NEW YORK -- NBC's affiliates are coming home to roost.
And that could be good news for NBC's 'Nightly News' and its anchor, Tom Brokaw.
During the 10 years when NBC was sunk in third place in the three-network ratings rivalry, some of its long-term affiliate stations switched to ABC, but now the tables are turned and ABC is in third place while NBC was a solid second last season and threatens to overtake CBS this time around.
In recent weeks NBC has announced the return of two affiliates - KOMU-TV serving the Columbia, Mo., market, which had been an NBC affiliate for 30 years before switching to ABC in 1982, and KCEN-TV serving the Waco-Temple, Texas, market, which went on the air 32 years ago as an NBC affiliate and left in July 1984.
Earlier this year marked the return of WSAV-TV, Savannah, an NBC affiliate from 1956 until it deserted to ABC in 1982.
'We lost about 25 affiliates over the 10-year period,' Pierson Mapes, president of the NBC Television Network, said in an interview. The network has 207 affiliates.
'Of course, we replaced them -- there was only one market where we got shut out. That was Alexandria, Minn., a one-station market. But in most cases we inherited a station that was not as strong as the one we lost.'
Mapes said in the vast majority of cases NBC lost more powerful UHF stations and picked up weaker VHF stations.
There are two factors involved. The obvious is that a weaker station reaches fewer viewers, which affects advertising rates.
'How important a factor that is depends on the size of the market,' Mapes said. 'In a market where you might expect a swing of 20,000 to 30,000 households, it could mean a difference of a couple of million dollars in potential revenue.
'But more important from a ratings and financial standpoint is the news. In most cases, the stations we inherited were not as strong in news as the ones we lost. Either a station is in the news business or it isn't and in a lot of cases the stations we inherited were not in the news business.
'Local affiliates news ratings are very significant in national news ratings. Pick up a local station with a strong news team and you will pick up Tom Brokaw's numbers.'
In most areas, Mapes said, local news directly precedes network news and the audience usually stays tuned in.
'We're in partnership with that local station,' Mapes said, adding that local news and network news ratings numbers were always within a point or two of each other.
In the national ratings, 'CBS Evening News with Dan Rather' ranks No. 1, while ABC and NBC vie for second place.
'With our ratings success, the affiliate turn-around has been very precipitous of late,' Mapes said. 'Some stations even kind of anticipated it and decided maybe the tide was turning and came back two or three years ago.'
Mapes said that under FCC rules, the longest term of an affiliate contract is two years. In some areas, the contracts have been continuously renewed and the network has been in business with the same affiliate for 30 years or more, while in other cases the partnership might last only three months.
'Basically speaking, we are loyal to our current affiliates,' Mapes said. 'I'm not looking for changes and I don't anticipate we're going to make a lot of changes quickly -- only where there's substantial upside in either general facilities or newsside capabilities will we be making changes.
'I'm not looking to change back to all the stations we lost -- as a ma1 sometimes the station we inherited is doing better than the one we lost.'
Mapes said NBC has a marketing and research department that is constantly considering and studying the network lineup to make sure it can reach 99 percent of the American people.
'That's the business we're in -- selling audiences,' Mapes said.
Mapes is finding it a pleasant change to be approached by would-be affiliates.
'I'm pinching myself to make sure it's still me,' he said. 'I've been on the other side of this one and rejection is a very unpleasant thing. I really feel sorry for the stations that we drop because it means saying goodbye to some very nice people.'
