7 P.M. News

[The King Bee]

WAVE-TV's 7-7:30 pm local news marks the end of a long early evening news slot in the Louisville market, which begins at 4 pm with the Fox affiliate, WDRB, after a 3-4 pm lead in of "The Doctors." This market, by the way, has a reputation for excellent local newscasts that goes back into the Fifties.

The 3.5 hours is a lot of news (ABC, CBS, and NBC national newscasts all air at 6:30 pm), but the audience is there throughout. The 4-5 pm lead-in for the ABC affiliate (WHAS) is "Oprah," for the CBS (WLKY) is "The Young and The Restless," and for the NBC (WAVE) it's "Ellen."

 

[bpatrick]

Was it back in 60s and 70s the network news was allways on at 7pm.I remember tuning in Uncle Walter at 7pm at the time,but i dont remember if...(snip)...others were at 7pm.

Again, it depends on the market and stations within a given market.

The netcasts are live at 6:30 ET, refeed at 7 ET (updated if/when
warranted).

ABC marched to a bit of a different drummer back then, as they didn't
expand from 15 to 30 minutes until sometime in 1967, and for some time
after that their first feed was at 6 ET. Some have said that was sort of
a "practice show" for the 6:30 feed, so I don't know if ABC was always
live at both 6 and 6:30. bpatrick?

Thanks for the vote of confidence. When I was at the University of Georgia I could get Smith and Reasoner on WLOS at 6, and on WXIA at 6:30, and quite often they were like two different broadcasts. I remember in particular one night during the Yom Kippur War when Reasoner closed the 6 PM feed with a bare headline from the Middle East; it was the lead story at 6:30. And many a time I've seen or heard a goof on the 6 PM feed and thought, They're going to have to do it over at 6:30. I was probably right.

Actually I think it was a guy from Sioux City, where the ABC affiliate carried the 5 PM (CT) feed, who suggested that the first feed was a "practice," because it was invariably full of slipups.

For anyone who wonders here's a list of the stations I can think of that ran ABC's newscast at 7; WSB still does. The list may not be complete so feel free to add:

WABC New York
KABC Los Angeles
KGO San Francisco
(All now carry "Jeopardy!" at 7.)
WCVB Boston
WXYZ Detroit (moved it to 6:30 a few years ago
and now has local news at 7)
WJLA Washington, DC
WJZ Baltimore (now CBS and carries Katie at 7)
WTAE Pittsburgh
WXIA Atlanta (1978-80, WSB since then)
WPLG Miami
WRTV Indianapolis
WDTN Dayton (early '80s) (is back with NBC now)
WSOC Charlotte (most of the '80s)
WRAL Raleigh (1982-85, when it switched to CBS)
WTVC Chattanooga (late '80s/early '90s)
WPGA Macon, GA (briefly in the mid-'90s)
WVGA Valdosta, GA (early '80s, is now a satellite
of CBS affiliate WCTV Tallahassee)
WJXX Jacksonville, FL (I think, briefly in the early 2000s)

Some of these stations, like WJLA, WPLG, and WTVC, now
carry "Wheel Of Fortune"; others, like WCVB and WSOC,
carry "Inside Edition." But as I say, only Atlanta still gets
ABC news at 7.

 

[hintomedia]

Right now in these parts only two North Carolina
stations are doing a 7 PM newscast: WBTV Charlotte
and WNCN Raleigh/Durham (theirs is an hour). But
six stations in South Carolina: WIS and WLTX Columbia,
WCIV and WCSC Charleston, WSPA Spartanburg, and
WPDE Florence/Myrtle Beach, have a 7 PM local news.
There are 4 PM newscasts on WCNC Charlotte, WCSC
Charleston, and WMBF Florence/Myrtle Beach.

Worth pointing out that WIS has been running a 7pm newscast for ages...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6hGpS9j-Ok

Besides the KIRO attempt, the Seattle market had at least another 7pm newscast at some point. The longer commute/work day argument was pretty much the rationale for the KING-5 produced 7pm and 10pm newscasts airing on KONG-16 (cable 6) beginning in the late 90s. At the end of KING-5's 6.30pm newscast, the anchors used to sign off with "More news on KONG, just a click away". The 7pm news has long been cancelled, but the 10pm news is still going strong, thanks in part to the re-run of Oprah serving as lead-in.

 

[fortmill]

Yeah, WIS has been running a 7PM newscast since at least the mid 60s. In the 70s and 80s, the 7 o'clock claimed about 80% of the local audience--I think WIS was claiming to reach well over 300,000 households at 7, possibly more than the total households in the market at that time, but the newscast was viewed by people all over the state. WIS did not air news at 6, leaving that to channels 19 and 25. Today the 7 o'clock news is a very pale ghost of its former self. WIS airs local news from 5 to 6:30 and again at 7, along with WLTX/19.

 

[mleach]

For anyone who wonders here's a list of the stations I can think of that ran ABC's newscast at 7; WSB still does. The list may not be complete so feel free to add:

WABC New York
KABC Los Angeles
KGO San Francisco
(All now carry "Jeopardy!" at 7.)
WCVB Boston
WXYZ Detroit (moved it to 6:30 a few years ago
and now has local news at 7)
WJLA Washington, DC
WJZ Baltimore (now CBS and carries Katie at 7)
WTAE Pittsburgh
WXIA Atlanta (1978-80, WSB since then)
WPLG Miami
WRTV Indianapolis
WDTN Dayton (early '80s) (is back with NBC now)
WSOC Charlotte (most of the '80s)
WRAL Raleigh (1982-85, when it switched to CBS)
WTVC Chattanooga (late '80s/early '90s)
WPGA Macon, GA (briefly in the mid-'90s)
WVGA Valdosta, GA (early '80s, is now a satellite
of CBS affiliate WCTV Tallahassee)
WJXX Jacksonville, FL (I think, briefly in the early 2000s)

Some of these stations, like WJLA, WPLG, and WTVC, now
carry "Wheel Of Fortune"; others, like WCVB and WSOC,
carry "Inside Edition." But as I say, only Atlanta still gets
ABC news at 7.

For some reason I think Buffalo's WKBW at one point in the 70's had 60 minutes of local news at 6 and then ABC News at 7 because I seem to recall hearing a promo with Irv Weinstein on the old WKBW radio mentioning a "brand new" full hour of local news on channel 7 but OTOH according to my family who live in the Buffalo area they have no memory at all of WKBW-TV doing that.

 

[bpatrick]

At that time I could go to TV Guide's Dallas office
and pick up any edition I wanted--from anywhere
in the country plus Canada! I don't recall WKBW
carrying ABC News at 7, but I believe then-sister-
station WTNH Hartford/New Haven did (I know the
Hartford CBS affiliate, WFSB, carried Cronkite at 7).

I keep thinking that for a very short time in 1977
WTSP Tampa/St. Petersburg carried ABC News at 7,
but it didn't work (I didn't know until I got some
Central Florida editions off ebay that they had aired
Smith and Reasoner at 6:30 for a short time before
I moved there in '73; they were on at 6 the whole
time my parents lived there). ABC News seemed to
work only at 6 in the Bay Area (Orlando, with a much
stronger ABC affiliate, had the network news at 6:30
from 1971 on).

 

[liradioisbad]

New Yorks WNBC tried the 7pm slot for awhile and run Extra at 5:30pm.I wonder what happen.Did they had bad ratings going against with ch2's ET/Insider.Ch7 's Jeopardy and sicoms on the other stations at the same time slot.

I heard it did worse than Extra, although they kept saying it did good in certain demos. It seems like a good enough fit for that subchannel that debuted a few months ago.

 

[formeraa]

Besides the KIRO attempt, the Seattle market had at least another 7pm newscast at some point. The longer commute/work day argument was pretty much the rationale for the KING-5 produced 7pm and 10pm newscasts airing on KONG-16 (cable 6) beginning in the late 90s. At the end of KING-5's 6.30pm newscast, the anchors used to sign off with "More news on KONG, just a click away". The 7pm news has long been cancelled, but the 10pm news is still going strong, thanks in part to the re-run of Oprah serving as lead-in.

Surprisingly, the 7pm news on KONG never caught on. The ratings were miniscule and the newscast was quietly cancelled. However, cable viewers still have NWCN in the Pacific Northwest, which is reasonable local and live -- I believe -- at 7pm. NWCN runs stories from Belo's Seattle, Portland, Spokane, and Boise affiliates along with sports, weather, and a little national/world news.

 

[PDXREXX]

WRTV in Indianapolis now air a 7pm Newscast

 

[PDXREXX]

Was it back in 60s and 70s the network news was allways on at 7pm.I remember tuning in Uncle Walter at 7pm at the time,but i dont remember if...(snip)...others were at 7pm.

Again, it depends on the market and stations within a given market.

The netcasts are live at 6:30 ET, refeed at 7 ET (updated if/when
warranted).

ABC marched to a bit of a different drummer back then, as they didn't
expand from 15 to 30 minutes until sometime in 1967, and for some time
after that their first feed was at 6 ET. Some have said that was sort of
a "practice show" for the 6:30 feed, so I don't know if ABC was always
live at both 6 and 6:30. bpatrick?

Thanks for the vote of confidence. When I was at the University of Georgia I could get Smith and Reasoner on WLOS at 6, and on WXIA at 6:30, and quite often they were like two different broadcasts. I remember in particular one night during the Yom Kippur War when Reasoner closed the 6 PM feed with a bare headline from the Middle East; it was the lead story at 6:30. And many a time I've seen or heard a goof on the 6 PM feed and thought, They're going to have to do it over at 6:30. I was probably right.

Actually I think it was a guy from Sioux City, where the ABC affiliate carried the 5 PM (CT) feed, who suggested that the first feed was a "practice," because it was invariably full of slipups.

For anyone who wonders here's a list of the stations I can think of that ran ABC's newscast at 7; WSB still does. The list may not be complete so feel free to add:

WABC New York
KABC Los Angeles
KGO San Francisco
(All now carry "Jeopardy!" at 7.)
WCVB Boston
WXYZ Detroit (moved it to 6:30 a few years ago
and now has local news at 7)
WJLA Washington, DC
WJZ Baltimore (now CBS and carries Katie at 7)
WTAE Pittsburgh
WXIA Atlanta (1978-80, WSB since then)
WPLG Miami
WRTV Indianapolis
WDTN Dayton (early '80s) (is back with NBC now)
WSOC Charlotte (most of the '80s)
WRAL Raleigh (1982-85, when it switched to CBS)
WTVC Chattanooga (late '80s/early '90s)
WPGA Macon, GA (briefly in the mid-'90s)
WVGA Valdosta, GA (early '80s, is now a satellite
of CBS affiliate WCTV Tallahassee)
WJXX Jacksonville, FL (I think, briefly in the early 2000s)

Some of these stations, like WJLA, WPLG, and WTVC, now
carry "Wheel Of Fortune"; others, like WCVB and WSOC,
carry "Inside Edition." But as I say, only Atlanta still gets
ABC news at 7.

I also Believe WNEP also aired a 7pm newscast
There's a clip on youtube of it

 

[bpatrick]

The list of stations I posted is that of ABC
affiliates that at one time or another carried
the network news at 7. Most of these
do not carry any news at 7 now, and one
(WDTN) has gone back to NBC. There are
a few ABC stations that have 7 PM local
newscasts; WSET has already been mentioned,
as have WCIV and WPDE in South Carolina, and
I would guess that WRTV's is local. I seem to
recall a 7 PM local news on WNEP.

At the moment I can think of only six stations
in the Eastern time zone that carry network news
at 7, and four of them are CBS: KDKA, WJZ, WRGB,
and WCAX. There's one ABC (WSB) and one NBC
(WRC).

 

[PDXREXX]

I forgot about this, KGW Portland now airs a 7pm newscast
not sure how long its been on

 

[bpatrick]

Now that's unusual, a 7 PM newscast
on the West Coast. There have been some
postings that suggest that LA could use one
(with their traffic it makes sense), but I wonder
if one would fare any better than WNBC's did.

I remember when KABC and KGO started 4 PM
newscasts in the '70s. I'd still like to know why.

 

[LKellerIII]

Now that's unusual, a 7 PM newscast
on the West Coast. There have been some
postings that suggest that LA could use one
(with their traffic it makes sense), but I wonder
if one would fare any better than WNBC's did.

I remember when KABC and KGO started 4 PM
newscasts in the '70s. I'd still like to know why.

The Bay Area has had a 7:00 newscast for about a year now. It's produced by KTVU, but is run on Cox sister station KICU licensed to San Jose. At least in the Bay Area, it's part of the trend to fill prime-time hours where there has previously been no news program, or to provide news competition to high-rated competitors.

So KPIX runs a 10:00 half-hour news show on CBS sister station KBCW to counter-program the one hour 10:00 O'Clock News on KTVU. KGO-TV (ABC) runs a one-hour newscast on independent KOFY-TV.

I imagine its the same in other markets.

 

[hintomedia]

The Bay Area has had a 7:00 newscast for about a year now. It's produced by KTVU, but is run on Cox sister station KICU licensed to San Jose. At least in the Bay Area, it's part of the trend to fill prime-time hours where there has previously been no news program, or to provide news competition to high-rated competitors.

So KPIX runs a 10:00 half-hour news show on CBS sister station KBCW to counter-program the one hour 10:00 O'Clock News on KTVU. KGO-TV (ABC) runs a one-hour newscast on independent KOFY-TV.

I imagine its the same in other markets.

KTSF's been running a 7pm newscast for some time now. Mind you it's in Cantonese, but it's there.

 

[harrisburgpatv]

ABC 27 in Harrisburg,Pa. has carried a 7:00 PM news for years. WJZ in Baltimore has news from 4:00 to 7:00 PM daily.

They've had their 7pm newscast since fall 2004; it replaced "Hollywood Squares".

In that market, WGAL had a 7pm newscast from 1980-1988. It replaced "Tic Tac Dough" (which moved to WHP, same time of 7pm). In the fall of 1988, WGAL swapped the 7pm newscast for the NBC Nightly News to make a 1-hour news block from 6-7. That news block moved back a half-hour to 5:30-6:30 in early 1991, swapping spots with "Entertainment Tonight" which has aired at 7pm since.

 

[bpatrick]

I remember back in the '80s in the Washington-
Baltimore edition of TV Guide, WGAL and WBOC
Salisbury, MD, had local news at 7. Does WBOC
still have theirs?

 

[DToTheJ]

Now that's unusual, a 7 PM newscast
on the West Coast. There have been some
postings that suggest that LA could use one
(with their traffic it makes sense), but I wonder
if one would fare any better than WNBC's did.

I remember when KABC and KGO started 4 PM
newscasts in the '70s. I'd still like to know why.

I think KRON in San Francisco runs news at 7 PM... and 8 PM... and 9 PM... and 10 PM...

 

[harrisburgpatv]

I remember back in the '80s in the Washington-
Baltimore edition of TV Guide, WGAL and WBOC
Salisbury, MD, had local news at 7. Does WBOC
still have theirs?

Yep! They still have local news at 7. They've been doing that as long as I can remember.

 

[LKellerIII]

Now that's unusual, a 7 PM newscast
on the West Coast. There have been some
postings that suggest that LA could use one
(with their traffic it makes sense), but I wonder
if one would fare any better than WNBC's did.

I think KRON in San Francisco runs news at 7 PM... and 8 PM... and 9 PM... and 10 PM...

Nope. No news on KRON anymore between 7:00 and 11:00. They had a 9PM broadcast for awhile that was actually getting this loser station some respectable ratings, but that had to drop it when they became a MyTV affiliate. KGO-TV jumped into the breach with a 9PM broadcast on KOFY-TV.