Next week, New York City CW affiliate WPIX will launch a newscast designed to capitalize on a lead-in audience from CNN anchor Anderson Cooper’s syndicated daytime talk show, “Anderson,” which will debut on WPIX next Monday at 4 p.m.
“The television station has never been primed to support an afternoon newscast the way it is about to be,” WPIX news director Bill Carey told The New York Daily News. “There’s never really been a better time to have a serious conversation to poke at and enter the afternoon news race.”
The newscast, which will be anchored by Jodi Applegate (pictured, left) will be geared toward a female audience, according to Carey. Most evenings, the broadcast will lead off with a five-minute segment featuring multiple reporters covering the same topic. The show will also often feature a follow-up on a story featured on “Anderson” that afternoon.
“If you want to be successful and attract viewers, you have to change the format and offer something that’s an alternative,” Carey said, noting that the station has taken past failures — like the launch of a 6:30 p.m. newscast in June 2010, which lasted for less than a year — into account.