CBSN and WPCW team together midday

CBSN Pittsburgh – the online presence of KDKA-TV (2) and WPCW-TV (19) – simulcasts most of the station’s daily newscasts. Since March 2020, however, CBSN has been repeating the Noon newscast at 12:30. That changed today when the second half-hour was branded as “CBSN Pittsburgh News at 12:30 on Pittsburgh’s CW”. It may seem like a mouthful but it is accurately descriptive as the rerun webcast is now simulcast on Channel 19.

Following the new midday news, the reair of that morning’s “Pittsburgh Today Live” (PTL) moves up from 2:00 p.m. to 1:00 on both TV and the web.

Additionally, coming soon CBSN Pittsburgh will be airing classic episodes of “Hometown High Q”. By classic, we mean “dating back to 1999” although many episodes prior to 2005 are now considered “lost” thanks to a water main break in August of that year. The break along Ft. Duquesne Blvd. caused a flood that took out station vehicles parked in the garage below 1 Gateway Center in addition to a lot of station materials.

The “High Q” project is being overseen by Carl Malm, Digital Line Producer for CBSN Pittsburgh. “When we found out we were getting the rights to stream Hometown High Q, including the back catalog of over 20 years, we knew we had to do something special,” Malm told PBRTV. Most of the episodes of “Classic” programs haven’t been seen since within a year or two following their taping. “So we figured why not give the contestants and their classmates a burst of nostalgia and school pride; relive some KDKA history and wrap it up in timeless quiz show excitement.” Malm says they are still sorting through the archives and expects to go through as many as 700 shows to find the most entertaining moments across the span of just over 2 decades.

The CBSN premiere of the Hometown High Q classic programs will be at 11:30 a.m. on September 25 following the 11:00 a.m. broadcast of the week’s new episode.

*Corrections have been made as PBRTV initially understood the 12:30 newscast was aired live. It is effectively a rerun of the KDKA noon newscast.