NISKAYUNA — Longtime CBS6 morning anchor Ed O’Brien is keeping his early schedule. That means he’s keeping his “head,” too.

O’Brien recently signed a new contract at the Niskayuna television station; in March, WRGB announced that the longtime broadcaster would leave his position in August.

“As I got closer to leaving,” O’Brien said in an e-mail note Tuesday morning, “I came up with more and more reasons to stay.”

O’Brien will continue to anchor WRGB’s traditionally strong morning news broadcasts, seen from 5 until 7 a.m. on CBS6 and continuing from 7 until 8 a.m. on the Capital Region’s CW (WCWN, Channel 45), WRGB’s broadcast partner.

“He reconsidered his resignation and is staying,” said Lisa Jackson, news director at CBS6. “I think it’s good. He definitely has a following in the morning.”

O’Brien’s departure would have meant a complete revamping of WRGB’s morning news. Meteorologist Tom Mailey left the station in May to accept a position as marketing manager for Stewart’s Shops.

Now that O’Brien has decided to stick around — he’s been at WRGB since 1991 and on the morning desk since 1994 — Jackson is working to introduce new personnel to the early audience. She’s still looking for a full-time replacement for Mailey and also plans to hire a co-anchor for the morning news block.

Jackson expects people will keep tuning in to O’Brien.

“I think familiarity in the marketplace is something that’s good,” she said. “People get accustomed to getting information from someone in a certain way and they like it or they don’t. That’s who they choose, and people have chosen Ed.”

Others have chosen O’Brien on the Internet. His “Ed’s Head” component has become a popular element at WRGB’s cbs6albany.com Web site.