Only the Noon and 5 p.m. newscasts will remain unchanged after Houston CBS affiliate KHOU shuffles its anchor line up in the coming months.
Houston media blogger Mike McGuff, who first reported the news, was correct in writing that Russ Lewis is joining Lisa Hernandez on the morning newscast. Lewis recently left KGW in Portland for the job in Houston. Hernandez moves from the evenings.
KHOU made it official by posting the new lineup on its website this afternoon.
The new team assignments will be:
430 a.m. – 7 a.m.: Russ Lewis, Lisa Hernandez, Chita Craft, Darby Douglas
Noon: Shern-min Chow, Brooks Garner (unchanged)
4 p.m. – 5 p.m.: Len Cannon, Rekha Muddaraj, Brooks Garner
5 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.: Greg Hurst, Mia Gradney, David Paul (unchanged)
6 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.: Greg Hurst, Mia Gradney, David Paul
10 p.m. – 10: 35 p.m.: Len Cannon, Mia Gradney, David Paul
Weekends: Ron Trevino
Sherry Williams will continue reporting for the morning newscasts Monday through Friday. Lily Jang will do special reports for our 4 p.m. newscast
“We are enthusiastic about these changes as we feel we have positioned our on-air team in the best time slots for their strengths,” said KHOU. “And while they have different assignments, it’s important to note the KHOU 11 News team is intact.”
“We are confident these changes will allow us to provide an even better viewing experience for our audience. We’re excited about these new assignments under the leadership of Sally Ramirez, our Executive News Director.”
“From an outside perspective, KHOU does well in overall household viewing ratings-wise, but has been lacking in the younger demographics coveted by advertisers,” writes McGuff. “The other Houston stations have been doing better in the 18 to 34, 25 to 54…etc. age ranges. I would imagine this is the reason for the big shakeup under new news director Sally Ramirez.”
This story has been reworked from an earlier version.