KSBW - News Operation

News Operation

KSBW currently broadcasts more local news than any other station in the market, with 28.5 hours total (4.5 hours of news on weekdays and 3 hours on weekends). On weekdays, a two-hour morning newscast is shown at 5 a.m., followed by a half-hour news blocks at noon and 5 p.m., one hour at 6 p.m., and a 35-minute wrap-up at 11 p.m. On weekends, with the addition of ABC programming on KSBW-DT2, all weekend newscasts are simulcasted, subject to preemption due to network obligations. The market's only two-hour, early-morning weekend newscast begins at 7 a.m., followed by half-hour blocks at 6 and 11 p.m. (It is noted that KSBW is currently the only station in the entire Central Coast to carry both a noon newscast on weekdays and a weekend morning newscast on weekends, as fellow NBC affiliate KSBY, as well as rivals KCBA, KION, KCOY, KKFX, and KEYT do not currently offer a noon or a weekend morning newscast.)

KSBW also operates a Santa Cruz newsroom to this day. The newsroom was destroyed during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in which one reporter was working there. The station started to broadcast live coverage of the earthquake from the time it struck until just after midnight, then from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. the following day. In both cases, it included a live broadcast from Santa Cruz.

Between 2005 and January 31, 2011, KSBW had started local newscasts on KSBW-DT2, beginning with their debut of KSBW's 10 p.m. newscast on its second digital subchannel, as well as its 6 p.m. Sunday evening newscasts when NBC Sunday Night Football is carried on KSBW. However, those newscasts were broadcast with limited functionality. With a dual NBC/ABC affiliation, all newscasts, especially on weekends, are subject to preemption under network obligations.

KSBW's notably stable weekday-evening anchor team are Dan Green and Erin Clark, who have worked together since 1998 and anchors the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts. Jim Vanderzwaan, known more commonly as "Lead Forecaster" rather than being called "Chief Meteorologist", have been with the station since 1983. The other anchor teams and reporting staff have less longevity, but field reporters Felix Cortez and Phil Gomez are station veterans, having been with the station since the late 1990s. The most recent addition to the weekday-evening team is Dina Ruiz-Eastwood, who first came to KSBW in 1991. Eastwood, the wife of actor Clint Eastwood, retired in 1997, but returned to the station on February 8, 2011 and occasionally anchors the 5 p.m. newscasts.

The anchors take a decidedly informal approach to the newscast, with much light-hearted cross-talk among the personalities. Much of KSBW's national news comes from syndicated reports from other Hearst-owned affiliates and/or NBC stations, and state-capitol reports originate from Sacramento Hearst NBC station KCRA. The newscasts incorporate typical business segments (under "Project Economy"), consumer, and health segments, and place considerable emphasis on crime reporting, focusing on the persistent gang-violence problem in the Salinas area (under the segment title, "Crime Watch"). During the 6 p.m. newscast, weather and sports quizzes are given, as well as an "Animal Stories" segment that Green presents to conclude the newscast. On weekend morning newscasts, in addition to segments regularly shown on newscasts, a movie preview segment (titled as "Movie Buzz") is also shown. Although KSBW is well known for its local and statewide political coverage under the Hearst-mandated "Commitment" banner, KSBW simulcasts the live televised debates from KCRA, superimposing the KSBW logo over the KCRA logo due to the fact that the debates are often held near Sacramento.

In June 2010, with NBC carrying the US Open at Pebble Beach, KSBW is one of two stations that carried newscasts immediately after the coverage accompanied by live reports from Peeble Beach (the other is KNTV). KSBW currently uses the mandated Hearst news music package for its newscasts since September 2004. In the early years being owned by Hearst, KSBW was one of the stations using the Image music package. Some segments shown on Action News 8 would continue to use the Image music package until August 25, 2010.