Now that WPIX is moving on without its captain, we analyze if they are better off, and what’s ahead for the Tribune flagship?

Earlier this month, we reported Bill Carey stepped down as Channel 11 news director. It was a three-year run that attempted to finally lift WPIX past rival WNYW. But Queensborough Community College media professor Eileen White thinks aside from the new bells, whistles, and talent, nothing much has changed at WPIX. She says the newscasts, primarily at 10 p.m., attempted to reinvent the wheel, but in the process, alienated viewers.

One of Carey’s signature moves were to extricate Jodi Applegate from News 12 Long Island and bump seasoned partners Jim Watkins and Kaity Tong.

“That smacks of ageism too,” White tells FishbowlNY. “Let’s just put younger people on, because younger people like [watching] younger people.”

Ironically, Tong, 63, earlier this year gave testimony in an age discrimation lawsuit filed by former WPIX news director Karen Scott.

White also points to a more chronic problem for WPIX, the Fox prime-time lineup.

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American Idol wrapped up season 11 with another star-studded event, culminating with Phillip Phillips being crowned champion.

Rewind a week, and American Idol had its best showing of the season in the New York prime time ratings.

Idol, which trimmed its field to the final two singers, nailed down the top two positions for the week.

Taking number one, Idol‘s two-hour performance on WNYW/Channel 5, according to Nielsen. The show generated an estimated 1.5 million viewers with a 7.6 rating. The penultimate results night yielded a number two with 1.2 million fans and a 6.4 rating.

Idol‘s rating rival, Dancing With The Stars grabbed hold of the next two slots for the week.

The 90-minute Dancing competition had a number-three finish on WABC (1.1 million/6.0), while elimination night settled for fourth (1 million/5.2).

America’s Got Talent returned for a new season amid the fanfare of new judge Howard Stern. The NBC summer series landed in seventh place (836,000/4.3). The second night also made the Top 10, at number eight (829,000/4.2).

More from the Top 10 after the jump

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Make it another prime time ratings victory for ABC’s Dancing With The Stars in New York. In the battle with American Idol on Fox, Dancing once again took the top two positions, according to Nielsen.

The two-hour Dancing was number one with an estimated 1.3 million WABC viewers and a 7.0 rating. Elimination night had a second-place finish (1.2 million/6.3). An additional hour of Dancing With The Stars placed sixth (802,000/4.1).

As for Idol, it settled for number three for Wednesday’s show (1.1 million/6.0) and a fourth-place finish for Thursday’s results (1 million/5.2).

NBC’s version, The Voice, cracked the Top 10, tying for ninth (723,000/3.7).

More from the Top 10 after the jump

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Unlike in past seasons, ABC’s Dancing With The Stars has found a way to edge rival American Idol in the New York-based weekly prime time ratings.

Last week’s Dancing results show had the best result of them all–number one. The show generated an estimated 1.35 million WABC viewers with a 6.9 rating, according to Nielsen.

The previous night’s competition had a second-place finish with 1.3 million viewers and 6.6 rating. Dancing also notched an eighth-place finish (857,000/4.4).

Fox’s Idol suffered a “disappointing” number three showing for the one-hour elimination (1.25 million/6.4) and the other episode ranked fourth (1.2 million/6.1).

As for NBC’s singing show, The Voice, it dropped to a 12th-place tie (721,000/3.7).

More from the Top 10 after the jump

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With WNYW/Channel 5 as the New York home to American Idol, membership has its privileges for entertainment reporter Julie Chang. In-season her focus is the “Idol Chatter” during the  10 p.m. newscast with Ernie Anastos and Dari Alexander. Chang had been handling entertainment fare on Good Day New York until recent personnel changes. Last year, Jill Nicolini was brought on board mornings from WPIX and Anne Craig left the station and the arts beat behind.

Chang just returned from Los Angeles after the Top 13 finalists were unveiled Thursday. She’ll return to the red carpet for the two-night finale in May.

FishbowlNY caught up with the busy, frequent flier for her take on season 11 of Idol, which remains the most popular show each week.

Among the group vying for the title are several singers with ties to the New York area: Elise Testone who grew up in Kinnelon, New Jersey; Jermaine Jones, who hails from Pine Hill, New Jersey; Jeremy Rosato was born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, although listed Valrico, Florida as his hometown on the show. Rounding on the local field is Flushing’s Heejun Han.

“In the last ten years, eight of the winners have come from the South,” Chang tells FishbowlNY. “I feel that this year we really have a strong shot at having a winner from the Big Apple.”

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WeTV hosted a premiere party for its hit reality show Braxton Family Values at Tribeca Grand Tuesday. mediabistro.com was invited along with other members of the press to screen the first episode and attend a Q&A with the singing sisters. While Toni Braxton was notably absent, Traci, Towanda, Trina, Tamar and mom Evelyn more than made up for it with their usual candor.

Although the cast is still filming the final episodes, the show kicks off this Thursday, November 10. Here’s what you can expect this season along with more photos from the event:

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While Billboard has long been required reading for music industry professionals, its online counterpart Billboard.com has expanded over the years to be more consumer friendly, often covering whatever musical moment is in the zeitgeist.

So, for the second installment of our @MediaBeat interview, we got editorial director Bill Werde to weigh in on music television, like Danielle Staub‘s quest for the Hot 100, and why  American Idol has produced more flops than platinum plaques. (We see you, Taylor Hicks.)

“Once you get off of Idol, it’s just such a fleeting window of opportunity generally,” @bwerde said. “We’ve seen –  and the labels now know — that when you finish second, or third, or fourth, or somewhere in the top 10 on Idol, you’ve had an enormous amount of exposure. But you better get those records out fast because, in like 20 minutes, people are going to forget about you.”

You can also watch this video on YouTube.

Part 1:Billboard‘s Bill Werde: ‘If You’re Gonna Write About Music, You Better Love It’
Part 3: Bill Werde: ‘iTunes’ Success Does Not Equal Billboard‘s Detriment’

As all eyes watch American Idol dwindle down to the final four, fans of the show will recall Robbie Rosen. The melodic, Merrick native, Rosen had an untimely exit from the popular Fox talent competition after reaching the Top 24.

Rosen, now making the rounds, especially on Long Island, appeared at the Folio Awards in Woodbury last week. He sang the National Anthem.

The unassuming junior from Calhoun High School would have liked to continue on Idol, but considers himself lucky.

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There was much talk heating up the Internet following Pia Toscano’s surprise exit on American Idol. Outraged, many New Yorkers (Pia is from Howard Beach, N.Y.) said they would no longer watch the show–or at least not for the remainder of this season.

But, no matter. The latest Nielsen ratings are out and they feature the first Idol figures since Toscano left the show.

The Fox powerhouse took hold of the top two positions, actually bettering its own recent performances. Dancing With The Stars had been a consistent number two since returning.

For the number one showing Wednesday night, Idol estimated 1.8 million Fox 5/WNYW viewers with a 9.0 rating. As for the elimination show, it had 1.6 million with a 7.9.

Then came Dancing, in third place for Monday’s night performance (1.5 million/7.7) and fourth with 1.3 million WABC viewers and a 6.5 rating.

The rest of the Top 10 after the jump.

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In what was one of the biggest (and earliest) upsets in American Idol history, Howard Beach’s Pia Toscano was eliminated last night.  In the 9 a.m. hour of Good Day New York, the hometown girl, Toscano, was interviewed live from Los Angeles by Greg Kelly and Rosanna Scotto.

During the four-minute talk, the anchors showed how incredulous her elimination was.

“I’ve been consoling Greg all morning because he’s been hysterical about it,” Scotto said.

 ”Oh Pia, we are still very confused,” Kelly told Toscano. “You are clearly the  most talented person of the [group]. You’re tops. That was kind of the collective wisdom. Everybody really assumed you would win.”  

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