COMMENTARY
Will Channel 2 let go of consumer reporter Igoe?
What is the value of a consumer reporter who has been on the side of Channel 2 viewers for almost 20 years?
That’s the question facing Channel 2 General Manager Jim Toellner the day after veteran consumer reporter Mike Igoe accepted a buyout that has been offered to several staffers under companywide a staff reduction plan by Gannett, its owner.
Toellner has until Wednesday to decide whether to accept Igoe’s decision and that of anyone who takes the buyout. The general manager said last week that he wouldn’t discuss Gannett’s national buyout plan because it is a personnel matter.
“My thinking is I’m better off accepting it now instead of letting it play out,” Igoe told The Buffalo News after handing in his acceptance. “These are tough economic times, you just don’t know what will happen.”
Igoe, 55, has been very active in the community, hosting local segments of the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon and being involved in Channel 2’s Kids Escaping Drugs Telethon and colon cancer awareness. The consumer reporter said he doesn’t have another job lined up, which probably would make it easier for him to be persuaded to stay on.
Since he would celebrate his 20th anniversary at the station in February, Igoe presumably is a big-ticket item, and his salary may be part of Toellner’s equation. Consumer reporters also have become an endangered species in broadcasting in tough economic times.
Igoe was the most recognizable name among the staffers who had until Monday to decide whether to take what Gannett has termed a voluntary buyout. He is the only on-air staffer to meet the buyout requirements of being age 55 or older, having worked 10 years at the station and having no personal services contract. Igoe is working without a contract. Employees with personal services contracts, which include news, sports and weather anchors, were not eligible for the buyout.
Though Gannett has characterized the buyouts as voluntary, sources said some employees believe they then could be let go eventually without receiving the same severance package. Gannett has told employees that if not enough people volunteer to take the buyout and the business climate worsens, expense reductions that include layoffs could follow.
Strong comeback
Channel 4 has started running promos stating its news department won the November sweeps again. Channel 7 made significant gains at noon, 5 p. m. and 6 p. m., even tied Channel 2 at 5 p. m. and was a closer third at 6 p. m. Channel 2 almost cut in half Channel 4’s lead at 6 p. m., but that was its only bit of good news.
Those were the top stories of the just-concluded 28-day competition that ended the day before Thanksgiving.
Channel 4’s win in the first sweeps since its owner’s battle with Time Warner Cable knocked the station off 50 percent of the area’s households has to be comforting to the CBS affiliate. It also had to be encouraged that its viewership increased in the final two weeks.
Channel 7’s gains could be partly attributable to the strength of its early news lead-in, “The Doctors,” which replaced “PM Buffalo” at 4 p. m. this fall. According to a Channel 7 representative, the syndicated program gets its highest ratings in the country here.
Channel 2, meanwhile, has to be hoping that the demographic news — which arrives later — is more favorable to a station that appeared ready to more seriously challenge Channel 4.
The significant drop in news viewership in November has to be disturbing to all three channels that carry local news, which is one of their primary moneymakers.
News viewership dropped in all time periods, with double-digit percentage drops at 5 and 11 p. m. The late news losses can be partly attributable to the decline in prime-time viewing at 10 p. m.
Inside the Top 10
Speaking of prime time, CBS’ programming on Channel 4 had six of the Top 10 rated series here, including the top two shows in “CSI” (17.0) and “Criminal Minds” (15.9). The other four CBS shows in the Top 10 were “60 Minutes” (14.8), thanks to an interview with President-elect Obama; “NCIS” (14.5); newcomer “The Mentalist” (14.4); and “Two and a Half Men” (14.0). ABC had the other four shows in the Top 10: “Dancing with the Stars” (14.9) and its results show (14.2), “Grey’s Anatomy” (14.6) and “Desperate Housewives” (13.4).
Noticeably absent from the list are NBC and Fox shows. Fox, however, is poised for improvement in January with the return of “American Idol” and “24.” The same can’t be said of NBC, which essentially was waving the white flag last week in announcing its midseason plans.
Already overreliant on reality shows, NBC announced three new ones will premiere in January: “Superstars of Dance,” a monthlong Monday dance show; “Howie Do It,” a Friday video clip show with Howie Mandel; and “Momma’s Boys,” a Monday dating show. “The Bigger Loser: Couples” also will returns on Tuesday.
“Friday Night Lights” will return with original episodes that already have played on DirecTV, and “Law & Order: SVU” reruns will air at 10 p. m. Wednesday until the low-rated “Life” returns in February with new episodes. “Chuck” and the rapidly declining “Heroes” also will return in February with new episodes. “Dateline” will start airing at 10 p. m. this Friday in place of “Lipstick Jungle.”
Besides “Lipstick,” NBC also has canceled “My Own Worst Enemy.” The only new fall show it appears to have any faith in is the Thursday comedy “Kath & Kim,” and that may only be because it doesn’t have anything better to put in its place. This is one network that looks like a bigger loser than the Buffalo
Bills have looked for the past several weeks.
Miller makes list
Here’s one surprising honor for Jarod Miller of Eden. He made it in the A-Z section of People magazine’s latest Sexiest Man Alive edition. Miller, who has hosted numerous TV shows including CBS’ “Greatest American Dog,” is highlighted under the letter Z for zoologist.
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