This Week in Television: Debut Newscasts, News Opens & More Podcasts?!

Join Broadcast Plaza for all things media-related:   / discord   September 26, 2026 Back again for another This Week in Television. Recapping the last two weeks with many debut newscasts, some news opens and a whole lot of podcasts. Enjoy! 0:00 WIFR/WREX Rockford News FIrst open (New Brand) - September 14, 2026 WIFR and WREX rebranded on the 14th to Rockford News First. Interestingly enough because of some shows moving from WIFR to WREX, WREX doesn't simulcast the early evening shows from WIFR. They instead have separate 3:30pm, 4:30pm and 6:30pm shows, which I do find interesting. Station presentation otherwise remains the same. 2:06 KEYE CBS Austin This Morning open (New Format..?) - September 14, 2026 This is supposed to be a new format of KEYE's morning show, after the morning anchors John-Carlos Estrada and Jenna Wilson were laid off from the station. I'm not finding much of anything "new" here but this is the open. 4:35 WEVV-DT2 14 News at 6:30PM open (New) - September 14, 2026 5:50 WYMT Mountain News at 7;00PM breaking news open (Debut Newscast) - September 14, 2026 8:10 WYMT Mountain News at 7;00PM open - September 15, 2026 On the 14th, WYMT debuted a new 7PM newscast. What was not announced was that they lost another newscast, their 5:30pm show, to sister station WKYT. Meaning that WYMT has only the 6pm and 7pm newscasts in the early evening that are local to the area. Station presentation otherwise remains the same. 9:20 WRDE CoastTV News at 6PM Open (Updated Tower V.8 Cuts) - September 15, 2026 10:28 WRTV Back Home In Indiana IDs - September 16, 2026 As covered on Broadcast Plaza partner TopicalTVArchives, Circle City Broadcasting revived the "Back Home In Indiana" campaign song exclusively for WRTV. The campaign was original made for WISH 90s. Check out TTVA's video for more:    • WRTV "Back Home Again in Indiana" Theme So...   10:57 WPHL PHL17 Midday News at 11AM open (New Show) - September 21, 2026 12:14 WPHL PHL17 Unscripted open (New Show) - September 21, 2026 On the 14th, WPHL debuted a new midday newscast and a new podcast show following it. Station presentation remains the same on the midday show. The podcast show uses a green variant of the NDC_04 package and the music used is unknown at this time. Steve Davis is the voiceover. 13:29 WKRN Tennessee Today open (New Show) - September 21, 2026 Also on the 14th, WKRN debuted a new podcast like show called "Tennessee Today." Station presentation remains the same and evening anchor Bob Mueller is the voiceover. 14:33 KAMR The Top 4 open (New Show) - September 21, 2026 Also fairly new, KAMR launched "The Top 4" show sometime within the last two weeks. I initially thought this would've aired at 4pm (hence the name), but it does a whole hour earlier at 3 lol. Music used for the show is production music "Info Underscore" from Access Music. 15:56 WOOD-TV In The Loop open (New Show) - September 21, 2026 More podcasts! Also on the 14th, streaming exclusive show "In The Loop" moved on-air to WOOD during the 7;30pm timeslot. Music used for the open is production music "The Headlines" from PMOL Music. 17:36 KPRC Enough open (New Show/Format) - September 21, 2026 On September 13th, KPRC redid their entire 10pm evening newscast for a more investigative vibe and called it "Enough." It is obviously pre-recorded at some time during day. Music used for the short open sounds like production music. 19:18 WTVW Eyewitness News at 6;30PM open (New Format) - September 22, 2026 On the 21st, WTVW's 6;30pm evening show switched to the podcast format. Due to the station sitting in black, I'm not sure if the open remains unchanged or new. Station presentation otherwise remains the same. 21:05 WHNS FOX Carolina The Seven O'Clock News (Debut Newscast) - September 22, 2026 22:43 Spectrum News NECN - 6PM Hour (Debut) - September 23, 2026 Check out more of NECN's debut under Spectrum News from Broadcast Plaza partner ‪@BNSTC1‬ here:    • Spectrum News NECN - 7PM - 9/23/2026 (Laun...   25:05 WUPW FOX 36 News Daybreak open - September 25, 2026 26:07 WUPW News 11 at 10PM on FOX 36 open - September 25, 2026 These are the final weekday newscasts WTOL produced for WUPW. Effective Monday, WTVG will be handling the news operations for the station, as Gray brought the station along with five others from American Spirit Media over the summer. Station presentation otherwise remains the same. 27:19 WCJB Weekend Wakeup Open (New Graphics & Music) - September 26, 2026 28:23 KOAT CBS New Mexico Debut Newscast Promo To note, WHTM also has a podcast-style show on the weekends and was planned to be included in this week's video, however the station sat in black for nearly two minutes and had multiple technical difficulties. I ultimately decided to just not include it. No copyright infringement intended. For removal requests or questions, contact me using the email listed in my About section.