The departure of WMAQ-TV-Ch. 5`s Deborah Norville for NBC News in New York and a job at ”Sunrise” could not have come at a worse time for the station. Channel 5`s 4:30 newscast, which has been anchored by Norville and Ron Magers since July, 1984, has been a bright spot in the ratings game. And the problems WBBM-TV-Ch. 2 has been experiencing with its new ”First Edition” at 4:30 have heightened the feeling at the NBC-owned station that success in early news is the quickest route to getting back in the game at 6 and 10.
”We`re terribly concerned with the situation,” said Channel 5 vice president and general manager Richard Lobo. ”This has been a growth situation for us, and we think the show has been very successful with Ron and Deborah.
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”This move is a blow to us. Deborah had both career and personal reasons for going to New York, and we really didn`t have an opportunity to do much about it.
”It`s a hard call to make in terms of looking for a replacement. When you have a show that`s getting good numbers at 4:30, you have a chance to build your audience flow through the evening, and through your later newscasts.”
Channel 5`s 4:30 newscast has made steady progress in the Nielsen book, even encroaching on a WLS-Ch. 7 news operation that is now No. 1 in every time slot for news.
In May, 1985, Channel 5`s 4:30 newscast recorded a 6.1 rating and a 15 audience share. In February, 1986, the numbers were 8.7 and 18. Through the first three weeks of October, the show has averaged a 9.2 rating and a 22 share.
Certainly Norville and Magers come in for any credit for progress made since what Lobo characterizes as ”the bad old days,” when the Chuck Henrys and Max Robinsons were helping Channel 5 to a spot as fourth in a three-network station market.
Norville`s five-year tenure in Chicago television has been, well, interesting. Possessed of considerable allure, she was drop-kicked by some local TV critics for the crime of looking good. And she inspired moon-eyed zaniness in other observers, notably novelist Richard Stern, who set Norville somewhere between Henry James` Daisy Miller and Fitzgerald`s Daisy Buchanan in chronicling his lunch with an anchorwoman in the pages of Chicago magazine.
”Deborah worked hard at her job,” said Lobo. And while she never steamrolled the market, the way a Deborah Norville might have in Los Angeles or New York, it`s clear that her leave-taking in December spells more problems for Lobo and his newsroom.
Lobo says that his search is not limited to Chicago, that a stair-step promotion for in-house talent is not a given. ”We haven`t settled on anyone,” he said. ”This is a hard choice for us, and it comes at a tough time. We`re looking all over for the right person.”
Inside the Merchanside Mart, Mary Murnane and Marlene McClinton, both of whom have labored at 4:30, are obvious candidates for Norville`s chair. And sources at Channel 5 say editorial director Mary Laney, who anchored the Noon News at WMAQ in 1982-83, is also being considered.
Sampling
— A study by the National Coalition on Television Violence reports that the Christian Broadcasting Network, presidential aspirant Pat Robertson`s private video reserve, offers ”popular programs high in violence (that have) harmful effects on children and adolescent viewers.”
CBN calls itself ”The Family Entertainer,” but the NCTV maintains that programming like ”The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,” ”Laramie,” ”Gunsmoke” and other action programs–the staple of the CBN lineup–are as high in violence as network prime-time offerings. According to the study, this contrasts with Robertson`s stated view that CBN ”limits its programs to ones that strengthen the family . . . ”
— WTTW-CH. 11 has begun production of ”Jesse and the Bandit Queen.”
The 90-minute TV adaptation of the stage play features Tony-award winning actress Judith Ivey (”The Lonely Guy,” ”Harry and Son,” ”Compromising Positions”) and Chicago actor Terry Kinney, one of the co-founders of the Steppenwolf Theatre.
The show is being produced by Glenn DuBose, and directed by Dick Carter and Greg McCaslin.