Birmingham Post-Herald from Birmingham, Alabama • 3

Knniinhww I HiwIJ Hrnnjiy April Iff! A3 tween WBMA-U40 and WVTM-1J for second place WVTM'i pjn newscast Ratings nor-re guaranteed ratings bonanza TO pub- ruaryfr ratings period a bit tougher that operates WABM The loss of UPN (fid not hurt us In prime he said actually increased viewership in prime time Ve (fid better than I abiy going to be the biggest night of tel- than usuaL an Olympic book it's evision viewing in a long Stakes always more challenging than a said mal he said At WBMA Heilman said he pleased with the continued growth of The brightest for his stations Mam said was the performance of the From page A1 been trying for a while to figure out what direction we need to go in te slipped a bit hi Febnun allowing of our newscast lineup Taking WBMA to pull into second place in total the way things were we dec household! At I pm the two stations might be a way for us lo go were are virtually tied with WVTM having a looking to see if we move the needle a slight edge At 10 pjn WVTM has a littlebit more I think Mike Royer and one-point lead Fran Curry might give os an opportu- WVTM General Manager Gary nhy to do that while keeping our solid Stokes said he thought part of the prob- 10 team together need to goto terms sop Taking a look at we decided this fledgling WB network on WTTO Shows such as the Vampire and Heaven have Another bright spot for Ms two stations Mam said was sports with Atlanta Hawks games on WABM and proyed poputer with the young viewers SEC basketball on WTKX Next week dearM by advertisers WTTO will carry a nightly hal cany a nightly half-hour Some market observer laidtt would still take several mare ratings periods to accurately judge the impact afWL ATi face lift But 1ji said the nun-ben proved toe revamped newscast which has a quick-moving format similar to CNN Headline could be liable competitor in the local news market important thing bom a bud- lem with the pm newscast was the weak lead-in from The Rosie While is popular nationwide it hasn't performed well in Birmingham At I pm it's no match the station's news ratings We experienced growth from a year and 10 he said TO a 10 pm between one two and three and it's a real dose battle for second at Sand I (pm) So overall we Ye veiy pleased like Stokes he said he was looking forward to even better numbers to May is really a short-lived he said The May sweeps start on April But it does give us a little indication of the direction things are Steve Mara general manager of WTTO-21 and WABM-68 said the presence of the Olympics made this Feb- show covering the BrunoY Memorial Classic golf tournament this summer WABM will air 11 Atlanta Braves games ourselves as local sports is definitely psying he said Like most of the networks NBC decided not to compete to heavily with the Olympics ana stuck mostly to reruns to prime time But overall Stokes said he wan happy with the station sweeps numbers It could have been a lot worse he said The results we got were pretty decent As always nn tanking for bigger and better things come" Heaven was Na I in its time period in the 1MI age Mam said in week four it did a 10 household rating It's very unusual tor os to win a household Mann also said WABMY loss of Its UPN afflifaHnn seemed to have little effect on that stations numbers The station dropped the network in Janu-ary a move that stemmed from a dispute between UPN and Sinclair Broadcasting the Baltimore-based company ness standpoint is wetoet the pmjec- t)prah tkns we msde to our advertisnte said 'Mora importantly we debuted a Several weeks ag WVTM changed tat wasmqudy newscast that was p-y (Efferent ting Mike Boyer snd Ran Curry the snehor stats TO something we had been looking at for a while? Stokes said 1 S2S-237D or ibiiiwSflnnaSiiHH mm llm Britan rtKSWSori of course will bring the much-final episode of a May hyped than snything else in the market' Overall VBRC4 wwMwwd to be Birmingham Nd 1 news station at 5 I and 10 pm Even its competitors had to admit that WBRCs numbers were impressive It was a solid book tar Fox I said Jerry Heilman general manager of WBMA-U40 no deqying it You have to give credit where credit to WBRCs new general manager Dennis Leonard said the good news numbers didn't mean the station could red on its laurels have to took at complacency as the said Leonard who came to the station at the end of February He added that the debut of WIATs newscast meant the competition was going to get tougher belief is CBS-42 made a very bold and courageous move in retooling their news vay retail with the Olympics to produce some he said I raped that a move that I thought was very bold snd I respect their ability to bring it to I think theyYe a solid The most heated news contest is be- Meter From page A1 Kratx said there was a 90 percent that the market collapse will become a reality this year The decision will be made next month during Nidsenls annual review of its television markets In any event most Birmingham television executives say the meters will have a significant Impact on how busi-ness is done in the Birmingham market 1 think any time you can go to an overnight system that is mare reflective of who is viewing what said Dennis Leonard general manager of WBRC-6 think the meters will take some of the guesswork out of the Part of the problem with efiaries is that people often fill them out as watching television Instead they wait until later and fill it out by memory That can lead to mistake! We have to rdy an households to input the data into the (Gary Kratx said the diaries might not be filled out correctly Sometimes well never get a diary back because we have to rety on the household to mail it tOU! And sometimes people are just reluctant to admit that they've been watching The Jerry Springer Show or Instead of Minute! When the market is metered you do tend to get perhaps a more realistic look at the said Jerry Heilman general manager for WBMA-33 40 typically many lowemted stations see a rise to their numbers when meters arrive think a lot more people watched our newscast than actually wrote it said Eric Land general manager of WIAT-41 Other station managers agree with him Leonard expects to see higher numbers from both WIAT and WTTO-21 once the meters are to place So does Steve Maos general manager of WTTO and WABM-68 Tracfitionally the youngerokewing like my two tend to benefit the most from Mam said Also with meters Birmingham television programmers will for the first time be able to get almost instant feedback on how local programs such as newscasts are doing That could lead to a greater temptation to make programming change! Leonard however doesn't think the meters will inspire a lot of hasty ded-sioo-making think you have to look at your news-gathering operation on a KS-dsy baste7 he said Tf that's your punHrfi to begin with I don't think you're going to make a lot of wholesale changes bated on overnight Meters do have a downside Since the meters are more expensive than local television stations will be paying more for Nielsen services than they have the past And the meters dont provide the demographic breakdowns that stations use to set their advertising rate! Those demographic numbers will still be determined by di-arie! Gary Stokes general manager of WVTM-13 said he is somewhat skeptical about the superiority of meters over diarie! have always been the lane holdout on whether meters are going to be the answer Stokes said have a concern about anything that I have to pny a kt of money for not going to pit any money back in my pocket the meters are coming Everyone's going to be on the same playing field My goal is just to make sure we're ready for it come Mu Fowl mi ba naohad 1 32S-2X70 cr diuitoftimSiawM nnrn rife i Where Low RricesTAreTJustkTheJBegmninglijOPENEVERYiD AY: FAIRFIELD EASTWOOD HOOVER 70 Ondmla Onto 'MMMHVatf MmntaMl 988-8141 USA UK eaua ti hmmh na" BIIS'kftMMf' I Papal fwew omv I CmtaMri IM Mr in It EmHmm FmOmL 595-7780 781-0110 CTARGEJTf Win IMS UOISVlcb t(l puicu way wurranwi war maw luma ana miiKXTwreanowa 1 mgsaa8gBjaagS8SBsmsS5aBgaaSrfBaaaasa8saaasa5geaBa8aBaaeMaaaaaa.