WCVB Sets Newscast Changes In New Year

Hearst’s WCVB Boston (DMA 9) is kicking off the New Year with the launch of a new evening newscast as well as new morning anchor teams.

NewsCenter 5 at 4:30 will begin on Tuesday, Jan. 1, and will be anchored by Maria Stephanos and Ben Simmoneau with Chief Meteorologist Harvey Leonard.

The additional newscast will increase WCVB’s weeknight evening news to four hours of local and national news beginning with NewsCenter 5 at 4 with anchors Emily Riemer and Ed Harding with Chief Meteorologist Harvey Leonard continuing through Chronicle at 7:30 p.m. Inside Edition will move from 4:30 p.m. to 1:05 a.m.

Also beginning Jan. 1, WCVB Weekend EyeOpener anchor Doug Meehan will become the third anchor of NewsCenter 5’s Weekday EyeOpener (Monday-Friday, 4:30-7 a.m.). Meehan will join anchors Antionette Antonio and Randy Price, Meteorologist Cindy Fitzgibbon, and traffic reporter Olessa Stepanova.

Replacing Meehan on the Weekend EyeOpener (Saturday and Sunday, 5, 6, 8 a.m. and Sunuday, 10 a.m.) will be Jennifer Eagan who will join co-anchor Rhondella Richardson and Meteorologist Kelly Ann Cicalese.

“The launch of NewsCenter 5 at 4:30, as well as moving Doug to weekday mornings and Jennifer to weekend mornings, provides NewsCenter 5 with added time and resources to continue to produce the market’s most compelling, comprehensive, and enterprising newscasts,” said Bill Fine, WCVB president-GM. “We are confident that these changes will bolster Channel 5’s already dominant leadership position in the community.”

“WCVB is excited to kick off the New Year by offering a newly expanded powerhouse block of news and information to our viewers,” said Paige Harrison, WCVB News Director. “And it’s with great pleasure that I welcome Doug and Jennifer to their new anchor positions here at Channel 5.  They are both exceptional journalists with deep local roots, and I know that they will continue to succeed in these positions.”