As a CBS affiliate, WSBA-TV ran a small news department branded as "NewsWatch 43". In 1980, the station relaunched its news department as a much larger operation, and retitled its newscasts to "TeleJournal News". The station's signal prevented the competitive newscast from being seen throughout the market, however, preventing it from adequately competing against the established news departments of the other local Big Three network affiliates in the Susquehanna Valley (including NBC affiliate and longtime market leader WGAL, ABC affiliate WHTM, fellow CBS affiliates WHP-TV and WLYH); as a result, the news department was discontinued in 1983.