NEW YORK—This week, CBS News and Stations is launching evening newscasts in 10 markets on its independent and CW stations. As part of that expansion, it has also announced hiring 28 additional news professionals.
With the launch of “Seattle Now News at 10 on CW11,” this marks the first time that CBS Stations is producing newscasts for all 17 of its markets.
The new hires who are exclusively focused on producing these newscasts include multiskilled community journalists, anchors, weathercasters, producers, directors, editors, managers, a graphic designer and a multiplatform content coordinator.
“This is an exciting time for our group as we marshal our team at the CBS Local News Innovation Lab and newly hired colleagues across the country to create this ambitious model for producing newscasts that deliver a mix of hyper-local and national stories,” Tom Canedo, CBS stations president.
Earlier this year, the station group announced that the CBS Local News Innovation Lab is supporting the production of hybrid, local-to-national newscasts for stations in New York (WLNY), Philadelphia (WPSG), Dallas-Fort Worth (KTXA), San Francisco (KBCW), Atlanta (WUPA), Boston (WSBK), Seattle (KSTW), Tampa (WTOG), Detroit (WKBD) and Miami (WBFS).
The one-hour newscasts are airing seven nights a week at 10 PM (except for WLNY, KTXA and WBFS newscasts that are airing at 9 PM).
These programs include both hyper-local content that is produced by multiskilled journalists on the ground in each market, as well as content produced by team members at the CBS Local News Innovation Lab.
Originating from the lab’s home at KTVT and KTXA in Dallas-Fort Worth, the weekday editions of these newscasts are being anchored by Tom Hanson, who is joined by meteorologist Collin Myers. Weekend newscasts will be anchored by Trason Bragg, who will be joined by meteorologist Brittany Rainey, the company said.
The addition of the Seattle and weekend newscasts follows CBS Stations’ recently announced plans to launch a seven-hour morning news franchise on KCAL in Los Angeles, the hyper-local streaming and broadcast service CBS News Detroit and 9:00 AM newscasts on most Company-owned CBS Television Network Stations this fall.
These commitments will increase the number of hours of local news produced by CBS Stations from 30,000 in 2021 to nearly 47,000 hours by the end of this year.
The New York, Philadelphia, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Francisco, Boston and Miami newscasts are also available on CBS News and Stations’ local streaming channels in their respective markets.
Hanson joined the CBS Local News Innovation Lab team after having served as a New York-based freelance anchor and reporter for CBS News since 2018. During his time with CBS News, he covered a wide variety of stories, including a rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes; the Hanukkah stabbing in Monsey, N.Y.; a deadly South Dakota plane crash; an Ohio manhunt for four escaped prison inmates; the nation’s opioid epidemic; scientific endeavors to document ocean health; and the El Chapo, Epstein and Weinstein trials.
Previously, Hanson worked at Channel One News, the American youth media organization serving millions of students across the United States. Before that, he was an associate producer at CNN in Atlanta and a news assistant in the CNN Washington, D.C., bureau.
Myers moved to Dallas-Fort Worth from Houston, where he most recently served as a meteorologist at KRIV and, before that, KTRK. He previously worked for KEYE, the CBS Television Network affiliate in Austin, Texas, and WIBW, the CBS affiliate in Topeka, Kan.
Bragg joined the CBS Local News Innovation Lab after having been an anchor and reporter for WGCL, the CBS affiliate in Atlanta. Prior to that, he was a general assignment, consumer and sports reporter for KRGV in Rio Grande Valley, Texas. While there, he reported on the active local U.S.-Mexico border area, including stories about the separation of families, cartel violence, drug busts and human smuggling.
Rainey has been with KTVT as a weekday morning meteorologist since September 2021. She previously worked for stations in Tampa, Fla., Indianapolis, Ind., Tulsa, Okla., Huntington, W. Va., and Lincoln, Neb.
