For a generation of Southland TV viewers, tuning to Nexstar Media Group-owned KTLA-5 in Los Angeles at 4am has brought the first of a series of live and local newscasts, stretching into the noon hour on the former Tribune flagship.
Their primary competitor is Good Day L.A. — the signature wake-up show on FOX-owned KTTV-11. It concludes at 10am, when Rachael Ray begins. The morning newscasts on the ABC and NBC O&Os each conclude at 7am when Good Morning America and TODAY begin. As such, KTLA has been alone in airing local news across the entire morning in Los Angeles.
That’s poised to change, thanks to a bold move from CBS News & Stations.
KCAL-9, the unaffiliated sibling to KCBS-2 in L.A., will launch a “local morning news franchise” this fall.
News programming will air on KCAL from 4am-11am weekdays.
And, in a major move, local newscasts will no longer originate from KCBS-2. Instead, that station will simulcast KCAL-9 newscasts as part of a bigger plan to make KCAL, once the home of the legendary Jerry Dunphy and Pat Harvey, a player in the L.A. news race for the first time in more than two decades.
Wendy McMahon, president and co-head of CBS News and Stations; and Joel Vilmenay, President/GM of CBS News and Stations’ local businesses in Los Angeles, made the announcement on Tuesday (7/12).
With the coming launch of the morning newscasts, the KCAL 9 schedule adds them to the sunrise hours for the first time in the station’s history. Concurrently, KCBS-2 will now air live East Coast feeds of CBS Mornings from 4am-6am. KCAL-9’s 6am hourlong newscast will be rebroadcast on KCBS-2 to main a local news presence on the station.
“By launching morning news on KCAL 9 and adding a second daily broadcast of CBS MORNINGS on CBS 2, our local-to-global news organization is perfectly positioned to showcase its premium content on our broadcast and streaming channels in the Los Angeles market,” McMahon said. “As one of the most trusted local news providers in Southern California, the window of opportunity for KCAL 9 News in the morning is wide open. We also believe this is an audience growth opportunity for CBS MORNINGS by giving early risers and commuters in the Los Angeles market the chance to watch live from 4:00-6:00 AM.”
Interestingly, KCAL-9 in March 1990 became the first broadcast TV station in the country to devote the 8-11pm time period to local news — a move designed to attract viewers in the wake of FOX’s launch as a network while also seeking to attract viewers from KTLA and KCOP-13.
“These bold moves will allow us to have the best of both worlds, with the strength of KCAL 9 News establishing a local news beachhead and two runs of CBS MORNINGS making CBS 2 a more prominent provider of national network news,” Vilmenay said. “We are excited and grateful for the support we are getting from Wendy McMahon, (CBS Stations President) Jennifer Mitchell and our colleagues at CBS News and Stations. The investments we are making in people and technology will allow us to produce more hours of live, regularly scheduled local news than any other station in the market.”
Vilmenay added that KCAL 9 has already begun hiring additional fulltime staff to support the production of the station’s morning newscasts.
