What's Up With 4:30? And Who's Up at 4:30?
Wow, I take a little vacation, and suddenly everyone’s got a 4:30 a.m. news coming up.
We wrote about the wicked-early a.m. trend (sorry for the Mass.-speak, vacation was up in Cape Cod) back in May, after several owned and operated stations from the likes of NBC and Fox had made the move to 4:30.
But the announcements in just the past week or so–WAAY and WHNT Huntsville, WABC New York, KYW Philadelphia, WCVB Boston–the list goes on (and on) of stations making the move to 4:30 a.m. this month and next.
Robert Reeves and Ben Smith head up WHNT’s fledgling 4:30 ‘cast.
Who’s up at 4:30? Presumably enough viewers to give the way-early a.m. news a shot. “If you get a 1 or a 2, it’s saleable and you can make money on it,” says WHNT GM Stan Pylant.
WHNT debuted its 4:30 a.m. today, but wasn’t first up with it in DMA No. 79–that distinction goes to WAAY, which launched its pre-dawn show last Friday.
“Erin Dacy, T.W. Starr and Gary Dobbs will be up before the chickens to bring you the first news of the morning when we start the First News in the Valley,” News Director Keith Lowhorne said in a statement earlier this month.
UPDATE: The Sept. 1 NY Times has a page one story on the 4:30 a.m. craze.
Larry Wagner commented:
FOX here in Philly must want to curtail the (planned in some cases) competition or start a new trend, as they have now moved their 4:30am news to 4:25 am. The evening news staff still hasn't adjusted to the move after 2 months, as 1/2 of the time they still encourage people to join the morning show at the old 4:30!
SCHS1977 commented:
Same thing here in Charlotte,NC. I have no desire at 4:30am to watch the same re-run of the 11:00pm news as WCNC NBC 36 does.
Daniel Quintanilla commented:
I know WPVI here in Philly wants to get on the air at 4:30am immediately because FOX 29 WTXF has been on at 4:30am since March and now FOX 29 beat #1 WPVI in the July sweeps.
WPVI needs to go on the air at 4am to prevent further damage and stay ahead of FOX 29. Plus, they'd be first out of anyone to air at 4am, like KRON and WPIX.
ABC would have to expand WORLD NEWS NOW airing live by a half hour (2a - 4a), and insert AMERICA THIS MORNING in 10 or 15 min segments during 4 & 4:30 local newscasts.