In the subscription-only report, written by Eileen Davis Hudson and published in March of 2005, former KMTV General Manager Jim McKernan dismissed the station's poor performance in the November 2004 ratings, blaming Nielsen."I don't place a lot of stock in [the November book]," McKernan told Hudson. "The in-tabs were off 22 percent in this market."
In retrospect, the article also points out how many changes KMTV has made in two short years:
Across town, third-ranked KMTV is hoping to attract more viewers and see ratings upticks from the changes it has made over the past two years. The CBS affiliate reformatted its late newscast at 10 p.m., scaling back sports coverage to the bare minimum and replacing it with daily commentary. Travis Justice, formerly the station's sports anchor and also a current regular on the market's No.1-rated Todd 'n Tyler radio morning-drive show on KEZO-FM, provides the local commentary. KMTV elicits viewer e-mail and phone responses to a given topic, then later shares the comments on-air on its For What It's Worth segment, which can run as long as four minutes.
KMTV is the only one of the Big Three in the market that does not produce local news at 6 p.m., having pulled the plug on its struggling 6 o'clock news a few years ago. It now airs Entertainment Tonight and The Insider in the time period. KMTV is also the home of The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil and Regis & Kelly, as well as the broadcast home for nine Creighton University men's basketball games.
With the introduction of a new "Action News" format in February and generous cross-promotion by its owner, Journal Broadcast Group, on its Omaha radio properties, expectations at KMTV are certainly high for a strong May 2005 ratings performance.
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