Rosie O’Donnell Unseats Oprah at 3 O’Clock

Like death and taxes, there was Oprah Winfrey--the surest thing in television. Ever since her daytime talk show premiered in 1986, it has delivered gargantuan ratings, providing KABC-TV Channel 7 an indefatigable champion at 3 p.m. and a big advantage leading into the station’s afternoon news block.

But television audiences are obviously less persistent than the IRS. After wiping out such storied competitors as “Donahue,” “Geraldo” and “Sally Jessy Raphael” for more than a decade, “The Oprah Winfrey Show” lost for the first time here in the February ratings sweeps.

According to results for the four-week audience survey released Thursday by Nielsen Media Research, “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” on KNBC-TV Channel 4 reached an average of about 325,000 Southland households from 3 to 4 each afternoon, compared to “Oprah’s” 285,000.

“Oprah” had led by 60,000 homes during the last sweeps, in November, but its ratings fell by about 12% while “Rosie’s” climbed 22%.

The two talk hosts do not compete head to head in many other markets across the country, and nationally “Oprah” still retains a wide lead in total viewers.

The “Rosie” juggernaut boosted KNBC to easy victories in news at 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. over KABC. Channel 4 also scored decisive victories in news over all competitors in the early morning and again at 11 p.m. with veteran anchors Paul Moyer and Kelly Lange.

The February sweeps are one of four annual ratings periods used by some local stations to set advertising rates. They also are used for bragging rights about who’s most popular.

KABC’s chief cause for boasting again proved to be its 6 p.m. news team of Marc Brown and Laura Diaz, which overcame a large lead-in disadvantage to squeak past Channel 4. Channel 7 also enjoyed the most popular midday newscast for its broadcast at 11:30 a.m., although it is difficult to compare the strengths of these late-morning productions because they air in different time slots. KCAL-TV Channel 9’s noon news was second, followed by KNBC’s 11 a.m. show, KCBS-TV Channel 2’s newscast at noon and KTLA-TV Channel 5’s report at 11 a.m.

Overall, KCBS struggled in news during February, finishing third behind Channels 4 and 7 at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m., and fifth behind Channels 5 and 11 as well in the early morning. Its audience for news at 5 p.m., for example, was less than one-third the size of KNBC’s.

KCBS’ hourlong 6 p.m. newscast additionally was bested by KMEX-TV Channel 34’s hour of news in Spanish by more than a rating point, or about 50,000 homes. KMEX, meanwhile, continued to stand as the market’s top-ranked Spanish-language broadcaster.

KCBS’ weakness in afternoon news also hurts Dan Rather and the “CBS Evening News” at 5:30 p.m. Rather’s national newscast attracts just 160,000 local homes, less than half the 385,000 that tune in for ABC’s “World News Tonight With Peter Jennings” and the 360,000 for “NBC Nightly News With Tom Brokaw,” which both are seen at 6:30 p.m.

KTTV-TV Channel 11, meanwhile, continued its newfound stranglehold on the 10 p.m. news battle after unseating longtime champion KTLA-TV Channel 5 last year. Propelled by the strong performance of the Fox network’s prime-time schedule, Channel 11 beat Channel 5 by about 80,000 area homes a night. KCAL and KCOP-TV Channel 13’s 10 p.m. broadcasts trailed badly.

Channel 5 also came away disappointed in the morning, where “The KTLA Morning News” had dominated the 7 to 9 a.m. period since it premiered more than five years ago. This month, however, “Today,” which is thriving since Matt Lauer replaced Bryant Gumbel in January, nipped KTLA by 5,000 homes. The previous year, KTLA had won this war by more than 50,000 households.

“Good Morning America” on KABC was a close third this month, while KTTV’s “Good Day, L.A.” was fourth.

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The other conspicuous loser during the month’s ratings competition here was “The Late Show With David Letterman” on KCBS. Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” on KNBC grabbed nearly triple the audience of Letterman’s late-night program.

Letterman was also hammered by “Nightline” and the new “Politically Incorrect” on KABC, “Jerry Springer” and “Maury Povich” on KCAL, reruns of “MASH” on KTTV and of “Murphy Brown” on KTLA. The only competition on the seven major VHF stations that Letterman managed to conquer was KCOP’s combination of “Strange Universe” and “L.A.P.D.”--and even that victory was by only 5,000 homes.

On the tabloid front, “Extra” at 7 p.m. on KNBC scored higher ratings than KCBS’ “Hard Copy” and KCAL’s “Inside Edition” in head-to-head competition, and it pulled in more viewers than “Entertainment Tonight” did at 7:30 p.m. on KCBS. “Entertainment Tonight” was able to knock off “Access Hollywood” and “American Journal,” which air against it on Channels 4 and 9, respectively.

But none of those real-life news and gossip shows even come close in the 7-8 p.m. hour to KTTV’s fictional reruns of “Home Improvement” and “The Simpsons.” In fact, “The Simpsons” more than doubled the total audience of “Entertainment Tonight” and again proved to be the most popular show outside of prime time. KABC’s tandem of “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” remained a strong second in the 7-8 hour.