http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20060424-1414-tv-nbc-russert.htmlRussert makes five straight years on top at NBC's 'Meet the Press'
NEW YORK – NBC's “Meet the Press” and host Tim Russert marked a milestone this week: 260 consecutive weeks – five years – as the most popular Sunday morning public-affairs program.
“It's an affirmation of the history of 'Meet the Press,'” said Russert, who has anchored the 58-year-old program since 1991, on Monday.
It has generally been the most popular Sunday show since 1998. But the last day it was beaten (by ABC's “This Week” pre-George Stephanopoulos) was July 30, 2000. To give a fair comparison, NBC did not count weeks where one or more of the network Sunday shows were pre-empted in much of the country for other programming.
“Meet the Press” was seen by just over 4 million people this week, according to Nielsen Media Research. CBS' “Face the Nation” was second with 2.9 million, and ABC's “This Week” had 2.8 million. “Fox News Sunday” had 1.3 million, Nielsen said.