Flush with the record-setting audiences sucked in by the FOX network’s “American Idol,” KHON announced today that the latest Nielsen Survey showed all of its newscasts at the top of the local news heap. Although the station was the last of the local stations to introduce a 5 p.m. local news show, the broadcast came in first for the first time between April 29 and May 26. KHON has already long dominated the ratings for its morning programming and 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts, both weeknights and weekends.  DISCUSS


And while KHON general manager Rick Blangiardi concedes that “American Idol” helped — Hawaii’s 400,000 viewers on Tuesday and Wednesday nights represented the show’s highest regional ratings nationwide — he notes that KHON’s 10 p.m. news with Joe Moore still did well on Thursday “absent the benefit of American Idol, yet against very strong primetime lineups on CBS and NBC.”

In many ways, the station points out in a news release, there’s hardly any competition. For example, from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. the KHON morning news (anchored by Kirk Matthews and Tannya Boyd) averages more viewers and households than the combined viewership of its three competitors. On weeknights, KHON takes almost half of the state’s viewers.

“Approximately 108,000 adults 25-54 are watching local newscasts in Hawaii weeknights at 6 p.m.,” Blangiardi noted. “On average 51,000 of those viewers are watching the KHON2 News with Joe Moore. The other three newscasts share the remaining 57,000 viewers.”

And on weekends, KHON’s evening news broadcasts aren’t only doing well, but are also improving the ratings of other shows. “The growth in our late newscasts on Saturday and Sunday is particularly significant since the KHON2 News improves its lead-in program ratings by more than 100 percent,” Blangiardi said.

Notably, KHON’s locally produced world news broadcast with Joe Moore also beats network anchors Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings and Dan Rather in the 5:30 p.m. shot.

But the station seems most proud of its 5 p.m. newscast’s rise to the top, giving it a clean sweep this “sweeps” week.

“Leslie [Wilcox] and Ron [Mizutani] not only convey their years of experience here and their love for this state and its people, but as working reporters they break important stories daily and produce some of Hawaii’s most memorable television news coverage,” said KHON news director Dan Dennison.