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Channel 3 has also made headway in the important 11 p.m. time slot. On weekdays, it is a challenging rather than a lagging third. A good last half of sweeps, and it could finish with double digit ratings for the first time since Alycia Lane was in grade school. Monday to Sunday, it is virtually tied with Channel 10 for the Number Two spot.
Weather wars heating up
- Weather wars are the hardest fought in this market.
With good reason. Channel 3 traffic reporter Bob Kelly notwithstanding, weather is one department in which the stations seem ready and willing to separate themselves and be different enough to earn an audience.
Last week, I mentioned that Channel 3 introduced a technique that lets its weather anchors pinpoint temperatures and precipitation within a street. Channel 10 called to say, maybe, but it introduced the seven-day forecast.
In either event, I want to congratulate the viewers of the market for having the opportunity to get their weather more exact and more local. Weather wars, and claims about weather reporting, are good for the market. They show a spirit of competition that is not seen in news presentation or sports reporting.
If only competitiveness would spread to those battlefields, we may have a market in which newscasts could not be missed. For now, except for weather, there’s little need to tune into a local newscast for anything.Bob Kelly notwithstanding.
(For the record, my take on the weather wars -- Channel 3 leads; with Channel 29 in second place; and Channel 6, Channel 10, and CN8 tying for third.
In sports, Channel 6 takes the lead with CN8 second, Channel 29 third, Channel 3 fourth, and Channel 10 fifth.
In news, it’s Channel 29 first, Channel 6 second, Channel 3 and CN8 tied for third, and Channel 10 fifth, but a close one.
In traffic, it’s Channel 3’s Kelly with only Channel 29’s Dorothy Krysiuk even near competing.
Apologies to Channel 17. It’s fallen off my radar. Trying to place it reminds me I have to make an effort to catch up with it.)
It’s a girl for Leslie Gudel
- Comcast SportsNet anchor Leslie Gudel gave birth on Feb. 7 to a girl, Kendall Jaclyn Kemm, who weighed in at 7 pounds, 9 ounces, and was 21.5 inches long. Leslie, Kendall, and the man in their lives, husband and father Jamie Kemm, are all doing fine.
The night before Leslie delivered Kendall, she was in front of the camera as host of a‘‘Meet the Phillies’’ program being taped at the Wachovia Center.
Eskin still in the lineup
- Confusion among sources created confusion about whether Howard Eskin has a berth on local television.
Confusion is cleared. Eskin remains on Channel 10’s‘‘Sunday Sports Final,’’ a fact now confirmed by Howard and the station.
As readers know, I consider that good news because Eskin knows sports and gets people excited by it, one way or the other.
So-long, ‘Sex and City’
- A special guest joins the discussion as Lynn Doyle and a free-wheeling "It’s Your Call" panel discuss the departure of ‘‘Sex and City’’ live at 9 tonight on CN8.
Also appearing live is Sean Palmer, the actor who played Marcus, the boyfriend of Stanford Blatch.
‘‘It’s Your Call’’ viewers will be able to telephone in questions for Palmer as well as make the usual comments that are a staple feature of Doyle’s show.
Lynn also goes the celebrity route at 9 on Wednesday when actress Kelly McGillis, due at the Merriam next month in ‘‘The Graduate,’’ makes a live appearance.
Not to be outdone, at 8 tonight, Mary Caraciolli speaks with the cast of‘‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’’ in a taped‘‘Money Matters’’ interview about marketing by major corporations to the gay consumer.
Lynam to perform as celebrity reader
- The last time Kelly McGillis performed in Philadelphia, it was in Eve Enssler’s‘‘The Vagina Monologues’’ at the Forrest Theatre.
This past weekend, Comcast SportsNet anchor Dei Lynam was a celebrity reader for a "‘Vagina Monologues" production at the Resorts Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. The performance was a benefit for the Atlantic County Women’s Center, a nonprofit social service agency.
Katz builds studio in his home
- Radio talker Jeff Katz has been concentrating on the new since he left WPHT (1210 AM) at the end of last year.
Taking a cue from his former 1210 colleague, Rollye James, Katz built a fully professional broadcast studio in his home.
From there, he can be on the air anywhere in the country. Jeff has been heard in various markets lately filling in for national hosts on the Clear Channel network.
On the family front, Jeff and his wife, Heidi, are expecting their third child later this year.
