Smerconish’s Ratings, Block By Block

“Last week, I had an experience that left me believing that, like everything else, TV content is market-driven. If you think what you watch is garbage, that’s because there’s quite a market for garbage.”

That’s Philadelphia radio host Michael Smerconish, writing in today’s Daily News, about his experience subbing for Joe Scarborough on MSNBC Thursday night.

“It seems I did just fine,” he writes. “You know the old expression: Figures never lie, but liars can figure. There is always something positive or negative to be read into ratings. There were also some numbers that could not be so easily spun, and which speak volumes. They had to do with the breakdowns by “blocks.” The one-hour program is divided up for ratings purposes, allowing a review of how well different subjects and guests were received.

In the first, or “A” block, the subject was the breaking news of the day – Andrea Yates, the mom who drowned her five kids and who was released from prison and sent to a posh-looking mental facility before her retrial.

I interviewed her lawyer and then oversaw a scrum between two lawyers with differing views. In the all-important demographic of 25- to 54-year-olds, 168,000 people were watching the A-block.

After a commercial break, it was time for the B-block and a change of subject. We focused on the controversy over the Mohammad cartoons. I interviewed an angry Arab community leader. We disagreed on the cartoon. People tuned out. The number of viewers in the prime demographic dropped to 128,000.

Next came a commercial break, and then the C-block, featured a complete change of direction: Time to discuss the trend toward meanness on “American Idol,” and to welcome as a guest Haggai Yedidya, canned from the show earlier in the week.

He was colorful and regaled me and two other guests with a rendition of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.” It got a bit hokey. His shirt was loud and his voice left something to be desired. But, by the end of the segment, all four of us were singing along. Guess what? It worked. The audience grew from 128,000 to 170,000, even higher than the Andrea Yates opening.

The final portion of the program, or D-block, included a combination of short, quirky stories and the awarding of Joe Scarborough’s dubious “Joe’s Schmoe” award. (I nominated Donovan McNabb.) Only 90,000 tuned in from the key demo.”