In July 1997, WBKP established its first news department in an attempt to offer an alternative to longtime dominant WLUC. The NBC affiliate has led the area in Nielsen ratings for newscasts by a wide margin for its entire existence. For most of its history, CBS affiliate WJMN only provided brief Upper Peninsula-specific news and weather cut-ins that were taped in advance. WJMN finally began airing full, live newscasts (seen weeknights at 6 and 11) with a Marquette focus on April 21, 2014.