Denver’s KCNC Pulls the Plug on 4 p.m. Newscast

By Merrill Knox 

Just months after launching a 4 p.m. newscast in place of “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” Denver’s KCNC has announced that the station will return to syndicated programming in that timeslot due to disappointingly low ratings.

“If we’d had any traction we would have stuck with it,” Walt DeHaven, general manager at the CBS O&O, told The Denver Post.

KCNC will replace the newscast with “Dr. Phil,” which the station has a contract to carry through the next four years. The Post reports that no staff will be cut as a result of the decision — producers will be reassigned to the 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. broadcasts. The short-lived show was anchored by Karen Leigh and Michelle Griego.

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The station was one of many nationwide to test out expanded news in the wake of Oprah’s departure. “We wish there was more of an appetite for that type of news at that hour,” DeHaven said.

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