In case you haven't heard, WTEN has hired former WNYT anchor Lydia Kulbida, she along with Elisa Streeter and Steve Caporizzo will anchor a new newscast, "News10 at 4." This major announcement from 'the news station' poses a lot of questions and comments.
News10 at 4, 5, 5:30, 6:
First off, can the capital region handle all this news? The only other channel doing news at 4, is the often taped Capital News 9. One commenter on the Times Union Business Blog said:
Oh Good! Now I get to hear the same stories 4 times. 4PM? Is this for the anti-Oprah/Ellen market?
Coming Up:
Will this 4pm show be a preview up whats to come on the 5, 5:30 and 6 pm newscasts, or will it give unique in-depth look at topics facing capital region residents? According to wten.com the new 4pm newscast will:
Feature news of the day, weather and a unique perspective to daily issues facing women, children and families in general, in the Capital Region.If this is the case this newscast should be interesting and informative to watch, seeing as how it will have what most are calling the best anchor team on local TV.
News at 4?....What the...?
Another question, will this change the way local news operates? For example in Boston; CBS3, the local CBS affiliate has news at 4pm, not 5pm, and then at 6pm. Also in Boston, the local NBC station, NBC10 has news from 4-6:30. Now, there is no comparing the size of Albany, NY to Boston MA. Albany is DMA number 57 and Boston in number 4.
And in the Albany Market different channels have local news at different times aside from the "traditional times." Fox23 has news from 7-8am; as does the Capital Region's CW. At 10pm Fox23 gives viewers an hour of news, where as the Capital Region's CW gives viewers 10 minutes. And CBS6 delays Katie Couric in order to air CBS6 News at 6:30. So, Local TV realizes people are not always at home during "traditional times." It would be nice, however to see a local 7pm newscast.
Money, Money, Money, Money...
Saving money may be another reason, as we all know TV channels all over are facing money issues, and producing a local newscast is cheaper to produce then paying for syndication (like Oprah, Ellen, etc.). However, WTEN General Manager had this to say in the Daily Gazette
“Merv Griffin’s Crosswords,” a 30-minute program currently shown at 10 and 10:30 a.m., is going out of production. “We were going to have to search for something to replace that anyway,” said WTEN General Manager Mike Sechrist.
The all new News10 at 4 which debuts on September 21st, will be followed by Inside Edition, and I think while everyone is so quick to judge- they should at least watch the first weeks of the newscast then decide if they want to watch. But, as far as I'm concerned This is just what the Capital Region needs, commitment from local TV stations that they care about the news of the day, from people we trust!
I'd give it more than a week. The anchors alone should make it interesting to watch. Local TV is going to have create more of their own programming as syndication costs are out of whack with the current market conditions.
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