Look for WTHR-TV Channel 13’s on-air news staff to begin sporting bloodshot eyes on Feb. 24.
That’s when the NBC affiliate starts airing its early-morning newscast a half-hour earlier—at 4 a.m.
Currently, the only local station airing a newscast that early is WXIN-TV Channel 59. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that WXIN’s former general manager, Larry Delia, is now WTHR’s president and general manager.
While at WXIN, Delia led an expansion of the Fox affiliate’s newscasts that helped drive a ratings jump in the mornings.
Most local stations run network news feeds just before their first morning newscasts. WTHR will move NBC’s “Early Today” show to its WALV-TV Channel 46 and Channel 13.2.
The big question is whether the half-hour-earlier newscast will be too early even for WTHR’s naturally caffeinated meteorologist, Chuck Lofton.
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