Content is in, news is out at KHNL/KFVE-TV.

KHNL News 8 yesterday replaced the traditional news department, eliminating a conventional news director, and reconfigured its news-gathering operations under one umbrella called Content, to be led by Dan Schmidt, a 25-year veteran of the NBC news affiliate and sister station KFVE (K5 The Home Team).

Schmidt succeeds Dan Dennison, until yesterday the head of the news department. Dennison could not be reached for comment.

"It's all about content," station manager John Fink said about the concept and the change. It's also about the future — high-def will be the norm at the station.

"The way people consume media is changing by the day," he said. "We have an opportunity to combine content with local programming, marketing and our news department. So we no longer have a news director."

No other job cuts are planned, Fink said.

The redirection comes as KHNL moves to its new quarters, the KHNL/KFVE New Media Center, on Waiakamilo Road in Kalihi, where administrative and sales-marketing staffs have already moved in. The station's site at Sand Island and Nimitz Highway has been acquired by PBS Hawaii as the public television affiliate plans to establish its own permanent home.

KHNL/KFVE is at a crossroads, prepping to enter the digital age next Saturday, when the first local high-def digital newscast is launched with the 6 p.m. news.

"We had someone passionate and interested in Dan Schmidt," Fink said. Schmidt has been programming director for the station. He also has been executive producer for University of Hawai'i sports for the past 25 years.

KHNL perennially has been fourth in the news ratings, but Fink predicts the high-def digital broadcasts will attract new audiences "who will see the quality of the content and certainly the quality of the picture."