T.L. Hughes

Like its Miami sister station WSVN, WHDH in Boston is also dumping Live with Regis and Kelly for a 9 a.m. newscast. An hour-long extension of Today in New England will debut starting next Monday, August 22; Today in New England's existing 5-7 a.m. team of Anne Allred, Adam Williams and meteorologist Dylan Dreyer will anchor the newscast. WHDH is dropping Live reportedly due to the show's declining ratings in the Boston area, but ABC affiliate WCVB has picked it up and will begin carrying it the same day as the launch of Today in New England at 9 a.m.

Greenville, North Carolina ABC affiliate WCTI will launch a 5:30 p.m. newscast this Monday, which will be anchored by Brian North and Jaime McCutcheon. WSMV, the NBC affiliate in Nashville, Tennessee has announced that it will become the newest partner station in the WeatherBug network; WeatherBug is a national network of weather observation sites that provide real-time local weather information from area schools, public buildings and recreational sites. The most notable partner station in the WeatherBug network is WGN-TV Chicago, WeatherBug observations from the WGN broadcast viewing area as well as information from national WeatherBug sites during its newscasts (including the noon and 9 p.m. newscasts seen nationally on WGN America).

A couple of other notes: Miami Fox affiliate WSVN is expanding its weekday morning newscast Today in Florida to five hours. Starting on August 22, the newscast will run from 5 to 10 a.m., displacing Live with Regis & Kelly from the schedule. The fifth hour will be anchored by current Today in Florida anchors Christine Cruz and Diana Diaz, with field reports by Richard Jordan and meteorologist Julie Durda providing the weather forecast. This will increase the station's local news output to 60½ hours per week, equal to that of San Francisco's MyNetworkTV affiliate KRON-TV, tying it for the most local news of any U.S. television station (Canadian station CHCH-TV in Hamilton, Ontario broadcasts 69 hours of local news per week, which will expand to 71½ hours next month with the expansion of its morning newscast to 4:30 a.m., the first such newscast in that timeslot in the entire country of Canada). Meanwhile, Roanoke, Virginia's WSLS has dropped its low-rated midday talk show Our Blue Ridge. The program will be revamped as a local version of owner Media General's syndicated Daytime program called Daytime Blue Ridge, another talk show focusing on community and lifestyle news similar in format to Our Blue Ridge, though described will "be completely new and different" by WSLS general manager Leesa Wilcher, that will debut in six weeks (infomercials will air in the meantime in the defunct program's former noon slot).