News operation
On January 7, 2008, WDFX began airing a nightly prime time newscast at 9 produced by WSFA in Montgomery. Originally airing for 35 minutes on weeknights, a weekend half-hour edition of Fox News at 9 began in Summer 2008. It was produced in conjunction with Montgomery's Fox outlet WCOV through a news share agreement. The show originated from a secondary set at WSFA's studios on East Delano Avenue; likewise there was a primary focus in coverage of the Montgomery area. However, there were also localized news and sports contributions from two personalities based at WDFX's facility in Dothan (known on-air as the "Wiregrass Newsroom").
Although WSFA upgraded its local newscasts and primary set to high definition level on August 3, 2008, Fox News at 9 on WDFX and WCOV was not initially included in the change. It would not be until Spring 2010 that the prime time show would make the switch complete with an updated graphics package separate from local news programs seen on WSFA. After WCOV's outsourcing contract with WSFA expired at the end of 2010, the former entered into a new agreement with another Montgomery big three affiliated station in order to specifically cover the Montgomery area.
As a result, WSFA transitioned its nightly prime time show (renamed The News at Nine) to its second digital subchannel (then affiliated with the Retro Television Network; now with Bounce TV) on January 1, 2011. The show's format remained mostly unchanged except for originating from WSFA's primary set. Eventually, at some point in time, WSFA added a simulcast of its weekday afternoon newscast at 4 to WDFX's schedule. This sixty-minute broadcast, however, generally covers the greater Montgomery area. On September 10, 2012, WDFX began having competition to its prime time news at 9 with the introduction of a weeknight-only half-hour show on CW affiliate WTVY-DT3, which has since been canceled.
On June 1, 2020, a new locally based newscast replaced the WSFA-produced program. This newscast is produced by WDHN at their facility in Webb. A similar arrangement was made in Panama City where Lockwood contracted with WMBB to produce a 9 p.m. newscast for WPGX. Nexstar owns both WMBB and WDHN, which are also both ABC affiliates.
