Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 30, 1994 TAG: 9408200004
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID ZURAWIK THE BALTIMORE SUN
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
The conventional wisdom was that it cost the magazine - and possibly NBC News - its credibility, and they could never get that back.
The phony test crash did cost Michael Gartner his job as president of NBC News. But "Dateline" is an entirely different story.
There are not one but two nights of "Dateline" on the network each week this summer. Come September, there are going to be three nights of "Dateline" - Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. And NBC News President Andrew Lack says there are more to come.
Lack says if he has his way, there will be five nights a week of "Dateline" on NBC.
In addition to Lack, "Dateline" Producer Neal Shapiro and anchors Jane Pauley and Stone Phillips met with TV critics in Los Angeles to announce the news magazine's expansion to three nights.
It should be noted that it's not a pure expansion, because "Now With Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric" will be no more come September. Brokaw and Couric will be "involved" with "Dateline," according to Lack, but the front-line anchor team will be Pauley and Phillips on all three nights.
The main reasons for that are trying to keep Couric and Brokaw from burning out, while consolidating its magazine resources in one place, Lack says.
It's also about money. Even though "Dateline" finished sixth last year among the 10 prime-time newsmagazines on the air, it still made about $10 million profit for NBC, according to the most conservative industry estimates. In June, NBC went to two nights a week of "Dateline" and, during some weeks, both nights finished in the Top 20 Nielsen shows for the week. Why not go for three?
by CNB