Sweeping up in San Antonio

KSAT is all smiles after a strong November ratings book.

MySanAntonio.com reports that the sweeps served up big wins for KSAT-TV, further strengthening its position here as No. 1 in local news.

San Antonio's ABC affiliate drew the largest audience for nearly every news time slot: morning, noon, 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Its biggest success story was its late newscast, which is co-anchored by Steve Spriester and Isis Romero and runs 30 minutes longer than the 10 p.m. shows on KENS-TV and WOAI-TV. In the first half hour, 10 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., KSAT had an 11 rating, far ahead of KENS at 7.1 and WOAI at 5.1. A ratings point equals 9,062 households.

“We're up (from last year) in just about every day part,” KSAT spokesman David Cuccio said in an email.

For instance, KSAT's 10 p.m. “Nightbeat” saw a year-to-year increase of 26 percent in the sweeps period, which ran from Oct. 31 through Nov. 27.

“We're thankful our viewers know they can expect more from our news teams,” Cuccio added.

KENS' one news victory was at 4 p.m. The half-hour, anchored by Deborah Knapp, outdrew KSAT's show, helmed by Ursula Pari, by more than 7,200 viewers.

CBS affiliate KENS maintained its second-place status at noon, 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. However, WOAI's morning newscast, anchored by Leslie Bohl and Michael Garofalo, narrowly nabbed KENS' usual second-place ranking during the key hours of 5 a.m. to 7 a.m.

WOAI also saw improvements at 5, 6, 6:30 and 10 p.m.

KABB's signature 9 p.m. news dipped slightly, but the Fox affiliate saw morning gains.

“The chemistry among our anchors not only shines, but we also have made a concentrated effort to provide information that's viewer-focused,” said Blaise Labbe, director of news for sister stations WOAI and KABB.