Local newscasts debuted on channel 59 the day it started operations as WPDS-TV on February 1, 1984, with an hour-long 10:00 p.m. newscast, titled "59 Headline News"; it was co-anchored by Ken Owen, who later served as an anchor at WISH-TV, WANE and WRTV. Unable to compete with WTTV's longer-established primetime newscast in the ratings (which itself was canceled with the November 1990 shutdown of channel 4's news department), the program was cancelled in the fall of 1984. For the next six years, channel 59's news programming consisted solely of 60-second news and weather updates, branded as "WXIN News Extra", that aired during commercial breaks within the station's daytime and evening programming.