Channel
Surfing
Bucks County Courier Times
By Laura Nachman
February 11, 2001
bradyresident@aol.com
In what
could be the biggest upset since the United States beat the Russians in
hockey, NBC-10 has a chance to beat 6ABC at 11 PM in the February
sweeps. Halfway through the ratings period, NBC-10 with Larry
Mendte and Renee Chenault, has a slight lead over Jim Gardner and
"Action News." If NBC-10 hangs on to win the ratings
period, it would be the first time that a station other than 6ABC won a
sweeps period since 1975. Sweeps
lasts until February 28th.
The strength of the NBC lineup is helping NBC-10 during sweeps thus far. For instance, on Wednesday, February 7th NBC-10 came in first at 11 PM with a 14.5 rating compared to perennial first place channel 6ABC’s 10.2. In the national ratings, NBC leads, followed by CBS, ABC, and Fox.
In the battle of the Ten O’Clock newscasts, Fox-Philadelphia is ahead of WB-17, but WB-17 is closing the gap. Halfway through sweeps, Fox has a 4.6 rating/7 share and WB-17 has a 2.6 rating/4 share. Last year, Fox had a 5.3 rating/8 share and WB had a 2.4 rating/3 share. Within the last year, WB-17 made some major personnel changes – replacing news anchor Steve Highsmith with sports anchor Mike Dardis, and adding Mike Missanelli to sports. Fox kept their news anchors Rich Noonan and Jill Chernekoff, but replaced weather anchor Frank Cariello with Rob Guarino.
TV
veteran Mike Archer is back in Philadelphia as KYW-3’s executive
producer of the 6 PM and 11 PM shows. Archer was at Channel 10 in
the 80’s, and is reunited with KYW-3 news anchor Larry Kane who worked
at Channel 10 then. Most
recently a media consultant, Archer also helped launch Court TV.
Watch for Joey Tini, a student at the University of Pennsylvania, as
a contestant on Hollywood Squares (weeknights, 7:30 on KYW-3)
Tuesday, February 20.
Alex Trebek and company is coming to town for the “Jeopardy!” annual teen tournament April 11th and 12th at the Philadelphia Convention Center. Information on how to obtain tickets will be revealed February 22nd during “Jeopardy!” at 7PM on 6ABC. The teen tournament will be broadcast for two weeks beginning April 30th.
Even though CN8 fill-in anchor Connie Colla is actively looking for a full-time position, and CN8 is actively looking for a co-anchor to join Arthur Fennell, both sides are denying that Colla could become the full-time replacement for Grace Hargis. Colla would only say that she was committed to CN8 through the remainder of sweeps, which ends February 28th. The popular former NBC-10 anchor (1995-2000) returned to the air February 7th, after spending the last six months as a stay-at-home mom to her daughter, Sophia, now 14 months old.
If you are the type of person (like me) who wants to know where John Bolaris buys his clothes (Hugo Boss) or where traffic reporter Dorothy Krysiuk gets her hair done (Vog International in Philadelphia), then NBC-10’s “Insider” email newsletter is for you. Sign up through www.nbc10.com.
KYW has assembled its own “Tribal Council” to provide commentary on each week’s episode of “Survivor” which airs on CBS Thursdays at 8. Loretta Crea, a senior secretary at Bok Area Vocational Technical School and small business owner, Dave Rich, a motivational speaker and lieutenant with the Delaware Air National Guard, and 94WYSP’s Couzin Ed will join anchor Dawn Stensland for a recap of the Thursday night show. No word if Dawn will don khakis for the assignment.
NBC-10 interviewed Bucks County native Paul McCrane, who plays Dr. Robert “Rocket” Romano on “ER” during the 11 PM news, Thursday February 7th.
The next J.K. Rowling or John Grisham could be
discovered as the seventh annual “WHYY Reading Rainbow Young Writers
and Illustrators Contest” is accepting entries from students from
Kindergarten to third grade. Entries
must be received by the end of March.
Fox-Philadelphia is inviting area students to take
“The Fox Weather Challenge,” a classroom inter-active educational
event for third, fourth, fifth, and six graders throughout the Delaware
Valley. Students from
participating classes can use their knowledge of current events, music,
spelling, math, geography and weather in a TV game show environment for
the opportunity to become weather watchers for “The Ten O’Clock
News,”or the star of a “Good Day Philadelphia” greeting.
The game, which will reach a total of 50 schools by June 2001,
was created by Fox-Philadelphia weather anchor Rob Guarino.