As you might have expected, the TV ratings for the just-completed weekend of hoops were extraordinary and record-setting.
You may know that WLKY garners the best ratings in the NCAA Tournament of any CBS station in the country, and with such unprecedented success by local teams, the numbers are up, up, up.
WLKY GM Glenn Haygood reports that games on his station (now that the games are shared between CBS, TBS and TRU TV) were 15-20 percent higher than last year. Saturday night’s Kentucky win over Iowa State did a 34, which is in Super Bowl territory.
The 15 games aired on WLKY averaged about a 14 rating, quite a boost to the station’s overall numbers.
It’s not all good for WLKY, though. Thursday’s U of L-Michigan State game will air on TBS, while WLKY will have the Syracuse-Wisconsin and Cincinnati-Ohio State games. But WLKY gets the UK game against Indiana on Friday.
While there were plenty of heavy favorites that went down (Duke, Missouri) and kept fans cheering and brackets busting, all the #1 seeds survived. The lowest-seeded team remaining is #13 Ohio University, which gets North Carolina Friday.
So it’s time to make more plans to visit a local establishment during gametime Friday and Saturday. And for a unique atmospher, you might try Anselmo’s on Bardstown Road near Eastern Parkway, where Kenny can set you up with some special deals — 50-cent wings, 25% pizza discount, 1/2 price appetizers and a bucket of beer for $10.
Or strap yourself into that recliner again starting Thursday to see if the Cards can continue their run and see how many more times you can stand watching those two dudes dancing in the stands in those State Farm commercials.
