More Nielsens

Just a couple more thoughts on the local Nielsens:

Dave Rose was pretty excited about KRDO's performance -- they were No. 2 in mornings, No. 1 in demos, No. 2 in demos at 10 and doubled their audience at 6 p.m., although their 5 p.m. is still struggling.

KOAA had its best numbers in several years. Of course, they had their best numbers in years last time, too. They're on a roll.

Joe Cole at KXRM said their numbers improved for the second half-hour of their 9 p.m. news. Traditionally, people catch the top of the news and then flip away, so getting those viewers to stick around is always going to be a big goal for Fox 21.

Couple other KRDO notes: Rose said they had a plan in place for exactly the scenario that happened with the Holly tornado. I asked Rose whether they'll be able to cut in to primetime every time there's a tornado on the plains and he said that, if homes and lives are threatened by a storm, their plan is to cover it for as long as the threat lasts.

Also, KRDO's digital weather subchannel may not launch until June -- it was originally scheduled for May. Having a weather channel, of course, would probably help with coverage of things like the tornado. KKTV is due to upgrade their weather channel sometime this spring -- so far, it's been a steady display of the 5-day forecast on 11.3, for all you HDTVers out there.