With the decision to make WUPA-69 in Atlanta an owned-and-operated CBS Television Network home, shifting the network from Gray Media-owned WANF-46 last August, Paramount decided to invest in creating a whole new TV news option for the South’s largest media market.
Now, CBS Atlanta is expanding its local newscast offerings.
Starting Monday (4/13), a 5pm newscast will debut, anchored by Sharon Lawson. She’ll be joined by meteorologist Dagmar Midcap and Orelon Sidney, reporting traffic.
“We are excited to continue building CBS Atlanta since launching in August of last year,” said CBS President/GM Tom Canedo. “I’m proud that this team is continuing the CBS tradition of serving our community with content highlighting the stories that inform and inspire us all.”
VP/News Director Shawn Hoder added, “The 5 p.m. newscast is another meaningful expansion for CBS Atlanta. We’re continuing to grow our programming in a strategic, deliberate way as we build a strong local news offering in the market.”
With CBS News Atlanta (WUPA-69) adding 5-6PM newscast to the schedule with the current 6-7AM, 6-6:30PM, and 11-11:30PM newscasts, hopefully CBS might be exploring adding and expanding newscasts on its Atlanta station over the coming weeks and months. CBS News Atlanta expanding 11PM newscast from the current 5 nights a week to 7 nights a week, plus Saturday 6-6:30PM and Sunday 6:30-7PM newscasts as news doesn’t take breaks on weekends, as well as a weekday Noon newscast being added, and a new 4:30-6AM block added to the 6-7AM morning news block. CBS exploring hiring some additional on-air talents, and maybe even adding a team of seasoned investigative reporters (fingers crossed that CBS could be sniffing around former WAGA-5 talents like Dana Fowle and Johnny Edwards, assuming either are available and interested).