News operation
WOOD-TV presently broadcasts 44 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with seven hours each weekday and 4 1/2 hours each on Saturdays and Sundays); in addition, the station produces a half-hour public affairs program To the Point with Rick Albin, which airs Sundays at 10 a.m.; a 25-minute sports highlight program Sports Overtime, which airs Sundays after the 11 p.m. newscast; and Football Frenzy, a weekly highlight program on Friday nights during the fall which covers high school football games as well as other sports news of the day (the 11 p.m. newscast is shortened to allow Football Frenzy to air during the regular time slot).
WOOD-TV had the distinction of being one of the last remaining broadcast television stations in the United States to use the "24 Hour News Source" format, which was popular in many markets during the early 1990s, and has been used by the station since 1990. The only other stations still using the format (as of 2015) are CW affiliate WISH-TV in Indianapolis and ABC affiliate KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
For most of the time since the mid-1980s, channel 8 has led the Nielsen ratings in West Michigan. However, for most of the 1990s, it waged a spirited three-way battle for the ratings lead with WWMT and WZZM. One reason is that it is the only major station whose news department equally covers all of the vast Grand Rapids–Kalamazoo–Battle Creek market, WWMT has historically focused on the southern portion of the market (being based in Kalamazoo), while WZZM focuses mostly on the northern portion.
WOOD-TV has many firsts in the market. It was the first West Michigan station to broadcast in color. It was the first West Michigan station to use electronic news gathering, in 1975. Five years later, it was the first area station to air live news from outside its studios. In 1983, it introduced the area's first television helicopter to assist in coverage. WOOD-TV's weekday morning newscast premiered in 1984 and aired for a half-hour at 6:30. This was expanded to a two-hour format in 1995 along with the weekday noon and weekend 6 p.m. newscast expanding to an hour. As a result, NBC Nightly News is preempted on weekends.
After taking over WOTV's operations, WOOD-TV then began simulcasting some of its newscasts on that station as well as airing specially produced newscasts covering Battle Creek and Kalamazoo. That station had shuttered its separate news department in 1990; despite serving the market's second-largest city, Kalamazoo, it had long been plagued by weak viewership as its reach was limited to the southern portion of the market. Since then, WOTV has largely functioned as WOOD-TV's Kalamazoo/Battle Creek bureau. In 1992, WOOD-TV launched a separate news department for WOTV. However, despite having WOOD-TV's resources behind it, it made no impact in the ratings. LIN TV finally decided to shut down WOTV's news operation permanently in August 2003. Since then, the station has simulcast some of WOOD-TV's newscasts (currently its weekday morning, 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts), but this time without any separate opens or segments.
On October 21, 2007, WOOD-TV began offering a nightly prime time newscast at 10 p.m. on WXSP-CD, joining the longer-established 10 p.m. newscast on Fox affiliate WXMI (channel 17) and CW affiliate WWMT-DT2. The entertainment and lifestyle magazine show eightWest premiered on October 5, 2009, and airs weekday mornings at 11 a.m. for an hour, as well as being streamed live on the station's website. Also on that date, WOOD-TV became the second station in southwestern Michigan to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in 16:9 widescreen enhanced definition. Although not truly high definition, the broadcast matches the ratio of HD television screens. The simulcasts on WOTV were included in the upgrade. On October 22, 2011, WOOD-TV became the third television station in southwestern Michigan (behind Fox affiliate WXMI and CBS affiliate WWMT) to broadcast local newscasts in high definition.
On September 20, 2016, WOOD-TV began a half-hour newscast at 7 p.m., becoming the first station in Grand Rapids to do so; as a result, Access Hollywood moved from WOOD-TV to sister station WOTV.
The station's weather team provides forecasts for iHeartMedia's Grand Rapids cluster (including its former radio sister), as well as Christian station WCSG.
Downtown studio
Starting in September 2011, WOOD-TV began broadcasting all of its newscasts during ArtPrize from a temporary studio built inside the Grand Rapids Art Museum. During the live broadcasts, people were encouraged to come downtown and get a behind-the-scenes look at WOOD-TV's news operation. People standing outside the museum made up the backdrop behind the anchor desk. In 2017, the station made it a year-round studio when it partnered with the Grand Rapids Art Museum to launch the Media Arts Center. The noon newscast is anchored daily from the streetside studio. Also in 2017, WOOD-TV opened a streetside studio in downtown Kalamazoo overlooking Bronson Park. The station invites school groups to both studios during the school year for the "Storm Team 8 Weather Experience", an educational multi-media show hosted by Storm Team 8 meteorologists who teach kids about weather and science.
Since 2020, operations at this downtown studio have been paused, particularly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as periods of general unrest downtown due to various protests.
- Carol Duvall
- Alan Gionet
- Steve Kmetko
- Steve Osunsami
