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Interpretations of television ratings can be as creative as some of the programs the ratings measure.
The latest look at the local television news contest, covering the month of February, has WZZM-TV 13 smiling the widest, but all three local competitors have ways of saying the numbers are good for them.
WZZM, which expanded its local news presence last fall with the advent of a 6-to-7 a.m. broadcast, and again in February with a new 5:30 p.m. broadcast, showed strong progress in its first full ratings period with both new newscasts.
Measured in figures from the seven-county area of Kent, Ottawa, Allegan, Barry, Van Buren, Kalamazoo and Calhoun, WZZM does far worse than with numbers measuring only counties in the immediate Grand Rapids area.
The numbers for the WZZM 6 a.m. broadcast nearly tripled in the February ratings, while its 5:30 p.m. broadcast, although well behind WOOD-TV 8's rival newscast, showed respectable numbers for its first month on the air.
Kalamazoo-based WWMT-TV 3, the CBS affiliate for the region, consistently places first or second in the metro region, but is third...