Hawaii News Now is the name of the news department shared by three Honolulu, Hawaii

Honolulu County, Hawaii

The City and County of Honolulu is a consolidated city–county located in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The municipality and county includes both the urban district of Honolulu and the rest of the island of Oahu, as well as several minor outlying islands, including all of the Northwestern Hawaiian...

 television outlets, KGMB

KGMB

KGMB is the CBS-affiliated television station for the state of Hawaii that is licensed to Honolulu. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 23 from a transmitter in Palehua....

, KFVE

KFVE

KFVE is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for the state of Hawaii that is licensed to Honolulu. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 22 from a transmitter in Palehua...

 and KHNL

KHNL

KHNL is the NBC-affiliated television station for the state of Hawaii that is licensed to Honolulu. The station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 35 from a transmitter in Palehua...

. The newscasts are produced by Raycom Media

Raycom Media

- History :Although Raycom Media dates its birth to 1996, the core of the company was formed in 1992 when Atlanta native Bert Ellis formed Ellis Communications. He eventually controlled 13 television stations and two radio stations....

, which owns and operates KGMB and KHNL and shares studios with KFVE (Owned by MCG Capital) through a local marketing agreement

Local marketing agreement

In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...

.

Background

The origins of the three stations sharing their resources was announced on August 18, 2009, when MCG Capital Corporation and Raycom Media (owner of KHNL and, at the time, KFVE) announced a shared services agreement

Shared services

Shared services refers to the provision of a service by one part of an organization or group where that service had previously been found in more than one part of the organization or group. Thus the funding and resourcing of the service is shared and the providing department effectively becomes an...

 which would see Raycom merge the three stations' operations into the KHNL/KFVE studios on Waiakamilo Road in Honolulu (KGMB would vacate its studios on Kapiolani Boulevard). Though non-news programming would remain in place, the 3 stations' news operations would be combined under one banner. The arrangement would also see a channel swap, with KGMB moving from PSIP channel 9 to channel 5 and KFVE move from 5 to 9. KFVE's newscasts would remain in place

The two stations began to jointly produce and simulcast a weeknight 5 and 10 o'clock newscasts while KHNL moved their 6 P.M. show to 5:30. KGMB continues to have its own weeknight 6 o'clock newscast. The only times when they don't simulcast is during the 7AM hour when KHNL starts airing NBC's Today Show, 5:30PM when KGMB airs The CBS Evening News, and at 6PM when KHNL airs The NBC Nightly News. Weekday morning and weekend shows are simulcasted on the two but can be preempted on one station due to network obligations. The local news schedule on KFVE-TV remains unchanged. There is no weekday midday news on either station.

Controversy

The shared services agreement resulted in the termination of all but four KHNL on-air staff and all of KHNL's morning show technicians when its newsroom merged with KGMB on October 26, 2009 when they began their simulcast. Seniority was guaranteed to technicians in the IBEW Local 1260 contract, but management said, "New equipment nullifies any previous seniority.", even though the technicians had installed and been operating the new equipment for over 6 months. The new hires had no prior experience operating the new equipment and had to be trained. The IBEW reps and heads were paid to turn a blind eye to the situation. People let go had been with the station from between 20 to 30 years, while those with as little as 6 months were allowed to keep their jobs, this suggests those with long service were let go to hire new people at less pay.

The combined merger, especially the newscasts in general, is also drawing complaints from local media watchdog groups, who cite Raycom for trying to monopolize the market by operating three stations at once and limiting the choices that viewers have for their news. This has prompted several groups that are opposed to the merger to file petitions with the FCC to end the arrangement.

KGMB/KHNL Broadcasts

Hawaii News Now: Sunrise anchors

• Ramsay Wharton - weekday mornings at 4:30 a.m.-5 a.m. (also weekday morning reporter and fill-in morning news anchor)
• Steve Uyehara - weekday mornings at 5 a.m.-8 a.m. (also sports special assignments)
• Tannya Joaquin - weekday mornings at 5 a.m.-8 a.m. (also reporter)

Hawaii News Now (Evening anchors)

• Shawn Ching - weeknights at 5 & 5:30 p.m (also reporter)
• Stephanie Lum - weeknights at 5, 5:30, & 10 p.m.
• Teri Okita - weeknights at 6 p.m. (also senior reporter)
• Keahi Tucker - weeknights at 6 & 10 p.m.
• Lisa Kubota - weekends at 5 & 10 p.m. (also reporter)

Hawaii's Severe Weather Team (Hawaii Weather Now)

• Guy Hagi - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6, & 10 p.m.
• Dan Cooke - weekday mornings at 4:30 a.m.-8 a.m. (also fill-in morning news anchor)
• Malika Dudley - weekends at 5 & 10 p.m. (also weekday morning special projects reporter)
• Ben Gutierrez - fill-in weather anchor (also reporter)

Hawaii Traffic Now

• Taizo Braden - weekday mornings at 4:30 a.m.-8 a.m.

Hawaii Sports Now

• Chris Tanaka - sports director - weeknights at 6 & 10 p.m.
• Mike Cherry - sports anchor - weekends at 5 & 10 p.m. (also weekday sports reporter)

Hawaii News Now Reporters

• Brooks Baehr - general assignment reporter
• Howard Dicus - weekday morning business and weeknight special reports
  • Howard's Day Off host on Hawaii Public Radio
    Hawaii Public Radio
    Hawaii Public Radio , is a network of five non-commercial, listener-supported stations serving the state of Hawaii. The stations originate from the studios of The Hawaii Public Radio Plaza, located at 738 Kaheka Street, near the Ala Moana Shopping Center in Honolulu.-History/programming:Hawaii...
    
    
• Byron Furukawa - weekday mornings "Around Town"
• Terry Hunter - movie/film critic
• Amy Kalili - weekday morning special correspondent for Hawaiian news
• Jim Mendoza - general assignment reporter
• Tim Sakahara - general assignment reporter
• Minna Sugimoto - general assignment and crime reporter
• Billy V - weekday morning local events and celebrity news
  • heard on KINE-FM
    KINE-FM
    KINE-FM/Hawaiian 105 KINE" is a Traditional Hawaiian music station based in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Cox Radio outlet broadcasts at 105.1 MHz with an ERP of 100 kW...
    
     105.1
• Oscar Valenzuela - general assignment reporter (also video journalist)
• Sarah Yoro - web reporter

KFVE Broadcasts

Hawaii News Now: Sunrise at 8 (Weekday mornings 8 to 9 A.M.)

• Anchors:
  • Tannya Joaquin
  • Dan Cooke (also weather anchor)
• Reporters:
  • Taizo Braden - Traffic
  • Howard Dicus - Business
  • Malika Dudley - Special Projects
  • Billy V - Celebrity and local entertainment
  • Ramsay Wharton

Hawaii News Now at 6:30 (Weeknights 6:30 to 7 P.M.)

• Anchors:
  • Teri Okita
  • Keahi Tucker
• Weather:
  • Guy Hagi

Hawaii News Now at 9 (9 to 9:30 P.M.)
Weeknights

• Anchor:
  • Stephanie Lum
• Weather:
  • Guy Hagi
• Sports:
  • Chris Tanaka

Weekends

• Anchor:
  • Lisa Kubota
• Weather:
  • Malika Dudley
• Sports:
  • Mike Cherry

Cheap Eats (Wednesdays on KFVE-TV)

• Guy Hagi
• Augie T.
  Augie T.
  Augie T. is a Filipino comedian based in Hawaii. Starting his career in the 1990s, he has come to be a somewhat-known "comedian" since the early 2000s. He was influenced by Rap Reiplinger. Aside from being a comedian, Augie T...
  
  

Former On-Air Personnel

• Liz Chun (Sports Director/Anchor)
• Mari-Ela David Chock (Weekend anchor; reporter)
• Holly Juscen (Reporter; Fill-in sports anchor)
• Grace Lee (Hawaii News Now: Sunrise morning anchor) - Currently with KPIX-TV
  KPIX-TV
  KPIX-TV is the CBS owned and operated television station in San Francisco, California. Through its parent company CBS Corporation, KPIX is co-owned with The CW affiliate KBCW-TV ....
  
  , San Francisco / Oakland / San Jose, CA
• Stacy Loe (Weeknight 10 p.m. anchor)
• Duane Shimogawa (Reporter; video journalist)