Originally posted Monday, February 24, 2020 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Fox 5 (WAGA-TV) is adding a 4:30 p.m. newscast with University of Georgia graduate and new anchor Christine Sperow starting March 30.
Local news in recent years has spread like kudzu on all the Atlanta broadcast networks. It’s generally cheaper to air than syndicated fare and provides the local station with all the advertising money.
Since the Fox affiliate is not required to air national morning shows and late-night talk shows like the local affiliates for ABC (Channel 2 Action News WSB-TV), NBC (11Alive WXIA-TV) and CBS (CBS46 WGCL-TV), it’s able to air far more local news.
Fox 5 will offer up 71 hours a week of fresh newscasts, more than any station in town. That is a whopping 42 percent of its entire schedule. And it also airs a one-hour repeat of its 11 p.m. newscast overnight.
Both Gannett, which owns 11Alive, and Meredith, which owns CBS46, have sister stations to place local news during prime-time hours. 11Alive recently added two more hours of news on WATL-TV. And CW69 last week started its own 10 p.m. newscast.
Sperow, an Emmy-winning journalist, will also co-anchor the "FOX 5 News Edge" weekdays at 11 p.m., alongside Tom Haynes and contribute to the 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts.
She spent the past 11 years as the weekday morning anchor for CBS affiliate WBTV in Charlotte. She has also worked at stations in Tyler, Tex. and Greenville, Miss.
Sperow, a Miami native, is married and has two children. Most of her immediate family now resides in Atlanta, according to her WBTV bio.
She was a top-notch high school volleyball player, receiving a full athletic scholarship to UGA.
This move will sub out “Judge Judy” at 4:30 p.m. but that popular syndicated show will now air at 3:30 p.m. (taking over for an episode of “Divorce Court”) while a second episode will remain at 4 p.m.
About the Author
