I could definitely see NBC 4 getting back into #1. People know Colleen Marshall and Mark Taylor, and many in our market grew up with the former. NBC’s primetime lineup is a lot better now than it was 10 years ago as well when they lost that spot, so there is a quality lead-in now. Before NBC got their paws on WCMH they were their strongest affiliate — and later one of their strongest O&Os.
After NBC sold the station off, the news product took a huge hit with a lot of their quality reporters (i.e. Nancy Burton, Holly Hollingsworth, John Ivanic, Kyle Anderson, etc.) losing their jobs, their longtime ND (Stan Sanders) being fired, and the economic downturn. As cheap as Nexstar is, they’re slowly getting back what was there before Media General cut everything.