Big Day for Local TV on Monday

Changes for shows that have been discussed, planned and purchased for months and years are being implemented Monday morning on local TV. Let’s take a look at what’s new:

WHAS-TV’s 4 p.m. Newscast: This is Life after Oprah for WHAS. The 4 p.m. news, featuring Claudia Coffey and Renee Murphy as co-anchors, starts Monday, giving WDRB’s news at that hour some competition.

WAVE Ditches 725: That 12:30 experiment with  a live show hosted by John Ramsey– didn’t work so well. Atrocious ratings. WAVE GM Ken Selvaggi says moving 725 Live to Saturday nights at 7:30 will give it eight times the audience. But, really, going from 5 airings to once a week? Let’s call it what it was – a flop. WAVE is moving Extra! to the 12:30 slot, and creating a new newscast at 7:30 with Dawne Gee anchoring. That will follow its 7 p.m. newscast with Connie Leonard.

WLKY Ditches Housewives for Anderson Cooper: WLKY GM Glenn Haygood says he’s really happy with the programming upgrade from the dreadful “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.” Cooper’s new show may have a tough time gaining audience against WHAS-TV’s Great Day Live! and WDRB’s Regis and Kelly, but at least it’s not a reality show about screwed up women in Jersey.

WDRB Brings on Dr. Phil as 4 p.m. News Lead-in: I’ll be watching to see if Dr. Phil can help the WDRB 4 p.m. news, which had the only newscast at this hour until WHAS decided to give it a shot when it lost Oprah. Meanwhile, the ratings leader is a soap opera on WLKY. WDRB went after the Dr. Phil program and bought it away from WAVE.

WAVE Brings America Now to afternoons — The syndicated America Now, distributed primarily to Raycom stations, begins its run as a daily show on WAVE at 3, in the spot vacated by Dr. Phil. The new show is made up of stories from participating stations and is hosted by Bill Rancic and Leeza Gibbons. WAVE GM Ken Selvaggi said features like Lori Lyle’s health reports and Eric Flack investigative pieces will end up on the show.