Here's the scoop KSHB spends money and tinkers with time slot to make Channel 41 a local news contender

Jim Swinehart, the new general manager of KSHB, Channel 41, is
offering a visitor what he refers to as "the nickel tour."
Actually, it's the $ 3.5 million tour.
That's how much money E.W. Scripps Co. invested this year in an
expansion of KSHB's Oak Street headquarters to bring Kansas City's
youngest news operation into functional parity, if not parity in the
ratings, with the three other TV newscasts in town.
All the more reason for the surprise and even puzzlement in the
local news community when KSHB, three years into its affiliation with
the NBC network, announced last week that it was reducing its
early-evening local news coverage.
Beginning Sept. 29, the 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts will be replaced
by a single program, anchored by the current 5 p.m. team of Laurie
Roberts and Brent Hardin and airing at the unusual time of 6:30 p.m.,
following "NBC Nightly News. " The move reduces KSHB's news coverage
to 15 hours a week, plus news breaks, the fewest in the market.
No staff reductions will result from the change, Swinehart says,
but the question remains: Why would a station that otherwise appears
in the full bloom of expansion be cutting back on the amount of news
it produces?
Swinehart cites the results of market research conducted this
year that indicate KSHB would be better served trying to claim new
turf at 6:30 - when no other station in the market is doing local
news - than to compete head-to-head with three stations at 5 and 6.
"A fairly significant percentage of people in these surveys
indicated to us that they claimed to prefer a local newscast at 6:30
to programs currently running on the local television stations,"
Swinehart says.
"Obviously we are competing against three extremely
well-established stations that have been doing what they're doing for
many, many years. We were the station best able to change our
schedule to meet the viewers' needs."
One to grow on
The new KSHB newsroom is a spacious area with a grand southern
exposure. With stylish workstations, digital editing suites and a
fully automated production center, the 9,000-square-foot facility is
designed to meet the demands put on a major TV news operation.
Two floors up is a huge, unfinished room that Swinehart jokingly
calls his "bowling alley. " If anything suggests that KSHB has every
intention of continuing to grow, it is this vast, carpeted plain.
Swinehart envisions even more offices in that space in the years to
come.
It has been only four years since KSHB aired its first 30-minute
evening newscast, and three years since KSHB became an NBC affiliate
and was catapulted into the big leagues of TV news.
From the start, NBC knew it had a challenge on its hands. KSHB's
newscast, a fast-paced half hour tailored to the young Fox audience,
was a poor fit for NBC's shows. And the station sits in the less
desirable UHF band (channels 14-69).
It was, as one NBC official put it, "by far the most
disadvantaged position we faced" among the network's 212 affiliates.
But Scripps, which purchased Channel 41 in 1977, is the country's
18th-largest TV station group, in a league with Hearst-Argyle, which
owns KMBC, Channel 9, and Meredith Corp., which owns KCTV, Channel 5.
It has the resources to fund KSHB's transformation, now and well into
the future, say industry observers.
"Having worked for Scripps-Howard, they are bulldogs when it
comes to news," says Bob Wormington, who was Channel 41's first
general manager in 1970 and remained in that post until retiring in
1993. "Backing out - that's just not in their corporate blood.
They'll stay with it till they get it right."
In 1996 KSHB shifted into full-time news production, with 17 1/2
hours a week of local newscasts and refurbished studios. An influx of
on-air talent arrived from other markets as the news staff swelled to
70.
News director Lynn Heider and lead anchors Elizabeth Alex and Tom
Lawrence brought stability, and "41 News" began to assume the look
and feel of a mature newscast.
KSHB also added an investigative unit, Public Defenders, headed
by Jim Condelles. It has become the pride of the news division,
sweeping local and regional TV news competitions earlier this year.
What KSHB has been unable to add in large numbers is viewership,
a problem that comes with entering the TV news arena so late.
"Habit is a tough thing to break," Swinehart says.
KSHB has had some luck in getting viewers to try its 10 o'clock
news, thanks to NBC's strong prime-time programming and a key
decision to start the news-cast, without introduction or fanfare,
while the credits of the outgoing NBC show are still rolling. The
newscast typically doesn't take a break until 10:10 or later, the
better to hold the audience.
But an audience for KSHB's early news has proven more elusive.
During the August ratings sweep, "41 News at 5" averaged just 1.7
percent of households for a 4 "share" (percentage of TVs in use at
that time). The next lowest-rated newscast, on WDAF, Channel 4,
averaged three times that audience. "41 News at 6" fared only
slightly better.
"Four stations trying to compete at 5 and 6 o'clock in news is
probably not the smartest way to operate," concedes Swinehart.
Hence the decision to try 6:30, when, the station's research
concluded, 75 percent of Kansas Citians are just starting to settle
in front of the tube.
Anchors Lawrence and Alex, who have done the 6 and 10 p.m.
newscasts since June 1996, now will do only the late newscast and
will expand their reporting duties.
"The staff feels very good," Swinehart says. "They all want
their journalism to be seen by as many people as possible."
For that reason, Swinehart says KSHB will be adding back a full
hour of daily news programming within a year. The 60-minute program
also will air in a time period when no other local news is on.
News directors at Channels 4, 5 and 9 say they have no plans to
counter with 6:30 newscasts of their own. Stations across the country
usually reserve that slot for syndicated shows like "Wheel of
Fortune," which allow them to sell profitable advertising time in
the half-hour preceding network prime time.
"I'm less than convinced it's a sound long-term strategy, and if
it was, I'm sure we would've employed it three years ago," says Ed
Piette, general manager of Channel 4.
In fact, Piette isn't sure if KSHB has a viable long-term
strategy.
"Personally, I think the marketplace has spoken," he says.
"Scripps has given it the old college try over at 41, but the
audience has pretty much said, 'We're satisfied. ' "
Swinehart counters, "Our research clearly indicated that people
were not rejecting our product, and if the other stations would be
honest, they'd have to admit that we were putting out a competitive
product."

Channel 41 does shuffle of programs

KSHB, Channel 41, the fourth-place station in local news, is
abandoning its efforts to compete directly with newscasts on Channels
4, 5 and 9 in early evenings and reshuffling its entire 4 to 7 p.m.
schedule.
The NBC affiliate announced Thursday that it will eliminate its 5
and 6 p.m. newscasts and replace them with a single report at 6:30
p.m., effective Sept. 29.
The new newscast will be anchored by the current 5 p.m. team of
Laurie Roberts and Brent Hardin. The 6 and 10 p.m. anchors, Elizabeth
Alex and Tom Lawrence, will continue at 10 p.m. and will have more
reporting assignments, said James D. Swinehart, Channel 41's general
manager.
No job reductions will be made in connection with the shift,
which is being made for tactical reasons, according to Swinehart.
"Lifestyles are changing," Swinehart said. "We think there's a
paradigm shift going on, that priorities are changing among families
at home, and our research shows that there's a significant percentage
of television users and particularly women who are not available to
watch early news in what we call the traditional news periods of 5
and 6."
It is practically unheard of for a local newscast to air in the
half hour preceding the start of network prime time, a key
money-making period for local stations. Typically, stations air a
local newscast at 6 followed by a syndicated program, such as
"Entertainment Tonight" or "Wheel of Fortune," that is relatively
cheap to buy and is a proven ratings-getter.
Although KSHB's 10 p.m. news has shown improvement this year,
viewership for the 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts remained stuck around 4
percent of Kansas City homes, or one-third the audience of its
next-closest competitor, WDAF, Channel 4.
As part of 41's new counter-programming strategy, "The Rosie
O'Donnell Show" will move from 4 to 5 p.m. to compete with other
stations' local and national news, and "NBC Nightly News" will
follow at 6 to compete with local news. "Home Improvement," the
current 6:30 show, will move to 4:30 and be preceded by the
newsmagazine "Extra."

Take note

'Who is Alex Trebek? '
The two top syndicated game shows are coming to town Friday to
scout for contestants, and guess what? They brought Junior.
"Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy! " will be part of a 12-hour
"mega-contestant search" beginning at 10 a.m. Friday at the
Downtown Marriott, 200 W. 12th St.
The shows' producer and staff will be on hand, dispensing
"Jeopardy! " tests and selecting one lucky contestant for a
"Wheel" taping in May.
In addition, "Jep!," a spin-off show aimed at children ages 10
to 12, will hold tryouts at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., and a "Jeopardy!"
for teen-agers will hold tryouts at 4 p.m. Teen and college-age
"Jeopardy! " tryouts continue Saturday morning at 9.

Corporate conflict raises doubts about Channel 62-UPN union

Just when Kansas City channel surfers had recovered from the
changes of the past year - overhauls at channels 38 and 50 and a new
station at Channel 29 - along comes a development that could send
some viewers reeling again.
Sinclair Broadcast Group, the Baltimore-based company that owns
KSMO, Channel 62, the local UPN affiliate, is threatening to sever
all ties to UPN as part of an escalating feud.
And while there's little danger that "Star Trek: Voyager" would
be sent into deep space or that Andrew Dice Clay's new sitcom would
never grace the Kansas City airwaves, a change would force viewers to
click around for these shows.
The trouble started last month when Sinclair, which has 27 TV
stations in its stable, announced that five of its UPN affiliates in
key markets would switch to WB. In return, WB would pay Sinclair $ 84
million over the next 10 years. The list of defecting stations didn't
include Channel 62.
This week UPN struck back, filing a lawsuit alleging that
Sinclair illegally extracted itself from its deal with UPN. Now
Sinclair is planning a countersuit and mulling over a full divorce.
Barry Baker, Sinclair's CEO, said that he had until mid-September
to decide KSMO's fate, but added "we're evaluating in those
markets" still affiliated with UPN.
There's little chance that Sinclair would be able to woo WB away
from its Kansas City affiliate, KCWB, Channel 29. Through a deluxe,
government-approved arrangement, Channel 29 is actually run by KMBC,
Channel 9, which cross-promotes the WB affiliate on Channel 9 and
this year installed a 5 million-watt antenna for KCWB.
"My impression is that everyone's pleased with the performance
to date," said KMBC general manager Paul Dinovitz of 11-month-old
KCWB. A WB spokesman agreed and said there have been no talks with
Sinclair regarding Kansas City. KCWB's affiliation with the WB runs
through September 1998.
So that would leave Sinclair without a network affiliation, as
was the case from 1983 to 1995 before Channel 62 hooked up with UPN.
Where would UPN go? KMCI, Channel 38, is the most eligible
bachelor in the market, having switched last year from home shopping
to "family greats," including programs that formerly appeared on
KSHB, Channel 41, which runs 38.
UPN could be a huge boost to KMCI. Its evening audience typically
doesn't begin to approach KSMO's.
Could KSMO survive without UPN? Sinclair's Baker was unequivocal.
"Obviously we can operate without it," he said.
I asked Jim MacDonald, the general manager dumped by Sinclair
after it bought KSMO last year, how important UPN is to the station.
"Very important," MacDonald said. "A whole group of people
who'd never thought of watching Channel 62 started watching. " At one
point, he said, KSMO was the top UPN affiliate in the country.
And without UPN? "As a pure independent, they've got nothing to
hang their hat on," he said. "They need fresh product."
In local news
In the July Nielsen ratings "sweep," the big winner appeared to
be "Other" - programming not on the seven major broadcast stations.
"Other" typically exceeded 50 percent, a sign of cable's
growing power over viewers, especially in the repeat-happy summer.
Channel 9's supremacy in the 10 p.m. news derby continued, but
the station's practice of delaying "ABC News Nightline" by 90
minutes may be losing its value. The sitcoms that air after 10:30 -
two "Roseanne" repeats and a "MASH" - lost viewers
July-to-July, while "Nightline" ratings were way up and
"Politically Incorrect" improved over "Rush Limbaugh," the show
that used to air at 12:35.
E-mail: barnhart@kcstar.com

P.S.

Free access to show
When "27th and Prospect," a video chronicle of Kansas City's
fight against drugs, makes its world premiere at 7 p.m. today on HBO,
most American Cablevision subscribers will be able to watch it
regardless of whether they subscribe to the pay-cable channel.
HBO's unscrambled signal will be available to American
Cablevision homes on Channel 4 during the first run of "27th and
Prospect," the last in a three-part "Faces of Addiction" series
produced by HBO and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Customers
with the AXS upgrade should tune to Channel 19. Because of a shortage
of channel space, however, customers in Leavenworth, Kearney and
northern portions of Kansas City, Kan., will not receive the free
viewing.
- Aaron Barnhart

Talk format goes back to black Late night vibes

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - Step into the headquarters of "Vibe," the
new late-night show that kicks off at 10 tonight on Channel 29, and
your first impression is that you've missed your turnoff and instead
wandered into the campaign offices of some underfunded congressional
candidate.
The modestly sized reception area has been converted into an
office space for no fewer than eight members of the show's production
staff. Everywhere you look people are crowding into rooms, brushing
past one another, picking up one another's phones.
It's a scene worthy of "Vibe," a decided underdog to the
"Keenen Ivory Wayans" show in the contest to see which
African-American-anchored late-night program will score with viewers,
and which will go the way of - well, "The Arsenio Hall Show."
Since Hall departed the airwaves three years ago, his once
captive audience of young urbanites has shown little interest in
getting back together. There are just too many choices for them: an
ever-expanding cable TV menu, the Internet and, of course, bedtime.
Two white comedians (Jon Stewart and Stephanie Miller) and two
mostly white ensembles ("The Newz" and "Last Call") have tried to
recapture the magic of Hall's first seasons on the air. All were gone
in a matter of weeks or months.
Now two African-American comedians will have their chance: Chris
Spencer of "Vibe" and Wayans, the "In Living Color" creator and
star whose self-titled program also premieres tonight (11 p.m. on
Channel 4).
The seat the candidates are competing for is worth tens of
millions of dollars in annual ad revenue to whoever can get his
message across to the people. Not to mention the special cultural
status afforded to TV's icons of talk, referred to by their first
names: Oprah, Dave, Jay, Conan and, of course, Arsenio.
In this late-night run-off, however, there is always another
choice looming on the ballot: None of the Above.
It's time
Just off the main entrance, in a small rectangular office a
mortgage agent might use, Chris Spencer welcomes what must be his
three dozenth press visitor of the week. It is 10 days from the
launch of "Vibe," and Spencer looks tired. Not exhausted tired, but
tired of the buildup, tired of cracking jokes to audiences of one or
two.
A standup comedian who has opened, as he puts it, "for everybody
from Wu-Tang Clan to the Ku Klux Klan," Spencer needs the energy
only an enthusiastic crowd can provide. Now, in the words of Hall's
catch phrase, it's time.
But time for what? Billboards around L.A. trumpet Spencer's new
rival as doing "late night the Wayans way. " What, then, is late
night the "Vibe" way?
Spencer answers that question with a canned response. "We plan
on being edgy, yet fresh and different than what you're accustomed
to, hopefully. " He says there will be "remotes" (segments taped
outside the studio) and occasional sketches. The show has a racially
mixed writing staff of eight, including a few standups Spencer met on
the comedy circuit.
As the interview progresses Spencer loosens up, starts working
the room. He seems to accept that this is part of his mission: to
convince people he can be as fresh and interesting as Hall was when
he ascended into the Zeitgeist eight years ago.
On the show's spontaneity: "We will be able to turn corners and
be full of surprises. One day we can talk to Colin Powell and then,
on Thursday, have Robin Williams on - dressed up as Colin Powell."
On the proliferation of channel choices: "Back then there were
three channels. Today there are 300. And those are just the
pornographic ones."
On how "adult" the comedy will get on his show: "It won't be
'Def Jam,' and it won't be 'Hee Haw. ' It'll be 'Def Haw. ' Or 'Hee
Jam. ' "
In an adjoining office, Daniel Kellison, the show's executive
producer, looks well-rested and more at ease than his star. Perhaps
it's because Kellison is unusually well-suited to this task, having
spent eight years in the pressure cooker of the David Letterman show,
followed by a brief but exciting tour as top producer of Rosie
O'Donnell's daytime talk show.
Nor does Kellison have to perform for the media. In fact, as
everyone knows, the prime mover behind "Vibe" isn't Kellison or
Spencer, it's Quincy Jones, the musician and media magnate whose
success and renown in the entertainment community is so enormous,
it's a wonder he even bothers with the fringe of the TV schedule.
In addition to "Vibe," Jones produces "MAD TV," the comedy
sketch show on Fox that competes with "Saturday Night Live" on NBC.
"MAD TV" is entering its third season, having performed respectably
against "SNL" and distinguished itself as the first late-night
program in Fox's 11-year history not to go down in flames.
Already the "Q" effect is being felt on "Vibe," the show
named for the music and culture magazine Jones founded and publishes.
Mel Gibson will make a guest appearance, as will supermodel Naomi
Campbell and, via satellite from his movie set, Denzel Washington.
The movie cast of Toni Morrison's "Beloved" will also make a remote
appearance from their set, said Kellison.
And there will be music.
"The music on this show will not resemble music on any other
late night show, I guarantee it," said Kellison. "Exciting,
energetic, unconventional in its presentation. " Brandy and
Blackstreet are among the first-week acts, and one of the hottest
groups in the country, the Wu-Tang Clan, have also been booked.
Standing at the edge of Stage 46 at CBS Television City, the same
facility where "Politically Incorrect" and Tom Snyder's talk show
are taped, Kellison calmly surveys the "Vibe" set. On this day it
is littered with rubble and loose parts; after viewing some test
shows, the producers decided some set changes were needed. A facade
directly behind the area where Spencer will interview guests was
removed, revealing a backdrop that conveys a more relaxed mood.
The interview zone features big chairs and couches, a furniture
arrangement modeled on "The Arsenio Hall Show. " Each night, as a
funked-up orchestra plays him in, Spencer will descend onto the stage
via elevator, his figure silhouetted against the metallic mesh of the
capsule's front door. Again, it is reminiscent of Hall, who entered
his rollicking late-night party through a veil bathed in spotlights.
Although some viewers only remember the decline of Hall's show, a
time when it lost key time periods to David Letterman and plunged in
the ratings, "Vibe" and "Keenen Ivory Wayans" are on the air
because they believe they can at least partly re-create Hall's first
three years on the air, when it seemed everyone under the age of 30
was staying up to watch his "Night Thing."
Those are the viewers Wayans and Spencer need to reach if their
shows are to survive.
The Wayans way
Originally, Spencer's rival wasn't supposed to be Wayans. The
Walt Disney Co. had signed former NBA player John Salley to a
development deal and was pitching him as the next Arsenio. Salley was
affable and TV-quick, and he had become a polished performer over
years of talk-show appearances and post-game interviews. A test show
last year went fabulously, by all accounts, and Disney had a program
to make it forget the bitter and expensive failure of "The Stephanie
Miller Show."
And then Wayans, with a few months to kill between movie projects, decided he wanted to try his hand at talk. Salley was slam
dunked; Wayans was in.
Disney's decision, those in the business say, was a no-brainer:
the Wayans name is instantly recognizable among young audiences, and
in TV you always go with the sure thing - even though, time and time
again, the sure thing has turned out to be a dud.
That was certainly the case in early 1989, when "The Arsenio
Hall Show" and "The Pat Sajak Show" signed on. Sajak's program was
funded by CBS and represented the network's strongest attempt in 20
years to challenge the late-night dominance of NBC's "Tonight
Show. " Hall was being syndicated to a group of independent stations
by Paramount. Sajak, the host of "Wheel of Fortune," was
world-famous; Hall had a promising 13-week tryout on Fox's "The Late
Show" but was otherwise nearly unknown.
By the end of the year CBS affiliates were scrambling to replace
Sajak's show with "Arsenio," making it their de facto late-night
program.
In reality, "Keenen Ivory Wayans" and "Vibe" may very well
wind up competing with other shows rather than with each other. They
only go head-to-head in three of the country's top 10 markets.
"Vibe" is on at 9 p.m. in Chicago, and in other markets its target
audience may currently be watching "Mad About You" repeats.
"Both shows recognize there is a void that needs to be filled,"
Kellison said. "But Leno and Letterman co-exist. You have a hundred
options now (on late night). There's no reason two shows can't
co-exist, from my way of looking at it."

Channel 4's investigative leader not one to beat around the bush

Let's play a round of word association. I say "investigative TV
news. " You say?
The first thing many Kansas Citians' might say is "Stan
Cramer," or at least "that guy on Channel 5." KCTV's 17-year
consumer reporter and his "Call for Action" segments have firmly
rooted themselves in the local mindset.
Other viewers cite Micheal Mahoney, the intrepid political
reporter at KMBC, Channel 9, who also does "It's Your Money"
segments for the top-rated newscast. And some might even know of Jim
Condelles and the other "Public Defenders" at KSHB, Channel 41's
year-old investigative news unit.
A year from now, Brian Karem is hoping to join this short list of
high-visibility local journalists.
Karem, who as a TV reporter has annoyed a standing president,
gone to jail to protect a confidential source and helped send a few
dangerous punks to prison, has just become the centerpiece of WDAF's
investigative unit.
"Brian's experience and drive will bring investigative reporting
to a new level in Kansas City," Channel 4 news director Mike
McDonald said. "The formation of this unit represents an exciting
step forward."
Karem's hiring also casts light on a type of high-impact
journalism in which reporters are on the air less frequently but are
given greater latitude to research stories. When investigative pieces
appear on a newscast, they can be great theater, searing themselves
into viewers' memories - like Cramer's now-famous 1994 pursuit of
school superintendent Walter Marks to Florida on his purported sick
leave.
Although heading up an investigative unit is new to Karem,
committing memorable acts of journalism is old hat.
He was thrown in jail in 1990 when, working as a reporter in
Washington, D.C., he wouldn't identify a key source in a case related
to the shooting of a police officer. That stand won Karem a Freedom
of the Press award from the National Press Club, and he was
interviewed from his jail cell on "ABC News Nightline."
(Karem and his new boss have something in common: McDonald
appeared on "Nightline" in 1994 to defend his decision not to
surrender a videotape related to a fatal shooting near Penn Valley
Park.)
A clash at a testy press conference at the 1992 drug summit also
won Karem some notoriety, but the outcome wasn't so favorable. Karem
badgered then-President George Bush to answer his question; later
that week the San Antonio TV station where Karem was employed fired
him.
"They told me I embarrassed the country and was rude to the
president," he said.
Karem's most recent TV experience was on Fox's "America's Most
Wanted. " Before joining the station July 21, Karem had not been in
TV news for more than two years.
Karem said it was too early to predict what kind of stories he
would pursue, but he used "traditional investigative reporting" to
describe his mission - which may mean a wider scope than the
consumer-oriented reporting that "Call for Action" on 5 and "It's
Your Money" on 9 emphasize.
It's also expected that Channel 4 will hire or assign producers
and cameramen exclusively to the investigative unit, as "Public
Defenders" and "Call for Action" do.
"I think it's a good thing, because the other TV stations aren't
doing enough of it," Lynn Heider, Channel 41's news director, said
of WDAF's move. "Competition is good for the viewers."
But Channel 9's news director, Brian Bracco, who now presides
over the only newscast without a full-time investigative staff,
played down the differences between regular news and investigative
news.
"We do have 'It's Your Money' and have done some very good
things with that," Bracco said. "We think pocketbook issues are
very important and will continue to work that way."
Aaron Barnhart can be reached by dialing 889-STAR and entering
TVKC (8852), or by e-mail at barnhart@kcstar.com.