XYZ Evening News

XYZ Evening News is the flagship daily evening television news program of XYZ News, the news division of the XYZ television network in the United States. Since 2022, the program's weekday broadcasts have been anchored by Jane Spencer and Lori Stokes anchoring the weekend editions of the newscast.
== History ==
=== Launch of XYZ Evening News ===
On July 10, 2017, Disney/ABC completed their purchase of the former QTV network property, and they decided that on January 1, 2018, the new network (XYZ) will have an evening newscast to compete with the titans of the news world: ABN News and Central News. Leading that monumental task was Larry Stone. Stone then decided to name Tim Minton as the anchor of the newscast. Ratings throughout the first year were near the bottom, falling way behind of news giant Central Newsnight. Despite this, Disney/ABC were still faithful to Stone and supported him as the series continued to struggle.
=== Shakeup ===
On January 17, 2020, Disney/ABC and Stone mutually agreed to go their separate ways, and named both Todd Jordan and Marcus Thompson as executive producers. Their first decision was bringing in a co-anchor to do the news with Minton. They hired Rolonda Watts as the co-anchor. Ratings improved slightly under their helm. When the COVID Pandemic hit, the newscasts were done remotely for both the anchors and the staff's safety, and they didn't return to the studio until the election that November. 
=== Launch of Weekend Edition; Minton departs ===
On May 10, 2021, the weekend edition of XYZ Evening News was launched and airs on the weekends with Lori Stokes being the sole anchor of the program. Because most of the weekend's editions of their competitors are preempted because of sports, ratings for the weekend edition were promising. On June 9, 2021, Minton announced that he was going to retire from the news at the end of the year. Many people were speculating that Watts was going to assume the duty as sole anchor, but she, too announced that she was leaving at the end of the year. 
=== Jane Spencer arrives ===
Minton's final telecast was on December 17, 2021. Surrounded by the staff, Minton gave a speech as his final sendoff:
And so it has come to this. You and I, we began this journey on January 1, 2018, and our commitment to you then, as it still is today, to bring you the news you need when you need it most. We brought you the news, and we try to be fair and balanced to the best of our ability. I want to thank Larry Stone for planting the seeds to this newscast and I want to thank both Todd (Jordan) and Marcus (Thompson) for watering it and help making it grow. 
I want to thank the folks at Disney/ABC for their support and loyalty. You know, our ratings weren’t that good. They were so great. They buried themselves carrying us, and I love them for that. They were good people. Most of all, I want to thank the woman who worked with me on this telecast for the past year and a half in Rolanda Watts, and I wish her well in her future endeavors. There was no power struggle. She and I worked together to make it work, and we did our job.
To you, our viewers, we thank you for tuning in to our newscast for over three years. You're the reason why we've lasted this long. You're the reason why we're here, and we do hope that you continue to tune in and get your news regardless of who sits behind this desk. Lori Stokes will be here on the weekends, Rolanda will be here on Monday, and I will see you on down the road. Good night.
Watts agreed to stay on in the interim until a replacement is found. Watts anchored the newscast until June 3, 2022, when the network announced that Jane Spencer (managing editor for the Guardian) is brought in as anchor and managing editor of the newscast. Spencer's first telecast was on June 6th, and it finished a strong third for the night, finishing behind Central Newsnight and ABN Evening News, while beating their sister telecast MyTV News Tonight. 
== Anchors ==
=== Weekdays ===
* Tim Minton (Anchor: January 1, 2018-December 17, 2021)
* Rolanda Watts (Co-Anchor: February 10, 2020-December 17, 2021; Interim: December 20, 2021-June 3, 2022)
* Jane Spencer (Anchor, managing Editor: June 6, 2022-Present)
=== Weekends ===
* Lori Stokes (Anchor; September 18, 2021-Present)
== Weekend Newscasts ==
Some XYZ affiliates air the Saturday and Sunday editions of Evening News at 6:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time (5:00 p.m. Central and Mountain)‍—‌one half-hour earlier than the weekday broadcasts. The weekend editions of Evening News may periodically be abbreviated or preempted outright due to sports telecasts that overrun into its timeslot or occasionally air immediately following the program (the latter preemption situation commonly affects stations in the Pacific and Mountain Time Zones); this is particularly common during fall, as the Saturday broadcast does not air at all from September through mid December due to XYZ's college football coverage.
Category:Buena Vista Production
Category:Buena Vista Television
Category:News programming