Local television news outfit ABC11-WTVD will debut a new 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. daily newscast on Thursday.

The newscast will feature reporters Frances Scott and Fred Shropshire, and will lead into ABC11’s 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts.

“We at ABC11 are proud and excited to take the lead in providing Raleigh, Durham, Fayetteville and surrounding areas with a landmark in the region’s local news coverage, the first daily 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. newscast,” said John Idler, president and general manager of the station, in a release.

The early newscast is another attempt by a local station to compete with market leader WRAL.

NBC17 went the other direction on the schedule, offering a 7 p.m. newscast.

Design star Nate Berkus debuts his new afternoon talk show next week, and some local moms are looking forward to reliving their time in Nate's blue-eyed spotlight. 

For a segment in an upcoming episode of "The Nate Berkus Show," Nate met with Chapel Hill author and educator Dr. Amy Tiemann as part of his nationwide "listening tour" to find out what is on the minds of moms in America. Chapel Hill was the first stop in the tour.

Nate sat down with Dr. Tiemann and four other local moms (Emily Faison, Rhonda Boyke, Trish Krautheimer, and Tatiana Brown) to talk about their struggle to take care of themselves while also taking care of others.

WNCN's general manager Brad Moses confirmed today that the NBC-17 news director Nannette Wilson is no longer with the company.

Moses would not comment on the details of Wilson's departure but said that today was her last day at work.

Wilson's official title was Director of Journalism, meaning she was in charge of all news content for the station -- both broadcast news and online news.

Moses said the station intends to fill Wilson's position but at the current time, news director duties are being carried out by a "mix" of people.

WNCN is owned by the media company Media General.

I was watching "Celebrity Apprentice" live last night instead of "Desperate Housewives" so I didn't realize that WTVD's weather coverage went almost 40 minutes past 9pm before resuming regular programming.

That means most of the episode about the Fairview Strangler was missed by "Desperate Housewives" viewers.

It's one of those "why even go to bed at all" programming moves (at least in my world), but NBC-17 is one-upping the local competition by starting their morning broadcast at 4:30 a.m.

WRAL and WTVD both begin local morning news at 5 a.m.

"NBC-17 Today" is anchored by Sharon Tazewell and airs from 4:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. NBC-17 has another local show called "My Carolina Today" which airs each weekday at 11 a.m., right after NBC's fourth hour of the "Today" show. 

WNCN began the extra-early broadcasts this morning. I would love to know what time Tazewell goes to sleep every night. I bet it's not even dark outside...

Channel 17's "MyNC" Web site has some videos of Durham residents talking about "Why I love Durham."

Top of the chart is Locopops — as described by Farmer's Market manager Erin Kaufman. Blues, arts and Parkwood also make the list.

At the same time, the site's most popular story is "Durham PD Needs Help To ID Restaurant Robbery Suspects."

Because, no doubt, Durhamites are so public-spirited.