mikemcguff.com: KSAT 12 launches First News at 4 and an hour-long Nightbeat at 10

With Oprah Winfrey retiring her long running talk show, many TV stations are adding newscasts in her timeslot to fill the programming hole. KSAT 12 announced plans to do that on its Facebook page...but wait there's more!

KSAT will also have an hour long 10pm newscast. That's not something very typical for a big 3 affiliate (no other San Antonio station has an hour long 10pm show according to the station). That means the station is pushing ~~The Tonight Show with Jay Leno~~ Nightline back to 11pm. Houston sister station KPRC 2 famously pushed Late Night with Conan O'Brien to a later time slot too.

Here is the press release from KSAT 12's Facebook page:

Oprah Winfrey says good-bye when her final episode airs on May 25th, 2011. “Oprah was always so well-received
in San Antonio and South Texas,” said KSAT12 Vice-President and General Manager Jim Joslyn, “we are forever grateful to Oprah for the thousands of shows which really changed the face of television forever.”

With Oprah’s departure, beginning Thursday, May 26th KSAT12 moves into expansion mode and offers viewers their First Real News at 4 with Ursula Pari, Steve Spriester, Chief Meteorologist Steve Browne
and Greg Simmons.

“With the recent explosive growth in South Texas,we’re proud to be the only station in San Antonio which is growing and expanding,” said Joslyn.“We’ve heard from our viewers and we know they lead very busy lives so we’re going to bring them real news at 4pm and we’ll deliver it with the same quality they’ve come to expect from KSAT12.”

And the action just keeps building as Inside Edition will air at 4:30. Inside Edition is one of KSAT12’s highest rated programs, and has built its enduring success by presenting a compelling mix of hard-hitting investigations, exclusive newsmaker interviews, as well as celebrity and pop culture features.

And beginning Tuesday, September 6th, KSAT12 Nightbeat at 10pm expands to one hour.

“This makes the Nightbeat the only hour-long 10pm newscast in the market and that gives us the opportunity to cover more news, expand our news team, and reflect the growth that’s occurring all throughout South Texas” said Joslyn.

Ursula, Steve, Greg, Steve Browne and Isis Romero will lead the entire KSAT12 Nightbeat team for an action-packed hour of news, weather, sports and entertainment.