Kasie Hunt has settled in properly within the 4 p.m. ET slot on CNN. Since March, her present, The Area, has lined main tales in actual time, main the published to complete as one in every of CNN’s most-watched packages.

The present’s format has blended effectively with the community’s late afternoon and night choices. This cohesion has led it to develop into a major participant within the political house, with high politicians making appearances: “I wish to suppose that that’s why folks need to come on and discuss to me, as a result of I’m a reporter’s anchor,” Hunt not too long ago informed TVNewser.

Properly conscious that the TV panorama can change in a flash, Hunt is maximizing each alternative she will be able to get. Following up on TVNewser’s initial interview before the show launched in March, we not too long ago caught up with Hunt to see how issues have been going for her, to this point, inside The Area.

TVNewser: 5 months in, how’s it moving into The Area? 

Hunt: Actually, I’m having a good time. I really feel just like the longer we’ve been doing it, the extra the workforce has been discovering its groove each behind the scenes and on air. We’ve made a variety of progress [and are] beginning to really feel like we now have a groove going, and the viewers can come to the desk understanding a bit bit extra of what to anticipate. The toughest factor for me was determining methods to make it possible for my vitality was peaking at 4:00 within the afternoon as a substitute of six within the morning. My caffeine schedule is significantly completely different now than it was after I first began. However total, it’s nice. 

What’s so completely different about working within the morning versus working within the night? 

The most important distinction is that there’s a lot information that’s nonetheless breaking at 4 within the afternoon, and that’s a really completely different actuality than 6 a.m., when the world remains to be waking up. There are positively days once we do a present that we’ve deliberate and written and thought via, as a result of there wasn’t some large breaking story that modified every little thing on the final minute. A good portion of our present remains to be breaking information or reacting to breaking information, and one of many nice issues in regards to the format is that it’s effectively geared up to deal with that sort of factor in a versatile means, particularly once we can mix it with CNN’s huge newsgathering sources. 

Yesterday (07/30/25), for instance, we received a verdict in the protein shake poisoning trial right earlier than we got here on the air, and so they learn the decision proper at 4. We have been in a position to try this with people who we had pre-positioned, but it surely wasn’t the dialog we deliberate to have on the high of the present. However we pivoted rapidly and did that. 

The opposite factor that occurred was when Kamala Harris introduced that she wasn’t going to run for governor of California. That’s the story that’s very a lot in my wheelhouse as a long-time presidential marketing campaign reporter. When that occurred, the dialog instantly was like, “Okay, let’s lead the present with this. What parts are we going to drag? What moments from the marketing campaign ought to we remind our viewers occurred and will inform how they need to perceive what this determination means?” and many others. That ended up being our second dialog.