NewsNation and WPIX New York, both part of Nexstar Media Group, unveiled two new studios on Tuesday at The Daily News Building on 42nd Street in New York, where the network and station both operate from. NewsNation expanded to 24 hours, Monday through Friday, on April 24, and WPIX marks 75 years on the air this year.
Tamsen Fadal, anchor at WPIX, emceed the ribbon-cutting for the New York bureau, and the speakers included WPIX VP/General Manager Chris McDonnell, NewsNation talent Dan Abrams, host of Dan Abrams Live; Chris Cuomo, host of Cuomo; Elizabeth Vargas, host of Elizabeth Vargas Reports; and Ashleigh Banfield, host of Banfield.
NewsNation has its base in Chicago and now has its New York bureau in the so-called Daily News Building. WPIX is owned by Mission Broadcasting and managed by Nexstar.
Perry Sook, Nexstar chairman and CEO, spoke as well, as did New York Mayor Eric Adams. Adams credited PIX11 for investigating stories that other media outlets shy away from or ignore and congratulated the station for staying on the air for 75 years.
“You don’t survive 75 years” in a metropolitan region of over 8 million homes, with many more million opinions, he said, “without having a good product.”
Mayor Adams saw the ribbon cutting as “a recommitment to 75 more years” for PIX11.
The New York facility, at 220 E. 42nd St., will house all WPIX production and editorial staffers and serve as home base for NewsNation’s evening block of programming. NewsNation has two control rooms: one on the second floor and another on the 10th floor. The 10th floor houses the studio for the Dan Abrams Show and Cuomo. Cuomo will soon move to the second floor.
At around 1,000 square feet, the new studios feature 359 LED panels, and 112 TVs between the newsroom, feed room and control rooms. They have the capacity to do 16 simultaneous live shots.
A 37-story Art Deco building, the Daily News building housed the New York Daily News from 1930 until 1995. (The Daily News was the owner of WPIX when the station signed on in 1948.) In the 1978 Superman movie, the building was home base for the Daily Planet.
Michael Corn, NewsNation president of news, noted the “dramatic downsizing this week” at other cable news networks, including Don Lemon departing CNN and Tucker Carlson leaving Fox News Channel. “We are upsizing,” he said.
NewsNation premiered NewsNation Now, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET, and The Hill at 5 p.m., on April 24.
Corn thanked Sook for being “incredibly, incredibly hands-on in support of NewsNation.”
Banfield also noted “the upward growth” of NewsNation “as the other networks are down.” She said the network’s “non-biased, old-school journalism” is well suited for the modern age.
Next up was Cuomo, who mentioned NewsNation hitting the “sweet spot” with people who understand business and people who understand news coming together.
Cuomo also made a case for “preparation and opportunity — doing the right thing at the right time.”
Playing the news game down the middle, Cuomo said, as opposed to “picking a team,” is harder to do for a host or anchor. But that approach has its benefits. “When you don’t pick a team, there’s a freedom in covering what happens in the country,” he added.
After Cuomo was Vargas, who introduced her show April 3, and spoke of the adjustment in getting back into the daily news game. “What a cycle of news coverage right now,” she said. “It’s an embarrassment of riches.”
She mentioned Sook inviting her to “be a part of the last great adventure in television.”
Sook, for his part, credited the Nexstar board for backing the substantial investment in NewsNation and its new bureau. “We wouldn’t spend that money if we didn’t believe in the mission,” he said.
Sook said he’s less concerned with ratings right now and more concerned with “good television, interesting television, smart television.”
