KDVR - News Operation

News Operation

KDVR presently broadcasts a total of 36½ hours of local newscasts each week (with 6½ hours on weekdays, and two hours on Saturdays and Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the highest local newscast output among Denver's broadcast television stations. As is standard with Fox stations that carry early evening weekend newscasts, KDVR's Sunday 5 p.m. newscast is subject to preemption and the Saturday 5 p.m. newscast is subject to delay due to sports coverage.

In 2000, KDVR began making plans to produce a primetime newscast to compete with KWGN's 9 p.m. newcast; the station built an entirely new "news and technology center" in downtown Denver, and on July 16, 2000, Fox 31 News at 9 O'Clock premiered (as a result, KDVR became the last Fox owned-and-operated station to begin producing local newscasts). Former KUSA-TV sportscaster Ron Zappolo and former WMAQ-TV reporter and Extra host Libby Weaver joined KDVR, and have anchored the newscast since its inception. KDVR began airing Good Day Colorado on March 22, 2004, to compete with KWGN's morning newscast (known then as WB2 Morning News). Initially a 2½-hour newscast beginning at 5:30 a.m., Good Day expanded over time into a five-hour block beginning at 5 a.m. In 2005, KDVR began producing a 5 p.m. newscast on Saturdays, which was later followed by a half-hour 5:30 p.m. newscast in September 2008. As of 2008, the primetime newscast has done very well against its competition, while the morning newscast has lagged behind.

Under the local marketing agreement, the news operations of both KDVR and KWGN have changed to benefit both stations as best as possible. While it does hinder both stations, they each produce a weekday morning news block from 5 to 9 a.m. Besides competing with KWGN, the 7-9 a.m. block of the newscast also competes with the KUSA-produced weekday morning newscast on KTVD. KWGN discontinued its 5:30 p.m. news broadcast on January 12, 2009, while KDVR expanded its news broadcast to a full hour from 5 to 6 p.m. Also, prior to the LMA, both stations had competing hour-long primetime newscasts at 9 p.m. KWGN moved its late evening newscast to 7 p.m. (an unusual timeslot for a network-affiliated station in the Mountain Time Zone) on March 30, 2009 to avoid competition with KDVR's 9 p.m. newscast and scaled back the program to weekdays only, leaving KDVR's only 9 p.m. news competitor also being a KUSA-produced newscast on KTVD. There is a considerable amount of sharing between KDVR and KWGN in regards to news coverage, video footage and the use of reporters; though both outlets maintain their own primary on-air personalities (such as news anchors and meteorologists) that only appear on one station; several KWGN on-air staffers that remained with the station after the LMA was formed joined KDVR's news staff with the consolidation of news departments, with most of KDVR's news staff also appearing on KWGN's newscasts as well. On June 28, 2010, KDVR added a half-hour 10 p.m. newscast named Nightside, which focuses on more hard-hitting stories than the local news programs seen on the other major network affiliates during the same timeslot.