The man who brought Oprah Winfrey to Chicago–and, therefore, the world–is bringing something new to weekdays at 9 a.m.
“It’s a very difficult time period [but] I feel like we’ve got a good show, good talent and a solid base of four hours to come off of,” said Dennis Swanson, the legendary one-time boss of WLS-Ch. 7 who’s now president of station operations for News Corp.’s Fox Television Stations Group. “It fits with everything we’re trying to do with news and information on the Fox stations. It fits with our philosophy. We’re excited about it.”
“It” is “The Morning Show With Mike and Juliet,” a one-hour program hosted by former Fox News Channel co-anchors Mike Jerrick and Juliet Huddy that Swanson is ushering onto WFLD-Ch. 32 and other Fox-owned stations as a follow-up to their 5 a.m.-to-9 a.m. local news beginning Monday.
That means “The Morning Show” will go head-to-head with Oprah in her hometown. In most markets, however, the new gabfest with just a hint of topicality, a studio audience and a sidewalk-level view of midtown Manhattan, will square off against the likes of Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa in syndication and the third hour of NBC’s ever-expanding “Today.”
These are not insubstantial foes, but Swanson–once a Marine, always a Marine–has been looking to establish a new beachhead with his regiment, building on what his stations already do with news and info in the morning.
And with the return in recent days of Fox’s “American Idol” and “24” swelling those stations’ viewership, the timing for such an offensive is right.
“It doesn’t get any better for us than this,” said Swanson, a University of Illinois grad. “We’re very successful in prime time. Our news numbers are successful right now. There’s clearly a halo effect.”
If you take the Fox-owned stations’ cumulative local news audience between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m., or even just the last two hours, they’re not No. 1 in households in that market grouping. But Swanson–whose resume includes overseeing CBS-owned stations and ABC’s sports, daytime and children’s divisions–points out they do come out on top with viewers in the age 18-to-49 and 25-to-54 groups advertisers crave.
“The reason we exist is because Fox has such strong lead-ins in so many markets,” said Tom Mazzarelli, a former “Today” senior producer who’s executive producer of “The Morning Show.” “Then, in a lot of these markets, there’s this precipice where the numbers go off at 9. The idea is we’re trying to extend that brand and continue on.”
Mazzarelli paints the new show as host-centric, playing off the chemistry between Jerrick and Huddy. Swanson said it will be “an entertainment show that’s newsy” with “lifestyle stuff, celebrities, things like that” as opposed to “a news show that’s entertaining.”
If it’s successful, News Corp.’s Twentieth Television division–which also ultimately answers to Fox Television Stations Group and Fox News Channel Chairman Roger Ailes–will syndicate “The Morning Show” to other stations.
But for now the focus is on helping the 25 Fox-owned Fox stations, many of which are expanding their news presence. Locally, Ch. 32 is considering a 10 p.m. newscast to follow its 9 p.m. show, but management says it’s not prepared to announce anything yet.
“We’ve had success with [expansion] where we’ve done it,” Swanson said. “Again, it’s an extension of our brand of local news and ties to our Internet strategy. … It’s consistent with our philosophy.”
TALE OF THE TAPE: “Fox Chicago Perspectives,” Ch. 32’s 8 a.m. Sunday local political chat show that precedes “Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace,” will no longer be live after this weekend. The program will be taped on Fridays, which means ditching news and weather segments, but the change should save the station some money.
ROOTING FOR THE HOME TEAM: Going into the NFC championship tilt between the Bears and New Orleans Saints, Chicago’s CBS-owned WBBM-Ch. 2 declined to put a dollar amount on what having a local team in the Super Bowl would mean to the station carrying this year’s NFL title game.
A spokeswoman would only say the Bears advancing Sunday would represent “a windfall for the station.”
That’s saying something when you figure the cost of deploying a flotilla of staffers down to Miami for a week of Bears specials along with the requisite saturation newscast coverage, to say nothing of showing clients the hospitality they’re apt to expect.
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philrosenthal@tribune.com
