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WTSP-TV Ch. 10 won't let Friday's Bush-McBride debate pre-empt the season premiere of 48 Hours.
By WES ALLISON, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 24, 2002
What does Lesley Stahl have that Gov. Jeb Bush and Bill McBride don't have?
Ratings and ad revenue, apparently.
Friday's debate between Bush and McBride isn't scheduled to air in the Tampa Bay area, McBride's home, because CBS won't let WTSP-TV Ch. 10 pre-empt the season premiere of 48 Hours Investigates, the station said Monday.
Stahl is the show's new anchor, replacing Dan Rather, and CBS has been heavily promoting her new role.
So instead of seeing Bush and McBride answer questions posed by Floridians, local viewers will see a story about a psychiatrist accused of having sex with a patient who has multiple personalities.
"Once we hit prime time, we have to ask CBS, and when you're talking about covering up something in premiere week, they're just not as cooperative," said Lane Michaelsen, vice president and news director at WTSP in St. Petersburg.
"This is premiere week for many network television shows, so yeah, this is a very important time for them," he added. "They're launching new shows and new people and new promotions. The networks want those shows on the air."
The debate is sponsored by the Florida News Network, a consortium of TV stations from around the state representing myriad networks. WTSP, a CBS affiliate, is the local member.
Another CBS affiliate in the network, WINK-TV of Fort Myers, can't air the debate either, its program director said.
But the third CBS station in the network, WCTV in Tallahassee, will air the debate live, 48 Hours be darned. Executives expressed surprise that WTSP and WINK weren't.
"We told (CBS) we were going to run the debate. I discussed it with them, and I got the impression they understood," said Nick Waller, vice president of operations and program director at WCTV. "They didn't say adamantly we had to run their programming. They're pretty flexible."
Waller and Mike Smith, the station's vice president of news and production, said WCTV committed to airing the debate months ago. While they didn't like preempting 48 Hours, they believe it is worth it.
"We felt like that was the best thing for the viewing public," Waller said. "A political debate is somewhat more important that one episode of 48 Hours."
The hourlong, commercial-free debate is scheduled for 8 p.m. from the studios of WJXT in Jacksonville, an independent station that until recently was a CBS affiliate. It also will air on WPLG in Miami, WFTV in Orlando and WEAR in Pensacola.
Michaelsen said he asked WJXT, which is independent, to move the debate to 7 p.m. so WTSP could air it, but the station declined.
Bush campaign spokesman Todd Harris said the campaign negotiated a 7 p.m. airtime with FNN, "and they came back to us and told us it had to be at 8." Harris said the Bush campaign was "hopeful" WTSP would reverse its decision.
This is the first of three scheduled Bush-McBride debates, and the format will feature the usual opening and closing statements with questions posed by Floridians randomly selected and videotaped by member stations. The moderator is WPLG political reporter Michael Putney, who has the leeway to ask followup questions.
Two more gubernatorial debates are scheduled before the Nov. 5 election: a radio debate Oct. 15; and an Oct. 22 debate in Orlando that will be televised on NBC stations, including WFLA-Ch. 8.
WTSP does plan to carry the debate live on its Web site, www.wtsp.com. Michaelsen said he also hopes to persuade another Tampa Bay area station to carry the debate live.
Greg Stetson, program director at WINK in Fort Myers, said he's looking for a time this weekend to air a recording of the debate, but it is proving difficult. "We've got enough football this weekend that I have not found a spot to put it yet."
-- Times staff writer Steve Bousquet contributed to this report.