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‘Good Day Austin’ expands by an hour; Kilborn returns to late night
KTBC can’t give you an extra hour in the morning, but they’ve found a way to give you an extra hour of news.
By moving “Dr. Oz” to 10 a.m. and eliminating reruns of “Judge Alex” and “Divorce Court” (the first runs of those programs remain on the weekday schedule) the local Fox affiliate is able, beginning Monday, to expand it’s morning program, “Good Day Austin.” The morning news program will run from 5-10 a.m. and the additional hour will be anchored by current evening news reporter Keri Bellacosa.
“We interviewed a lot of people and had hundreds of applicants for this job and we just are really excited to have Kerri in that position,” said Fox 7 News Director Pam Vaught. “She’s a real hard worker and has a great attitude and has made great contacts in this community. I think she’s going to bring all of that to the table for this show and really make a mark for us.”
Bellacosa began her television journalism career at KTBC while still attending the University of Texas. Fox 7 allowed her to go on the air each Tuesday morning as the UT beat reporter.
That’s when she met morning anchors Joe Bickett and Katherine Kisiel, who she says helped and encouraged her in writing and reporting. “They’ve been my mentors ever since, even though they’re now my colleagues,” Bellacosa says.
This is actually her third stint on “Good Day Austin.” Following her first post-college job in Tyler, Texas (where she anchored a CBS affiliate’s morning program) Fox 7 brought her back to be a “Good Day” reporter. A year and a half later, she was moved to the 5 and 9 p.m. newscasts.
“And now I’m back,” she laughs.
Vaught says that station research showed a “need and want” for news at 9 a.m, especially local news, because everybody else goes to entertainment or national news at that point.
“It’s going to give people who have gotten up and got the kids out the door or got their spouses out the door staying home to sit down and watch a newscast and figure out what’s going on in the world,” Vaught says.
The content should have a little more room to breathe, Vaught and Bellacosa say, but it won’t be radically different from what “Good Day” viewers are used to.
“First things first,” Bellacosa says, “a quick news block. We are a news operation; we want to let our audience know what’s going on while they were sleeping overnight.”
The extra hour also gives the morning news team a chance to look ahead, Bellacosa adds.
“The difference between a morning newscast and that 9 o’clock hour is that the day has already started. So, our news meetings have already started. We’re already looking at what’s unfolding as we speak. Where are our reporters going to be? Where can we promise you that we’re going to get you information today? We’re going to tell you what we’re going to bring you later on that day.”
The program will also highlight events in which viewers can participate, such as rallies, seminars, workshops, public meetings.
“We want to let you know about those things so that you can walk away from the show with some information and that you can live a better life here in Austin,” Bellacosa says.
In addition, the expansion will allow for more useful, consumer-type stories, including regularly recurring segments from partner organizations including Ilivehereigivehere.org, Austin Woman magazine, Workforce Solutions and Savingwithshellie.com.
“We do that a lot anyway on ‘Good Day’, but we’re really going to probably give it more time to breathe in this 9 a.m. hour,” Vaught explains.
“What we really want to do is kind of make it a water cooler-type morning show hour and look at the news makers of the day, look back at last night’s news and try and get those people from those stories in and give them a little bit more time to tell their stories on our show,” Vaught adds.
“It’s really neat to be back on in the mornings to do news in a more usable way,” Bellacosa concludes.
In addition to the morning show changes, Fox 7 is altering its 10 p.m. hour, moving “The Simpsons” to 10:30 p.m. to make room for “The Kilborn File.” The half-hour news and chat program will be hosted by Craig Kilborn who, having hosted “The Daily Show” and vacated the anchor chair on CBS’ “Late, Late Show” in 2004, is no stranger to late night television. The program will air as a limited, six-week run on a handful of Fox affiliates, presumably as a test for something bigger and better — or at least more permanent. The network took a similar approach with “The Wendy Williams Show,” which is now nationally syndicated.
Participating stations were free to place the program wherever they thought it fit best in their programming schedules. Some affiliates, such as New York’s WNYW, are running the show in an earlier time slot, possibly to compete with reruns of “The Daily Show.” KTBC’s 10 p.m. start is interesting, because when there was speculation that ousted “Tonight Show” host Conan O’Brien might move to Fox, some affiliates vocally opposed the idea because the reruns they ran in the late-night time slots were cheap and lucrative.
A Fox spokesperson says KTBC is enthusiastic about Kilborn’s show, which will feature the host and his sidekick, actress Christine Lakin, chatting on each show. Occasional guest panels will discuss specific topics. And remember those “5 questions” segments Kilborn used to do on “The Daily Show?” They’ll be back, too.
“The Kilborn File” premieres Monday at 10 p.m.
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