OK, let's get this straight: First WLS-Channel 7 drops its top-rated 11 a.m. news program after more than 20 years, becoming the only major station in town without a newscast between 9 a.m and 4 p.m. on weekdays.

And now the ABC-owned station adds an hour of news at 5 o'clock in the morning on Saturdays and Sundays, boasting that it offers "the most weekend TV news in Chicago."

How many actual people want to watch news at 5 a.m. on a Saturday or Sunday is beside the point. It's all about the advertising revenue that's available for local news programming. And truth be told, once you take out the cooking segments, the interview segments, the show-biz celebrity segments, the charity fund-raiser segments and the network promo segments, there's scarcely little news content in those weekend morning shows anyway.

Ben Bradley and Stacy Baca

Starting Nov. 2, ABC 7 will air two two-hour news blocks on Saturday and Sunday mornings — from 5 to 7 a.m. and from 8 to 10 a.m. — separated by ABC's "Good Morning America on the Weekends" from 7 to 8 a.m. Ben Bradley and Stacy Baca will anchor all eight local hours.

"I'm pleased we can serve our community with expanded news and weather coverage and give viewers the information they need to kick off their weekend," Jennifer Graves, vice president and news director of ABC 7, said in a statement announcing the expansion Friday.

Both CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2 and NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 recently expanded their weekend morning news output. With its latest move, ABC 7 claims a total of 11 hours of weekend news (including its half-hour at 5 p.m. and its one hour at 10 p.m.) — "more than any other television station in the city."

Friday's announcement didn't mention who'd be handling weather, but ABC 7 last week announced the employment of Troy Christensen as Saturday morning meteorologist. Veteran meteorologist Phil Schwarz presumably will continue on Sunday mornings. I've asked ABC 7 for confirmation, but have not heard back.

The station has been airing infomercials and other junk programming at 5 a.m. on weekends.