Oregon Media Insiders

I got my first TV job 14 years ago and this debate had already been going for years.

Any day now, the big names are going to be on the morning shows! Any day now!

My memory is a bit opposite...

Ten to fifteen years ago, the morning staff was viewed (by those in our business) as either equal to or lower than the weekend (evening) staff at most TV stations.

Today, I think most would agree that the situation has reversed. An assignment on the weekday mornings is clearly a step above the weekends... and it may not be long before the weekday morning shift is the prime shift in TV news (just as it has become for local radio).

Makes at least double the weekend anchors' paycheck. It's not even close.

Did you catch the season (and perhaps series) finale of "Back to You?" Oh, yeah, the anchors love the idea of going to mornings. And the episode is absolutely filthy. Must see!

http://www.fox.com/fod/play.php?sh=backtoyou

Another net might pick it up, though.

Not currently available on Fox on Demand. Not currently available on Hulu. Perhaps, if the episode really is "absolutely filthy", Fox doesn't want it repeated?

The entire series was deleted from the website a couple days ago because it was canceled. You can find it on BitTorrent if you're interested. It wasn't filthy, though, it just had a double entendre.

They've lost 2 in a row now to KGW in the morning. It was close but May is usually 12's month.

You sound so angry about KOIN's win, my KGW Lovin' friend. I think KOIN folks, the small group that they are, after all they've been through-- should be congratulated for their perseverence and hard work to get a victory despite the challenges they face. Yes, lead-ins are very important, we all know that. And we all know KGW is good at winning. Now why don't you just try being a good loser this time around. Cheers!

...I mean, this is the station that can't stop bragging about how they're the "most-watched" and "most-honored" TV news station, but the minute that they come up short in a newscast, they've got ALL the excuses about how it doesn't matter?!

Holy crap, the folks at 15th & Jefferson are the biggest bunch of sore losers in town!

Let's face it, KOIN is the "three-legged-dog" of Portland TV news...and yet they kicked KGW's over-staffed ass?!

What's up with THAT?

Yikes?! Maybe channel 8 folks need to run some more of those annoying self-congratulatory promos to remind viewers how wonderful they are?

(you'll notice that neither KPTV nor KATU has anything nasty to say about KOIN? We're just hearing from the Belo folks...waaaaaaa!)

Maybe KGW needs to conduct some more research? or maybe do another toy drive?

Bottom line? KGW needs to be gracious in defeat.

They are actually running a promo that states they are #1 at 11pm, even though they just got their asses handed to them!! Care to explain THAT one, KGW?

You are wrong. They are running almost the exact same promo as they showed from the previous sweeps, but this time they don't mention the 11pm news.

I can't believe I'm actually seeing this going back and forth about KGW and KOIN. Got binkies?

Myhousemf is correct. You are wrong. But even if that wasn't the case, consider this: maybe someone at KGW made a mistake. Maybe an old promo hadn't been updated. To go from incorrect to "LIAR!" is a little hysterical, don't you think? For instance, I don't think YOU were lying, just now.

KGW is not a monolith, it's some people doing their jobs. Lighten up.

They DID air the promo claiming to be #1 at 11 -- several times. Until Nielsen called them on it.

KOIN is now calling themselves #1 late news... though the graphic says 11pm. Someone needs to change the audio because I think another station beat them in late news by two full points.

All they do is brag. Last January in their HD promo, they must have said "in HD" like 50 times

Seems thats the way with all NBC stations..... its a shame really.....

Every station does it.. KGW does it better than most.
If KPTV or KATU had been the first local station in HD, you would have been tired of their promos too.

I dobut they would say "IN HD" like 50 times in a 30 second ad.

I find this with NBC, MSNBC and other NBC stations. I dont understand why. Its real annoying. I admit you guys (assuming you work for KGW) do a great job but it gets annoying after a while.

KATU pushes the "On your side" but they do it in a way thats more pleasing to the ears and dont yell it in your face and plaster it all over the screen.

Koin, well, Koins Koin nothing there.

KPTV "first, live local" they are good at getting to the scene first. I felt it was a waste for them to go to the disney land california deal few years back. I can handle KPTV, in fact the news casts are so well layed out its nice.

KGW just does the news and thats it. Not bad, but at least have some fun like right before weather or on those wacky stories. Others do it. With a light headed GM they wernt all to happy when they got the new set. Just well, we got a new set, with fake smiles lets take a trip down memory lane now and show how the FX group took our existing set and tweaked it up a bit. Not even KGWs GM seemed excited and if she was, well she didnt show it. They dodnt even seem excited over the downtown studio. I hope they dont block off traffic like today does. no need to kids.... KATU, seemed very excited about the new set of course they NEEDED one for years....

register for their website? No thanks. There are many other sites like CNN and such I can get my news from with out having to register. I get enough junk e-mail dont need anymore.

Sorry for criticizing you KGW people but someone has to do it

but I don't think there is much fear of that.

the naysayers had to bring up the "lead-in" argument. Listen, you go to the dance with who brought you. The bottom line is that KOIN won and did it with a much smaller staff than its competitors.

Here is how I'd spin the ratings story for each station (in order of station #)

Pro KATU

We've nearly doubled our audience in the early morning time period, the 6a is showing growth as well. AM Northwest is also up slightly. We're also up at noon. As for the four, yes we barely lost to KPTV, but don't forget starting at 4pm is a new time period for us too. And we're really happy because we're up in all early evening time periods from last May. Finally at 11pm, we're also trending up and now less than a point away from KGW's 11.

Anti spin...

Yes, KATU is up in the mornings, but still has half the audience of KPTV and KGW at 6a. Noon is relatively flat despite the anchor changes and although yes you lost slightly to KPTV at four, the time period is down nearly a point from when you had Millionaire and your 4:30 news with Deb Knapp.
Your early evening news is really flat and still down from a pretty good book in Feb. At 11pm you are up only slightly and now farther away from KOIN than you have been in a long time.

Pro KOIN

We haven't lost much, if any ground in the mornings despite CBS's awful morning numbers. At noon we are giving KATU a run for their money, now tied with them. At 5 and 5:30 and 6 we are up from last May. (And even Katie's show is up more than a point from last May!) But the big story is our 11pm where we have finally beaten the giant KGW by nearly a third of a point! We are pulling way over a 5 rating at 11 now and that is pretty good in anyone's book. In fact our 11 is up more than a full point over last May.

Anti KOIN

Numbers are still anemic in the mornings. From 4:30am to 9am, there is only one half hour of news that rises above one point. (6-6:30 1.3). Though you had very modest gains in the early evening, you are still running 3rd behind KGW and KATU. And yes, while you did beat KGW by 3/10's of a point, your leadin was a full 3.5 points above KGW.

Pro KGW

We once again had a great book. We are up at 4:30am.. a half point up even at that early hour. At 5am we darn near doubled our audience compared to last May. At 6am, we're up almost a full point from last May. And yes, we beat KPTV at 4:30 and at 5:00am and at 6:00am for the second book in a row. Do we smell a streak? We are back to kicking ass at noon with ratings that beat KOIN and KATU combined. At 5pm we're up a full point over last May, our six is up over last May, and we're up too at 6:30pm. And yes we got beat by KOIN by a tiny 3/10ths of a point, but our leadin was a 4.5 average to an average of 8 for KOIN. How big is that? Well keep this in mind, even with House and American Idol, KPTV's average nightly leadin was only a 7.5. Again, KOIN's average was an 8! Even our broadcast on CW is up! Life is good.

Anti KGW

Yes, you're up, but you can't talk dynasty just yet over KPTV.. seeing as how you only beat them by a half point at 4:30, less than a third of a point at 5am and only a tenth of a point at 6am! It's still anyone's game. Really there's not all that much you can see against KGW except you have to wonder why their 11pm is the only 11pm newscast to continue to lose audience. And what up with that newscast on CW? After all this time, effort and promotion, it still can't even muster a 2 rating. And the CW is only up by 2/10 of a point and get this, it's actually down from its CW 9pm lead in.

PRO KPTV

Well how's this for starters. More people watch our news product in the mornings and at night than any other tv station in town. We're up from last Feb at 4:30, We're up at 5am from last Feb and at 6am we're up almost a full point from last Feb and nearly a half point from last May. From 7-9am when we continue to sell all of our own commercials, we averaged a 5.7 for the block! That number easily beats KGW/KOIN/and KATU once again! Now, how about our newest newscast... the 4pm. Though we only started it in late Feb, it's already beaten KATU and even beat Oprah a couple of times during the book. It's also raised the viewship in that time period by more than a point and it's helped improve the programs before and after it. In fact, the 4pm newscast is one of our highest rated programs out of prime. At ten, we are once again, up. Up from Feb, up from May, that's even though our prime time lead in is down a full point from Feb and down 3/4's of a point from last May. The 10 O clock News is once again the most watched newscast after dark beating KOIN's 11pm by TWO FULL POINTS. And finally at 11pm there's also more good news as the numbers show we are up from both Feb. and last May.

Anti KPTV

Yes, you had very marginal gains, but you're are still losing to KGW when you go head to head. Sure you win from 7-9, but that's against national shows. And at 4pm, you may have beaten KATU, barely, but your numbers at 4pm are still well below those of KGW, KOIN, and KATU's 5pm newscasts. You can't compare your 10pm against the other 11's since there are so many more people watching at ten than there is at 11. And as for that show at 11pm, it is still behind #3 KATU by nearly a point.

I'd much rather see Brian Wood and Angelica Thornton anchoring the news at Noon on K2. Carl Click has never set the world on fire with his anchoring, he was better at KGW and even then he wasn't much. I like Natali Marmion she does a decent job. All things considered I think KATU would be much better off bringing Wood and Thornton to the Noon show. I bet ratings would rise with the new team.

We're assuming Brian will be anchoring the noon news by November. He didn't come here to just do a 4PM newscast and I don't think he's replacing Steve anytime soon. The Noon news is a logical place to give Brian more exposure as they groom him for main shows.

You're probably right. Frankly, I think they're both wasted on that 4:00 show but where else could they go really?

If you think he's here to anchor a 4PM and report, then you're not paying attention. I think he'll be anchoring the morning and noon news by November. He's too good to be wasted on a newscast that competes with Oprah and gets a 2 rating.

as for Angelica; she may be stuck in her reporter role and anchoring the 4:00 because where else is she going to go? Natali has to have mornings and Deb isn't going anywhere.

Since the other noon news casts are an hour you may have to complete with them and offer a hour long news cast. You'll have a total of 6 hours a day (weekday) of news. Of course this may change if good morning America moves to 3 hours

but make the 4pm news cast unique. like the AM one is now. I watched the morning newscast this morning and man, it has changed since I last watched it a few years back. 4pm could use that same sort of fell.

When KATU first did the 4:30 newscast they had a certin theme to the news cast didnt they? Top stories first with a bottoum ticker for news. a week later some idiot at the station changed the ticker from a transparrent gray to a black and changed the old KATU graphic to have a white bottoum with the clock. Ruined katu's graphics so much that it NEEDED a make over a year later. (october 2007)

If KATU wants to beat KPTV they need to lay off a tridtional news cast and offer the morning news formatt. Ticker, PM traffic and weather on the 2s. Top stories every 15 or so minutes. around 4:45 do an interview in the studio with someone as well as talk about whats comming up tonight on KATU and on ABC.

Most of us at 12 are tired - sun or no sun. They keep adding more hours of news but don't add more people. They can only stretch us so far before we snap! I barely make enough to pay my rent and I'm working my a** off.

Well, you guys do need more news casts. just add more people. Good day oregon might have a play in it since half the team is on that show eirther hosting or reporting

If you don't want to start losing your staff to competition where they will make more money doing less work.

They need to:

-Promote or hire someone to anchor the 4/5 PM w/ Kimberly
-Keep Shauna/Wayne around for the 8, 10, 11.
-Hire two more dayside reporters
-Hire an additional writer/producer each new broadcast

KGW on-air staff: 27
KOIN on-air staff: 21
KATU on-air staff: 28
KPTV on-air staff: 24

Sure KPTV has about average, but they need to balance out the work. When is Chad Carter getting a weekend co-anchor. Who is anchoring the additional newscasts they are adding in the fall? And who is the executive producer going to be?

this is reporters, anchors and weather people right? Seems a lot less.

what is up with greg flock?

What's going on with Greg Flock?

Was Greg Flock promoted, or did he leave KPTV?

I was told that Greg Flock is no longer at Meredith. Does anyone know what happened?

she's still at koin, working on the morning show.

Thanks, I couldn't remember her last name. I'm glad they didn't get a rid of her. She seems to a good job.

KGW's Noon news does a lot better than the show Wood is anchoring right now over at KATU. He would love to have KGW's noon ratings. They did a 4-something in May.

Wood would do good at anytime REGARDLESS. Noon, (if it went to one hour) and perhaps the 6 and 11 newscasts. He can leave the 4pm to have a mini break, eat dinner, or do reporting...

Seriously? KOBI beats KTVL these days?

9 months to news operations in Bend... and Chambers is thinking of selling? Has any station ever done that? I have a feeling there's a big fat N-O behind that rumor.