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Early morning network newscasts

D

dustintv

4:30AM is about an hour too early for me, so I was just wondering if anyone here ever watches the early morning programs like CBS Morning News or Early Today.

The latter, when it was NBC News at Sunrise, I would watch sometimes. I lived in a market where the NBC affiliate didn't have local news in the morning hours. IIRC, Linda Vester was host at the time.
 
> 4:30AM is about an hour too early for me, so I was just
> wondering if anyone here ever watches the early morning
> programs like CBS Morning News or Early Today.
>
> The latter, when it was NBC News at Sunrise, I would watch
> sometimes. I lived in a market where the NBC affiliate
> didn't have local news in the morning hours. IIRC, Linda
> Vester was host at the time.

I love watching "Early Today"----at least, when I'm awake at the earlier hour!

Christine Johnson is beautiful, smart, and not afraid to laugh at herself whenever she screws up a story! EARLY TODAY is a perfect beginning (and definitely an excellent news prelude) to Maine's local 5-7AM weekly news block (which airs on WCSH-6 and WLBZ-2)!

argytunes
 
When the early morning network newscasts premiered in the early '80s (I think most of them came on around 1982 or so), local newscasts (aside from the local cut-ins during the network breakfast shows) in the morning were the exception, not the rule, and the early local newscasts that did exist were usually only 30 minutes. Most affiliates aired the early network news at 6:00 or 6:30 local time, just ahead of the network breakfast shows. With the proliferation of early local news in the early '90s, the early network news kept getting pushed back further and further (and in some cases, pre-empted), as stations kept expanding the length of the local news. The nets had to start offering earlier feeds of the early network news to keep it from being pre-empted altogether. Frankly, I'm a little amazed that the nets still bother with the early network news, considering that those newscasts have basically been pushed back into the middle of the night by a majority of stations. But I guess they must be making a little money.
 
Frankly, I'm a little amazed that
> the nets still bother with the early network news,
> considering that those newscasts have basically been pushed
> back into the middle of the night by a majority of stations.
> But I guess they must be making a little money.
>

Remember, there's also a host of local affiliates that still do not program early morning news (or only program the :25/:55 cut-ins) or do not have news departments at all. They still air the network morning shows, usually in their entirity.

Some stations that I can think of off the top of my head:

WKDH-45-ABC (Tupelo/Columbus, MS)
WEVV-44-CBS (Evansville, IN)
KDNL-30-ABC (St. Louis, MO)
WXLV-45-ABC (Greensboro/Winston-Salem, NC)
WMDN-24-CBS (Meridian, MS)

Obviously, these stations need something to fill the two hours prior to the breakfast shows (aside from infomercials).

One thing that should be noted: I think ABC produces two half-hour newscasts that are then repeated over the course of the two hour block. CBS and NBC, I believe, only produce one that is then repeated. Obviously, this saves on costs.

I do remember that ABC used to produce one (later two) hour-long "WNTM" newscasts for affiliates to pick-up while NBC and CBS were producing only one or possibly two half-hour newscasts for theirs.
 
It's true that a handful of stations still use the early network news in the timeslot just before or near the start of the 7AM network shows. Most are small-market stations (sans KDNL), and some don't have local news departments at all. WHBF (CBS) in Rock Island, Ill. also airs the "CBS Morning News" from 6 to 7AM. Incidentally, WHBF didn't clear the "CBS Morning News" (or "CBS Early Morning News," as it was known back then) at all for most of the 1980s. They aired Jim Bakker from 6 to 7, and later Richard Roberts.

KRCG in Jefferson City, Mo. also passed on the "CBS Early Morning News" in the 1980s...I believe they signed on at 5:30 with "AG Day" or something similar, and then took the live East Coast feed of the two-hour CBS morning show at 6AM. Actually, a lot of CBS affiliates in the Central Time Zone aired the live East Coast feed of the CBS morning show at 6AM, rather than the time-shifted feed at 7AM. KMOV in St. Louis even started taking the early live feed shortly after CBS sold off the station to pre-CBS Viacom in 1986. In the early '90s, CBS gradually got Central stations to take the delayed feed at 7AM, as many affiliates were rapidly adding early local newscasts in the 6AM hour anyway. However, KGAN in Cedar Rapids, Iowa still airs "The Early Show" at 6AM...they don't do a local early newscast.
 
Remember when many local stations pushed the start time for their AM news back to 5 a.m.? Well, now some stations are starting to offer local news as early as 4:30 a.m., including KPHO in Phoenix. Crazy, huh?

On the list of stations that don't run local news in the morning, add Tribune's WGNO, the ABC affiliate in New Orleans. They do, however, have a reporter read a few news updates during the weekday :25/:55 breaks on GMA.


> It's true that a handful of stations still use the early
> network news in the timeslot just before or near the start
> of the 7AM network shows. Most are small-market stations
> (sans KDNL), and some don't have local news departments at
> all. WHBF (CBS) in Rock Island, Ill. also airs the "CBS
> Morning News" from 6 to 7AM. Incidentally, WHBF didn't
> clear the "CBS Morning News" (or "CBS Early Morning News,"
> as it was known back then) at all for most of the 1980s.
> They aired Jim Bakker from 6 to 7, and later Richard
> Roberts.
>
> KRCG in Jefferson City, Mo. also passed on the "CBS Early
> Morning News" in the 1980s...I believe they signed on at
> 5:30 with "AG Day" or something similar, and then took the
> live East Coast feed of the two-hour CBS morning show at
> 6AM. Actually, a lot of CBS affiliates in the Central Time
> Zone aired the live East Coast feed of the CBS morning show
> at 6AM, rather than the time-shifted feed at 7AM. KMOV in
> St. Louis even started taking the early live feed shortly
> after CBS sold off the station to pre-CBS Viacom in 1986.
> In the early '90s, CBS gradually got Central stations to
> take the delayed feed at 7AM, as many affiliates were
> rapidly adding early local newscasts in the 6AM hour anyway.
> However, KGAN in Cedar Rapids, Iowa still airs "The Early
> Show" at 6AM...they don't do a local early newscast.
>
 
> It's true that a handful of stations still use the early
> network news in the timeslot just before or near the start
> of the 7AM network shows. Most are small-market stations
> (sans KDNL), and some don't have local news departments at
> all. WHBF (CBS) in Rock Island, Ill. also airs the "CBS
> Morning News" from 6 to 7AM. Incidentally, WHBF didn't
> clear the "CBS Morning News" (or "CBS Early Morning News,"
> as it was known back then) at all for most of the 1980s.
> They aired Jim Bakker from 6 to 7, and later Richard
> Roberts.
>
> KRCG in Jefferson City, Mo. also passed on the "CBS Early
> Morning News" in the 1980s...I believe they signed on at
> 5:30 with "AG Day" or something similar, and then took the
> live East Coast feed of the two-hour CBS morning show at
> 6AM. Actually, a lot of CBS affiliates in the Central Time
> Zone aired the live East Coast feed of the CBS morning show
> at 6AM, rather than the time-shifted feed at 7AM. KMOV in
> St. Louis even started taking the early live feed shortly
> after CBS sold off the station to pre-CBS Viacom in 1986.
> In the early '90s, CBS gradually got Central stations to
> take the delayed feed at 7AM, as many affiliates were
> rapidly adding early local newscasts in the 6AM hour anyway.
> However, KGAN in Cedar Rapids, Iowa still airs "The Early
> Show" at 6AM...they don't do a local early newscast.
>
I believe WWL New Orleans still carries The Early Show at 6 AM.
I remember back in the '80s that WBMG (now WIAT) Birmingham carried
CBS's morning show at 6, and every NBC affiliate in Alabama except
WALA Mobile (before it went to Fox) had the Today show at 6 AM.
 
WWL-TV hasn't carried CBS' morning show for years. "The Early Show" is currently seen on WUPL, the CBS-owned UPN affiliate in New Orleans.
 
> WWL-TV hasn't carried CBS' morning show for years. "The
> Early Show" is currently seen on WUPL, the CBS-owned UPN
> affiliate in New Orleans.
>
I stand corrected, since I haven't looked at any New Orleans
schedules lately. I do seem to recall WWL running "Regis &
Kelly" at 8 AM.
 
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