Film at 11!
Out here in the sticks there aren't really any local TV stations unless you count the big town which is a ways up the road. But I can still enjoy the hijinks of "sweeps" months from afar. For those unclear on the concept, there is an old article by Dave Zornow that explains it:

The sweeps, Nielsen’s February, May, July and November surveys of all DMA markets, were designed to provide media buyers with representative TV ratings in all local markets. But over time they have been turned into an atypical, stunt- and star-studded spectacle by broadcasters, networks and syndicators which inflate prime time program ratings by as much as fifty percent.
...
By now, just about every TV viewer in American knows when a sweep is taking place. Regularly scheduled prime time programs don’t run as scheduled. Local newscasts are filled with more-than-usually captivating stories and "news" features which coincidentally relate to their movie lead-ins. During the rest of the year, viewers know they have less than a fifty-fifty chance of seeing a new episode, but during February, May and November the re-runs are few and far between.

My favorite sweeps story took place some years ago and involved a local news promo which went something like "Teenage prostitutes on our streets! Film at 11!". That presumably got the viewers' juices flowing.

Well that's nothing compared to San Francisco as Peter Heartlaub reports in the San Francisco Chronicle - A titillating take on San Francisco's history: KRON documentary traces city's past as seen through its sex industry:

The story of San Francisco has been told many ways -- through its politicians, peace marches, immigrants and industry.

"San Francisco: Sex and the City" takes a more lascivious approach, defining the city by its porn, pleasure palaces, leather bars and lusty ladies.

"The genesis of this thing didn't come from 'Well, let's go have some fun with sex.' There was real history to it," said Ken Swartz, who created the KRON documentary. "The Barbary Coast and the bordellos and Gold Rush prostitutes. My God, the city comes alive because of that."

The documentary premieres at 10 p.m. Wednesday, which may have been lost on viewers focusing on the half-naked thrusting bodies in KRON's not-so-subtle promotions.

"So sexy. So erotic. So raw," a narrator says during one KRON advertisement, each sentence punctuated by a leather-clad clown cracking a whip.

Ah yes, it must be sweeps month.