The Macon Telegraph from Macon, Georgia • 15

Sunday Dec 31 1995 The Macon Telegraph 15A Local television stations making major changes Local TV news battle heats up By Mike Billips The Macon Telegraph TV viewers in Macon have long noticed a dif ference in the two local newscasts One clearly had many more resources than the other Come Monday that resource gap may be much more difficult to discern With a new on air anchor team many more reporters and a new set WGXA TV Channel 24 hopes to draw viewers away from WMAZ which at 6 pm is the mar top rated program new owner Gocom Inc of Charlotte NC has increased its news staff from 7 to 20 and plans to hire even more people in the next few months getting close to having as many people on the street as said Bob Young news director and new co anchor Young will be joined by co anchor Secily Wilson Bill Shanks on sports and meteorologist Kevin Goff with the weather Only Wilson was with the station before Gocom bought it Current weather announcer Margaret Mer tens is giving up her part time weekday job with the station and sports announcer George Jobin is becoming executive producer Long time an chor Ron Wildman replaced recently by Wilson continues to make reporting assignments and do community affairs reporting New equipment such as three new Super VHS camcorders has already helped improve the picture quality on WGXA which has long suffered in its picture quality in comparison with the better funded WMAZ The new set will be an even bigger move to ward parity While WMAZ has kept its set up to date WGXA suffered for years with a dimly lighted cramped set consisting of a single desk in front of two false windows The new set is much larger with separate wings for sports and weather desks and it fea tures a glass block desk a brightly colored back drop and flashy arcliitectural accents be having a weenie with the old set joked Gocom President Ric Gorman As important as the new look is the new time for news WGXA will add weekend news beginning Sat urday Jan 6 and it is moving its late broadcast from 11 pm to 10 pm because its new net work ox provides only two hours of program ming per night A morning news show is planned by spring want to stay up 11 to watch the Young said He also said the surveys show that weather presented by a mete orologist is important to viewers something that Goff will give WGXA WMAZ has two meteorologists who help se nior weather forecaster Bill Powell prepare the WMAZ news team hhbgl EpOtTjgEKl Tina Hicks Anchor since 1980 Mk At station since 1973 i a frt Bill Powell Weather forecaster A since 1962 i JZW At WMAZ radio 1958 1962 ll Brad Bibb Sports director since 1993 it At station since 1982 hr Al forecasts The meteorologists apjiear on the air in the mornings and on weekends But the weekday 6 pm and 11 pm weather re ports are presented by Powell who is not a me teorologist Don McGouirk general manager of WMAZ TV Channel 13 said his station would do what is necessary to retain the ratings lead it has WGXA news team Secily Wilson Anchor since 1993 I jK Bob Young HfWta News director If a Starts as anchor on Monday Kevin Goff Starts as meteorologist rt on Monday Bill Shanks Starts as sports director on Monday maintained for years in Macon a matter of keeping an eye on the ball and serving our customers" he said continuing to do about the same amount (of promotion) that always done to let people know on and what McGouirk said message is strength and Murdoch outfoxed critics with network gamble Some favorites on ox Local stations have weathered many changes By Mitch Clarke The Macon Telegraph Television came to Macon in 1953 a miraculous and mysterious medium that had residents sitting on the edge of their seats Not that it was particularly pretty at first Early local programs on WMAZ TV Middle first TV station were little more than an announcer standing on a nonde script set was radio with a said Del Ward who has been at Channel 13 since 1957 But viewers didn't care It was a picture albeit grainy and without color beamed through the air and into a set in their living rooms They were fascinated by what they saw Nearly all of the early local shows were live Programming usually went off without a hitch but since few staffers had ever worked in TV no one really knew if they were doing it right When the station hit the air at 2 pm on Sept 27 1953 viewers were hooked on the mix of variety and talk shows news sports weather religious shows and chil programming It began a long affair between viewers and Channel 13 that contin ues today WMAZ was the only sta tion in Macon for 15 years Yet even with four other over the air stations in town today Channel 13 is still a dominant force And now as WGXA TV Channel 24 gears up under new owners to challenge WMAZ few at the station are overly concerned station has always under gone said Ward recount ing the switch to color the inven tion of videotape and the technology that now allows the sta tion to broadcast live from any where in the world Ward who started her TV career at WGN in Chicago returned to her hometown in 1957 to begin hosting with on WMAZ The 38 year old program continues to air today even though most such shows are no longer on the air think when syndicated shows became available and stations were able to buy programming they need to have so many local Ward said It was on show that color was introduced to the Macon mar ket The general manager told her that he wanted to begin us ing color on her show so she went to the Market and bought lots of colorful fruits and vegetables to display on her set What did she wear for the first colorcast? A black and white dross was for she said with a laugh In 1968 monopoly was broken WCWB Channel 41 hit the air as an NBC affiliate Its sig nal was much weaker than Chan nel and in many areas the sta tion could not be received But cable television another fairly new invention was in 44 percent of homes That helped get the station to viewers who might otherwise have missed it said Don McGouirk the general manager of Channel 13 who worked at Channel 41 when it went on the air It would be another 14 years be fore Macon would get its third TV station WGXA TV Channel 24 Even though Channel 13 had competition viewing patterns have We apologize The confusion of switching affiliates caught us off guard too find some er rors in TV Teletime being distrib uted in today's Telegraph In TV Teletime the program ming shown for WGXA TV Chan nel 24 for today Dec 31 is in correct shown is ox network programming But WGXA does not switch to ox un til Monday WGXA will be show TV in Macon: A time line Key events in the history of Macon tolovi oi on Sept 27 1953 WMAZ TV Chan nel 13 becomes the first television sta tion in Macon when it signs on at 2 pm as a CBS affiliate Until other network af filiates come to Macon Channel 13 also airs some programs from other networks May 1957 "Date with Del" goes on the air for the first time Hosted by Del Ward the 15 minute program still airs at 12:15 pm weekdays making it the longest running program on Macon television 1963 WMAZ is purchased from a group of local owners by Multimedia Inc Mid 1960s WMAZ converts from black and white to color with Del" is the first show broadcast in color and Ward brings in colorful fruits and vegeta bles from the Market to show off the new technology Aug 28 1968 WCWB TV Chan nel 41 becomes the city's second televi sion station but the city's first UH fre quency station The station also is carried on Channel 12 of Macon Cable IV The station is an affiliate of NBC and is owned by WTVY Inc in Dothan Ala Aug 9 1974 WCWB is sold to Bibb Television December 1974 WMAZ TV and radio move from the Cochran Short Route to their current facility on Gray Highway December 1978 WCWB is sold to Morris Network Inc Dec 27 1981 Ken Gerdes is named general manager of what will be Macon's third TV station WWLG which would change its call letters to WGXA be fore it signed on the air eb 8 1982 Don McGouirk is named general manager of WMAZ TV and radio a position he still holds today Sept 13 1982 WMAZ begins broadcasting 24 hours a day Sept 18 1982 WCWB drops lo cal newscasts which were beaten in the ratings by WMAZ April 21 1982 WGXA TV Chan nel 24 signs on the air giving Macon its third television station and finally an ABC affiliate It is owned by Russell Rowe Communications Oct 18 1982 WGXA airs its first Its at 5:30 pm April 1983 Ron Wild man one of the city's best known reporters leaves WMAZ to be come news di rector at WGXA September 1983 WGXA leases a helicop ter for use by its news depart ment December 1983 WCWB changes its call letters to WMGT TV The station also re establishes its news department and be gins local news operations again with shows at 6 pm and 11 pm June 1986 LA Sturdivant named general manager of WMGT He remains at the station today May 1990 WMGT drops its 11 pm newscast in favor of MASH re runs but the station expands its early evening newscast from 30 minutes to 60 minutes Nov 30 1990 WGNM TV Chan nel 64 signs on as Macon's fourth over theair broadcast station after 14 years as the cable channel Good News TV Sept 11 1992 WMGT cancels its only newscast and dismantles its news department Sept 27 1993 WMAZ begins a 5 pm newscast March 1 1995 WPGA TV be comes the city's fifth TV station when it signs on the air as a ox affiliate July 29 1995 WGXA sold to Ge com Broadcasting Inc of Charlotte NC for $1175 million Ken Gerdes is re placed as general manager by Keith True The new owners immediately begin expanding the news operation Dec 4 1995 Gannett Co pur chases Multimedia Inc the parent com pany of WMAZ TV and radio for $17 bil lion Jan 1 1996 WGXA will switch from ABC to ox while WPGA switches from ox to ABC On the same day WGXA will launch the market's first 10 pm newscast Compiled by Mitch Clarke not changed much WMAZ re mained the dominant station a trend that continues today think the market is slowly ac cepting other said Please see LOCAL 17A ing ABC programming today or Monday and the remain der of the week the program ming for WGXA is correct in the book However WGXA is incorrectly grouped under the ABC network heading with another station Readers looking for WGXA Channel 24 programming should just disregard the ABC heading and look for the WGXA title rom staff reports It was a major gamble in 1986 when Rupert Murdoch decided to launch the ox broadcasting com pany to compete with TV Big Three: NBC ABC and CBS One of many TV news paper and publishing prop erties now owned by Mur News Corp conglomerate ox was the first new US television network since 1948 But by specifically tar geting younger audiences Murdoch believed he could find a niche for his new network It easy Not until he took professional football away from CBS and stole several of the networks' key affili ates did ox truly begin to compete with the major networks ox has done its strate gy all along is to go alter the younger said Brian Reil ly managing editor of Electronic Media magazine the one advertisers crave the most because they're doing most of the spending buying most of the Apparently it's working Al though TV shows seldom rise above No 30 in Nielsen rankings of all viewers watching prime time shows when the rankings are carved up by demographics ox appears to be appealing to its target audience or instance in the Nielsens for shows airing Dec 18 24 ox bragged in a press release that on Sunday nights from 7 pm to 10 pm tvhen three of its most pop ular shows air the network fin ished No 1 among the four major networks in reaching teens and women ages 18 34 ox programming has been avail able for a number of years to Cox Communications cable customers and other cable systems and Middle Georgia got its I first over the air ox affili ate earlier this year when WPGA signed on But Monday the net work may reach a wider audience when it moves to WGXA TV a more estab lished Middle Georgia sta tion available on more ca ble systems WPGA becomes the ABC affiliate When ox first got start ed it was seen mostly on UH sta tions and had a hard time compet ing against CBS NBC and ABC which usually were on the liigher powered VH stations But ox kept plugging away One of the first moves Murdoch made was to pay $16 billion for the rights to broadcast National oot ball League games for four years on ox He also invested $500 million in New World Television to persuade the company to switch its TV sta tions including WAGA TV in At lanta to ox affiliates had not been pleased with the direction CBS was biking said Jack Sander WAGA's president and general manager felt At lanta was a progressive aggressive kind of market and that ox would do very well So far he has been right "We became the major No 1 ox affiliate in the country very quick he said WAGA is now the No 2 station in Atlanta beliind WSB TV the ABC affiliate WAGA has a 19 share of the At According to the Nielsen TV rating ser vice none of prime time TV shows routinely ranks higher than about No 30 among weekly prime time shows But ox does have a half dozen pro grams three of them air on Sundays that have accumulated a significant viewing audience Those include: The Simpsons (Sundays 8 pm to 8:30 pm) This is an animated come dy cartoon series about the Simpsons a family whose two main characters are the father Homer and the son Bart Martin (Sundays 8:30 pm to 9 pm) A situation comedy based around the talents of comedian Martin Lawrence Now in its fourth season the show is about Martin and his newlywed wife and their conflicting lifestyles Married With Children (Sundays 9 pm to 9:30 pm) Now in its 10th season this is the longest running situa tion comedy now on network television lanta market meaning that 19 per cent of all TVs in use were tuned to WAGA The station had a 22 share before the switch The loss is mostly due to daytime viewing which is where ox is weak and CBS Is strong Sander says the loss is worth it however because the station has more youn ger viewers now and that is what advertisers want Reilly said the package ox offers to affiliates is different than what the other broadcast networks offer ABC NBC and CBS each offer 22 hours of prime time week The networks keep vir tually all the advertising revenue from those hours for themselves The affiliates cim sell only a mini mal amount of advertising in prime time By comparison ox offers only 15 hours of prime time program It's about the Bundy family and how they cope with suburban life not always pretty Melrose Place (Mondays 8 pm to 9 pm) Now in its fourth season this is a prime time soap opera that focuses on the lives of eight adults living in an apart ment complex in Los Angeles Beverty Hills 90210 (Wednesdays 8 pm to 9 pm) A drama about glamor ous rich young adults growing up in Bev erly Hills Calif Now in its sixth season the characters started out in high school and now are in their junior year of college The lles (ridays 9 pm to 10 pm) Winner of this year's Golden Globe Award for best drama series the show has become one of biggest ming per week ox does not air programming from 10 pm to 11 pm stations have seven extra hours that they can still on their Reilly said the seven extra hours that could be a gold mine for the In Atlanta the extra time allowed WAGA to greatly expand its news ojx ration WAGA had already dropped This and replaced it with its own Day before the network switch Now the station has six hours of locally produced news a day: three hours from 6 a tn to 9 am two hours from 5 pm to 7 pm and one from 10 pm to 11 pm Sander said many of those hours would not be available from CBS Staff writers Mitch Clarke and Dan Maley contributed to this re port Affiliate swap confused us too newscast The news and 11 pm III xgtBBa JW al' it 1 1 fl Ron Wildman Ki IB i fl fi Mm IeHa al Rupert Murdoch hits Now in its third season it's about a pair of BI agents who are teamed up to investigate a series of unexplained cases known as the files Staff reports WMGT manager happy with NBC affiliation market ratings mos And he Irelieves the switch will do lit tle to alter viewing patterns By Mitch Clarke The Macon Telegraph LA Sturdivant flips through tire pages of a Nielsen rating book confident that viewers will continue to watch his televi sion station even as TV world gets turned upside down WMGT TV Channel 41 has a small audi ence but it routinely battles for second place in the market That change af ter Monday said Sturdivant the general manager Monday morning WGXA TV and WPGA TV switch network affiliations Within tlie last few months WGXA and WMAZ TV also changed ownersliip But out on Ocmulgee East Boulevard sits Channel 41 Its owner Morris Newspaper Corp looking to sell the station which is still affiliated with NBC the same network it has been with since it went on the air in 1968 got a stable upscale audience" Stuidivant said want people to know that still the one for them" While advertising blitzes tire planned by WGXA Channel 24 and WPGA Channel 58 to tout the changes coming to those sta tions Sturdivant said lie plans no such pro "ox (wliich is joining WGXA) is less popular than ABC" Sturdivant said ABC (which is moving to WPGA) is mov ing to the less powerful station Why should I lose Sturdivant said he is happy with the NBC affiliation The station is a solid No 2 prime time although it is far behind ixiwerhouse WMAZ Channel 13 And with NBC Channel 41 gets to tele vise tire Super Bowl in January as well as tire NBA and tire Summer Olympics from Atlanta The big battle in local television Sturdi vant believes is in kxxil news Channel 24 is Ixrefing up its news operation to comete against Channel 13's established ness station stopped doing local news in 1992 While he said the market can support stations doing news he is not sure viewers want it station manager has to decide at what point does it become economical to do news" he said was more economical for us to buy programming than have local news" or example according to Nielsen rat ings for November 1995 repeats ot MASH on Channel 41 at 11 pm lieat Channel 24's late newscast Both however frailed Channel news market decided they don't want throe he said Although his station has no local news presence Sturdivant said the station will continue to work with local promotions and charities He said tire Coats for Kids program has collected more than 6000 coats for needy children in the past five years going to continue to do that local he said 4 WGXA news team WMAZ news team.