Newscasts and Public Affairs Programming
Under Field Communications ownership, WKBD aired a brief newscast at various times of the day, typically called Newscene (or alternately News Scene), similar to that of other Field-owned stations at the time, such as WFLD in Chicago. In 1968, WKBD began producing a nightly newscast at 10 p.m. For much of its existence under Cox, Paramount and Viacom, WKBD produced the only television newscast in Detroit at 10 p.m. Originally a half-hour program, The Ten O'Clock News expanded to a full hour in 1989. In 2001, WKBD began producing a bare-bones newscast for WWJ-TV. WKBD tried to brand its own newscast as a younger, more unconventional program and WWJ-TV's as a more traditional Big Three O&O operation. However, the two stations used the same anchors, reporters and equipment.
After going through several name changes to coincide with the changes in ownership and network affiliations over the years, in December 2002 UPN Detroit Nightside was cancelled after having been on the air in one form or another for 34 years. WWJ-TV's newscast was shuttered as well. WXYZ-TV, Detroit's ABC affiliate, agreed to continue producing a 10 p.m news for WKBD using WXYZ's studio and staff along with some of the former WKBD staff, but many long-time Channel 50 employees simply lost their jobs. This arrangement ended in 2005 and WKBD no longer broadcasts news at 10 p.m. The time slot was filled with off-network syndicated shows, such as repeats of sitcoms like The King Of Queens and According to Jim.
No news programming aired on the station until February 7, 2011, when a two-hour extension of sister station WWJ-TV's weekday morning newscast First Forecast Mornings premiered in the 7-9 a.m. time slot. The live program showcases weather, traffic and news headlines. The extension competes against national morning newscasts and WJBK's highly-rated morning newscast. WKBD-TV along with its sister station WWJ-TV upgraded all locally-produced programming to high definition on February 2, 2012, making them the final CBS-owned properties with an in-house news operation to upgrade to HD. The stations continue to air syndicated programming in place of traditional evening and late-night newscasts. Tara Wall, now a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, is a former WKBD news reporter and former host of the public affairs program Street Beat. This program is now hosted by First Forecast Mornings news anchor Syma Chowdhry and airs every Sunday morning.
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