Local TV Ohio Primary Plans

Election coverage on WLWT-TV (Channel 5) begins at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, as soon as the polls close, and goes four straight hours until Jay Leno’s Tonight Show.

I think it's a risky move – will Ohio be counted before dawn? – but Ch. 5 News Director Brennan Donnellan says he has plenty of material to fill four hours. (All the other stations will do news cut-ins and crawls until 10 p.m., then you'll see newscasts on Channel 19, Channel 64 (from Channel 12) and on Channel 9 (pre-empting ABC News "Primetime" special.)

Says Donnellan: "We have reporters specifically assigned to vote counting in Hamilton, Butler and Warren counties, plus a statewide perspective. If there are more delays, that's a story and we'll have it covered. We've also prepared a signficant number of political perspective stories, so it'll be lively and informative even if the vote count is delayed."

Channel 5's gameplan includes:
--Sandra Ali, Sheree Paolello, Dave Wagner and Courtis Fuller anchoring from our studios.
--Live reporters throughout the Tristate, plus reporters in Columbus reporting on statewide returns.
-- National perspective from our Hearst-Argyle Washington DC bureau
--Emphasis on the Presidential primaries in Ohio, but also reporting on the Cincinnati Schools levy, the Zoo levy, 1st Congressional District, and other local races
--Political discussion with Bill Cunningham, Lincoln Ware, Gene Galvin and Roxanne Qualls.

HBC's “The Biggest Loser” will air 2:05-4:05 a.m. early Wednesday (late Tuesdsay).

Here are the other stations' plans:

Channel 19: Says News Director Steve Ackermann: "We'll have numbers on FOX19.COM and on our lower-screen ticker throughout the evening. We'll start both the website and the ticker results as quickly as we have numbers, but keep in mind that Hamilton County counted VERY slowly last time, so I don’t know how quickly after 7:30 we'll see things. FOX gives us positions during prime-time -- including American Idol — that we'll use for live updates and we'll be on the air promptly at 10 p.m."

Channel 9: GM Bill Fee says "WCPO will produce a special hour report on the Ohio primary Tuesday 10-11 p.m. anchored by Clyde and Carol. We'll be live from both party HQs in Cincinnati as well as the board of elections. Brendan Keefe will be live in Columbus with Clinton's campaign. We'll be in Cleveland as well, teaming up with Scripps-owned WEWS there. No plans to go beyond 11:35 p.m. because we believe viewers will want to see Nightline at 11:35 for national news on Texas and Ohio. We'll also do election updates on the half-hour, about 2-3 minutes, starting at 7:30."

Channel 12: News Director Elbert Tucker says: "We will have seven crews in the field here and in Columbus. We will be focused on breaking election news on the air and on our web site throughout the course of the evening. We will have comprehensive live coverage with Local 12 News at 10 on My64. We will have comprehensive live coverage and a breakdown on the big election stories on Local 12 News at 11 p.m."

And Tuesday night and Wedneday you can tell me who did the best job...