For decades, Cincinnati television viewers have watched the main anchor teams deliver the news at 11 p.m., which station managers consider the most important daily newscast.
But not now at WCPO-TV.
Cincinnati-based Scripps flagship station has pulled main co-anchors Tanya O'Rourke and Craig McKee from the 11 p.m. news "to better position us to meet our goals," says Jeff Brogan, WCPO-TV vice president and general manager.
Since the Al Schottelkotte News premiered in 1959 at 11 p.m. on Channel 9, Cincinnati viewers have been accustomed to seeing the primary news personality (or personalities) delivering the late news: Nick Clooney; Clyde Gray and Carol Williams; Rob Braun and Cammy Dierking; and Jerry Springer and Norma Rashid.
Channel 9 viewers since Thanksgiving have seen a parade of anchors on weekday 11 p.m. newscasts – Evan Millward, Bret Buganski, and O'Rourke or McKee working solo, and Millward and Jasmine Styles co-anchoring Tuesday night.
"We recently moved a few of our anchors’ schedules around to better position us to meet our goals. All our newscasts are important to us but so is serving our audience on all platforms. The days of focusing on just one newscast — or newscasts exclusively — are over," Brogan says.
For more than a week O'Rourke and McKee have co-anchored all 90 minutes of the 5-6:30 p.m. local news block, while the other stations mixed and matched anchors.
WCPO-TV is building on its strength. November sweeps ratings show WCPO-TV first from 5-6:30 p.m. with viewers ages 25 to 54, the demographic stations use for advertising rates. A year ago WCPO-TV was fourth in the money demo at 5 p.m., and second at 6 p.m.
At 11 p.m. in November, WCPO-TV essentially was tied for second with WKRC-TV in the demo, behind WLWT-TV. WXIX-TV, which has been a strong No. 1 in late news (10-11:35 p.m.) for five years, lost news viewers because of the World Series, WXIX-TV folks tell me.
Since I started writing about Cincinnati broadcasting in 1985, TV station managers have told me that the late news ratings were most important to them — even as early evening newscasts expanded into the late afternoon and more resources were poured into morning news — while the 11 p.m. audience shrank.
One of the factors making one newscast more important over another is the amount advertisers pay for commercials. Typically, commercials coming out of prime time at 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. are the most valued for advertisers and stations, I'm told.
Concentrating on the early news — or having the prominent anchors working day shifts to turn stories — makes sense for WCPO-TV, the only Cincinnati news station that doesn't produce a 10 p.m. newscast. Competitors WXIX-TV, WLWT-TV and WKRC-TV all do 10 p.m. news (on Channels 19, 64 and 5.2) in addition to the 11 p.m. news.
McKee was seen on the early evening news Tuesday interviewing Cincinnati and Montgomery restaurant owners whose social media accounts had been hacked. Last week he reported a story from Cincinnati City Hall.
"Our anchors are accomplished journalists, and the new schedule assignments allow them to get out and tell more stories our viewers and users care about," Brogan says.
"These changes help us further prioritize serving our audiences wherever — and whenever — they consume our content," Brogan says. "We are a multi-media news organization that is serving audiences on TV, mobile, digital, and our streaming apps."
One of the most significant changes on the Cincinnati TV landscape in recent years has been the explosive growth of WXIX-TV's news footprint. The city's first 10 p.m. newscast, launched in 1993, has spawned 12.5 hours of weekday newscasts at 4:30-11 a.m.; 3-6:30 p.m.; and 10-11:35 p.m. The Fox 19 news is No. 1 in the 25-54 demographic at 4:30 a.m., 6 a.m., 7 a.m., 11 a.m., 3 p.m., 4 p.m. and 10 p.m.