WFAA Dallas

Combined with the Mavericks games already slated to air as part of the NBA on ABC between now and the end of the season, Mavericks’ fans across Dallas-Fort Worth will now have access to 13 free over-the-air games in the span of 11 weeks.

The ratings race is competitive and Dallas-Fort Worth residents hope their Cowboys, led by Dak Prescott, are, too.

Six days after a mass shooting that killed nine, WFAA Dallas aired a special for the community to share their feelings and thoughts about the issues of mental health and guns.

Jimmy Kimmel delivered an emotional monologue about the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school May 25 on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and the monologue was interrupted by a commercial break on Tegna’s WFAA Dallas. The station said it was an error, apologized and offered the full monologue at WFAA.com.

Brad Ramsey, president and general manager of Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA and SVP of Tegna, talks about what happened and when the news cycle switched from “what happened” to “why did this happen?”

WFAA’s David Schechter and parent company Tegna are putting ordinary people in Dallas in the role of reporters to tackle divisive issues like climate change, racism and Trump’s border wall. The results, longer-form Verify Road Trip stories on digital and broadcast, are gaining both viewers and trust.

TV stations are arming themselves with software that allows them to slice and dice social media to gauge audience interest in stories, share viewer feedback and even predict what stories will become larger issues in the future. Other software speeds social integration into newscasts.