| NewsFix | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Also known as | CW33 NewsFix(KDAF version) CW39 NewsFix(KIAH version) NewsFix SFL(WSFL-TV version) |
| Genre | News program |
| Created by | Lee Abrams Gary Jaffe |
| Narrated by | Greg Onofrio Dennis Jon Bailey(weekend substitute) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 7 (KIAH) 2 (KDAF) 1 (WSFL) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Gary Jaffe, Steve Simon |
| Production locations | Dallas,Texas (KDAF and KIAH versions) Miami,Florida (WSFL version) |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 30 or 60 minutes |
| Production company | Tribune Media |
| Original release | |
| Network | KDAF/Dallas KIAH/Houston WSFL-TV/Miami |
| Release | 19 March 2011 (2011-03-19) – 14 September 2018 (2018-09-14) |
| Related | |
| Nightcap (KDAF) CW 39 News (KIAH) | |
NewsFix is an Americantelevision news program produced forCW affiliatesKDAF inDallas-Fort Worth,KIAH inHouston,Texas andWSFL-TV inMiami that originally premiered on March 19, 2011 on KIAH.
The program – airing daily on the former two stations at 5:00 and 9:00 p.m.Central Time and on the latter two at 10:00 p.m. local time (Eastern Time in Miami, and Central in Houston) – used a long-form format similar to anewsreel, with all stories presented primarily through video footage filmed by photojournalists employed by both stations and filed fromaffiliate news video services; it was targeted at a younger demographic (specifically those aged 12 to 34) that may receive news through online and other digital services rather than through television.[1] On September 6, 2018, Tribune announced that the Dallas and Houston editions of the program would be cancelled effective September 14.[2][3]
The newscasts – which are respectively produced by KIAH and WSFL, although the editions on KIAH and KDAF are structured as two separate programs featuring stories focused on the respective Houston andDallas-Fort Worth markets – de-emphasizes the use ofnews anchors to present the stories featured during the broadcast, opting to instead use footage involving the story with illustration on the story being reported through narration, intending to mirror how news video is delivered through the Internet in some respects.[4]
Other differences in presentation include the use of a world map augmented with markers resemblingmobile app icons to identify the location and to serve as a toss to each story segment (which is referenced with a brief headline-style description under the icon marker), the use of contemporary music (instead of custom or pre-packaged theme music) for the program's theme music and the substitution of teases before breaks in favor of the aforementioned visual tags to indicate segments and stories set to air.[1][5][6]
The narrators forNewsFix are Greg Onofrio (for the weeknight editions) and Dennis Jon Bailey (for the weekend editions), who also deliver a commentary segment at the end of each broadcast.[7]NewsFix maintains a faster-paced format than conventional television newscasts, incorporating an average of 33 segments per broadcast, about half of which focus on local stories. The program also incorporates a short weather segment (limited to current weather observations and a five-day forecast) and a sports segment (consisting mainly of scores, omitting highlights or game commentary),[1] as well as features such as "Crime Bureau" (formatted similarly to a police blotter with photos of criminals on the run), "Day in Pictures" (featuring photographs of news stories and happenings in each city) and a historical music segment, "Day in Music".[8]
At the time the concept was being developed, KIAH (channel 39) carried more traditional early evening and prime time newscasts, which regularly fell behind newscasts on most of its main English and Spanish station competitors – particularly in the 9:00 p.m. time slot against the longer-established prime time newscast onFoxowned-and-operated stationKRIV (channel 26) – since the station launched its news department in January 2000 (then asWB affiliate KHWB). By September 30, 2009, KIAH had expanded its news programming to include an hour-long early evening newscast, with (later aborted) plans to launch a weekday morning newscast earlier that year.[9]
The idea for the program was conceived byTribune Company chief innovation officerLee Abrams (who resigned in October following complaints surrounding an inappropriate company-wide e-mail) in collaboration with KIAH newsexecutive producer and Imaginator Gary Jaffe, as an alternative to newscasts Abrams deemed to follow "the 1970s television playbook".[6] The Houston outlet would serve as the pilot station for the format to be namedNewsFix, described by then-KIAHgeneral manager Roger Bare in an interview withTVSpy as "anewsreel updated for the 21st century,"[7] which would only utilize an off-camera narrator to provide continuity for story and segment packages, requiring a far smaller staff to produce the broadcasts compared to traditional local news programs. As a byproduct of not using on-air anchors and reporters, it was designed to eliminate the "happy talk" segments between news blocks to devote more time to stories, while emphasizing the use of photojournalists that write and edit each story. Tribune originally planned to launch the format on Dallas sister station KDAF, but ended up offering the idea to KIAH (then without a news director, following the departure of KyAnn Lewis for a producer role atThe Daily Buzz) after being rejected by station management.[10] Gary Jaffe was hired by KIAH to serve as the "imaginator" (ornews director) of the program.[1]
On July 22, 2010, Tribune announced plans to premiereNewsFix on KIAH that September, with plans to expand the format to some of the company's other stations "that don't have a strong legacy news product or where the local news tradition may not be as strong as it is in other markets" ifNewsFix proved successful in the Houston market.[11][12] Station employees were informed that the rebooted newscast would feature "fast-paced stories, added special effects and a minimum of on-camera appearance by reporters or anchors."[13] Apilot outlining the proposed format, produced at sister stationWPIX inNew York City, was presented to Tribune staffers in August 2010.[10] Due to logistical issues that needed to be assessed (including workflow reconfiguration, staff training and production upgrades), the format launch was delayed three times – first to December, then to January 2011 and finally to March 2011.[14]
KIAH reassigned most of its on-air staff (while others left) and hired additional production personnel in advance of the program's launch. Following 15-minute previews aired at the tail-end of KIAH's traditionally formatted newscasts the day before (March 18), the station relaunched its newscasts under theNewsFix format on March 19, 2011.[15] Houston radio personality Greg Onofrio was hired to serve as the program'scontinuity narrator as well as an on-air commentator. At its start, the program was criticized for featuring stories often less current in nature, occurring the previous day and those that were light or offbeat in quality, with Jaffe stating in aHouston Chronicle interview that while the program "still [has] a component of day-of news," it was trying to "bring new stories into the mix" while also not simply updating the same stories featured, "trying to push the timeline forward."[1][16] Some journalism analysts and professors also expressed doubt that the anchor-less format would attract viewers, particularly due to research by theRadio Television Digital News Association suggesting the importance of anchors to both older and younger viewers.[4]
In its first two weeks, ratings forNewsFix were lower than under KIAH's previous traditional format, with the 9:00 p.m. broadcast averaging a 0.5 rating (down from a 1.0 rating in the February 2011 sweeps period). Bare expected that viewership would decline somewhat among people seeking a conventional newscast, but expected the program to draw in new viewers (with comments from viewers estimated to be "about two-thirds" in support of the change).[1] Monthly ratings for the late evening broadcast dropped from a 1.0 in April to 0.9 in the May sweeps period (from a high of 3.3 in December 2009 before the reformatting), before increasing to a 1.2 in August.[17][18] On September 14, 2015, KIAH added a half-hour edition of its iteration of the format,CW 39 NewsFix, at 10:00 p.m. on Monday through Friday evenings.[19][20] On September 6, 2018, Tribune announced that the Houston version ofNewsFix would be cancelled effective September 14. Following the cancellation, local newscasts returned to KIAH with a local three-hour morning newscast titledHouston's Morning Dose that the station launched on October 22 .[2] KIAH, which was acquired byNexstar Media Group in September 2019, resumed a 9 p.m. newscast on May 11, 2020, withABC 13 Eyewitness News at 9 p.m. on CW 39. The show utilizes the news staff and studio ofABC-ownedKTRK-TV (channel 13).[21] On August 20, 2020,Morning Dose was rebranded toNo Wait Weather + Traffic. Then on August 18, 2025, a traditional morning newscast replacedNo Wait Weather + Traffic with the debut ofH-Town Morning News. KIAH's morning news programs are produced with no involvement from KTRK.
Like KIAH, the news operation at its Dallas sister station KDAF (channel 33) had struggled; although it saw initial success with the 9:00 p.m. newscast that first launched its news department in January 1999 against established competition from Fox O&OKDFW (channel 4), a switch from a traditional toward a more tabloid-style format undernews director David Duitch (who left the station in July 2012 to become website editor forThe Dallas Morning News) resulted in declining viewership for KDAF's newscasts beginning in 2009.[22] Following the departures of four on-air staffers,[22][23][24] Larissa Hall (senior producer of KDAF's morning programEyeOpener) was promoted to "director of content" to oversee the station's newscasts in August 2012,[22] developing a format calledNightcap, incorporating multimedia journalists (which require a single person to film, edit and report news stories) and humor within most of its story content, in order to reduce costs and make the broadcast profitable. The revamped newscast continued to post low ratings from the time it debuted on November 1, 2012, even registering "hashmarks" (indicating viewership too low to register aratings point) on some nights during the initial switch to theNightcap format, though ratings slowly increased over time (particularly in the adult 25–54 demographic).[25][26] Hall left the station one month afterNightcap launched after being reassigned to other duties within the Tribune Company.[27]
Steve Simon left KIAH to becomenews director at KDAF in November 2013, replacing Hall's replacement as news director, Denise Killian; he joined Bare who began overseeing the operations of KDAF (in addition to his existing duties at KIAH) in September.[28][29] Following the change, reports indicated that Simon planned to bring theNewsFix format to the Dallas-Fort Worth market.[29] The succeeding months saw the departures of many of KDAF's anchors and reporters, including longtime reporter Barry Carpenter and anchor Amanda Fitzpatrick (both of whom were with the station prior to the adoption of theNightcap format), in preparation for the change. The Dallas edition ofNewsFix (using the same narrators as the KIAH broadcasts) premiered on KDAF on May 20, 2014, beginning with the 5:00 p.m. broadcast; that edition would expand to an hour on Monday through Friday evenings on September 7, 2015 (matching the length of the weekend editions, which remained a one-hour broadcast after the early-evening newscast was reduced on weeknights prior to the adoption of theNightcap format).[8][30][31] As with its Houston counterpart, the Dallas version ofNewsFix was cancelled on September 6, 2018, with the final edition airing on September 14.[2][3] Nexstar Media Group, in addition to KIAH, acquired KDAF in September 2019.
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(September 2018) |
On September 28, 2015, Tribune expanded theNewsFix format toMiami, when then-CW affiliateWSFL-TV (channel 39) became the third station to launch the format, with the debut of a half-hour prime time newscast,NewsFix SFL at 10:00.[32][33] The move marked the first time that the station had aired a full-fledged local news program since the August 4, 2010 cancellation ofThe Morning Show – a four-hour morning news program that was produced at theFort Lauderdale offices of its former newspaper sister, theSun-Sentinel – with news programming being relegated to hourly updates that aired during the station's evening programs (and eventually, local news inserts duringEyeOpener on weekday mornings) afterward; it was also the first prime time newscast to air on the station since August 31, 2008, following the termination of a news share agreement between WSFL andNBC owned-and-operated stationWTVJ (channel 6), in which the latter produced a half-hour newscast for WSFL.NewsFix SFL was discontinued in September 2018.[34][35]. WSFL was acquired by theE. W. Scripps Company in September 2019 and remained affiliated with the CW until dropping the network to become an independent station in September 2024. Newscasts returned to WSFL in June 2021 with 7-9 a.m. and 10 p.m. editions ofLocal 10 News produced byBH Media-owned ABC affiliateWPLG.[36] On May 6, 2024, WSFL replaced the WPLG-produced morning newscast withMorning Rush fromScripps News from 8 to 9:30 a.m. The 10 p.m. edition ofLocal 10 News was discontinued on August 1, 2025, and was moved to WPLG on August 4, which coincided with WPLG dropping ABC to become an independent station.