News operation
WTAR-TV began airing news at the start of its history. The original newscast, Telenews, aired for 15 minutes a day, five days a week; it provided local news coverage including photography from the co-owned Norfolk newspapers. The station spent decades dominating local news ratings in Hampton Roads. In 1974, it drew more news viewers than WAVY and WVEC combined; it had the largest news staff of the three stations in town and the highest pay for news department employees, leading Mike Smith of its newspaper sister, The Virginian-Pilot, to call it the "news Goliath" of Hampton Roads. Though it also had the most conservative presentation style in the market, it had led every ratings period since records had been kept due to being ingrained in the viewing habits of longtime residents. The other stations generally attracted viewers who were new to the region.[65]
As late as 1980, channel 3 held an 18-percentage point lead over WVEC at 6 p.m. However, in the early 1980s, immediately after the sale to Knight-Ridder, WTKR's ratings declined, leading to a more competitive ratings race among all three major stations for news coverage. By 1985, WTKR was in second place in the time slot behind either WAVY or WVEC, depending on the ratings survey.[66] Management responded to declining ratings by firing some talent and shuffling around others, which only exacerbated the ratings slide.[67] The station continued to find itself in second place for its early and late evening news programs in the late 1980s.[68][69]
Ratings recovered somewhat in the first half of the 1990s. Several new talent hires, including longtime market meteorologist Dr. Duane Harding and sportscaster Bob Rathbun, were part of the formula that lifted WTKR to its first 6 p.m. win in six years in 1990.[70] Rathbun departed after being named the play-by-play voice of the Detroit Tigers beginning in 1992.[71][72] The Hampton Roads news ratings became a "horse race"; in the Nielsen survey for November 1993, WTKR led at noon, 5, and 6 p.m. and was a close second at 11.[73]
A major reimaging effort in 1994, however, derailed the station's news ratings, which were already starting to fall. Under news director Barbara L. Hamm, the station rebranded from Eyewitness News to TV3 News and introduced a new set and faster format.[74] The station's ratings at 6 fell from first to third place.[75] After the New York Times Company purchased the station in 1995, it made major changes to its lineup of anchors.[76] It also launched weekend morning newscasts[77] and partnered with WGNT to launch a 10 p.m. newscast on that station—the first in the market.[78] WGNT owner Paramount Stations Group canceled the newscast in December 1997, with its new general manager noting that the station was "in the business of entertainment programming" and "not moving in the direction of news".[79]
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, WTKR remained in third place in local news coverage while experiencing significant and sustained turnover in on-air talent, including a run from 1995 to January 1998 in which 20 on-air staffers departed; some were dismissed by management, while others left citing low morale and fear for their jobs.[80][81] Lyn Vaughn, a former anchor for Headline News, joined the station in 1999 and then left in April 2001.[82]
In 2008, new general manager Jeff Hoffman fired the news director and associate news director. He stated in a press release that his goal was to "Take Norfolk Back!", citing that his station had once been the news leader in Hampton Roads.[83][84] WTKR started the area's first 4 p.m. newscast on September 8, 2009, replacing the weekend morning newscasts.[85] This was the station's second attempt at a newscast during the 4 p.m. hour, after a short-lived 4:30 p.m. newscast in 1995.[86]
After Local TV acquired WGNT, WTKR began introducing newscasts on that station. On August 25, 2011, a two-hour extension of WTKR's weekday morning newscast began airing from 7 to 9 a.m.[87] On July 7, 2014, a half-hour 7 p.m. newscast, the only one in the market at that time, made its debut on WGNT.[88] In 2016, the station added a daily lifestyle program, Coast Live.[89]
By 2023, the station produced 36 hours a week of newscasts[90] plus 10 hours a week of dedicated weekday newscasts (at 7 a.m., 7 p.m., and 10 p.m.) for WGNT.[91]
- Ed Hughes – anchor and reporter, 1968–2004[92]
- Bob McAllister – children's show host[93]
- Paula Miller – reporter, 1984–1999[94]
- Judi Moen – host of the program Forty Plus during the mid-1990s[95]
- Andy Roberts – TV host and weather presenter, 1956–1992[96]
