*The New York Daily News is quoting unnamed sources who claim that Brian Williams is the one responsible for local WNBC news show “New York Live” moving from its late 5 p.m. timeslot (where it served as a lead-in to Williams’ “NBC Nightly News”) to 12:30 p.m., where the show was cut to 30 minutes.
The show, featuring co-host Jacque Reid, is a light-hearted program that bills itself as “the best of fashion, beauty, celebrity interviews, cooking, arts and Tri-State area stories.”
Williams didn’t think this format fit as a lead-in to his show. According to the sources, he used his power to get it moved back to midday.
“The numbers were increasing week after week. And the show became a hit by abandoning the depressing news stories and local traffic reports in favor of fashion, food and celebrity gossip segments. It just worked,” says the source. “But Brian wanted it gone. He killed what the show was. At the time, Brian ran 30 Rock and what Brian wanted, Brian got.”
Williams, the Daily News reports, wanted actual news between 5 and 6:30, when “Nightly” begins. Whether he played a role or not, in 2011, WNBC announced a return to news at 5 p.m., and the move of “New York Live” to midday. “Our station has an important responsibility to deliver critical local news and information to our viewers, and the 5 p.m. will help us do that,” said the station’s general manager, Michael Jack.
The Daily News source continued: “He had nothing to do with the show, yet he disapproved of the content. It was too much fashion and gossip airing from 5 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, because he didn’t want light news airing so close to his important nightly broadcast.”
Williams has been off of “Nightly News” since Feb. 8, when controversy behind the validity of his news stories began dominating the headlines.
Reid joined “New York Live” in September of 2011, joining co-hosts Jane Hanson and Sara Gore shortly after it moved from 5 p.m. to 3 p.m.
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