MULTIPLE CITIES:The march toward expanding news earlier into the day continues. Two more stations announced 4:30 a.m. newscasts recently. Reporters at WCBV-TV in Boston and WJLA-TV in Washington will be hitting the bricks long before the roosters to be on the air by 4:30 a.m.
WJLA, the ABC affiliate launched “Good Morning Washington” at 4:30 a.m. starting today. The Allbritton-owned station follows the CBS affiliate, WUSA-TV; Fox’s WTTG-TV and NBC’s WRC-TV--all of which moved news to the wee hours in March, according to The Washington Post.
WCVB-TV, the Hearst-owned ABC in Boston will start the local morning newscast at 4:30 a.m. as of Sept. 7, according to Boston.com. A 5 a.m. weekend newscast will also be launched. WCVB is the third station in the city to start news at 4:30 a.m. NECN, a regional Comcast network, started doing so in May. WBZ-TV, a CBS O&O, soon followed suit.
Five other stations recently announced plans to push local news to 4:30 a.m., including WTOL-TV and WTVG-TV in Toledo, Ohio; WABC-TV in New York; WFLA-TV in Tampa, Fla.; and WGN-TV of Chicago. (See “Five More Stations Push Newscasts to 4:30 a.m.”)
In other local news news, KSEE-TV, the Granite-owned NBC affiliate in Fresno, Calif., upgraded the studio set, the Fresno Beesays.
