There's no doubt that, when the local affiliation switch takes place at 1 a.m. on Sunday, KUTV-Ch. 2 has the tougher task.
The station has suffered through four ownership changes in as many years, its local news ratings have declined - and it has to trade a strong NBC lineup for a weak CBS schedule.But at least the new network seems to know that KUTV has its work cut out for it.
"We're very sensitive to the job that we've given Ch. 2 here," said Tony C. Malara, the president of CBS Affiliate Relations. "They've made a switch from a network that's clearly on top and is doing some very strong programming . . . to a network which is in the position of coming back.
"But we talk a lot about the cyclical nature of television. Let me put it this way - Ch. 2 as an NBC affiliate has been in worse situations for a lot longer than they will be with CBS."
Ch. 2 did indeed struggle through some terrible years with NBC. The Peacock was a disastrous third place in the early '80s before climbing to the top of the ratings heap, and was a disastrous third place again as recently as two years ago.
Everyone at CBS - and at Ch. 2 - is hoping that the current cycle will carry the Big Eye to improved ratings in the next couple of seasons. Malara was in town recently to try to reassure Ch. 2's advertisers that that would happen.
And Ch. 2 is in a position of battling an entrenched foe that has dominated the market for years, at least with its late news numbers - KSL-Ch. 5.
"There's a hard-working group of people here who recognize what they have to overcome," Malara said. "It's not just competition, it's culture. KSL is culture here. They have done a fabulous job. They were a great partner.
"But you move on. The question now is - how do we do this again? How do we do this better? (At KSL) they're looking to see how they're going to make NBC as dominant a partner as CBS was, and, obviously, we're going to look at Ch. 2 and figure out how we're going to do that together with Westinghouse."
It's a Westinghouse/CBS joint venture that's buying 88 percent of KUTV from NBC - part of a deal that includes station or signal swaps in Philadelphia, Miami and Denver. Former CBS Broadcast Group President Howard Stringer once said that his network would come out on the better end of the deal in the other three cities, and just about even in Salt Lake City.
Malara doesn't agree.
"I don't think even is fair," he said. "I think that KSL has a position in the marketplace that would be difficult for anybody to attack easily. . . . We may be about even in our ability to get to the audience. We give away a bunch in whatever that aura is, in whatever that cultural impact is that's been here so long. But those are challenges that get your juices going."
The acquisition of Ch. 2 by CBS will at least make Malara's job a bit easier. He'll no longer be battling with the folks at KSL over whether they'll air programming like "Picket Fences."
"I don't think it's made it any more difficult. We had people who had values and concerns and expressed those concerns on a regular basis in business. I mean, obviously, we'd sit there and have some very long and engaging conversations," Malara said with a laugh.
"I have never met anyone more sincere in my entire life than the folks at KSL. (Bonneville International President) Rod Brady and (vice president) Bruce Reese would sit there, and I was always very impressed with the depth of their feelings and their sincerity. And we have enormous respect for that."
(Bonneville owns KSL-Ch. 5.)
Malara said what used to make him upset was when KSL executives would refuse to air programming they hadn't seen. He recalled what he called "one of the classic cases."
"I don't recall anything more than a conversation that contained the words, `We're not going to put a program called "Dirty Dancing" on the air,' " Malara said.
"Dirty Dancing" was a short-lived sitcom based on the movie of the same name that ran for about 21/2 months during the 1988-89 season. KSL refused to air it based on the title before the show had even gone into production.
(Ch. 5 also pre-empted the movie "Dirty Dancing" every time CBS aired it.)
"Those are the kinds of conversations we used to have a lot," Malara said. "I guess it's not going to be exactly the same now. I don't think (KUTV President) Jeffrey (Hatch) and the rest of the people at Ch. 2 would come up with the same concerns about a show called `Dirty Dancing.'
"They might not like `Dirty Dancing' because they think it's a terrible show. And that's another conversation."
Malara said that, despite its ownership by Westinghouse and CBS, Ch. 2 would be left with some flexibility. The new ownership did agree to a contract between Utah State and KUTV that will pre-empt some network programming.
At the same time, Ch. 2 had no choice but to air "Day & Date," a weekday afternoon news and information show that's part of the Westinghouse/CBS partnership.
"One of the reasons why you get into a venture like this is to take advantage of the situation," said Malara, point out that the combined reach of the Westinghouse and CBS station covers about 33 percent of the nation. "The word synergy is so mis-used, but that's synergy."
(The Westinghouse/CBS joint venture that purchased Ch. 2 predates the current effort by Westinghouse to acquire CBS outright.)
But Malara insists that Ch. 2 won't become simply an outlet for CBS and Westinghouse programming.
"That clearly would be a danger. . . . Clearly, the opportunity for demanding that this simply become an outlet for one area's creative output is there, but who would do that?" he asked. "Why do you not want your people bidding for `Seinfeld' if `Seinfeld' is available? Because you're going to put on something that you just created that gets a 2 (rating)?"
" `Day & Date' deserves a chance. . . . If you're going to launch a program that's a significant investment on the part of your company, then you want the entire company to be behind it. . . . If `Day & Date' turns out to be as successful as we all hope it will be, everybody turns out a winner. If it turns out not to gather the greatest audience that we can get or gather an audience where the programming is not competitive you can't afford to keep it on the air."
Should "Day & Date" prove to be a success on other CBS/Wes-ting-house stations but a failure on Ch. 2, Malara said the local station will have the option of dropping it. Ch. 2 won't be forced to carry a losing proposition indefinitely.
"That's not the case now. In Group W stations now we're fighting for clearances of (`The Late Late Show with Tom) Snyder,' " he said. "The individual stations had the opportunity, clearly, to look at their own needs."
Not that individual CBS/Wes-ting-house stations will be free to program as they like throughout the day.
"I say this without any fear of being challenged - I want the company-owned television stations to carry CBS product. . . . Part of their responsibility - and part of their obligation as being part of this wonderful family - is there are certain things that they have to recognize as well."
In other words, the network does come first sometimes.
"It may very well be that you come to a decision and say, `Yeah, I'm only doing a 2 (rating) with `Guiding Light' but if I start screwing around with it it's going to mess up a nationwide deal then it will screw up the daytime schedule," Malara said. "And the daytime schedule makes a lot of money for the company."
"This is not an independent television station. . . . You cannot be a good affiliate and a good independent at the same time. The value of being an affiliate is clear, and there's no challenge there. . . . You can't let a company-owned station do something that you would not let an affiliate do."
The announcement that NBC had snagged the rights to the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics didn't make anyone at either CBS or Ch. 2 happy. "But we are a 52-week-a-year business," Malara said.
He called the Games "an incredible opportunity" that CBS missed out on.
"But, OK, that's three weeks. I mean, what are we going to do, die?" he said. "We got 49 weeks left. And we'll make our year on the 49 weeks more often than we'll make it on the three.
"You make a bunch of money for a period of time. You get a lot of attention, a lot of press. But it's the old story - what goes on Monday night at 8 o'clock or 9 o'clock is much more important than that special you put on. . . . You need that circulation. You don't need people to come to your network every four years or two years."
Ch. 2 is also in the unique position of being the only CBS-owned station in America that will air NBC's "Saturday Night Live" - though it's a temporary situation.
"Understand, though, that we have said that we are in the business of programming Saturday late-night," Malara said. "When the day comes that we have something, it will go in there."
"But why turn down the opportunity as it exists now?"
SHIFTING THE NEWS Once Ch. 2 officially begins airing CBS programming, it will add 21/2 hours of local newscasts on the weekends - while losing 21/2 hours of weekday newscasts.
On Sunday, KUTV's 5 p.m. newscast expands from 30 minutes to an hour.
And beginning Sept. 16, Ch. 2 will add a 2-hour Saturday morning newscast at 7 a.m. Susan Furniss will anchor, with David James doing sports and Craig Moeller the weathercasting.
This will be KUTV's second attempt at Saturday morning news - the first started with a bang and ended with barely a whimper.)
The additional 21/2 hours on Saturdays and Sundays will be offset by the trimming of the weekday noon newscast from an hour to 30 minutes, a move necessitated by the new CBS ownership and the need to add the daytime soap "The Bold and the Beautiful."