Lori Greiner knows firsthand the power of Oprah Winfrey to sell product.

In part two of our conversation with Greiner, the “Queen of QVC” and regular on ABC’s “Shark Tank” tells SocialTimes editor Devon Glenn what happens when one of your products makes the list of Oprah’s favorite things, how every inventor thinks they have the greatest thing in the world and what they need to do to make sure they’re right.

For more videos, check out our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter: @mediabistroTV

After more than a year of planning and promoting, Katie Couric‘s syndicated talk show, “Katie,” debuts this afternoon.

“Katie” will air at 3 p.m. in all but two of the top 10 markets. The exceptions are Dallas and Washington, DC,  where ABC affiliates WFAA and WJLA will run “Katie” in the 4 p.m. timeslot, which was vacated by daytime fixture Oprah Winfrey last June.

• Related, TVNewser: Katie Couric, Anderson Cooper Facing Serious Challenges in Crowded Syndie Marketplace
  

The eight ABC O&Os — WABC in New York, KABC in Los Angeles, WLS in Chicago, WPVI in Philadelphia, KGO in San Francisco, KTRK in Houston, WTVD in Raleigh-Durham and KFSN in Fresno — are sticking with a commitment to local newscasts, some of which launched in the wake of Winfrey’s departure, in the 4 p.m. time slot.

The departure of Oprah Winfrey from daytime television last summer has resulted in more competitive ratings battles in top markets across the U.S., Brian Stelter of the New York Times writes:

In New York, for instance, WABC’s replacement for Ms. Winfrey’s show, an hour of local news at 4 p.m., has averaged about half as many viewers as the talk show did. The decline has brought down the 5 p.m. hour as well; in May, WABC’s long winning streak at that hour was broken by WCBS. “We started our 5 o’clock newscasts here in New York in 1982, and this is the first time we are No. 1,” said Peter Dunn, the president and general manager of WCBS.

In many local markets, the “Oprah” time slots were filled not with talk, but with local news, continuing a cost-effective expansion of news that has been happening for several years in many cities. But ratings declines, in many cases, have been precipitous there, too. Read more

With Oprah Winfrey‘s resignation from daytime television last spring, some local stations filled her former timeslot with a newscast, hoping to find an appetite for more locally-produced content. So how are they doing? TVNewsCheck takes a look today at the ratings in the top 25 markets, finding that while most newscasts can’t match Oprah’s audience, the programs are still advantageous to large-market stations:

Steve Riley, WSB’s creative services director, says the newscast is performing well among coveted demographics, placing No. 1 in the time period with adults 25-54 during October to date. In addition, the news audience is more evenly divided between men and women, with women making up 46% of the newscast’s audience compared to 76% of Oprah’s.

“We did our homework,” Riley says. The station added reporters, photographers and writers along with its news hour, he says. “We are bringing in that much more content.” Read more

KGO, the ABC owned-and-operated station in San Francisco, is expanding their 11 p.m. weekend newscast to a full hour beginning this weekend.

KGO’s Alan Wang (pictured), the current 11 p.m. anchor, will remain at the helm for the new 60-minute broadcasts. He will be joined by meteorologist Leigh Glaser and sports anchor Mike Shumann.

KGO will be the first San Francisco station to offer an hour of news in the 11 p.m. timeslot. KTVU, the Fox affiliate, does not have an 11 p.m. newscast; CBS affiliate KPIX and NBC affiliate KNTV have a 35-minute and 30-minute newscast, respectively.

This is the second expansion of news programming for KGO this year. After Oprah Winfrey signed off from daytime television in May, the station replaced her talk show with a 4 p.m. newscast.

WKYT will become the first station in the Lexington, KY market to have a 10 a.m. newscast beginning September 12.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that station management at WKYT, which is the market’s CBS affiliate, has been planning the additional newscast for two years, since Oprah Winfrey announced she would depart from daytime television. Several stations have chosen to fill the Oprah timeslot with news, but WKYT — which will replace the daytime queen with Anderson Cooper‘s syndicated show this fall — wanted another timeslot for an additional newscast.

“We do very well at noon, and we’ve constantly improved in show growth in the mornings, so we’re wanting to bridge those time periods,” news director Robert Thomas told the Herald-Leder.

The new show will be staffed by the midday news team: anchors Bill Bryant and Barbara Bailey and meteorologist Todd Borek. The station will slide “Regis & Kelly” from the 10 a.m. hour to the 9 a.m. hour to accommodate the half-hour newscast.

Chicago’s TV news anchors and reporters were out in force for a sneak preview open house at the city’s new Museum of Broadcast Communications Thursday night. Joined by Gov. Pat Quinn, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and Museum President Bruce DuMont, the event officially marks the end of major construction of the 62,000 square foot, stand-alone facility.

“Phil Donahue, Oprah Winfrey, Kukla, Fran and Ollie, Dave Garroway, Paul Harvey - the broadcast history of this city is just amazing,”  legendary WGN meteorologist Tom Skilling tells TVSpy. “We really have a story to tell here.  I think [the museum] is going to be of great interest. Bringing together the stories of these amazing broadcasters who have influenced broadcasting on a national scale is well worth telling.”

Local journos on hand included WBBM’s Bill Kurtis and Rob Johnson, former WBBMer Donna LaPietra, WMAQ’s Dick Johnson and Paula Faris, WLS’s Valerie Warner, former WLSer Andy Shaw, and former WMAQer Chet Coppock.

Mayor Emanuel noted that the museum is fitting for a city that hosted the nation’s first televised presidential debate, between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960.

Party attendees got a glimpse at historic TV artifacts, including one of the cameras used during the JFK-Nixon matchup, an original Charlie McCarthy puppet, and the doorway that Oprah

Read more

WNBC is changing the name of its 5pm show from “LX New York” to “New York Live,” effective today.

LX New York debuted two years ago produced not by WNBC’s news department, but by the LX.TV group, which had been acquired by NBCUniversal in early 2008.

Jane Hanson and Sara Gore continue to host the lifestyle and entertainment program.

For decades, from 1980-2007, the 5pm timeslot on WNBC was home to “Live at Five,” an interview and lifestyle show which led off with news headlines. “Live at Five” had been been hosted by Matt Lauer and Jack Cafferty, and for its entirety by Sue Simmons and once included voice-overs from SNL announcer Don Pardo. But over the years, the show morphed into a traditional newscast, was canceled in 2007 and replaced by EXTRA at 5pm and later News 4 New York until LX New York came along in 2009.

“Our new name, New York Live, reflects what the show has become — all about the very best of New York everyday,” says Morgan Hertzan, General Manager, LX.TV.

The name change comes on the same day New York’s news leader WABC launches its 4pm newscast replacing “The Oprah Winfrey Show”

WTVD is preparing to launch the first 4-5 p.m. newscast in the Raleigh market later this week, replacing Oprah when she signs off on Wednesday.

“We at ABC11 are proud and excited to take the lead in providing Raleigh, Durham, Fayetteville and surrounding areas with a landmark in the region’s local news coverage, the first daily 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. newscast,” said John Idler, WTVD’s president and general manager, in announcing the new newscast.

The new 4 p.m. newscast will be anchored by Frances Scott and Fred Shropshire, both native North Carolinians. Shropshire joined WTVD in 2007 and has been working as a weekend anchor and weekday reporter. Scott currently anchors the 5 and 5:30 p.m. weekday newscasts. Meteorologist Chris Hohmann will also be on-hand.

The additional hour of news means that WTVD will now run a solid block of local news from 4 to 6:30, followed by “ABC World News with Diane Sawyer.”

The season of lasts continues on TV. Tonight is Mary Hart‘s final “Entertainment Tonight.”

During the final show, which was taped yesterday, Hart was surprised by former co-hosts Bob Goen, Rob Weller, and John Tesh.

Hart, who has been with the show since 1982, will be replaced by former “Access Hollywood” host Nancy O’Dell, who is a former reporter at WPDE-TV in her native Myrtle Beach, later morning news anchor WCBD-TV in Charleston, before moving to Miami’s WTVJ where she was an anchor/reporter.

There was Katie Couric last night. Next week Oprah Winfrey signs off, and two weeks after that, Meredith Vieira says goodbye to “Today” viewers.

And while Hart has been with the show longest, she wasn’t there from the start. To the way-back YouTube machine!

Read more