PBS President Paula Kerger today told pubTV execs that PBS NewsHour Weekend, a 30-minute broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays, will premiere Sept. 7 from WNET in New York City. Kerger called it “an exciting step forward for PBS NewsHour,” the longtime weekday public affairs show produced at WETA-TV in Arlington, Va.
The New York Times first revealed PBS’s plans for the show in March, quoting unnamed public television employees.
According to today’s release, Linda Winslow, NewsHour‘s executive producer since 2005, will oversee both programs. Marc Rosenwasser, former e.p. of Need to Know, WNET’s recently canceled Friday night newsmag, will serve as executive producer of the new weekend show. Anchoring will be Hari Sreenivasan from the Tisch WNET Studios at Lincoln Center. “As appropriate, the PBS NewsHour Weekend team will work with local stations to produce stories of national interest for the broadcast,” Kerger noted.
The New York-based team also will contribute to NewsHour‘s weekday reporting, and expand the program’s online coverage to seven days a week.
In a press release, Jim Lehrer, executive editor and founding former news anchor for NewsHour, said he is “delighted” with the expansion. “Plus, it is equally wonderful to rekindle our relationship with WNET, where Robert MacNeil and I started nearly 40 years ago.”
Well I like the Idea of PBS NewsHour Weekend by WETA/ WNET but some PBS affiliates do fundraising drives every weekend I’m not sure how that would work. Example KQED9 and 54 San Francisco.