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No news for Sue at 5 p.m./
www.nydailynews.com
WNBC will pull the plug on its 5 p.m. newscast with Sue Simmons and David Ushery, effective September 14. In its place, LX New York, a daily one-hour program centering on lifestyle, entertainment and information, will air.
The show will originate live from Rockefeller Center and locations throughout the tri-state area. WNBC will supply news headlines and weather updates during the broadcast.
Vickie Burns, promoted this month from news director to Vice President for Content and Audience Development at NBC Local Media, said in a statement, “This is a new kind of show designed to appeal to the large female audience that’s home in the late afternoon and not necessarily looking for a traditional local newscast.”
Channel 4 was not only a longtime ratings champ in the 5 p.m. slot, but initially owned the time period.
In 1980, WNBC raised the bar for local news coverage, creating “Live at Five,” thus taking on competitor’s old movies and syndicated programming.
The former powerhouse at 5 p.m., Channel 4 has found little success there in recent years. First, the news was trimmed to 30 minutes with Perri Peltz anchoring a feature show at 5:30 p.m. In the next bit of tinkering, “Extra” was moved up to 5:30 p.m., making way for New York Nightly News with Chuck Scarborough at 7 p.m. Ultimately, that newscast would be seen exclusively on “NY Nonstop.” After that, WNBC returned to one hour of news at 5 o’clock.
Despite losing 60 minutes of newscasts each day, a WNBC spokeswoman said, “We do more news now than ever before given our platforms and the expansion of the 7 p.m. to an hour on NY Nonstop.”
“Nonstop,” a 24-hour lifestyle and local information digital channel, was launched by NBC Local Media in March. It features a brand new $15 million newsroom at its disposal.
Simmons will remain the co-anchor of the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts with Scarborough. Ushery will continue with anchor and reporter work.
LX.TV Founder and General Manager Morgan Hertzan in a statement said, “LX.TV’s programming fits well with WNBC viewers, as we’ve seen in the success that “Open House NY” and “1st Look” have had on the air.”
LX.TV began as broadband video network catering to young, affluent urbanites. It was acquired by NBC Local Media in January 2008.
Over the last year, WNBC has been in a state of flux. Several veteran staffers were let go, including Len Berman and Carolyn Gusoff. Earlier this month, movie critic Jeffrey Lyons was tossed aside when his “Reel Talk” was eliminated.
As all of the local TV stations muddle through the recession, Burns said the 5 p.m. change will not result in job cuts at WNBC.
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