WGCL-WPCH Atlanta Expand Newscasts
Gray Television’s Atlanta duopoly of WGCL (CBS) and WPCH (independent) are increasing their local news offerings with the addition of a 7 p.m. newscast on WGCL and a 7 a.m. broadcast on WPCH. CBS46 News at 7pm debuted this week at the No. 1 spot among the local news competition, according to the station.
The newscast is anchored by Atlanta news veteran Tracye Hutchins and Chief Meteorologist Jennifer Valdez. The “Top Seven at Seven” format brings viewers up to date quickly with the top seven stories of the day.
Wake Up Atlanta on WPCH will debut Monday, May 9, and air from 7 to 9 a.m.
The two-hour morning newscast will help viewers plan their day with CBS46 First Alert Weather and Traffic. Meteorologists Ella Dorsey and Rodney Harris will alert people to weather and traffic issues throughout the morning. The newscast will be anchored by Lana Harris and Brooks Baptiste.
Erik Schrader, WGCL-WPCH general manager, said: “We know the morning commute doesn’t end at 7 a.m. The traffic situations are really just heating up and we all know that drive home at night can stretch out much longer than we’d planned. We want to give viewers a choice for local news and offer newscasts that work with their schedule.”
The two stations will now produce a combined 11 hours of news daily, “with that number expected to grow” in 2022, the stations said.
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Comments (3)
Former Producer says:
May 5, 2022 at 7:08 pm
How about looking at the bigger picture of why WGCL is adding more news, as opposed to doing the easy cop-out of rewriting the Gray TV press release?
Be smart. Gray is replacing expensive syndicated programming with more news in Atlanta, to take advantage of advertising revenue. More local broadcasts = more local ads = more local revenue. 2022 is also a major election year. In Georgia alone, there’s the U.S. Senate race and the Georgia governor’s race. That’s a LOT of advertising that will help prop up WGCL’s budget.
“We want to give viewers a choice” is GM-speak for “We’re trying to make more money.” It’s all about the money. It’s ALWAYS about the money.
[email protected] says:
May 6, 2022 at 4:13 pm
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[email protected] says:
May 7, 2022 at 12:18 am
The ATL can handle more news compared to mid-size markets where not much happens I don’t get why WXMI Fox17 has 4PM to 7PM I know not everyone is watching 3 hours of local news some just have it in the background for noise is all. Fox17 has had 4Pm News since 2014 maybe it was 2015 I wonder if they will have to compete at 4PM as I believe Wood TV is going to put a 4PM Newscast in the fall since Ellen is ending.