| Topic Name: |
Buffalo May Ratings |
| Message Name: |
from Buffalo News |
| Date Posted: |
05/31/2005 |
| Message: |
COMMENTARY
No surprise - Ch. 4 remains at the top
5/31/2005
By ALAN PERGAMENT
Like the Erie County budget story, the dominance of News 4 Buffalo appears to be endless.
The news department at WIVB-TV won its 16th straight sweeps and had its highest-rated May in three years. Led by a 30 percent ratings increase at 6 p.m. and 28 percent increase with its early morning champ "Wake Up," the CBS affiliate saw percentage increases ranging from 7 percent to 30 percent in all news time periods from a year ago.
The station's 11 p.m. newscast, anchored by Jacquie Walker and Don Postles, averaged a 13.0 rating. It was the the highest-rated May sweeps average since the markets began being measured nightly by meters five years ago.
However, the 11 p.m. news contest was the most competitive of all the news periods. WIVB beat the aggressive WGRZ-TV (Channel 2) newscast anchored by Scott Levin and Maryalice Demler by less than a point, 13.0-12.3. Channel 4 has dominant leads at 5 p.m. through 6.30 p.m.
Channel 2, which relies heavily on coverage of the county budget story, also showed single-digit increases at 6 a.m., at 5 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., but it slipped by 2 percent at 6 p.m. from a year ago.
Once-dominant Channel 7 has made slight gains at 5:30 p.m. (up 2 percent) and at 6 p.m. (up 4 percent) from a year ago. But 7 News fell by 12 percent at 6 a.m , was flat at noon, down 11 percent at 5 p.m. and off 15 percent at 11 p.m. It was in third place at 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. Those newscasts, as well as the second-place 6 p.m. newscast, are anchored by Keith Radford and Susan Banks.
According to figures from Channel 4 and Channel 2 researchers, Channel 2 and Channel 7 are practically in a statistical tie for second place in total news ratings.
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