TV stations turning attention to even earlier morning news

You're up? They're on.

When roosters are still in their jammies.

"Is it the world's largest audience at 4:30? No. But there are people out there who need to be served," says Bob Stoldal, news director at KVBC-TV, Channel 3. "You develop loyalty by giving viewers newscasts when they want it. We didn't want to leave it to our competitors."

Challenging 4:30 a.m.-starter KLAS-TV, Channel 8 for the up-and-at-'em audience, Channel 3 last November bumped up the 5-7 a.m. "Wake Up With the Wagners" start time by 30 minutes. "We've even looked at 3 a.m., anywhere there's a time period available, we'll consider if there's a place for a newscast."

Unwilling to relinquish the sole early bird slot for local news, Channel 8 launched 4 a.m. news in January. "We know there's a hunger for news at that hour," says Emily Neilson, Channel 8's president. "People were already watching us then (CBS network news), wanting a news product, but it was all national. Now it's a combination of local and national."

Only those slackers at KVVU-TV, Channel 5 and KTNV-TV, Channel 13 are sleeping in, not revving up until the crack of 5. "Post 9/11, morning shows have really grown in importance," says Kim Wagner, half of the wedded "Wake Up" anchor team with husband Dana. "There's quite an audience for all of us."

Analysts peg that increase to factors including a 24/7 cable news culture that breeds constant news consumption, as well as lifestyle shifts, such as people rising earlier for gym workouts.

As head-starters, Las Vegas rivals the go-getters in Los Angeles, where in April, a third station joined two competitors by flipping on the lights at 4:30. "There's a deliberate effort to establish a leadership position in the morning," Craig Robinson, general manager of Los Angeles' KNBC-TV, told the Los Angeles Times. "There's been a lot more focus. People are getting up earlier."

As calculated during May sweeps by Nielsen Media Research and eagerly examined by TV executives, Las Vegas morning HUT levels -- households using television -- are up in year-to-year comparisons, from 158,000 to 168,000 at 4 a.m., and 157,000 to 162,000 at 4:30 (out of nearly 722,000 households overall).

"Even L.A. goes to sleep, but Las Vegas doesn't," says Dave McCann, co-anchor of Channel 8's morning news, which finished first at 4 a.m. in May against nonlocal programming. He counts both shift-working locals and restless tourists among their audience.

"I'm amazed when I drive to work, trying to figure out who's starting their day and who's ending. And I see people pushing strollers down the Strip at 2:30 in the morning and I think, 'Really?' "

Viewer feedback validates the decision to jostle some of the city awake -- and ease some of it into bed -- at 4, says co-anchor Dayna Roselli. "A lot of people tell me they're so excited we start at 4 now," Roselli says. "When they work in the casino and nightclub industry, it's like their 11 p.m. news."

Jumping in as new 4:30 competitors, the Wagners finished second to Channel 8 during May sweeps, increasing station ratings 14 percent over "Early Today" last May. "HUT levels in the morning may be small compared to the evenings, but the majority of the households using television in the morning are using them for local news," Dana Wagner says.

Traditionally, local news is a profit center for stations and early morning -- often littered with infomercials, syndication and overnight network feeds -- is ripe for expansion.

So if you're out there watching and they're out there televising, are advertisers out there lurking?

"It's a revenue-generator, an area where advertisers are clamoring for space, they understand people watch morning news," says Channel 5 news director Adam P. Bradshaw, who has no immediate plans to jump-start their news earlier than 5, but won't rule it out.

"It's a critical daypart for us, second only to the 10 (p.m.) news, and not that far second. Probably a lot of the decisions to go earlier are based on the idea that the best lead-in for news is news. It also sets the tone for your station. If you're a major player in the morning, people take you more seriously as a news organization during the day."

(Karin Movesian, news director of Channel 13, which finished fourth in the May sweeps from 5-7 a.m., declined to be interviewed for this story.)

Subtle differences in content and tone are evident in the 4-5 a.m. shows. At 4 on Channel 8, "it's a little more rehash," Roselli says, citing viewers who didn't catch the 11 p.m. news hours earlier. "We do stories that were big at 11. We don't even use reporters until 5, unless there's something active going on."

Relative informality's the rule with the Wagners at 4:30. "I don't know if the station would agree, but it gives us a little more opportunity to provide personality," Dana Wagner says. "We're able to talk a little more at 4:30, it's not as rigid as it is between 5 and 7, where we're locked into a format, a certain amount of stories and traffic and weather."

As local news moves almost midway between Leno and Letterman at late night and "Today" and "GMA" in daylight, here's schedule advice to roosters:

Start cock-a-doodle-doing it about 3 -- 3:30, tops.

Contact reporter Steve Bornfeld at sbornfeld@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0256.