Channel Surfing
Laura Nachman
Bucks County Courier Times
March 2, 2001 

            For the first time since 1975, WPVI-6 did not win a ratings period, as NBC-10 had the most viewers at 11 PM in the February sweeps.  The NBC-10 news team of Larry Mendte, Renee Chenault, Vai Sikahema, and John Bolaris beat the WPVI-6 team of Jim Gardner, Gary Papa, and Dave Roberts in a close battle, as NBC-10 had a 12.6 rating and 22 share compared to WPVI-6’s 12.0 rating, 21 share.  KYW-3 was a distant third with a 6.4 rating, 11 share.  Even with the help of ABC, which moved ratings king “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” to 10 PM twice in the final days of “sweeps” to help with the lead-in to news, it wasn’t enough to overtake NBC-10. 

             Anchor Larry Mendte, who grew up in the Philadelphia area, was amazed that he beat Jim Gardner and Larry Kane.  “They are icons to me,” Mendte said.  “To not only compete against people I grew up watching, but to actually win is unbelievable.”  He quickly added “it’s nice that it happened, but we’re not screaming from the rooftops.”

             Mendte credits the NBC-10 chemistry between the four principals – himself, Chenault, Bolaris, and Sikahema as a reason for ratings success more than the strong NBC lineup, which includes “ER” and “Law and Order.” “As our news director, Steve Schwaid says it’s the easiest thing in the world to change channels.”  “Our team has been together for three years now.  We almost won May sweeps in 1999, and we’ve been growing through the years.”  Mendte also said that NBC-10’s emphasis on weather – “we have more weather equipment than anybody and four meteorologists” – helps.

          WPVI-6 isn’t exactly going down in flames.  It continues to lead weekdays in every other news time slot – 6AM, noon, 5 PM, and 6 PM.  Calls to WPVI-6 news director Carla Carpenter weren’t returned. 

           We’ll find out if NBC-10’s victory was a fluke or a trend when the next ratings sweeps occur in May.

Laura Nachman will be part of a panel discussing national television sweeps on “Philly After Midnight” on WPVI-6 on Tuesday morning March 6^th at 12:35 AM.