News operation
Channel 12 started offering local newscasts on the second day of broadcasting in April 1956. News department personnel initially worked out of cramped offices. Early on, however, the station gained prominence for covering local events live, years before WTVR and WXEX/WRIC began doing so. In the early-1970s, renovations at the studios allowed the channel's personnel to be expanded. News operations were expanded again into a new addition to the facilities in 1978. In the late-1980s, WWBT received a comprehensive on-air upgrade featuring an updated news set and graphics package. It was the first station in Richmond to use a satellite broadcasting truck called "LiveStar 12" and a helicopter identified as "Sky 12".[10]
On September 19, 1994, WWBT entered into a news share agreement with the areas Fox affiliate WRLH-TV (then owned by Abry Communications). This resulted in the area's first nightly prime time broadcast known as Fox News at 10. On January 8, 2001, the weeknight show was expanded to a full hour. Friday nights at 10:45, there is a fifteen-minute sports highlight program that airs called Fox First Sports. The prime time newscasts did not face competition until March 5, 2007, when WUPV launched a 35-minute weeknight show at 10 produced by WTVR. Weekend news on WUPV began October 20, 2007, and ended a year later on October 19. The final weeknight newscast on that channel was November 7. Three days later, WTVR management announced that the WUPV operation had been canceled due to high financial costs of production.
On March 23, 2007, "Sky 12" crash landed in a field in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, after it appeared to hit power lines.[11] Two of the four passengers were taken to a local hospital for evaluation. The helicopter was being used for non-news purposes by owner Heloair. WWBT became the first station in Richmond to air local newscasts in high definition on July 27, 2008. Unlike rival WTVR (who upgraded to high-definition newscasts two years later and whose video is in true high definition both in the studio and in the field), the field video shown on WWBT is still in 16:9 enhanced definition widescreen. However, the WRLH shows were not initially included in the upgrade because that station lacked a modern master control to receive the newscast in HD; this lasted until September 2012 when that station upgraded its master control so that the WWBT newscasts and some syndicated programming on that channel are now shown in HD. On December 17, WWBT eliminated twelve positions citing poor economic conditions. Included in the layoffs were Sports Director Ben Hamlin, news anchor Gene Lepley, along with Henrico and Hanover counties reporter Rob Richardson.
After NBC Weather Plus shut down on December 31, 2008, WWBT-DT2 switched to a local weather channel known as "NBC 12 First Warning Weather". It was replaced by MeTV on February 6, 2012. On January 5, 2009, WWBT began producing a weeknight newscast in high definition for WUPV called The CW News at 6:30 originating from a secondary set. The show goes up against national newscasts seen on the Big Three networks. In addition to operating a weather radar of its own known as "First Warning Live Doppler" at its studios, the station also uses a live feed from the National Weather Service radar based at the Local Forecast Office on US 460 (General Mahone Highway/South County Drive) in Wakefield next to the municipal airport.
On January 16, 2012, WRLH-TV launched a new one-hour weekday morning newscast at 7 a.m. called Fox Richmond Morning News.[12] The show goes up against the national morning newscasts' first hour and is anchored by WWBT's morning news team.
On September 11, 2023, WWBT launched two new weekday newscasts at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.[13] The 3 p.m. newscast is titled First Look at 3 with the 7 p.m. show being called 12 On Your Side Tonight. With the new additions, WWBT produces more than 67 hours of local content each week.
- Campbell Brown – formerly at CNN
- Spencer Christian – now at KGO-TV in San Francisco
- Herb Clarke (1956–1958) – later longtime weatherman at WCAU-TV in Philadelphia
- Doug Hill (1978–1980) – later at WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C., (deceased)
- Ryan Nobles – now at NBC News
