Oregon Media Insiders

The sweep is over... click "read more" for some highlights & lowlights.

The holidays are here, and all has been quiet lately on the TV gossip front. But things are about to get interesting in the new year...

KATU - Just announced: After three decades of airing at 6:00pm, KATU will slide ABC World News with Charlie Gibson to 5:30pm beginning January 2nd. This means that KATU's new evening news line-up will feature an hour of news at 6:00pm, mirroring KGW's line-up. The question remains: Will the new 6:00pm newscast be a full hour with one anchor team (like sister station KOMO in Seattle)? Or will the hour be split into two 30-minute newscasts with an anchor switch at 6:30 (like KGW)? Steve Dunn is a lock to anchor regardless, but who sits next to him? Does 5:00pm anchor Natali Marmion, who loses 30 minutes of air-time when the 5:00pm show gets cut in half, stay later to anchor the 6:00pm show? Or does 6:30pm anchor Debora Knapp get the full 6:00pm hour? KATU insiders: do tell!

KOIN - Not much gossip to report from the bunker lately, which is strange given the recent ownership change. We all know how much chatter the last ownership change created, but little has been said this time around. And there have been no noticeable changes to the product or to personnel. How are the new owners? How is the new company's benefit package? Is it better than Montecito's? And how about the new GM? Let's hear it.

KGW - As previously discussed, the big project coming soon from KGW will be the launch of HD newscasts... at least in part. Sort-of. Or not really, depending on who you talk to. Lots of technobabble has been spewed, and it's hard to figure out exactly what kind of HD product KGW will be offering in a month. Anyone care to clarify in "real people" terms?

KPTV - More rumblings of another news expansion coming... this time, into the early-evening time period. Yes, we've heard this rumor for years, but it might actually be true this time. I've heard that the new show COULD be a 5pm or 6pm newscast that would compete against the other three. However, the recent hot gossip is that KPTV might stay away from those crowded hours and launch a traditional newscast early or late (4pm or 7pm) instead. Another rumor is that KPTV might go in a different direction completely and launch a unique evening lifestyle show that focuses on Portland activities, nightlife, dining and entertainment. (Anyone remember PM Magazine?) Come on, FOXers... what will it be? And when?

At the half-way point, some numbers for select newscasts:

6:00-7:00AM (M-F)
KPTV - 4.5
KGW - 4.2
KATU - 2.2
KOIN - 1.2

5:00-5:30PM (M-F)
KGW - 10.5
KATU - 6.0
KOIN - 3.6

11:00-11:30PM (M-F)
KGW - 5.4
KOIN - 4.9
KATU - 4.1
KPTV - 3.0

Thoughts:
- KGW is having a Jekyll/Hyde book - phenomenal during the early evening (best 5pm number in YEARS), horrendous at 11pm.
- The late news numbers are terrible overall and are down quite a bit from a year ago. KOIN is down the least, while KGW is down the most. KATU and KPTV (10pm and 11pm) are moderately down. NBC excepted, the networks' lead-in programming is either even or up from a year ago. So only KGW can blame the ratings free-fall on lead-ins.

Now that KOIN has announced the hiring of a new GM, let's have some fun with this.

What would you do, if you were him?

Your responsibilities:
1) Ensure that KOIN continues to be highly profitable (regardless of ratings), through a combination of creative revenue-generation and tight expense management;
2) Improve the news product (which will hopefully lead to better ratings);
3) Change KOIN's reputation -- from being a terrible place to work -- to a place where people want to work and where (highly-qualified) potential employees find the station attractive.

I'm not going to post all the numbers, just some summary results & opinions...

July is the "who cares" ratings sweep of the year; nevertheless, trends can develop during the summer and momentum can often carry into the fall.

Click "read more" below...

Here are a few selected newscasts and their Adults 25-54 demo ratings from the May 2007 book:

5-6am:
KATU - 0
KOIN - 0
KGW - 1
KPTV - 2

6-7am:
KATU - 1
KOIN - 0
KGW - 3
KPTV - 3

Noon:
KATU - 0
KOIN - 0
KGW - 1

5pm:
KATU - 1
KOIN - 1
KGW - 4

6pm:
KOIN - 1
KGW - 3

6:30pm:
KATU - 2
KGW - 3

10pm:
KPTV - 5
KRCW - 1

11pm:
KATU - 2
KOIN - 2
KGW - 4
KPTV - 2

Some other notes:
- KPTV's 4:30(AM) got a 1
- KATU's 4:30(PM) got a 0
- KPTV's 9am "Better" got a 1; KATU's 9am "AMNW" got a 0
- KPTV's 7-9am "GDO" got a 2, while KGW/NBC's "Today" got a 3

Click "read more" below for the just-announced Oregon AP Awards for the Portland (TV) market. If you have the awards for other Oregon markets, you're welcome to post them here too. Congratulations to all!

[Update: Division 2 is in the comments. Thanks, Anonymous Source!--L]

For those curious... click "read more" below for the long list of final February 2007 local news ratings.

Yesterday (Wednesday 2/7/07) was a very interesting news day. KPTV had some "Breaking News" during their morning show about an underage cyber-sex sting & arrest at PDX. Apparently, this "Breaking News" was planned; KPTV was working with authorities to bust this guy as part of their "Cyber Sting 2007" sweeps series. The plan was to have an undercover reporter follow the guy as he caught a flight from Seattle to PDX, and then have another reporter & crew at PDX to video his arrest & interview him about his intentions. It worked as planned, and made for some interesting TV.

What was most interesting, however, was how the other stations in town responded. KATU, KOIN and KGW each did a story on it (the bust, but not KPTV's role in it). KGW actually led with the story on their (CW) 10pm newscast last night. Not surprisingly, KPTV's 10pm lead story was the morning's bust -- but, of course, KPTV had their exclusive video and sound. This morning's newscasts were similar... KOIN even had their sole morning reporter covering the story live from PDX.

This should be a fun one...

How much money do you make? Keep it anonymous, of course. Example:

Medium: Radio
Market: Portland
Position: M-F Morning Drive (5-9am) News Anchor
Yrs Experience: 20
Pay: $75,000/year

PLEASE be honest, folks. Lynn might whack the thread if it gets out of control, or if it appears that too many people are posting BS.