Local TV news used to live and die by what happened at 6 and 11 PM weeknights.
As audience habits changed, weekday mornings became very important. A big part of that came from the success of non-“big three” station local morning news and talk shows, successfully competing against the network shows after 7 AM.
Here in Cleveland, that’s more than evident at the powerhouse that is Tribune Fox affiliate WJW/8’s “Fox 8 News in the Morning”…a combination of news, weather, traffic and chat which now runs weekdays 4:30 to 10 AM, and leads into another local hour of talk with “New Day Cleveland”.
But not that long ago, nearly all Cleveland TV newsrooms abandoned their weekend morning perches.
Veteran Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 weekend morning anchor Kim Wheeler was alone doing a weekend morning newscast…and now, Wheeler is not going to be there herself.
The Plain Dealer’s Mark Dawidziak reports that after some 19 years on the “Channel 3 News” weekend morning anchor desk, Wheeler will concentrate solely on her weekday reporting duties, adopting a Monday-Friday schedule after Sunday, July 6th.
Wheeler seems bittersweet about the change, telling the PD:
“I am sad that I won’t be on weekend mornings anymore, because it was a big part of my life for 19 years,” Wheeler said Tuesday. “The station felt it was time to make a change. But 19 years as an anchor is a pretty good run, particularly for a woman. And I am looking forward to doing more enterprise stories on issues that matter to me, like education, poverty, children and the discrimination that still exists.”
It is expanding that “enterprise” reporting that appeals to WKYC news director Brennan Donnellan, who tells Dawidziak that Wheeler’s work as the station’s education reporter “stands with the best in the market”.
Wheeler’s weekend anchoring has been well regarded (and Emmy-winning) as well, and that leaves big proverbial shoes to fill at 13th and Lakeside on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
Donnellan tells the PD that the station is “leaving its options open” about the weekend anchor position, and says having a permanent replacement by fall is a “reasonable goal” for the station.
Reporter Sara Shookman will be up first after Wheeler leaves the anchor desk in July.
As we noted, after totally abandoning weekend morning news, the three other TV newsrooms in Cleveland came back to the time slot with a vengeance.
Admitted long-time OMW reader Mark Zinni was first in the Charge Back To Weekend Mornings in 2011, fronting the Saturday and Sunday editions of “Fox 8 News in the Morning”.
Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 expanded its “Good Morning Cleveland” to Saturday mornings, and Raycom CBS affiliate WOIO/19’s “19 Action News” came back to weekend mornings as well.
And Cleveland is by far not the only local TV market where weekend news matters again.
In an article only available to subscribers, Broadcasting & Cable documents the move back to expanded weekend news.
One quote from a station executive made it past the paywall:
“We felt the economy is strong and the audience is there, and the time was right to bring back weekend … morning news.”
The article notes that the news doesn’t stop on weekends, and that stations with weekend news presences can take advantage of being there already, if a big story breaks on Saturday or Sunday…
Speak Your Mind