WAGA, the Fox-owned station in Atlanta, is expanding its 4:30 p.m. news show by a half-hour beginning next week.
On Nov 23, the weekday show will now run a full hour beginning at 4 p.m, following the channel’s airing of Judge Judy. The news show, Fox 5 News at 4 p.m., will continue to be anchored by Christine Sperow and will focus on news of the day and key local and national stories, as well as weather updates from station chief meteorologist David Chandley. The show will lead into the station’s nightly 5 p.m. newscast.
“Local news is more important than ever,” said Scott Stucky, vp and news director. “As the market-leader, our viewers depend on Fox 5 to keep them updated on what’s happening in our community. The rapid growth of our 4:30 p.m. newscast was proof that viewers have an appetite for news and we are hoping this expansion can satisfy it.”
With the additional half-hour, Fox 5 will now produce 12.5 hours of live, local news each weekday and 73 hours of local news a week.
It’s a fast-paced expansion for the afternoon news program, which only debuted in March of this year as a half-hour special. Sperow joined the station earlier this year from WBTV Charlotte to head up the newscast and co-anchor the 11 p.m. news.