WXIN expanded news programming outside its established 10:00 slot on March 29, 1999, when it premiered "Fox 59 a.m." Formatted as a mix of news, entertainment and lifestyle features with a looser, "personality-driven" style inspired by morning radio programs, the show initially aired from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m., replacing paid programming and children's programs that had previously aired in that time period. The program was reformatted as a more traditional morning newscast in 2004, and grew to beat competing local and national morning news programs in the 25-54 age demographic. The station expanded the flagship 10:00 p.m. newscast to one hour on April 17, 2006; until that point, WXIN had been among the largest news-producing Fox affiliates by market size that did not air an hour-long primetime newscast, either on a nightly basis or on weeknights only.