WKYC

WKYC, virtual channel 3 (digital channel 17), is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Cleveland, Ohio, owned by TEGNA. Its studio is located on the shores of Lake Erie, while its transmitter is located in Parma, Ohio.

Early years
The station made its on-air debut on October 31, 1948, as WNBK on channel 4. It was the second station in Cleveland to sign on, eleven months after WEWS (channel 5), and was the fourth of NBC's five original owned-and-operated stations launched by the network, three weeks after WNBQ (now WMAQ-TV) in Chicago. WNBK was a sister station to WTAM radio (1100 AM), owned by NBC since 1930.

Although there was no coaxial cable connection to New York City, AT&T had just installed a cable connection between WNBK, WNBQ, WSPD-TV (now WTVG) in Toledo, KSTP-TV in St. Paul, Minnesota and KSD-TV (now KSDK) in St. Louis, creating NBC's Midwest Network. WNBK became one of the originators of programming for the regional network, along with WNBQ.

Two days after signing on, on November 2, 1948, WNBK transmitted its coverage of the Truman/Dewey election results to the NBC Midwest Network. On January 11, 1949, WNBK began carrying NBC's New York-originated programming live via a cable connection to Philadelphia. In 1952, as a result of the Federal Communications Commission's Sixth Report and Order, WNBK moved to channel 3, swapping frequencies with fellow NBC affiliate WLWC (now WCMH-TV) in Columbus in order to alleviate same-channel interference with another NBC station,WWJ-TV (now WDIV) in Detroit.

Westinghouse moves in
In 1956, NBC swapped WNBK and WTAM-AM-FM to Westinghouse Electric Corporation in return for KYW radio and WPTZ-TV in Philadelphia. Although Cleveland was a top-10 television and radio market at the time, NBC had long wanted to "trade up" its holdings to a larger market. Also, Philadelphia was the largest market in which it didn't own a station. The swap became official in February 1956, as NBC moved its operations (including much of its Cleveland staff) to Philadelphia to operate the renamed WRCV-AM-TV. Westinghouse took over the former WNBK/WTAM operation and changed its call letters to KYW-AM-FM-TV.

Under Westinghouse ownership, KYW-TV launched Barnaby, a children's program which starred Linn Sheldon as the title character. The show premiered in 1956 and was an immediate hit, running on weekday afternoons for ten years. Another Westinghouse creation was the country's first one-and-a-half-hour news block in 1959, called Eyewitness (a precursor to theEyewitness News format), which comprised 75 minutes of local news with the then-15-minute Huntley-Brinkley Report. In 1961, channel 3 originated a local 90-minute weekday daytime variety talk show with former band singer Mike Douglas, which went up against WEWS's One O'Clock Club. Quickly eclipsing the competition, The Mike Douglas Show became so popular that Westinghouse decided to carry the program on its other stations in 1963, and eventually to syndicate the program nationwide.

Perhaps even more notable was the exclusion of one NBC program from KYW-TV's schedule. The Tonight Show was dropped by channel 3 soon after Westinghouse took control in 1956, and was replaced with a late-night movie following the 11:00 p.m. newscast. Almost immediately, NBC was able to agree to terms with WEWS to carry the program in Cleveland. However the people in the southern and eastern suburbs of Cleveland with strong antennas were also able to see The Tonight Show and other NBC programming on WFMJ-TV in Youngstown which was then the nearest NBC station during Channel 3's KYW-TV period.

NBC returns
Despite its success in Cleveland, Westinghouse was not happy with how the 1956 trade with NBC played out. Almost as soon as the ink dried on the trade the FCC and the U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation, claiming NBC extorted it into agreeing to the deal. The investigators discovered that Group W had only agreed to the deal after NBC threatened to remove its affiliation from WPTZ (the present-day KYW-TV) and Westinghouse's other NBC affiliate, WBZ-TV in Boston, and to withhold a primary affiliation with newly-purchased KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh unless Westinghouse agreed to the trade. In 1964, after an investigation that lasted eight years, the FCC ruled in favor of Westinghouse and ruled the 1956 trade null and void. [1] [2]

NBC re-assumed control of the Cleveland stations on June 19, 1965. Instead of changing it back to WNBK, It changed the call letters to WKYC-AM-FM-TV, mostly as a nod to Westinghouse's stewardship of the stations. The AM station, for instance, had become a top 40 powerhouse under the moniker "KY11." Channel 3 was separated from its sister stations in 1972, when NBC sold the WKYC radio stations to Ohio Communications. The AM station changed its calls to WWWE before resuming its historic WTAM calls in 1996, while the FM station became WWWM and then, in 1982, WMJI.

In a reverse of what took place in 1956, some radio and television staffers who worked for Westinghouse in Cleveland moved to Philadelphia along with the KYW call letters. This included news reporter Tom Snyder, news director Al Primo, and Mike Douglas. WKYC-TV continued to air the Mike Douglas Show for many years after both the host and the program moved to Philadelphia, where it remained until 1978. Westinghouse also took the Eyewitness News name and format with it to Philadelphia; it would later return to Cleveland, being used on WEWS from 1972 to 1990. Other Westinghouse employees – such Linn Sheldon, Clay Conroy (who played Barnaby's sidekick "Woodrow the Woodsman" before getting a spinoff show of his own), and staff announcer Jay Miltner (who had been with the station since its inception in 1948) – remained in Cleveland. To this day, the Philadelphia stations, which are now owned by CBS, insist they "moved" to Cleveland in 1956 and "returned" to Philadelphia in 1965 after the trade was voided.

NBC also relocated many of their top Philadelphia radio and television executives and some on-air personalities to Cleveland, such as meteorologist Wally Kinnan. Kinnan's arrival displaced Dick Goddard, who had been with channel 3 since 1961. Goddard moved to Philadelphia with Westinghouse but returned to Cleveland in early 1966 and joined WJW-TV(channel 8), where he has remained for more than 40 years. Evening sports anchor Jim Graner, who had joined the station in 1957 while also serving as the color commentator for theCleveland Browns radio network, remained through the transition; he stayed on until his death in 1976.[3] [4] One show that made the jump to Cleveland was the award-winning documentary series Montage, produced and directed by Dennis Goulden. This nationally-acclaimed series of over 250 episodes investigated the issues and lifestyles of the Cleveland community during the 1960s and 1970s. The Tonight Show also returned to WKYC-TV's schedule in September 1965, after airing on WEWS during channel 3's Westinghouse years.

Further information:

NBC, KYW (AM), KYW-TV, and WTAMFor much of the time between NBC's repurchase of the station and the dawn of the 21st century, WKYC-TV's news department was usually a very distant third in the ratings. Part of the reason was that during most of its second stint as an NBC-owned station, it served mainly as a farm system for NBC with almost no local talent. Given Cleveland's status as a mid-major television market, most of the promising reporters or anchors that NBC employed at WKYC could end up being promoted to other higher-profile NBC-owned outlets, especially flagshipWNBC-TV in New York City. Many WKYC alumni went on to long and successful careers with NBC. Most notably, current Today Show weatherman Al Roker served as WKYC's chief weatherman from 1978 to 1983.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">As a result of this practice, turnover at channel 3 was very high, and it was unable to establish a cohesive news department and successfully compete against either WJW-TV or WEWS in the ratings. It was by far NBC's weakest owned-and-operated station. Two of the few long-tenured personalities during this time included Joe Mosbrook and Del Donahoo. Both joined WKYC in 1967 (Donahoo from WOW in Omaha) and enjoyed long tenures at the station. Mosbrook retired in 2002, while Donahoo was co-host of Today in Cleveland with Tom Haley until 1997 and a feature reporter (under the "Del's Folks" banner) until 2006.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">At the same time, channel 3 enjoyed several technical advances with NBC's parent company, RCA (and since 1986, General Electric). It was Cleveland's first television station to broadcast full-time in color on September 13, 1965 (almost immediately after NBC regained channel 3 from Group W), the first to broadcast in stereo in 1985, and the first VHF station toclosed-caption their local newscasts for the hearing-impaired in 1990.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">From 1973 until 1984, WKYC tried to use the Action News newscast branding several times (later employed by WPVI-TV in an unrelated manner), while also using the music and graphics associated with the other NBC-owned stations, which employed the NewsCenter name. On March 19, 1984, the station dropped the Action 3 News name and adopted its current moniker, Channel 3 News. WKYC also adopted a new logo and a new slogan called "Turn to 3"; the accompanying jingle was composed by Frank Gari. The "Turn to 3" jingle and image campaign was borrowed by many TV broadcasters around the world - most notably WXYZ-TV in Detroit.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Various anchors – such as Virgil Dominic, Doug Adair, Mike Landess, Dave Patterson, Mona Scott, Judd Hambrick, Leon Bibb and Dick Feagler – news sets, and imaging campaigns were tried out, usually with little to no success. Finally, after years of sagging ratings, the network sold majority (51 percent) control of WKYC to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia,_Inc. Multimedia, Inc.] in 1990. Due to its long ownership by NBC, to this day channel 3 is the only major station in Cleveland to have never changed its primary affiliation.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">At that time, Multimedia also operated Multimedia Entertainment (now a part of NBC Universal Television), which produced a number of weekday TV talk shows. As a result, Multimedia-produced talk shows such as The Jerry Springer Show (who himself had come from then-sister station WLWT in Cincinnati), Sally Jessy Raphael, and Donahue ended up on WKYC's daily schedule.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">The station tried to rebuild its news operation with an emphasis on local talent and continuity, under the tagline "We're building our station around you." In 1993, the NBC peacock was dropped from the primary station logo, which took a red-white-blue color scheme, though WKYC was still identified (and still is) as "Channel 3". WKYC even set up a telephone feedback hotline, dubbed "Talkback 3", intended to field suggestions and comments from viewers.

As an NBC affiliate
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">WKYC did not immediately reap any windfall from longtime CBS affiliate WJW-TV's switch to (and eventual purchase by) Fox in 1994. However, ratings for WKYC's newscasts gradually began to improve towards the end of the decade. The station started to finish in first in assorted timeslots and posted some of the highest ratings books in the station's history. TheGannett Company purchased Multimedia in November 1995, and acquired the remaining 49 percent of the station from NBC in early 1999.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Even after Gannett's purchase of WKYC, the station continued to suffer. For instance, in September 1999, WKYC expanded its 6 p.m. newscast to one hour. This aggravated viewers because NBC Nightly News was pushed back to 7 p.m. This practice was modified in July 2000 when NBC Nightly News was moved back to 6:30, and the second half hour was used to start a 7 p.m. newscast, which continues to air.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">WKYC accomplished another first in Cleveland television history by becoming the first station in Northeast Ohio to broadcast in high-definition in 1999. Soon after Gannett bought full control of the station, it moved from its longtime studios in the former East Ohio Gas building on East Sixth Street in downtown Cleveland<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[5] to a state-of-the-art studio on the shores ofLake Erie, which Channel 3 refers to as its "digital broadcast center".

Ratings emergence
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">WKYC finally became a factor in the Cleveland television news race in 2003 (ironically KYW-TV did this as well), when it picked up the Dr. Phil show and placed it in the 5–6 p.m. slot. This move proved to be very successful for two reasons. First, at 5 p.m., since all of the other local major network affiliates were broadcasting news, this gave viewers an alternative. Second, WKYC was able to get many viewers to change channels at the end of WEWS's 4 p.m. broadcast of The Oprah Winfrey Show to Dr. Phil at 5 p.m. (the syndication contracts for both shows disallow them from airing against each other).

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">During Dr. Phil, WKYC did heavy promotion of its 6 p.m. newscast, which began to experience sharp ratings increases at 6, which trickled down to the 7 p.m. newscast. In early 2004, viewers began turning away from WJW-TV and WEWS's hard-hitting newscasts to the more traditional WKYC. This helped WKYC rise to first place in the news ratings for the first time in decades. All of its newscasts won their timeslots. WKYC even managed to push WJW's popular morning newscast into second place.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">This continued until May 2005, when WKYC made two major changes in their newscasts. First, they had reporters lengthen the time of their stories, hoping to provide more detail. Second, in attempt to combat the common viewer complaint that "all news is bad", WKYC started inserting more "positive" stories into their newscasts. The combination of the two resulted in less "real" news, and viewers began turning away.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Over the summer of 2005, while Dr. Phil was airing repeats, WKYC lost the top spot at 6 to WEWS. However, channel 3 retook the top spot at 6 p.m. during the November 2005 sweeps period. Additionally, despite fears due to a weak NBC prime time schedule, WKYC retained its top spot at 11 p.m. which it has held for 17 straight ratings periods. In the February 2006 ratings period, WKYC continued its first place streak by placing first at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. Its morning newscast was second only to WJW's.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">In the November 2006 ratings period, WKYC's airing of Dr. Phil continued to lead at 5 p.m., and its 11 p.m. newscast held on to first place (though by a very slim margin over WOIO), although it slipped from first to third at 6 p.m. It came in last place at noon (it was the only "Big Four" affiliate station in Cleveland not to air a newscast at that time slot). Channel 3's late-afternoon and early-evening slump continued since that time, reaching its nadir to date in the February 2008 ratings period, when both Dr. Phil and the 6 p.m. newscast finished third behind WJW's and WEWS's newscasts.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-5" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[6]

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">On May 22, 2006, WKYC-TV began broadcasting all of their local newscasts in high-definition, becoming the second station in the Cleveland market to do so. Channel 3 also debuted a new graphics package at this time (which is standard issue on all Gannett-owned stations).

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Another reason for the sustained success was that for the first time in their history, WKYC had stability at the anchor desk. From 2000-2007, the anchor team for all weeknight newcasts consisted of Tim White and Romona Robinson, with chief meteorologist Mark Nolan (AMS/NWA seals of approval), and sports director Jim Donovan. The long standing team broke up in 2007 when Nolan was moved to morning news anchor, and weekend meteorologist Betsy Kling was promoted to weeknights. In December 2008, White's contract was allowed to lapse and Robinson has been anchoring the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts solo since (with Robin Swoboda and Chris Tye co-anchoring the 7 p.m. newscast).

Digital programming
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">The station's digital signal is multiplexed: <p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">As part of the analog television shutdown and digital conversion was completed, WKYC shut down its analog transmitter on June 12, 2009. The station's digital broadcasts remained on channel 17. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers continue to display WKYC's virtual channel as 3.1. WKYC was the "nightlight" station for the Cleveland market, providing DTV transition information. On June 16, 2009, the -TV suffix was removed from the station's call sign; the station is now known simply as WKYC. They signed off completely from analog on July 12, 2009.

Sports programming
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">WKYC-TV has been airing 20 Cleveland Indians baseball games per season since the 2006 season, through a ten-year contract. This deal brought the Indians back to over-the-air TV after four years of the team being exclusively on cable. WKYC also handles production for and provides studios for SportsTime Ohio (STO)--the regional sports network owned by the team itself--which airs the remainder of Indians games on cable and satellite, and simulcasts the games shown on Channel 3. During baseball season, Channel 3 airs a weekly half hour Indians-themed program, Indians Tonight, Sundays at 11:35 p.m.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">WKYC--as the "official home" of the Cleveland Browns--airs all non-nationally televised pre-season games, as well as 90 minutes of Browns-related programming during the pre-season and regular season: Browns Pregame Huddle (Sundays at 11:30 a.m.), Browns Tonight (Sunday nights at 12:05 a.m.), and The Point After (Mondays at 7 p.m.).

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Matt Underwood, Rick Manning, Al Pawlowski, and Mike Hargrove are the broadcast crew on Indians telecasts, and Channel 3 sports director Jim Donovan and Bernie Kosar are in the booth for Browns contests. All games are broadcast in high definition.

News operation and other local programming
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">As of January 3, 2011, WKYC airs 28½ hours of newscasts per week, including 4½ hours of newscasts Monday through Friday and three hours each on Saturday and Sunday.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">WKYC is the only Cleveland major network affiliate that does not air local news in the traditional 5 p.m. weekday timeslot, but somewhat offsets that by airing local news at 7 p.m., being the first Cleveland station to due so in 2000 (Fox affiliate WJW-TV joined the competition at 7 p.m. in 2010). As of 2010, WKYC is also the only Cleveland station airing a newscast on weekend mornings, unusual for a television market of Cleveland's size. It is also one of the few television stations in the country to broadcast a newscast at noon on weekends, most stations elesewhere typically do not carry a midday newscast on weekends due to the possibility of frequent preemptions due to network sports programming. On January 3, 2011, WKYC moved the start time of Channel 3 News Today to 4:30 a.m., bringing the newscast to 2½ hours.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[7]

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Good Company is a locally produced mid-morning television show airing at 10 a.m. It's a general interest show which features interviews, cooking segments, health segments, movie reviews, fashion shows, and other features that resembled The Morning Exchange on WEWS. This may be partially due to the fact that former Morning Exchange host Fred Griffith is the host of Good Company.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">The premise for Good Company was actually formed over five years before the program’s debut. After The Morning Exchange went off the air in September 1999, Griffith left WEWS despite the fact that he was offered a new position at the station. In May 2000, Griffith resurfaced at WKYC to host Fifteen Minutes with Fred, a daily segment that took up the second half of the noon newscast. For the most part, the segment featured Griffith interviewing an expert in a certain field.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">At the end of September 2003, WKYC eliminated their noon newscast, replacing it with an 11 a.m. newscast called The Midday Report. Along with the new newscast came the premiere of Studio 3, which replaced Fifteen Minutes with Fred and starred Fred Griffith and morning meteorologist Hollie Strano. Studio 3, which aired at 11:30 a.m., featured topics similar to that of the former Morning Exchange. However, ratings for the show were low throughout its entire run.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">At the start of the new TV season in September 2005, WKYC needed to fill the hour gap left by the syndicated Life and Style which was cancelled. WKYC decided to expand Studio 3into the one-hour Good Company which airs at 10 a.m., allowing Channel 3 to move their midday newscast back to noon.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">The show is hosted by Griffith, Andrea Vecchio (who did the entertainment reports on Studio 3), and Michael Cardamone (a local who appeared on NBC’s Average Joe.) Former WKYC weekend forecaster Eileen McShea had been a co-host of the show from its inception, but left at end of September 2008 over a pay dispute.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[8]

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">There was some question as to why WKYC decided to expand the show to one hour despite Studio 3’s low ratings. This is because unlike The Morning Exchange, most of Good Company’s guests are from companies that advertise on WKYC. As part of the contract between the company and WKYC, the company gets commercial air time plus a segment onGood Company in which they essentially promote their product/service. As a result, WKYC profits off of the show regardless of the ratings.

Newscast titles

 * The Sohio (Esso) Reporter (1948–1956)
 * Today's News/Tonight's News (1956–1959)
 * Eyewitness (1959–1961)
 * Eyewitness News (1961–1965; first station to use this branding)
 * Channel 3 News (1965–1973 and 1984–present)
 * The Sixth Hour Report/The Eleventh Hour Report (1965–1973)
 * TV-3 News (1973–1975)
 * Action 3 News (1975–1984)

Station slogans

 * Cleveland's Channel 3: Living Color (1965-1969)
 * Cleveland's Most Respected Television News Organization (1970–1973; news slogan)
 * People in Action (1976)
 * Where You Belong (1977)
 * Action 3 News is Everywhere (1977; accompanied the "Where You Belong" campaign)
 * Channel 3, See Us! (1978-1979; local version of NBC ad campaign)
 * You've Got a Friend on 3 (1979)
 * Channel 3, Proud As A Peacock! (1979-1981; local version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Channel 3, Our Pride Is Showing (1981-1982; local version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Channel 3, Just Watch Us Now (1982–1983; local version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Channel 3, WOW, Be There! (1983-1984; local version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Channel 3, Let's All Be There! (1984-1986; local version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Turn to 3 (1984-1990; it had an accompanying upscale musical jingle by Frank Gari)
 * Come Home and Turn to 3 (1986-1987; local version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Come on Home and Turn to 3 (1987-1988; local version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Come Home To The Feeling, Turning to 3 (1988-1990; local version of NBC "Come Home To The Best, Only on NBC" promotional campaign)
 * Channel 3: Turn To Us! (1990-1992; local version of NBC "The Place To Be!" ad campaign)
 * The New Channel 3 (1991-1992)
 * We're Building Our Station Around You (mid 1990s)
 * News That's More Local (early 2000s)
 * Report the Facts. Respect the Truth. (2004-2010)
 * We Keep You Connected (2010-present; slogan derived from station callsign)

Current on-air staff
(as of April 2011) Anchors


 * Amanda Barren - weekdays at noon, morning show contributor
 * Lynna Lai- weekend evenings
 * Eric Mansfield - weekend evenings, Akron/Canton reporter
 * Erin Kennedy - weekday mornings
 * Russ Mitchell- weeknights at 6 and 11 p.m.
 * Robin Swoboda- weeknights at 7 p.m.
 * Kris Pickel - weeknights at 6 and 11 p.m.
 * Chris Tye- weekday mornings
 * Kim Wheeler - weekend mornings and noon, education reporter

Weather


 * Betsy Kling (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and NWA Seals of Approval) - meteorologist; weeknights
 * Bruce Kalinowski (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekend evenings and Thursday-Friday at noon
 * Marcus Walter- weekend mornings & Sunday-Wednesday at noon
 * Hollie Strano (NWA) - meteorologist; weekday mornings

(*) - WKYC's weather team also provides forecasts for WTAM, WMJI, and WHLK Radio.

Sports*


 * Jim Donovan - sports director; weeknights, also Browns play-by-play announcer
 * Dave Chudowsky - sports anchor; weekend evenings, also sports reporter and sideline reporter for Browns telecasts
 * Doug Dieken - Browns analyst
 * Tony Grossi - Browns analyst
 * Mike Hargrove - color analyst for select Indians telecasts
 * Bernie Kosar - color analyst for Browns telecasts
 * Rick Manning - color analyst for Indians telecasts
 * Lynn Olszowy - sports reporter
 * Al Pawlowski - Indians pregame host/fill-in announcer, also fill-in sports anchor
 * Sam Rutigliano - Browns analyst
 * Jason Stanford - Indians analyst
 * Matt Underwood - play by play announcer for Indians telecasts
 * Katie Witham - field reporter for Indians home telecasts

(*) - WKYC's sports team is also regularly featured on SportsTime Ohio

Reporters


 * Tom Beres - political reporter
 * Pat Butler - WTAM 1100 traffic reporter (embedded at WKYC)
 * Micheal Cardamone - co-host of Good Company/feature reporter
 * Joe Cronauer - Good Company contributor
 * Del Donahoo - senior issues reporter
 * Matt Granite - web/consumer reporter with daily "Ways 2 Save" segments for WKYC and sister station WGRZ. <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-8" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[9]
 * Maureen Kyle - consumer reporter
 * Jennifer Lindgren - general assignment reporter
 * Tom Meyer - investigative reporter
 * Kevin Myeroff CPA - financial expert
 * Monica Robbins - health reporter
 * Dick Russ - managing editor/general assignment reporter
 * Darrielle Snipes - general assignment reporter
 * Dave Summers - general assignment reporter
 * Paul Thomas - general assignment reporter (husband of Betsy Kling)
 * Andrea Vecchio - co-host of Good Company/entertainment reporter

Cable coverage in Canada
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">When atmospheric conditions allow, WKYC's signal can be picked up as far away as Detroit and in Ontario in Windsor and London (Ontario). The station is readily available over-the-air to Kingsville, Leamington, and Pelee Island, and was once one of the three stations from Cleveland carried on local cable in those three locations; WEWS and WJW-TV were the others available until 2000, when Cogeco displaced Shaw Cable as the cable provider for Essex County.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">On October 16, 2009, the Windsor Star had notified readers that digital subchannels of the Detroit and Toledo stations would be added, while the Cleveland stations (such as WKYC) and some Toledo stations would have to be dropped from the listings to make room for them, starting with the next issue of the TV Times, released the next day. The only Cleveland local station remaining in the Windsor-area TV Times is WUAB.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">WKYC was also carried on cable channel 3 in London, Ontario prior to 1974, but was bumped to make room for the newly-launched Global Television Network.