Gannett/Tegna ownership
In 1984, Harte-Hanks underwent a leveraged buyout that saddled it with $700 million in debt. To reduce this load, Harte-Hanks put a number of its divisions up for sale in October 1987, including three newspapers, seven cable systems, and WFMY-TV and WTLV in Jacksonville, Florida.[52] That December, Gannett agreed to buy WFMY-TV and WTLV for $155 million.[53] The transaction was completed in February 1988.[54] WFMY's first general manager under Gannett, Hank Price, found the station in good condition and not needing any major changes.[55] CBS This Morning began airing on tape delay in 1988, running after The Good Morning Show.[56]
As late as 1995, WFMY held leads in all time periods where it had newscasts.[57] However, its ratings soon came under pressure. Kinard left The Good Morning Show in November 1997 after just under 40 years,[58] and the station was experiencing increased competition from WGHP and WXII, to which it responded by updating the look and feel of its newscasts and the format of Good Morning—now airing for three hours—to appeal to younger viewers.[59] The 1998 local introduction of people meters for ratings purposes also hurt WFMY by increasing the representation of younger viewers, who were less likely to be loyal to the station.[60]
Kinard retired from the 6 p.m. newscast in December 1999.[61] By then, WXII had come to surpass WFMY at 11 p.m., and WGHP was more competitive in the morning.[62] For WXII, this was the result of a strategy over the course of the 1990s to increase its coverage of news events beyond the western Piedmont and into Greensboro, the market's largest city; WGHP, which had made a similar decision, benefited from its 1995 affiliation switch from ABC to Fox. WFMY, with a news viewership described in 2000 as "older and more ethnic", now found itself in a regularly close ratings race.[63] Hughes retired in 2010, capping a 20-year run as evening anchor at the station, which named its newsroom for her.[64]
In 2011, under general manager Larry Audas, WFMY revamped its news format, dubbed "News 2.0".[65] Shortly after, the station launched an expansion of The Good Morning Show to 4:30 a.m.[66] A new newscast displaced a fixture on channel 2's schedule: the 5:30 p.m. airing of The Andy Griffith Show, which WFMY-TV had aired in that time period for decades.[67]
On June 29, 2015, the Gannett Company split in two, with one side specializing in print media and the other side specializing in broadcast and digital media. WFMY was retained by the latter company, named Tegna.[68]
In December 2019, The Good Morning Show was changed to end at 7 a.m., allowing CBS This Morning to air live for the first time on WFMY; this was part of a larger schedule overhaul that included a 4 p.m. newscast.[69]
Nexstar Media Group, owner of WGHP in the Piedmont Triad market, acquired Tegna in a deal announced in August 2025[70] and completed in March 2026.[71]
