Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Saturday Tribune-Review.
Q: It seems that KDKA-TV has made the decision that Ken Rice will be the only anchor of the 6 p.m. news, and the 7:30 p.m. newscast will feature revolving anchors. This year, KDKA didn’t send one of their regular sports reporters to Pirates Spring Training, which they have done in past years. Some of their stories appear to be less in-depth than WTAE or WPXI who have a reporter on the scene. KDKA tells a brief synopsis of a story, while the other two stations give more details. My guess is that these decisions are cost-saving measures. What is your opinion?
— Joyce, South Hills
Q: Don’t know if you saw KDKA’s sports reports from Pirates Spring Training. Instead of sending a reporter, they had Jason Mackey of the Post-Gazette doing reports. They consisted of him doing a standup and it was obviously shot on an iPhone, which included poor audio because of it. His standup was covered with some B-roll they had back at the station. Was this done to save money? TV news has changed … and not for the better!
— Bruce, Indiana, Pa.
Rob: Yes, all these moves do point to cost containment efforts on the part of KDKA-TV and likely at the behest of its corporate owner, Paramount, a Skydance Corporation.
Regarding the lack of reporters live on the scene, Joyce has noticed what may be the result of the many veteran videographers who took buyouts last August. Rice is solo anchoring at 6 p.m. for the foreseeable future, with single anchor situations common at some other CBS O&O stations as well.
I’m surprised Meghan Schiller no longer anchors at 7:30 p.m., but that appears to be the case. In November, her bio on the KDKA website said she reports at 4, 5 and 6 p.m. “before switching gears (and outfits) to anchor KDKA News at 7:30 p.m.” Now there’s no longer a mention of anchoring at 7:30, although she’s still listed on the site under “anchors” rather than “reporters.” I’ve heard Schiller wanted off the anchor desk, which she confirmed.
“I’ve absolutely loved anchoring the 7:30 (I launched it back during the pandemic), but I’m shifting my schedule earlier so I can be home for bath time and bedtime with my two little ones,” she explained. “These early years go quickly, and being present for those moments means a lot to me. It also gives me more time during the day to work on my KDKA Investigations. I’ll still regularly fill in as an anchor when needed during the earlier newscasts at 4, 5 and 6 p.m.”
Late last month, Josh Taylor moved from a part-time freelance role to full-time with the station and he’s been seen in the anchor chair at 7:30 and 10 p.m. with some regularity.
KDKA news director Cathy Noschese did not respond to the questions from Joyce and Bruce when I sought comment.
Q: Does the network decide that affiliates must broadcast special news reports or does each individual station decide? On March 3, for example, WTAE broadcast ABC’s special report of the president speaking about Iran while KDKA-TV was running “The Price Is Right.” Is that choice made locally or at the network?
— Katie, Green Tree
Rob: Usually, local affiliates make the call on whether to take a special report fed by the network, but owned and operated stations – KDKA-TV is a CBS/Paramount/Skydance O&O — may be more likely to carry a special network report than other affiliates.
It’s also my understanding that some networks have control over the cut-ins during network time periods (national morning news, national evening news, prime time), but in other time periods, it’s the station’s call.
But also remember, networks do not all choose to go live with a special report for the same things. In the example Katie describes, it appears ABC offered a special report to local stations and CBS did not, otherwise KDKA likely would have carried it.
Q: Are sweeps months still as important as they used to be? For example, “The Kelly Clarkson Show” had a week of repeats right in the middle of February.
— Chad, via email
Rob: First, Clarkson’s show has been somewhat irregular since she stepped back last year when her ex-husband and her children’s father died. And she has since announced she’s ending the series, so that program is probably not a good indicator of anything.
But also, yes, sweeps matter little compared to 20 years ago. Nielsen moved to year-round measurement gradually but retired all paper viewer diaries used to extrapolate demographic viewing data in July 2018.
The Pittsburgh market had meters that told stations how many people watched daily beginning in 1995. In 2009, the Pittsburgh market moved away from paper diaries to Local Paper Meters that track demographic ratings daily. I still try to report ratings after sweeps months just to offer a snapshot of local TV newscast competition, but the importance of sweeps is a shadow of what it once was.
