News operation
Local news was on WSCV's slate from the moment it relaunched in 1985. The station initially aired a 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. local newscast, anchored by Cuban-born Lucy Pereda and news director Eduardo Arango.[59] Pereda left before the end of 1985 to work for the Spanish International Network (going on to host Mundo Latino, its first national morning show),[60][61] while Arango was ousted in early 1986 over differences in philosophy with Rumbaut.[62] However, the presence of WSCV's 10 p.m. news, an hour before WLTV's, led the latter station to move up its newscast to match.[63] As with the station in general, the news on WSCV was positioned as "Cuban" to the more Mexican-influenced WLTV. Rafael Orizondo, who replaced Arango in an interim capacity, said at a 1986 forum, "Our newscasts are designed for the Cuban community, not for the Hispanic community. We emphasize the Cuban, and to call Fidel Castro a dictator and say he is an assassin does not cost us any credibility."[64] In late 1986, WSCV hired María Montoya, a former actress who had arrived in Miami as part of the Mariel boatlift of 1980,[65] and Ambrosio Hernández, who had worked at several radio stations in Chicago, to complement the team.[66]
Upon Alfredo Durán becoming general manager in 1988, aggressive moves were made to improve the ratings. The newscast was moved back from 11 p.m., where it had been relocated earlier in the year,[67] to 10.[68] Durán lured well-known WLTV reporter Alina Mayo Azze to WSCV.[69] Her hiring was soon eclipsed by another with romantic overtones; Durán was in a relationship with Leticia Callava, the main female anchor at WLTV and described by Tom Jicha of The Miami News as "to Spanish-language news what Ann Bishop is to English-language news".[70] Despite claiming that Callava was not about to jump stations in May, when Callava was demoted by WLTV after Durán's move,[71] she left that station and signed with WSCV in August, teaming with Mayo Azze to become the first two-woman anchor pairing on Spanish-language television in Miami on a relaunched Noticentro 51 (Newscenter 51).[72] Durán also toned down the Cuban emphasis of channel 51, stripping the Cuban flag colors from the logo and asking weather presenter Ángel Martín to stop referring to Cuba as "that beautiful land where we were born".
The move, which helped to lift WSCV's ratings slightly, escalated Miami's Spanish-language news war: Hernández defected to a rebuilding WLTV.[74] When Mayo Azze left in 1990, she was replaced on the anchor desk by Argentine news anchor Nicolas Kasanzew, who became famous covering the Falklands War for the state-run network ATC.[75] Kasanzew was demoted to a reporter two years later as part of a major shakeup in which three newscasters were fired and news production was suspended for a week as the station readied a "clean slate",[76] with Callava the only remaining anchor.[77] At the time, WLTV was still beating WSCV two-to-one in the evening news ratings race. This continued until Hernández returned to WSCV in early 1993.[78]
Montoya returned to WSCV in 1999 when the station began to expand its local news with the first Spanish-language midday newscast in the country.[79] Two years later, WSCV expanded to morning news for the first time, debuting the 6 a.m. news hour Primera Edición (First Edition) as part of a national strategy to add local morning newscasts.[80] Weekend news followed that September.[81] After being told that management desired to replace her on the evening news with Montoya, Callava left WSCV in late 2001 after 13 years.[82] While WLTV still led in news ratings into the 2000s, WSCV steadily increased its share of the marketplace.[83]
Despite changes in its anchor lineup—Montoya would depart WSCV in 2013,[84] while Hernández departed in 2015 to rejoin Univision[85]—WSCV added several new newscasts in the 2010s as part of national local news expansions across the Telemundo station group. A 5:30 p.m. show debuted at WSCV and 13 other Telemundo stations in 2014, followed by a 5 p.m. newscast in 2016.[86][87] Steady improvement led to ratings leadership. By 2022, WSCV was the leading station in total households and the 25–54 news demo in the morning, early evening, and late news, regardless of language.[88]
