Starting March 24, Menands television station WNYT, Channel 13, will give viewers a head start on mid-day news.

The station is eliminating its traditional 30-minute noon newscast in favor of an hour-long news show that will begin at 11 a.m.

“It’s an opportunity for us to do a little bit longer forms of interviews with people, just do a different style of show than a half hour can provide,” said Stephen P. Baboulis, WNYT’s vice president and general manager. “There will be a lot of the same elements. We’re still going to obviously do the news of the day and the weather of the day, but were also going to have some lifestyle-type features that will help the audience that’s available there to be better informed.”

Baboulis said part of the reason for the move is the increased length of NBC’s long-running “Today” show. The national program now runs from 7 until 11 a.m.

“We’ve been talking about this idea for a number of years, even before the “Today” fourth hour kicked in — basically when the third hour kicked in,” Baboulis said. “We just really haven’t pulled the trigger on it.”

Currently, WNYT airs the “Family Feud” game show at 11 a.m., followed by a day-late telecast of “Insider,” the Hollywood-oriented news show. When the station’s 11 a.m. news hour begins, “Family Feud” will move to noon. “Insider” will move off the schedule. “The extra half hour [of news] will be replacing that,” Baboulis said.

The station will promote the program to remind viewers they can get local news at 11 a.m.

“The ‘Today’ show lead-in will help us because we have a good, solid viewership of people interested in news and information who are already watching from 7 to 11,” Baboulis said.