Newscasts
As WIHS-TV, the station had a small news operation, featuring former WBZ-TV anchor Victor Best.
After becoming WSBK-TV, the station considered launching a local, station-produced 10 p.m. newscast in the 1970s. However, after determining that the broadcast would get very low ratings and lose money, Storer concluded that there was no market for a local 10 p.m. newscast in Boston.
In 1980, WSBK did begin running a national syndicated-by-satellite newscast, Independent Network News, produced and syndicated by WPIX for independent stations. INN did not do well in Boston; part of the reason for the low ratings was that the newscast sometimes aired late due to Red Sox or Bruins games, putting it in direct competition with the 11 p.m. newscasts on WBZ-TV, WCVB-TV, and WNAC-TV/WNEV-TV. After 1984, it also faced competition from a local 10 p.m. news on WLVI-TV. In January 1986, the weeknight INN broadcasts moved to WLVI, airing after their 10 p.m. news; there, it only lasted one more year in the Boston market.
WSBK finally launched a local 10 p.m. newscast on October 25, 1993, by way of the WBZ-produced WBZ News 4 on TV 38, competing against both WLVI and a New England Cable News (NECN)-produced program on WFXT; this production left the air August 6, 1995, soon after the sale of WSBK to Paramount, as it was felt that the WBZ News 4 branding was incompatible with the then-new "UPN 38" branding. Rumors soon spread that NECN would move its 10 p.m. newscast from WFXT to WSBK; on October 2, 1995, the day after NECN's contract with WFXT expired, the network began producing UPN 38 Prime News. Lila Orbach was the original sole anchor, reprising her role on the WFXT newscast; eventually, Margie Reedy and R.D. Sahl (a former WHDH-TV news duo) took over for the remainder of its run. This newscast generally trailed both WLVI and, starting in 1996, an in-house newscast on WFXT; on October 4, 1998, WSBK discontinued UPN 38 Prime News in order to refocus the station on sports and entertainment, though NECN continued to produce news updates within Bruins telecasts during the 1998-1999 season. The station replaced the 10 p.m. newscast with a two-hour late-evening comedy lineup (including Cheers and Mad About You), promoted in the fall of 1998 as Laughter Dark, a play on "laughter" and "after dark".
After Viacom's merger with CBS, WBZ-TV once again began to produce the station's news programming starting in 2001. On September 3, WSBK debuted a 7 p.m. newscast; initially called THE 7 O'Clock News on UPN 38 (always emphasizing "the"), it was later rebranded as WBZ 4 News at 7 O'Clock. This newscast left the air on March 29, 2002 in favor of a return to a 10 p.m. newscast, this time as Nightcast at 10 on UPN 38, which launched April 1. On September 16, 2002, an hour long extension of WBZ-TV's weekday morning news was added at 7 a.m., known as The Morning News on UPN 38.
WSBK dropped Nightcast on January 16, 2005 and turned its attention to the morning newscast, which was relaunched as The Morning Show on April 4. On September 12, the program began airing 8 to 9 a.m. to make room for the first two hours of the nationally syndicated morning show, The Daily Buzz. On June 30, 2006, The Morning Show aired its last broadcast. The Daily Buzz was dropped at the same time (it would return to the market in January 2011 on WLVI, and currently airs on WBIN-TV).
When WSBK became an independent station for the second time, WBZ-TV began to produce a weeknight 9:30 newscast called TV 38 News at 9:30. Starting on April 23, 2007, the newscast began airing at 9 p.m. The second run of Jeopardy! switched time slots with the newscast. After this, the news became known as TV 38 News at 9. On August 25, 2008, the newscast became known as WBZ News on TV 38 (on occasion, it is also referred to as WBZ News at 9); it now mirrors the news programs that air on WBZ-TV, as had been the case with WBZ News 4 on TV 38 and WBZ 4 News at 7 O'Clock. On December 12, the newscast began airing in high definition after WBZ made the upgrade. For a period starting in late-August 2009, WSBK also re-aired WBZ-TV's noon newscast at 12:30 p.m.; this was subsequently replaced with Judge Judy. As a result of the station joining MyNetworkTV, WSBK replaced the 9 p.m. newscast with another attempt at a 10 p.m. newscast on September 19, 2011; the newscast is now referred to as WBZ News at 10.
Read more about this topic: WSBK-TV