SEPTEMBER DEADLINE : CHANNELS 2, 11 TO REVAMP NEWSCASTS

KCBS-TV Channel 2 and KTTV-TV Channel 11 will revise their news programming in September, both stations reported in separate announcements Thursday. Channel 11 also named a new news director.

KCBS will drop its hourlong newscast at 4 p.m. and will reinstitute a half-hour news program at 7 p.m. in September, general manager Robert Hyland said Thursday.

Reruns of the CBS detective series “Simon & Simon” have been scheduled from 4-5 p.m. against the local newscasts on rivals KNBC-TV Channel 4 and KABC-TV Channel 7, Hyland said. Local news will run from 5-6:30 p.m., followed by “The CBS Evening News” from 6:30-7 p.m. and then another half-hour of local news at 7 p.m.

The changes are being made in an effort to hone KCBS’s self-proclaimed “hard news” image, Hyland said.

“At 4, the available news audience prefers the soft, conversational format offered by the competition,” he said, referring to the higher-rated programs on KNBC and KABC. By contrast, he said, “we become competitive (later) when that audience begins looking for more substantive news, and other viewers are able to watch.”

KCBS experimented with a 7 p.m. local newscast early this year, but Hyland canceled it shortly after taking over as general manager in April. “This time the broadcast will be backed with the people, resources and direction it needs and deserves to succeed,” he said.

At Channel 11, Steve Blue, who joined the station in April as executive editor, has been given the title of news director. He has been the acting news director since April when Eric Sorensen left KTTV to return to KCBS as news director.

Additionally, the station announced that it will start an hourlong 10 p.m. newscast in September. This news hour will replace the 8 p.m. and midnight newscasts currently on the KTTV schedule.

Andrea Naversen and Bill Redeker have been assigned to anchor the 10 p.m. newscast. Naversen has been a correspondent in the ABC News bureau here, and Redeker has been a correspondent for CBS News.

Marcia Brandwynne was recently dropped as anchor of the 8 p.m. news, and her co-anchor Tony Cox has said he has been told to look for a new job. A station spokesman said Thursday afternoon an interim anchor lineup was still pending for the 8 p.m. newscast.