The Capital Region's News Leader is....

The ratings for the Albany, NY television market came out yesterday. And, WNYT, who is arguing the ratings results, is apparently being pushed down a cliff by High Definition, Lydia Kulbida, and advocacy journalism. The ratings only represent one month –November, and because of that it’s important not to look too much into them.

It is not as clear cut, to me, as who exactly won the November ratings. WTEN won the (what is to me) the biggest, most important time -6pm. But, WRGB won 5:00, 5:30 and 11:00 news times. There are some reasons that people, including myself, have pointed to; to explain why WRGB is doing so much better then WNYT.

First, CBS is the most watched television network. Fact. And WRGB is a CBS affiliate. Because of this they have a better lead in then the mess that is Jay Leno at 10pm on NBC/WNYT. Every NBC station seems to be hurting because of Jay Leno. Back to WRGB, they have decided to broadcast in High Definition; which, according to many of the comments on the Times Union Business Blog, is the sole reason why some people watch CBS6 News. Another reason WRGB may have won at 5:00 and not 6:00 is because of the anchors. Liz Bishop is a staple in the Capital Region, and Dori Marlin is not. The fact that WRGB hired Dori and put her at 6:00, and moved Liz to 5:00, may be the reason people are turning away from CBS6 at 6:00.

Comments on the Times Union Business Blog also talk about the lead-ins for the 5:00pm newscasts. While I do not know who exactly is winning –Oprah or Ellen– at 4:00, it would appear that people are sick of Oprah, and are turning to the always exciting Ellen at 4:00, this maybe another reason CBS6 winning at 5:00.

The fact that WTEN won at 6:00 is still quit befalling. Because, I thought, many people got air sickness from the flight of the anchors, from Elisa at the desk, Steve at the monitor, and Christina in the newsroom. However, maybe people watching are getting use to it. Or maybe it has something to do with Lydia Kulbida working at WTEN. While she does not host the 6pm newscast, she does report for it. Another factor could be that WTEN has the region's best meteorologist, Steve Caporizzo.

So why did WNYT do so badly? Well we’ve already blamed Jay Leno, and the fact that Lydia Kulbida was fired. But, perhaps it’s the stale newscasts? Yes, the set that WNYT has had sense the 90s, the fact that they don’t dig deeper like CBS6 does, and the overabundance of national –not to mention world news on a supposed local newscast. These reasons along with the poor Leno-lead in and Kulbida’s firing have undoubtedly lead to WNYT’s demise.

Again, it’s only one ratings period. So things may change. And they probably will. Oprah is leaving daytime TV, leading who to lead into “Live at 5,” Sarah Palin? Perhaps, now that Comcast has bought NBC, the channel will start to resemble more of its cable channels (USA, SyFy, etc), get ride of leno at 10 and become a stronger network for WNYT.