Focusknoxville THE MARKET DMA rank 62 Population 1,208,000 TV homes 478,000 Income per capita $15,987 TV revenue rank 62 TV revenue $70,000,000 COMMERCIAL TV STATIONS Rank * Ch. Affil. Owner 1 WBIR-TV 10 NBC Gannett 2 WVLT-TV 8 CBS Gray 3 WATE-TV 6 ABC Young 4 WTNZ (TV) 43 Fox Raycom 5 WBXX-TV 20 WB Acme 6 WPXK (TV) 54 Pax Paxson *November 2001, total households, 6 a.m.-2 a.m., Sun.-Sat. CABLE/DBS Cable subscribers (HH) 334,600 Cable penetration 70% ADS subscribers (HH) ** 95,600 ADS penetration 20% DBS carriage of local TV? No **Alternative Delivery Systems, includes DBS and other non-cable services, according to Nielsen Media Research WHAT'S NO. 1 Rating/share *** Syndicated show Wheel of Fortune (WBIR-TV) 13/22 Network show Friends (WBIR-TV) 19/29 Evening newscast WBIR-TV 18/33 Late newscast WBIR-TV 11/31 ***November 2001, total households Sources: Nielsen Media Research, BIA Research
A healthy, stable market
WVLT-TV 'Volunteer TV' General Manager Chris Baker loves SEC football. And why not? A December game in prime time--if the University of Tennessee is one of the teams involved--can bring the station a 50 rating. SEC football averaged a 17/39 last fall; the Vanderbilt-UT game did a 31/65, Baker says. And most stations in Knoxville, Tenn., need all the ratings wins they can get against powerhouse WBIR-TV.
Those numbers may be attainable this fall, but they won't be available. Except for Acme-owned WBXX-TV, no station in the market has yet agreed to participate in Nielsen's metered measurement, planned to begin in October. While Nielsen cites the superiority of meters over diaries and remains committed to making meters the standard in every market that can support them, stations complain about the increased costs and the timing: Budgets for 2002 were already complete when Nielsen made its announcement, local execs say. Participation will not likely come before 2003, if at all.
Local stations are preparing to go digital, moving their signals to taller towers. The rugged Smoky Mountains terrain that brings tourists and dollars into the market also provides favorable spots for transmission towers. 'Basketball coaches always say,' notes WTNZ(TV) GM John Hayes, 'you can't coach height.' Fox affiliate WTNZ, ABC affiliate WATE-TV and NBC affiliate WBIR-TV share a tower on Sharp's ridge, not far from WVLT-TV's WPXK's will be on Cross Mountain.
The market is healthy, overall, neither overperforming nor underperforming; its population and revenue rankings are identical at No. 62. 'Employment is good here,' says Hayes. 'Automotive advertising is good. So are health care, retail, fast food. As a Fox station, fast food is always a good category for us.' Notes Baker, 'The market seems to rise above the lows. It's not as prone to economic fluctuations. We in television still struggle to find good employees. It's a good market for employment.'
Dan Trigoboff
