News operation
Local news offerings on this station originally consisted of ten-minute-long capsules; this effort would not be expanded to thirty-minute full newscasts until the 1960s. For the past two decades, WSTM-TV's newscasts have been second overall in the viewership ratings behind longtime dominant WSYR-TV. As of July 2008, that station remains number one in Central New York for the whole day-part. However, it remains in a tight battle with WSTM-TV for weekday mornings and weeknights at 11. WSYR-TV makes up for this with huge leads during the week at noon, 5, 5:30, and 6. In two periods during its broadcasting history, WSTM-TV has used the popular Action News branding.
From 1996 until 2000 through a news share agreement, WSTM-TV produced a prime time newscast for Fox affiliate WSYT. Known as Fox 68 News at 10, the broadcast could be seen every night for thirty minutes. After WSTM-TV declined to renew the arrangement, WSYT then partnered with WTVH to keep the broadcasts continuing. Meanwhile, in 2003, WSTM-TV brought back a weeknight prime time news show for newly acquired sister station WSTQ-LP. Although WTVH would terminate its arrangement with WSYT in April 2006, the nightly 10 o'clock broadcasts were WTVH's most successful having soundly beat WSTM-TV's effort on WSTQ-LP.
After becoming operated by WSTM-TV, WTVH shut down its separate news department and merged it with that of WSTM-TV. This resulted in the elimination of 40 jobs at WTVH. Only Michael Benny was retained to anchor by himself the weeknight newscasts on WTVH from its separate studios (less than a block away on James Street from WSTM-TV's facility) using other personalities from WSTM-TV for all other content.[11] The system set up by WTVH to use videotaped footage (including interviews) shot by WSTM-TV presented problems for WSTM-TV staff, who had to walk to WTVH's old studios to deliver raw video for WTVH to edit for its weeknight news programs. Neither station attempted to offer newscasts outside traditional time slots to compete with WSYR-TV (such as weekdays at 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m., or weeknights at 4 and 7) despite a plan originally announced.[4][12] However, WSTM-TV eventually expanded WSTQ-LP's weeknight prime time newscast to an hour on August 30, 2010.
In October 2009, Barrington Broadcasting began to produce separate weeknight newscasts on WTVH from a new secondary set at WSTM-TV's facility. Otherwise, at that time, the CBS and NBC stations would simulcast each other on weekday mornings (except the first hour at 4 a.m. on WSTM-TV), weekdays at noon, and weekend evenings. Although WTVH retained unique branding, music, and graphic aspects of the separately-produced news broadcasts on weeknights, coverage was essentially the same with re-purposed and packaged stories from the NBC affiliate airing on WTVH. WSTM-TV usually featured more live reports from the field during a breaking news event.[13]
In mid-December 2010, WSTM-TV became the first television station in the market to produce local newscasts in 16:9 enhanced definition widescreen with the shows on WTVH being included in the change. Although not truly high definition, the broadcasts match the aspect ratio of HD television screens. Rival WSYR-TV upgraded to full high definition on January 29, 2011. Initially, only the newscasts seen on the digital cable feed of WSTQ-LP aired in enhanced definition since its over-the-air low-power analog and digital (on WSTM-DT2) signals remained in pillarboxed 4:3 standard definition. In January 2013, the CW subchannel (WSTM-DT2) was upgraded to high definition allowing the WSTQ-LP shows to be aired terrestrially in widescreen. On October 23, 2016, both WSTM and WTVH became the second and third stations in the Syracuse market to upgrade their newscasts to true HD.
On April 13, 2015, WTVH reintroduced separately-produced local newscasts airing weekday mornings (from 5 to 7 a.m.) and weekdays at noon (seen for a half-hour) with a dedicated anchor and meteorologist that do not appear on WSTM-TV. At the same time, the CBS station also began to feature its own meteorologist for the weeknight newscasts rather than sharing an on-air personality with WSTM-TV. WTVH already has a separate news anchor seen weeknights exclusively on the station. The CBS station continues to simulcast local news with WSTM-TV on weekend evenings. These broadcasts use the two station's shared branding, CNY Central. There can be a preemption or delay on one channel due to network obligations (most notably sports programming).[14][15]
WSTM-TV was the first in Syracuse to use Doppler weather radar in 1985 and launched its own system in 2000. This consisted of its own radar at the transmitter site in Onondaga as part of a network including WHEC-TV/SUNY Brockport in the Rochester area and WIVB-TV in Buffalo. However, WIVB-TV and WSTM-TV have since shut down their individual radars. During current weather segments, WSTM-TV features three live NOAA National Weather Service radars in Montague, Binghamton and Buffalo. On-air, this is known as "Live Triple Doppler" and the radar beams are superimposed over the on-screen image.
On October 7, 2019, WSTM launched the market's first and only newscast airing at 7 p.m.[16]
On July 1, 2021, Buffalo sister station WUTV introduced a 10 p.m. newscast that was anchored and produced from WSTM's studios. The program also used resources from WHAM-TV in Rochester.[17] It was canceled on January 27, 2023.[18]
- Jim Axelrod – reporter (1990–1993)[19]
- Joe Castiglione
- Bob Costas
- Jeff Glor
- Dan Kloeffler
- Steve Kroft
- Dave Ryan
