News Operation
KCBS-TV presently broadcasts a total of 30 hours of locally-produced newscasts each week (with five hours on weekdays and 2½ hours each on Saturdays and Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the lowest local newscast output amongst the five in-house news departments operated by Los Angeles' English-language broadcast television stations.
Sports director Jim Hill may well be the station's most notable current personality. Hill, a former San Diego Charger was a sportscaster for CBS Sports during his first stint at KNXT/KCBS-TV, from 1976 to 1987. Hill then left to become sports director at KABC-TV, but returned to KCBS-TV in 1992 and has remained sports director at the station since. Other ex-athletes who are also sportscasters for KCBS and KCAL-TV are Eric Dickerson, James Worthy and Eric Karros. The station's notable former anchors include Connie Chung, Ann Curry, Jerry Dunphy, Ken Jones, Steve Kmetko, Jim Lampley, Dan Miller, Brent Musburger, Pat O'Brien, Keith Olbermann, Maury Povich, Bree Walker and Paula Zahn.
From 1986 to 1987, KCBS produced a 7 p.m. newscast, airing CBS Evening News immediately beforehand at 6:30 p.m. KCBS was also the last station in the Los Angeles area to offer a local early evening newscast at 6:30 p.m., when its 6 p.m. newscast ran for an hour during that time period (CW affiliate KTLA later launched a newscast in that timeslot in January 2009. KCBS produced late afternoon newscasts at 4 p.m. at various points in time. It was the first in the Southland region with a 4:30 p.m. newscast, that was later expanded to an hour. KCBS dropped its 4 p.m. newscasts in 1998 in favor of the short-lived syndicated talk program The Howie Mandel Show, which was canceled after its first season, then in 1999, the Woman 2 Woman public affairs show. After the acquisition of now-sister station KCAL-TV, KCBS reintroduced the 4 p.m. newscast, but with it now airing exclusively on KCAL-TV.
On January 21, 2012, KCBS (and sister KCAL) began broadcasting morning newscasts on weekends, that compete with those offered by KABC-TV, KNBC and KTLA. The station was one of the last major-market CBS-owned affiliates to schedule local news broadcasts on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
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