Local media buffs are taking notice of the increasingly aggressive moves that WPRI-TV (Channel 12), long the second-rated news station in the Providence market, has been making in recent months. Most recently, political reporter Jack White's broadcast of publicly available audiotapes from the Plunder Dome investigation caught the competition -- including the Providence Journal -- napping.

WPRI news director Gary Brown calls the station's challenge to market leader WJAR-TV (Channel 10) a work in progress. "Actually, I think it was during the Plunder Dome trial that our aggressive style of reporting became noticed," he says, referring to a 30-minute special report aired daily at 4:30 p.m. during the prosecution of former mayor Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci Jr.

Channel 12 also boldly launched an early morning news show last summer to challenge WJAR's traditional hegemony in the early morning hours. The show is anchored by veteran broadcast journalist Pamela Watts, who was joined earlier this month by Steve Cascione, WPRI's popular veteran meteorologist. Says Brown, "Certainly [Channel 10] has been very dominant in the morning, but we're committed to aggressive reporting all day long and it would be wrong not to cover such an important day part."

WPRI has bolstered its lineup of strong reporters with Sean Daly (who arrived on the cusp of the Plunder Dome trial) and the arrival next week of another Providence reporting veteran, Jeff Derderian, who had been working in Boston. Brown cites the "Call for Action" consumer feature as another strong element. "We get tons of calls," he says, "and the best part is that we've been very successful in solving a lot of our viewers' problems."

Local viewers seem to be taking notice of Channel 12's enhanced coverage, with the station's Nielsen share almost doubling from an eight in November 2001 to a 15 in November 2002. Channel 10's share slipped slightly during the same period, from 25 to 23. Of course, demographics are even more important and Betty-Jo Cugini, WJAR's news director, says 10 has a stronger share of the younger audience. "We are as dominant as ever," she says, pointing to the "consistency" of WJAR's news programming as a major reason for its success. Adds Cugini, "To their credit, Channel 12 has become a solid number two station, something we haven't seen in this market in a long time."

Issue Date: February 14 - 20, 2003