WLVI - News Operation

News Operation

At WTAO-TV's inception, the station aired two fifteen-minute newscasts, at 6 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., branded as United Press News and anchored by Bob Merhmann. These newscasts were canceled within two years.

On December 1, 1969, WKBG-TV debuted a half-hour 10:00 p.m. newscast, called Ten PM News; the first such newscast on a commercial television station in the market. The newscast was anchored by Boston news veteran Arch MacDonald, who was lured away from WBZ-TV, where he had been a news anchor for two decades. It is also notable for being the first on-screen job for Natalie Jacobson, who went on to become lead anchor at WCVB-TV in the 1970s. Despite a loyal audience, WKBG lost a considerable amount of money on the newscast and shut the news department down at the end of 1970. MacDonald remained at the station for another year to host a weekday-morning interview program. Several other Kaiser stations that had also launched local newscasts shut those news departments down at about the same time. Another station in the Boston market, WXPO-TV in Lowell, had also briefly done a 10 o'clock newscast in 1969.

Field Communications started a news department shortly before putting WLVI up for sale. In 1982, it began producing a 10 p.m. weeknight newscast, which initially was a pair of ten-minute locally-produced inserts in what otherwise was an hour-long simulcast of CNN Headline News. Under Gannett ownership, WLVI expanded it into a half-hour broadcast on April 23, 1984, originally on weeknights only. This was the third attempt at a primetime newscast in the Boston market. Debuting as The News at Ten, it established itself with top-drawer talent early on with Boston news veteran Jack Hynes as lead anchor and Bill O'Connell handling sports. Hynes' co-anchors in the first several years were Julie Emry (1984–1986), Uma Pemmaraju (1986–1988; later of WBZ-TV and Fox News Channel), Darlene McCarthy (1988–1990; later of WHDH-TV) and finally Karen Marinella, who became weeknight co-anchor in November 1990 and remained so until the end of the in-house news operation. Also within the first few years, O'Connell moved on and was replaced by sports anchor Rich Schwartz, and original weeknight meteorologist Jerry Brown was ousted by Ron Harris.

During its first three years on the air, The News at Ten was accompanied at 10:30 pm by the continuation of cable news service simulcasts. CNN Headline News appeared in the time slot following the local half hour news, as it did prior to the latter's debut. In January 1986, CNN was replaced in favor of an Independent Network News broadcast anchored by Morton Dean. When WLVI's one-year contract with INN expired, the station decided to increase airtime for The News at Ten. The weeknight broadcast expanded to an hour on Monday, January 26, 1987, followed by the addition of hour-long 10 pm weekend newscasts at the close of that week. The weekend editions were first by anchored by WLVI reporter Joe Shortsleeve (now with WBZ-TV) and Odetta Rogers, who was just hired from Manchester, NH ABC affiliate WMUR-TV. Bob Gamere, who had been substitute sportscaster on the weeknight broadcasts, was appointed permanent weekend sports anchor. In May 1989, Rogers left for WFSB-TV in Hartford and Gamere was fired after becoming involved in allegations of sexual abuse. At this time, Karen Marinella, who had started out as a general assignment reporter for the station, replaced Rogers until her promotion to weeknights over a year later.

For well over a decade, WLVI was the ratings leader in the time slot, with or without competition in the arena. Although PBS station WGBH-TV (channel 2) was the only other local station running a newscast at 10:00 (until 1991), it was not considered a major competitor since it is a non-commercial station. On February 1, 1993, WLVI rebranded their newscasts as The Ten O'Clock News (always emphasizing "the"), essentially reviving the title that had been used by the WGBH newscast. That fall, however, legitimate competition sprang up for The Ten O'Clock News. Fox affiliate WFXT launched the NECN-originated Fox 25 News at Ten on September 7, 1993, while WSBK-TV introduced the WBZ-produced WBZ News 4 on TV 38 on October 25. The latter stations aggressively marketed their fledgling newscasts, but 10 o'clock viewers were loyal to WLVI, which remained number one in the ratings.

By this time, Jack Hynes relegated himself to weekend anchor, and commentator/substitute anchor on weekdays, paving the way for future lead anchors Jon Du Pre (1993–95, later of Fox News Channel), Jeff Barnd (1995–2003), and finally Frank Mallicoat (2003–06). Two of these successors were notable for particular stories and signature traits. Soon after he became lead anchor, Du Pre reported a story about a homeless man in Boston, whom, years later in his 2000 memoir, he revealed to be his own father (viewers were given no indication in 1993; Du Pre had feared and only speculated at the time that the story subject was, indeed, his father). Barnd, while having developed a strong following with viewers, became known for his joking in between stories and tendencies to ad-lib. One such occurrence of this behavior in September 2001 shocked local media outlets, in which Barnd jumped from his anchor chair and started dancing around the set after presenting the top story of the night's newscast. Barnd was subsequently disciplined by station management after the incident, but in 2002, the station's news director stated that Barnd was facing termination and that WLVI was seeking a return to a more serious newscast. In January 2003, Barnd was demoted from his anchor position, being relegated to reporting until leaving the station on his own terms two months later. Replacing him was Frank Mallicoat, whom, since 1991, had handled sports and general assignment reports before joining Karen Marinella as lead anchor.

Another mainstay of WLVI's newscasts was chief meteorologist Mike Wankum, who first joined the station in 1993. Wankum soon gained a following with his unique approach to forecasting and won numerous New England Emmy Awards. Boston Globe columnist Jon Keller was also a fixture for many years as the station's sharp political analyst. His regular feature, Keller at Large, received much critical acclaim. In 2005, Keller departed WLVI to become the new chief political reporter and analyst for WBZ-TV.

The only time WLVI programmed news outside its established 10:00 slot was in June 2000, when it premiered Boston's WB in the Morning. A mix of news, talk, and lifestyle features, the show aired from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m. The newscast replaced sitcoms and children's shows on the schedule. The program lasted two years, but could not hold its own against the other local newscasts and national morning shows. The show was canceled in the spring of 2002.

By 2003, with fierce competition emerging from WFXT's now-in-house news department, ratings for WLVI's news started to slide. Within a year, the station had fallen to third place behind both WFXT (which was now number-one) and WSBK's Nightcast at 10 (produced again by WBZ). The WSBK newscast was canceled in January 2005, and WLVI was left in second place. However, it would not regain its former glory during the rest of its tenure as a Tribune-owned station. Due to the increasing popularity of the WFXT newscast and after Tribune closed local television newsrooms in Philadelphia and San Diego, there were unconfirmed rumors that Tribune would shut down the WLVI news department and have the newscast outsourced to another station or even canceled altogether. WLVI initially denied that its newsroom would be closed.

As a result of the sale to Sunbeam Television, WHDH took over production of WLVI's 10:00 p.m. newscast using its existing staff. As the sale only covered the license, network affiliation, and technical equipment, most of WLVI's 150 employees remained employed by Tribune until being let go. Jack Hynes closed the station's final newscast with a commentary, calling the sale and shutdown a "sad, and even tragic chapter in Boston television history", and noting "someone (else), somewhere, should have stepped up to the plate and bought the station". WHDH started producing WLVI's newscast on December 19, 2006. On that date, the newscast became known as 7 News at 10 on CW 56. From the start of the WHDH-production on WLVI until July 2007, the newscasts featured the music and graphics package used on Sunbeam's only other television property, WSVN in Miami, at that time.

On July 29, 2008, WHDH began doing broadcasts in HD. It is the second station in Boston to broadcast in high definition, with WCVB-TV being the first. It also revealed a new television studio and graphics for a more compatible look with WSVN (which curiously remained without high definition newscasts until January 2009). The WLVI broadcast was upgraded as well.

WHDH had indicated that there might eventually be a new weekday morning newscast (again) on WLVI which would compete with WFXT's highly popular weekday morning show, but as of February 2012, that has not yet occurred. Instead, on January 3, 2011, the station began airing the 7 a.m. hour of The Daily Buzz on weekdays; the program moved to WBIN-TV on February 6, 2012.

WLVI's 10 p.m. newscast was once seen in Rhode Island on Cox Sports; this arrangement started in January 2001 after Cox Communications dropped WBZ-TV from its Rhode Island systems, a move that otherwise would have left the state without access to newscasts from Boston. The WLVI newscast was dropped in May 2012, when Cox Sports' programming was consolidated into Ocean State Networks, which airs WJAR newscasts when not carrying sports programming.