Friday, December 22, 2006

Wake up with Wolf

Bruce Wolf, who joined WMAQ-TV morning's team after being unceremoniously dumped at WFLD-TV earlier this year, will shine (make that rise and shine) in an new early-morning offbeat news show called Barely Today, that will begin Jan. 15. The program will air at 4:30am (yes 4:30am), which pushes Early Today to 4am. The program launches on Dr. Martin Luther King Day -a holiday where a lot of people will be off to honor the slain civil rights leader.

The program will also be simulcast on classic rock WLUP-FM (The Loop), where Mr. Wolf does double duty as sports commentator on Jonathon Brandmeier's morning show.

Once again, WMAQ has beaten the competition, launching new morning newscasts in earlier time slots. In 1990, it launched the first 6-7am newscasts (after sister station KNBC in Los Angeles became the first to launch one two years earlier), launched the first 5:30am newscast in 1993, then launched a 5am newscast in 1998.

4:30 am news is nothing new: WMC-TV in Memphis launched a 4:30am newscast several years ago.

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