WFXT Boston To Debut 4 A.M. News
If there’s some groaning coming out of Boston these days, it’s either from Red Sox fans, as the team continues to sputter, or it’s from WFXT’s rivals, as the Fox O&O has announced it will start at 4 a.m. on July 9.
As we’ve seen with the 4:30 a.m. news around the country, once one station flips the switch on it, others tend to follow suit, often with a degree of reluctance. Currently, WCVB starts at 4:30, as does WBZ. WHDH starts at 5 a.m.
Other stations who’ve made the move to 4 a.m. include WPIX New York, KTVI St. Louis and KLAS Las Vegas.
The WFXT morning show is “a mix of news, weather, traffic, opinions, viewer feedback and live in-studio guests,” said Fox in a statement.
“This additional expansion reflects our ongoing commitment to covering news for the viewers wherever and whenever it happens,” said Gregg Kelley, WFXT’s vice president and general manager.
WFXT also announced hour-long newscasts at 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, starting July 7.
Boston newsroom denizens better get their rest now.
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Alex commented:
4am is the new normal wake up time for people these days.
easttxtv commented:
I can see being on earlier if it's a weather situation once in a while, but whose commute is so early/long that a 4am newscast is really needed? And the KRIV morning news being 6 hours long is just too much. Any more and you might as well be an all-news 24/7 station and get it over with.
k86ts commented:
It's getting ridiculous now...I can understand starting at 5 AM and even 4:30 AM but now starting at 4 AM is just overdoing it and some stations have 5-6 hour blocks of straight news now...look at WGN 9 in Chicago or KTVK-TV in Phoenix...just way too much time devoted to telling a story in a different way but it's cheap to do and a way to secure advertising dollars by the stations. Just overkill overall.
greggo commented:
KRIV, the Fox O&O in Houston, has been doing it for a while, giving them a 6-hour morning show. Yeesh.
Eric commented:
I believe WPIX was the first east coast station to do 4AM news. I'm guessing other Fox O&O's could and might be following that lead in the coming months... including WNYW New York, WTXF Philly, WTTG DC, WAGA Atlanta, and WTVT Tampa Bay, to name a few.