TV Talk: KDKA+ launches 8 p.m. news; Very Local debuts Pittsburgh dating show
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On Monday, Pittsburgh’s first 8 p.m. newscast launches on WPKD-TV, Channel 19, also known as KDKA+. KDKA news director Shawn Hoder has a ready response to anyone wondering why they’d put on another newscast when there’s already local news that airs on KDKA from 4-7 p.m. and again at 7:30 p.m. (aside, of course, from the corporate mandate: Other Paramount Global-owned, former CW affiliates nationwide have also added 8 p.m. newscasts).
“People’s lives have changed. I know for my wife and her friends, they are not home at 6 o’clock,” Hoder said in a Zoom interview Tuesday. “They did not have a chance to watch a 4, 5 or 6 p.m. newscast, and they go to bed before 11. … It’s another chance for choice, which, if we know anything about the consumer now, it’s that they want options. So this is giving them that option.”
Jessica Guay will anchor the one-hour “Primetime News on KDKA+” with Ray Petelin providing weather forecasts. The broadcast will also stream at cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/live.
“Primetime News” will be anchored from a desk in the KDKA newsroom.
“What I love about that is, if need be, we can literally turn right around from the (anchor) desk and be like, ‘What was that?’ What’s happening?’ (to the assignment desk),” Hoder said. “I love that flow of communication, that old-school way where someone would walk up and hand a note (to the anchor). That can actually come back, and I love that.”
The 8 p.m. broadcast will have an emphasis on highlights from the day’s news. It could also include newsmaker interviews or segments from “Pittsburgh Today Live” or “Talk Pittsburgh.” And Guay will report a story each day for the 8 p.m. broadcast while also being available for breaking news in evening newscasts.
“What I’m more focused on is just trying to make sure that everyone that’s watching really knows and gets that news that they need to know,” said 8 p.m. newscast producer John Fauss, who reunites with Guay from when he worked as a photographer and she was an anchor/reporter at WCHS-TV in Charleston, W.Va., about seven years ago.
Hoder said, because it’s a new time period for a local newscast, they aren’t hidebound to tradition and can break format.
“Nothing’s off limits,” Hoder said.
WPKD’s 8 p.m. news isn’t the only new local newscast premiering next week. On Monday, a WPXI-produced hour of news launches weekdays at 7 a.m. on WPGH-TV.
‘Local Love Pittsburgh’
Hearst’s Very Local Pittsburgh streaming channel introduces “Local Love Pittsburgh,” premiering Jan. 9. In each of six 30-minute episodes, one single goes on dates with three people and then chooses one person for a second date.
The first episode is well-paced and entertaining as it shines a light on several Pittsburgh establishments where the dates occur.
Mt. Washington’s Shayla Smith, 27, said her mom saw an ad seeking people to appear on “Local Love” and threatened to apply on Smith’s behalf. Smith took matters into her own hands and applied.
Smith, a sales rep, was almost on the Zach Shallcross season of ABC’s “The Bachelor” in 2023 but had to drop out at the last minute because of a family member’s illness. (Smith didn’t apply for “The Bachelor;” a friend recommended her.)
“I’m very open-minded to at least try something once,” Smith said of her reason for saying yes to both dating shows. “It’s not necessarily like, ‘Oh, I’ll probably find my life partner there,’ but that was a possibility. It could potentially happen. But mostly it was that it’d be a new experience, try something new, meet some great people.”
Smith said her episode filmed over three or four days with dates at Gaby et Jules Patisseries in Squirrel Hill, Shortys Pins x Pints on the North Shore and Spring Street Studios in Zelienople. The second date with one of her suitors takes place at Sienna Mercato in Downtown Pittsburgh. Smith said a highlight of the experience was visiting some establishments she’d never been to before.
One of Smith’s dates was a former CAPA Pittsburgh student, as was Smith, but they didn’t know each other in high school, though Smith’s cousin knew the man. Another suitor had a friend in common with Smith.
“Pittsburgh is a small town,” Smith said.
Michael Callahan, Very Local vice president of production, said the “Local Love” franchise began in Kansas City and expanded to other Hearst markets, including Sacramento, Boston and now Pittsburgh.
“It’s a throwback dating show,” said Callahan, who noted “Local Love Pittsburgh” will be available on Very Local nationwide. Shows filmed in each of the 27 Very Local markets tend to get the most viewers in the markets where they filmed, but the programs also get viewership outside those markets. “They function as travel series in a way. People take note and find some curiosity and learnings about other towns and what’s going on there.”
Callahan said Very Local Pittsburgh’s “Ed and Day in the ‘Burgh” “performed beyond our expectations” and will return for a third season, likely in late 2024.
As for how executives judge the success of a Very Local show, Callahan cited completion rate, a metric also used by Netflix and other streaming services.
“We look at the percentage watched per episode,” he said. “The deeper someone goes in an episode, the more we think that series is a success.”
Very Local is an ad-supported streaming channel from Hearst, parent company of Pittsburgh’s WTAE-TV. The free Very Local app is available on mobile devices, tablets and internet-connected TVs, including Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, Roku and Vizio. New episodes of “Local Love Pittsburgh” will release on Thursdays beginning next week.
Channel surfing
Paramount+’s “Mayor of Kingstown” begins filming its third season in Western Pennsylvania next week. … With the departure of Kasey Reigner, Ashley Dougherty posted to Facebook that she will be working weekend mornings and Monday through Wednesday for the next few months. … Apple TV+ renewed “Slow Horses” for a fifth season.