WABI-TV expands news broadcast

BANGOR – WABI-TV is expanding its afternoon and evening news broadcast to include a 5 p.m. show.

WABI-TV, the Bangor CBS affiliate found on Channel 5 in northern, eastern and central Maine, added “TV5 First News” at 5:30 p.m. in 1996. The news show will include weather, sports, local features and news, providing an uninterrupted 90 minutes of local news leading into the “CBS Evening News” at 6:30 p.m.

WABI-TV will rely on reports filed from its Waterville and Ellsworth studios, the station’s management noted in a statement, to fill the additional half-hour.

WABI’s news broadcast touts its emphasis on the local.

“Local news is what we’re all about,” News Director Jim Morris said in the statement. “While other television organizations pay so much attention to news from southern Maine and even New Hampshire, we realize that local news coverage is more important than ever.”