Logo

Leno to Air on WHDH After Station Relents

Apr 13, 2009  •  Post A Comment

NBC has successfully knocked down a rebellion in its affiliate colonies, with Boston’s WHDH Monday announcing it would carry Jay Leno’s 10 p.m. comedy show after earlier threatening not to.
“Upon further consideration, we have decided to telecast Jay Leno at 10 p.m. starting in September,” said Ed Ansin, owner of Sunbeam Television, parent company of NBC’s Boston affiliate. “Jay is from Andover where I went to school. I enjoy his humor. We hope the new show is a big success.”
Just two weeks ago, Mr. Ansin proudly announced he was ditching Mr. Leno’s show in favor of a 10 p.m. local newscast. NBC responded swiftly, flatly declaring it would strip WHDH of its affiliation if the station went forward with its plan.
NBC Television Network President John Eick issued a statement Monday declaring victory.
“We are very pleased that WHDH will carry Jay Leno’s new primetime comedy show at 10 p.m. this fall on NBC,” Mr. Eick said. “We look forward to working closely with the station on a successful launch in Boston of this show, featuring one of the most bankable stars in the business.”
When WHDH first confirmed its planned revolt, Mr. Ansin told the Boston Globe that he was pulling Mr. Leno’s show because he didn’t think the comic would do well in the earlier timeslot.
“We feel we have a real opportunity with running the news at 10 p.m. We don’t think the Leno show is going to be effective in primetime,” Mr. Ansin said. “It will be detrimental to our 11 o’clock. It will be very adverse to our finances.”
He also said the move was “a better financial plan for us.” Indeed, WHDH would have been able to keep all the ad revenue from a 10 p.m. newscast, but it will only get a fraction of the ad money generated from Mr. Leno’s show.
(Editor: Baumann. Updates to add final three paragraphs.)

10 Comments

  1. So in other words, NBC threatened WDHD.Lets hope for the bestbut I don’t think Jay leno is going to be a great succes like he is now. The audiece is different.

  2. You’ve got this backwards, Ansin did the threatening. As a resident in the Boston DMA, I’m glad this guy came to his senses to at least give Leno a chance in this time slot.
    Ansin’s NBC affiliate in the market is not great shakes. And to think he would do this for another hour of news when that station doesn’t do a decent job with its existing news offerings.

  3. As a Boston area (Bristol County) viewer, I think that Ed Ansin was absolutely correct to try and dump Leno. NBC will be taken to the cleaners by both CBS and ABC in the 10:00 Pm time slot Leno does not have the chops to make in Prime Time. I predict that evan the WWE Monday RAW on USA will outra

  4. Hungarian officials recalculate volume of harmful sludge flooding, indicating it is close to as much as Gulf oil spill, incredible!!!!!!!!!!

  5. Dreamin. I love blogging. You all express your feelings the right way, because they are your feeling, focus on your blog it is great.

  6. Very okay. agree with most people

  7. Interesting thoughts here. I appreciate you taking the time to share them with us all. It’s people like you that make my day 🙂

  8. I like your blog.

  9. Funny, I was thinking along the same lines. Adam

  10. Neat blog layout! Very easy on the eyes.. i like the colors you picked out

Your Comment

Email (will not be published)