News operation
During the station's early years, channel 22 had no local newscasts. WKEF established a news department in mid-1972 in response to licensing requirements with two weeknight broadcasts titled Eyewitness News. Mark Pierce was named news director, with anchor John Getter, sports from Billy McCool, and meteorologist Virginia Bigler. Bigler was granted the American Meteorological Society Seal of Approval based on her weather segments, becoming the second female meteorologist in the United States to receive this. The news department was discontinued after the Xenia tornado in 1974. The final Eyewitness News at 11 was anchored by Paul Douglas (Wilson) who had joined the WKEF staff as an anchor, reporter, and producer in 1973.
From 1974 to 1979, WKEF decided against airing its own newscasts possibly owing to low ratings. It relied instead on brief audio-only news updates from newscasters from local radio station WING. It ran these updates at selected times in the morning, afternoon, and evening using a still slide on-screen with a picture of the newscaster. WKEF brought back full news programs in 1979 under the moniker ''22 Alive! News'' with anchors Tom Miller and Jack Marschall.
In 1998, sister station WRGT-TV began airing a nightly 10 p.m. newscast, now known as Fox 45 News at 10, using WKEF's news team.
On June 12, 2006, WKEF began airing a weekday morning program from 5 to 7 a.m., called ABC 22 Good Morning. On the same day, WRGT-TV began airing FOX 45 in the Morning from 7 to 9 a.m. weekdays.[39]
In August 2008, Fox 45 Dayton's News Source at 6:30 was added to WRGT-TV, airing on weeknights against the national news broadcasts on the "Big Three" stations.
In terms of ratings, WKEF's newscasts have always been a distant third place behind WHIO and WDTN. However, on some nights (usually Sundays because of ABC programming) there are times that WKEF is runner-up to WHIO. WKEF did not participate in the wider implementation of Sinclair's now-defunct, controversial News Central format for its newscasts but did air The Point, a one-minute conservative political commentary hosted by Mark E. Hyman, that was also controversial and a requirement of all Sinclair-owned stations with newscasts until the series was discontinued in December 2006.
As of July 21, 2012, with WDTN's upgrade to high definition local newscasts, WKEF and WRGT-TV remained the only two "Big Four" network-affiliated television stations in the Dayton area that continued to broadcast their newscasts in pillarboxed 4:3 standard definition. WHIO-TV was the first to have made the upgrade to full high definition. Dean Ditmer, general manager of the stations, announced that WKEF and WRGT-TV would upgrade to HD in 2012 with a new set;[40] the existing set had been in use since January 1995. On October 29, 2012, the stations began constructing their new set at their future Corporate Place studios. HD newscasts from the new studios began on January 27, 2013.[35][36]
In August 2015, the station began branding its newscasts as Fox 45 News on ABC, using its sister station's branding. In September 2018, the station returned to using ABC 22 News.
The station made national headlines on May 28, 2019, when a video surfaced of the station's news department cutting into the previous night's airing of The Bachelorette for a breaking news story on a tornado warning in the area, and meteorologist Jamie Simpson firing back at social media complaints about the preemption by stating that saving people's lives was more important than an episode of The Bachelorette.[41] Simpson later apologized for his rant but said he did not regret the station preempting the series in favor of safety; Bachelorette contestant Hannah Brown sided with Simpson. Some viewers also sided with Simpson and said that they appreciated "putting those complaining in their place". As tornadoes did indeed hit the Dayton area later that night, The Weather Channel cited Simpson's rant as "possibly saving lives".[42][43][44]
On July 9, 2019, the station rebranded its news operation as Dayton 24/7 Now, sharing that brand with WRGT-TV. It introduced streaming apps and a social media presence with the same name and redirected its former website, www.abc22now.com. In addition, it tweaked its graphics to a different variation used by Sinclair stations.[45][46]
In September 2024, chief anchor Adam Aaro was named news director of Dayton 24/7 Now.[47] In early November 2024, the weeknight 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts on WKEF, as well as the weeknight 6:30 and 10 p.m. newscasts on Fox 45, were changed to an anchorless format, similar to the so-called "Scrippscast" format used by some E. W. Scripps Company television stations; Aaro no longer appears on-air, instead providing the voiceover for some news stories. These newscasts include a meteorologist, sometimes live, sometimes pre-recorded, while reporters introduce their stories themselves. All other newscasts on the stations have a traditional format, using live anchors and meteorologists.[48]
Notable alumni
- Barry Hobart, better known as "Dr. Creep", host of Shock Theater (aka Saturday Night Dead)
- Billy McCool, former sports anchor (1972–1974)
- Brad Panovich, former morning meteorologist (late 1990s)
