KTTV wins morning, evening news ratings

The popularity of Fox’s “American Idol� and “Joe Millionaire� had the residual effect of boosting Fox-owned KTTV to decisive victories in the competitive morning and evening news races during the February sweeps, according to local Nielsen ratings released Thursday.

KTTV executives were particularly excited about the triumph of its 7-9 a.m. “Good Day L.A.,� which swept past not only local rival “The KTLA Morning News,� but also NBC’s “The Today Show� -- the time period’s former front-runner -- and ABC’s “Good Morning America� to become the top-rated morning show.

This is the first time “Good Day L.A.� has beaten both national and local newscasts. Coming in second place was “Good Morning America,� followed by “The KTLA Morning News,� “The Today Show� and CBS’ “The Early Show,� which continued its decline, dropping 30% from last year.

The popularity of “Good Day L.A.,� with hosts Steve Edwards, Dorothy Lucey and Jillian Barberie, also spilled over to its syndicated version, “Good Day Live,� which is seen locally at 10 a.m. That program showed a 53% increase in audience over a year ago.

Starting Monday, KTTV will move the local broadcast of “Good Day Live� to 9 a.m., where it will face off against the last hour of “The Today Show� and “Live With Regis & Kelly.�

Dave Boylan, KTTV general manager, attributed the morning show’s success to the chemistry of the hosts and its news coverage. “There has to be likable talent in the morning that people will gravitate to,� he said. “We have that in our team.�

KTTV’s 10 p.m. news also came out on top over its long-standing rival, KTLA’s “News at 10.� The two stations are often pitched in a seesaw battle for first place. KTLA is owned by Tribune Co., which also owns The Times.

KNBC maintained its long-standing winning streak at 11 p.m. over KABC and KCBS.

As usual during the sweeps, news broadcasts were sprinkled with special investigations and packages dealing with relationships and sex.

Controversial police chases also had an impact on ratings. On Feb. 4, most Los Angeles-area stations scrapped the bulk of their evening newscasts to cover a freeway chase. KCAL broadcast the slow-speed pursuit from roughly 8:50 until 11 p.m., then handed off to sister station KCBS at 11 p.m. Both stations scored high ratings, while KABC, which also carried the chase, and KCBS trounced late news on KNBC, which did not cover the pursuit.

Mayor James K. Hahn, along with top law enforcement officials, including Police Chief William J. Bratton and county Sheriff Lee Baca, on Wednesday called for local stations to reduce their coverage of police pursuits. Executives at the stations responded by insisting that they are responsible in their pursuit coverage.

The February sweeps also revealed the mixed results among duopolies in the local TV market -- consolidations in which a single company owns two television stations in the same market.

Both KCBS and KCAL are owned by Viacom and are under the same management. The KCBS 5 p.m. news, anchored by former KABC “Eyewitness� anchors Laura Diaz and Harold Greene, was still struggling, showing a 17% drop in rating and a 20% decline in audience share from the same month last year. And the average rating for KCAL’s three-hour prime-time news block remained flat from last year.

However, the KCBS 11 p.m. news showed some growth, and Don Corsini, president of the two stations, said the combined 11 hours of news coverage by the two stations went up 8% from last year.

Despite the loss of Diaz, who left KABC last summer, KABC’s “Eyewitness News� not only continued its traditional afternoon dominance, but its 4 and 5 p.m. newscasts experienced significant leaps of 24% and 36%, respectively, from last February.

Station honchos credited the 5 p.m. increase to its live Doppler 7 weather system and topical news coverage of several international hot spots, including on-site coverage of the Middle East dispute by reporter David Jackson.

“We didn’t do sweeps stunts, just straight-ahead coverage,� said Arnie Kleiner, KABC’s vice president and general manager. “We want to focus on content and style. We did lose Laura, but we had several fabulous people who were able to step in, and we didn’t lose a beat. In fact, we gained a couple of beats.�

In other afternoon developments, KNBC’s replacement of its veteran 4 p.m. newscast with the therapy-talk show “Dr. Phil� paid off. “Dr. Phil� raised the time-period rating by nearly 60%, while giving a boost to the 5 p.m. newscast.

Although executives at rival stations charged that KNBC was reducing its commitment to news with the axing of the 15-year-old 4 p.m. newscast, KNBC honchos said that the scheduling of “Dr. Phil� reversed an overall downward trend in afternoon news viewing.