Alycia Lane gets new co-anchor and other NBC4 moves

The new leadership team at Channel 4 continues to make changes in the newsroom lineup. Today the station will announce that Michael Brownlee will be getting up really early from now on as co-anchor of "Today in LA" with Alycia Lane. Kathy Vara is moving from the morning to become weekend anchor, at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. Stephanie Elam leaves the weekend chair to be a general assignment reporter at the station. And Brownlee's successor at noon will be Whit Johnson, the latest hire at NBC 4 who we told you about earlier this month. He joins Lucy Noland as co-anchor in mid-September. The show has also been extended to an hour, from noon to 1 p.m.

“It is our goal to make NBC4 the best local news station in Southern California,” said Steve Carlston, president and general manager of NBC 4, in a statement. “These additions to our anchor desk and growth in coverage demonstrate our full commitment to a better news product and greater coverage.”

More than 16 new employees have joined the newsroom since Carlston joined NBC 4, the station says. They include Todd Mokhtari, named in June as vice president of news, and Carlos Hopkins as dayside executive producer.

“It’s part of NBC4’s culture to produce high-quality news content for Southern California's unique audience,” said Mokhtari. “These changes reflect our priority to deliver on that tradition every day, every newscast."

I'll note that Channel 4 did well at the recent Emmys, sweeping best evening newscast, best morning news for Layne's show, and for the 11 p.m. show.