TELEVISION Network praises WFMJ

The gap has widened between WFMJ news and its closest competitor, WKBN.
YOUNGSTOWN -- NBC's top dog knows what's going on at WFMJ Channel 21 -- and he likes it.
WFMJ station manager John Grdic recently received a memo from Robert C. Wright, chairman and CEO of NBC and vice chairman and executive officer of GE, the network's parent company.
Wright congratulated Grdic on WFMJ's "outstanding performance" during the July ratings period as surveyed by Nielsen Media Research. NBC values the support it receives from affiliates such as WFMJ, Wright said.
NBC has more than 200 affiliates.
The memo is the first that news director Mona Alexander has seen from Wright.
"This is really unusual," Alexander said Thursday. "This is the head, head, top honcho."
Alexander didn't know why the memo was issued now, but "we're thrilled that he's so encouraged by our continued success," she said.
An NBC media relations representative didn't respond to questions that were e-mailed from The Vindicator.
News programs
WFMJ news contributed to the station's success. The Nielsen report shows WFMJ had the most-watched weekday morning and evening news programs in the Youngstown market from July 10 to Aug. 6.
In fact, the gap between WFMJ and its closest competitor, WKBN-TV Channel 27, has widened since July 2002. That's one way to compare ratings reports, because people's TV viewing habits change with the seasons.
"WFMJ Today"'s audience shares increased from five to 12 points every half-hour from 5 to 7 a.m. WKBN's "First News This Morning" also gained shares from 5 to 6 a.m. compared with a year ago, but lost two shares after 6 a.m.
WKBN's noon news (12 rating, 37 share) still outpaces WFMJ's (5 rating, 15 share).
At 6 p.m., WFMJ (12 rating, 27 share) was up two shares, while WKBN (10 rating, 21 share) was down four.
The biggest gap occurred at 11 p.m., with WFMJ first (13 rating, 31 share, up seven shares), followed by WKBN (8 rating, 19 share, down two) and WYTV Channel 33 (4 rating, 9 share, down one).
July was what Alexander called "a strong news cycle," with severe weather and flooding dominating the nightly news. She found it "gratifying" that "when people needed information, they were watching us," she said.
Ratings and shares represent what percentage of all TV watchers are tuned in to a program. Ratings are based on all households that own TV sets. Shares reflect how many TVs were actually turned on when a program aired.