WWBT Will Broadcast Fourth Hour of ‘Today’
By Douglas Durden, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.
Jun. 29–NBC’s fourth hour of “Today,” premiering in September, will air in Richmond after all.
WWBT, which previously had no room for more “Today,” will move “Rachael Ray” to 2 p.m. weekdays, freeing up 11 a.m. This means the station can accommodate the additional hour of the network’s morning show — although not at 10 a.m., when contractually “Live With Regis and Kelly” must air.
That’s our first nugget of news relating to fall and local TV stations. Here’s another one: WRIC is adding a half-hour of news.
The additional newscast will air somewhere between 4 and 6 p.m. weekdays. WRIC’s general manager, Bob Peterson, wouldn’t be more specific for now.
Since Peterson’s arrival in 2003, the ABC affiliate has added several newscasts, including local news shows on Saturday and Sunday mornings and a 9 a.m. weekday show.
“I’ve always wanted to expand to afternoons,” said Peterson, whose station — unlike WWBT and WTVR — has no newscasts between 12:30 and 6 p.m.
“The Oprah Winfrey Show,” currently at 5 p.m., will also air in the 4-to-6 p.m. block, as will a new syndicated show, “TMZ.” The half-hour entertainment news show takes its cues from the TMZ.com Web site, meaning more breaking news, less red carpet coverage.
To make room, WRIC is losing Maury Povich’s talk show. But not to worry. It’s moving to WRLH in the fall.
WRLH will also have the new syndicated shows “Judge David Young” and “The Steve Wilkos Show,” plus two network shows new to syndication: “Family Guy” and “Two and a Half Men.”
With the cancellation of “The Dr. Keith Ablow Show,” WTVR will be adding two game shows starting at 9 a.m.: “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” returning to the market, and “Crosswords,” a new TV crossword-puzzle show.
“We think it’s good counterprogramming,” said WTVR’s general manager, Peter Maroney. “Talk hasn’t seemed to work well in the past. We think, by that time of the day, people might be ready for lighter fare.”
. . .
Richmond has two new news directors.
Chip Mahaney joins WTVR on July 9. Mahaney is managing editor of Dallas’ KDFW, a Fox-owned station, where he manages the www.myfoxdfw.com Web site as well as the station’s newscasts. He’s also worked for stations in Oklahoma City; Tulsa, Okla.; and Austin, Texas.
Lisa Melton, WRIC’s former assistant news director, was promoted to news director. She’s worked in the Richmond market for 13 years, beginning her career as an assignment editor at WTVR.
. . .
Results are in for the May “book,” one of Nielsen’s quarterly measurements of local TV stations. As usual, WWBT dominates local newscasts.
In addition to the time periods represented in the accompanying chart, where WWBT, WTVR and WRIC all program news, WWBT’s newscasts placed first at 4 p.m., as well as 5 and 5:30 p.m., although “Oprah Winfrey” on WRIC is in a strong second place.
At 10 p.m., where WUPV added a newscast in March, it’s still no contest. In overall ratings, WRLH’s “Fox News at Ten” earned a 6 rating (percentage of all TV households) and a 9 share (the percentage of sets in use) against WUPV’s “CW News at 10′s” 1 rating and 2 share. Contact Douglas Durden at (804) 649-6359 or ddurden@timesdispatch.com.
—–
To see more of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.timesdispatch.com.
Copyright (c) 2007, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.