeps” ratings. It’s a very important “daypart,” and has been for the last 15 years or so after decades of playing Siberia in the local newscast pecking order.
Now only the 10 p.m. news is a bigger deal, and even that’s debatable. Any of D-FW’s four major TV news providers might well prefer being No. 1 from 4:30 to 7 a.m. instead of in late night. There are lots more hours in which to sell advertising time. And the potential audience is loaded with gainfully employed younger viewers who at least catch glimpses of their favorite A.M. local news before heading to the workplace, taking the kids to school -- or both.
CBS11 confirms that its early morning foursome is still temporary. Both co-anchor Jason Allen and traffic reporter Tammy Dombeck have been deemed interim replacements while the station searches for “permanent” members of the team under relatively new news director Mike Garber.
Garber’s been taking his time, at least with the co-news anchor slot. Brendan Higgins was dropped in August after an altercation with Aspen, Colo. police that since has been settled out of court. Traffic reporter Whitney “Rollin’ with” Drolen resigned in October, with traffic reports now dubbed “Rollin’ with CBS11.”
Borta succeeds anchor Adrienne Bankert, who also resigned. The only non-moving early morning part of late is meteorologist Scott Padgett, who joined CBS11 in September, 2013.
CBS11 has mounted a major “Mornings Will Be Better with Borta!” campaign to herald her transition after nearly 20 years as a P.M. anchor. Below is the newest promo, which includes a collection of -- all together now -- Facebook raves.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., Jan. 9-11) -- super duper numbers for Dez Bowl
01/12/15 09:50 AM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
The Dallas Cowboys’ season ended both gloriously and ingloriously Sunday, with the team playing its heart out in Green Bay before losing on yet another controversial referee reversal.
Running from 12:05 to 3:11 p.m. on Fox, the Cowboys’ 26-21 loss to the Packers easily drew the biggest TV crowd of the season and was the only game to surpass the 2 million viewers mark in a North Texas region of 6.97 million.
Specifically, Cowboys-Packers reeled in 2,210,758 viewers, with 983,986 in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-old motherlode. The game hit a high point of 2,517,614 total viewers between 2:45 and 3 p.m. Among 18-to-49-year-olds, the high of 1,147,983 viewers also came in that 15-minute increment and was equaled from 3 to 3:15 p.m.
Later Sunday afternoon and early evening, CBS’ Indianapolis Colts-Denver Broncos game averaged 1,053,074 total viewers, with 463,609 in the 18-to-49 range.
NBC then took over in prime-time, drawing 543,972 total viewers for the 7 to 10 p.m. telecast of the Golden Globs, er Globes. In the 18-to-49 realm, the haul was 249,150 viewers. No competing programming came close.
Saturday’s NFL doubleheader began with NBC’s New England Patriots-Baltimore Ravens game, which had 878,724 total viewers and 384,764 in the key 18-to-49 demographic.
Fox’s prime-time matchup, the Seattle Seahawks vs. the Carolina Panthers, pulled in 899,646 total viewers, with 444,686 of them in the 18-to-49 age range.
All of these totals reflect the games’ actual running times, with some of them exceeding their pre-estimated lengths. We strive to be accurate to the last drop.
On to a relatively quiet Friday night, where the top overall performer again was CBS’ 9 p.m. episode of Blue Bloods with 271,986 total viewers. Among 18-to-49-year-olds, ABC’s 8 p.m. hour of Shark Tank ranked No. 1 with 110,383 viewers.
ABC’s stunt-casting episodes of Last Man Standing and Cristela scored well in the total viewers measurement with respective drop-ins by Tim Allen’s old Home Improvement running mate, Patricia Richardson, and Roseanne Barr.
Last Man Standing won its 7 to 7:30 p.m. slot with 258,038 viewers while Cristela had 202,246 to place second behind the 7:30 to 8 p.m. portion of CBS’ Undercover Boss (223,168).
Fox’s two-hour return of Glee, for its final season, ran third in total viewers from 7 to 8 p.m. with 104,610 before drooping to a distant fourth in the 8 p.m. hour with just 69,740. The results were the same among 18-to-49-year-olds.
NBC’s 9 p.m. appetizer for the Golden Globes was Friday’s least-watched prime-time show in both major measurements. It had 48,818 total viewers.
Here are Friday’s four-way local news derby results, in which the spoils were divided by Fox4 and Gannett8.
Gannett8 won at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming). The station added 5 and 6 p.m. wins in total viewers.
Fox4 swept the 6 a.m. competitions and also drew the most 25-to-54-year-olds at 5 and 6 p.m.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
The Dallas Cowboys’ season ended both gloriously and ingloriously Sunday, with the team playing its heart out in Green Bay before losing on yet another controversial referee reversal.
Running from 12:05 to 3:11 p.m. on Fox, the Cowboys’ 26-21 loss to the Packers easily drew the biggest TV crowd of the season and was the only game to surpass the 2 million viewers mark in a North Texas region of 6.97 million.
Specifically, Cowboys-Packers reeled in 2,210,758 viewers, with 983,986 in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-old motherlode. The game hit a high point of 2,517,614 total viewers between 2:45 and 3 p.m. Among 18-to-49-year-olds, the high of 1,147,983 viewers also came in that 15-minute increment and was equaled from 3 to 3:15 p.m.
Later Sunday afternoon and early evening, CBS’ Indianapolis Colts-Denver Broncos game averaged 1,053,074 total viewers, with 463,609 in the 18-to-49 range.
NBC then took over in prime-time, drawing 543,972 total viewers for the 7 to 10 p.m. telecast of the Golden Globs, er Globes. In the 18-to-49 realm, the haul was 249,150 viewers. No competing programming came close.
Saturday’s NFL doubleheader began with NBC’s New England Patriots-Baltimore Ravens game, which had 878,724 total viewers and 384,764 in the key 18-to-49 demographic.
Fox’s prime-time matchup, the Seattle Seahawks vs. the Carolina Panthers, pulled in 899,646 total viewers, with 444,686 of them in the 18-to-49 age range.
All of these totals reflect the games’ actual running times, with some of them exceeding their pre-estimated lengths. We strive to be accurate to the last drop.
On to a relatively quiet Friday night, where the top overall performer again was CBS’ 9 p.m. episode of Blue Bloods with 271,986 total viewers. Among 18-to-49-year-olds, ABC’s 8 p.m. hour of Shark Tank ranked No. 1 with 110,383 viewers.
ABC’s stunt-casting episodes of Last Man Standing and Cristela scored well in the total viewers measurement with respective drop-ins by Tim Allen’s old Home Improvement running mate, Patricia Richardson, and Roseanne Barr.
Last Man Standing won its 7 to 7:30 p.m. slot with 258,038 viewers while Cristela had 202,246 to place second behind the 7:30 to 8 p.m. portion of CBS’ Undercover Boss (223,168).
Fox’s two-hour return of Glee, for its final season, ran third in total viewers from 7 to 8 p.m. with 104,610 before drooping to a distant fourth in the 8 p.m. hour with just 69,740. The results were the same among 18-to-49-year-olds.
NBC’s 9 p.m. appetizer for the Golden Globes was Friday’s least-watched prime-time show in both major measurements. It had 48,818 total viewers.
Here are Friday’s four-way local news derby results, in which the spoils were divided by Fox4 and Gannett8.
Gannett8 won at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming). The station added 5 and 6 p.m. wins in total viewers.
Fox4 swept the 6 a.m. competitions and also drew the most 25-to-54-year-olds at 5 and 6 p.m.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Local promo showcase: Fox4's "Where the Locals Go"
01/09/15 03:39 PM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Loading up on local news hours seemed very chancy when Fox stunned the TV industry by buying a big bunch of major market CBS affiliate stations back in 1995.
The idea has proven to be visionary, with D-FW’s Fox4 among those prospering in two big “dayparts” -- weekday mornings from 7 to 9 a.m. and all week at 9 p.m.
In each case, local news goes against network programming on principal broadcast rivals NBC5, CBS11 and Gannet8 (the market’s ABC affiliate). Those stations get only small windows of locally sold ad space from their networks while Fox4 rakes in all of the revenue from commercial time sold during its newscasts.
Fox4’s 9 p.m. news is competitive on most nights with competing network entertainment programming. And on nights of bad weather, other “breaking news” or a big lead-in boost from Fox programming, it regularly wins its time period. As it did on both Wednesday and Thursday of this week.
The 7 to 9 a.m. portion of Fox4’s Good Day is the market’s biggest cash cow, though. In the four-week November “sweeps” ratings period, Good Day tied NBC’s Today for the most total viewers in those hours while handily beating the Peacock, ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS This Morning where it really counts. That would be among 25-to-54-year-old viewers, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Good Day also won the November “sweeps” in the 6 to 7 a.m. hour, where its competitors likewise are delivering homegrown news programs before giving way to their networks. That’s when the real differentiation kicks in. And a new Fox4 promo (which you can see below) cleverly accentuates the differences between watching “outdated” network news from New York that’s “an hour old by the time you see it.”
That’s a reference to the difference between Eastern and Central time zones. Fox4 then seals the deal with the slogan, ”Good Day is where the locals go.”
Station managers at NBC5, Gannett8 and CBS11 all would love to be in Fox4’s position. Only it would take a dose of truth serum for them to admit it. Their hands are tied anyway, with NBC5 and CBS11 owned-and-operated properties of their networks while Gannett8 isn’t about to risk the loss of its ABC affiliation by dropping Good Morning America in favor of locally produced morning programming.
So after some rocky early years, Fox4 is very happy to have all those revenue-enhancing local news hours instead of network programming. And Good Day is the program that stirs the drink, butters the bread, frosts the cake, etc. Here’s the promo:
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Loading up on local news hours seemed very chancy when Fox stunned the TV industry by buying a big bunch of major market CBS affiliate stations back in 1995.
The idea has proven to be visionary, with D-FW’s Fox4 among those prospering in two big “dayparts” -- weekday mornings from 7 to 9 a.m. and all week at 9 p.m.
In each case, local news goes against network programming on principal broadcast rivals NBC5, CBS11 and Gannet8 (the market’s ABC affiliate). Those stations get only small windows of locally sold ad space from their networks while Fox4 rakes in all of the revenue from commercial time sold during its newscasts.
Fox4’s 9 p.m. news is competitive on most nights with competing network entertainment programming. And on nights of bad weather, other “breaking news” or a big lead-in boost from Fox programming, it regularly wins its time period. As it did on both Wednesday and Thursday of this week.
The 7 to 9 a.m. portion of Fox4’s Good Day is the market’s biggest cash cow, though. In the four-week November “sweeps” ratings period, Good Day tied NBC’s Today for the most total viewers in those hours while handily beating the Peacock, ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS This Morning where it really counts. That would be among 25-to-54-year-old viewers, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Good Day also won the November “sweeps” in the 6 to 7 a.m. hour, where its competitors likewise are delivering homegrown news programs before giving way to their networks. That’s when the real differentiation kicks in. And a new Fox4 promo (which you can see below) cleverly accentuates the differences between watching “outdated” network news from New York that’s “an hour old by the time you see it.”
That’s a reference to the difference between Eastern and Central time zones. Fox4 then seals the deal with the slogan, ”Good Day is where the locals go.”
Station managers at NBC5, Gannett8 and CBS11 all would love to be in Fox4’s position. Only it would take a dose of truth serum for them to admit it. Their hands are tied anyway, with NBC5 and CBS11 owned-and-operated properties of their networks while Gannett8 isn’t about to risk the loss of its ABC affiliation by dropping Good Morning America in favor of locally produced morning programming.
So after some rocky early years, Fox4 is very happy to have all those revenue-enhancing local news hours instead of network programming. And Good Day is the program that stirs the drink, butters the bread, frosts the cake, etc. Here’s the promo:
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Thurs., Jan. 8) -- Idol still beats a kick in the head
01/09/15 11:00 AM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Save for the expected stumble opposite CBS’ new episode of The Big Bang Theory, Fox’s American Idol continued to sing loud Thursday night.
The two-hour Part 2 of the show’s Season 14 premiere averaged 313,830 D-FW viewers from 7 to 9 p.m., with 113,537 of them within the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old motherlode.
Only Big Bang performed better during those hours. As CBS’ 7 p.m. leadoff hitter, it had respective totals of 418,440 and 145,075 viewers. Idol’s audiences are greatly diminished from its Godzilla years, but any of Fox’s rivals would still gladly find a spot for it.
Idol’s continued strength also helped propel Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast to a second straight runaway win against network programming on ABC, CBS and NBC. The news drew 306,856 total viewers and 122,998 in the key 18-to-49 demographic. CBS and NBC ran new drama series episodes -- Elementary and Parenthood -- while ABC went with a rerun of How to Get Away with Murder (the least-watched show of the night in the Big Four broadcast network universe).
In the local news derby results, Fox4 again swept the 10 p.m. competitions in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
NBC5 edged Fox4 for the 6 a.m. top spot in total viewers while Fox4 traded places with the Peacock among 25-to-54-year-olds.
At 6 p.m., NBC5 and CBS11 tied for the most total viewers and Fox4 ran first in the 25-to-54 measurement.
The 5 p.m. golds went to NBC5 in total viewers and Fox4 among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Save for the expected stumble opposite CBS’ new episode of The Big Bang Theory, Fox’s American Idol continued to sing loud Thursday night.
The two-hour Part 2 of the show’s Season 14 premiere averaged 313,830 D-FW viewers from 7 to 9 p.m., with 113,537 of them within the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old motherlode.
Only Big Bang performed better during those hours. As CBS’ 7 p.m. leadoff hitter, it had respective totals of 418,440 and 145,075 viewers. Idol’s audiences are greatly diminished from its Godzilla years, but any of Fox’s rivals would still gladly find a spot for it.
Idol’s continued strength also helped propel Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast to a second straight runaway win against network programming on ABC, CBS and NBC. The news drew 306,856 total viewers and 122,998 in the key 18-to-49 demographic. CBS and NBC ran new drama series episodes -- Elementary and Parenthood -- while ABC went with a rerun of How to Get Away with Murder (the least-watched show of the night in the Big Four broadcast network universe).
In the local news derby results, Fox4 again swept the 10 p.m. competitions in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
NBC5 edged Fox4 for the 6 a.m. top spot in total viewers while Fox4 traded places with the Peacock among 25-to-54-year-olds.
At 6 p.m., NBC5 and CBS11 tied for the most total viewers and Fox4 ran first in the 25-to-54 measurement.
The 5 p.m. golds went to NBC5 in total viewers and Fox4 among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Wed., Jan. 7) -- Empire rules while Idol holds its own
01/08/15 01:28 PM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Fox executives are singing arias to Empire after the new music industry drama opened with a bang Wednesday night.
Empire drew 348,700 D-FW viewers in the 8 p.m. hour, easily beating all competing programming and also ranking as the day’s most-watched TV attraction on any station. ABC’s second place 8:30 p.m. new episode of Modern Family had 258,038 viewers opposite Empire while the first hour of CBS’ People’s Choice Awards came in third with 188,298.
Empire also took the top spot among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, drawing 163,998 to runner-up Modern Family’s 132,460.
Fox likewise prospered with the Season 14 premiere of American Idol, which fell well short of Empire in both key ratings measurements but still won its 7 p.m. slot with 265,012 total viewers and 94,614 in the 18-to-49 age range. It was a tough fight in the total viewers competition, though, with CBS’ competing The Mentalist close behind with 251,064 while ABC’s The Middle also scored very well (223,168).
The sizable audiences for Idol and Empire also helped to propel Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast to dominant wins. It had 299,882 total viewers and 116,691 in the 18-to-49 demographic. No competing program came close, with Fox4’s news in both cases amassing bigger audiences than Idol did.
NBC’s 7 p.m. attraction, The Mysteries of Laura, drew a decent-sized 160,402 total viewers. On many nights that’s good for a second or third place finish. On this night Laura ran fourth, coming close to only ABC’s 7:30 p.m. episode of The Goldbergs (195,272 viewers). And the bottom fell out for Laura among 18-to-49-year-olds, with its 25,230 just half the number drawn by the third place Mentalist (50,461).
Here are Wednesday’s local news derby results.
Fox4 kept the ball rolling at 10 p.m. with a comfortable win in total viewers and a rout of the competition among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming). The station also swept the 6 a.m. competitions.
Gannett8 ran the table at 6 p.m. and NBC5 did likewise at 5 p.m.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Fox executives are singing arias to Empire after the new music industry drama opened with a bang Wednesday night.
Empire drew 348,700 D-FW viewers in the 8 p.m. hour, easily beating all competing programming and also ranking as the day’s most-watched TV attraction on any station. ABC’s second place 8:30 p.m. new episode of Modern Family had 258,038 viewers opposite Empire while the first hour of CBS’ People’s Choice Awards came in third with 188,298.
Empire also took the top spot among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, drawing 163,998 to runner-up Modern Family’s 132,460.
Fox likewise prospered with the Season 14 premiere of American Idol, which fell well short of Empire in both key ratings measurements but still won its 7 p.m. slot with 265,012 total viewers and 94,614 in the 18-to-49 age range. It was a tough fight in the total viewers competition, though, with CBS’ competing The Mentalist close behind with 251,064 while ABC’s The Middle also scored very well (223,168).
The sizable audiences for Idol and Empire also helped to propel Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast to dominant wins. It had 299,882 total viewers and 116,691 in the 18-to-49 demographic. No competing program came close, with Fox4’s news in both cases amassing bigger audiences than Idol did.
NBC’s 7 p.m. attraction, The Mysteries of Laura, drew a decent-sized 160,402 total viewers. On many nights that’s good for a second or third place finish. On this night Laura ran fourth, coming close to only ABC’s 7:30 p.m. episode of The Goldbergs (195,272 viewers). And the bottom fell out for Laura among 18-to-49-year-olds, with its 25,230 just half the number drawn by the third place Mentalist (50,461).
Here are Wednesday’s local news derby results.
Fox4 kept the ball rolling at 10 p.m. with a comfortable win in total viewers and a rout of the competition among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming). The station also swept the 6 a.m. competitions.
Gannett8 ran the table at 6 p.m. and NBC5 did likewise at 5 p.m.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Tues., Jan. 6) -- so-so showing for 2-hour launch of Agent Carter
01/07/15 10:34 AM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Despite the mega-promotion, no one really expected ABC’s two-hour premiere of Marvel’s Agent Carter to outdraw CBS’ competing double dose of NCIS and its offspring.
But also losing to Fox’s lineup among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds is not a good way to start.
Agent Carter drew 153,428 total D-FW viewers from 8 to 10 p.m., falling far short of NCIS (453,310 viewers) and NCIS: New Orleans (425,414). The first hour of Carter also ran behind Fox’s Masterchef Junior by a slight margin -- 162,494 viewers to 156,915 -- before outdrawing Fox’s New Girl and The Mindy Project.
Among 18-to-49-year-olds, though, Carter trailed both NCIS hours and Fox’s entire 7 to 9 p.m. lineup. And it wasn’t very close. Only NBC fared worse, finishing fourth across the board with a repeat of last year’s Parks and Recreation season finale and new episodes of Marry Me and About A Boy.
Worse yet for ABC, Agent Carter failed to provide a boost for the network’s endangered first-year series Forever. It drooped to 97,636 total viewers and just 31,538 in the 18-to-49 demographic. That meant a pair of fourth place finishes in an hour led by CBS’ Person of Interest in total viewers (258,038) and Fox4’s local newscast with 18-to-49-year-olds (97,768). Those nighttime North Texas earthquake tremors didn’t hurt, helping to propel the 9 p.m. news to the top spot among all Fox and Fox4 programs airing Tuesday.
Here are the local news derby results.
Gannett8 led in total viewers at 10 p.m. and its late night news likewise ranked as the ABC affiliate’s most-watched program of the day or night. But Fox4 won among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 also swept the 6 a.m. competitions. Otherwise it was all Gannett8, which ran the table at both 5 and 6 p.m.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Despite the mega-promotion, no one really expected ABC’s two-hour premiere of Marvel’s Agent Carter to outdraw CBS’ competing double dose of NCIS and its offspring.
But also losing to Fox’s lineup among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds is not a good way to start.
Agent Carter drew 153,428 total D-FW viewers from 8 to 10 p.m., falling far short of NCIS (453,310 viewers) and NCIS: New Orleans (425,414). The first hour of Carter also ran behind Fox’s Masterchef Junior by a slight margin -- 162,494 viewers to 156,915 -- before outdrawing Fox’s New Girl and The Mindy Project.
Among 18-to-49-year-olds, though, Carter trailed both NCIS hours and Fox’s entire 7 to 9 p.m. lineup. And it wasn’t very close. Only NBC fared worse, finishing fourth across the board with a repeat of last year’s Parks and Recreation season finale and new episodes of Marry Me and About A Boy.
Worse yet for ABC, Agent Carter failed to provide a boost for the network’s endangered first-year series Forever. It drooped to 97,636 total viewers and just 31,538 in the 18-to-49 demographic. That meant a pair of fourth place finishes in an hour led by CBS’ Person of Interest in total viewers (258,038) and Fox4’s local newscast with 18-to-49-year-olds (97,768). Those nighttime North Texas earthquake tremors didn’t hurt, helping to propel the 9 p.m. news to the top spot among all Fox and Fox4 programs airing Tuesday.
Here are the local news derby results.
Gannett8 led in total viewers at 10 p.m. and its late night news likewise ranked as the ABC affiliate’s most-watched program of the day or night. But Fox4 won among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 also swept the 6 a.m. competitions. Otherwise it was all Gannett8, which ran the table at both 5 and 6 p.m.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Mon., Jan. 5) -- CBS off to best start as winter season wars begin
01/06/15 12:01 PM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
A panorama of first-run programming hit prime-time Monday, with CBS emerging as the pacesetter while NBC and Fox respectively hung in with The Celebrity Apprentice and Gotham.
In D-FW’s total viewers Nielsens, CBS swept the entire night with its lineup of 2 Broke Girls (285,934 viewers); Mike & Molly (265,012); Scorpion (362,648) and NCIS: Los Angeles (306,856).
Celebrity Apprentice had a solid showing from 7 to 9 p.m. with 223,168 viewers and Gotham had the same number of viewers in the 7 p.m. hour.
ABC’s three-hour season premiere of The Bachelor averaged 181,324 viewers, outdrawing only Fox’s Sleepy Hollow (104,610) from 7 to 8 p.m. and NBC’s State of Affairs (also 104,610 viewers) from 9 to 10 p.m. among the Big Four broadcast networks.
Gotham made downtrodden Fox happy with a 7 p.m. win among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, edging the CBS sitcoms and hour one of Celebrity Apprentice. Donald Trump’s latest collection of minions won from 8 to 9 p.m. in this key demographic before Fox4’s local newscast and NCIS: Los Angeles tied for the top spot in the 9 p.m. hour.
That’s a super-crappy restart for The Bachelor, which couldn’t even beat Sleepy Hollow among 18-to-49-year-olds during the 8 p.m. hour. NBC’s State of Affairs was the night’s other big loser, running a distant fourth across the board at 9 p.m. Consider it all but canceled, despite NBC’s continued proclamations that it’s a major hit.
The local news derby wars also resumed Monday after a holiday respite. Here are the results.
Gannett8 overcame a less than stellar lead-in from The Bachelor to win at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 likewise swept the 6 a.m. competitions and added 5 and 6 p.m. firsts in the 25-to-54 demographic.
CBS11 had the most total viewers at 6 p.m. and Gannett8 ran first in that measurement at 5 p.m.
LOCAL NEWS NOTE: Whoosh, there he went. George Rodrigue, who joined The Dallas Morning News in 1983 and spent his last decade there as managing editor, has left the Gannett8 building after barely three months as assistant news director for the Dallas-based TV station.
He’s taken his talents to Cleveland, where Rodrigue, 58, on Monday was named the new editor of The Plain Dealer. That’s a newspaper, by the way.
It’s not known whether Gannett8 management wishes him well. The station has an ongoing policy of not commenting publicly on personnel matters where departures are concerned. But as one who previously worked with him at the DMN, your friendly content provider bids him safe travels, champagne wishes and caviar dreams.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
A panorama of first-run programming hit prime-time Monday, with CBS emerging as the pacesetter while NBC and Fox respectively hung in with The Celebrity Apprentice and Gotham.
In D-FW’s total viewers Nielsens, CBS swept the entire night with its lineup of 2 Broke Girls (285,934 viewers); Mike & Molly (265,012); Scorpion (362,648) and NCIS: Los Angeles (306,856).
Celebrity Apprentice had a solid showing from 7 to 9 p.m. with 223,168 viewers and Gotham had the same number of viewers in the 7 p.m. hour.
ABC’s three-hour season premiere of The Bachelor averaged 181,324 viewers, outdrawing only Fox’s Sleepy Hollow (104,610) from 7 to 8 p.m. and NBC’s State of Affairs (also 104,610 viewers) from 9 to 10 p.m. among the Big Four broadcast networks.
Gotham made downtrodden Fox happy with a 7 p.m. win among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, edging the CBS sitcoms and hour one of Celebrity Apprentice. Donald Trump’s latest collection of minions won from 8 to 9 p.m. in this key demographic before Fox4’s local newscast and NCIS: Los Angeles tied for the top spot in the 9 p.m. hour.
That’s a super-crappy restart for The Bachelor, which couldn’t even beat Sleepy Hollow among 18-to-49-year-olds during the 8 p.m. hour. NBC’s State of Affairs was the night’s other big loser, running a distant fourth across the board at 9 p.m. Consider it all but canceled, despite NBC’s continued proclamations that it’s a major hit.
The local news derby wars also resumed Monday after a holiday respite. Here are the results.
Gannett8 overcame a less than stellar lead-in from The Bachelor to win at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 likewise swept the 6 a.m. competitions and added 5 and 6 p.m. firsts in the 25-to-54 demographic.
CBS11 had the most total viewers at 6 p.m. and Gannett8 ran first in that measurement at 5 p.m.
LOCAL NEWS NOTE: Whoosh, there he went. George Rodrigue, who joined The Dallas Morning News in 1983 and spent his last decade there as managing editor, has left the Gannett8 building after barely three months as assistant news director for the Dallas-based TV station.
He’s taken his talents to Cleveland, where Rodrigue, 58, on Monday was named the new editor of The Plain Dealer. That’s a newspaper, by the way.
It’s not known whether Gannett8 management wishes him well. The station has an ongoing policy of not commenting publicly on personnel matters where departures are concerned. But as one who previously worked with him at the DMN, your friendly content provider bids him safe travels, champagne wishes and caviar dreams.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Stalwart D-FW sports reporter George Riba is ready to hang 'em up
01/05/15 11:29 AM
George Riba on the job during Gannett8’s New Year’s Day newscasts. Photo: Ed Bark
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
The new year rings in with the impending departure of D-FW’s longest-running TV sports reporter/anchor.
George Riba, who joined WFAA8 in September 1977 after much briefer stints at KTVT-TV and KXAS-TV, will be retiring on Feb. 20th. His departure was recently announced during a WFAA8 newscast, but the exact date of his leaving wasn’t specified.
“The decision is really based on age,” Riba said in an email to unclebarky.com. “I turned 65 in May, so a February retirement brings me even closer to 66, which I had targeted. Although the target did change a time or two.”
Riba, a University of Texas at Arlington graduate, came to WFAA8 during the early years of President Carter’s administration. Those were the days when D-FW television stations were known by their call letters rather than their corporate ownerships. KXAS is now billed as NBC5, KTVT is CBS 11 and WFAA8 is dubbed Gannett8 in these spaces after Dallas-based Belo Corp. unloaded it late in 2013.
Raised on a farm in Stonewall, TX and formerly a country music disc jockey with KNAF radio in Fredericksburg, TX, Riba has run close to as many marathons (“29 and counting,” he says) as the years he’s spent at Gannett8.
“I’m not checking out entirely,” he says. “Hopefully I’ll be able to do something like voice-over work, commercials, part-time radio, maybe even bring back some drama-related activities. Who knows? I’m wide open to anything that’s fun and hopefully less time-consuming. Even though I still love to run, I am getting older. So it’s time to recognize that.”
Riba’s personal best marathon time, according to his Gannett8 biography, is a very impressive 3 hours and 1 minute.
We’ll have more on Riba as his retirement date grows nearer. For now, here’s the video of his on-air interview with Gannett8 anchor/reporter Marcus Moore.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., Jan. 2-4) -- just shy of 2 million viewers for Cowboys' comeback playoff win
01/05/15 10:22 AM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
The largest D-FW TV crowd of the season turned out for the Dallas Cowboys’ spine-tingling 24-20 comeback win over the Detroit Lions Sunday. But the magic 2 million viewers mark will have to wait for next Sunday’s matchup with the Green Bay Packers.
Airing from 3:42 to 6:47 p.m. on Fox, Cowboys-Lions averaged 1,945,746 viewers with a peak audience of 2,224,706 viewers for the 6:30 to 6:45 p.m. segment. That easily eclipsed the regular season high of 1,666,786 viewers for the Cowboys’ pivotal Dec. 14th win at Philadelphia on NBC’s Sunday Night Football.
Among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, Cowboys-Lions averaged 842,065 viewers for the full game. That also topped the previous high of 791,604 viewers for the Dec. 14th Cowboys-Eagles game.
Sunday’s warmup act, the Colts’ win over the Bengals on CBS, averaged 697,400 total viewers. The Dallas Mavericks, who had an early noon start Sunday in Cleveland, routed the Cavaliers to the tune of just 41,844 viewers on Fox Sports Southwest. That at least outdrew ESPN’s GoDaddy Bowl, the last one before the Jan. 12th college football championship game in Jerry’s Palace. The after-dark Toledo-Arkansas State matchup had 34,870 viewers Sunday.
On the broadcast networks Sunday night, ABC’s 7 p.m. premiere of the musical comedy Galavant ran fourth in total viewers with 118,558 while also trailing CBS, NBC and Fox among 18-to-49-year-olds.
NBC’s two-hour 8 to 10 p.m. season premiere of The Celebrity Apprentice drew a decent-sized 216,194 total viewers to run third in its first half-hour hour, first from 8:30 to 9 p.m. and second from 9 to 10 p.m. But Celebrity Apprentice beat all opposition in the 18-to-49-year-olds except for Fox’s 8 p.m. episode of Family Guy.
Over on PBS, the 8 p.m. Season 5 premiere of Downton Abbey drew 209,220 total viewers and 66,230 in the key 18-to-49 measurement. Those are pretty much blockbuster numbers for PBS, particularly among younger viewers.
Saturday’s two NFL wild card games were led by the Ravens’ prime-time win over the Steelers on the Peacock’s Sunday Night Football. It averaged 704,374 viewers in outscoring ESPN’s earlier Panthers-Cardinals game (530,024 viewers).
On Friday, CBS gleefully aired new episodes of its regular prime-time lineup while its broadcast network rivals all opted for reruns. Not surprisingly, CBS dominated, with Blue Bloods the top draw (271,986 viewers).
The network’s only slip-up was among 18-to-49-year-olds, with Blue Bloods falling to fourth in the 9 p.m. hour while Fox4’s competing local newscast and ABC’s 20/20 tied for the lead.
In Friday’s local news derby results, the four major combatants all took post-New Year’s Day holiday knees, meaning that none of their ratings will officially count.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
The largest D-FW TV crowd of the season turned out for the Dallas Cowboys’ spine-tingling 24-20 comeback win over the Detroit Lions Sunday. But the magic 2 million viewers mark will have to wait for next Sunday’s matchup with the Green Bay Packers.
Airing from 3:42 to 6:47 p.m. on Fox, Cowboys-Lions averaged 1,945,746 viewers with a peak audience of 2,224,706 viewers for the 6:30 to 6:45 p.m. segment. That easily eclipsed the regular season high of 1,666,786 viewers for the Cowboys’ pivotal Dec. 14th win at Philadelphia on NBC’s Sunday Night Football.
Among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, Cowboys-Lions averaged 842,065 viewers for the full game. That also topped the previous high of 791,604 viewers for the Dec. 14th Cowboys-Eagles game.
Sunday’s warmup act, the Colts’ win over the Bengals on CBS, averaged 697,400 total viewers. The Dallas Mavericks, who had an early noon start Sunday in Cleveland, routed the Cavaliers to the tune of just 41,844 viewers on Fox Sports Southwest. That at least outdrew ESPN’s GoDaddy Bowl, the last one before the Jan. 12th college football championship game in Jerry’s Palace. The after-dark Toledo-Arkansas State matchup had 34,870 viewers Sunday.
On the broadcast networks Sunday night, ABC’s 7 p.m. premiere of the musical comedy Galavant ran fourth in total viewers with 118,558 while also trailing CBS, NBC and Fox among 18-to-49-year-olds.
NBC’s two-hour 8 to 10 p.m. season premiere of The Celebrity Apprentice drew a decent-sized 216,194 total viewers to run third in its first half-hour hour, first from 8:30 to 9 p.m. and second from 9 to 10 p.m. But Celebrity Apprentice beat all opposition in the 18-to-49-year-olds except for Fox’s 8 p.m. episode of Family Guy.
Over on PBS, the 8 p.m. Season 5 premiere of Downton Abbey drew 209,220 total viewers and 66,230 in the key 18-to-49 measurement. Those are pretty much blockbuster numbers for PBS, particularly among younger viewers.
Saturday’s two NFL wild card games were led by the Ravens’ prime-time win over the Steelers on the Peacock’s Sunday Night Football. It averaged 704,374 viewers in outscoring ESPN’s earlier Panthers-Cardinals game (530,024 viewers).
On Friday, CBS gleefully aired new episodes of its regular prime-time lineup while its broadcast network rivals all opted for reruns. Not surprisingly, CBS dominated, with Blue Bloods the top draw (271,986 viewers).
The network’s only slip-up was among 18-to-49-year-olds, with Blue Bloods falling to fourth in the 9 p.m. hour while Fox4’s competing local newscast and ABC’s 20/20 tied for the lead.
In Friday’s local news derby results, the four major combatants all took post-New Year’s Day holiday knees, meaning that none of their ratings will officially count.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Wed.-Thurs., Dec. 31-Jan. 1) -- Cotton falls short of Rose, Sugar
01/02/15 12:58 PM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Baylor’s Cotton Bowl collapse to Michigan State dominated D-FW’s daytime Nielsens on New Year’s Day while still falling short of the followup college football championship semi-finals at the Rose and Sugar Bowls.
All three games drew in excess of a half-million viewers, though, with ESPN reaping the ratings whirlwind.
Baylor’s stunning 42-41 loss to Michigan State, after leading by 20 points in the fourth quarter, averaged 502,128 viewers. The elongated shootout ran all the way until 3:44 p.m., with a peak audience of 711,348 for its final minutes.
Then came the Rose Bowl, with Oregon smashing previously unbeaten Florida State by a score of 59-20. Running from 4:12 to 7:49 p.m., the game averaged 746,218 viewers with a high of 850,828 from 7 to 7:15 p.m.
The big finish, Ohio State’s 42-35 upset of Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, began a bit late at 8:01 p.m. and stretched to 11:42 p.m. The average audience fell slightly to 718,322 viewers, but with a higher peak crowd than the Rose Bowl -- 871,750 viewers -- from 8:15 to 8:30 p.m.
Wisconsin’s 34-31 Outback Bowl overtime win over Auburn, ending a four-bowl winless streak for Uncle Barky’s alma mater, aired in obscurity on ESPN2 opposite the Cotton Bowl. The game averaged just 76,714 viewers.
On New Year’s Eve, TCU’s 42-3 crushing of Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl, drew 265,012 viewers on ESPN as the network’s Wednesday college football lead-off hitter. That audience was dwarfed by the day’s runaway most-watched TV attraction. Gannett8’s post-midnight portion of Big D NYE, when the fireworks went off over downtown Dallas, exploded to 690,426 viewers. The audience steadily built, beginning with 202,246 viewers in the 10:30 to 10:45 p.m. segment.
CBS11’s inaugural, locally produced New Year’s Eve on the Couch, which ran after the conclusion of CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman, drew 111,584 viewers.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Baylor’s Cotton Bowl collapse to Michigan State dominated D-FW’s daytime Nielsens on New Year’s Day while still falling short of the followup college football championship semi-finals at the Rose and Sugar Bowls.
All three games drew in excess of a half-million viewers, though, with ESPN reaping the ratings whirlwind.
Baylor’s stunning 42-41 loss to Michigan State, after leading by 20 points in the fourth quarter, averaged 502,128 viewers. The elongated shootout ran all the way until 3:44 p.m., with a peak audience of 711,348 for its final minutes.
Then came the Rose Bowl, with Oregon smashing previously unbeaten Florida State by a score of 59-20. Running from 4:12 to 7:49 p.m., the game averaged 746,218 viewers with a high of 850,828 from 7 to 7:15 p.m.
The big finish, Ohio State’s 42-35 upset of Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, began a bit late at 8:01 p.m. and stretched to 11:42 p.m. The average audience fell slightly to 718,322 viewers, but with a higher peak crowd than the Rose Bowl -- 871,750 viewers -- from 8:15 to 8:30 p.m.
Wisconsin’s 34-31 Outback Bowl overtime win over Auburn, ending a four-bowl winless streak for Uncle Barky’s alma mater, aired in obscurity on ESPN2 opposite the Cotton Bowl. The game averaged just 76,714 viewers.
On New Year’s Eve, TCU’s 42-3 crushing of Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl, drew 265,012 viewers on ESPN as the network’s Wednesday college football lead-off hitter. That audience was dwarfed by the day’s runaway most-watched TV attraction. Gannett8’s post-midnight portion of Big D NYE, when the fireworks went off over downtown Dallas, exploded to 690,426 viewers. The audience steadily built, beginning with 202,246 viewers in the 10:30 to 10:45 p.m. segment.
CBS11’s inaugural, locally produced New Year’s Eve on the Couch, which ran after the conclusion of CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman, drew 111,584 viewers.
Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net