Larry Yellen and Natalie Bomke

Minutes before air time last Saturday, WFLD-Channel 32 canceled its late newscast because of a glitch in an automated operating system, according to multiple sources at the Fox-owned station.

Weekend news anchors Larry Yellen and Natalie Bomke were on the set and ready to go live when the station abruptly aborted the newscast and shifted to entertainment programming. Viewers were given no explanation for the switch.

Dennis Welsh, vice president and general manager of Fox 32, did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

A delayed edition of Fox 32’s 9 p.m. newscast was to have aired following Saturday's Fox Sports broadcast of NASCAR auto racing. The last-minute decision to drop it occurred at about 10:40 p.m. after what one insider called “a major equipment meltdown.”

Even for a station that’s been plagued by technical malfunctions and other embarrassing snafus in recent years, the cancellation of a scheduled newscast was unprecedented, sources said.