Last whiffs of CW33's Nightcap, with remaining on-air talent let go in preparaton for NewsFix

Former CW33 staffers Barry Carpenter and Amanda Fitzpatrick.
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Tribune-owned, Dallas-based CW33 has taken some of its final steps toward implementing the narrator-driven NewsFix.

Sources say that veteran reporter Barry Carpenter and latter day anchor Amanda Fitzpatrick were dropped this week. As previously reported on unclebarky.com, NewsFix will be replacing CW33’s current 9 p.m. program, Nightcap, at some point this year. But a start date still hasn’t been announced.

NewsFix, currently in full view on Tribune’s Houston-owned KIAH-TV, is described as a “unique, anchorless format” in a January job ad seeking a “NewsFix narrator” for CW33. “It has an attitude and a POV you don’t see (and hear) on traditional newscasts.”

The ad also asks prospective applicants, “Do you have a ‘voice’ for a new generation of news? A tone and quality that avoids the traditional ‘in your face, over the top’ stuff you may hear on a radio or TV station near you?”

Nightcap was launched in November 2012 on CW33 as “A Different Kind of News” with a comedic veneer. It never really clicked in the D-FW Nielsen ratings.

CW33’s early morning Eye Opener, the precursor to Nightcap, apparently is here to stay, though. The show has been making progress in the ratings, particularly in its 5 to 6 a.m. hour among younger viewers. It’s produced out of CW33’s Dallas studios and syndicated to other Tribune-owned stations.

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