FIRST ON THE BLOG: WBZ’s 10:00 p.m. newscast on WSBK hasn’t found much success in the crowded 10:00 p.m. news race in the Greater Boston Metro Area, however, because others have it on weekends as well, WBZ’s 10:00 p.m. newscast will do the same.
Starting Saturday August 29th, 2015, WBZ 4’s hour-long WBZ News at 10:00 will expand to weekends on its sister station, WSBK 38 (MyTV). The newscast will be an expansion to the already weeknight hour-long 10:00 p.m. newscast that WBZ 4 has provided on WSBK 38, since the station received the My Network TV affiliation in 2011.
This will become the fourth such newscast on at 10:00 p.m. on weekends in the Greater Boston area, including the long-time established WFXT 25 (FOX)’s FOX 25 News at 10:00 (hour-long), WLVI 56 (CW)’s 7 News at 10:00 (hour-long) and Manchester, NH-based WBIN 50 (Ind.)’s NH1 News TONIGHT at 10:00 (half-hour). The other 10:00 p.m. newscast in the area, also Manchester, NH-based WMUR 9 (ABC), only airs it on weeknights on its digital subchannel, WMUR-DT 9.2, which is known as Me-TV New Hampshire, plus its the ONLY half-hour newscast at 10:00 p.m. in the area. Only WCVB 5 (ABC) doesn’t produce a primetime newscast in any way, whatsoever.
The newscast will be anchored by Kate Merrill on Saturdays with Liam Martin joining Kate on Sundays. WBZ AccuWeather forecasts will come from long-time station veteran and AMS/Sealed Meteorologist Barry Burbank (who’s been at WBZ 4 since March 1978).
So even more local primetime news in Boston and more choices on weekends, thanks to WBZ 4 on WSBK 38.
changingnewscasts.wordpress.com 
More local news in Boston. I hope that WHDH will get a 4:30am newscast. It has taken WHDH NBC 7 50,000 eons or forever in a day for then to get a 4:30am newscast. I was counting one WBZ to get morning news like at 7:00 am but I don’t think it is going to happen because other CBS O&O secondary stations in large markets such as KTXA in DFW, KCAL in LA, and recently WPSG in Philly have cut newscasts on those stations. I am quite surprised with CBS cutting news on their secondary stations that WSBK is expanding newz on weekends.
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I don’t think WHDH will get one soon, at the moment, since my WSVN is still up at 5:00 a.m. as well.
* news
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Management at both 7’s are not a fan of 4:30am newscasts.
One of there former morning anchors once told me they were happy they started later.
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But it will only be a matter of time before they go to 4:30am. Eventually, they will go to 4:30am at some point.
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I think they would add a 4:30 at the 7’s if it was a 4am-5am newscast only.
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WBZ itself was on from 7-8 in the mid 90’s. The ratings we’re so so. They had a 7-8 am newscast from 2002-2004. Now 4’s dead last in the mornings. Their focused on getting higher from 4:30-7.
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I think at one time WBZ was the highest rated station in Boston when they were affiliated with NBC and when WHDH was CBS they were last place. I don’t know if WHDH or WCVB is number one in news.
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Yes. WBZ 4’s “Eyewitness News” was #1 for a long time under Jack, Liz, Bruce and Bob.
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Today, WCVB 5 is #1 with WHDH at #2.
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They had one when it was from 5:30-8am. They also had a 7am hour on WSBK 38 as well before.
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I think at a one time for a while WLWC-TV 28 in Providence, Rhode Island, simulcasted WBZ Morning news for commuters who live in Providence but work in Boston.
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Yes. You are correct.
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They simulcasted WSBK 7am hour only in Rhode Island on WLWC.
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Yep.
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Wasn’t WSVN the founder in the news format If it leads it bleads type news and tabloid type news? I was reading an article that when WSVN was bought by Sunbeam that that started that news format on that station. I don’t know if WHDH has the same kind of news format that WSVN has or if it is a more mallow news format.
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In reality, WSVN 7 started that in 1987, I believe? Not exactly sure when. They really didn’t start that until WSVN was known as “Channel 7 News,” later “7 News.”
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I thought it was 1989?
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I believe they made they format stronger by that time.
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Did the format start before or after their affiliation with NBC?
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It kinda started, like a year or two before they lost the NBC affiliation, because they adopted the format with the unveiling of what is now the popular, “WSVN Newsplex.”
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I also found an article somewhere that when WSVN went independent and were expanding their news at 7:00am and 8:00am and other time blocks that people didn’t think at the time that news in those timeslots would make it and no that nobody would watch news at 7:00 or 8:00am and the article mentioned that at the time it was way too much news for a station to have because at the time it was news in odd an odd timeslot and now the times slots WSVN has news in are now common place in a lot of TV Markets. So never say never only about 15 years ago 4:30am morning news was far fetched and now its common place.
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Plus, WSVN 7 was home to only just the second FOX station to have a local morning newscast, after WNYW 5’s Good Day New York.
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The 10pm weekend show would be Kate Merill (anchor both nights), Liam Martin (Sunday night co anchor). Liam won’t anchor Saturdays because he does Monday-Thursday anchoring.
Roly you are right on Barry doing the weather.
Steve Burton or Dan Roche will do sports.
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Oh wow. Thanks for the additional details. I will add those shortly.
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I’m not a thousand percent on Kate solo but they have a pretty constent weekend evening team.
Do you know if it’s going to be an hour or half hour like the weekday show used to be?
The’ll do just as bad as WLVI’s show does on weekends with lead in. I’ll give it a chance though, not a big Fox 25 fan. Decent reporters and mediocre anchors for the most part.
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A hour, just like my article says and just what the TV listings show.
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I wonder why TV stations switch affiliations like WBZ being NBC and switching to CBS, WHDH being CBS and switching to NBC or like in your place Miami with WSVN being NBC and going FOX, and WFOR being NBC and now being CBS, and WTVJ being CBS and now NBC? I wonder what the purpose is for network affiliations or stations going independent such as WISH-TV in Inday going from CBS to being independent. Don’t network swaps just confuse people. I know back in 1994 the a bunch of TV stations went through these monopoly buyouts such as CBS stations went to FOX like KSAZ in PHX, WJW in Cleveland, WTTV in TPA, WJBK in Detroit and so forth. I think at one time there was an idea that all the network stations wanted to be on the same uniform channel across the country but it didn’t turn out that way. like for example in both LA and New York City, CBS station channel dial was set to 2, NBC channel dial was set to 4 and ABC dial set to 7.
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WBZ was being switched from NBC to CBS because Group W (owners of WBZ at the time) was buying CBS and therefore, WBZ did affiliate with CBS and became an O&O station. NBC could’ve gone to WFXT, but ended up at WHDH, since they had CBS and had to give it up.
WSVN was NBC until GE (at the time) bought WTVJ and therefore, WTVJ took NBC from WSVN, which became FOX. WCIX (call letters at the time) was Independent, until it became a CBS affiliate, since WTVJ was forced to lose it. Besides, WCIX was also bought by CBS and therefore, became a CBS O&O. All of this happened at 3am on January 1st, 1989.
WCIX and WTVJ would later swap channels on July 10th, 1995 with WCIX changing call letters to WFOR to represent their new channel number.
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I could see why NBC would go on WFXT even though it would have been a UHF station at the time I don’t know if VHF and UHF frequencies matter so much now since digital TV signals are all the same. Sunbeam which owns WSVN probably wanted WHDH to go FOX and be a mimic of WSVN. I think I read an article somewhere years back that Sunbeam wanted WHDH to be FOX really bad so WHDH News could mimic WSVN with IF it leads it bleads type format. I don’t know if the if it leads it bleeds type format started on WSVN or the Eyewitness News format like WABC has?
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WSVN started it, thanks to Joel Cheatwood, who’s only success was at WSVN because everywhere else, he’s crashed and burned.
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Even in my town of Albuquerque the NBC station is 4, and ABC is 7, not so much about CBS there 13 even thought there is a channel 2. So Albuquerque TV Market in the early days when TV was new tried this network uniform dial format. KOB-TV is actually believe it or not one of the older NBC Stations in the Grand United States of America. KOB-TV went on the air in 1948. KOB-TV was the first TV station I read to go on the air in 1948 between the West or Left Coast and Mississippi River
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Yep and Channel 2 is 2 KASA FOX (read as “Tu Casa Fox.”)
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I think in England and Australia all the TV stations are on a standard nation wide uniform channel format. LIke in England Channel 4 and Channel 5 I think are all on that same channel nationwide. In Australia its Channel 7, 9, and 10 all the networks I think nationwide in Australia are all on the same uniform channel nationwide so like for example the same network is on the same dial channel in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth. So in those countries you have those same programs on the same channel so their is no confusion when traveling if you want to watch for example the news on Channel 7 in Aussie if you travel from Sydney to Perth you can count on it being on the same channel in a different city. But like for example if you watch the NBC station in Miami you have to have it on 6 but if you travel to Tampa and you want to watch NBC programming or news you have to turn it to 8. It least in someplace the same news programming are all on the same uniform channel across the country such as Australia.
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I think I heard Joel Cheatwood started the FOX News format or FOX News adopted the Joel Cheatwood format it might be just a rumor though.
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What is exactly the Eyewitness News format? Like WABC, KABC, and WLS have, Wasn’t it started on tabloidism and if It Leads It Bleeds also back in the late 60’s or early 70’s
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No. It was basically eyes on camera from eyewitnesses telling the story.
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Weren’t WSBK Newscasts produced by NECN before WBZ produced it?
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Yes, before WSBK was purchased by WBZ’s owner at CBS.
WSBK, produced by NECN, was “UPN 38 Prime News.”
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In the WMFL universe WBZ would be owned by WMFL Corperation. WBZ in an WMFL universe call letters would be called WBNE (Independent; NewsCenter 4)
PS: In an WMFL universe there would be no WMFL owned station in my city of Albuqurque but all the surrounding states in a WMFL universe have TV stations owned by WMFL like in Colorado: Denver: KDCO ** Channel 9 (Independent; 9 News), in Texas Dallas – Ft. Worth: KDTS ** Channel 8 (Independent; News 8), Houston: KSC ** Channel 13 (Independent; 13 Eyewitness News), in Oklahoma Oklahoma City: KOKC ** Channel 4 (Independent; NewsChannel 4)in Arizona Phoenix: KPHA ** Channel 12 (Independent; 12 News)and in Utah Salt Lake City: KSLC ** Channel 5 (Independent; KSLC 5 Eyewitness News) All states surrounding New Mexico, New Mexico is in a doughnut hole in a WMFL universe. I hope you upgrade your WMFL and pretend that WMFL decided to buy a TV station in the Albuquerque Market. I I were you I would want to see the WMFL owned Albuquerque stations be called KABQ-TV 4 or KKOB-TV 4. Imguessing in a WMFL universe channel 4 in my city would be the WMFL owned station. Just in imaginative food of though.
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Naaah… I would’ve called it KNMT 4.
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I would love to see a news schedule on a TV station in Albuquerque that a WMFL universe station has with 4,5,6,7,8,9 am newscasts 11,12 midday newscasts, 4 to 7 pm newscasts and 9 and 10 pm newscasts
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That’s a good name KNMT ,The call letters would stand for K New Mexico Television.
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You exactly read my mind.
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Oh and it would be called… “KNMT 4 Eyewitness News.”
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That’s good
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Wasn’t WSBK at one time a super station on some cable systems like WGN, WPIX and KTLA?
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Yes and still is, if you have DISH Network and subscribe to a special package they have. It’s also available across Canada.
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In the Atlanta Television Corporation alternative universe, WBZ and KOVR would be bought by ATC, and with that ‘BZ would bring back the Eyewitness News name
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Where is that website? I wonder where I can find that alt. universe.
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