WHDH-TV announced their schedule come January 2017 when the station loses its affiliation with NBC.
WHDH-TV announced their schedule come January 2017 when the station loses its affiliation with NBC.
The station announced the schedule during its 7pm newscast on Friday. Behind the scenes, station owner Ed Ansin says WHDH will be increasing staff and increasing news coverage.
“We want to have innovative features in the news,” said Ansin. “We want to have aggressive coverage in the news. Being an independent is a challenge and it makes you feel the competitive juices.”
“We have been and will continue to be ‘the News Station’ and we’ll continue to give viewers what they want to turn to,” said station General Manager Paul Magnes. “We will continue to be innovative. You’ve always been able to rely on us for breaking news and big story coverage, and that’s not going to change.”
In addition to the new newscasts that we told you about last week, the station is adding new syndicated programming to replace what its losing with NBC.
The station is relying on popular show Family Feud as the lead-in for two blocks of news starting at 4pm, then again at 9pm.
“Television viewing has changed,” said Ansin. “People aren’t glued to the network prime-time any more. Their living habits are frequently different. They’re going to bed earlier because they’re getting up earlier. We believe that there’s going to be a very good market for 9 O’clock News.”
“I’m excited about our programming,” said Magnes. “I’m excited about Family Feud at 8pm. I think that’s going to be a nice family-friendly program for the market and the people in Boston.”
This is nothing new to Ansin who faced the same situation almost 30 years ago in Miami when WSVN-TV lost their NBC affiliation when the network bought another station in town. He launched the 7 News brand we know today under news director Joel Cheatwood when the station went independent.
The biggest difference between then and now is time. Television viewing habits have changed, and WSVN also affiliated with the FOX network shortly after going independent.
Ansin says he doesn’t care that many are counting out his Boston station just as they did his Miami station once before.
“Somebody said to me the other day, ‘well, you’re going to be the underdog,'” Ansin said. “I said, ‘That’s good. It’s good to be the underdog.’ That means you have to work harder.”
The new schedule will take effect on January 1, 2017.
