News Operation
In August 1957, WROC began airing the area's first 11 o'clock broadcast called Eleventh Hour News. Regular sports segments were added to the show on April 7, 1958. WROC enjoyed ratings dominance with popular anchorman Tom Decker and weatherman Bob Mills. Anne Keefe, another well-known talent who split time between WROC radio and TV, contributed to the station's success in the 1960s and 1970s. However by the mid 1970s, Decker and Keefe left and Mills was fired. The loss of these familiar faces and the station's failure to keep up with changing technology lead to a ratings slump that lasted decades.
Since the mid 1970s through the early 2000s (decade), WROC's newscasts struggled in the Nielsen ratings usually placing a distant third behind WHAM and WHEC. Even with the strong NBC prime-time line-up in the mid-to-late 1980s (the last few years of WROC's affiliation contract with NBC) and the CBS line-up during the early 2000s (decade), its newscasts remained in third place. However, after finally establishing some stability with its anchor team, market share has been growing over the course of the past decade. In the November 2008 ratings period, WROC's 11 p.m. newscast finished ahead of slumping WHEC for the first time in many years.
After becoming operated by Nexstar, WUHF's separate news department was shut down. Two anchors, a producer, and a photographer were added to WROC's news staff. The remainder of its personnel was laid-off in this move. On September 1, 2005, a nightly half-hour prime time broadcast (produced by WROC) called Fox First at 10 began airing on WUHF. Originating from a secondary set at this station's facilities, the show eventually expanded to 45 minutes followed by a fifteen minute sports highlight program known as Sports Extra. On September 13, 2010, this station began airing a weeknight 4 p.m. newscast for a half-hour (an area first). As of 2011, WROC's newscasts remain in third place overall. On September 4, 2012, WROC became the second Rochester area TV station to have upgraded its local newscasts to high definition. The 10 p.m. newscast on WUHF was included in the upgrade.
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