There are big changes all over the TV dial locally this fall, and none will have more impact than what’s going on at WHAS-TV.
Rumors have been swirling for months that the ABC affiliate was pitching new, local morning and evening programming, and station GM Mark Pimentel confirmed it a newsletter released today.
WHAS-TV is replacing syndicated programming (Regis) on weekday mornings with a local broadcast featuring Rachel Platt and Terry Meiners. It wil air weekdays from 9-10 a.m. That would seem to be bad news for WBKI, the CW station that airs a local program, Louisville Live, from 10-11. The WHAS-TV show will be called Good Day Live, and originate from a different studio at its Chestnut Street HQ.
With the end of the Oprah show looming, and ratings for the afternoon syndicated talk show already sliding, WHAS-TV announced it will add an hour of news at 4 p.m. to replace Oprah. Pimentel’s note indicated the show will have a different look than other newscasts and share space with the Good Day Live set.
Pimentel wrote: “We feel that our future is all about local and being less dependent on syndicated fare that we don’t control. So why not invest in ourselves? This will be an exciting time with new staff, new studio, and launching two new shows between mid-August and mid-September.”
Every local station is putting its efforts into local programming. Fox41 just added a 6:30 newscast, and WAVE-TV launched a half-hour talk show at 12:30 earlier this year. WLKY-TV amped up its weekend newcasts recently.
