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Whatever the status of the air war over Iraq, Grand Rapids is having one of its own.
With the ever-growing prominence of television as the public's primary news source, the two Grand Rapids-based local news operations are raising the stakes and escalating the battle for the hearts, eyes and ears of local viewers.
WOOD-TV 8 and WZZM-TV 13 have expanded their local news programming in recent months, and more moves are in the works as they jockey for the position of News Giant on the Grand.
"For local stations to survive and prosper, they're going to have to be much more involved in the community and local programming," said WZZM News Director Ken Kolbe. "And our best local programming is our news
But is it the best local news in town?
Both stations say theirs is, and the moves they are making to get the coveted ratings that would prove their claim require a scorecard.
Seeing a market for an extended early-morning newscast, WZZM in September initiated its first morning news program from 6 to 7 a.m. WOOD, which had been airing news from 6:30 to 7 a.m., recently gave its tacit endorsement to WZZM's judgment by expanding to an hour and joining its rival in the 6 to 7 a.m. competition. The battle is heating up in the early evening as well.
Not content to let WOOD dominate the evening news competition by standing alone with a 5 to 6 p.m. newscast, WZZM is introducing its own 5:30 to 6 p.m. newscast, replacing syndicated "Night Court" reruns, which are faltering in the ratings. WZZM's 5:30 program begins this week.
Both stations have long-established 6 p.m. newscasts leading into their respective network newscasts. (WOOD is an NBC affiliate; WZZM hangs its hat with ABC.)
So in a market where both still have to share the glory with Kalamazoo-based, CBS-affiliated WWMT-TV 3, WOOD and WZZM have spared no effort to top the other for the Grand Rapids city championship.
NUMBERS: WOOD THEY LIE?
It depends who you ask
At first glance, the Nielsen-ratings figures suggest WZZM has a long raw to hoe if it wants to catch WOOD as Grand Rapids' news leader.
According to November Nielsen figures, WOOD leads in every ratings category, generally by...