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Market Profile
A MASSIVE SYSTEM FAILURE AT THE LOCAL UTILITY COMPANY LAST WEEK LEFT MUCH of Jacksonville and the neighboring counties of St. Johns and Clay without power on April 29 and forced some TV stations to switch to emergency generators to continue broadcasting. Having that backup capability at the ready comes from being an Eastern seaboard market in which the weather is unpredictable-contingency plans are an important priority for Jacksonville's media outlets. Even still, Nielsen Media Research has decided to remove all of the TV-viewership data from the market for April 29 from the May sweeps ratings book because it failed to get the minimum sampling needed for the day due to the power outage.
Weather isn't the only thing that runs the gamut in Jacksonville. It has a diverse population-22 percent of the market is African American, with another 4 percent of Hispanic origin (see Scarborough chart on page 26)-and a mix of major businesses that are either based in or near the city or have significant operations in the nearby area. Companies based in Jacksonville include grocery store chain Winn-Dixie Stores; Stein Mart, a clothing and accessory retail chain; SunPharm Corp., a pharmaceutical research company; and Trailer Bridge Inc., a transportation company. Bank of America and America Online are also two large employers in the area.
Tourism and recreation are also significant centers of commerce in the area. Just 12 miles from Jacksonville is Ponte Vedra Beach, a scenic resort area that features a number of outdoor activities, including prestigious golf courses (the PGA Tour's annual Players Championship event is held here).
The Jacksonville television market, ranked 53rd in the nation with 563,510 TV households, has been the focus of considerable national attention of late due to a dramatic affiliation swap. The market's top-ranked station, Post-Newsweek's CBS affiliate, WJXT, will walk away from the network after a 53-year relationship because the two sides could not come to an agreement on compensation. WJXT's defection from the network means the station will become a traditional independent as of July 15. On the same date, Jacksonville's current UPN affiliate, Clear Channel's WTEV, which is usually ranked fourth or fifth in the market, will make its debut as the market's new CBS affiliate.
WJXT has consistently...