KHON leads
TV ratings

"American Idol" and the
Superbowl helped propel
the station in February

CORRECTION Thursday, March 24, 2005 » TV station KGMB ranks second in Nielsen 10 p.m. ratings, followed by KHNL and KITV. A chart on Page C6 Tuesday incorrectly placed KITV second followed by KGMB and KHNL. The chart also transposed the rankings of KITV and KGMB at 6 p.m. KITV ranks third, while KGMB is second. In addition, KHNL received a 3 rating and 8 share at 5 p.m. The chart incorrectly reported the station received an 8 rating. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at corrections@starbulletin.com.

"American Idol" once again boosted the ratings of No. 1-ranked Fox affiliate KHON-TV, this time in the February 2005 Nielsen measurements.

On Monday nights, American Idol averaged a 28 household rating with a 47 share -- even though nobody from Hawaii is in the running this time.

A rating point is roughly 1 percent of the population, while share is the percentage of households watching television who are tuned to a particular station.

The show garnered a 30 rating and a 48 share on Tuesday nights while Wednesday night's numbers, a 25 rating and 39 share, are lower, likely because people can learn ahead of time which contestants won't be advancing by browsing the show's Web site.

KHON was also helped by the Super Bowl, which aired during the Feb. 3 through March 2 ratings survey.

KHON's news shows in the morning, evening and at night, still dominate the competition.

"I've been in this business 28 years and I've never met a Nielsen book I liked, even when you've got a lot of things going for you," said Rick Blangiardi, senior vice president for Emmis Communications Corp. He oversees KHON and KGMB, both owned by Emmis.

He likened ratings surveys to watching football game tapes.

"Even when you won the game, you watch the tape you see all the things that could have been better," he said.

Networks can contribute to or detract from viewership of local news shows, depending on what show is on before a newscast.

Hawaii ABC-affiliate KITV has suffered in recent years as the network has struggled with low-rated shows.

"We have nothing" except a strong lead-in from "Boston Legal" on Sunday nights, said President and General Manager Mike Rosenberg.

The Hawaii-filmed "Lost," "Desperate Housewives," and the airing of the Academy Awards, which got a 31 rating and 49 share, have helped the station somewhat, though the station's 10 p.m. news remains in fourth place.

The February ratings period was the second for the brand new 9 p.m. newscast on KFVE-TV.

"The show got a 2 in November and a 3 in February and I think that's great for a new news show," John Fink vice president and general manager for KFVE and KHNL, which are both owned by Raycom Media. "I think we've found an audience and I think it will continue to grow."

Fink noted the volume of people out and about by 6 and 6:30 in the morning, dropping off children at school or getting to work early.

"Many of those people have told us first-hand that they appreciate the newscast one hour earlier," he said.

KHNL's more-established newscasts at standard times were also up from the November survey.

"We are pleased with the growth and we expect to continue moving in that direction," he said.

KHNL's biggest challenge since launching its news operations in 1995 has been to change established viewing habits, "but we feel that there are a lot of people that are still trying to find that favorite news on a consistent basis. Our goal is to put out a newscast that compels people to watch us every night and not just occasionally."

KHNL's lead-in programming on NBC includes the long-running "ER," four "Law & Order" shows and the new show "Medium."

Fink said the television playing field is drastically different than 10 years ago.

"It is no longer a four- or five-station universe, but the networks are competitive for creative talent with myriad cable entities, pay-cable entities, not to mention the time people spend on the Internet, with DVDs and with video games," he said.

In addition to increased competition for viewer eyeballs, Blangiardi takes issue with Nielsen's methodology in collecting viewer information this time and in November.

Nielsen declined to sweeten cash incentives to 18-to-34-year-olds in Nielsen households during the last two surveys, giving Nielsen less information about an important demographic group.