WNOL dumps 9pm news; NOLA sweeps results

[PelicanGuy 117]

http://www.nola.com/tv/index.ssf/2010/06/wnol_drops_9_pm_newscast_tmz_m.html

 

WNOL drops 9 p.m. newscast, 'TMZ' moves to WGNO

 

By Dave Walker, The Times-Picayune

 

 

New Orleans is down one newscast.

 

Effective Friday (June 4), local CW affiliate WNOL-Channel 38 dropped the 9 p.m. weekday newscast produced and staffed by sister station WGNO-Channel 26.

 

Effective Monday (June 7), the CW’s prime-time lineup moves back an hour to the 8-10 p.m. time slot. Back-to-back reruns of “The Simpsons” will air in the 7 p.m. hour.

 

Removing the newscast focuses WNOL’s brand as a viewer destination for the syndicated sitcom reruns that wrap around the CW’s prime time programs, said Rick Erbach, WGNO news director.

 

“NOLA-38 will be the home of comedy,” he said.

 

The syndicated celebrity-stalking series “TMZ,” which had aired after the WNOL 9 p.m. news, moves to the 12:05 a.m. slot on WGNO. A weekend version of the show will air on WNOL at noon Saturday and 3 a.m. Sunday.

 

WNOL’s 9 p.m. newscast averaged a 0.6 rating during the recent four-week May “sweeps” period. A 1.0 Nielsen overnight rating in the New Orleans market represents 6,340 homes.

 

Competing May newscasts at Fox affiliate WVUE-Channel 8 and WUPL-Channel 54 scored ratings of 9.0 (for the entire 9 p.m. hour on WVUE) and 1.4 (for a WNOL newscast produced and staffed by the WWL-Channel 4 news team).

 

The average audience for the 9 p.m. WGNO newscast on WNOL had dropped by more than half from its performance of a couple of years ago.

 

Elsewhere in May, change marked the sweeps period everywhere but atop the leader board.

 

Formerly of WWL-TV, Lee Zurik started as reporter and anchor at WVUE. The new 10 p.m. newscast he and Kim Holden anchor grew the station’s audience in that time slot to a second-place 7.1 rating compared with a “Seinfeld” rerun’s 3.9 there a year ago.

 

Rob Nelson departed his morning-news post at WWL-TV to take a network job anchoring ABC’s overnight “World News Now.” He’ll join Vinita Nair starting July 7. That weekday network newscast airs locally at 2:35 a.m. on WGNO.

 

Duopoly WNOL and WGNO, both owned by Chicago-based Tribune Broadcasting, announced a new general manager, John Cruse, rising from director of sales to replace Phil Waterman.

 

And WWL won almost every time slot it competes in (counting the WUPL 9 p.m. its news staffers produce), as usual.

 

The May newscast numbers:

 

5 a.m. – WWL, 7.2; WDSU, 3.1; WVUE, 2.0; WGNO, 0.8.

 

6 a.m. – WWL, 11.0; WDSU, 4.4; WVUE, 2.8; WGNO, 0.9.

 

7 a.m. – WWL, 10.7; WDSU (“Today”), 6.0; WVUE, 3.5; WGNO (“Good Morning America”), 1.3.

 

8 a.m. – WWL, 10.0; WDSU (“Today”), 4.7; WVUE, 2.9; WGNO (“GMA”), 1.3.

 

Midday – WWL (noon), 15.4; WGNO (11 a.m.), 2.0.

 

4 p.m. – WWL (“Oprah”), 7.9; WVUE (“Judge Mathis”), 4.4; WDSU (news), 3.8.

 

5 p.m. – WWL, 12.3; WVUE, 6.2; WDSU, 4.9; WGNO, 1.4.

 

5:30 p.m. – WWL (“CBS Evening News”), 11.8; WDSU (“NBC Nightly News”), 5.9; WVUE (local news), 5.7; WGNO (“ABC World News”), 1.7.

 

6 p.m. – WWL, 13.5; WVUE (“Jeopardy!”), 7.3; WDSU, 5.8.

 

6:30 p.m. – WWL (“Inside Edition”), 10.4; WVUE (“Wheel of Fortune”), 9.1; WDSU (“Entertainment Tonight”), 4.8; WNOL (“Two and Half Men”), 2.8; WGNO (news), 1.7.

 

9 p.m. – WVUE, 9.0; WUPL (WWL news), 1.4; WNOL (WGNO news), 0.6.

 

10 p.m. – WWL, 11.7; WVUE, 7.1; WDSU, 4.5; WGNO, 2.4.