NCS has employed veteran California political reporter and anchor Elex Michaelson to guide a new late-night newscast based in the Los Angeles space.
The community introduced Thursday that Michaelson, who left Fox’s L.A. station KTTV final month, will helm a nightly two-hour stay broadcast from NCS’s studios on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank beginning in mid-October.
The program will air from 9 to 11 p.m. on the West Coast and midnight to 2 a.m. in the east. It may also be carried on NCS International in Europe and Asia.
Michaelson advised The Times in an interview that he first pitched the thought of stay program for West Coast prime-time viewers to NCS executives 4½ years in the past. They handed.
“Sometimes good things happen to those who wait,” Michaelson mentioned.
The timing could also be advantageous this time round as California Gov. Gavin Newsom has turn into an more and more distinguished nationwide political determine together with his direct challenges to and social media mockery of President Trump.
Newsom is seen as a potential main candidate for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination. Eyes may also be on L.A.-based former Vice President Kamala Harris, who might additionally make one other run for the White House.
Fox 11 anchor Elex Michaelson and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger consuming Michaelson’s mother’s baked good at a prior occasion.
(Elex Michaelson)
Michaelson believes he has interviewed Newsom greater than some other TV journalist in the state. Along together with his duties as anchor of KTTV’s night and late-night newscasts, he hosted “The Issue Is,” a weekly program devoted principally to California points that aired on a number of Fox-owned TV stations in the state.
Michaelson’s NCS program, which doesn’t but have a title, would be the solely stay cable information present in the post-midnight time slot. NCS, Fox News and MSNBC all presently run repeats in these hours as a result of the variety of houses watching tv drops off dramatically after 11 p.m. Eastern.
Michaelson’s program would be the first NCS present to be based in Los Angeles since “Larry King Live” ended its run in 2010. “Fox News @ Night,” the nightly newscast anchored by Trace Gallagher that airs at 11 p.m. Eastern and eight p.m. Pacific, is the one different nationwide cable information present produced in the town.
Earlier this 12 months, NCS supplied the after-midnight shift to Washington-based anchor Jim Acosta, who was a high-profile antagonist of President Trump throughout his tenure as White House correspondent.
Acosta was holding down a noon hour on the time, and the proposed move to midnight was largely seen as a demotion and a capitulation to Trump in his second time period. The plan was offered after Warner Bros. Discovery executives signaled that NCS wanted to extend its attraction to Republican viewers.
Acosta chose to leave the network in January as an alternative of taking the position and has been reporting for his personal Substack e-newsletter.
The appointment of Michaelson provides the late-night NCS program a clearer editorial rationale. A local of Agoura Hills, Michaelson has spent his whole journalism profession in Southern California, the place he’s a well-known determine.
Michaelson mentioned his presence in Los Angeles will allow to him to e book “West Coast thought leaders in politics, entertainment, technology, sports and more.”
Michaelson’s program will launch a few weeks earlier than Californians vote on a proposal to redraw the boundaries of the state’s congressional districts.
“The showdown on Nov. 4 over the issue of redistricting could determine who controls the U.S. House next year and whether there is actually a check and balance on the Trump administration,” Michaelson mentioned. “Although it’s a fight in California, the impact will be felt not just around the country but around the world.”
Michaelson is thought for thanking company who appeared on “The Issue Is” with recent baked items from his mom’s kitchen.
He acknowledged that the custom shall be tough to keep up with a nightly two-hour program that includes a number of company. “We may need to revise that,” he mentioned.