Again, I agree with you. All I'm saying is the ratings are a great indicator of how the branding is doing. KPNX is a great example. When I first got here 12 years ago, KPNX was top-rated and known for quality news (i.e. "12 Stands for Local News"). Now, the branding and ratings have decreased dramatically.
I'm old enough to remember KOOL-TV 10, so I remember when KTVK's news was a joke. 10 and 12 were dominant.
Then 3 got tired of losing and hired 10's brain trust. "Newschannel 3" owned news in Phoenix for a long time and even if they didn't win outright when all the affiliations swapped they were strong.
When 3 lost its ABC affiliation, news was the still best thing on KTVK's schedule (and making them a s--tload of money), which is why they added additional newscasts when they became independent.
15 had no news department until maybe the last year they were Fox. They launched a quick paced "no chitchat more news" format that I personally liked but went against all TV news norms and they aggressively hired some of the best in the valley to staff their newsroom to get it launched. When Fox bought 10 and Scripps made its deal for ABC, they moved more towards a traditional newscast. But since they had hired experienced photogs and desk people, even if most of the on air talent was new they knew what they were doing.
5 had a small news department as an independent and produced a 9PM newscast, so while they weren't as new to producing news as 15 was, they also had to ramp up in a hurry when they landed CBS because they needed to crank out more stories more often.
End result of all the networks swapping around: 12 did well because they were the only station that didn't change. They were at the top of the market before it became chaos. Everybody else had to find their way. But when I come home and watch 12 these days, everybody looks and talks like they moved to the Valley a week ago. And 12's branding is simply plugging their logo into the current TEGNA "this is home" package.
My elderly mother has a schedule that she follows where she flips between 12, 10, 5, and 15 for various newscasts around the clock (and the occasional 3) so I see lots of news when I come home. (keep your hands off the remote and quiet down, the weather is coming on...) 12's news isn't as good as I remember it. 5 has improved. 15 is good. 10 is probably the least Fox-like Fox O&O (although today you see some of that Fox slant come in). 3 before Meridith was mostly new grads (and let's face it, when I was offered work there the money was terrible, so that's what you get). Mom hates most of the news talent on every station, but she's so far out of the demo, that's probably a good thing...
