It is clear the old “Live, Late-Breaking, Investigative” slogan at the CBS affiliate has officially been put to rest.   The station is now growing in virtually every time period throughout the day, and the momentum is growing.

In fact, a memo obtained exclusively by Bottom Line Communications sent to KCTV staffers highlights that the station is now the most-watched from sign on to sign off in KC:

Rating

KCTV   4.2

WDAF   3.7

KMBC   3.5

KSHB   2.1

KCWE  0.8

KSMO  0.3

And KCTV is the most watched in prime time in the KC market:

Rating

KCTV  8.1

KMBC  6.1

WDAF   5.2

KSHB  3.8

KCWE  1.0

KSMO  0.6

Locally, the news results for the May TV sweeps at KCTV were extremely positive:

News:

• #1 at Noon, 4pm & 5pm
• Strong #2 at 6pm & 10pm
• Year to Year Share Growth
o 430a +60%
o 5a +33%
o 6a +67%
o Noon +45%
o 4p +44%
o 5p +30%
o 6p +50%

The station’s “Better KC” show delivered 2.2, 10% higher than same time last year.

BLC News Director Blaise Labbe was quick to praise staffers for the strong ratings results.

“I am happy and proud of the people here and the fact that their hard work is producing such positive results,” he told Bottom Line. “The entire culture has changed and our viewers are responding.  I am proud of the coverage we deliver.”

However, with the recently completed May TV sweeps period Wednesday night, those days have seemed to come to an end.

KMBC won during the 4:30 a.m. hour and the prestigious 10 p.m. news period, but that was it.

WDAF-Fox 4 won the mornings ratings race and at 6 p.m. with KCTV winning the 5 p.m. slot.  NBC affiliate KSHB finished last at every time period throughout the day.

The good news for KMBC is that the station finished with a 36% advantage over KCTV AT 10 p.m..–the biggest advantage over a competitor at that hour in three years.  That late news rating also reflects an increase of 7.8% year-to-year and 9.2% from February 2013.

4:30am
KMBC 2.0/12
WDAF 1.7/10
KCTV 1.4/8
KSHB 0.5/3

6am
WDAF 5.5/20
KMBC 4.8/18
KCTV 2.6/10
KSHB 2.0/7

5pm
KCTV 5.9/13
WDAF 5.5/12
KMBC 4.4/9
KSHB 3.8/8

6pm
WDAF 6.9/14
KCTV 5.9/12
KMBC 5.2/10
KSHB 4.8/9

10pm
KMBC 8.3/15
KCTV 6.1/11
WDAF 5.7/10
KSHB 4.8/9

When she started, she was just 22 years old and was the youngest person to anchor the 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts in the country and she performed those anchor duties for 25 years.

When she was paired with the late, great Wendall Anschutz the duo were the top-rated news team in KC from 1979 to 1994 at the CBS affiliate. They anchored together for 22 years and were the longest-running anchor team in the nation.

Wendall passed away at the age of 72 in January 2010.

“He was my mentor as well as my co-anchor. Every day, I learned so much from him and he was extremely special,” she says. “He was the same on camera as he was off camera and he was so genuine. He was so near and dear and I feel so blessed for working with not only Wendall, but the news team I had through the years.”

In the far-reaching interview with Fuller Peterson talks about her career, her faith and the tragic death of her son in an auto accident in 2009.

More of the interview will be aired Sunday night on KCTV.

KCTV5

But the morning crew at WDAF-Fox 4 seems to really connect well with viewers while blending serious news stories with some not-so-serious.

The formula seems to work as the May TV Sweeps period officially concludes tonight and it looks as if the Fox 4 morning show will be the ratings leader in Kansas City.

“I wish our management would allow us to do the goofy, fun stuff they do at 4,” a competing morning host shared a few years ago with Bottom Line. “Viewers in the morning seem to be able to really relate to them since they come across as so open and enjoying themselves.

A recent example of the kind of antics they often do at Fox 4 involved Nick Vasos (below, left) and Mark Alford pretending they were doing a WWE entrance.  Both of them really got into the entire skit and had fun with it (photo links to video) and Alford sent clips to this site and tonyskansascity.com for promotion.

It is doubtful any other morning team in town would have followed their lead.

Instead, the Red Cross will use the latest tragedy as a fund-raiser. The best thing people can do is send the group money.

Could the same be true of local reporters, who are flocking to Moore to cover the disaster?  Are they really necessary?  Will they simply be in the way and hamper recovery efforts?  Is this being done because of the May TV sweeps period that concludes this week?

After all, Moore is 360 miles from Kansas City and far outside the viewing area for any TV or radio stations. It is a five-hour drive.

Fox 4′s veteran reporter Kathy Quinn is heading there and posted on Facebook “God bless the people in Moore, Oklahoma …I am headed there right now. I just spoke to a teacher at Kelby Elementary. Please message me if you know of any good interviews.”

A media consultant, journalism professor and former TV assignment editor has some strong views on the topic:

“One word, well actually, two words: We’re here. The one word answer: overkill,” he told Bottom Line.

“There is no rational reason for sending Kansas City crews to Oklahoma City to cover this event. Heck, a friend of mine who works at WGN-TV, Dana Kozlov, wrote that she had about an hour’s notice to head to O’Hare and get down to OKC to do live reports.

“You put PIOs (Public Information Officers) in a difficult situation in that, in addition to coordinate information about the recovery and cleanup, you now have to prepare to issue press passes and parking spaces for satellite trucks. I know they get training in doing that, but no, sending Kansas City reporters to OKC to cover this makes about as much sense as sending a live truck to Emporia to sit and wait for a storm cloud to approach from Wichita that MAY move into greater Tightwad, and, by default, the Kansas City ADI.

“What will be as useless will be the bumpers that appear with stills of destruction and grief, broken piano chords, and the graphic”___________________In The Heartland” CNN pioneered that, and the rest have followed,” he added.

“Unless they’re from OKC, no Kansas City reporter can add an iota of knowledge in this situation, and, yes, will be underfoot.”

However, a veteran, award-winning journalist disagrees with Throop and says the Moore tornado is a major story and KC journalists should be there.

“I understand the argument. We all sent people to Joplin,” he told Bottom Line. “You’re talking about one of the biggest stories of the year and it is all not that far away. Sweeps or not, we would all go.  It is too big a story not to…”

He says KC reporters will be trying to localize the story for KC viewers and will not interfere with rescue efforts.

“By putting your own people there you open the possibility to make it a local story,” he says. “As for “getting in the way” – listen – law enforcement has this thing buttoned down pretty good.

“The perimeter was set up hours ago. No media is “in the way.” We’re all more like a mile or better from the elementary school which is where they’re keeping us from – and I’m okay with that.”

A veteran radio reporter says local reporters can deliver news that is important to his/her station’s listeners/viewers.

“I think the reporters would have been dispatched even if it weren’t a sweeps period,” he notes.  ”The purpose is primarily image enhancement.  There is also the assurance that you will have a reporter, or several, working exclusively on your station’s behalf.  That way you are not dependent on a local reporter whose first allegiance is to his station.”

To many viewers that meant a steady diet of over-the-top “Breaking News” stories, salacious “Major Investigative” stories and “scare the hell out of them” weather coverage.

The CBS affiliate had a weather policy of “first on, last off,” and veteran meteorologist Katie Horner (now in St. Louis) took much of the viewer criticism for following management’s directives.

The plan worked for a short time and KCTV was the top-rated station for a few rating books.  But viewers tired of the sensationalism and tuned to other stations and years later have still not returned to KCTV.

While the days of KCTV’s manic news and weather reports are long gone they now have seemed to have shifted to KMBC, which is being criticized this morning for what many viewers felt was excessive coverage of a storm that came through the area Sunday night.

The station semi-teased a potential tornado that never occurred, but delivered huge ratings (below).

Much of the coverage involved pre-empting the 2013 Billboard Music Awards.

The station’s Facebook page has several criticisms of the coverage along the lines of:

“I find it interesting that KMBC is the only station aggravating the hell out of us with continuous coverage of nothing going on here in our area! They need to get with the program and quit this forced coverage.”

An area Journalism professor joined in the criticism of the coverage.

“It is time for one of your pithy commentaries about the out of control weather coverage last night, ESPECIALLY on KMBC,” he said in an email to Bottom Line. “If I didn’t know better I would think the spirit of Katie Horner had popped up in Bryan Busby and Co.

“When you’re dropping regular shows to cover a tornado in Wichita come on! And, they were yakking long after the system was out of the area, as if we need to know there’s heavy rain in Lexington. Seriously??

“My man of the hour is Joe Lauria (Fox 4). He was spot on with his predictions Saturday night, and the Calm During The Storm proved true Sunday.”

Part of KMBC’s “perfect storm” coverage could be because this is the final week of the May TV sweeps and the station is not doing particularly well.

Storm coverage is a tried and true way to goose ratings.  McDonald’s had to love Meteorologist Erin Little delivering her weather report with the fast-food’s latest promotion highlighted in the background.

A local media expert confirms KMBC’s preliminary ratings numbers from Sunday night are strong.

A source says that from 7:30-8:00, KMBC notched a 21.3 rating. That is a phenomenal number.

“I guarantee they will paint this as a weather coverage victory…. when, in essence, with the massive tune-in it just means they had more people available to piss off,” he says.

UPDATE:  At the peak of the storm (6-7 p.m.) KMBC had massive numbers.  The station went back to regular programming at 8:30 p.m.

6-7 pm  Ratings/Share
KMBC 15.0/25
KCTV 11.6/20
WDAF 2.5/5
KSHB 2.3/4

7-10 pm
KMBC 14.3/22
KCTV 9.3/15
WDAF 4.9/8
KSHB 2.3/5

Shively will continue her weekday reporting duties.

“41 Action News Weekend Today” airs Saturday from 8 am to 10 am, and Sunday from 8 am to 9 am.

“I am excited to be able to promote Lindsay. She is a great storyteller and her bright and cheerful personality will be a nice addition to our weekend morning show,” said Hofmann.

A native of Liberty and a University of Missouri graduate, Shively has also anchored and reported in Columbia, Missouri and Topeka.

In addition to the Shively move, Hofmann also made a series of other moves at the station today.

Bottom Line has learned exclusively that veteran anchor Cynthia Newsome will be the station’s midday anchor from Monday through Friday and continue to report for the early evening shows.  The station said the move will free up JiaoJiao Shen to report on a more regular basis.

Amy Hawley will now solo anchor the weekend evening newscasts.

Although KMBC has won the mornings the past three days, the crew at Fox 4 has built up a lead that will be difficult to beat.  Fox 4′s $100 American Express gift card giveaway at the 6 a.m. hour has proven to be a winning tactic.

The talented folks at Fox 4 are also doing very well in key demographics and are the leaders at the 6 p.m. and at 9 p.m. newscasts.  They are currently in second place at 5 p.m.

KCTV is also having a good month as the leader at 5 p.m. and second to KMBC at 10 p.m.

It is still rough sledding at KSHB, which is last at every key newscast time period throughout the day.  It is obvious that new GM Brian Bracco has his work cut out for him at the NBC affiliate, but insiders say he will work the same magic that he did for years at KMBC and bring the station ratings success.

“Bracco hasn’t been there long enough to really fairly judge him based on the last or this book,” said a local media insider. “Turning that ship around is going to be a long, drawn-out process, but my bet is Scripps will be patient enough to let him work his magic. Any “year to year” growth will be seen as a huge plus.”

KMBC’s afternoon lead-ins of Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz are not helping the ABC affiliate in the afternoon news periods.  The station has reportedly also dialed back on its manic “Breaking News” and “Severe Weather Alerts.”

16 of 20 Days of May Sweeps

4:30am     Rating/Share 

KMBC      2.0/12

WDAF      1.7/10

KCTV       1.5/9

KSHB       1.3/6

6am

WDAF        5.5/20

KMBC        4.7/17

KCTV         2.7/10

KSHB         2.0/7

5pm

KCTV          6.0/13

WDAF         5.5/12

KMBC         4.2/9

KSHB         3.8/8

6pm

WDAF         6.9/14

KCTV          6.1/12

KMBC         5.1/10

KSHB          4.7/9

10pm

KMBC          8.3/15

KCTV           6.4/12

WDAF          5.7/10

KSHB           4.8/9

Today the announcement is that White has died of melanoma while in hospice care. He was 76.

The team had announced on Wednesday that White was retiring for “health reasons” after 40 years.

Clearly the Royals knew White was dying at the time of their “retirement” announcement.  Why even announce his “retirement” a day before he dies?

“White, an Illinois native who attended Eastern Illinois University, was a broadcasting staple in the Midwest highlighted by 25 years in the Royals’ radio booth,” said the Royals in their Wednesday release.

A sports anchor at nearby WIBW-TV in Topeka, White was the voice of Kansas State athletics until he joined the Royals in 1973. When not calling games for the Wildcats or the Royals, the popular announcer was the voice of the Big 8, later the Big 12, television network during basketball season, while also being summoned to work on the national stages of ESPN, CBS Sports, NBC Sports and Turner Sports.

“After leaving the Royals broadcast booth, Fred kept his hand in the industry by heading up the Royals Radio Network, which has grown to one of the largest in all of baseball, as well as supervising the Royals Alumni, assisting with clinics, appearances and the Royals Fantasy Camp,” said the club.

Veteran Kansas City Star sportswriter Bob Dutton wrote a nice tribute to White, as did blogger Greg Hall.

Their stories did not relate how the Royals unceremoniously dumped White from broadcasts after 25 years in 1998.  At the time,  Denny Matthews and White were the longest tenured pair of radio announcers in the American League.

“They (the Royals) never had any criticism of my work, and they’ve always said I’ve done everything they asked me to do,” White said in an interview with the Topeka Capital- Journal after he was given his walking papers by the team. “In the end, that didn’t seem to matter.

“I had 25 great years with the Kansas City Royals. I’d like to thank all my friends, the guys I’ve been with and the listeners. I had hoped to finish my career here, but obviously that’s not what is going to happen. I have to take care of my family.”

The anchor, AJ Clemente, was fired, but then made a name for himself going on various talk shows.  Matt Lauer was very sympathetic to AJ’s plight and suggested another station give him a chance.

That sounded nice, but TV Spy is reporting today that Clemente, 24 and a recent West Virginia University graduate,  is now working as a bartender and waiting for another station to give him a chance.

Stay tuned…