Abilene Reporter-News from Abilene, Texas • 37

eyWyyjffwyyyw mmirmfiiwmrrm'9 0" 't'nTIH y'WH AbilentF 1 miuuic irr Reporter-News Sunday Jana 2 1986 Tn sight Editorial page 2 Phot oa by Gerald Ewing and David Kent fliywu U'V' i At work In the KRBC newsroom are from left Frank Suarez Dennis Charles Frank White Gary Stricklin Randy Smith and Pablo Pereira a i mfaflrra i -r- 5 htiCiiiiWH 1 1 Ji 1 -f -h' 's' Jf jfr ir 'IF iifih a I r-V jl- ys-ryi O' i fllri TW IV A r-jVT: "'ft yV? C-U' --y vb'- ate AA' 5-- -H KTXS cameraman Greg Site catches Pat Brown and Alyce Dorsey during a newscast Ratings game is played for keeps By ANDREW PRATT Staff Writer those 112700 homes are three Abilene stations each representing one of the big networks: KTAB CBS KRBC NBC and KTXS ABC Ratings are taken four times a year A ratings survey was conducted in May and die results will be sent to stations in late June or early July Though electronic diaries are used in some markets Arbitral sends paper diaries Viewers to homes in the Abilene market Viewers are You may never have met them but their faces may be as familiar as your office mate or grocery clerk Maybe more familiar asked to keep a record of what they're watch- February ratings for the Abilene-Sweet-water market are based on results from diaries kept in 310 homes The last Nielsen and Arbitral ratings show KTAB News leads its competitors at three 1 news times noon 6 pm and 10 pm lead at 10 pm when the largest audience of the day is tuned in is monstrous by industry standards "If you take the share of the other two stations (on i together how says of his news staff People say feel like we know you because in our house' And one might add they are also in your newspaper in an ad three pages over from the comics And on your wav to work staring out from a billboard Or acting as master of ceremonies at your charity event Television newscasters want their faces known because there is money in faces people are Willing to watch The more people watching the more money the station can charge for the advertising time that surrounds a newscast Advertising rates are determined in part by ratings surveys of what people are watch- 4 i 10 Bartlett said The Nielsen ratings say 10 pm newscast eaptiired a 45 per- inghra companies provide rating services for the Abilene area Arbitral and Nielsen In Abilene and the Big Country according to an Arbitral Ratings spokesman the stations compete for the attention of the occupants of 112700 households That amounts to 208900 viewers above the age of 2 across the Big Country Abilene stations also reach an additional 83000 households outside the of dominant or ADI For the most part savs Jerry Marshall sales manager for KTAB stations use the 19 counties in the ADI as their gauge of how well cent share of market February ratings are even more favorable for KTAB That ratings showed that in February an average of 52 percent of market belonged to KTAB at 10pm According to Bartlett KTAB has the largest market share of any station in Texas and one of the largest in the country Though no one is commenting changes in anchors and news directors at KRBC and KTXS over the past several years seem to indicate that management has not tsken losses In the ratings war lightly Both KRBC and KTXS have made changes in anchors and news directors since KTAB went on the air on UHF Channel 32 in 1979 KRBCs first major shakeup came in 1979 when Bartlett a veteran sportscaster and Larry Fitzgerald news director of KRBC for Pleaaa see RATINGS ID doing Of the 211 market areas tested by Arbitral 158th said the AbBene-Sweetwater area ranks 158th Jon Nottingham Dallas-based manager of Arbitral's southern division Competing for attention of the occupants of A technician In the KTAB control room monitors a newscast news? Local stations answer differently By ANDREW PRATT Staff Writer I Jjf i t's 10 pm and local news is on the air at aU three Abilene televirion stations On Channel 32 KTAB one of the first stories is about a teen-age girl hit by a car on South First Street The station has film of the accident and nends about a minute bf air taken to the hospital She was not seriously injured but was kept overnight for observation On KTXS Channel 12 there is no film of the though the station had a cameraman at the scene and had the footage if the news director wanted to use it Instead of the accident KTXS leads with stories about Jim problems with the stste Legislature and the Philadelphia police ili radical group that ended with 80 il group Larry Fitzgerald who handles the morning duties and anchorman Bob Bartlett who handles evening and afternoon assignments Bartlett says several things led to success He cites promotion Billboards newmapers ads and television commercials keep the and call letters in the pub-lic eye Bartlett said KTAB also pays the best the market" Bartlett said Because television reporters are ambitious snd move to bigger mar-better wage Bartlett said many stations in a market the size of Abilene's can keep reporters for only a year or so KTAB has kept many reporters anchors and on-the-air personalities for three years or mow Bartlett said Bartlett himself says he has had six jobs in 23 a relatively small number for a broadcaster A graduate of Eastern Michigan University Bsrtlett who doesn't want his age revealed has waked for radio stations in Detroit ana suburban Chicago His first job in Abilene was at KRBC where he was primarily a sports-caster Tire third factor of success Bartlett said is an unusually strong emphasis on local news of Abilene and of the Big Country is of most impotence to people of the Big Bartlett said "People in this area seem to love local news" unnr Please see NEWSCASTS 4D Dennis Charles KRBC Pat Brown KTXS cide how the world will appear to local news viewers: homes burning and at leairt five people dead (Later it was learned at least six more people died) At KTAB a 60-aecood segment on the police battle in Philadelphia comes on just before the KTAB Channel 32 I television news KTAB is ratings champion Three television stations Three decisions about what a newscast should contain and how the news should be presented What goes into a newscast is importsnt but just as important to station management are the decisions about how and by whom the news is presented Ihf news managers of the three stations in Abilene share the same philosophy about what viewers want to see Here is a brief rundown of perceptions of news in Abilene by some of the people who de weather At KRBC Channel 9 both the accident and the Big Country The station captured upwards of 50 percent of the audience at 10 pm in February and also drew the most viewer at noon and 8 pm News director duties at KTAB are sharal by the Philadelphia incident are reported with film footage but the lead story is a long (for television news) feature about a br chib the city is trying to close 1 "A A a iahhbii Ml bf I.