Lazare: NBC5 News ratings thanks to Leno / Melissa Forman update


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Posted by Cherry Garcia on October 23, 2009 at 10:59:01:

Sinking Jay hurts news

Chicago Sun-Times TV | WMAQ 10 p.m. broadcast not getting powerful lead-in it hoped for

October 23, 2009

LEWIS LAZARE

Jay Leno's new prime-time talk show started out big in the ratings in Chicago, but what a difference a few weeks makes.

From the impressive 13.8 rating in the Chicago market the night it debuted on WMAQ-Channel 5 in September, Leno's numbers have plummeted. And that has created big problems for Channel 5's flagship 10 p.m. newscast, which was hoping to use a strong lead-in from Leno to gain ground on perennial 10 p.m. news front-runner WLS-Channel 7.

Instead, WMAQ finds itself in the unenviable position of battling to remain the No. 2-rated 10 p.m. newscast as WBBM-Channel 2's 10 p.m. newscast -- long the underdog -- shows real signs of gaining momentum, thanks to huge lead-ins from several popular prime-time shows this fall, including "The Good Wife." For the five-day week that ended Oct. 16, for example, the Leno lead-in to Channel 5's 10 p.m. news averaged a paltry 3.4 rating, compared with a whopping 8.8 rating lead-in on Channel 2, and a 6.7 rating lead-in on Channel 7.

For that same week, WBBM's 10 p.m. newscast scored a 5.4 rating, beating out WMAQ's 10 p.m. news, which could do no better than 5.0. WLS's top-ranked 10 p.m. news averaged a commanding 9.2 rating that same week.

While Leno so far has failed to work wonders for WMAQ, the station and its leader Larry Wert could take some comfort in the fact that its 10 p.m. news rating at least improved on the disappointing lead-in numbers Leno provided. And WBBM still is losing a chunk of its substantial prime-time audience when its 10 p.m. news begins. But WBBM News Director Jeff Kiernan has said for months his goal was to get more viewers to sample his revamped newscast, and more of them are indeed doing just that.

Will NBC be forced to pull Leno if his numbers don't improve in Chicago and other key markets where he also isn't delivering? Wert declined comment, and other local TV execs doubted NBC would take such a radical step anytime soon. But in the television world, all kinds of changes can come very suddenly.


Forman fans still loud

From the moment Clear Channel Radio Chicago axed WLIT-FM (93.9) morning drive host Melissa Forman in mid-August, her fans were upset. And it seems they still are up in arms. More than two months after Forman left WLIT, those devoted followers continue to attach their plaintive yearnings for her return to our blog entry that first announced the radio host's departure from the adult contemporary outlet.

As recently as last week, a woman named Diana wrote on our blog that she keeps "checking WLIT occasionally to see if they brought back Melissa and the team. Not yet, but they will. . . ." When we tried to get Forman on the phone to discuss her fans' outcries and her future, she e-mailed to say how "excited" she was to hear from us. But she refused to call back and asked, innocently enough, what people were saying. She also said it's tough for her to conduct interviews because she is "being considerate of her contract."

Her considerate nature aside, Forman no doubt knows history might repeat itself, and she would be better off letting her fans do the talking for her right now. WLIT canned her once before in 2006, and replaced her with a syndicated show fronted by Whoopi Goldberg. The Goldberg era lasted a little more than a year before Forman returned to WLIT. It's too soon to say whether the Sean Valentine show that replaced Forman last month will suffer the same fate the Goldberg show did, but Forman apparently isn't sitting around idly waiting to find out. She's busy writing to her fans, redesigning her Web site, doing photo shoots to create new images for the site and blogging occasionally about what sounds like a fun-filled life. Her latest entry tells of a weekend trip she and husband, Scott, took to New York City, where she discovered a shop with a name that caught her attention -- Baked by Melissa. She described the cupcakes the shop sells as "cute" and "delicious."


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