TV Talk: KDKA+ announces 8 p.m. anchor; local ratings; Pa.-set 'Great Photo' uncovers family’s story

WPKD-TV, known in branding as KDKA+ on Channel 19, will begin broadcasting a one-hour 8 p.m. newscast Jan. 8 with Jessica Guay as anchor, relocating from her current weekend morning anchor position on KDKA-TV. Ray Petelin will provide weather forecasts on “Primetime News on KDKA+.” Recent hire Megan Shinn will take over as weekend morning anchor on KDKA.

WPKD, sister station of KDKA-TV, announced plans for a nightly prime-time newscast in August when the station revealed its new call letters and branding at the time of its disaffiliation from The CW as the station became an independent channel.

The 8 p.m. news on WPKD will be the only live local newscast on linear TV airing in that time period. The move is part of a broader trend among CBS-owned, former CW stations, many of which are also adding a prime-time newscast.

November sweeps ratings

Nielsen’s sweeps periods offer a snapshot view of how local newscast viewership lines up and in November, KDKA-TV had the most first-place broadcasts in overall household viewership, while WTAE-TV had the most first-place newscasts in the key demo of ages 25-54.

Ratings released last week by Nielsen include household ratings that reflect a measure of popularity and the more important-to-stations demographic ratings, including the key demo of ages 25-54, that are used to set ad rates.

Compared to a year ago, WPXI was up in six time periods in households and three time periods in the demo. KDKA was down in every time period in the demo and had a mix of up and down ratings in households. WTAE had more ratings up than down from a year ago in households and the demo.

WTAE was first at 5 and 6 a.m. in households and the key demo. KDKA ranked second at 5 a.m. in households while KDKA and WPXI were tied for second in the demo. At 6 a.m. WPXI was second in the demo and KDKA ranked third.

Newscasts at 7 and 8 a.m. on WPKD-TV, Channel 19 (AKA KDKA+), came in fourth overall. But those WPKD morning newscasts came in ahead of programming on WPGH-TV and WPNT-TV in households and the key demo, so it’s unsurprising that WPXI will begin producing a 7 a.m. newscast for WPGH in early 2024. No word yet on who the anchors will be but presumably it will include some portion of the morning team from Channel 11.

On KDKA, “Pittsburgh Today Live” almost doubled the ratings of the competition on WPXI and WTAE in households although in the demo all three stations had almost identical ratings/share.

At noon, the usual rank order abides with KDKA first, WTAE second and WPXI third in household and the demo.

KDKA’s “Talk Pittsburgh” hasn’t yet doubled its competitor’s household ratings the way “PTL” did. “Talk Pittsburgh” came in a close second in household ratings to “The Kelly Clarkson Show” on Channel 4. In the demo, both shows had the exact same rating/share as did “NBC News Daily” on Channel 11.

From 4-6:30 p.m., KDKA ranked first, WTAE was second and WPXI was third in household ratings. In that same period, WTAE ranked first in the demo with WPXI tied for first at 4 and 6 p.m. and in second place at 5 p.m.

At 6:30 p.m., Channel 11 News on WPGH ranked fourth behind WTAE, WPXI and KDKA but it came in ahead of WPNT and WPKD in households and the key demo.

KDKA’s 7:30 p.m. newscast ranked second behind “Jeopardy!” on WPXI in households and tied with WTAE for second in the demo.

At 10 p.m., the news on WPKD came in first in households, but WPGH was first in the key demo.

At 11 p.m. the household rank order was KDKA, WPXI, WTAE while the demo rank order was WPXI, WTAE and KDKA.

‘Great Photo, Lovely Life’

Freelance photojournalist Amanda Mustard traveled to Bradford, Pa., to film scenes for her first documentary film, “Great Photo, Lovely Life: Facing a Family’s Secrets” (10 p.m. Dec. 5, HBO/Max), directed by Mustard and Rachel Beth Anderson.

In the film, Mustard explores secrets about her grandfather, Dr. William Flickinger, a Bradford chiropractor who was convicted in 1975 of the statutory rape of two 12-year-old girls. He was sentenced to two years of probation and moved to Harrisburg, where his sexual abuse crimes against minors continued.

In a Zoom interview this week Mustard said she was inspired to explore her family’s skeletons because she had a drive to get at the truth. And she wanted to avoid having her grandfather’s crimes swept under the rug as they had been in the past.

“Things were not clear to me and I just became somebody that wanted to find out the truth for myself,” Mustard said. “At first it was pointed outwards in becoming a photojournalist, telling these stories all around the world about somewhere else, someplace else, somebody else. And as I developed those muscles I started to look at my own family a little differently and be like, ‘Oh, there’s a massive injustice just sitting right at home perhaps I could look into.’”

Mustard’s eight years making the film included interviews with her grandfather, her mother, her sister and several of her grandfather’s victims.

The film’s title comes from a note her grandfather wrote on the back of a photo he sent to his family in Pennsylvania while living in Florida late in his life.

“To me, it just spoke to the delusion that is in the air of my family,” Mustard said, “that ‘everything’ fine, guys!’”

One of the primary conflicts in “Great Photo, Lovely Life” turns out to be between Mustard’s mother and her sister. Mustard’s sister blames their mother for allowing her to be left alone with her grandfather.

“This film is the first time any of us have really addressed this,” Mustard said. “We saw my sister get a little bit of acknowledgment from my grandfather and my grandma through a letter. And that’s something my mom hasn’t experienced. So I think it is a tall order for someone with a lifetime of traumatic experiences, that may or may not have been dealt with, to then be expected to offer or facilitate healing for someone else when you haven’t received that yourself. I have a lot of compassion for my mom’s position in this and I hope that audiences do as well.”

Channel surfing

Swissvale native Billy Gardell’s “Bob (Hearts) Abishola” will end with its upcoming fifth season that begins airing at 8:30 p.m. Feb. 12 on CBS. The series finale is set for 8:30 p.m. May 13. … The first of five episodes in the new WQED digital series “Authentic Lives,” highlighting positive stories from the Western Pennsylvania LGBTQIA+ community, is now streaming at https://wqed.org/authenticlives. … Prime Video is developing another spin-off from “The Boys” titled “The Boys: Mexico.” … Emma Stone hosts NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” Dec. 2 with musical guest Noah Kahan; Adam Driver hosts Dec. 9 with Olivia Rodrigo and Kate McKinnon hosts Dec. 16 with Billie Eilish.