KCBS WILL ADD NEWS SEGMENT

KCBS-TV Channel 2 said Thursday it will offer viewers an additional half-hour news show at 7 p.m. next month to determine how much interest there is in what General Manager Tom Van Amburg termed a “thorough, ‘after-dinner’ local newscast.”

The news program will run weeknights at 7 p.m. from Dec. 1 through Jan. 2, replacing “Photoplay” during that period in the time slot following the “CBS Evening News.”

Station officials said the five-week experiment is the result of gripes they’ve heard over the years that the early newscasts in Los Angeles are over before many working people get home and have dinner.

This “will prove whether that interest really exists,” Van Amburg said.

If it does, he said, KCBS will make the 7 p.m. local newscast permanent, although not necessarily right away, since it has other commitments for that time slot.

The format will be that of a traditional newscast, with news, weather and sports reports, a station spokeswoman said. Anchors have not yet been selected, she added, and the existing block of local news from 4 to 6:30 p.m. will not be affected.