WKRC-TV - News Operation

News Operation

From 1977 to 1992, its news division was branded Eyewitness 12 News, a moniker that WLWT-TV would reuse in 1998. Afterward, the station was usually announced as 12 News. With the arrival of chief meteorologist Tim Hedrick in 1988, WKRC began using the top of the Chiquita Center as its Weather Beacon. In 1994, WKRC began displaying "Texta" (an on-screen banner) consisting of the current story's headline for the duration of the station's newscasts. A couple years later, as news tickers became common on weekday morning shows, WKRC added theirs below the Texta headline. For a few years, the station aired its weekday Good Morning Cincinnati broadcast live from the ground floor of Fifth Third Bank's headquarters in downtown with Fountain Square as the backdrop. In 1996, WKRC began airing 12 News First at 4, a half-hour newscast on weekday afternoons.

From March 2004 to 2008, WKRC aired Nuestro Rincón, a twice-weekly Spanish-language news program hosted by Sasha Rionda.

On April 26, 2006, the station announced a news share agreement with WSTR to produce a nightly prime time show known as Local 12 News at 10 on My 64 which began airing on August 21. This resulted, once MyNetworkTV began, in a CBS affiliate's newscast being carried on a station affiliated with a Fox sister network. On January 7, 2008, WKRC began simulcasting Good Morning Cincinnati on WKRC-DT2. It had been aired on the main channel from 5 to 8 in the morning but the third hour was dropped when CBS reclaimed the 7 o'clock hour for The Early Show. The network now requires all of its affiliates to air the show in its entirety after receiving a makeover hoping to better compete against its rivals, NBC's Today and ABC's Good Morning America. The 7-8 a.m. hour of Good Morning Cincinnati can now be only seen on WKRC-DT2. WKRC announced its intent to move the prime time newscast on WSTR to WKRC-DT2 in August 2008. On August 4, it began a brief simulcast of this program on WKRC-DT2 with it eventually being dropped from WSTR on August 22. The program then became known as CW News at 10.

Newport released a statement in October 2008 saying that WKRC would eventually begin broadcasting its newscasts in 1080i high definition. The company used the channel as a pilot station before investing in HD equipment for its other television stations. On October 30, it debuted a new set on its First at 4 broadcast in preparation for the HD debut. After nearly a year of delay, the station launched its high definition newscasts along with new logo and graphics on September 27, 2009 during its 11 o'clock show. It became the third in the Cincinnati area after WCPO and WXIX-TV and the second in the Newport group after WOAI-TV to make the upgrade. WKRC currently use JVC ProHD 250 Series cameras in its studios. The shows on The CW Cincinnati were included in the upgrade; however, it is seen in downscaled 4:3 on WKRC-DT2 (which serves as The CW Cincinnati's over-the-air signal).

For most of its history, WKRC has been a solid runner-up to WCPO in the local newscast ratings. However, in the past decade or so it has exchanged first and second place with WCPO. WKRC usually wins on weekday mornings and at 11 p.m. while WCPO leads in the 5 to 7 p.m. block. However since the May 2010 Nielsen ratings period, WKRC dominated its competition in all newscast time slots with WCPO slipping to second. As of the May 2012 sweeps period, WKRC has dominated the Cincinnati local news race for two full years.

At one point all three of Cincinnati's "Big Three" network affiliates were locally-owned (and WCPO is now the only one of the three to remain under locally-based ownership). However, WLWT began falling behind in the ratings after it became the first of the three to be sold to outside interests.

WKRC's newscasts and reports could be seen on the Ohio News Network cable channel until it went off the air on August 31, 2012. During weather segments, it uses regional weather radar data in a system called "Precision Doppler 12 Network".