WHDH Will Air Leno At 10 p.m.
Boston affiliate's owner says he hopes show will be a "big success"
By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/13/2009 4:50:46 PM
NBC affiliate WHDH Boston says it will air Jay Leno's 10 p.m. weekday show when it launches this Fall.
"Upon further consideration, we have decided to telecast Jay Leno at 10:00 p.m. starting in September," said Sunbeam owner Ed Ansin in a statement. "Jay is from Andover where I went to school. I enjoy his humor. We hope the new show is a big success."
"We are very pleased that WHDH will carry Jay Leno's new primetime comedy show at 10 pm this fall on NBC," said John Eck, president of NBC TV Network in a statement. "We look forward to working closely with the station on a successful launch in Boston of this show, featuring one of the most bankable stars in the business."
The station, owned by Sunbeam, had originally said it would carry a 10 pm. local newscast in lieu of the Tonight Show star's new strip.
NBC responded by threatening to pull its affiliation from WHDH and starting an O&O in the market, possibly relaunching Telemundo station WNEU as an NBC station. NBC affiliates across the country largely supported the network, though acknowledging that a local newscast would likely be more lucrative.
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It is gratifying to see that the meds have kicked back in for Ed Ansin. I was concerned for Ed, because only someone who had truly taken leave of their senses would have tried such a foolhardy gambit as telling NBC that Jay Leno, of all talents, would be prempted by a local news broadcast by a series of mostly forgettable news readers all smiling, chuckling or grimacing on cue depending on the story. Leno will be a smash success just as he has been a success for his entire tenure at NBC, and Ed Ansin will thank his lucky stars that he made this decision.
John Reynolds - 4/14/2009 4:57:20 AM EDT -
OK - I'll say it. HOW THE HELL IS JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE STILL ON TV????????? I'm sad that somebody at ABC still believes that creep Kimmel is gonna suddenly get ratings! He's AWFUL! Please ABC, I wanna love your network. You have some great shows. But I can't fathom tuning into a station that thinks that show is any good. IT'S UNWATCHABLE!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!! TAKE IT OFF THE AIR!!!!!!! =(
craig - 4/13/2009 11:06:37 PM EDT -
This screams of a publicity stunt. All this did was get more people to notice leno was was moving to 10pm. This channel was always going to air it, they wanted to drum up chatter about the show. Oldest trick in the book.
Brad Dustin - 4/13/2009 10:26:40 PM EDT -
WHDH just lost a viewer. I have to rise early and like to watch the news before calling it a night. I'll just shift to another station.
Bryan Taylor - 4/13/2009 9:22:31 PM EDT -
The owner of the stations is Ed Ansin.
Richard Kampstra - 4/13/2009 8:37:08 PM EDT
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