Channel 6 Won't Stop Until the Entire Daily Schedule is Nothing but Action News
6abc and two other ABC-owned television stations will be launching 10 a.m. newscasts this fall, with Temple University alum Tamron Hall’s talk show moving from mornings to the 2 p.m. time slot previously occupied by the “Rachael Ray Show.”
The changes, which will also be implemented in New York City and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, will take effect in Philadelphia on Sept. 11. ABC officials said Hall’s show achieved “record-breaking” Season 4 ratings at 10 a.m. and the move to 2 p.m. aligns with when the program airs on other ABC-owned stations.
For 6abc (WPVI-TV), the “Action News at 10 a.m.” newscast will be anchored by Alicia Vitarelli, Alyana Gomez and Nydia Han, with meteorologist Karen Rogers expanding her duties.
An all-female team. That’s cool, but it’s also an extra hour of news for a station that already produces seven television hours a day. Seriously. Not even Philadelphia has enough shootings, stabbings, car crashes, and sinkholes to fill eight hours a day.
Action News currently airs from:
- 4 a.m. to 7 .a.m.
- 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
- 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
- 11 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Then you’ve got the one-hour edition appearing on PHL17 as well, though Jeff notes that “The future of the 10 p.m. newscast is unknown with The CW moving from Channel 57 to Channel 17.” Still, that’s a lot of weather reports. Shout out Cecily Tynan, da GOAT.
Honestly though, isn’t this overkill? Not the thrash metal band from Jersey. Every local TV station kept expanding the schedule from 2005 until now, which only watered down the product. At channel 3, we used to do four hours in the morning, from 5 to 7 on CBS, then 7 to 9 on the CW Philly. Then management decided that wasn’t enough, so we added a 4:30 a.m. show for whoever the fuck is awake then. If Bob Kelly and Katie Fehlinger did one more traffic or weather report, they’d literally turn into a traffic and weather report (respectively).
This is Action News, however, and Action News is the de facto leader in Philadelphia, so whatever works, I guess. When Rachael Ray was cancelled, moving Tamron Hall to 2 p.m. made sense, but they could have plugged that 10 a.m. hole with anything. Put a Pampered Chef infomercial in there. Maybe a one-hour Joe Cordell divorce law explainer. Syndicate the Ninja Blender or show reruns of Wings with Steven Weber, Tim Daly, and Crystal Bernard. I guess another newscast was a better option.
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