News operation
WTWO presently broadcasts 17 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with three hours each weekday and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays). Unlike most NBC affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone, the station does not air a 5 p.m. newscast; this is due to the fact that it produces one for sister station WAWV-TV, with channel 2 opting to run syndicated programming during the 5 p.m. timeslot.
Newscasts on the station began when it debuted on September 1, 1965, under the title W-2 News. In early 1968, the station rebranded as "TV-2" (while retaining a hyphen for the branding of the station's calling, rendered as "W-TWO"); its evening newscasts were accordingly renamed Total News Tonight (the title was later amended to Total News at Twelve, when the station added a midday newscast at noon, and to Total News Today for the 6 p.m. newscast). The TV-2 News title was used in conjunction with the Total News brand from 1971 until January 1972, when the former became the full-time newscast branding. The station became the first station in the market to begin broadcasting its newscasts in color in 1971, with Johnny Palmer being appointed as anchor of WTWO's evening newscasts (Palmer remained with the station until he retired in 1992). In 1973, the station adopted the Eyewitness News format for its news programs, which remained in use by the station until 1994, when its newscasts were renamed NewsChannel 2 (which was amended to WTWO NewsChannel 2 after Nexstar bought channel 2 in 1997, and then revised as WTWO NewsChannel in 2007).
The station debuted an hour-long news and talk program in September 1998, titled Live at Five. After WTWO entered into a joint sales agreement with Fox affiliate WBAK-TV, WTWO assumed production responsibilities for channel 38's half-hour primetime newscast at 10 p.m. on January 1, 2004, from WTHI (which had been producing the program since WBAK became the market's Fox affiliate in 1995), in addition to allowing the station to rebroadcast the 6 a.m. hour of channel 2's weekday morning newscast at 7 a.m. In May 2007, WTWO began using digital camera equipment for newsgathering purposes. In 2010, the station unveiled a new set for its newscasts, along with a new graphics and music package (using the "Look B" package originally developed by graphics firm NBC ArtWorks for NBC's owned-and-operated stations, along with Stephen Arnold Music's "The Rock" package); the station's news operation was also rebranded as NBC 2 News.
WTWO aired a one-minute promo on 2006 that criticized WTHI's weather coverage, claiming that WTHI's Doppler radar system was inferior to WTWO's because it was located within downtown Terre Haute, resulting in a "dead zone"—the area within the radius of the radar dome where reflectivity cannot be detected—over the city proper, stating that the WTWO radar's "dead zone" was positioned over a corn field and claimed that the combined experience of WTWO's weather staff was more than that of WTHI's staff; it also stated that WTHI's power had multiple points of failure in contrast to WTWO's.[11] The promotion, though technically accurate, became a source of amusement on Comedy Central's The Daily Show because of its use of hyperbole and techniques reminiscent of political "attack ads".[12] After general manager Duane Lammers called the Daily Show "hard-up for material" in a Tribune-Star article,[13] host Jon Stewart[14] mocked WTWO further in the following night's opening segment. A response video to The Daily Show and Stewart that was supposed to be for internal uses at the station was leaked on YouTube; it has since been taken down, but was uploaded once more on iFilm.[15]
When what became WFXW discontinued its Fox affiliation to rejoin ABC as WAWV on September 1, 2011, WTWO moved its 5 p.m. newscast to WAWV (at the same time, the 10 p.m. newscast was relegated to live streaming broadcast, which was carried on WTWO/WAWV's shared website until it was discontinued on December 28, 2012). WTWO began producing a half-hour midday newscast at noon of channel 38 on September 10, 2012. In addition to handling production of those newscasts, WTWO produces local weather updates seen on WAWV during AgDay and Good Morning America, as well as morning news updates seen the during the latter network morning program.[16]
On September 28, 2016, WTWO (along with sister station WAWV) began airing local newscasts in HD with a new set. WTWO also changed the newscast title to WTWO News, formerly NBC 2 News.
In 2025, the noon newscast on WAWV began simulcasting on WTWO, and in turn became a WTWO-branded production.
- Johnny Palmer - anchor
- Mark Allen - anchor/reporter/News Director/General Manager
- Dennis Campbell - sports anchor
- Tom McClanahan - anchor/reporter/sports anchor
- Ray Dalessio – sports anchor
- Kathy Dash – anchor
- Nancy Hauskins – anchor
- Julie Nelson – anchor
- Matt Seigel – sports reporter
