Encore 323

KSTU (FOX 13 Utah) just welcomed a new anchor to its news team and that person is Jiani Navarro. She comes from Gray Media’s KCTV 5 in Kansas City, where she was a weekend morning anchor and weekday field reporter. Navarro’s duties at FOX 13 are co-anchoring the flagship 5 & 9pm newscasts with Bob Evans. She will co-anchor from the field at 5 and then join Evans in studio at 9. Here is a video from the FOX 13 Instagram page on her welcome. https://share.google/GuKImKZd2xQ986Pa6

KPIX nowadays basically functions like how KCAL used to function before 2023 because most of their news hours are in the PM. Back to KTTV now, they are mostly a weekday morning shop when it comes to producing news but it has always been that way for them.

When it comes down to the two outlets that now start at 5am (CBS LA and FOX 11), CBS LA obviously wins hands down and KCBS/KCAL has obviously been gaining traction too in the morning hours since they expanded their news coverage and even received a Golden Mike Award this year for “Best Morning or Daytime Newscast” in the 7am hour. All of this is due to many of the staff having an obvious connection to Los Angeles directly or indirectly and the station having it’s news priorities straightened again. So it is no surprise why FOX 11 continues to struggle against KTLA 5, NBC 4, ABC 7 and the CBS LA duopoly on the KCAL 9 side.

Jamie Yuccas was the primary anchor for that slot but they did rotate between talent on certain days.

So that makes two stations in the country’s second largest city that now start their news day at 5am each weekday. Around 15+ years ago, everybody was chasing after the 4:30am half hour start and maybe 10 years ago, the 4am start. Fast forward to today, some people are not getting up as early due to work from home, among other factors.

On Monday, June 1st, some changes will be going into effect at the CBS LA duopoly, which Chris Holmstrom and Rachel Kim have hinted at on their Instagram pages this week. Those changes include removing the 4-6am live edition of CBS Mornings on KCBS in favor of two half hours of CBS News Mornings at 4 and 4:30am, followed by the 5am hour of CBS LA Mornings returning to KCBS for the first time in nearly two years. This means that the 5-7am portion of CBS LA Mornings will be simulcasting on both CBS LA, Channel 2 and KCAL 9. They should’ve done it like this when they axed the 4am hour not too long ago but at least they are coming back to their senses now. Lastly, Rachel Kim will be anchoring CBS LA News at 11am on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays and will report in studio on the 7-10am portion of CBS LA Mornings on those days, while maintaining her position as a co-anchor on the weekend editions of CBS LA Mornings.

Let’s take a little trip down the Channel 7 memory lane because 15 years ago today, EYEWITNESS NEWS FIRST @ 4PM debuted. As many of us know, this newscast replaced The Oprah Winfrey Show, which ended the day before (May 25, 2011) and ran for 25 years and seasons respectively. Today on FIRST @ 4PM, Liz Cho, David Novarro, and chief meteorologist Lee Goldberg celebrated the milestone. FIRST @ 4PM DEBUT VIDEO FROM 15 YEARS AGO (MAY 26, 2011) https://youtube.com/watch?v=cvUPsa63Lrs&si=Y7E4vqbzhYWtVXGA FIRST @ 4PM 15TH ANNIVERSARY VIDEO FROM TODAY (MAY 26, 2026) https://youtube.com/watch?v=eqv9tjVhvcc&si=7EGkYWMWXdklVAzY

KGTV (ABC 10 San Diego) might do this when they get the new music/graphics because they have been leaning into the talent open/rejoin stuff over the last year or so but we will see.

This is the talent rejoin graphics for CBS 6 This Morning featuring Reba Hollingsworth, Rob Cardwell, meteorologist Tom Patton, and traffic anchor Kirsten Luehrs. It’s refreshing to see stuff like this for a change compared to the mostly generic vibe of the other stations with this package.

Yes, their implementation is wonderful with their sweeping camera angles and even a talent rejoin graphic in the 6pm newscast featuring Bill Fitzgerald, GeNienne Samuels, chief meteorologist Zach Daniel and sports director Lane Casadonte. WTVR is the only station so far with the new music and graphics that features the talent in the rejoin.

Let's put it this way: NBC 4 (the station that this thread is dedicated to), FOX 5, and ABC 7 are all beneficiaries of those who not only no longer watch CBS New York, Channel 2 but also no longer watch The CW, PIX 11 because of all of the layoffs that Nexstar has been doing there. New Yorkers want to wake up, get through the day, and go to bed with familiar faces that they trust, and watch stable news products. Viewers have and will continue to reward that.

WNBC is probably #1 at 6am nowadays due to the halo effect of the Today Show, which is now.also the #1 national morning show across the networks. Channel 7 is still #1 overall but the competition is finally catching up as you see here.

Earlier this month, WRC launched a new music package for the newscasts right as the May Sweeps period rolls in. Here is a couple videos from today 5/17 as of this typing. 9:30am Open (Sun 5/17/2026) https://youtube.com/watch?v=gH5LsnmaWuc&si=oXyDczA4058cyBV4 6pm Open (Sun 5/17/2026) https://youtube.com/watch?v=3-9pkLujXZY&si=sKECKNybZh8lAhnG

Former KTLA reporter and meteorologist Kacey Montoya was on Good Day LA today (5/14) as a guest at 9:30am and for the 11am GDLA+ hour talking about her Fix N' Fidos nonprofit and here is the video. https://youtu.be/M7hNrWHy0Pk?si=QP7Myjv110YKhREb

The pacing of 7 News Detroit at 11pm has started to feel more like an LIVE show to me since the new graphics package launched but you do have a point when it comes to segments of the show still being recorded, so it is not fully LIVE.

They definitely have been backing off from the heavily pre-recorded stuff since they got the new music and graphics back in October of last year. The 11pm news was prerecorded a couple of years ago but the station reversed back to being LIVE at 11 in the fall of 2024 when the presidential election took place.

I know they did have a full on newscast at 6:30 a couple of years back but I guess they changed the format of that half hour recently but I haven’t been paying much attention to FOX 29 so I stand corrected.

Speaking of WTKR, the new graphics just launched at Noon today.

FOX 29 has local news at 6:30 so PHL 17 would have to compete with them there.

So as of today, 5/2, the weekend morning news anchor team is going to be Megan Telles and Kirk Hawkins, who will also be doing the weather, and Doug Kolk will continue with entertainment headlines. At this rate, the station should’ve left Lauren Lyster alone in that chair next to Telles for the sake of stability in this time of transition post-Montoya. Even the midday hours during the week is unstable too as many of us clearly see in this post-Parker & Walker era. The reality right now is that KTLA has been such a far cry from what it was before these Nexstar layoffs and in the final decade of Tribune when Jason Ball and Don Corsini were running things at the station. If I had any control over this situation, I would have John Fenoglio and Samantha Cortese anchor the entire dayside on weekdays (Both at 11am, Samantha solo at Noon, John solo at 1pm, and both again at 3pm, and 4pm) because they feed off of each other well and have some years of experience in this market now, Lauren Lyster stay on weekend mornings even though she is deserving of her promotion to weekdays, Kirk Hawkins do the weather for the full 4-7am early morning block so that Henry DiCarlo can focus on the weather in the 7-11am later morning block, Olga Ospina and Kaj Goldberg can keep splitting dayside weather during the week and Liana Brackett can do the weekend morning weather. That is how you utilize your talent, bring back stability and not look cheap because cheapness is what Nexstar wants KTLA and all of its stations to look and feel like these days.

WXYZ sports director Brad Galli made his final appearance on 7 News Detroit tonight after 17 years (this includes his first two years as an intern) with the station and the Scripps News Group. https://youtu.be/pV4LkkpBjdA?si=wfH7aZVEC9m8_6QA

It's official, longtime Chicago journalist Paris Schutz is the latest person coming to NBC 5 and he is starting on Monday, May 4. He will continue working in political and investigative journalism when he gets to Channel 5, which he has built a big reputation for over the years. http://nbcchicago.com/news/local/nbc-5-adds-acclaimed-journalist-paris-schutz-to-its-expert-on-air-talent-lineup/3929165/

They need to go back to having one anchor team for the 11am-4pm shift just like when Lu and Glen were there instead of this mess that is going on now but this is how it is going to be, so oh well.

Yes, that is exactly what has happened since Kriski got laid off. This wasn’t supposed to happen this soon but these Nexstar layoffs definitely took a bite from KTLA’s original timeline for this.

Kacey Montoya just signed off from KTLA for the final time after 13 years with the station. She is a very skilled meteorologist and reporter, and hopefully all goes well with her non-profit and whatever else may come up for her.