A Big Day

Big day for TV, locally and national. Channel 64 debuts its new 10 p.m. newscast, produced by Channel 12 from the Local 12 studio. The TV season starts unofficially today, with Fox airing the second season premiere of "Prison Break" and the new "Vanished." And the 4 CBS radio stations in town -- including country leader B105 and Q102 -- have new owners.
Read on.
Local 12 at 10 on My 64 TV
Channel Expect to see the Local 12 branding and My 64 branding alternating on the screen. I’m sure most viewers eventually will be smart enough to figure out what’s going on, but execs from both stations are concerned that the folks with Nielsen diary won’t get it. As they tell me, for Ch 64 to get credit in a diary, viewers must put down Channel 64 – and they worry that people will write Channel 12 in their diary when watching the Ch 64 news at 10 p.m.
Anyway, this should be an interesting experiment. Will it hurt Channel 12’s 11 p.m. ratings? Will it hurt Fox 19 at 10? (Probably not much?) And will anyone be watching Channel 64 in prime-time once it drops WB and switches to MyNetworkTV on Sept. 5? After that, can the power of Ch 12 prop up the 10 p.m. newscast, or will ratings be as low as they were for Ch 64’s ill-conceived NewsCentral?

Great start to the TV season
Great news: Fox starts the TV season early tonight with two terrific shows. "Prison Break" (8 p.m., Ch 19) turns into "The Fugitives," with 8 inmates on the loose after their escape last season. William Fichtner (ABC’s "Invasion") is a nice addition to the cast as FBI Agent Mahone, who starts by tracking down Michael Scofield’s tattoo artist.
"Vanished" follows at 9 p.m. (Ch 19). It’s in my Top 10 of new fall shows. The pilot is very well done – about the wife (Joanne Kelly) of a U.S. senator (John Allen Nelson) who disappears during a big gala to honor her charity work. Everyone is a suspect; everyone has a secret or two. Nice twists and turns, particularly in the final minutes.
And if you have HBO, put Spike Lee’s Katrina anniversary documentary on the DVD: "When The Levees Broke: a Requiem in Four Acts" (9-11 p.m. today and Tuesday).
And one more bit of good news: Don’t bother looking on Ch. 9 at 10 p.m. for "One Ocean View." ABC yanked the reality drama last week after only 2 telecasts. Same thing happened in July to ABC’s “The One,” it’s "American Idol" rip-off. That’s good news for viewers getting fed up with reality TV…

Q102, B105 Sold
This just in: Philadelphia-based Entercom announced this morning it has bought the 4 CBS stations here – Q102, B105, Oldies WGRR and alternative WAQZ-FM 97.3. Entercom paying $262 million for CBS stations in Memphis, Austin, Rochester and Cincinnati. Entercom will take over the stations in October through a local marketing agreement.
Announcement posted:
www.entercom.com/pages/pr_aug212006.htm

Pete Rose? Really?
The surprises keep coming.... First the Reds pull the plug on announcer Steve Stewart after this season, opening the door for a Joe Nuxhall comeback... and then Nux is runnung dead last in our Cincinnati.com poll for a new Reds radio analyst?
As of this morning, Pete Rose leads the four-man survery with nearly 50%. Second is Thom Brennaman (25%), and then comes my choice, Dan Hoard (16%). Nux has only 8%. And where would Chris Welsh rank, if on the ballot? As I wrote in Sunday's blog, I wouldn't be surprised to see another former player in the booth next year, given ownership's penchant for Reds tradition. And I expect to hear more of Nux next year, regardless.