NBC4 adds more news on weekends

Channel 4 is expanding its weekend newscasts, beginning this Saturday. NBC4 is adding a 30-minute newscast at 5 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, and tacking on an extra 30 minutes at the end of the Sunday 11PM newscast. Robert Kovacik and Kathy Vara, who now co-anchor at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. on weekends, will also do the new "NBC4 News at 5PM" show on weekends.

“The expansion of our newscasts give us a chance to tell more stories and cover events that happen on weekends,” says Todd Mokhtari, vice president of news for NBC4 Southern California, in a release from the station. “The added time slots give our viewers more options for getting breaking news, local information and weather all weekend long.”

NBC4 says it has hired more than a dozen new newsroom staff "in a strategic effort toward enhancing the station’s news programming."