"Face The Nation" Expanding To One Hour

[Mario500]

NewsBlues has an article titled "CBS plans to cut 'Sunday Morning' to an hour" I cannot read because I'm not a subscriber of the site. Could someone explain this article?

www.newsblues.com

 

[brian4]

Honestly, I was a little scared when Schieffer said he had an announcement to make at the end of FTN. I thought he was going to retire. Bob is like a wise Uncle.

 

[sandiegoinexile]

I thought he was going to retire. Bob is like a wise Uncle.

He can be a tad batty sometimes, though that's partly the Texas in him. I expect a co-anchor will be named for the expansion. Norah O'Donnell didn't leave NBC for a White House gig.

 

[brian4]

I expect a co-anchor will be named for the expansion. Norah O'Donnell didn't leave NBC for a White House gig.

Reading Wikipedia article on O'Donnell, she did a lot of things on NBC. However I think the C.W.H.C. is virtually in the Top 5 news reporters on a station. Like you mentioned, co-anchor (successor?) on F.T.N. and/or possible slot on 60 Minutes is very attractive. Throw in Russ Mitchell leaving and the sky's the limit for O'Donnell.

 

[Gregg]

Two interesting things mentioned in this thread:

1) Someone in a Central Time Zone said his local CBS station runs Sunday Morning 8-9:30am and Face the Nation at 9:30am. Obviously that's not currently an option on the East Coast but maybe it should be, if FTN goes to an hour. After all, Meet The Press and Fox News Sunday in some markets on the East Coast run at 9am, even though in the large markets, the O&Os run them at 10am or later.

2) All through the South and Southwest, many network affiliates run live (or tape delayed) Sunday morning services at 11am, usually from Baptist churches but also from Methodist churches. In some markets, competing Baptist churches have their 11am services on different channels, or in the case of a market covering two or more cities, the largest Baptist church in each city will air its 11am services on different channels. These are not public service broadcasts. I'm sure the church pays something for the hour and may also foot some or all of the bill for the production. CBS affiliates won't want to give that up.

CBS should give local stations the option to air Sunday Morning at 8am and a 60 minute version of FTN at 9:30. Otherwise, as mentioned by the Louisville poster, the CBS affiliate will delay FTN till Midnight or some other bad time slot.

Gregg
[email protected]

 

[DToTheJ]

I've seen listings on our own Classic TV board; some stations didn't even air "Nation" or "Press" at all, let alone demote it to late Sunday night.

I wonder if there are enough such affiliates today that would warrant a thread.

 

[FreddyE1977]

Face the Nation is practically a must-have for local stations that want to be taken at all
seriously in the news business. Sunday Morning by contrast has been increasingly eclipsed
by local stations opting to run hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours
and hours of local news on weekends.

(I can't believe I once got into an argument with a TV news director by trying to tell him
that his one hour 6PM evening newscast was too long.)

 

[sandiegoinexile]

Face the Nation is practically a must-have for local stations that want to be taken at all
seriously in the news business.

Perhaps, but on the west coast during football season, the show often gets pushed to weird times, like Sundays @5PM or Monday mornings @1205AM. True, it's only for 20 weeks or so, although NCAA basketball (regular season and tournament) also intrude a few times.

I suspect the one-hour version will be truncate-able, allowing stations to leave at mid-point. That's what happens on those rare occasions when the Evening News gets expanded to an hour (usually happens 1-2X a year). Katie would end the half-hour, note that some stations are leaving, then fade to music. Under the latest hardcore news regime, maybe the affiliates will be given less leeway.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

(I can't believe I once got into an argument with a TV news director by trying to tell him
that his one hour 6PM evening newscast was too long.)

My favorite TV news station run the LOCAL evening news now from 4:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M.

Some days I just skip the local content. Pick up Diane Sawyer at 7:00 P.M. Amazing that the world can be covered in 30 minutes... but local takes three hours?

I changed cable connections recently and now I have DVR. It is set to record the 7:00 P.M. national every weekday. By fast-forwarding through the commercials, I get through that sucker in about 20 minutes. The whole world in 20 minutes? That just ain't right!

 

[formeraa]

Face the Nation is practically a must-have for local stations that want to be taken at all
seriously in the news business. Sunday Morning by contrast has been increasingly eclipsed
by local stations opting to run hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours
and hours of local news on weekends.

(I can't believe I once got into an argument with a TV news director by trying to tell him
that his one hour 6PM evening newscast was too long.)

Twenty years ago, I thought that KING-TV in Seattle was absolutely crazy for running FOUR hours of local news on Saturday mornings from 6am to 10am. After all, what were the kids going to watch?!? Now, four hours seems rather normal -- or even short -- given that many stations are running 5.5 or even 6 hours of news each morning!

 

[KyDXIn]

[

Twenty years ago, I thought that KING-TV in Seattle was absolutely crazy for running FOUR hours of local news on Saturday mornings from 6am to 10am. After all, what were the kids going to watch?!? Now, four hours seems rather normal -- or even short -- given that many stations are running 5.5 or even 6 hours of news each morning!

There's more talk than ever, but what are they really saying?

 

[danderson4411]

There are some CBS affiliates in the Deep South with church
services at 11 AM (ET), among them WSPA Spartanburg, SC;
WLTX Columbia, SC; WBTW Florence, SC; WRBL Columbus, GA;
and (I think) WRDW Augusta, GA. These stations, among others,
rejected CBS's original plan to air "Sunday Morning" from 10-11:30,
which is how it wound up at 9 AM; I can only imagine the hue and
cry if "Face The Nation" carries over into the 11-11:30 timeslot.
Closer to home, WFMY Greensboro, NC carries Charles Stanley from
11-12; it, too, may not be pleased to lose the revenue from "paid
religion."

Like WLKY, WRAL also airs E/I programming, but only from 11 to 12.
"Face The Nation" airs at 10:30 AM in Raleigh/Durham, but WRAL may
have to make an adjustment on Saturday.

Any chance that "Sunday Morning" could be cut to an hour (9-10),
followed by "Face The Nation" from 10-11?

if the NFL adds a London team how would WSPA react or WFMY Greensboro, NC wich carries Charles Stanley from
11-12? that could be a big issue

 

[brian4]

Wow. I wrote back on 12/26/2011 that I thought Bob Schieffer was going to announce that he was retiring from Face the Nation, not that it was going to an hour. And he's still going strong 3 years later.

 

[dheller927]

I wonder why KWTV/Oklahoma City hasn't bring the other half hour of Face The Nation to their sister station KSBI? Maybe when FTN goes to an Hour they'll pull the trigger.