On November 25, 1976, WFMZ's news department debuted with two daily newscasts at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. weeknights, the same day WFMZ-TV was signed on the air for the first time. Kathy Craine was one of the original WFMZ on-air news talents at the time, and she is still doing the weather at the station. In the late 1980s, the news programs were later rebranded as Channel 69 News and the station's news division was expanded. In 1987, Rob Vaughn joined WFMZ as its main news anchor. In 1989, WFMZ added a 5 p.m. weeknight newscast and a 7 p.m. weeknight news show was moved up to 6 p.m. In November 1989, Nancy Werteen joined the station as the then-Reading, PA's bureau chief. In 1995, WFMZ expanded its news service geographically with the debut of its Berks Edition newscast at 5:30 p.m. weeknights. In 1998, that program was expanded to include a 10:30 p.m. weeknight news broadcast. Beginning in 1997, WFMZ began experiencing significantly enhanced ratings for its news coverage in the Lehigh Valley. Also in 1997, Wendy Davis joined WFMZ as the Berks Edition reporter. In the late 1990s, the station also launched its first Lehigh Valley-focused morning and noon news programs on weekdays. In 2003, the region's first Spanish-language newscast: 69 News en Español, debuted to serve the growing Hispanic community in the Lehigh Valley and Berks County areas. Also in 2003, Wendy Davis moved up from reporting to the anchor desk, by anchoring both the Sunrise and the early evening weekday newscasts, and then Jaciel Córdoba joined the station to anchor the sunrise and noon weekday newscasts. In 2005, WFMZ formed a broadcast partnership with WPVI-TV (channel 6), Philadelphia's ABC owned-and-operated television station. The partnership permitted the two stations to cooperate in news gathering for local stories. In September 2005, Eve Russo joined the station to co-anchor the Sunrise weekday newscasts with Jaciel Córdoba. In May 2008, WFMZ became the fourth television station in the Philadelphia media market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. Also in 2008, Wendy Davis moved to the 10 p.m. & 10:30 p.m. newscasts by becoming Rob Vaughn's co-anchor partner. In October 2014, WFMZ added an hour-long weekday newscast at 4 p.m., making it the third station in the Philadelphia market to broadcast local news in the 4 p.m. timeslot. In February 2015, WFMZ debuted its new street-level studio inside the PPL Center sports arena in Center City Allentown. The station broadcast its noon news program from its PPL Center studio. In November 2017, WFMZ launched newly formatted and expanded newscasts. On September 25, 2023, WFMZ debuted a new 30-minute long 8 p.m. weeknight newscast. Previously, there was a gap in news coverage from 6:30 p.m. weeknights until the 10 p.m. weeknight newscast.