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Fox's 'Good Day Philadelphia' expands to seven days a week

Fox 29 is expanding its popular Good Day Philadelphia brand to the weekends. Hosts and segments that usually air during the week will become a part of the weekend broadcast and vice versa.

Fox 29 is expanding its popular Good Day Philadelphia brand to the weekends. Hosts and segments that usually air during the week will become a part of the weekend broadcast and vice versa.

The change is scheduled to begin this weekend, from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturdays and 8 to 9 a.m. Sundays.

Karen Hepp, Bill Anderson, and Dave Warren will continue their shifts on the weekends while joining the main cast during the week. Weekday hosts Mike Jerrick and Alex Holley, along with weather anchor Sue Serio and veteran traffic reporter Bob Kelly, will start participating in weekend segments, as well.

Fox 29 has played with its weekend format as of late. In October, the station launched #Fox29Weekend, a push to make its weekend morning news show more interactive, with segments devoted to viewer feedback and attempts to integrate social media into the broadcast. Many of those segments, including "Knocking the King," in which viewers can challenge controversial broadcast personality Howard Eskin's staunch opinions, will continue. Similarly, Jerrick's "Try This" feature, in which he samples food from around the region, will find a home on the weekend broadcast. Weekday personalities will also drop by live, as well.

The expansion of Good Day to seven days a week is a show of confidence for the long-running, personality-driven newscast. News director Jim Driscoll said that Good Day has a loyal audience and that this move would hopefully bring those weekday watchers to the weekend.

Though 6ABC's morning newscast is the most-watched in the region, ratings for Good Day Philadelphia have been up since last year, with a 29 percent rise in total viewership in the 6 to 7 a.m. hour, and a 9 percent increase in the 7 to 9 a.m. hours. Unlike the other local newscasts, which cut to national morning shows, Good Day stays on the air until 10 a.m.

Good Day is a more casual morning show than the other regional morning newscasts, but it still includes morning news from the likes of reporter Steve Keeley. It also draws attention for the crew's ability to go viral, such as Jerrick's famously mocking the Kardashians after interviewing them for a segment. Most recently, Serio tried to do the Dab, a new dance craze, and caused such a social-media outcry the dance was declared over.

meichel@phillynews.com

215-854-5909

@mollyeichel