Posted Wednesday, Sept. 11
PBS wins big at News Emmys
PBS documentaries earned 14 gold statues Tuesday night at a ceremony marked by multiple winners in numerous categories of the 23rd Annual News and Documentary Awards presentation by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
CBS News took home seven awards, followed by ABC News (six), CNN (four) and HBO and NBC News (three). National Geographic programming earned three awards, two for material seen on MSNBC and one for a show on National Geographic Channel. The Learning Channel, WABC-TV in New York and WKRC-TV in Cincinnati earned one award each.
ABC’s Barbara Walters paid tribute to former ABC Sports and News President Roone Arledge, who was honored with the first ever Lifetime Achievement Emmy. Mr. Arledge said in a taped speech that he was “a bit shaky in the legs” and was not present to see the taped homages by personages ranging from former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “60 Minutes” creator Don Hewitt and Disney Chairman Michael Eisner.
Mr. Arledge, however, was in top story-telling form, joking about his affectation for safari jackets and recounting how a summer job as a waiter and his above-and-beyond service to a customer would prove to be what got him in the door at DuMont Television Network, where he began his fabled career. His two daughters, including Emmy nominee Betsy Arledge, accepted the Lifetime Achievement Emmy, the 37th in Mr. Arledge’s collection.
A complete list of awards can be accessed at www.emmyonline.org
/national/newsdoc/NDwinners_02.doc.
JPMorgan joins bearish ad-forecast chorus: When is an advertising recovery not an advertising recovery? A new report from JPMorgan says all U.S. ad spending will grow only 1 percent to 2 percent, which is better than last year’s 6 percent decline but below consensus estimates of 2 percent to 3 percent growth for 2002. Political advertising and favorable comparisons to the post-Sept. 11 advertising dearth will help overall domestic ad spending to grow 3 percent in the second half of 2002, according to analyst Spencer Wang. He nearly halved his estimates for cable advertising to 5 percent this year, based on the sector’s weak upfront showing — the same as the 5 percent growth he expects for broadcast network TV based on its stronger upfront business. It’s too soon to predict 2003, although it should track nominal 3.6 percent growth of gross domestic product, Mr. Wang said.
Wade upped to Freedom president: Doreen Wade has been named president of Freedom Broadcasting. Since 1999 Ms. Wade has been VP and general manager of WPEC-TV, Freedom’s CBS affiliate in West Palm Beach, Fla. She first joined Freedom to sell advertising for WLNE-TV in Providence, R.I., in 1978 and has run three stations for the company: WLNE and WRGB-TV in Albany, N.Y., and WPEC.
“This will be the fourth time I’ve promoted Doreen Wade. This fourth time is to succeed me as the TV division president as I move into my new role in the parent company,” said Alan Bell, newly named president and CEO of Freedom Communications.
Fund established for Greene children: KCBS-TV and Viacom have set up a scholarship fund for the two children of KCBS-TV news photographer Larry Greene, who died while on assignment in the Persian Gulf last week. Contributions can be sent to the following address: The Sons of Lawrence H. Greene Scholarship Fund/CSFA, 1505 Riverview Road, St. Peter, Minn., 56082.
TVB to link with New York Auto Show again in 2003: The Television Bureau of Advertising will hold its next annual marketing conference on April 15, 2003, at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York. Once again, the TVB meeting will be held in partnership with the New York Auto Show.
It will be the second annual marketing conference held in conjunction with the industry that is local broadcasting’s single biggest advertising category.
TVB moved its conference to Manhattan this past March after 10 years of joint meetings with the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas.
Next year’s conference will be larger than this year’s, TVB President Chris Rohrs said.
“We will have more room for exhibitors and attendees,” Mr. Rohrs said. “We found the right formula last time and we’re sticking with it: customer-focused, New York-based, and coordinated with meetings of member broadcast groups.
‘Ex-treme’ spreads to new markets and gets 8 more weeks: Twentieth Television confirmed that its regional test of “Ex-treme Dating” is turning into a relationship. The syndicator has ordered an additional eight weeks of the test strip (after an initial order of eight.) In addition, the company added five key metered market clearances, including WPWR/UPN Chicago, WITI/FOX Milwaukee, WJBK/FOX Detroit and KTVI/FOX St. Louis, beginning Sept. 23. In addition, KTBC/Fox and KVC/Fox, Austin, Texas, will pick up weekend runs of the series.