Numbers Are In: King-TV Ratings Sure To Please Belo Corp.

Now that numbers from Nielsen Media Research have been digested, the management and stockholders of A.H. Belo Corp. of Dallas surely are thankful.

KING-TV (NBC), the station Belo will acquire next year, just squashed the other stations in the quarterly ratings again - with help from the network's prime-time gravy train and local-news lead-in "Oprah."

And KIRO-TV (UPN), the news-intensive station Belo is divesting, didn't do badly itself, making it attractive in a potential swap or sale.

In the November "sweeps" period that ended last Wednesday, in fact, KIRO's noon news beat KING's. The noontime is the only local-news time period its majesty didn't win.

Moreover, KIRO's local "7 Live" morning show was a strong third to NBC's "Today" on KING and "Good Morning America" on KOMO-TV (ABC). KIRO is the third-highest-rated station in the Seattle-Tacoma area.

Belo owns the Dallas Morning News and six other TV stations. It's buying Providence Journal Co., which owns the Rhode Island paper, KING and eight other stations. The same company cannot own more than one TV station per market, so Belo will spin off KIRO - probably in a trade for one or more stations elsewhere.

KOMO is still the entrenched No. 2 station in town.

However, in terms of both news and entertainment, Belo has in No. 3 KIRO a solid property it hopes is flexible enough to accommodate any potential buyer.

KIRO intends, for now, to stay the course as a news-oriented UPN affiliate with a substantial lineup of syndicated programming, said general manager Glenn Wright.

But it hopes to stay limber enough to morph into an affiliate of CBS or Fox, should the new owner be a network. That's one of many unsubstantiated scenarios being bandied about. Belo managers in Dallas are silent.

"Because of the growth we've had in news, the good quality first-run product we have, the good off-network (syndicated-rerun) product we have, we're in great shape for the various scenarios," Wright said.

Said KIRO news director Ilene Engel: "I would suspect anyone Belo would be talking with would be ecstatic to have this kind of franchise."

Belo certainly must be ecstatic about the franchise a few blocks away, at KING.

After it unloads KIRO and gets Federal Communications Commission approval to acquire KING, Belo will find itself the proud owner of a TV channel that has increased its overall rating from an estimated weeklong average of 94,624 metropolitan Seattle-Tacoma households a year ago to 104,461 last month.

News director Eric Lerner concedes that the momentum of NBC, which seems to defy the cyclical laws of television physics, and a strong showing by "Oprah" contributed to the station's continued success.

But, he said, "I think our commitment to investigative reporting had an impact. We did a lot of quality investigative pieces."

With Belo seemingly in two places at once, it's easy to forget that two other stations in Seattle are for sale:

-- KSTW-TV (CBS), ranked fourth overall and in news, is showing improvement after several years of struggle after acquiring network affiliation.

"Prime (time) is up from last year, all of our newscasts are up from last year," said KSTW spokesman Dean Greve. CBS hasn't "come in and hit the ball out of the park, but they've certainly improved."

As at the other stations changing hands, there is no word as to when or to whom KSTW owner Gaylord Communications of Nashville, Tenn., will sell.

-- KTZZ-TV (WB) is sixth among the commercial stations and is gradually building a small audience with The WB Network. A sale by Dudley Communications of Wausau, Wis., isn't expected until early next year.

There are two stations with stable ownership. KCPQ-TV's Fox affiliation is rumored to be vulnerable in one of the coming station transactions, but it's not for sale. The station finished fifth overall in the November ratings, holding fairly steady despite its network's shaky fall season.

KOMO isn't for sale, either. Within striking distance of KING, it would seem to be a station to watch.

KOMO news director Joe Barnes, a recent former TV-news consultant, says he hopes to give viewers a new emphasis. Or is it an old one?

"We need to have special reports on 52 weeks a year," Barnes said. "We need to have our pedals to the metal 52 weeks a year.

"People don't just watch during sweeps." -----------------------------------------------------------------

TV ratings

Rankings of regularly scheduled, locally produced TV shows, based on November "sweeps" ratings from Nielsen Media Research. Figures are the average estimated number of households tuning in. Advertisers buy time based on program popularity among specific demographic groups, and KCTS is a non-profit station providing alternative programming, so these overall rankings do not necessarily indicate success or failure:

. Rank Station Households . 1. "Evening Magazine" KING 126,845 . 2. "The Compton Report" KING 116,399 . 3. "Almost Live!" KING 107,445 . 4. "Town Meeting" KOMO 89,538 . 5. "Time of Your Life" KOMO 61,184 . 6. "Watch This!" KING 59,692 . 7. "Northwest Afternoon" KOMO 52,230 . 8. "Graham Kerr's Kitchen" KCTS 31,338 . 9. "Cucina Amore" KCTS 29,846 . 10. "Serious Money" KCTS 28,353 . 11. "Northwest Focus" KCPQ 26,861 . 12. "Friday" KCTS 23,876 . 13. "True Colors" KCTS/KOMO 20,892 . 14. "Chronicle" KSTW 19,399 . 15. "Bill Nye the Science Guy" KCTS/KIRO 16,415 . 16. "Upon Reflection" KCTS 13,430 .

. Local news .

. Rankings of weekday local-TV evening newscasts, based on estimated average households tuning in: .

. Rank Station Households . 1. 5 p.m. KING 210,414 . 2. 6:30 p.m. KING 173,106 . 3. 11 p.m. KING 152,214 . 4. 5 p.m. KOMO 146,245 . (t) 6:30 p.m. KOMO 146,245 . 6. 11 p.m. KOMO 123,860 . 7. 10 p.m. KIRO 85,061 . 8. 5 p.m. KIRO 71,630 . 9. 6 p.m. KIRO 53,722 . 10. 11 p.m. KSTW 49,245 . 11. 11 p.m. KIRO 40,292 . 12. 4 p.m. KSTW 35,815 .

.

. National news .

. Here's how national evening newscasts fared in Seattle: .

. Rank Station Households . 1. NBC (6 p.m.) KING 207,429 . 2. ABC (6 p.m.) KOMO 138,783 . 3. CBS (5:30 p.m.) KSTW 40,292 . 4. PBS (6 p.m.) KCTS 19,399 .

.

. National entertainment .

. Here's how national prime-time entertainment fared nationwide: .

. Rank Station Households . 1. NBC KING 11.0 million . 2. CBS KSTW 9.9 million . 2. ABC KOMO 9.7 million . 4. Fox KCPQ 7.5 million .

. Source: Nielsen Media Research .