Outlet pared down its holdings in 1986, selling off three of its television stations to finance the $625 million (equivalent to $ in ) buyout of the group by its management from the Rockefeller Group. At that point, WCPX was sold to First Media Corporation, a private company controlled by the Marriott family separately from the Marriott Corporation, for $200 million (equivalent to $ in )—at that time, the highest price paid for an Orlando television station.[44] It was the first television station to be acquired by First Media, which at the time owned 11 radio stations.[44][45] The radio group was sold the following year to a partnership controlled by Cook Inlet Region, Inc., but WCPX-TV remained with First Media.[46]
First Media's ownership of WCPX-TV did not get off to a good start. The company bought WCPX-TV for a record price at the peak of broadcast station valuations in the 1980s. Between May 1986 and February 1989, the station slipped from second in total-day ratings to third, matching the position of its evening newscasts. The company shunned outside promotion and showed an unwillingness to make needed investments to keep pace.[47] In the latter front, the high purchase price paid by First Media diminished the company's ability to spend on capital expenses. Popular personalities such as Carole Nelson and Mike Burger were fired or resigned.[47] Glenn T. Potter, who served as company president for WCPX-TV's first five years under First Media while also being general manager, lacked prior experience in running TV stations and was attributed with many unpopular and unwise decisions; he was demoted in 1991 to head up a radio division that owned no stations.[48][49] In 1990, the station began producing a 10 p.m. newscast for air on a public-access channel of the local CableVision of Central Florida system;[50] the next year, it moved to WKCF (channel 68, then channel 18),[51] where channel 6 continued to produce it through the end of 2000.[52]
Under Mike Schweitzer, the station changed in February 1992 to a more aggressive format with anchors walking around the news set. David Wittman was hired from Boston to anchor the news, replacing eight-year WCPX veteran Glenn Rinker.[53] The new format did not show much promise; ratings remained in third or, in one instance, fractionally ahead of WESH for second.[54] In October 1993, veteran anchor Bud Hedinger, who had worked at WFTV in the 1980s, was added to the anchor team;[55] ratings increased, and the station expanded by adding a weeknight newscast at 5:30 p.m. and weekend morning news, as well as acquiring new equipment.[56]
First Media used Orlando and WCPX-TV as a springboard into the national syndicated programming market. Over the course of the 1980s, the station increased its production staff and aired a series of music specials. In 1990, First Media set up a program production unit, First Media Entertainment, producing pilots of syndicated shows under contract;[57] two years later, it and Genesis Entertainment syndicated a special on the Academy Awards to stations nationwide as well as Emergency Call, showing paramedics on duty.[58]
Brooke Spectorsky became WCPX-TV's general manager in October 1994. His arrival coincided with a change in philosophy at First Media, which acquired two other TV stations (WHNS in Asheville, North Carolina, and KPDX in Portland, Oregon) and showed a much-increased willingness to invest in the station. Under Spectorsky, the station reduced its preemptions of CBS network programs—most notably Picket Fences, which it aired in late night hours—by nearly two-thirds.[59][60] First Media purchased two microwave newsgathering trucks and a satellite truck.[61] Ten positions were added to the news department. In June 1995, the station's newscasts were completely relaunched with a more traditional format, featuring a new female anchor—Grace Rabold—as well as a new news set and graphics.[62] The $5 million (equivalent to $ in ) overhaul did not lead to any increases in ratings until November 1996, when the station posted its best news viewership in years.[63]
