Birmingham Post-Herald from Birmingham, Alabama • 9

MmilngHam Pot-Hwld Friday August 1 1997 A 9 Combining of three area TV markets eyed ire By Darin Powell Birmingham Fort-Herald Last year it was the Mg affiliation witch But thii year Birminghain television rtatiora could be facing yet another change in the broadcasting landscape an expansion of the market ltaelf Many observer! believe that same time this year the Birmingham Tuscaloosa and Anniston TV markets will be that measures TV ratings no question going to happen" said Gary Stokes general manager "The $84100 question fai when is it going to happen? It could be in a few months It could be next Birmingham is the SlsMargest TV market Combining Birmingham with Anniston and Tuscaloosa would make it the Mth-largest comparable with New Orleans Memphis and Buffalo NY The Impact on viewers would be minimal but for the stations it would mean more prestige better advertising rates and mare ratings pressure 1 think the one thing a lot of us are waiting said Stan Knott WBRCft general manager are waiting with optimistic anticipation Others want it to happen" The proposed expansion is a cornerstone of game plan The station which was created by merging in ArnMm mifl TwakwiHi has itself to take advantage of where it works to our advantage to be simulcasting on two said Jeny Heilman WBMAr334(ft general manager With a larger market could come another change electronic metering Currently Birmingham's Nielsen ratings are measured by people who keep written diaries of viewing habits Electronic metering would measure ratfags almost instantly It be more accurate but also put more pressure on the stations Knott said he was in favor of electronic measuring which works year- round not just during selected sweeps periods Another factor affecting the future of local broadcasters is cable As cable channels increase broadcasters must try harder a challenge for all of us You have to know that in 65 percent of the homes they now have 10 other said Knott who cited the NBA playoffs an TNT and Braves baseball games on WTBS as reasons for the national lower viewership during the May sweeps period not just cable It's satellites VCRs the Internet all competing for thorn 'I Eric Land WBMG-42t general man- ager said local station have to work-J harder than ever think hi the 'Ms and 70s television station relied on thet network! to carry the day" he aaid they rely an local news and But Land said he did not believe ble would put broadcast station out of business anytime soon perv cent of viewers in any given market- are still watching free over-the-air tet- he said That decision would be made by Nielsen Media Research the company ust such an event is one case TV From page A1 Now the ifaiatim is more stable WVTM also benefits from NBCs i erful primetime lineup with feld" and But Stokes said that nothing can be taken for granted The competition for viewers in Birmigham has grown more complex works offer only a couple of nights of programming a week and none of their shows draws big ratings But Mam is not waiting for the young networks to produce hits He already has acquired the syndication-rights to several papular program including (which will debut this year) and (which will arrive 1u199Ql But biggest coup was fat sports Last month Mam that he had acquired fee rights to both University of Alabama at Birmingham and University of Alabama sports programming In addition to UAB sports and SEC football and basketball Mam up the University of Alabama i coaches' show and two other programs: Tide This Week and Greatest it was like a game of be said it's like WBMA4340 As the new kid on the Mock WBMA had the toughest challenge wres-viewers away from established tling vie Mam sees the sports program as part of a strategy focusing on non-news programming WBMG-42 At CBS affiliate WBMG the most notable casualty of the September shakeup was longtime General Manager Hoyle Broome who lost his job in March While Broome expressed surprise at the announcement observers said it resulted in part from perpetually low news programming ratings His successor Eric Land is sttil formulating his long-term strategy But Land who came to WBMG from Buffalo NY said improving perennially bottom-ranked local news apriority WBMG purchased last year Richmond Va-based Media has benefited from a ratings resurgence at CBS which did weUwith the top-rated by an Angel and the modest hits "Cosby" and i body Loves Its prime-time lineup draws solid ratings But with the shakeup WBMG saw its already low-rated news program-: ming which draws only a 2 share at 6 pm and a 3 share at 10 pm slip into fourth place in the news race Land said he is confident that WBMGt newscast will be able to cone pete And even though he is new in town Land understands exactly what the Birmingham TV market is tag He went through a similar situation several years ago in Flint Mich when the station he worked for switched affiliations from CBS to NBC was a lot of viewer confu- i Land said took a couple ofj years for all the roiling to settle down efarttaw all that WBMA continues to be aggressive in its quest to become a major player in the market In April the station hired former WVTM anchor Run Huff once considered Birmingham's most popular TV news personality to anchor its morning news show Heilman said he believes the city's TV stations have worked hard to find their own niches in the shakeup aftermath think settling he said station will just keep doing more of what they do best" WTTO-21aaiWABR48 Steve Man general manager of WTTO-21 and WABM-68 sees plenty of opportunities for his statins in the post-shaken market -Neither WTTO nor WABM has a news departments strategy has been to position the two stations as alternatives to the news During the recent May sweeps both stations ran commercials making fen of TV news personalities WTTO also heavily promoted its Andy Griffith reruns (which air at 5 and 10 pjn daily) as antidotes to local news program- Because the Fu network has no national news program WBRC compensated by adding even more local news including a show at 530 pm weekdays that beats the other national newscasts WBRC also launched a 9 pm newscast to get a head start an the other late news shows This summer it added an hour to its "Good Day morning show WBRC has also benefited from Fox's relatively strong primetime performance drawing hi young audiences with "The "Melrose and the new animated show "King of the an of the few new shows an any network to become a ML fed veqr well positioned for Knott said WVTM-1S When the shakeup occurred WVTM appeared to be in a good position Its stability during the switch combined with the strength of prime-time lineup made it seem likely that file station would snatch the news crown hum WBRC its longtime rival But WVTM's news ratings get a large boost Its 5 pm newscast gained only 1 share over the previous ratings and its 6 pm newscast last a few points Ten pm was a different story In the late-night news battle WVTM pulled ahead of WBRC and managed to sbqr has had some success In the news ratings WBMA ended the year as a strong Na 3 Its 6 pm newscast for example debuted with a 14 share in November That grew to a 16 share in February and a 17 share in May The 5 and 10 pm newscasts drew similar numbers game plan all along was to sign an strong and keep improving on WBMA General Manager Jerry Heilman said think we've done that It wu not easy getting the fledgling news operation on the ground but Heilman said he was proud at how the station's staff had developed was rough in the he said made a lot of mirtabw but we overcame them But WBMA had other problems as well Albritton Communications WBMA's parent company based in Washington is bring sued WBRC for the hiring of former news personalities James Brenda Ladun and Linda Mays claims the three breached their contracts when they jumped ship to WBMA Spann has said he leftWBRC because the Fox network's programming conflicted with his Christian belief In April WBMA found itself in the centerof a national controversy when it refused to air a mucb-hyped episode of the sitcom in which the title character played by comedian Ellen DeGeneres revealed she is a lesbian WBMA was the only ABC Hiitufo in the nation not to air the episode WBMA has also been hurt by the poor performance of ABC primetime programming as the network suffered through one its worst seasons in recent ratings but WTTO has scored some i mographic victories with its syncficated retina of Improvement Man said he believes that given time he can take even bigger bites out of the local newscasts more news out there than ever before" Man said there are fewer people interested in watching WTTO is owned by Baltimore-based Sinclair Communications which also operates WABM but does not actually own it WTTO was Fox affiliate before the switch It spent several months as an independent station before aligning itself with the fledgling WB network in January WABM had been barely mare than a public-access station until the year before the switch when Sinclair took over management of the thenfemkrupt station and allied it with UPN a new network created by ViacomParamounL Mam said he has been pleased with the early ratings from WB network programming As UPN and WB continue to grow so will WTTO and WABM he said Currently both net- very WVTM Manager Gary Stokes said Stokes said be sees plenty of opportunities The shakeup he said has trans-I farmed the Birmingham TV market year ago you had one dominant sta- tion with all the others trying to get in the he said everyone is in the Instability had hampered news division much of it brought an by two ownership changes in one year before it wu finally purchased by NBC in May 1996 Several papular on-air personalities departed and at times it seemed as if a game of musical chairs was going on at the anchor desk ALL WATCHES all JEWELRY Invited mi ill! OFF LOWEST TICKETED PRICE itAvsjnr LOWEST TICKETED PRICE Mil 1 NOTEBOOKS PENSPENCILS PAPER OFF LOWEST TICKETED ALL PET FOOD SUPPLIES QWS PERSIAN GALLERIES OF ATLANTA presents for a limited time only OUR ANNUAL SUMMER SALES PRESENTATION Throughout the years Persian GaOezlea has established Itself as one of the premier for rare and decorative carpets and Upcatirca OFF LOWEST TICKETED PRICE OFF LOWEST TICKETED PRICE OWESTJICKETED PRICE Now from August 12 through August 17th we will be presenting to the GREATER BQUIINOIlAli AREA a newly arrived shipment of ANTIQUE OU8HAK8 AQUAS 6ERAPIHER1Z 8ULTANAHAD8 AAROUK FARAOHAN and many more received specifically for this event Join us at the 8TEEPLB ARTS CENTEX 36 Church Street in Crestline Village Birmingham Show Hours are from 10:00 am until 7:00 pm dally 1 THE DESIGN COMMUNITY IS WELCOMED Trades Considered cleaning restoration and apralsals available IMMEBSfOMdGBS 4UUIU Persian Galleries iTete ilnmwt 800-34 8 -1980 ft 4.