WPIX To Launch 4 P.M. News On Sept. 13

Mission Broadcasting-owned and Nexstar-programmed CW affiliate WPIX New York will launch a new live hour-long weekday newscast at 4 p.m. beginning Monday, Sept. 13.

The newscast will be anchored by Tamsen Fadal and Vanessa Freeman with weathercaster Irv Gikofsky, also known as “Mr. G.”

“Our mission and obligation is to be thorough in serving the daily needs of our viewers,” said News Director Nicole Tindiglia. “But we want to go far beyond that in our enterprise reporting and insure that our daily storytelling reflects the mood and concerns of the community, the heart of what it means to be New York’s Very Own PIX11.”

While the newscast will cover all the major news of the day and follow breaking news whenever it occurs, WPIX said “it will also reflect what’s going on in the broader community.”

Fadal will look closely at women’s issues, an area she’s focused on and written about often. Freeman, a young working mother herself, will delve into critical parenting issues. In addition to presenting the weather, Mr. G, will also report human interest stories from the neighborhoods of the five-borough area that he has come to know well as a veteran of 37 New York City Marathons.

Expanding upon the station’s PIX11 Cares initiative, the newscast will host a “community corner,” inviting the area’s leaders and local service organizations on air to discuss their most important concerns.

“We are eager to get on the air an hour earlier, given the intense pace of news and New Yorkers constant demand for information — information that is changing so fast, often from one day to the next,” said Chris McDonnell, vice president and general manager of Nexstar Media Inc.’s New York City operations. “We are confident that we’ll present a value-packed newscast that serves the growing needs of all our viewers across the broader New York area. This is our commitment and our promise as New York’s Very Own PIX11.”