4PM is the new 4:30AM

A couple of years ago, local TV stations were adding a 4:30AM newscast to their lineup. It seemed that one station decided to expand their morning show and start at 4:30 and like a bunch of lemmings, other stations followed. ​

Well the same thing is now happening in the afternoon. ​

Station after station are adding a newscast at 4PM. But at least their is some explanation for this. ​

Oprah used to OWN (sorry for the pun) the 4PM time slot in many markets. When Oprah signed off, many stations decided to fill the slot with a newscast. It's much cheaper to add news than pay for syndicated shows. ​

The stations that did add syndicated shows, found out that those shows didn't come close to Oprah in the ratings. So, now they are starting to dump the syndies and fill it with news.​

Of course, the stations across the street see the competition start their news at 4PM and they think they better do the same thing. So the snowball starts rolling downhill and next thing you know it seems that every station is adding a newscast at 4PM.​

The latest station to jump on the 4PM news bandwagon ​is KSHB in Kansas City. The station said Wednesday that it will expand its daily late afternoon newscast by 30 minutes starting April 8.

KSHB will begin its weekday newscast at 4 p.m., meaning there will be 90 minutes of local news leading up to the network news at 5:30 p.m.

The station now runs a one-hour news segment that starts at 4:30 p.m.

The 4 p.m. newscast will be anchored by Mark Clegg and Christa Dubill, along with chief meteorologist Gary Lezak.

KSHB started its 4:30 newscast about a year ago. The latest expansion means the station will be producing seven and a half hours of local news and entertainment programming each weekday.

KCTV in the market currently offers a 4 p.m. newscast.

H/T KC Star