In our 20+ years of working in TV News, not one time (NEVER) have we heard a viewer says they wanted the station to add a newscast.

Yet it seems like every time a station does add a newscast, they claim it was because the viewer demanded it.  

The latest station to give us this baloney is WMTW in Portland, Maine. Starting Sept. 9th the station will start doing a 5PM newscast.

Why?  

"Viewers want more and continually tell us that they want News 8 earlier in the afternoon," GM Dave Abel said. "We're thrilled that WMTW is growing each year and across so much of our programming and platforms." Adding a 5 p.m. newscast was "a logical step," he said.

"By strengthening our product we will reward our longtime watchers with more local weather and news while attracting a growing audience seeking something new and fresh," Abel said.

Well it's good to know that the new newscast will be fresh and not just some news from like a month ago. 

Anchor Tracy Sabol and meteorologist Roger Griswold will be part of the news team for the new broadcast, Abel said.

We've heard from the GM, but doesn't Anchor Roger Griswold get an obligatory sound bite that says absolutely nothing and panders to the viewers?

The new newscast, "opens up a large opportunity for hard-working Mainers to watch our reports, our forecasts and prepare them for the rest of the day and the week," Griswold said.

Ahhhhh...now the press release is complete.