He has the highest ratings in late-night television, he's interviewed everybody who's anybody, and his contract guarantees, among other things, that he never has to work another Monday.
CBS' David Letterman, right? Everybody knows he's the king of late night.
While the conventional wisdom does, indeed, say that Letterman rules late night, the A.C. Nielsen ratings say the most popular show is actually ABC's "Nightline." Host Ted Koppel is television's premier interviewer -- Mr. Must-See-at-Bedtime for members of the political establishment, and the host with the same kind of sweetheart contract Johnny Carson had before his retirement in 1992 after 30 years at NBC.
As "Nightline" approaches its 15th anniversary on March 5, comparing Koppel to the legendary Carson seems far more appropriate than Koppel and Letterman. Koppel's "Nightline" has been racking up prestige and profits for ABC for most of its 15 years, and analysts say it could go on for another 15 -- Koppel willing.
The most amazing thing about "Nightline's" ratings is that the show's winning with sound journalism, say analysts. That truly does go against all conventional wisdom for how things are supposed to work in a stupid-pet-tricks show-biz environment.
Koppel brings "Nightline" to Baltimore tonight for a 90-minute town hall meeting on teen sex and sex education, titled "Teen Sex: What'll We Tell the Kids?" The show, which is not open to the public, will be broadcast live from Towson State University at 11:35 p.m. on WMAR (Channel 2).
Scheduled guests for tonight's town meeting include: Dr. Jocelyn Elders, former surgeon general of the United States; the Rev. Lou Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition; Richard Ross, a spokesman for True Love Waits, a group advocating sexual abstinence for teens; and Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke.
The topic, and Koppel's pre-show take on it, suggest one secret to the "Nightline" formula for winning both ratings and respect: Choose topics that viewers have an emotional stake in, then try to connect the topic to the larger picture.
"The reason we want to do a town meeting on the relationship between teen sex and sex education is that it seems to have become one of the big political issues of the 1990s," Koppel said in an interview this week.
"Once you begin with the reality that there are roughly a million teen-age pregnancies in this country every year now, you can follow that particular stem of the tree down to any number of branches," he said.
"You can go into the welfare area, you can go into the high-crime area, the education area, the venereal diseases area, the AIDS area, abortion. . . . Once you start talking about teen sex, you start talking about just about every social problem we have in this country."
The selection of such hot topics as teen sex, televangelists and the O. J. Simpson trial have also led to some of the loudest criticism of "Nightline" -- charges that it wins ratings by choosing sexy topics, then spinning a cloak of social significance around them. Is tonight's town meeting such a case?
Steve Barkin, who teaches broadcast news in the College of Journalism at the University of Maryland College Park, says he doesn't think so. He backs Koppel on the journalistic justification for a town meeting on teen sex.
"There is definitely a news peg if nothing else," Barkin said, referring to the recent firing of Dr. Elders for her remarks on masturbation and the controversial nomination of Henry W. Foster Jr., who says he wants to make the issue of teen sex the centerpiece of his agenda as surgeon general.
"Does it hurt that it's what you call an evergreen topic and that it has emotional appeal? No it doesn't. But there's certainly nothing automatically wrong with that," said Barkin, author of "Television Reality: Electronic Journalism in a New Era," a book on changing news values that will be published this year by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Puts issues in context
Douglas Gomery, a University of Maryland professor who writes a column on the economics of television in the American Journalism Review, also backed Koppel on the teen sex topic, saying, "One of the best things about 'Nightline' is that it takes hot topics that viewers are interested in and, then, gives viewers a context for understanding them."
As for the selection of Baltimore as site for the town meeting, Gomery said, "I would think that has more to do with the business of broadcasting than journalism -- namely, 'Nightline' trying to help out its new affiliate, Channel 2, in the ratings."
Koppel acknowledged as much, saying, "The reason for Baltimore is that we just switched affiliates in Baltimore, and we wanted to go somewhere where we could highlight our new affiliation. . . . Occasionally, you have to beat the drum, and that's what we're doing."
There's a bit more to it than that. Baltimore, which had been a "Nightline" ratings stronghold for years, is now one of the few dark clouds on its Nielsen horizon.
In November 1994, when "Nightline" aired on WJZ (Channel 13), it was the highest-rated late-night show in Baltimore -- beating "The Late Show With David Letterman" and Jay Leno's "Tonight."
Last month, Koppel's first on WMAR since the affiliate switch in Baltimore, "Nightline" dropped to third behind Letterman and Leno.
A rosy picture, nationally
The national picture, meanwhile, is downright rosy. For the entire TV season, which started in September, Letterman is still in first place slightly ahead of "Nightline." But "Nightline" has beat Letterman and Leno two out the last three weeks. And, for the first two weeks of the important February sweeps ratings period, the score on first place finishes is Letterman 1, Koppel 1.
While competitors say the "Nightline" surge is O. J. driven, Koppel says it's more complicated than that.
"There is no question that when we do a program on O. J. Simpson, the ratings are extremely strong. But the ratings have also been strong on other programs we've done," Koppel said. "I'd like to believe that one of the reasons our national ratings are so much stronger is that in the past year we have gone from live clearances of about 61 percent to live clearances of 80 percent."
Again, Gomery and Barkin back Koppel's analysis. And, again, the analysis is as much about business as it is journalism.
The term "clearance" refers to an affiliate station carrying a network program at a time designated by the network. Last year, only three out of five ABC affiliates were carrying "Nightline" at 11:35 weeknights. This year, after a concentrated effort by ABC to get its affiliates on board, four out of five affiliates are carrying "Nightline" live. That translates to "Nightline" now being seen right after the late news in 151 cities instead of 114. So, naturally, it would have a larger audience for the half hour from 11:35 to 12:05.
On the other hand, Jay Leno's "Tonight" show has a 99 percent clearance, which means it is seen on about 205 NBC affiliates. And Letterman is at about 90 percent clearance on CBS, which translates to about 185 affiliates. So "Nightline" is still behind in terms of potential reach, which makes its first-place finishes all // the more remarkable.
The price of jumping on board
How did ABC get more affiliates to carry "Nightline" live? One way they did it was the old-fashioned way: They paid them.
For example, ABC is paying the five-station Scripps Howard group, which includes WMAR, $10 million a year to ensure that Scripps' stations clear such ABC programs as "Nightline."
Koppel said another big factor is the consistent high quality of "Nightline."
"Look, we've got a few years under our belt now, and for a television program to survive for 15 years as 'Nightline' has, I think shows a little staying power. And I hope some of the affiliates have come to the conclusion that they are backing a winner," Koppel said.
"Nightline" is a winner, the experts say.
Engagingly told
"Koppel and the executive producer, Tom Bettag, will take a story that others say is too boring or difficult for television and try to find a way to make it engaging . . . to make it work for the viewer. In that sense, 'Nightline' continues to push the boundaries in a positive, journalistic way," said Barkin.
Gomery points to the show's ability to attract and hold an audience during a time of tremendous change in television viewing habits.
"When you think about how dramatically the television landscape has changed since 'Nightline' started in 1980, all the channel surfing and all the other places you can now go for television news and information at the end of the day, their ongoing performance is a remarkable one."