Local morning news--not as early anymore?

[MediaZone4K 1509]

3 hours ago, GoldenShine9 said:

 

A weekend schedule is best on major holidays. Even normal local shift workers wouldn't likely need the news before about 5 or 6 am then.

Agreed. In that case, 6-7 am, 6pm and Night

[Nelson R. 560]

15 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

Agreed. In that case, 6-7 am, 6pm and Night

ABC affiliates in the Eastern and Central Time Zones didn’t have news at all last Christmas Day because their last NBA game started at 10:30 ET. 
 

That actually wouldn’t have been a bad idea to have the MNF game start at 7pm Eastern and then had an NBA game AFTER MNF. But it will probably run past 11:35.

Edited July 27, 2023 by Nelson R.

[mrschimpf 2051]

On 7/25/2023 at 6:53 AM, MediaZone4K said:

What puzzles me is still beginning the news at 4/4:30 a.m. on major holidays holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas where people aren't going to work. I would assume this is for continuity sake or ad dollars?

Likely depends more on advertisers who MUST get their message out on Thanksgiving or Christmas for some godforsaken reason; most local news orgs rightly don't bother with a morning or noon newscast on those holidays, but then you have a few that do force it upon their employees.

 

The other problem is that the syndicated Christmas special market is down to the leftover shows which are just religious orgs fundraising in disguise or cheap drivel like Santa's Funniest Moments, and remote corporate accounting drones consider taping local holiday specials (or even just those Happy Holidays from staff pieces) to be 'money losers'. It's cheaper to talk the fresh out of college reporter to do the Christmas shows for overtime than spend money on studio decor and setup (or remote time) to actually serve the community.

 

On 7/24/2023 at 7:34 PM, ScottSchell said:

It will show that but I’ve watched it. All it is is web stories they air 24/7 online when the newscast isn’t on air.

I only fear this is going to happen more and more for Scripps stations.

[VHSgoodiesWA 281]

I've noticed that on Christmas morning. Here in Yakima, there's no morning news on any stations (KAPP and KIMA go for network news rebroadcasts, KNDO airs holiday specials), but in Seattle, KIRO 7 made their crew work Xmas morning, the last time the holiday fell on a weekday. I can picture a family full of excited kids opening toys at 6am Xmas morning...'"quiet down Johnny, the weather's on!"
Byron Allen's 'Happy Holidays America' has been a yearly staple at KNDO on Christmas morning, and I believe KOMO in Seattle also airs it. KIRO USED to air some barter cartoon specials. Red Boots for Christmas often preempted the noon news on 12/25. Some stations also aired The Little Shepherd, and yes, Santa Claus is Comin' to Town was once in local syndication along with ABC's yearly broadcast. I notice fewer and fewer religious specials every year. NBC usually airs a yearly liturgical program but most stations stuff it early in the morning before the kids wake up.

This would be a GREAT opportunity for local churches to put their Xmas Eve services on local TV, either that or air local HS/college choirs singing carols. WGN used to do that. Would be a public service at little or no cost to the station.

 

Anyways, nothing's changed with the morning news schedules here. KIMA and KAPP start at 5AM. KNDO starts at 4:30. Even during the height of COVID shutdowns, that never changed. There was a time, 25 years ago, where there was only a half-hour of local morning news on these stations.

Edited July 29, 2023 by VHSgoodiesWA

[C Block 1487]

I think the overall trend of stations expanding and adding more newscasts at all times of the day may be coming to an end. It was certainly true in the last decade or so that more news was the most cost-effective programming most stations could produce. A lot of stations also kept expanding in the early morning as a trick to boost ratings for later hours. Now that advertising revenue is way down all across the board, plus with the producer shortage, it may not be worth it to even bother with things like news at 4am anymore. A newscast is only worthwhile if people are watching and if you can sell the ad slots.

 

The pandemic definitely changed things too. People aren't commuting as much, and I don't think there's as big of an audience at 4am anymore. (There never really was a big one to begin with.) Some cities have been hit harder by remote work than others, but in San Francisco, nearly all stations permanently canceled their 4am news during the pandemic. KTVU is now the only one on the air before 5am. I'm surprised this hasn't happened in more markets yet.

 

As for holidays, it really all depends on the station group, the holiday, what day of the week the holiday falls on, and the whim of management. Holidays actually have higher ratings than you'd think because so many people are sitting at home with nothing else to do. Most places where I've worked, I think they've tried to strike the right balance of offering some kind of news product while keeping expectations in check. I also know some stations where the managers are so hard-wired that they demand running their full schedules even with a skeleton staff, holidays be damned. 

[Georgie56 3059]

3 hours ago, C Block said:

I think the overall trend of stations expanding and adding more newscasts at all times of the day may be coming to an end. It was certainly true in the last decade or so that more news was the most cost-effective programming most stations could produce. A lot of stations also kept expanding in the early morning as a trick to boost ratings for later hours. Now that advertising revenue is way down all across the board, plus with the producer shortage, it may not be worth it to even bother with things like news at 4am anymore. A newscast is only worthwhile if people are watching and if you can sell the ad slots.

 

The pandemic definitely changed things too. People aren't commuting as much, and I don't think there's as big of an audience at 4am anymore. (There never really was a big one to begin with.) Some cities have been hit harder by remote work than others, but in San Francisco, nearly all stations permanently canceled their 4am news during the pandemic. KTVU is now the only one on the air before 5am. I'm surprised this hasn't happened in more markets yet.

 

As for holidays, it really all depends on the station group, the holiday, what day of the week the holiday falls on, and the whim of management. Holidays actually have higher ratings than you'd think because so many people are sitting at home with nothing else to do. Most places where I've worked, I think they've tried to strike the right balance of offering some kind of news product while keeping expectations in check. I also know some stations where the managers are so hard-wired that they demand running their full schedules even with a skeleton staff, holidays be damned. 

As long as the syndication market is in the current state it’s in, you’re gonna see more newscasts added, IMO.

[C Block 1487]

2 hours ago, Georgie56 said:

As long as the syndication market is in the current state it’s in, you’re gonna see more newscasts added, IMO.

 

That might still be true to a degree in the afternoon and prime access. But at 4am? That's not really the case except for maybe Fox affiliates. I think we'll see more big three affiliates drop news before 5am and run more national news.

Edited July 29, 2023 by C Block

[kdex86 48]

On 7/22/2023 at 11:49 PM, Nelson R. said:

I can remember several years back, didn’t WFXT move their morning news from 4-10am to 5-11am? 

 

On 7/23/2023 at 5:41 AM, bostonmediaguy said:

 

Yes, during the height of the pandemic, they replaced the 4am-5am hour with a 10am-11am hour.

 

Now WFXT is starting their weekday morning news at 4:30 AM again.

 

Boston is an unusual TV market where you have five local news stations, when some markets ahead of them (in terms of DMA rank) have no more than four.  All five local news stations were airing live local news at 4:30 AM, until a few months ago, when WHDH decided to move their morning news start time back to 5 AM.

[nycnewsjunkie 1395]

Beginning today, KGTV moved their morning news up to 5am. “Early Rush” from Scripps News now occupies the 4:30am half hour.

https://www.tvpassport.com/tv-listings/stations/abc-kgtv-san-diego-ca/1877

 

This certainly follows the creeping trend of stations vacating the 4am hour, and it’s also indicative of Scripps’ plan to integrate Scripps News with their local TV stations.

[Nelson R. 560]

3 hours ago, kdex86 said:

 

 

Now WFXT is starting their weekday morning news at 4:30 AM again.

 

Boston is an unusual TV market where you have five local news stations, when some markets ahead of them (in terms of DMA rank) have no more than four.  All five local news stations were airing live local news at 4:30 AM, until a few months ago, when WHDH decided to move their morning news start time back to 5 AM.

Charlotte, a smaller market than Boston, also has five, not counting Spectrum on cable, thanks to Fox Television Stations buying WJZY/WMYT in 2013 and launching a news department for them. (Only to flip it to Nexstar 7 years later for Seattle and Milwaukee). Even though WCCB was forced to switch to the CW it kept its news department. Most of y’all know that story though. 

Edited July 31, 2023 by Nelson R.

[Big Rollo Smokes 180]

9 hours ago, kdex86 said:

Boston is an unusual TV market where you have five local news stations...

For purposes of clarification:

 

Not news stations, but local TV stations with news departments. Don't confuse them with all-news cable channels.

[bostonmediaguy 122]

Beginning September 11, WBTS/Boston will cut-back its morning news from a 4am start to a 5am start. Early Today will run from 3:30am-5am.

Edited August 27, 2023 by bostonmediaguy

[TheRolyPoly 1843]

4 hours ago, bostonmediaguy said:

Beginning September 11, WBTS/Boston will cut-back its morning news from a 4am start to a 5am start. Early Today will run from 3:30am-5am.

 

I think that'll be the first time in their history that they'll be cutting anything from their newscast schedule.

[bostonmediaguy 122]

On 8/27/2023 at 6:37 AM, bostonmediaguy said:

Beginning September 11, WBTS/Boston will cut-back its morning news from a 4am start to a 5am start. Early Today will run from 3:30am-5am.

 

It appears that they are diverting resources. On September 11, WBTS/Boston will debut "Boston News Daily" at 2pm. The Gracenote description reads, "A look at New England's news, sports, and more."

 

The station airs NBC News Daily at Noon, Access Daily at 1pm and The Kelly Clarkson Show at 3pm.

[Megatron81 179]

WXMi Fox17 moving morning news from 4:30AM to 5AM to 10AM beginning on Sep 11.

[TexasTVNews 1366]

It's always been 5-7am, 5-9am, and 5-10am on most stations across the country.

[Abraham J. Simpson 303]

18 hours ago, TexasTVNews said:

It's always been 5-7am, 5-9am, and 5-10am on most stations across the country.

Not "always" on most by any stretch of the imagination. It's been fluid for years. 

[Jase 818]

WFLD-FOX 32 has reduced Good Day Chicago to five hours (5A-10A) and now airs Fox Weather First at 4A. Not sure what prompted the move.

Edited September 27, 2023 by jase

[Georgie56 3059]

 

On 7/22/2023 at 2:45 PM, east-tx-tv said:

Just wondering, is anyone seeing any pushback on early local morning news times?  I've noticed that KXAS has given up on 4:30am starts recently (they're doing 2 runs of Early Today instead, strangely).  I'm not trying to encourage the dreaded list thread, just asking if this might be a trend.

They replaced it with an 8am hour on streaming last month.

 

https://x.com/nbcdfw/status/1692295013634335230?s=61&t=kz32Hjge3SIHBIdqaaMsCw

Edited September 8, 2023 by 24994J
Please stop double-posting and self-hiding. It's annoying to fix, later.

[MediaZone4K 1509]

The talent are beginning to complain now. Across YouTube, I've seen multiple videos where news reporters like Sophia Espinosa (WAND) and Clancy Burke (WKEF) are citing exhaustion from the early morning shift as a leading reason why they've left the industry. WABC's Derek Waller even left his self-professed dream job at the country's top rated station because of the shift. So what's an alternative to live news?

 

WMAR's 4:30 AM newscast has no live anchors or reporters, just packages ran successively, with the reporters introducing them. The only live element was weather. The anchors and reporters

came in live at 5AM. Someone informed me that this is common on Scripps stations.

 

Putting aside that WMAR is a weak station, is this format a good alternative to live news at 4/4:30 AM?

Edited November 18, 2023 by MediaZone4K

[MorningNews 1290]

2 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

The talent are beginning to complain now. Across YouTube, I've seen multiple videos where news reporters like Sophia Espinosa (WAND) and Clancy Burke (WKEF) are citing exhaustion from the early morning shift as a leading reason why they've left the industry. WABC's Derek Waller even left his self-professed dream job at the country's top rated station because of the shift. So what's an alternative to live news?

 

WMAR's 4:30 AM newscast has no live anchors or reporters, just packages ran successively, with the reporters introducing them. The only live element appreared to be weather. The anchors and reporters apparently come in live at 5AM. Someone informed me that this is common on Scripps stations.

 

Putting aside that WMAR is a weak station, is this format a good alternative to live news at 4/4:30 AM?

Traditionalism makes me want to say no but realistically the industry is going to have to evolve and adapt. This isn’t the worst idea.

[MediaZone4K 1509]

39 minutes ago, MorningNews said:

Traditionalism makes me want to say no but realistically the industry is going to have to evolve and adapt. This isn’t the worst idea.

Then there is WSVN method. Re-runing the 11pm news at 4:30 am. Also not the worst idea. After all, most content between 4 & 6 am is a rehash of yesterday's news.

Edited November 18, 2023 by MediaZone4K

[TheRolyPoly 1843]

8 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

Then there is WSVN method. Re-runing the 11pm news at 4:30 am. Also not the worst idea. After all, most content between 4 & 6 am is a rehash of yesterday's news.

 

Leading to six live hours of morning news from 5-11 a.m.

[MediaZone4K 1509]

26 minutes ago, TheRolyPoly said:

 

Leading to six live hours of morning news from 5-11 a.m.

Yup. I have yet to see their 10 AM hour. Is it hard news as well, or does it have interviews and fluff?

Edited November 19, 2023 by MediaZone4K

[TheRolyPoly 1843]

On 11/19/2023 at 12:07 AM, MediaZone4K said:

Yup. I have yet to see their 10 AM hour. Is it hard news as well, or does it have interviews and fluff?

 

Hard news. No interviews, no fluff. Its straight news the entire time from 5-11 a.m. WSVN is a station that doesn't do heavy fluff.