KPTM presently broadcasts six hours of locally-targeted newscasts each week (with an hour each on Sunday through Fridays). After Fox requested its affiliates to air local newscasts in the early 1990s, KPTM established a news department and began airing a half-hour prime time broadcast at 9 p.m. on June 14, 1990. Within a year, "The Nine O'Clock Nightly News" was expanded to one hour. From the start, the station put a greater emphasis on national coverage over local content; it also presented more packaged news reports.