The station is the oldest in Cleveland to maintain the same channel position (as an analog broadcaster), ownership and call letters since its sign-on.

[5] Its staff included capable producers Jim Breslin and Betty Cope, who would later become president of WVIZ (channel 25).

In Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co., the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment did not shield WEWS from liability from common law copyright claims.

[10] On May 23, 1994, as part of an overall deal in which network parent News Corporation also purchased a 20% equity interest in the group, New World Communications signed a long-term affiliation agreement with Fox to switch thirteen television stations that New World owned or was acquiring from a Big Three network, including WJW-TV, to Fox.

[11][12] The deal was motivated by the National Football League (NFL)'s awarding of the rights to the National Football Conference (NFC) television package to Fox on December 18, 1993, in which the conference's broadcast television rights moved to the network effective with the 1994 NFL season, ending a 38-year relationship with CBS.

WAKR-TV (channel 49) began operations on June 7, 1953, as a primary ABC affiliate,[17] two years prior to WEWS joining the network.

[29] Following consummation of a subsequent sale to Paxson Communications, the station's entire news department was fired outright on February 28, 1996,[30] and all ABC programming was dropped that December 31.

[31] Paxson ultimately used the renamed WVPX-TV as a charter affiliate for the Pax TV network—a direct antecedent of Ion Television—which launched on August 31, 1998.

On December 3, it started Edge at 10 a.m. on a one-day delay, and then later pushed up to 10:30 to make way for the national syndication of the talk show Donahue.

[39] The rest of the time slot was the emergency procedure, a black screen with live organ music that had not been used in over 20 years.

[44] On May 23, 2010, WEWS-TV's broadcast of the series finale of Lost was almost completely interrupted and rendered unwatchable by a number of technical difficulties with the station's digital signal.

Let's Ask America would eventually be canceled in 2015, and WEWS would replace it with the long running celebrity gossip program Access Hollywood.

[47][48] The station also acquired Katie Couric's new talk show and placed it at 3 p.m. following General Hospital's shift to 2 pm, a move that many other ABC affiliates also made.

[49][50][51] At present, only the program now known as Live with Kelly and Mark continues to air on channel 5 from the original stable of hit syndicated shows.

[5] WEWS also offered a 90-minute afternoon variety show The One O'Clock Club weekdays hosted by Fuldheim and Bill Gordon.

Artists who appeared on Upbeat included Aretha Franklin, The Beatles, The Supremes, Simon and Garfunkel, Otis Redding and Stevie Wonder.

The next afternoon, his twin-engine airplane crashed in the icy waters of Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin, killing all but one of the eight passengers on board.

On June 2, 2011, NBC affiliate WKYC (channel 3) announced that the station had acquired the rights to air the lottery drawings, as well as its Saturday night game show Cash Explosion.

It was the first morning show to use a "living room" set, and the first to establish the now familiar concept of news and weather updates at the top and bottom of the hour.

[58] WEWS-TV has a long history of covering Cleveland sports teams both produced in-house by the station or through ABC's network coverage.

From 2015 to present, channel 5 is the official station for the NFL's Cleveland Browns, airing all non-network preseason games as well as year-round team centered programming.

[citation needed] WEWS also aired select Indians games as part of ABC's MLB broadcast contract from 1976 to 1989.

27-year-old John Hambrick took over as lead anchor on WEWS' evening newscasts on Christmas Day in 1967, with Fuldheim staying on as a commentator.

Among those doing their first Cleveland co-anchor stints with Jacocks were Tim Taylor and Wilma Smith (both of whom, coincidentally, would later anchor together at rival WJW).

Fuldheim's role decreased as she only presented her interviews and commentaries, but still appeared on the air three times a day until retiring in July 1984 at the age of 91.

The broadcast was originally hosted by Wilma Smith and Don Webster, and retained many elements from The Afternoon Exchange, such as interviews, movie reviews, health reports, and some cooking segments.

The new branding helped emphasize a format developed by the station the year prior, when WEWS positioned itself as "Cleveland's (Live) 24 Hour NewsSource".

Bibb had served as an anchor/reporter at the station since 1995 (coming over from WKYC where he had spent 16 years previous), while Jordan started at WEWS in 1987 as a co-host of The Morning Exchange before becoming an evening news anchor in 1993.

The Ohio Historical Society placed a marker right outside TV 5's building, specifically noting Dorothy Fuldheim's career at the station.

5.3 was activated on April 7 and ran continuous promos for the network's launch prior to the official premiere date.