WLFL - News Operation

News Operation

After Fox required most of its affiliates to air local newscasts in the early-1990s or face disaffiliation, WLFL established a news department and launched a nightly prime time show known as Fox 22 Ten O'Clock News in 1992. It was the second attempt in the time slot since an Independent outlet in Fayetteville, WKFT, cancelled the area's first broadcast at 10 back in 1989. Unlike WLFL's operation, that station focused more on the southern parts of the Triangle market and sold advertising seen during the production specifically to those areas.

It began having newscast competition in September 1995 shortly after the sign-on of WRAZ. From the start, this effort was produced by WRAL and was also seen every night. However, since WLFL's hour-long news was firmly established in the market by that time, it remained a strong operation with a popular on-air team. After the station's switch to The WB in 1998, its nightly show became known as WB 22 News at 10. On August 16, 2004, WLFL's news department was downsized and converted into Sinclair's controversial News Central operation.

While local news and some sports remained based in Raleigh, the station shut down its weather department and began featuring national headlines, forecast segments, and other sports coverage based out of company headquarters on Beaver Dam Road in Hunt Valley, Maryland. In addition, it featured a one-minute conservative political commentary segment called "The Point". Hosted by Sinclair's Vice President for Corporate Relations, Mark E. Hyman, this feature was controversial as well and a requirement of all company-owned stations with newscasts until its discontinuation in December 2006. In September 2005, WLFL's nightly broadcast was cut down to thirty minutes in an attempt to boost its anemic ratings against WRAZ.

After a fourteen-year run, the station's remaining in-house news department was closed as a result of a cost-cutting move implemented by Sinclair as well as the systematic shut down of News Central. The last official airing of WB 22 News at 10 was on March 30, 2006 after which there was no local news for a short period. News Central sports anchor Mark Armstrong as well as WLFL news anchor and reporter Tamara Gibbs eventually joined WTVD. On June 26, 2006, WLFL entered into a news share agreement with ABC's owned-and-operated station WTVD. This resulted in a new nightly prime time newscast to debut known as ABC 11 Eyewitness News at 10 on WB 22.

Like the previous effort, the broadcast runs directly against the WRAL-produced newscast on WRAZ. Since establishing the arrangement, there have never been any plans announced for a weekday morning show on WLFL that would also be produced by WTVD. This is unlike WRAZ which offers a two-hour extension of WRAL's weekday morning broadcast at 7. Concurrent with its official affiliation switch to The CW on September 18, WLFL's newscast became known as ABC 11 Eyewitness News at 10 on CW 22. On April 21, 2008, WTVD became the second station in the Triangle behind WRAL and the eighth ABC-owned station in the United States to upgrade newscasts to high definition. The WLFL broadcasts, however, are still seen in pillarboxed 4:3 standard definition as this station lacks a high definition-capable master control at its separate studios in order to receive the newscast in HD.

Eyewitness News at 10 can currently be seen every night for 35 minutes from WTVD's studios on Liberty Street/US 70 Bus/NC 98 in Downtown Durham. In addition to those main facilities, that station also operates bureaus in Fayetteville (on Green Street) and Downtown Raleigh (on Fayetteville Street). During weather forecast segments, WLFL features WTVD's Doppler weather radar known as "First Alert Doppler XP". This is based at the latter's transmitter site southeast of Garner along the Wake County border with Johnston County.