People Really Do Watch All Of Those Channels

This is interesting. I always suspected The Discovery Channel had more viewers than MTV.

I have here the “net weekly circulation” rankings from the Nielsen ratings service, which measure how many households have watched a particular station during a week.

For instance, an 81 percent net weekly circulation number for KHQ-6 means that 81 percent of the households in the greater Spokane market watched KHQ-6 at least once during a given week. The three network affiliates are bunched closely at the top, followed by the Fox and PBS affiliates, and an array of cable stations.

Here are the rankings for Spokane for the most recent ratings period in July:

1. KHQ-6 (NBC), 81 percent.

2. KREM-2 (CBS), 79.

3. KXLY-4 (ABC), 75.

4. KAYU-28 (Fox), 47.

5. KSPS-7 (PBS), 40.

6. USA, 28.

7. WTBS, 22.

8. CNN, 18.5.

9. The Discovery Channel, 17.

10. Nickelodeon, 16.

11. The Family Channel, 15.

12. The Nashville Network, 15.

13. TNT, 15.

14. ESPN, 14.

15. Arts and Entertainment Network, 14.

16. Lifetime, 13.

17. The Disney Channel, 12.

18. HBO, 10.

19. American Movie Classics, 9.

20. Prime Sports Northwest, 8.

The list goes all the way to No. 66, including a bunch of strange stations you can only get by satellite.

But here are a few other notable cable stations and their rank:

23. The Learning Channel.

26. FX.

28. MTV.

29. Sci-Fi.

31. E!

36. CNBC.

37. Comedy Central.

38. Showtime.

41. The Weather Channel.

46. VH-1.

50. C-SPAN.

51. KXLY-EXTRA! 55. Trinity Broadcasting Network.

56. The History Channel.

Early jazz warning

Tito Puente, the king of Latin jazz, will appear at the 1996 University of Idaho Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival on Feb. 23.

He’ll be joined in the all-star concert by Paquito Rivera and Claudio Roditi, two other Latin jazz legends.

Other headliners will be announced soon.

Chihuly chandeliers That Dale Chihuly glass chandelier at Gonzaga University’s Jundt Art Center and Museum is an absolute stunner.

It’s six feet wide at the top, tapering down to a point 18 feet below, which makes it almost two stories of glowing orange glass.

And unlike the rest of the items in the Chihuly exhibit, it will remain there long past the Dec. 15 closing date. The chandelier is permanent.

By the way, Chihuly’s lecture will be on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Gonzaga’s Martin Centre. It’s free.

Christian radio

When I published the Arbitron radio ratings last Sunday, KTSL-FM, the contemporary Christian station, ranked only 15th.

That may not sound great, but it’s actually quite an accomplishment. According to Religion and Media Quarterly, only a quarter of the nation’s contemporary Christian stations pull in enough listeners to make the ratings at all.

The same magazine says that KTSL ratings make it the seventh highest ranked contemporary Christian station in the country.

The moral: Success is relative when it comes to radio ratings.

Scaling ‘The Peak’

“The Peak, at 105-dot-7,” also known as KEZE-FM, has been on their air for about three weeks, and it’s time to take stock.

One reader wrote in to say that he was “very disappointed” that The Peak didn’t go for the true AAA format (adult album alternative), which he said has a softer, more “roots-rock” sound. He found The Peak to be too punk.

Others have found it not punk enough, citing too much Peter Gabriel and Tom Petty.

You can’t please everybody, that’s for sure. But so far, the station seems to have found a reasonable balance between those two sensibilities. And meanwhile, it has managed to play a lot of music that never got played in this town at all.

By the way, I vote for less Gabriel but more Petty.

Promo award

The people at KXLY-4 are glowing about the 1995 Pinnacle Awards of Excellence for TV commercials, awarded last week in New York.

KXLY’s promotion spot titled “Good Morning Northwest Expansion” took home the grand prize among 336 entries.

, DataTimes