WCYB's news dominance from the 80s and beyond was largely due to the presence of the station's longtime anchormen Merrill Moore, Johnny Wood, and Steve Hawkins. Merrill joined the station in 1962 as weeknight 11 o'clock anchor and added the weeknight 6 p.m. broadcast in 1964. He remained the station's top anchorman until his retirement in 2000. In the 1960s, News Director Walter Crockett also delivered editorials at 6:25 p.m. daily and Evelyn Booher was one of the first woman newscasters in the Tri-Cities at that time. For most of the time from the 1980s to the early 2000s, WCYB claimed to be the highest-rated television station in the United States. In January 2005, WCYB won the RTNDA's Ultimate Newscast Makeover contest, which includes a new set, graphics and music package at no charge. Their branding is currently "Accurate. Reliable. Getting The Facts Right." Formerly, it was "Accurate. Reliable. To the Point." The latter phrase was dropped from the branding as of the Noon telecast on October 2, 2007. After beginning local production of news in high definition, the branding was changed to "Accurate. Reliable. High Definition."