Two-tenths of a ratings point -- fewer than 2,000 southeast Wisconsin homes -- divide Channel 12's 10 p.m. news from Channel 4's late newscast in the November ratings period that ended Thanksgiving Eve.
Channel 12 led with nearly 77,000 area homes, with Channel 4 just behind with almost 75,000 homes, according to Nielsen Media Research numbers.
Both equate to a 15 percent share of southeast Wisconsin households watching TV at 10 p.m.
Channel 58 was in third place with with more than 42,000 area homes, and Channel 6 was in fourth with nearly 39,000 area homes, both represent an 8 percent share of area homes watching TV.
Channel 12 and 4 both grew noticeably over November 2009's numbers.
Throughout the rest of the broadcast day, Channel 12 was dominant. Here are a few ratings tidbits:
- Channel 12's airing of ABC's prime-time schedule was dominant, followed by CBS's lineup on Channel 58 in third in prime time, Fox's shows on Channel 6 and NBC's shows on Channel 4.
- At 6 p.m. weekdays, Channel 12 is the easy winner, with "Jeopardy!" on Channel 58 beating newscasts on Channels 4 and 6.
- In a sign of Jay Leno's popularity in the Milwaukee market, Channel 4's ratings in the 9 p.m. hour were actually behind what they were in November 2009, when Leno's failed prime-time show was airing.
A preview of "Lombardi": HBO's "Lombardi" premiered at Lambeau Field last week, but won't hit the small screen until Dec. 11.
Here's a sample of what you'll see:
Tim Cuprisin is the media columnist for OnMilwaukee.com. He's been a journalist for 30 years, starting in 1979 as a police reporter at the old City News Bureau of Chicago, a legendary wire service that's the reputed source of the journalistic maxim "if your mother says she loves you, check it out." He spent a couple years in the mean streets of his native Chicago, and then moved on to the Green Bay Press-Gazette and USA Today, before coming to the Milwaukee Journal in 1986.
A general assignment reporter, Cuprisin traveled Eastern Europe on several projects, starting with a look at Poland after five years of martial law, and a tour of six countries in the region after the Berlin Wall opened and Communism fell. He spent six weeks traversing the lands of the former Yugoslavia in 1994, linking Milwaukee Serbs, Croats and Bosnians with their war-torn homeland.
In the fall of 1994, a lifetime of serious television viewing earned him a daily column in the Milwaukee Journal (and, later the Journal Sentinel) focusing on TV and radio. For 15 years, he has chronicled the changes rocking broadcasting, both nationally and in Milwaukee, an effort he continues at OnMilwaukee.com.
When he's not watching TV, Cuprisin enjoys tending to his vegetable garden in the backyard of his home in Whitefish Bay, cooking and traveling.
