Philadelphia

THE MARCH 21 IMPLOSION OF VETERANS STADIUM TOUCHED OFF MIXED EMOTIONS for longtime Philadelphia residents. Though attached to the storied home of Major League Baseball's Phillies and the National Football League's Eagles, citizens reveled in the promise of the Phillies' new $346 million Citizens Bank Park, which opened earlier this year, and the Eagles' new $520 million Lincoln Financial Field, which was completed last August. So far the new digs have hosted solid teams for Philly sports fans, some of the most ardent in the country.

Led by Donovan McNabb, the Eagles won the NFC East championship last season. The team lost the NFC championship game to the Carolina Panthers. At press time, the Phillies were tied with I the Atlanta Braves at the top of the I National League East. Besides major sports events, "The Vet" also housed legendary big-arena rock shows by Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones.

The stadium was such a part of the city of Brotherly Love's emotional fabric that its demolition received considerable coverage from local media outlets, including live TV coverage of its dramatic early-morning destruction for the 2.87 million TV homes in the fourth-largest market in the country.

Last November, ABC's owned-and-operated WPVI-TV promoted Rebecca Campbell, who had been vp and director of programming since 1997, to president and general manager. WPVI is the market's longtime news leader. In the May sweeps period this year, the station won every news time period in household ratings and several major demographic segments, including adults 18-49 and adults 25-54.

WPVI's news team will soon undergo some additional personnel changes, as Campbell plans to name a new 5 p.m. anchor team shortly (one of the station's previous coanchors at 5 is on long-term disability). The station also plans to expand its weekend news offerings this fall to coincide with the launch of the network's weekend edition of Good Morning America. Beginning Sept. 5, WPVI will tack on an hour in front of its Sunday 7-8 a.m. newscast, so that it runs 6-8.

As for syndicated programming, WPVI this fall will replace the canceled The Wayne Brady Show with The Tony Danza Show.

Although WPVI won most of the key demos for its local news, one notable exception was in late news....