03-06-2009 TV's FEBRUARY NEWS SWEEPS PERIOD UPON US For TV news watchers, it doesn't get any better than the sweeps periods. The latest sweeps period began Thursday, March 5 and will conclude April 1 (April Fool's Day!). Ironically, this "February" sweeps period was moved to March because of the analog transition that was to take place February 17. That date was then postponed until June 12 pushing the "February" sweeps to "March." Since the ratings during the sweeps period help stations set their advertising rates, stories are generally controversial with major "breaking news," investigative reports and promotions. Stations will even hold back sweeps stories for months so they can be broadcast them during this important period. KCTV, long recognized as one of the better stations for over-the-top sweeps stories (the CBS affiliate once set up a house to catch sexual perverts that morphed into the national "To Catch a Predator" series), broke the news about a woman who was being called into court for writing curse words when she paid her ticket. Watching the woman (photo at right) laugh at writing the foul note after receiving a ticket for a broken tailight on her Kia---and then pretend like she was concerned about her children---is the type of things viewers love to watch. "I was angry, maybe wrote a few things on there in a letter that I attached with the ticket that maybe I could have said differently," said the woman. It just doesn't get much better...
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