WSB Atlanta Announces 4 P.M. Newscast

Cox Media Group’s ABC affiliate WSB Atlanta (DMA 8) announced today that Channel 2 Action News at 4 p.m. will begin the day after The Oprah Winfrey Show airs its final season program.

“This is a big move for the station,” said Bill Hoffman, VP-GM. “It will add more assets to our capabilities to cover the market’s important local news and give Channel 2 Action News another hour of opportunity to serve viewers with local news when they want it.

“Oprah on Channel 2 gave the Atlanta market a remarkable 25 years of top-tier, history-making programs,” said Hoffman. “We picked her up from her first season in syndication. This is a generation of television saying goodbye,” he added.

“Replacing Oprah came down to doing what Channel 2 does best for the local community,” added News Director Marian Pittman, “and that’s local news. The appetite for local news on this station continues to grow. Just this past July we expanded Channel 2 Action News This Morning to 4:30 a.m. We’re adding resources in the newsroom, from reporters to writers and editors, to give the additional five hours of local news each week the support necessary to cover this demanding market. It’s a new challenge and we are ready for it.”