Channel 10, Matt & Ann Rest Easy – New CBS Morning Show A Dog
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
It’s clear that whatever CBS executives were thinking about this new CBS morning show which airs here on Channel 12, they didn’t really think out anything at all.
Charlie Rose.
Gayle King.
Are you kidding me?
Rose is the “smartest guy in the room” from PBS who has no flair or edge for morning TV. Mind you, his work on PBS is admirable and well respected for sure.
And King, who’s best buddies with Oprah---is now the Oprah Wanna Be of am TV.
All this in the process hurts Channel 12 in some way, which has done a very good job of narrowing the ratings window between Channel 10 and Channel 12. It hurts 12 because by nature, people tend to follow habits and if they watch the Today show, they’ll be more inclined to watch the Sunrise Show before the Today Show comes on. Prior to the Rose and King moves, CBS had just revamped the morning show trying out new talent. So I guess this new version is the “really revamped” edition of the CBS Morning Show.
CBS has said this is their new experiment. To get away from what some other people have called “The Kardashians” version of a morning TV where this is all kinds of fluff—cooking segments, pet segments and oh yes the day’s news sprinkled in.
Off To A Slow Start
The overnight ratings for the new CBS Morning Show which hit the air this past Monday show that WJAR and Today really have no worries. The numbers reveal that the Today Show scored a 7-8 rating compared to the CBS program which had a 3 rating. Today had almost three times the audience. News Director Chris Lanni tells GoLocal, the choice for morning TV remains clear. “The ratings for both NBC’s Today Show and Nightly News remain very strong. This is historically an NBC news market and we’re grateful that Southern New Englanders rely on NBC 10 for local and national news coverage.”
The Jury Is Out
Jay Howell, WPRI & Fox Providence General Manager, says the jury is still out on how well the new talent will do. Again, the fact that he has CBS am programming to deal with just goes to show how Channel 12 has been able to make strides in the morning news ratings battle in recent years. Channel 10 is clearly number one in the mornings, but Channel 12 has closed the gap in both ratings and demographics which is key to advertising dollars. There were years when Channel 10’s Sunrise Show had double and or triple digit leads against 12. Not anymore. “I think that CBS is making a bold and correct move to stop trying to copy the Today Show and GMA. The new format is harder news, no cooking, very different from the other morning shows. Whether it works, who knows, but at least it is different.” said Howell.
Howell, is correct, it is different but will it work is the question. My money is on no and the prediction here is that we will see yet another “major change” from CBS on the morning show in not too distant future. If that happens that is negative for 12, as it looks to build audience and consistency from sign on in the morning through 10am with the addition of new Rhode Show host Will Gilbert and its new slot over on WPRI (instead of Fox Providence). “We would certainly like to see improvement in the CBS Morning news ratings. We are certainly giving them a large and growing leading audience in the morning.”
No Choice
Station managers locally really have no choice when it comes to what the network hands them for am programming.
And while 60-years of the Today Show are hard to compete with—Gayle King and Charlie Rose are not the answers.
Morning TV from the networks is what it is. There is a certain formula that works.
And yes a big part of it is seeing what Kim Kardashian did. If you need further proof of that consider this. One name being circulated as a possible replacement for Matt Lauer if he decided to leave his gig is none other than:
Ryan Seacrest.
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