KPTM - News Operation

News Operation

After Fox requested its affiliates to air local newscasts in the early-1990s, KPTM established a news department and began airing a half-hour prime time broadcast at 9 on June 14, 1990. Within a year, The Nine O'Clock Nightly News was expanded to its present one-hour format. From the start, the station put a greater emphasis on national coverage over local content. It also presented more packaged news reports.

With KXVO's original identity and tagline of "All Entertainment, All the Time" in 1995, local news shows did not seem like a natural fit to its schedule. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, KXVO did air sixty-second updates that promoted stories for the upcoming night's broadcast on KPTM. This was seen during the six-o-clock hour. In 2001, KXVO made plans to air a 5:30 newscast on weeknights utilizing on-air talent and production assistance from KPTM. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the resulting economic downturn, these plans were put on hold and eventually abandoned. In the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks, KXVO provided continuous coverage from CNN Headline News.

On January 28, 2006, that station began airing The KXVO 15 10 O'Clock News on weeknights which was produced by KPTM. In April of the same year, former MTV personality and reality show host Brian McFayden was hired to anchor the program. He left the show to explore other options in his career amid rumors that he was becoming more and more difficult to work with. In any case, his hiring was unable to save the newscast's low ratings which had been the case from the start. In late-August 2006, comedian and Second City Training Center alumnus Matt Geiler was named the new anchor of the broadcast. By this time, the show had become some sort of sketch comedy program with news content being handled by KPTM staff. Throughout its run, The KXVO 15 10 O'Clock News never registered a single ratings point and was canceled in 2007.

On August 31, 2007, weeknight news anchor Taylor Wilson announced KPTM would move to a new set in a few weeks. He also said it would add a newscast weekdays at 4 which would be a first for the station. The new set and show premiered September 17, 2007. It competed with NBC affiliate WOWT but was an hour long versus a half-hour on the big three station. In 2008, the broadcast was scaled back to a half-hour. KPTM was one of the very few Fox stations offering a 4 p.m. newscast during the week, but in the spring of 2009, it was canceled.

On July 6, 2010, station management announced it would shut down its news department and have Fox 42 News at Nine produced by the Independent News Network (INN) starting September 6. News anchors, meteorologists, and sports anchors are provided by the centralized news operation and other personnel from INN can fill-in as needed. KPTM maintains local reporters who contribute most of the content to the shows. The live newscasts originate from INN's facilities on Tremont Avenue in Davenport, Iowa. Although the previous in-house broadcasts were not in high definition, the "Heartland Proud" segment was. Under the agreement with the Independent News Network, KPTM's newscasts now air in HD. Its Saturday night broadcast was dropped because INN does not produce a newscast then. Tuesday through Saturday mornings at 5, the hour long prime time broadcast is replayed on KPTM-DT2.