TV Q&A: Why no Steelers game coverage on KDKA-TV morning news?

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Sunday Tribune-Review.

Q: Why doesn’t KDKA do morning-after pieces the day following Steelers games, whether they win or lose? They seem to ignore sports stories including the Steeler games, win lose or draw? Is it just a consultant mantra that women don’t care about sports? Pittsburgh has always been the exception to the rule.

– Bob via Facebook

Bob: My guess is it’s because everyone knows the score on Sunday, so why rehash it on Monday unless you’re going to go deeper during a sports segment, which morning newscasts usually do not have because, presumably, research shows that’s not what viewers watching at that hour want to see.

In late September, KDKA-TV news director Kathy Hostetter explained, “The reasoning is that viewers already know about the wins (or lately, losses). With 4 p.m. [game] conclusions, it’s somewhat old news by the time we go on the air 12 hours later. There are obviously exceptions for night games and anything that has a story arc that could continue into morning news.”

Q: I’m starting to freak out here Rob, so you’ve got to help me out on this: I tuned in to the over the air channel Decades on 61.6 and it is now the Home Shopping Network! Are you aware that this happened and where is Decades now?

– Joe via Facebook

Rob: I wasn’t given any advance warning either, but indeed on Oct. 1 Decades moved to over-the-air Channel 61.1 and HSN relocated to 61.6.

Q: Who is the young girl who sings the national anthem on KDKA-TV each morning at 4:30? Is she local?

– John via email

Rob: That’s Reina Ozbay of Parkland, Fla. The spot was created for and is used by CBS-owned stations, including Pittsburgh’s KDKA.

Q: I’m disappointed in WPXI that they chose to move “The Kelly Clarkson Show” to the middle of the night and kept the ridiculous “Judge Judy” in the afternoon. Why, oh, why did they do that? “Judge Judy” would be better as a middle of the night show to keep the insomniacs entertained!

– Kathy via email

Rob: Viewers are not a TV station’s customers. Advertisers are. And what really matters is the bottom line.

“Judge Judy” has long been a ratings winner for WPXI and they’ll keep using that show as a newscast lead-in for as long as it benefits the station.

Channel 11 tried “The Kelly Clarkson Show” in the daytime during the 2020-21 TV season and in November 2020 it was the lowest-rated show among the Big Three stations in household viewership in daytime and tied for lowest in the adults 25-54 demo. WPXI gave the show a chance, viewers soundly rejected it.

Q: Do you know why Kate McKinnon has been missing from the first three episodes of “Saturday Night Live” this season and when will she be returning?

– Mark, Squirrel Hill

Rob: Just as Aidy Bryant was MIA from “SNL” at the start of the 2020 TV season while filming the final season of Hulu’s “Shrill,” McKinnon is filming a project away from “SNL” (possibly “Joe Exotic’) and will return to NBC’s sketch comedy later this season.