‘Meet The Press’ Has Banner Year

Fri., Jan. 8, 1999

The long-running Sunday show was the most-watched public affairs program for the calendar year.

New York Daily News Scandal and turmoil in Washington led to a very good 1998 for NBC’s “Meet the Press,” according to recently released Nielsen statistics.

The long-running Sunday show, hosted by Tim Russert, was the most-watched public-affairs program for the calendar year, the fourth quarter and the most recent week, according to Nielsen.

For the year, the show averaged 4,220,000 viewers. ABC’s “This Week with Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts” averaged 3,575,000 viewers. CBS’ “Face the Nation” averaged 2,311,000 and Fox’s “News Sunday” averaged 1,227,000.

For the quarter, “Meet the Press” drew 4,504,000 million viewers on average. “This Week” averaged 3,563,000, “Face the Nation” averaged 2,485,000, and “News Sunday” averaged 1,208,000.

“Meet the Press” has now been the most-watched public-affairs show for five straight quarters. It also turned in its highest viewer totals since at least 1987.

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