News Operation
The station launched a 10 p.m. newscast in 1993 and a morning newscast in 1997. It also aired a newscast at the late timeslot of midnight in the mid-1990s and a midday newscast at 11:30 a.m. during the late 1990s. WXIX partnered with WBQC-TV to air channel 19's evening newscast during the Cincinnati Bearcats basketball season. After basic cable systems in Northern Kentucky and Southwest Ohio dropped WBQC, these newscasts were moved to Insight Communications channel 6 in Kentucky and Time Warner Cable channel 2 in Ohio (WXIX no longer broadcasts Bearcat football or basketball games). In addition to its regular newscasts, WXIX provides one-to-two-minute cut-ins at the top of each hour on weekdays, as well as halftime cut-ins during network sportscasts.
Paul Horton became WXIX's chief meteorologist on January 31, 2007. He left channel 19 on August 7 that year to take the morning meteorologist position at CBS affiliate KPHO-TV in Phoenix. Steve Horstmeyer left his longtime morning and noon position at CBS affiliate WKRC-TV to replace Horton as chief meteorologist on August 7, 2008. Horstmeyer traveled to Lake Charles, Louisiana, to assist sister station KPLC, as part of a Raycom effort to cover Hurricane Gustav.
On August 11, 2008, WXIX began airing a 6:30 p.m. newscast aimed at the 18–54-year-old demographic. The broadcast competes with national newscasts airing at 6:30 on WLWT-TV, WCPO-TV, and WKRC-TV. On September 21, 2009 the program was extended to a full hour beginning at 6 p.m. On September 19, 2011, WXIX reverted the start time of the newscast to 6:30 p.m., though retaining its one-hour time length.
On November 4, 2008, WXIX became the second Cincinnati station to broadcast its news in high definition, after WCPO. However, the station continued to broadcast most field reports and weather radar in standard definition. By mid-December, nearly everything was in HD. In December 2009, WXIX reached an agreement with local ABC affiliate WCPO-TV (channel 9) to pool videographers at press conferences. On March 31, 2010, it was announced that WXIX reached an agreement with Clear Channel to have hourly news and weather updates heard on WLW. These updates began on WLW on April 1.
On September 20, 2010 WXIX expanded its weekday morning newscast to 5½ hours, from 4:30–10:00 a.m. with the 9:00–10:00 a.m. extension of the newscast called FOX 19 Morning Xtra. On July 25, 2011, WXIX debuted a half-hour weather-focused newscast called FOX 19 First Weather, which airs weekday mornings at 4:00 a.m.; the program is hosted by meteorologists Frank Marzullo and Katy Morgan, with news headlines read by weekday morning anchor Rob Williams. On August 18, 2012, WXIX will launch morning newscasts on weekends, the two-hour long programs will air from 8:00-10:00 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. In addition on September 10, 2012, the weekday morning newscast will be expanded to seven hours from 4:00-11:00 a.m., as the Morning Xtra portion of the program will be expanded by one hour.
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