Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 26

irteDiniGiJiioinifi 2b TIMES SUNDAY, MARCH 19, 1995 sB 8 SWSSBSS OBI ITBSWS WSiTS FLASH Compiled from Times staff, wire reports TIMES TV CRITIC MONICA A JYANT But WFLA's ratings gains belie a mystery: The total number of Tampa Bay households tuning in to most local newscasts is falling. Let's get the obvious news out of the way: WFLA-Ch. 8 is No. 1. Any way you slice it: Sunup to sundown, sign-on to sign-off.

Prime-time only. Late news only. With all viewers over 2 years old. Certainly, WFLA benefited from a strong February ratings sweeps performance by NBC, a network enjoying monstrous success with shows like ER, Seinfeld and Friends. And it couldn't have hurt that Channel 8 was the only local affiliate nor to play musical network chairs in December.

It's been a long time try 1989 since Channel 8 could boast an all-out local ratings victory, so allow them their well-deserved, if temporary, bragging rights. With the market in such flux, who knows what will happen during the next ratings period in May? Especially since one of the most intriguing trends of the February ratings was a mysterious loss of viewers across the board. Virtually every station but newcomer WFTS-Ch. 28 shows declines in both ratings and shares from November and from February 1993. During the noon news, for example, viewers in the key age groups (18-49, 25-54) dropped by up to 50 percent on three stations.

credence to the belief that programs leading into and out of a newscast do influence ratings. Case in point: The Price is Right precedes the Channel 10 news. And the wickedly popular soap opera The Young and the Restlessiottows it. 5-7 p.m.: Here's where the numbers get confusing. Yes, Channel 8 claims the top household ratings during the 5 and 6 p.m.

news hours. Demographically, however, Channel 13 appears to have the edge. At 6:30 p.m., John Wilson has proven a capable, downright competitive, foe for Peter, Dan, Connie and Tom. His Eyewitness World News beat ABC World News Tonight for the month and has edged out CBS and NBC on occasions as well. Late News: The big news is that WTOG-Ch.

44 did not curl up and die upon the first breath of competition at 10 p.m. On the contrary, the independent station held its own with its target audience of working adults. Though neither station has the news power to lure the masses away from from network shows like NYPD Blue, Channel 13 did manage to beat ABC's Day One fox the month. Newcomer Channel 28 performed impressively at 1 1 p.m., especially considering that Channel 8 boasts the state's most-watched late news. Give 'em time, and the young, attractive faces and aggressive, if often sensationalistic, news style may win over Tampa Bay viewers yet.

-V'i X. AP Sure, CNN has lured many viewers away with its daylong coverage of the 0 J. Simpson murder trial. But that can't account for the declining viewership in the early mornings and evenings. So where have all the people gone? "I wish I knew," said Mark Demopolous, Channel 13's marketing director.

"I really do." Lest anyone think the other four area news stations rolled over and died during Channel 8's victory month, here's a look at who performed best where: Early Mornings: With the 5:30 a.m. period home to local news only since last fall, the early early mornings are shaping up to be a virtual slugfest. So far, Channel 8 leads the pack. Interestingly enough, the locally produced Good Day Tampa Bay outperforms ABC's Good Morning America and CBS This Morning. With Channel 13's 6:30 p.m.

Eyewitness World News also beating at least one network consistently, Channel 13 may have struck gold: With well-known and popular local personalities, it's possible to lure viewers away from network celebrities. Noon: The lunchtime news crowd huddled around Channel 10 in February, lending Karl Lagerfeld smiles at the end of a show of his latest ready-to-wear fashion collection in Paris on Saturday. SKL.rJ I Designer wins bid to keep Altman film out of Germany PARIS Karl Lagerfeld has won one round against Robert Altman, he's lost another, and he returning to the field of honor to try again. On Friday, the Chanel designer won his bid to bar screenings of the director's satiric Ready to Wear in Germany. Now he's back on the attack in France, where he previously lost a similar effort.

Lagerfeld is angry about a scene in which he's referred to ALTMAN Torturous tables paint local TV market By MONICA YANT Times Television Critic as a copycat. I also going to attacK Robert Altman because that scene does nothing for the film," he said Saturday. He also said he was angry with designer Sonia Rykiel for helping Altman make the film, also titled Pret-a-Porter. 'Guitar Wars' contest announced In conjunction with International Guitar Month in April, Gators Cafe Saloon and Seminole Music are staging a monthlong competition of local musicians called "Guitar Wars '95." All styles are welcome, and both acoustic and electric guitarists are encouraged to participate. The event, which will take place every Tuesday night in April, will be held at Gators Cafe on the Kingfish Wharf, Treasure Island.

Preliminary rounds will be April 4, 1 1 and 18, with the winners of each week advancing to the final round on April 25. The grand prize will be provided by Gators, Seminole Music, Air South and Refuze 2 Luze Sportswear, and will include cash, merchandise, a pair of roundtrip air fares and a new Washburn guitar valued at more than $800. For more information, or to register to compete, contact Karen Roman at 419-0359. Orlando teen accuses singer of hitting him ORLANDO A teenager who attended a Courtney Love concert accused the punk rock diva of punching him. Ryan O'Donell, 17, filed a misdemeanor complaint against Love on Saturday.

He says the singer slugged him about five times in the chest when she performed with her band, Hole, on Tuesday. Love, the widow of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, routinely dives into the crowd while performing. But fans at the Edge club in Orlando say she not only dived, but also punched at members of the audience because someone made derogatory remarks. sumers as NBC's Mad About You. Locally, that means the newcomers at WFTS-Ch.

28's news division might not be as sad as their overall ratings would indicate, since the station appears to be holding its own in the key viewer groups. As if the local ratings weren't confusing enough, they seem to indicate that the "if it plays in Peoria" mentality doesn't wash well in Tampa Bay. Programs that soar nationally such as ABC's No. 1-ranked World News Tonight don't necessarily succeed here. In fact, WTVT-Ch.

13's locally-produced Eyewitness News with John Wilson beats third-place Peter Jennings in Tampa Bay. Similarly, Jay Leno beats David Letterman and Nightlinehere but trails both programs nationally. And on the late-late fringe, newcomer Tom Snyder beats NBC's Conan O'Brien here, while the opposite is true elsewhere. the little black boxes in TV viewers' homes the meters that prove the nation was really watching Bay watch when people claimed to be tuned in to PBS. For local TV stations, the success or failure of programs found in The Book helps decide two things: Bragging rights among the news teams and how much advertisers are charged for commercials.

So if you're a car dealer wanting to advertise on WTOG-Ch. 44, it's likely to cost you more during Star Trek: Voyager one of the station's highest-rated prime-time shows than during The Marker, one of its lowest. It's the same logic that makes a 30-second ad during the Super Bowl cost $l-million and commercial time on network hits like Home Improvementmoie than on stinkers like Models, Inc. Putting those faxes aside, so as not to cheat, I went to work on The Book myself. Here's what I found beyond the pounding headaches: With 211 mint-green-shaded pages full of tiny charts and tinier numbers, The Book qualifies as one of the most painful reading experiences of my short life.

If you thought Beowulf 'was a tough read, try spending an hour with the Nielsen ratings. With so many categories for every program, it's almost impossible ho to find something positive to say about a program's performance. If it stalls in households which refers to all 1.4-million homes in Tampa Bay that have television sets it may soar in a particular demographic group. Advertisers seek out programs that attract viewers 18-49 and 25-54, and women all of whom have considerable buying power. While programs like CBS's Murder She Wrote tend to gain impressive household ratings, they don't always lure as many younger con They call it The Book.

After four days, and as many handfuls of aspirin, I call it The Headache. As the first of numerous faxes came in last week from local television marketing and research types touting their spin on the February ratings results, I got a suicidal idea: Why not read The Book myself? After all, if all five area stations could figure out a way to mold and shape the results in their favor, couldn't the intrepid reporter committed to telling Times readers the REAL STORY behind local TV, find even juicier information? So I borrowed The Book known in technical circles as The Nielsen Station Index for the TampaSt. Petersburg Metered Market Service. Nielsen, you might recall, is the national company that puts PRlMErjWiMDO ALUMINUM VINYL REPLACEMENT WINDOWS You'll Find 13) TRADE-IN LOT Of VALUE a We'll give you $75 00 lor every worn out, draft window Iroded in. Our replacement windows an energy efficient keeping winter's heat inside and summer's heat outside they'll help lower your electric bills and quickly pay lor themselves.

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