WLNE-TV - News Operation

News Operation

For most of its history, WLNE has placed a distant third in the market, behind WJAR and WPRI. The station has been known for numerous turnovers in format, talent, and management over the years for the purpose of increasing its newscast ratings, all to little or no avail. During the last years of Freedom's ownership, most news reports originated taped or live from the station's newsroom. There were few live reports done out in the field. For all broadcasts, there was only one anchor and all on-air personalities served as reporters. There were simple graphics used along with a consistent news music package.

Since Global Broadcasting's purchase, several significant changes had been made to the news department. This included changes in overall image and a remodeled news set. ABC6 News in the Morning was expanded to two hours and renamed Good Morning Providence, which was changed to ABC6 News This Morning in September 2011 by current owner Citadel Communications. There had also been a significant increase in hard news coverage and the number of daily newscasts. Because of these changes, ratings had briefly increased and for a time, ABC6 News promoted itself as "New England's Fastest Growing News." The ratings surge did not last for long. However, on March 29, 2011 WLNE scored its first late news victory in years, finishing number one at 11 pm following the series premier of network medical drama Body of Proof, which was filmed entirely in Rhode Island for its first season.

On October 24, 2007, WLNE announced that infamous former Providence mayor and WPRO personality Vincent "Buddy" Cianci would join the station as Chief Political Analyst and contributing editor starting on November 1. Cianci was a political analyst at WLNE in the late-1980s. He also moderates a daily segment on ABC6 News. It was previously entitled Your Attention Please and was co-moderated in-studio by former Chief Reporter Jim Hummel. Following Hummel's departure from the station in July 2008, it was changed to Buddy TV, and weeknight anchor John DeLuca became co-moderator. The segment aired live during the former ABC6 News First At Four, with Cianci originating from the East Providence studios of WPRO, where the segment was simulcast during his weekday show that airs from 2 pm to 6 pm. With the change in station ownership in May 2011, the segment name was changed to The World According to Buddy with a solo Cianci in the ABC6 studios. The segment is taped live during the noon newscasts and re-aired during the 5 o'clock news.

On December 17, the station announced it would launch ABC6 News First At Four, the market's first-ever 4 o'clock news on January 14, 2008. Described as a "hard newscast" and not morning-show style fluff, First At Four gave WLNE a head start in coverage of weather and politics. This newscast aired for just over three years and competed head to head with Oprah that aired on WJAR. First At Four last aired in April 2011 prior to the transfer of station ownership. In May 2009, WLNE launched a 10 o'clock newscast on Sunday mornings. Previously, it had only produced weekend morning newscasts for NewsChannel 5. It was the only Providence station with a local news broadcast airing at that time. In May 2011, the new owners moved the newscast to 7:30 and added Saturday morning broadcasts in addition to Sunday mornings. The weekend morning newscasts were cancelled in 2012. In June 2009, the station launched the market's first (since the 1980s) 7 o'clock newscast on weeknights, filling the spot vacated by Entertainment Tonight, which was taken off the schedule due to the station's dispute with CBS Television Distribution. As of March 2011, this newscast was replaced with infomercials, with the newscast airing only in the event they could not sell the time slot on any given day. In a highly-publicized incident, one of the first products advertised in this time slot was a specially-designed bra. Per the station's sale to Citadel, this newscast was officially replaced with syndicated programming the following month.

On April 5, 2011, WLNE announced a new programming lineup that included the addition of a 5 pm newscast on April 25. On May 17, veteran anchor Karen Meyers was named co-anchor of the station's weeknight newscasts, replacing Allison Alexander (now with KVOA in Tucson, Arizona). WLNE began using Frank Gari's Eyewitness News music package in June, which all of Citadel's ABC affiliates use. On September 13, WLNE became the second station in the market to broadcast news in high-definition, behind WJAR and just a week ahead of WPRI/WNAC. Along with the transition came a new graphics package, matching those used on the newscasts of other Citadel stations. The station received the company-wide news set in August 2012. Also, all reporters in the field work as multimedia journalists that shoot and edit their stories in addition to presenting them.

In weather segments, WLNE uses live regional radar from the National Weather Service local office in Taunton, Massachusetts, along with high-resolution satellite. The system is presented on-air as Stormtracker. There is also a weather radar at the station's old analog transmitter site in Tiverton but it is unknown if this is in operation. It is the only Citadel station to not use the ESP: Live (Exclusive Storm Prediction) branding. In 2012, the Stormtracker Weather Team was certified as providing Southern New England's most accurate forecast by WeatheRate, an independent weather research firm. On June 5, 2012, it was announced that chief meteorologist Fred Campagna's contract with the station would be terminated on July 31 due to a breakdown in contract negotiations, ending his 14-year tenure at the station. He was replaced by Kevin Coskren, formerly the chief meteorologist at WLNE's sister station KLKN in Lincoln, Nebraska. On July 19, 2012, WLNE became the first station in Southern New England to be recognized as StormReady by the National Weather Service.

WLNE won the Massachusetts/Rhode Island Associated Press News Station of the Year award four years in a row from 1997 to 2000 and again in 2002. The station also won a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Investigative Reporting two consecutive years. Former reporter Tom Langford won the award in 2006 and former Chief Reporter Jim Hummel received it in 2007. In 2010, former investigative reporter Parker Gavigan won the Massachusetts/Rhode Island Associated Press Broadcast Award for Investigative Reporting for "Dream Makers," and morning/noon anchor Doreen Scanlon won the AP Award for Best Hard News Feature for "Made in Rhode Island: Kettlebells."

Due to its coverage area overlapping with Boston's ABC affiliate WCVB, the two stations share resources for coverage of southeastern Massachusetts. Along with ABC News, WLNE is also a CNN affiliate.