Once upon a time Belo’s Channel 8 was the be-all and the end-all of TV in the North Texas market. It was the class act, the innovator the nationally acclaimed leader. But Channel 8 has been in a slow decline over the years as their best talent slipped away (or were occasionally driven away) to competitors. Now WFAA is in free fall.

In the “sign-on to sign-off (Sunday – Monday 6am to 2am) category WFAA’s audience share plummeted 17% while for the first time in its 50 years of broadcasting KTVT Channel 11 moved into a tie for first with 8. Channel 8’s audience share for the critical 10 pm news swooned 20% while Channel 11 rose to within one rating point of Fort Worth’s KXAS Channel 5. In the 6 pm news sweeps KXAS was down 10%, KDFW channel 4 dropped 22% and Channel 8 way down with a loss of 29%.

KXAS is still identified as a Fort Worth station and draws a heavy share from the western half of, well, the North Texas Metropolitan area. Channel 11, originally and independent station operating from Fort Worth and showing mostly (very) old movies is now a CBS affiliate with a North Texas wide operation. It is clearly the hard charger. It also has Tracy Rowlett, once Belo’s pride and joy, and weather woman Kristine Kahanek, who left WFAA amidst law suits.

The fact is that the 11 on air news team isn’t just warm and attractive it is very bright and involved in the news. The station has also shown an ability to dig and get news. It also has some very good lead-in programs like Wheel of Fortune to lead into some of those broadcasts.

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