Locals Beating Nets In Top 3 Markets In A.M.

Circling above New York on a frigid morning two weeks ago, WNYW’s helicopter spotted a lone surfer along the coast of Long Island and fed the images to the Fox O&O’s Good Day New York. As the surfer struggled to catch a wave, co-hosts Greg Kelly and Rosanna Scotto provided rather snarky commentary.

The next day, they featured the surfer, Doug Bard, on the four-hour morning show to learn about cold-weather surfing. They received a bar of Sex Wax (look it up) from him and Bard got a chance to do the weather in front of the green screen.

With just that kind of hometown reporting and plenty of local weather and traffic, Good Day New York edged past ABC’s Good Morning America in March to claim the No. 1 spot among morning shows in the No. 1 TV market.

Good Day New York’s narrow — and perhaps transitory — victory also means that local morning shows now trump the big-budget network shows in the country’s three top markets. In Los Angeles, Tribune’s KTLA Morning News rules. In Chicago, it’s Tribune’s WGN Morning News.

“In all these cases, the shows are anchored by extremely likeable, fun, accessible talent that isn’t afraid to make fun of themselves,” says TV Guide Los Angeles Bureau Chief Michael Schneider.

The local content and casual vibe of the shows, particularly in Los Angeles and Chicago have more appeal for many than the New York-based  network shows. “The anchors on these local shows just feel more real,” Schneider says.

Good Day New York, which earned an average 1.425 rating among 25-54 year-olds at 7-9 a.m. in March, narrowly beat ABC’s Good Morning America’s 1.421 in the demo, according to ratings provided by Fox. NBC’s Today averaged a 1.275 rating. CBS This Morning and WPIX Morning News, produced by Tribune’s CW affiliate in New York, tied for fourth with a 0.5.

Good Day New York’s number is up 4% from March 2013, when it rated second with a 1.374 rating behind GMA’s 1.898. The rating is a 28% increase from the 1.110 earned in March 2012, when Good Day New York was in third place.

The win marks the first time Good Day New York beat GMA since Nielsen launched local people meters in 2004, Fox says.

WNWY News Director Byron Harmon says he believes the rapport between co-anchors Kelly and Scotto is driving the success of Good Day New York.

They have been together for most of five-plus years (Kelly took seven months off from the show in 2012 to anchor the station’s 6 and 10 p.m. news). The station also has made some behind-the-scenes changes, including making Lamar Goering, a former line producer, executive producer in January. He replaced Jason Hartelius, who went to the NFL Network.

Harmon says Good Day New York’s priority is covering news — from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposed ban on horse-drawn carriages to the missing Malaysian jet. When a Harlem building exploded in mid-March, the show scrapped an entertainment segment to cover the story for three or so hours.

Traffic and weather reports air every 10 minutes. But Harmon also has been beefing up the show’s entertainment value since assuming his job nine months ago. Good Day New York includes pre-produced skits, mystery guest games and themed parties for events like the Super Bowl or Oscars.

The show’s growth “comes from taking the shackles off and experimenting,” Harmon says.

If Harmon and his team keep it up, local morning shows could dominate the country’s three largest markets for some time.

WGN Morning News in Chicago has topped ratings in the country’s third largest market for more than three years. It earned an average 2.5 rating among 25-54 year-olds from 7-9 a.m. in March, according to ratings provided by Tribune. It was followed by GMA with a 1.4, and Today with a 1.2.

WGN’s journey to No. 1 was a long one. The 20-year-old show was stuck in third place before overtaking Today five years ago, says Executive Producer Sandy Pudar The show’s subsequent success over GMA, Pudar says, was the result of slow, but steady gains.

“There was no big hurrah, no format change,” she says. “If you give people day in and day out what they want, you pretty much have a winning formula.”

That formula includes the same elements at play at WNYW — personality, news, localism, as well as some fun.

Chicago weather gets huge play when warranted. Coverage of big news stories — local, national or international — features Chicago-based experts and connections.

“You can never beat having that hometown touch,” Pudar says.

Pudar says WGN Morning News on-air talent distinguishes the show. Co-anchors Larry Potash and Robin Baumgarten, as well as weatherman Paul Konrad, have been together for most of the two decades the show as been on the air.

They take covering news seriously, but are not so hung up on propriety that they don’t have a sense of humor — or the ability to roll with the punches.

When audio equipment failed during the February book, WGN had no sound for 19 minutes. So, the anchors made signs to keep the audience tuned in, she says.  More recently, the morning show interviewed a guy who gave up food for Lent, opting for beer instead.

KTLA Morning News, produced by Tribune’s CW affiliate in Los Angeles, is also on a winning streak, rating first for at least a year, says News Director Jason Ball.  In March, the show averaged a 1.2 rating, followed by GMA with a 0.8, according to Tribune-provided numbers. Fox-owned KTTV’s Good Day LA rated third with a 0.6, followed by Today at 0.5.

Ball says the show’s recent stint at the top reflects KTLA Morning News’ commitment to providing hard news with a distinct Southern California vibe.

Ball says viewers are “going to get everything they need locally” — including traffic and weather, which air every 15 minutes — without missing any big national or international stories.

Because it’s live and local, KTLA can offer viewers insights and timeliness they don’t get from the tape-delayed national morning shows, he says. In covering the recent earthquakes, KTLA reports included its own cache of U.S. Geological Survey sources and the like.

“It’s great that we can cover those stories instead of New York covering L.A.,”  Ball says.

The show is co-anchored by Frank Buckley, who joined KTLA from CNN in 2005, and Jessica Holmes, who replaced longtime anchor Michaela Pereira after she took a job with CNN last year.

Like the other local morning shows, KTLA Morning News also has a lighter side — one that allows it to do things like having the Laker Girls on as guests and stories on kilt making workshops. The show also is heavy on entertainment news with a good does of  celebrity guests who just also happen to be local

“We believe that you have to own the big story of the day to earn the right to have some fun,” Ball says.

Read other Air Check columns here. You can send suggestions for future Air Checks to Diana Marszalek at [email protected].