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Jay Leno's new time slot is wreaking havoc on NBC affiliates, according to a recent Los Angeles Times report.
Apparently, NBC's decision to move the talk-show host to a 10 p.m. weeknight slot is undermining viewership for local late-night newscasts, a crucial source of funds for the 200 local NBC stations.
Leno's audience is one-third smaller than the audience drawn last season by NBC dramas, but it's cheaper to produce Leno's show, so ratings don't need to be as good for NBC to claim financial success. The affiliates, however, are getting hurt.
Locally, WGAL-TV 8 will know in about a month what kind of impact Leno has had on its late-night news. The fall ratings period began Oct. 29 and runs through Nov. 25.
"We are watching the national numbers with a little concern, but we won't know how Jay is doing [here] until December," said John Baldwin, WGAL's creative services director. "Clearly, we know he's No. 3 across the country. NBC hasn't improved its lot with the show's numbers."
WGAL has bucked national trends before, outperforming less-than-stellar programming on NBC. In the May ratings, "Medium" did not pull in great ratings and was not a good Monday lead-in, yet WGAL's 11 p.m. news drew more viewers than the 10 p.m. drama. Prime time shows usually have bigger ratings numbers than news, but at WGAL, the bigger numbers generally come at 11 p.m.
That doesn't surprise Joe Lewin, president and general manager at WHTM-TV ABC 27. He said ABC does not have a great history with good lead-in shows, yet his station does well in the Harrisburg market.
"In this market, there are loyalties that supersede lead-ins," Lewin said. "This is such a traditional market, and there are so many loyalties, so the impact may not be as great.
"WHTM dominates Dauphin County, and WGAL dominates Lancaster and most of York counties."
But a good lead-in helps a newscast gain exposure. The 10 p.m. news on WPMT-TV Fox 43 has experienced spikes of several ratings points when "American Idol" is the lead-in to its news, said Larry Delia, vice president and general manager of WPMT. Bigger ratings provide better marketing opportunities.
"It definitely influences the news," he said. "Even if it doesn't influence that night's news, the teaser and promotions may peak a viewer's interest for another night. There are no shows out there that pull in 'Idol's' ratings. We have an opportunity at Fox that others don't have. You want to maximize your voice."
Retention also is a key. How many viewers can a station retain from one show to the next?
NBC affiliates are getting hurt at 10 p.m., at 11 p.m. for news and at 11:30 p.m. for "The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien," where numbers are lower than when Leno hosted the show.
Baldwin said WGAL would love to see a No. 1 show across the board at 10 p.m., just as "Oprah," the No. 1 daytime show, is a great lead-in for the 5 p.m. news every day.
Recently retired WGAL newscaster Dick Hoxworth said he used to get frustrated with the lead-ins to "News 8 at Noon" — especially Maury Povich's talk show — but the news always had good ratings.
"If you give the public a product they can believe in and trust," Hoxworth said, "they will be loyal and come back."
Staff writer Eric Stark discusses trends and tidbits in broadcast media each week in the Sunday News. E-mail him at estark@lnpnews.com.
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