The Late Night Mess Hits Home Locally

In my original post about NBC’s late night debacle I mentioned that it was the NBC affiliates that prompted the discussions about a move because of the effect “The Jay Leno Show” has had on their 11 p.m. newscasts.

An effect that has been felt significantly here locally…

In an article on the website of “The New York Times” Don Ray, the general manager of WSAZ is quoted as saying that the station makes 60 percent of the money it used to make at 11 p.m.

According to the article, the WSAZ 11 p.m. newscast in November received a 3 rating in the coveted 18-49 demographic. That was down from a 6 rating the same month last year.

I would say that’s pretty substantial, wouldn’t you?

Ray went on to say that he was happy about NBC’s potential plan to move Jay back to late night: “It’ll be good to have Leno back following our news instead of leading into our news.”

You can read the entire article here.