CBS Texas announces new morning newscast, talent lineups

KTVT, the CBS-owned station in Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas, is relaunching its morning newscast July 8, 2024.

The station, which is known as CBS News Texas on-air, has seen a slew of talent exit its morning newscast over the past year, with Keith Russell, Dominic Brown, Brooke Katz and Alexia Wainwright all leaving.

Amid those departures, the station made traffic anchor Madison Sawyer news anchor, and the station is keeping her in that role. She will continue to cover traffic as well. 

The station hired Carmen Blackwell from WKYC in Cleveland, Ohio, to become co-anchor and recent-hire Lacey Blackwell will serve as a reporter.

Meanwhile, the station is moving chief meteorologist Scott Padgett back to the morning news. He previously appeared in the slot for three years until he was promoted to the lead forecasting role and moved to evenings.

Padgett will retain his chief meteorologist title, making him the only forecaster with that title morning the morning news shift in the region. 

With these changes, KTVT will have two females at the anchor desk alongside a male met.

CBS News Texas surveying viewers about morning newscast revamp

As previously reported, KTVT has been soliciting viewer feedback about its morning newscast via an online survey. It notably included specific references to both weather and traffic.

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By having Sawyer handle both anchoring and traffic reports, the station is likely able to realize at least some payroll savings during a time when some stations are cutting back on this franchise as mobile GPS makes them less relevant.

As of June 18, 2024, the morning news survey still appears to be live and collecting responses (NewscastStudio has opted not to publish a link to the survey to avoid tainting results). 

The new morning newscast launch is still a few weeks away, so it’s possible the station is still working out the details on aspects such as pacing, story count and selection, wardrobe and other factors mentioned in the survey.

The launch comes at a time when multiple CBS-owned stations are working on retooling their morning newscasts.