News operation
WMGT-TV presently broadcasts 20 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with four hours each weekday and one hour on Sundays). Unlike most NBC affiliates, the station does not produce any live newscasts on Saturdays.
The station began producing newscasts at its 1968 inception. However, due to the problems mentioned above caused by WMAZ's dominance of the market, WCWB's newscasts struggled in the ratings for years, and were mostly discontinued by the early 1970s. It made a modest attempt at newscasts again later in the decade. However, within a few months following its start in 1982, WGXA's newscasts surged to second place in the market (behind WMAZ), because its news product was perceived as far more modern than that of the newscasts seen on WCWB. Once again, due to low viewership, channel 41 shut down its news department in 1992. For the next 12 years, it was one of the few Big Three affiliates that did not air any newscasts at all.
The station relaunched its news operation on September 6, 2004, as Tropical Storm Frances moved through the Southeastern United States. At that time, WMGT began producing three half-hour newscasts that aired at 6:30 a.m., 5:30 and 11 p.m. When the news department was re-established, WMGT was among the first stations in the country to maintain a completely digital newsgathering operation.
With cable now having leveled the playing field somewhat by rendering the UHF reception issue largely moot, WMGT gradually expanded its newscasts over the next few years. The station eventually expanded its weekday morning newscast to two hours, running from 5 to 7 a.m., in October 2012. The early evening newscast was later moved to 6 p.m. On July 6, 2009, the station began producing a half-hour prime time newscast each weeknight at 10 p.m. for WMGT-DT2, and also began airing a rebroadcast of its 6 p.m. newscast at 7 p.m. In October 2012, the station expanded its 11 p.m. newscast to Sunday evenings. Around this time, the station began airing a rebroadcast of its morning newscast on WMGT-DT2 from 7 to 9 a.m. On September 16, 2013, the station debuted a half-hour midday newscast at 11 a.m. called 41 Today, a non-traditional news program that places a heavy emphasis on community events, consumer and lifestyle features and weather forecasts. On February 18, 2014, WMGT became the third station in the Macon market (after WRWR-LD (channel 38) and WMAZ-TV) to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition; however, the newscasts on WMGT-DT2 were not included in the upgrade, instead broadcasting them in widescreen enhanced definition in the subchannel's native 480i resolution format.
Notable current on-air staff
- Bill Shanks – Host of The End Zone
