WADL Detroit is premiering a nightly 10 p.m. newscast starting January 21. Kevin Dietz hosts News Now with Kevin Dietz, a Monday-Friday program.
Independent station WADL airs primarily off-network programming, with Dateline and Black-ish among the primetime offerings. Family Guy was on at 10 p.m. prior to the newscast’s launch.
CBS announced that its CW affiliate WKBD Detroit is starting a 10 p.m. news January 22. WKBD is hiring multimedia journalists for the program, and the newscast is produced at the CBS duopoly in Dallas.
Dietz was at WDIV Detroit for 26 years. He was dismissed last summer.
WADL CEO Kevin Adell said the newscast will play to Dietz’s investigative strengths. It will typically feature two long reports, and will not focus on house fires and burglaries. It will be produced at WADL. “It’s definitely local--what’s going on at the water cooler,” said Adell, who told Detroit Free Press Dietz will fight for the underdog.
Dietz departed WDIV following comments he made at a journalism conference that were in conflict with the station’s zero-tolerance policy on racially insensitive comments. Graham Media Group owns WDIV.
Dietz told Detroit Free Press the newscast will connect with locals in DMA No. 14. “"I was born and raised in this town and I've been an investigative reporter for 25 years,” he said. “I know the community and will be talking about topics important to the people that live here.”
The political spending tied to the presidential election was a factor in News Now’s launch, said Adell.
