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Channel 3's 60 minutes not discouraged by ratingsBy KEN GOTTLIEB C-T TV WriterWKYC-TV Channel 3's hour-long 6 p.m. newscast, begun March 18, has failed to perk up the station’s news ratings.But news director Ron Bilek is not pullihg back from the program.ARBITRON RATINGSreleased this week show the station’s 6 p.m. news ratings down slightly from the last rating period and from a year ago.But Bilek said there are no plans to radically change the program.“I think this is an hour news town, and we will continue to do an hour news show as long as I’m here,” he said.“There are some weaknesses, but I’ve got the people I want and I'm extremely happy with how the hour looks.“We changed our product and we’ll take our lumps before we get back on track. But I would hope that at least by February we would have some movement upward.“I’m absolutely not worried about the 6 o’clock newscast.”TV newsShannon Jewell, editorTHE HOUR NEWSCAST is anchored by Doreen Gentzler and Dale Solly, with Joe Conway doing weather and Jim Mueller reporting sports.Paul Orlousky, who recently left WEWS-TV Channel 5, handles the Page Two feature segment during the second half-hour of the program.The rating garnered by the Channel 3 newscast was less than half that earned by news rating leader WJKW-TV Channel 8.WEWS-TV Channel 5 was a close second in the 6 p.m. ratings derby.BILEK, WHILE admitting the program had some weaknesses, also blamed the low ratings partly on weak lead-in programs and lack of promotion.At 5:30 p.m. on Channel 3, “The $100,000 Name That Tune”had an even lower rating than the 6 p.m. news.NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, switched to 7 p.m. when Channel 3 expanded its local news, suffered the effects of competing head-on with Channel 5’s enormously popular game show, “Wheel of Fortune.”While “Wheel” was being watched in 23 percent of northeast Ohio households, Brokaw was being tuned in by only four percent.CHANNEL 3 fared somewhat better at 11 p.m., where Gentzler and Leon Bibb anchor the newscast.The station was still last among the three, but was not far behind second-place Channel S.* * *THE MORE THINGSCHANGE — There was a big hullabaloo in Cleveland this week over the conversion ofWJW Radio (850 AM) to WWWE (1100 AM).Mayor George Voinovich was brought in to flip the switch that sent WJW programming out over the 1100 frequency, and champagne bottles were uncorked.The change came in the wake of the Art Modell group’s purchase of WWWE and sister station WDOK, and the sale of the Modell group’s WJW.The Modell group took the WJW personnel and programming and simply moved them over to the 1100 frequency.Unfortunately, when all the celebrating was over, the new WWWE was just the same old WJW, only a little louder and clearer on the more powerful WWWE frequency.THAT MEANS it will be easier to hear phony rabble-rousing talk shows hosted by Merle Pollis and Joel Rose, and one of those sappy psycho-selfhelp shows hosted by Dr. Michael Freedman.Champagne for that?Lost in the shuffle were longtime WWWE personalities Bruce Drennan, Fig Newton, and Jack Reynolds.None has picked up a new job yet.A source said Drennan has approached several Cleveland radio and television stations, but without success.NEWTON, WHO still hosts the afternoon movie on WUAB-TV Channel 43, said he is ‘‘talking with some AM stations”in Cleveland and would like to stay in this area.Reynolds, a staff announcer at Channel 43 and an announcer on USA Cable’s professional wrestling shows, is known to want to stay in the area also.* * *HIGH SCHOOL SALUTE — Channel 3, in cooperation with General Motors Corporation, is running a series of 60-second public service announcements saluting valedictorians from a number of area high schools, including all in Elyria and Lorain, and several in western Cuyahoga County.The announcements began airing — at various times throughout the day — Monday, and will continue through July 14.Tl« JANITORIAL STAFF UiILL IMAIN AS IS !AGREEMENT SPECIFICALLY STATEPTHAT1H5RE WCULPWT t£ ANY SWEEPINGJOHN DARLING
Newspaper Details
The Chronicle Telegram
Elyria, Ohio, US
Sat, Jun 15, 1985
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Nathan O.
OH, USA 12 Oct 2021
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