KUSI became active in the local television news race when it launched its news department with the introduction of an hour-long 10:00 p.m. newscast in September 1990. Originally anchored by veteran television anchors Roger Grimsby and George Reading, it was the first television station in San Diego to begin producing local newscasts since XETV's original news department folded in 1972, after it lost the ABC affiliation to KCST (channel 39, now NBC owned-and-operated station KNSD). Grimsby resigned in 1991 after he felt the station's news format was becoming too typical. On January 5, 1994, the station debuted a three-hour weekday morning newscast from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. Originally anchored by Laura Buxton and Tom Blair (who was later replaced by Stan Miller), it gradually became a competitor to the national morning newscasts aired during the final two hours of the program.