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March
10, 2000
(From DCRTV)
Washington Post TV columnist Lisa de Moraes is in no rush to give
you the DC February TV "sweeps" numbers, DCRTV rides to
the rescue. In short - Channel 4 leads the pack among newscasts, but
Channel 7 leads in prime time viewers.....
In the
morning news category (7 to 9 AM), 4's Today Show leads, 7's Good
Morning America is 2nd, while 5's Fox Morning News is 3rd but it
showed a whopping 24 percent gain; 9's Early Show was in 4th..... At
4 PM - 4's news is in 1st place (up 14 percent), while 9's news is
in second (down about 8 percent).....
At 5 PM,
4's news again leads with an 11 percent gain, 9's news is in 2nd
(down about 6 percent), and 7's news is in 3rd (with a 12 percent
rise).....
At 6 PM,
4's news is in 1st, 9's news in 2nd and 7's news is in 3rd..... I
n the
late news race, 4 leads again, 9 comes in 2nd, 5's 10 PM-cast is in
3rd and 7 is 4th.....
In prime
time, 7's ABC programming is first (thank you Regis), 9's CBS
programming is 2nd, 4's NBC programming is 3rd, 5's Fox programming
is 4th, 20's UPN programming is 5th, and 50's WB programming is in
6th place. All DC network stations showed a downward ratings trend
during prime time hours.....
March
15, 2001
•Jim LeMay
resigned as the news director of WJLA News7 reportedly over a budget
battle with station owner Allbritton Communications. Lemay
served for only 21 months overseeing the installation of
veteran newscaster Maureen Bunyan and the going of Paul Berry who
had been with the station for 28 years. LeMay also changed
over the early morning anchor teams to close the ratings gap.
During the recent February sweps, News7 had finished third behind
every newscast behind WRC-TV News4 and WUSA 9 Eyewitness News.
Despite strong lead-in
programming from ABC ratings for the 11pm newscast fell 15 percent.
WJLA was also beaten by FOX 5 News at Ten.
April
11, 2000
•WRC News4 Sports Reporter and Weekend Morning Sports Anchor Darrian Chapman
could be heading to Chicago. He would still be working for NBC at WMAQ-TV
where he could be the Weekend Evening Sports Anchor as well as a feature and
sports reporter.
April
19, 2000
•WTTG
FOX 5 News Sports Anchor Chick Hernandez is leaving. Hernandez
is moving over to Fox Sports Net, which like Channel 5 is owned by
News Corp. Starting in June, he'll be the weeknight anchor and also
do reporting for a new 30-minute locally oriented news and highlight
show that will be aired by HTS at 6 and 11 p.m., usually before and
after live game broadcasts.
April
21, 2000
•WTTG
FOX 5 General Manager Laureen Ong is leaving the station to become
president and CEO of the new National Geographic Channel, which is
set for a U.S. launch later this year and is a joint venture of
National Geographic Television, Fox and NBC. Ong will continue
to be based in Washington, sources said. She had joined Channel 5 in
March 1998 after 13 months running the network-owned station in
Phoenix. During her tenure, she overhauled the station's 10
p.m. newscast, including new graphics, new set and new anchor--Mike
Landess, who started in January of '99.
•WJLA
has tapped a News Director in St. Louis to become its new News
Director. Steve Hammel who is the News Director of KMOV in St.
Louis Hammel replaces Jim LeMay who was fired after
shaking up the news staff and failing to get the ratings-starved
newscast out of the cellar. Hammel joined KMOV in 1993 and has
taken "News 4 St. Louis" from a distant second to a first
place contender.
May
3, 2000
•Three members of a
WTTG-TV (Channel 5) news crew were injured last night when the mast
of their transmission van apparently struck an overhead electric
power line outside Alexandria police headquarters, police and fire
officials said. A camera operator
who was outside the truck when the accident occurred, about 9:15
p.m., and a man who was inside the truck were taken by helicopter to
Washington Hospital Center for treatment of burns, authorities said.
One was listed in fair condition, and the other was in serious
condition, a hospital spokeswoman said. A
woman was less seriously injured and was taken to Inova Alexandria
Hospital, officials said. The names of the three were not available
immediately. The crew was apparently at police headquarters,
in the 2000 block of Mill Road, for a live broadcast about the
investigation of last month's fatal stabbing of 8-year-old Kevin
Shifflett
May
12, 2000
•WRC News4
Sports Director George Michael has found a replacement for Darrian
Chapman who is heading for WMAQ-TV in Chicago to be the Weekend
Evening Sportscaster. Jill Sorenson, 24, will take over
Chapman's duties starting in July. She'll be the only woman doing
sports on a local network-owned or -operated station. Sorenson
is a former high school all-American soccer player who also played
at Brown University. She had internships and on-air TV experience in
Boston and Minneapolis before being hired as the regular weeknight
anchor in Duluth, Minn. Michael told The Washington Post,
"She's definitely got the right stuff" to make her mark in
a big-city market. Before
settling on Sorenson, Michael said, he conducted a nationwide
search, and he admitted he was disappointed with what he found--a
limited talent pool of qualified women. Several candidates told
Michael they were satisfied where they were, with husbands or
relationships in more stable, better-paying jobs, and they did not
want to pull up stakes for a No. 3 job, no matter how good the
market. Michael selected Sorenson,
preferring to go with less experience on the theory that she hasn't
been around long enough to develop any habits--good or bad--and can
more easily adjust to Michael's way of doing things on and off the
air.
May
13, 2000
Washington Post Television Writer Lisa De Moraes
Andrea Roane is being taken
off the 6 p.m. newsdesk at WUSA in July, to be replaced by Gurvir
Dhindsa, co-host of "Good Day Atlanta" on that market's
Fox affiliate. Channel 9 President
and General Manager Dick Reingold says that Roane will continue to
co-anchor the 11 p.m. newscast with Gordon Peterson for the time
being, while he and News Director Paul Irvin review the Gannett
station's entire news operation. Roane, meanwhile, told The TV
Column, "I have not been told anything except that I am no
longer doing the 6--that is all." Reingold and Irvin have
"assured me these changes should not be seen as a reflection on
my performance or my work ethic," she said. The two said
"they were making changes they felt they needed to make, that
they want me to be a part of whatever changes they felt there were
going to be and hoped that I would want to be part of it--in fact be
jazzed about what my next assignment would be," Roane added.
She doesn't expect to learn her fate until the sweeps race is over,
on May 26. "Now the plan is to wait until after the [May
ratings] book is over so we can all focus on the book," she
said
May
19, 2000
Washingotn Post Television Writer Lisa De Moraes
Channel 5 sportscaster
Brett Haber may be up for a local Emmy, but he's no Top Gun.
The 31-year-old Haber was hospitalized at Andrews
Air Force base on Wednesday for dehydration after completing a
45-minute flight with the Navy's Blue Angels. He
told The Washington Post's John Maynard that they were the "42
most memorable minutes of my life" (he blacked out during the
other three). Haber said he did a
lot of "sweating and vomiting" while riding in the F/A-18
Hornet piloted by Lt. Scott Kartvedt. When Haber had a hard time
standing after exiting the plane, flight surgeons took him to the
base hospital, where they pumped him with fluids. Needless
to say, he didn't make it to Wednesday night's 10 o'clock newscast,
but he was scheduled to return tonight. Haber
said the flight, which he signed up for to promote this weekend's
air show at Andrews commemorating the 50th anniversary of Armed
Forces Day, was videotaped with select moments to be shown Sunday
night at 11 on Channel 5's "Sports Xtra." "Through
my extreme experience [the viewer] will get a little flavor of what
exactly the 'right stuff' is," Haber said. "Although I may
not have it, they'll realize what it takes." Asked
if he'd do it again, Haber replied, "In a heartbeat."
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