hour-long Fox 16 News at 9:00; it was the second local prime time news program ever attempted in the Little Rock market, following a prior effort by then-WB affiliate KKYK-TV (channel 49, now MeTV affiliate KMYA-DT) that ran from September 1997 to September 1999. The 9:00 p.m. newscast was originally anchored by Donna Terrell (previously weeknight anchor at WWJ-TV/WKBD-TV in Detroit until Viacom Television Stations shuttered the duopoly's news department in 2003) and Kevin Kelly (previously weekday morning anchor at KPNX-TV in Phoenix), chief weather anchor Troy Bridges (previously weekend morning weather anchor at KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City) and sports director David Raath (previously a sports reporter at WEYI-TV in Flint, Michigan). The weekend editions were initially anchored by Kim Betton (previously a reporter at then-Fox owned-and-operated station WHBQ-TV in Memphis, later joining KARK as a reporter in November 2006), meteorologist Nate Higgins (previously chief meteorologist at WREX-TV in Rockford, Illinois) and sports anchor Justin Holgate (previously sports reporter/photographer at then-Tulsa sister station KOKI-TV). Longtime KATV investigative reporter Dewayne Graham (who abruptly left KLRT in February 2005) was also hired to do regular consumer and government investigative reports similar to his former "7 On Your Side" segment at KATV. KLRT began offering news programming outside of the established 9:00 slot on March 19, 2007, when it premiered an hour-long weeknight 5:00 p.m. newscast (formatted as two separate half-hour 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. broadcasts). A half-hour weeknight 10:00 p.m. newscast was added on January 18, 2010, which competed against the longer-established late newscasts on KARK, KATV and KTHV. On April 5, 2011, KLRT became the second television station in the Little Rock–Pine Bluff market (preceded only by KTHV) to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. With the HD conversion, KLRT adopted the "kitebox" logo (albeit absent the Fox searchlights incorporated into the standard design), music (OSI Music's "Fox Affiliate News Theme") and graphics package (a modified version of the Hothaus Creative Design package originally commissioned for fellow Fox affiliate KSWB-TV in San Diego, and used by several other Tribune- and Newport-owned Fox affiliates including KLRT's then-sister stations KOKI-TV and WAWS in Jacksonville) based on the standardized look of Fox's owned-and-operated stations at the time. After Mission acquired KLRT, much of the station's news staff was laid off as the news department was to be consolidated with KARK, including news director Ed Trauschke (who replaced Fabac in 2007) and sports