Next Monday, WAGA-TV bids farewell to the syndicated show “Mike & Juliet” and welcomes a third hour of “Good Day Atlanta,” dubbed “Good Day Xtra.” The show starts at 9 a.m. Monday, Sept. 14.

The new hosts: sports reporter and occasional “Road Warrior” contributor Karen Graham (upper left) and meteorologist Jeff Hill. (upper right)

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Mark Hayes, who hosts with Suchita Vadlamani from 7 to 9 a.m., will do news broadcasts. And to promote the new syndicated “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader” at 1 p.m. (starting Sept. 21), the hosts will be given trivia questions to see if they’re smarter than fifth graders.

Bud McEntee, the news director, said the show will be able to grab musical artists who normally wouldn’t perform or visit before 9 a.m. Plus, they’ll be the only local news operation on air at 9 a.m. in case there is any breaking news at the time.

Like the “Today” show, the pacing at 9 a.m. will be a bit more leisurely, more geared to folks staying at home and not working. That means lifestyle stories, fashion stories, cooking segments and money-saving tips. The network will also be able to do interviews with more celebrities doing satellite interviews from the West Coast.

McEntee also said this will enable to Graham and Hill a chance to spread their wings and break into a more conversational mode.

As for Graham, “she’s somebody we’ve really identified as someone to watch in this type of programming,” said general manager Gene McHugh. He said they had her do some “Idol” coverage this year and felt she was “fantastic.”

The 9 a.m. hour is fairly competitive, especially against the fourth hour of the “Today” show on WXIA-TV and “Regis & Kelly” at WSB-TV.

“Anytime you can originate any local programming and get yourself competing with the others, go for the gusto,” said Michael Castengera, a senior lecturer and broadcast news consultant at the University of Georgia. “Plus, WAGA gets to keep all the local [ad] inventory. They don’t have syndication costs. And the additional out-of-pocket staffing expenditures are minimal.” (In other words, they get their existing salaried staff to do more.)

Other stations around the country are doing similar things, he said: “It’s minimum expense, maximum exposure.”