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Morning News at 4:30 a.m.?

KyDXIn said:
Good grief, CBS has tried just about everything. Maybe they should have stuck with Captain Kangaroo!!
Click to expand...
I don't know about you, but I'm ready for the "CBS Evening News with Mr. Green Jeans."
[/quote]

Sam Kinison's classic "Mr. Green Jeans" routine comes to mind...
 
Indeed, Walter Cronkite did host one of the many "versions" of a CBS Morning News show that failed, puppet included, back in the 50s.

Lest also we forget that ABC's first foray into the morning news biz was a VERY short-lived show called "AM America", which aired for most of 1975 before being scrapped and replaced with Good Morning America, going with the more "info-tainment" format which now dominates the morning scene.
 
Yes, ABC did have one single failure before it morphed into GMA. However, AM America was also fluffy, upbeat with garish 70's colors. ABC just tweaked the format and the host/co-host and came up with GMA. Compared to ABC's entries, the Today show seemed stuck in the 50's or early 60's. Meanwhile, CBS kept trying versions of The CBS Morning News. In addition to the aforementioned Captain Kangaroo, one of the other hindrances was the fact that many CBS affiliate still had local kids shows that aired before Captain Kangaroo.
 
WBBH in Fort Myers has a 15 minute 4:45 AM newscast, known as NBC 2 News Early TODAY.
WTVT in Fort Myers also has a 4:30 AM newscast, but it doesn't have a different name, it's just a part of FOX 13's Good Day Tampa Bay.
 
Don't know if this have been mentioned, but WMC TV (NBC) in Memphis starts their morning news at four thirty. They have been running it for a while.
 
bg02445 said:
WBBH in Fort Myers has a 15 minute 4:45 AM newscast, known as NBC 2 News Early TODAY.
WTVT in Fort Myers also has a 4:30 AM newscast, but it doesn't have a different name, it's just a part of FOX 13's Good Day Tampa Bay.
Click to expand...

Seeing as WZVN is owned by the same company that owns WBBH, one would wonder if they're waiting for WINK to launch a 4:30 AM newscast, so WZVN can start a 4:15 AM newscast...

Yes, in about a year from now, this entire thread will be irrelevant once stations start launching 4 AM newscasts...
 
WBZ in Boston is starting at 4:30 AM beginning this Monday, May 11th.

NECN (New England Cable News) also quietly began one a few weeks ago.
 
KRIV (Fox) Houston now starts at 4am with a marathon 6-hour morning newscast (to be fair, the 9am hour is mostly showbiz news/housewife stuff).
 
The real reason stations are starting at 4:30 is that they can typically add such a show with little to no additonal cost. They can then ditch a syndicated rerun or network show that has few ad avails and some licensing cost. So the 4:30 show is a freebie with ad avails. In other words: pure profit.
 
I was visiting Relatives In Las Vegas Last Month
And Noticed that KLAS Starts at 4, KVBC At 4:30 and KVVU And KTNV At 5
 
As I mentioned in another thread, the whole idea is about "branding" your news. Why waste hours, despite low ratings, when you can plaster your talent and news logo all over the screen, despite the early hour? And it is so easy to recycle reports from your previous nights newscasts, (especially the sports report). And finally, if you can get viewers to trust you for news/traffic/weather at that early hour, then you pretty much have them the rest of the day. It isn't too much different from a good radio morning show. Hook 'em early, and you have them all day. TV has learned from radio in this laboratory. More power to them.
 
PDXREXX said:
I was visiting Relatives In Las Vegas Last Month
And Noticed that KLAS Starts at 4, KVBC At 4:30 and KVVU And KTNV At 5
Click to expand...

And the Fox affiliate goes on all morning long -- at some point the show changes names and rotates a few anchors around -- and keeps going like the energizer bunny!!
 
As of this month...Atlanta will have two 4:30 AM newscasts. Fox O&O WAGA started last month, and Gannett's NBC WXIA started this week with "Wake Up With Chelsey", hosted by the morning meterologist. (Early Today airs at 4 AM). I suspect WSB-TV will follow suit, and WGCL may extend "Better Mornings" as well.
 
I've noticed that "Early Today" now airs at 4; my local NBC
affiliate, WNCN, now starts its morning newscast at 4:30
(WRAL and WTVD are running CBS and ABC's, respectively).
I also notice that WNBC and KNBC are also running "Early
Today" at 4 and local news at 4:30. I somehow suspect
this is now the rule rather than the exception on NBC affiliates.
 
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