Everywhere else they call it "ABC News Nightline. " Here at TVKC, we like to think of it as "ABC This Morning With Ted Koppel." Until recently "AfterMASH" worked pretty well, too. On March 24, 1980, "Nightline," the expanded half-hour version of ABC's Iranian-crisis update "America Held Hostage," signed on for the first time. The local affiliate, KMBC, Channel 9, delayed it by 90 minutes so as not to disrupt its block of three syndicated sitcoms. Times change, ancient regimes topple, the Dow multiplies. But at KMBC, the three-comedy rule lives on, as ironclad as the "Nightline" 12:05 a.m. start time, almost certainly the latest in the entire Central time zone. Koppel, for one, is not amused. "I think it's irresponsible on the part of the station's management," he said. "I don't think they can point either to their own financial profit or to the public interest in Kansas City as justifying what they're doing." The Emmy- and Peabody-award-winning anchor interrupted his vacation to return a recent telephone call, a sign perhaps that, for all the success "Nightline" has enjoyed over the years, it still genuinely galls Koppel to know he's parked behind a Brett Butler repeat in a major market. "At a time like this, when there are nothing but major crises around the world, when the country itself may be facing a major constitutional crisis, to have three syndicated comedies on each night when there's a news program that tries to deal responsibly and seriously with issues that, I think, must concern the public - I don't think that is the mark of either a responsible business or responsible citizens," Koppel said. Just a few years ago as much as 40 percent of the country saw "Nightline" on a delay. ABC affiliates were able to flout the network's 10:35 p.m. airtime with impunity because, as ABC well knew, the time period following the late local news was when its stations could make a great deal of money showing syndicated programs. But in the early 1990s, as networks began relying more on profits from their news divisions, ABC started to push stations to carry "Nightline" on time. Financial incentives were offered if they complied. Koppel even showed up at an ABC affiliates meeting and announced that if "Nightline" didn't begin running live in more markets, he'd quit the show - a gesture he now admits was less effective in changing stations' minds than ABC's wheeling and dealing. Today, 86 percent of the country watches "Nightline" live. Why, though, did KMBC stand its ground? Channel 9's General Manager Paul Dinovitz was uncharacteristically terse, offering only a few comments for the record. "For the foreseeable future, we're going to be programming sitcoms," Dinovitz said. "The experience we've had, with phenomenal numbers in late fringe, is part of the station's history. We look at it continually. I'm not saying we look at it every other day, but we look at it, and we feel we'll do significantly better with sitcoms." In fact, it would be hard to argue with Dinovitz on this point. The KMBC late-night sitcom block, which predated Dinovitz by many years, is a ratings phenomenon. Nearly a quarter of Kansas Citians tune in, generating millions for the station every year. So powerful is KMBC's hold on late-night viewers that, even with a 12:05 start, "Nightline" consistently outperforms the national average in the Nielsen ratings. And Channel 9 does tip its hat to public service, offering "Nightline" live when it thinks the news story is sufficiently compelling, such as the president's address to the nation or Mark McGwire's 62nd home run. Still there are those who think KMBC's intransigence is less about money and more about upholding tradition. "There's more than one way to make money in the business of broadcasting and still try to serve the wide audience," said Ed Piette, the former WDAF general manager who now runs ABC affiliate KSTP in Minneapolis. "If you are dedicated to doing news in a responsible fashion - and that show is a very, very newsworthy program - you can work it out." Piette knows of what he speaks. Last week, for the first time, his station began running "Nightline" at 10:35 p.m. That means Minneapolis is no longer the largest market in the country to delay "Nightline. " Kansas City is, albeit briefly. (Nielsen Media Research is about to reshuffle its market rankings; when that happens, Kansas City will fall behind Milwaukee, where the ABC affiliate also postpones Koppel.) Dinovitz surely knows he has the clout to delay "Nightline" as late and as long as he likes. KMBC belongs to the Hearst-Argyle chain, the largest group of ABC affiliates in the country, and Dinovitz's boss, David Barrett, heads up the network affiliates' group. Koppel knows all this and remains unimpressed. "They have to understand that they are in a business where they are using the public airwaves. And as the broadcast media fragment even further, the degree of responsibility that a station's management demonstrates is - one of these days - going to be the only way that it can distinguish itself from the 300 other options that are out there. And by time they come to recognize that fact, it'll probably be too late for them." StarTouch: 889-7827 and enter 8852 (TVKC). E-mail: writeme@tvbarn.com.
