Posted on 04/14/2009 12:26:11 AM PDT by raccoonradio
Jay Leno fans will be able to catch his new show in his old Boston stomping grounds. The Andover native and Emerson College grad is staying put on Channel 7.
The station did an about-face yesterday and said it planned to broadcast Leno’s new 10 p.m. show in September rather than lose Leno for an hour of local news.
“Upon further consideration, we have decided to telecast Jay Leno at 10 p.m. starting in September,” WHDH-TV owner Ed Ansin said in a brief statement. “Jay is from Andover, where I went to school. I enjoy his humor. We hope the new show is a big success.”
Said NBC TV network president John Eck: “We are very pleased that WHDH will carry Jay Leno’s new prime-time comedy show at 10 p.m. this fall on NBC. We look forward to working closely with the station on a successful launch in Boston of this show, featuring one of the most bankable stars in the business.
NBC had threatened to strip Channel 7 of its network affiliation if the station bumped Leno from his new 10 p.m. spot for the news.
Sorry to hear this. When I watch local news, I watch FOX25, but a little competition at 10:00 might have been good.
Though doesn’t Ch 7’s sister station Ch 56 run “Ch 7 News at 10” at that hour?
I guess CH 7’s news was getting killed in the ratings at 11 pm and they wanted to try and get some of Ch 25’s viewers at 10...AND it was said they didn’t want Jay Leno leading into their 11 pm news because he’d draw an older audience (but older people buy stuff, too!)
from Ch 56 website:
>>7 News at 10PM on CW56
The proposed Ch 7 10 pm newscast would have also been
carried on Ch 56 (why not put Leno on 56 if that’s
the case?)
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