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WHTM closing the gap with WGAL


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WGAL still leads local market, but not by as much

Stark Ravings

Sunday News

Jul 07, 2013 05:56

 

Staff writer Eric Stark discusses trends and tidbits in br...

 

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WGAL (92)

By ERIC STARK

Staff Writer

[email protected]

The spring TV ratings are out and WGAL-TV 8 continues its stronghold on the local market. But according to the May Nielsen numbers, the grip on viewers 25-54 may not be as tight.

 

Here's a quick refresher before I start talking numbers.

 

Share is the percentage of television sets in use tuned to the program. The difference between rating and share is that a rating reflects the percentage of the total population of televisions tuned to a particular program, while share reflects the percentage of televisions actually in use.

 

A single national ratings point represents 1 percent of the total number, or 1,142,000 households for the 2012–13 season.

 

WGAL at 6 p.m. Monday-Friday had a 4.6 rating and a 26 share. Its nearest competitor, WHTM-TV ABC 27, drew a 3.2 rating and an 18 share.

 

A closer look shows the numbers between the two stations are actually closing. In total designated market area, which covers the Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York market, this is the closest WHTM has been to WGAL. In fact, the May shares for 6 p.m. were the best in three ratings books for the Harrisburg station.

 

Last May, WHTM had a 2.3 rating, compared to WGAL's 6.1. Again, the Lancaster station is still No. 1 this year, but not by as great a margin.

 

WGAL dominates Lancaster, York and Adams counties, where the population is greater. Zoom in closer and focus on just the Harrisburg metro area (Dauphin, Cumberland and Perry counties) and WHTM has a clear advantage with a 9.7 rating and a 39 share, compared to WGAL's 2.6 and 10.

 

At 5 p.m. Monday-Friday, WGAL was No. 1 in the market with a 3.0 rating/21 share and WHTM had a 2.5 rating/18 share (WHTM had a 2.4 rating last May and WGAL a 2.6.)

 

In the Harrisburg metro area, ABC 27 was No. 1 with a 7.7 rating/39 share. WHP-TV CBS 21 was second with a 2.9 rating/15 share and WGAL was third at 1.2/6.

 

But according to the Nielsen numbers, WGAL's bread and butter is not Harrisburg, but Lancaster and York. Seventy percent of the station's viewers are in the southern tier (Lancaster, York and Adams counties). About 19 percent of its viewers are in the Harrisburg metro area.

 

WGAL owns the morning in the total market area. At 6 a.m. Monday-Friday, WGAL had a 4.1 rating, WHTM a 1.9 and WHP-TV a 0.5, down from 0.9 last year. In the Harrisburg metro area, WHTM had a 6 rating/47 share, compared to a 0.4/4 for WGAL.

 

WHTM made up some ground in the 6 a.m. total market share for 25-54 viewers. WGAL is a 35 share in the current book, but was a 39 last year, while WHTM had a 12 share last spring, but a 17 this May.

 

Weeknights at 11 p.m. WGAL had a 2.5 rating and WHTM was second with a 1.6 in total market.

 

Other notable mentions: CBS, of which WHP is an affiliate, had 12 of the top 25 programs. "Big Bang Theory" was the No. 1 show in our market, followed by "NCIS." ABC had five of the top 25 prime-time shows.

 

 

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/869105_WGAL-still-leads-local-market--but-not-by-as-much.html#ixzz2YMsPGiPS

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Good job @The Talk ... you beat me to it to link the article. LOL.

 

I find it hard to believe that ABC27 is number 1 so much in the Harrisburg metro area. I mean, if you like fluff news and you like reporters that like to laugh and goof off, then ABC27 is for you.

 

Just REPORT THE NEWS ... this is not comedy lounge.

 

Not worried for WGAL however. They know their value in the Susquehanna Valley. The only thing that ABC27 is #1 in the area, realistically is in Social Media (Facebook, Twitter) ... but even on there, ABC27 is unprofessional.

 

Good job @The Talk ... you beat me to it to link the article. LOL.

 

I find it hard to believe that ABC27 is number 1 so much in the Harrisburg metro area. I mean, if you like fluff news and you like reporters that like to laugh and goof off, then ABC27 is for you.

 

Just REPORT THE NEWS ... this is not comedy lounge.

 

Not worried for WGAL however. They know their value in the Susquehanna Valley. The only thing that ABC27 is #1 in the area, realistically is in Social Media (Facebook, Twitter) ... but even on there, ABC27 is unprofessional.

 

What will happen to WHTM under its next owner though? I could either see them making a breakthrough and being seriously competitive overall with WGAL, or falling apart, depending on who purchases Allbritton's stations.

 

Why does WHP rank so low (bad ownership, maybe?), could they fall to #4?

 

Good job @The Talk ... you beat me to it to link the article. LOL.

 

I find it hard to believe that ABC27 is number 1 so much in the Harrisburg metro area. I mean, if you like fluff news and you like reporters that like to laugh and goof off, then ABC27 is for you.

 

Just REPORT THE NEWS ... this is not comedy lounge.

 

Not worried for WGAL however. They know their value in the Susquehanna Valley. The only thing that ABC27 is #1 in the area, realistically is in Social Media (Facebook, Twitter) ... but even on there, ABC27 is unprofessional.

 

What I don't get is why would ABC27 do well in the ratings if they have people on air acting like a bunch of assclowns?

My guess is because they don't act like "assclowns" like some people on here like to claim. Their news is quite professional. Their reporters are easily the best. One person in particular Gnoza brings in a little humor for 30 seconds every day and everyone immediately broad brushes. Sadly some people are blind to the huge improvements 27 has made. Clearly it shows in the ratings and the majority of people see it. I have been a fan all my life and can tell you this news station has made huge strides. WGAL is terribly boring and asleep at the wheel. And there are some people out there that just continue to be their cheerleaders for whatever reason. Give the HTM crowd some credit. They do excellent work.

My guess is because they don't act like "assclowns" like some people on here like to claim. Their news is quite professional. Their reporters are easily the best. One person in particular Gnoza brings in a little humor for 30 seconds every day and everyone immediately broad brushes. Sadly some people are blind to the huge improvements 27 has made. Clearly it shows in the ratings and the majority of people see it. I have been a fan all my life and can tell you this news station has made huge strides. WGAL is terribly boring and asleep at the wheel. And there are some people out there that just continue to be their cheerleaders for whatever reason. Give the HTM crowd some credit. They do excellent work.

Are you being sarcastic? I sure hope so.

My guess is because they don't act like "assclowns" like some people on here like to claim. Their news is quite professional. Their reporters are easily the best. One person in particular Gnoza brings in a little humor for 30 seconds every day and everyone immediately broad brushes. Sadly some people are blind to the huge improvements 27 has made. Clearly it shows in the ratings and the majority of people see it. I have been a fan all my life and can tell you this news station has made huge strides. WGAL is terribly boring and asleep at the wheel. And there are some people out there that just continue to be their cheerleaders for whatever reason. Give the HTM crowd some credit. They do excellent work.

Are you being sarcastic? I sure hope so.

I hope so too. What improvements have WHTM made??? Maybe they didn't see the STAR that is on Al Gonza's door that I seen, only to feed his ego. Maybe they didn't see Dennis Owens' massive ego/power trip attitude that he has. Maybe they don't watch when Brett Thackara uses clip art for weather fronts. Maybe they don't see Brett adding celebrity birthdays during weather segments (which STILL has NOTHING to do with weather) ... Maybe they don't see Al's Fugitive Files segments.

 

ABC27 is a fading station, compared to it's high when it was WHTM News Center. It is a fading station since the days of Rick Wagner and Chuck on the weather desk.

 

The new owners better come quick because the stink coming from Hoffman Street is pretty vile ... as seen with the Cow Parade cow they have in the parking lot.

 

-- Matt

We can respectfully disagree. No problem there. 27 was actually the number 3 station in the Newscenter days. Hard to say its a fading station since then. When I was on a tour there last year that cow was explained to be supporting local artists. Is that really a negative? I am not going to disagree with the other points, but I find it interesting that there is no mention of the quality journalism that comes from this station. It's all talk about cows, stars and clip art.

 

What I want to know is how can WHP perform so terribly even with the advantage of having a strong lead-in from CBS?

 

It can all be summed by one word. HABIT.

 

You can watch all your favorite shows on CBS, but once it hits 11pm, then many of them would change the channel and watch the news from the station they're mostly accustomed to. I dunno if their primetime shows dominate the HLLY market, but if it is, that's kind of a crying shame for 21. But many are use to watching the news on either channels 8 or 27 and may not watch 21's news after primetime.

 

It's the same scenario if you're watching a CBS program on WBBM, and once that 10pm rolls around, since they are use to watching WLS for news, all they need to do is to press that button a couple of times and boom, they're watching the news on 7.

Is WPMT a nonfactor in the market? We always hear about the dominance of WGAL, how professional (or unprofessional) WHTM is, and the incidents at WHP since Sinclair took over. I guess Fox 43 must like that you guys aren't talking smack about them...

It can all be summed by one word. HABIT.

 

You can watch all your favorite shows on CBS, but once it hits 11pm, then many of them would change the channel and watch for news from the station they're mostly accustomed to. I dunno if they're primetime shows dominate the HLLY market, but if it is, that's kind of a crying shame for 21. But many are use to watching the news on channel 8 or 27 and may not watch 21's news after primetime.

 

It's the same scenario if you're watching a CBS program on WBBM, and once that 10pm rolls around, since they are use to watching WLS for news, all they need to do is to press that button a couple of times and boom, they're watching the news on 7.

+1! That's what I mostly do.

Is WPMT a nonfactor in the market? We always hear about the dominance of WGAL, how professional (or unprofessional) WHTM is, and the incidents at WHP since Sinclair took over. I guess Fox 43 must like that you guys aren't talking smack about them...

Oh yes, there is plenty to talk about WPMT aka Fox43.

 

For example, THIS -->

 

Bronson Pinchot Of 'Perfect Strangers' Took Over A Local Weather Report And Caused Trouble (VIDEO)

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/29/bronson-pinchot-perfect-strangers-weather_n_2980967.html

 

Bronson Pinchot Hijacks Morning News

 

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2013/03/bronson-pinchot-hijacks-morning-news/

 

YouTube link:

 

 

Hey susquvalleywgal, do you mind telling sanewsguy more about how intended WPMT aka Fox43 to be goofy and unprofessional is?

This makes me think as well:

 

If Tribune buys Allbritton (possible) and ends up with a WHTM-WPMT duopoly (although one would need to be shelled), could that strengthen both their news operations and be the element that puts them over the top and ahead of WGAL? They would be able to run extra news operations out of WPMT (i.e. more morning, 10 pm) and could easily put the sister stations on the opposite .2 like the stations in, say, northern Michigan have done, to cover more ground for both stations given the transmitter spread.

 

I know WHP would hate that and might as well shut their operations down in that scenario as well.

Oh yes, there is plenty to talk about WPMT aka Fox43.

 

For example, THIS -->

 

Bronson Pinchot Of 'Perfect Strangers' Took Over A Local Weather Report And Caused Trouble (VIDEO)

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/29/bronson-pinchot-perfect-strangers-weather_n_2980967.html

 

Bronson Pinchot Hijacks Morning News

 

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2013/03/bronson-pinchot-hijacks-morning-news/

 

YouTube link:

 

 

Hey susquvalleywgal, do you mind telling sanewsguy more about how intended WPMT aka Fox43 to be goofy and unprofessional is?

I always wondered whatever happened to Balki.

 

  • 3 weeks later...

"Unprofessional"? Hard to believe that to be true for an operation that gets this many Emmy recognitions. And they're some pretty impressive categories too.

 

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) -

WHTM-TV's abc27 News leads central Pennsylvania TV stations with 16 nominations for Mid-Atlantic Emmys, including a nomination for News Excellence.

 

abc27 was the only central Pennsylvania television news organization nominated for the prestigious award. The other nominees are KYW-TV in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh stations KDKA-TV and WPXI-TV.

 

WHTM-TV additionally received Mid-Atlantic Emmy nominations for its Continuing Coverage of the Jerry Sandusky trial, best Evening Newscast in a Medium Television Market, and Best Morning Newscast.

 

The Evening Newscast nomination was for the 'abc27 News at 11' coverage of a police-involved shooting near Harrisburg on March 15, when an officer shot and killed a suspect who had wounded a police dog.

 

The Morning Newscast nomination, for 'abc27 News Saturday Morning,' was for team coverage of the verdict in the Sandusky trial.

 

Kendra Nichols was nominated for Serious Feature News Report for her in-depth look at prescription drug abuse among teenagers. Nichols received a second nomination for Human Interest reporting.

 

Dennis Owens was recognized for reporting in both Politics and Health. He received nominations for investigating per diem abuse in the Pennsylvania legislature, and allegations that a local pharmacy was putting profits before customer safety.

 

Ali Lanyon received a nomination for Crime News reporting for her ongoing "Midstate Mysteries" series highlighting local cold cases.

 

Megan Healey was recognized for her Human Interest News Feature on a Pennsylvania National Guard member who anonymously donated a large part of her liver to a dying Vietnam Veteran.

 

James Crummel was nominated for General Assignment reporting.

 

Photojournalist Eric Heisler received six nominations, including News Photographer, News Editor, Short Form Editor and Video Essay.

 

Photojournalist Kyle Cooper received two nominations, including News Photographer, and photojournalist Kyrie George received one nomination.

 

The awards will be presented by the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

 

The winners will be announced September 7 in Philadelphia.

 

"Unprofessional"? Hard to believe that to be true for an operation that gets this many Emmy recognitions. And they're some pretty impressive categories too.

[edited...]

 

I tend to agree. Those two (IsitCC? and susquvalleywgal) probably expect a straight-up news broadcast. From what I've seen, they do a great job covering the news and also have fun with their personalities which is what I expect from them. If some man just sat in front of a staid background and just read the news in a monotonous voice without showing any personality or relating to other everyday people it would be so boring and put you to sleep. This is partly why I don't watch PBS Newshour even though the content is superb.

 

Those two can stick to watching WGAL if that's the kind of news they prefer instead of bashing ABC27. If they don't like ABC27, then why do they watch? To make fun of them? They clearly are watching 27 enough to be able to bash them here...

  • 3 weeks later...

I stumbled across this thread by accident. I know it hasn't up been updated in a while, but let me add my two cents worth.

 

The best anchor team in Columbus history has probably been Doug Adair and Mona Scott in the late 1980s. If you search YouTube you can find several clips of some of their broadcast Adait was the consummate broadcast professional and channel 4 did a good job broadcasting the news. But Adair, Mona Scott and to a lesser extent Jimmy Crum were anything but boring. They were quick with the quip and it was not uncommon to have a chuckle or two during the news.

 

Jerry Rasor from WLWC (WCMH)... Our version of Dick Clark, Movie Host and Weatherman who got dumped when they decided we needed a "Meteorologist" and got Jym Ganahl. Jerry was quite a ladies man. He was famous for bringing bimbos along with him to do the weather on the 6 pm news. There used to be a picture on the internet but I can't find it.

 

What characters.

 

http://goo.gl/NQXbp

 

http://goo.gl/HMf0y

 

Jerry on the set doing a karate gag

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=09cDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA34&ots=1obrkja2Zr&dq=%22jerry%20rasor%22&pg=PA34#v=onepage&q=%22jerry%20rasor%22&f=false

 

I enjoyed TV a lot more when it wasn't so corporate.

 

You can have a serious newscast. But all three newscasts don't need to be the same. There's nothing wrong with a little light heartedness and a little humor. In fact, when you're able to pull this off it's usually a ratings winner.

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