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December 18, 2007

ABC6 to launch unusual 4 p.m. newscast in January

PROVIDENCE -- ABC6 will launch a 4 p.m. newscast beginning Monday, Jan. 14, which may be the first TV newscast at that time slot in Rhode Island.

Jason Nye, a spokesman for the ABC affiliate, said today that new anchor Allison Alexander, whose appointment takes effect Jan. 1 and who comes from the Cleveland CBS affiliate, will be part of the hour-long newscast on Channel 6.

It was not clear who another anchor will be for the newscast, which Nye said will be a hard-news format, not a talk show.

"It give [the station] an opportunity to try some new things," Nye said, and "new segments and do more live interviews." And, with a big political year ahead, Nye added the slot will help with expanding political coverage.

The station will have programming at 5 p.m. then return with the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts.

NBC10, the local NBC affiliate, and WPRI's Eyewitness News, which is affiliated with both CBS and Fox, currently have evening formats of 5 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m

At 4 p.m., NBC10 carries the popular Oprah Winfrey Show.

NBC10 issued a news release today stating that it saw growth in its ratings lead in key time periods during the November sweeps.

(An earlier version of this story had the wrong title for Nye.)

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 5:00 PM | Permalink

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