Throughout the 18-year run of KTKA's original news department (which was renamed "49 Eyewitness News" in 1989, then to "News Source 49" in 1995), the station's newscasts never gained much traction against WIBW-TV and KSNT, continually remaining in third place behind its established competitors. As a result of the continued viewership struggles and a decline in compensation revenue from ABC, KTKA shut down its news department on April 19, 2002, causing the layoffs of nine full-time and 17 part-time staffers; as a result of the shutdown of the original news department, KTKA-TV became one of the few Big Three affiliates that did not air any local newscasts—a group that includes CBS owned-and-operated station WWJ-TV in Detroit and NBC affiliate WTWC-TV in Tallahassee, Florida.