The State from Columbia, South Carolina • 12

1 A12 SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2008 THE STATE, COLUMBIA, SOUTH! CAROLINA WWW.THESTATE.COM FROM PAGE ONE FROM PAGE A1 tinue to lead the market in total viewers, they have fallen behind WLTX-19 in some key demographic groups. In the latest Nielsen ratings book, which spanned April 24 to May 21, WLTX-19 was tops in the 6 and 11 p.m. time slots with women ages 25 to 54 and overall viewers ages 25 to 54. "The people we're going after are watching us," said Rich O'Dell, WLTX's president and general manager. "This is the best overall book for us in history." WLTX has focused on hard news and interactive programming, such as and it has heavily promoted its Web site.

Earlier this month, WLTX won a national award for "hard news" for its story, "Filyaw's Letters." Reported by Ashley Yarchin, the piece told the story of Vincent Filyaw, who kidnapped a 13-yearold Kershaw County girl and held her in an underground bunker. The story also reported on letters Filyaw sent WLTX from jail. "The morale in the station has never been higher," said O'Dell, who has been at WLTX since 1999. "And I think it shows on the air." WIS had a stranglehold on local TV news for four decades. But in 1998 media giant Gannett bought WLTX and began to pump money into the station.

Jim Gandy, WIS' longtime, trusted weather guru, left and later went to work at WLTX. WLTX quickly began to close the gap, scoring a first in 2001 by winning a head-to-head news battle weekdays at noon. WLTX also won the noon battle in the most recent ratings period, but it still trails WIS overall in seven of eight news slots. Mel Stebbins joined WIS as general manager in 2001 and was charged with maintaining the station's No. 1 ranking.

"This station ruled for so long, and now we've got to realize we're in a real competitive situation," Stebbins told The State in 2001. Shortly after Stebbins came here from Toledo, Ohio, Jeff Hoffman was named station manager. For most of its history, WIS hadn't been challenged, said Hoffman, so he knew he had to try something new. One of the boldest moves he made was promoting Melvin, then 23, to anchor evening newscasts. In his six years as anchor, Melvin became a household name, like WIS broadcasters before him, including Aude, Rick Henry, Joe Pinner, Carolyn Sawyer and Joe Daggett.

He has been, for many lately, the face of WIS. Cynthia Hardy, a local radio host and panelist on "Awareness," a Sunday morning program on WIS, said it will be difficult to fill Melvin's chair. "It's going to be really hard because more so than anyone else, he grew up here," Hardy said. "He came into his own here." But Donita Todd, vice president and general manager of WIS, says the station's brand is bigger than one individual. "It's why we survive these changes that on the surface seem so significant," said Todd, who came to WIS about five months ago.

WIS will no longer reach to Grand Strand WIS-10 will no longer be carried on coastal cable systems. That's because residents of the Pee Dee and the Grand Strand soon will get their own NBC station. WMBF in Myrtle Beach which, like WIS in Columbia, is owned by Raycom Media of Montgomery, Ala. goes on the air Aug. 8.

WMBF will broadcast on channel 32 over the air and channel 10 on cable. Ahrendt, WIS' director of marketing and programming and the regional marketing director for WMBF, said the change "will be a net plus for viewers." For loyal WIS watchers in the affected areas, though and Midlands residents visiting the coast who want to keep up with hometown news there will be a period of adjustment. "We started months ago trying to explain to people what was going on," Ahrendt said. Viewers with antennas will still be able to pick up WIS' signal, which reaches into Florence County. Otis R.

Taylor Jr. hare. FILE STATE Darci Strickland and JR Berry are part of WLTX's news staff. be a part of it," Gatson said. "Everything Craig brought to WIS is still a part of WIS.

"When new people come in, they have to fit in the standard of what WIS does." WLTX, O'Dell points out, can boast consistency, too. "We've got the most stable anchor team in town with JR (Berry), Jim (Gandy), Darci (Strickland) and Bob (Shields)," he said. The team, which added Andrea Mock in 2007, has been together since 2002. If it appears that WIS has been terference from wind-blown trees at the top forever, it's because or low-flying aircraft. that's true.

Television came to Co- WLTX is one station that filumbia in 1953, when three sta- nally might have caught up, tions signed on, including WIS on though, which one longtime WIS channel 10. personality sees as healthy. WIS had an advantage from "When the other stations bethe start; it was on the VHF band come competitive, you have to (channels 2-13), which offered a raise your standards or change more powerful signal. The other them," said Joe Pinner, who celtwo stations were stuck on the ebrated 45 years at the station in UHF band (channels 14-83), May. where signals were weaker and in those days of rooftop an- Reach Taylor tennas often experienced in- at (803) 771-8362.

Unlimited Texting OLG to Your Circle CU add a new My Message Pack to your My Circle calling plan Get UNLIMITED text, pics flicks to Your Circle plus UNLIMITED mobile-to-mobile messaging. Elitel 41 BACK Did hacer the (TALK Our lowest after news) chase. Most me price ever! 1111 RE 7. chi $1999 after $50 mai- -in rebate ET 2 yr. service agreement LG come and get your love ID POWER Ranked "Highest Call Quality Performance Among Wireless wireless Cell Phone Users in Southeast Region, Two Times in a THE RATINGS Here's how Midlands TV stations' news broadcasts fared during the May "sweeps" period as measured by Nielsen Media Research.

The ratings tell how many people watched a particular TV program; they are the percentage of households or persons within a universe (all TV households, or adults 25-54, for example) who are tuned to a particular program. There are about 384,000 TV households in the Columbia market. Figures below are for total viewership, except as noted. NOON WLTX: 8.2 rating (31,487 households WIS: 5.4 (20,736) 5 P.M. WIS: 11.5 (44,160) WLTX: 3.8 (14,592) 6 P.M.

WIS: 14.9 (57,216) WLTX: 8.6 (33,024) WOLO: 2.7 (10,368) Adults 25 to 54: WLTX 5.9, WIS 5.6 Women 25 to 54: WLTX 7.2, WIS 6.5 10 P.M WACH: 7.3 (28,032) 11 P.M. WIS: 10.7 (41,088) WLTX: 7.8 (29,952) WOLO: 0.8 (3,072) Adults 25 to 54: WIS 5.6, WLTX 5.3 Women 25 to 54: WLTX 6.5, WIS 6.3 Anchor David Stanton and reporter Jack Kuenzie have decades of experience, as do Dawndy Mercer and Judi Gatson. And viewers have become familiar with Ben Tanner, Jennifer Wilson, Kara Gormley and Brooks Garner. "We're going to be just fine because of the depth of talent," Todd said. Gatson, Melvin's 5 p.m.

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