SCHENECTADY, N.Y.: The predawn migration continues unabated, this time in Upstate New York. CBS affiliate WRGB-TV is launching a 4:30 a.m. newscast, according to its owners, Freedom Communications. The o'dark-thirty franchise will launch Dec. 13, said Vince Nelson, the new vice president and general manager of WRGB and WCWN-TV.
The poor wretches at WRGB will be launching the trend in the Schenectady market. The local NBC and ABC affiliates start newscasting at 5 a.m., and the Fox anchors go live at 6 a.m., The Business Reviewreports. Nelsen told the Review that the 11 p.m. newscast is getting fewer viewers, in part because folks are getting up earlier. The 4:30 a.m. newscast will begin a two-and-a-half hour programming block. “The CBS Early Show” starts at 7 a.m.
The trend among local TV stations to start news while roosters slept started last year. WTVT-TV, the Fox O&O in Tampa, Fla., launched “Good Day Tampa Bay” at 4:30 a.m. in April 2009. The list since then has included TV stations in New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Boston, Denver, Toledo, Ohio; Columbia, S.C.; Kansas City, Mo., Houston and other markets.
-- Deborah D. McAdams
