Leland Vittert readies his show's move to prime time on NewsNation: We can delve 'more into the "why"'

He's making the move to prime time, but Leland Vittert says his approach as anchor of NewsNation's "On Balance" is staying the same: "We're still going to be the fairest show on television."

"We know every day at 9 p.m ... cable news anchors are going to come on the air, and there's going to be a monologue, and then there's going to be a guest that comes on and looks at the host and says, 'You're absolutely right.' There's going to be a panel that comes on and argues over just how right the host is," Vittert said, describing a typical cable news segment featuring pro- and anti-President Trump commentators.

"There's nobody sitting there saying, 'What's [Trump] doing? Why's he doing it? Is this good for the country? What's going to be the effect, not on Washington, but on middle America?'" said Vittert, who grew up in St. Louis.

"There's a lot of people in Washington who think Washington is real life. They think that the rest of America is fighting the fights of Washington — they're not. Washington should be fighting the fights of middle America. And to provide that sort of reflective perspective is something different," he said.

Vittert, who also serves as NewsNation's chief Washington anchor, will soon be bringing that perspective to a prime-time slot — "On Balance" will switch from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weeknights beginning Monday.

The later time will allow his show to "delve a little bit more into the 'why,' rather than the 'what,'" Vittert said.

"In 7 p.m., people are still getting home and trying to sort of figure out what happened today — or in Trump world, what happened in the past 15 minutes, because it always changes," Vittert said of the nonstop news cycle.

"Whereas by 9 p.m., you can take a little bit more time — we know what happened, let's think about why it happened and what means," said Vittert, who joined NewsNation as an anchor and correspondent in 2021. NewsNation and The Hill are both owned by Nexstar Media Group.

Even though the essence of his show isn't changing, the time slot switcheroo could mean some major adjustments to his personal life. While the golf fanatic said with his new schedule he's happy to have more time in the morning to work on his swing, he might need to tweak his dinnertime routine with his fiancee, whom he calls a "phenomenal chef."

"I have to figure out the right moment to have dinner where you're not too lethargic and you don't have that food coma, but you're also not hangry."

Another potential pitfall for Vittert as he readies for his show's prime-time debut is the hairy state his famed mane might be in. As a former TV journalist in Denver, he once won an award for "best hair on a local TV personality."

His 'do "has an expiration time on it" from the moment it's styled, he told ITK.

"There's a very important timeline from getting out of the shower, blow drying it, until you coif it, and then once you coif it, there's only a period of time," Vittert cracked.

"So it will affect when, when the coiffing is done."

Follicle-related fun aside, the 42-year-old Vittert said that as he shifts to prime time on NewsNation, he feels rewarded by some of the feedback he gets from viewers.

"Now people come up and say, 'Wow, I don't always agree with you, but I'm so glad that we have somebody who's willing to give both sides a hard time,'" he said.

"When viewers — either in-person or on social media — repeat back to you what we think we're doing, what we think our mission statement is, it's proof that it's working."

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Leland Vittert readies his show's move to prime time on NewsNation: We can delve 'more into the "why"'

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