NBC O&O WMAQ is jumping into the lunch hour news competition. It will launch a new half-hour NBC 5 noon newscast on Monday, September 12th.
The time slot is not lacking for competition in English-language news. CBS O&O WBBM-TV has a half-hour newscast and both ABC O&O WLS-TV and Tribune’s WGN-TV have hour-long newscasts.
Marion Brooks will anchor the newscast, to be broadcast from Studio 5, NBC5’s streetside studio located on Michigan Avenue. Brooks currently anchors NBC 5’s 4:30 pm newscast and hosts “The Talk” nightly on NBC Chicago Nonstop.
“We are committed to expanding our local news presence in the market,” said Larry Wert, President of the Central and Western Region for the NBC Owned Stations. “In the last year, we added two local news hours on Sunday morning and launched our digital channel, Chicago Nonstop. We continue to look for more opportunities to serve the Chicago community with the local news and information they want.”
“We the People with Gloria Allred,” an Entertainment Studios production, will follow the new newscast at 12:30 pm to fill the hour currently occupied by “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.”
