Local TV ratings

[5alive]

I hear that Channel 9 is #1 morning, noon and night. Can someone with access to the numbers post them for 4, 5 and 9. Thanks!

[Tydude]

I hear that Channel 9 is #1 morning, noon and night. Can someone with access to the numbers post them for 4, 5 and 9. Thanks!

If i am guessing News 9 is number 1 KFOR 2 KOCO 3 KOKH 4

[5alive]

I will pose this question again. There must be someone on this board that has access to some numbers. With 9 poaching talent from 4 how is KFOR holding up in the ratings. I would think 9 is firmly in first place but have things become tighter between 4 and 5. Anyone?

[TaoMaas]

Are you talking about the July book? If so, NOBODY cares about July because the viewing habits are so screwed up due to kids being out of school, vacations, etc... That's why we see summer replacement series. The networks know that this is a good time to try things and it will have no impact on the other 9 months of the year.

[5alive]

July book, May book or any book lol

[TaoMaas]

Well, they change, you know. lol May would be the last book I would worry about until November. I don't have direct access to the books so I would have to ask friends who work at the stations. The problem is, the stations often try to spin the ratings to their employees. They say things like, "We were the most improved newscast in the last ratings period!" What that means is, "We used to only have one person watching us...and now we have two! That means we've doubled our viewership!" LOL Sounds great until you learn that your competition has 100,000 viewers each and only gained an additional 10,000. In reality, they kicked the crap out of you, but in marketing terms, a 10% gain isn't nearly as impressive as saying you're the fastest growing station or that you've doubled your viewers. It's all in how you spin it. I had a friend at Ch. 9 who sent around an email from management touting them as "the #1 station among viewers 18-49". He took that to mean they were #1 in the market. But here's the thing...if you're really #1 overall, there's no need to put qualifiers on it. True, the 18-49 demo is the most desired and there's reason to celebrate that, but what I got out of the email was, "We didn't win the overalls, but we won the demo that sells best to our advertisers." That's not the same as being #1 across the board.

[5alive]

So true. We're number one with women 54-65 Thursday nights midnight-2am lol. Now go sell that!

[TaoMaas]

So true. We're number one with women 54-65 Thursday nights midnight-2am lol. Now go sell that!

Hey, sounds like a perfect market for Wava and her hearing aids clients to me!

[jn1780]

I will pose this question again. There must be someone on this board that has access to some numbers. With 9 poaching talent from 4 how is KFOR holding up in the ratings. I would think 9 is firmly in first place but have things become tighter between 4 and 5. Anyone?

I wonder if their new studio will attract better talent. Kind of like how OU is improving their stadium to attract the better players. lol

[rezman]

I wonder if their new studio will attract better talent. Kind of like how OU is improving their stadium to attract the better players. lol

It will at least help them bring their style of tabloid journalism to new heights.

[JohnH_in_OKC]

After 5 days since this thread started, there is still no one coming forward claiming they know the latest station ratings. In fact, I've noticed that even on Wikipedia, almost no one ever claims to know our local OKC television news ratings. Is this a conspiracy to keep advertisers guessing? Who knows?

I still watch Channel 4 News first, but some of their reporters are weaker than in previous years (excepting Paige Hill, Jon Welsh, Jesse Wells, Ed Doney, Courtney Francisco, & Sarah Stewart who are all excellent). The anchors are still the same for the last 15 years! The anchors are very competent and very much Oklahomans or converted "Okies". I especially like the 5 pm newscast since KFOR is the only station that runs a sports segment at that hour. BBJ and Brian Brinkley are great sports anchors. (All 4 on-air sports anchors/reporters at Channel 4 are OU or OSU grads.) I am also a big fan of Channel 4's newest anchor, Lacey Lett. Mike Morgan's weather reports are the best in the country in my opinion. Scott Hines & Galen Culver are the best in OKC in their specific genres of reporting.

Channel 9 has been able to attract some of Channel 4's talent. Their weather department is excellent & the vast majority are OU meteorology/math grads. Jim Gardner is the dean of the OKC news chopper pilots & it's fun & exciting to listen to his reports. Their Sunday night Sports Blitz jointly broadcast with Tulsa's Channel 6 is a good watch especially during football & basketball seasons. I think their regular news often has too many Tulsa reports which have little interest to me. I am also a fan of their News9 subchannel which I watch more than any subchannels of the other stations.

Channel 5 is the best it's been in many years. I like the addition of helicopter reports in the morning. For years channel 5 couldn't budget ANY chopper reporting. I'm glad that Sky 5 is back. Also I'm appreciative that Jonathan Condor is back in OKC on Channel 5. He and Channel 4's Emily Sutton are two of the quirkiest weather personalities in the country & both are really entertaining and informative. Danielle Dozier reminds me of Lola Hall (who solidly reported weather on Channel 9 in the 50's & 60's). The addition of Bree Steffen, Morgan Chesky, Erielle Reshef, and Abigail Ogle (live sports in the morning) are also big assets in my opinion.

Channel 25 is last, last, last. They probably need to pay their reporters/anchors more so they can keep the good ones they sometimes get. I don't know Jon Slater, but he was the only Oklahoman I know of on their staff (except their sports department) & he had a folksy way of presenting the weather. It's too bad his contract wasn't renewed. Maybe they'll do something differently this fall when they begin newscasts in the early evening, but I doubt if their news presentation gets any better. Channel 25 does present a lot of news in their 1½ hours that the other stations overlook.

Channel 52, KSBI-TV - I need to watch more Oklahoma Live! which I believe is more entertainment than news, but when I've watched, it was both informative & entertaining. We need more local shows like DannysDay and Tom Paxton which were both Channel 4's local programming emphasizing local entertainers & visiting national personalities. (When Tom Paxton left Channel 4, Danny Williams hosted a succeeding show which lasted for many years.) It would be wonderful if KSBI-TV or KAUT-TV (both with their new studios) could create a daily children's program emulating Foreman Scotty or 3-D Danny! For kids, being on television for the first time on a program that their friends watch is still a big deal, even when we have camera phones, YouTube & social media.

OETA - I miss their alternative news which never had crime stories & emphasized what is happening at the Oklahoma State Capitol. OETA needs a big infusion of money, something our Republican legislature thinks could be spent better elsewhere. The whole state government is underfunded from higher education, public education, our prisons, our healthcare, our poor, middle class & our roads. If the state could emulate OKC & create more income & much more pre-funded new infrastructure (without the inherent expense of bond issues), we could invest in our future instead of running every state institution as an underfunded entity. We have far too many state tax-breaks for our rich folks and our oil & gas corporations. Oklahoma is growing in population, but shrinking in our (per capita) tax base & in funding our needed & growing state responsibilities.

Note: I've been retired over 7 years & I'm a native Oklahoma Cityan & watch (too much) TV while surfing my favorite Internet websites. I have read the Oklahoman every day for nearly 60 years (except for the 7 years I lived in Europe and California), & I encourage everyone to subscribe, if they can afford it. You & your family will forever benefit from reading our city/state newspaper daily. Reading the OKCTalk & NewsOK websites & the Oklahoma Gazette & the Oklahoma City Sentinel newspapers are also great tools for us all to be better citizens (& they're all free or nearly free).

[JohnH_in_OKC]

I apologize to Channel 25's news staff. I should not have been so negative. Probably your uber-conservative ownership group influenced my opinions. Sorry.

Also Channel 4's Dylan Buckingham graduated from UCO instead of OSU. OSU is well represented on KFOR's news staff. http://kfor.com/contact/people/

[Jersey Boss]

After 5 days since this thread started, there is still no one coming forward claiming they know the latest station ratings. In fact, I've noticed that even on Wikipedia, almost no one ever claims to know our local OKC television news ratings. Is this a conspiracy to keep advertisers guessing? Who knows?

I still watch Channel 4 News first, but some of their reporters are weaker than in previous years (excepting Paige Hill, Jon Welsh, Jesse Wells, Ed Doney, Courtney Francisco, & Sarah Stewart who are all excellent). The anchors are still the same for the last 15 years! The anchors are very competent and very much Oklahomans or converted "Okies". I especially like the 5 pm newscast since KFOR is the only station that runs a sports segment at that hour. BBJ and Brian Brinkley are great sports anchors. (All 4 on-air sports anchors/reporters at Channel 4 are OU or OSU grads.) I am also a big fan of Channel 4's newest anchor, Lacey Lett. Mike Morgan's weather reports are the best in the country in my opinion. Scott Hines & Galen Culver are the best in OKC in their specific genres of reporting.

Channel 9 has been able to attract some of Channel 4's talent. Their weather department is excellent & the vast majority are OU meteorology/math grads. Jim Gardner is the dean of the OKC news chopper pilots & it's fun & exciting to listen to his reports. Their Sunday night Sports Blitz jointly broadcast with Tulsa's Channel 6 is a good watch especially during football & basketball seasons. I think their regular news often has too many Tulsa reports which have little interest to me. I am also a fan of their News9 subchannel which I watch more than any subchannels of the other stations.

Channel 5 is the best it's been in many years. I like the addition of helicopter reports in the morning. For years channel 5 couldn't budget ANY chopper reporting. I'm glad that Sky 5 is back. Also I'm appreciative that Jonathan Condor is back in OKC on Channel 5. He and Channel 4's Emily Sutton are two of the quirkiest weather personalities in the country & both are really entertaining and informative. Danielle Dozier reminds me of Lola Hall (who solidly reported weather on Channel 9 in the 50's & 60's). The addition of Bree Steffen, Morgan Chesky, Erielle Reshef, and Abigail Ogle (live sports in the morning) are also big assets in my opinion.

Channel 25 is last, last, last. They probably need to pay their reporters/anchors more so they can keep the good ones they sometimes get. I don't know Jon Slater, but he was the only Oklahoman I know of on their staff (except their sports department) & he had a folksy way of presenting the weather. It's too bad his contract wasn't renewed. Maybe they'll do something differently this fall when they begin newscasts in the early evening, but I doubt if their news presentation gets any better. Channel 25 does present a lot of news in their 1½ hours that the other stations overlook.

Channel 52, KSBI-TV - I need to watch more Oklahoma Live! which I believe is more entertainment than news, but when I've watched, it was both informative & entertaining. We need more local shows like DannysDay and Tom Paxton which were both Channel 4's local programming emphasizing local entertainers & visiting national personalities. (When Tom Paxton left Channel 4, Danny Williams hosted a succeeding show which lasted for many years.) It would be wonderful if KSBI-TV or KAUT-TV (both with their new studios) could create a daily children's program emulating Foreman Scotty or 3-D Danny! For kids, being on television for the first time on a program that their friends watch is still a big deal, even when we have camera phones, YouTube & social media.

OETA - I miss their alternative news which never had crime stories & emphasized what is happening at the Oklahoma State Capitol. OETA needs a big infusion of money, something our Republican legislature thinks could be spent better elsewhere. The whole state government is underfunded from higher education, public education, our prisons, our healthcare, our poor, middle class & our roads. If the state could emulate OKC & create more income & much more pre-funded new infrastructure (without the inherent expense of bond issues), we could invest in our future instead of running every state institution as an underfunded entity. We have far too many state tax-breaks for our rich folks and our oil & gas corporations. Oklahoma is growing in population, but shrinking in our (per capita) tax base & in funding our needed & growing state responsibilities.

Note: I've been retired over 7 years & I'm a native Oklahoma Cityan & watch (too much) TV while surfing my favorite Internet websites. I have read the Oklahoman every day for nearly 60 years (except for the 7 years I lived in Europe and California), & I encourage everyone to subscribe, if they can afford it. You & your family will forever benefit from reading our city/state newspaper daily. Reading the OKCTalk & NewsOK websites & the Oklahoma Gazette & the Oklahoma City Sentinel newspapers are also great tools for us all to be better citizens (& they're all free or nearly free).

This is an excellent post. Thanks for a good read. The only addition I would add would be the inclusion of the OKLAHOMA OBSERVER to fill in the gaps the other entities have on reporting whats going on at the Capitol.

[JohnH_in_OKC]

This is an excellent post. Thanks for a good read. The only addition I would add would be the inclusion of the OKLAHOMA OBSERVER to fill in the gaps the other entities have on reporting whats going on at the Capitol.

I almost included the Observer in my post instead of the Sentinel. You're right.

[tfvc.org]

I am probably one of the few that misses Mike Armstrong's weather reporting. I liked the fact that he brought in the technical stuff into the weather. IMHO he should have gotten the chief job, and that has nothing to do with the facts that 1) I used to work with Mike when he was still going to school in OU when he was a waiter and I was a cook at Bellini's Norman, and 2) David Paine almost ran me off the road and blinded me in his jacked up very well lit truck one night driving on I-35. Mike is a really nice guy and I miss his weather reporting.

[soonerguru]

I'm KOCO all the way -- except their sports dept. although none of the sports departments are good, IMO.

[SoonerDave]

As far as detailed station ratings goes, if i'm not mistaken only the most top-level numbers are actually released to the public. The more detailed breakdowns are actually part of the "work product" the ratings service(s) provide to the stations for a fee, and as such are not allowed to publish them (excepting, of course, through strictly off-the-record back-channels, rumors, etc).

May be that no one really has the numbers, or those that do don't want to get in hot water for publishing them.

[5alive]

That's all I'm seeking...basic numbers:
Station A: 6.5
Station B: 5.9
Station C: 4.7

[bchris02]

I find myself watching 5 a lot more than I used to especially since they switched over to the new set last year. I also like Damon's weather report.

It will be interesting to see what happens with 4 when they get a new studio. Currently, I would say 4 is starting to look pretty dated and a lot of times it seems, at least in my opinion, they over sensationalize stories more than the other two stations. Their weather reports are likely what is holding them up in the ratings.

KOKH is a sorry excuse for a newscast for a market this size. They only recently switched their broadcasts from 4:3 to widescreen and they did a half-arsed job at it to boot. Are they very low budget or something?

[SoonerDave]

I find myself watching 5 a lot more than I used to especially since they switched over to the new set last year. I also like Damon's weather report.

It will be interesting to see what happens with 4 when they get a new studio. Currently, I would say 4 is starting to look pretty dated and a lot of times it seems, at least in my opinion, they over sensationalize stories more than the other two stations. Their weather reports are likely what is holding them up in the ratings.

KOKH is a sorry excuse for a newscast for a market this size. They only recently switched their broadcasts from 4:3 to widescreen and they did a half-arsed job at it to boot. Are they very low budget or something?

KOKH only recently went full native HD from their local production studios as I understand it. Might not realize it, but the cost of the production equipment to go "full digital" was and continues to be non-trivial - heck, even KOCO did not follow suit until a year or to back as I recall. Small local stations like KOKH just don't have the big pile of money laying around to just buy all the stuff needed to make that transition. Ya gotta keep in mind they survive on a fraction of the major station ratings and revenue, and the digital transition was no small pain for even the bigger network affiliates...

[venture]

Probably a good thing to point out that FOX hasn't been doing their affiliates any favors lately with pretty poor ratings.

[Tritone]

Lately I've been catching KOKH 25 and then KFOR 4 in the mornings. KOKH seems to tell the news with a little more detail than KFOR and without so much cutesy stuff. Of course KFOR does have the off-camera laughing guy where KOKH doesn't.

Not taking anything away from Jim Gardner. He's great; knowledgeable, professional, and concerned. I did catch Jon Welsh's coverage of the 2013 tornado damage in Moore. He frequently pointed out specific locations he was showing and, more importantly to me, the direction he was shooting. That really helps you figure what you are seeing. It seemed to me he was giving an "intel" report rather than a "look at this, look at that" report. That really impressed me. Sounds like an Army pilot to me.

[5alive]

Just saw an instagram where KOCO is celebrating a sweeps win of the 6:00 news. Competition is good and when all three stations are doing well we all end up with a better product.