Seems Wendy Cicchetti and April O'Dell have traded places. Wendy is now in the anchor seat at noon and April is in at 11 pm along with her usual duties at 6pm. I'm guessing Wendy asked for this reassignment considering she just came off maternity leave. In addition, I'm surprised that no one has mentioned that WPRI had one of the best May books in the history of the market. They won at noon and for the first time ever won at 5 pm. At 11 pm WJAR only won by one point and at 5:30 WPRI closed the gap. Sure WJAR still dominates in the morning and continues to be number 1, but with a new ownership group coming in I am sure some decisions will have to be made. I have never been a fan of the WPRI style, but hats off to them for making things competative. This can only help the viewers as the other stations will have to step up their game.
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WLNE Anchor Switch and the May Book
- Thread starter steve6
- Start date
O
odomski
Guest
Steve: thanks for posting the good news about WPRI's May ratings book. I was going to post the information, but you beat me to it! Finally, television viewers in Southern New England have learned how to Turn Away From 10.
This is a very interesting topic, given the entrenched nature of the viewers in the market. Do we think that this shift resulted from WPRI's improvements, WJAR's "issues", Doug White's medical leave, or all of the above? I could see that Doug White's medical leave may have spurred viewers to change channels and maybe they liked what they saw on WPRI. (Of course, that doesn't explain the noon news.)
Well WPRI has a very strong lead in at Noon. The Price is Right probably has a lot higher ratings than Martha Stewart does on NBC10. So that could be part of the reason the Noon newscast on Channel 12 is 1st. I also think the constant shift of Meteorologists at NBC 10 has harmed them. I'm not trying to say that WPRI has won by default.... because that's not the case. They have improved their newscast a great deal and rightfully deserve the victory. However I also think that other factors have played a part in the latest ratings. WJAR seems to have lost their sense of direction. Larry Estepa is so out of place in the market. The guy seems to have the personality of a wall. He barely ever cracks a smile. I swear that he's a Robot! I've never seen a newscaster look so miserable before. A total monotone and a complete bore. On the opposite spectrum Patrice Wood DOES crack a smile, but she always seems so phoney. When they go to commercial she'll constantly look at the monitor to see if she's still on camera. She is almost like an amateur who never learned to loosen up. So personally I think WJAR does have it's weak spots. The absence of Doug White probably has something to do with the ratings slip as well. WJAR needs to pull together and tie up these loose ends. They are loosing ground and the end result won't be pretty.
O
odomski
Guest
Things are going to get worse at Channel 10, with the upcoming sale to Media General. Despite me working for Channel 12, I do feel bad for the folks at WJAR. I have heard nothing but horror stories about Media General. Good luck to the union folks at WJAR. There is a thread on TVSpy that talks about the station, the union, their contract, and the upcoming Media General takeover.
Skynet --
Thanks for the commentary. I'm not in the Providence market now. Is Larry Estepa subbing for Doug White? It sounds like Larry hasn't aged well. He was an up and comer in the 80's, co-anchoring with Doug White back before the male/female pairing was popular. Also, he was an anchor/reporter in Dallas for a few years in the 90's before returning to Providence. Patrice has also been there a long, long time and shouldn't have any amateur tendancies at all.
But all of this is quite significant. WPRI has been firmly entrenched in second place for years now. Good to see some competition in the market. Now, if only WLNE could do something, anything at all...nah, it will never happen. I always thought that they should go back and focus on the Fall River/New Bedford/SE Mass area. They might actually get more news viewers.
Thanks for the commentary. I'm not in the Providence market now. Is Larry Estepa subbing for Doug White? It sounds like Larry hasn't aged well. He was an up and comer in the 80's, co-anchoring with Doug White back before the male/female pairing was popular. Also, he was an anchor/reporter in Dallas for a few years in the 90's before returning to Providence. Patrice has also been there a long, long time and shouldn't have any amateur tendancies at all.
But all of this is quite significant. WPRI has been firmly entrenched in second place for years now. Good to see some competition in the market. Now, if only WLNE could do something, anything at all...nah, it will never happen. I always thought that they should go back and focus on the Fall River/New Bedford/SE Mass area. They might actually get more news viewers.
It's not that Larry Estepa hasn't aged well. He still looks fine. But his whole presentation is just plain lousy. There is no personality there whatsoever. Even his voice is hard to hear. The only time I saw him crack a smile was a couple of weeks ago when they showed a clip of a baseball player who accidenly hit a Bird who flew over home plate. The guy can't even laugh at the proper moment. I think that is the only time I ever remember him showing any personality at all.... and that's when some guy almost smashed a bird into a million pieces! Awful Awful AWFUL!
You are right. Patrice Wood shouldn't be amateurish after more than 20 years in the market. But I think she's definitely lacking something. She's either uncomfortable or phoney. I can't decide which one.
You are right. Patrice Wood shouldn't be amateurish after more than 20 years in the market. But I think she's definitely lacking something. She's either uncomfortable or phoney. I can't decide which one.
Interesting! Then, it must have Doug White who propped up Patrice and Larry (back in the 80's). It seems to confirm that the whole SE New England market revolved around personalities like Doug White and Art Lake. I used to include John Ghiorse in that club, but he didn't take very many viewers away when he went off to WLNE for 15 years.
Back in the day, people used to change the channel when they heard WLNE/WTEV's news theme music. It was almost like "time to TURN to 10". People generally liked Walter Cryan, but they could never find anyone good to pair him with (Karen Adams was definitely the best).
Back in the day, people used to change the channel when they heard WLNE/WTEV's news theme music. It was almost like "time to TURN to 10". People generally liked Walter Cryan, but they could never find anyone good to pair him with (Karen Adams was definitely the best).
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