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WNYW

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WNYW-TV, channel 5, is the flagship television station of the Fox Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in New York City. The station's transmitter is atop the Empire State Building and its studio facilities are located in Manhattan's Yorkville neighborhood. WNYW is a sister station to Secaucus, New Jersey-based WWOR-TV (channel 9), the New York area's MyNetworkTV flagship station.

WNYW-TV
Fts-new-york-a
New York, New York
Branding Fox 5 New York (general)
The News on Fox 5 (newscasts)
Channels Digital: 44 (UHF)

Virtual: 5 (PSIP)

Subchannels 5.1: Fox (O&O)
5.2: Movies!
5.3: Fox Weather

5.4: TheGrio.TV
5.5: Decades

Affiliations Fox
Owner Fox Television Stations

(Fox Television Stations, Inc.)

First air date May 2, 1944
Call letters' meaning disambiguation of former WNEW-TV callsign
Sister station(s) WWOR-TV
Former callsigns WABD (1944-1958)

WNEW-TV (1958-1986)

Former channel number(s) Analog:

4 (VHF, 1944-1945)

5 (VHF, 1946-2009)

Former affiliations DuMont (1944-1956)

Independent (1956-1957, 1958-1975)
PBS (1957-1958)

Transmitter power 246 kW
Height 367 m (1,204 ft)
Facility ID 22206
Transmitter coordinates 40°44′54.4″N73°59′8.4″W
Website www.fox5ny.com

In the few areas of the eastern United States where viewers cannot receive Fox network programs over-the-air, WNYW is available on satellite via DirecTV, which also provides coverage of the station to Latin American countries and on JetBlue's LiveTV inflight entertainment system. WNYW is also available on cable in the Caribbean. As of March 4, 2009, WNYW is once again available on Dish Network as part of All American Direct's distant network package.

History[]

The DuMont era[]

The station traces its history to 1938, when television set and equipment manufacturer Allen B. DuMont founded W2XVT (re-named asW2XWV in 1944), an experimental station. On May 2, 1944, the station received its commercial license — the third in New York City — on channel 4 as WABD after DuMont's initials. It was one of the few stations that continued broadcasting during World War II, making it the fourth-oldest continuously broadcasting commercial station in the United States. The station broadcast from 515 Madison Avenue and on December 15, 1945 WABD was reassigned from channel 4 to channel 5.

Soon after channel 5 received its commercial license, DuMont Laboratories began a series of experimental coaxial cable hookups between WABD and W3XWT, a DuMont-owned experimental station in Washington, D.C. (now WTTG). These hookups were the beginning of theDuMont Television Network, the world's first licensed commercial television network. DuMont began regular network service in 1946 with WABD as the flagship station. In 1954, WABD and DuMont moved into the $5 million DuMont Tele-Centre at 205 East 67th Street in theYorkville section of Manhattan, inside the shell of the space formerly occupied by Jacob Ruppert's Central Opera House. A half-century later, channel 5 is still headquartered in the same building, which was later renamed the Metromedia Telecenter, and is known today as the Fox Television Center.

The Metromedia era[]

200px-Wnyw-center

The Fox Television Center, 205 East 67th St. in New York City, was opened by DuMont in June 1954 and is the station's current studio.

In the early 1960s, WNEW-TV produced children's shows such as Romper Room (until 1966, when it moved to WOR-TV), The Sandy Becker Show, and The Sonny Fox Show, which was later known as Wonderama. Bob McAllister took over hosting Wonderama in 1967 and by 1970,Wonderama was syndicated to Metromedia's other stations. WNEW-TV also originated the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon in 1966, and broadcasted it annually until 1986. In the 1970s, local programming also included a weekly public affairs show hosted by Gabe Pressman, andMidday Live, a daily talk/information show hosted by Lee Leonard, and later by Bill Boggs.By February 1955, DuMont realized it could not continue in network television, and decided to shut down network operations and operate WABD and its Washington sister station, WTTG (also operating on channel 5), as independents. After DuMont aired its last network broadcast in August 1956, DuMont spun off WABD and WTTG as the "DuMont Broadcasting Corporation", which changed its name in early 1958 to Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation. In 1958, Washington-based investor John Kluge acquired controlling interest in Metropolitan Broadcasting and installed himself as the company's chairman. WABD's operations were merged with WNEW radio (1130 AM, now WBBR; and 102.7 FM, now WWFS), also owned by Kluge. Channel 5's call letters were changed on September 7, 1958 to WNEW-TV to match its new radio sisters. Metropolitan Broadcasting would change its corporate name to Metromedia in 1961; however, the Metropolitan Broadcasting name was retained for Metromedia's TV and radio properties until 1967.

By the 1970s, the station was one of the strongest independent stations in the country. Despite its two rivals' eventual status as national superstations, WNEW-TV was the highest-rated independent in New York. From the early 1970s to the late 1980s, channel 5 was a regional superstation available in large portions of the Northeast, including most of upstate New York, and portions of eastern Pennsylvania and southern New England.

Transition to Fox[]

In 1986 Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, who had recently bought controlling interest in the 20th Century Fox film studio, purchased the Metromedia television stations including WNEW-TV. The station's call letters were changed on March 7, 1986 to WNYW and it and the other Metromedia stations formed the cornerstone of the Fox network, with WNYW as the flagship station. Initially, WNYW's schedule changed little, as Fox only aired network programming on weekends. Channel 5 initially continued its format of cartoons and sitcoms into the late 1980s.

Murdoch had one local obstacle to overcome before his purchase of channel 5 could become final. The News Corporation had been publishing the New York Post since 1976, and Federal Communications Commission rules of the time did not allow common ownership of newspapers and broadcast licenses in the same city. Murdoch was granted a temporary waiver of this prohibition in order to complete the Metromedia television purchase. The News Corporation would sell the Post in 1988, but reacquired the paper five years later with a permanent waiver of the cross-ownership rules.

Starting in the late summer of 1986, WNYW produced the nightly newsmagazine A Current Affair, one of the first shows to be labeled under the tag "tabloid television". Originally a local program, it was first anchored by Maury Povich, formerly of WTTG (and who would later do double-duty, albeit briefly on WNYW's newscasts as an anchor). Within months of its launch,A Current Affair was on the other Fox-owned stations and in 1988 the series went into national syndication, where it remained until its cancellation in 1996.

On August 2, 1988, the station dropped the morning cartoons in favor of a morning newscast called Good Day New York. WNYW became the first Fox-owned station as well as Fox affiliate with a weekday morning newscast, and within five years of its launch it became the top-rated morning show in the New York market. Today it remains a viable competitor to the network morning shows, and the success of Good Day New York led to other Fox-owned stations launching morning shows of their own, notably Fox Morning News on WTTG, Fox News in the Morning on WFLD-TV in Chicago and Good Day L.A. on KTTV in Los Angeles.

From 1999 to 2001, WNYW was the broadcast home of the New York Yankees, displacing long-time incumbent WPIX.

In 2001, Fox bought most of the television interests of Chris-Craft Industries, including WNYW's former rival, WWOR-TV. In the fall of 2001, WNYW dropped the Fox Kids weekday block and moved it to WWOR-TV, where it ran for a few more months before being cancelled at the end of the year. Some office functions have been merged, but most of the stations' operations remain separate. Fox announced plans to merge the two stations' operations in 2004, with WWOR-TV moving from its studios in Secaucus to the Fox Television Center. However, it backed off later in the year under pressure from New Jersey's congressional delegation.

As a result of the September 11 attacks in 2001, the transmitter facilities of WNYW as well as eight other local television stations and several radio stations were destroyed when two hijacked airplanes crashed into and destroyed the World Trade Center towers. Since then, WNYW has been transmitting its signal from the Empire State Building. The station had previously transmitted from the Empire State Building until moving to the World Trade Center in the 1970s.

On September 16, 2009 during the 10 p.m. newscast, anchor Ernie Anastos cursed live on air while engaging in banter with chief meteorologist Nick Gregory.[1] The video in which Anastos said to Gregory, "I guess it takes a tough man to make a tender forecast" and then added, "keep fucking that chicken", gained some notoriety when it and multiple other videos of the on-air gaffe were uploaded on YouTube,[2] and made him and WNYW the subject of a joke on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live. Anastos apologized for the incident the following night's 10 p.m. newscast, saying "I misspoke during last night's broadcast, I apologize for my remarks to anyone who may have been offended."[3]

Digital programming[]

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Digital channels

 Channel  Name  Programming 
5.1  WNYW-DT1   Main WNYW-TV Programming / Fox (HD)
5.2  WNYW-DT2 Movies!
5.4 WNYW-DT4 TheGrio.TV
5.5 WNYW-DT5 Decades

WNYW will add the transmitter on top of the new 1 World Trade Center, will be setting in 2013.

Analog-to-digital conversion[]

At 11:59pm ET on June 12, 2009, WNYW discontinued regular analog programming on channel 5. [4] The station's analog signal faded to black during the closing credits of The Simpsons, although it did not show the copyright or closing logos. It remained on its pre-transition channel 44,[5] using PSIP to display WNYW's virtual channel as 5. It carried WWOR's programming on digital subchannel 5.2 until 2009 when it changed the PSIP data to identify the virtual channel carrying WWOR's programming to 9.2. Subchannel 9.2 still remains multiplexed with WNYW 5.1 on RF channel 44.

News operation[]

250px-Fox 5 NewsHD

WNYW's HD news open, as of November 2008.

In the early days, Channel 5 had newscasts before The 10 O'Clock News, starting way back on May 2, 1944, when Channel 5 began their original newscast Late Night News, which would seen for just one year.  In 1945, it rebranded as TV5 Late Report, which would be on for 17 years.  And then, from 1962 to March 10, 1967, it rebranded again, this time as TV5 24 Hours.

The station is home to one of America's longest-running primetime local newscasts. The 10 O’Clock News (now Fox 5 News at Ten) premiered on March 13, 1967, as New York's first primetime newscast. Each night, The 10 O'Clock News was preceded by the simple, but now-famous announcement: "It's 10:00 p.m. ... Do you know where your children are?". While its exact origins are unknown,[6] staff announcer Tom Gregory was one of the first people to say this famous line that WNEW pioneered. Other television stations in the country have adopted this for their own 10 p.m. (or 11 p.m.) slots (which may depend on the start of the local youth curfew in each market). Celebrities were often used in the 1980s to read the slogan, and for a time in the late 1970s, the station added a warmer announcement earlier in the day: "It's 6:00 p.m. ... Have you hugged your child today?"WNYW broadcasts a total of 43 hours of local news a week (8 hours a day, 2 hours Saturday and 1 hour on Sunday), more than any other television station in New York City and New York state; however as is standard with Fox stations that carry early evening weekend newscasts, WNYW's Saturday and Sunday 6 p.m. newscasts are subject to delay or preemption due to sports coverage.

Another popular segment on The 10 O'Clock News, starting in 1975 and continuing to 1985, were nightly op-ed debates which pitted conservative Martin Abend against liberal Professor Sidney Offit. The debates could become shrill with Abend often descending into acrimonious personal invective.[citation needed]

WNYW also aired a 7 p.m. newscast from 1987 to 1993, known as Fox News at Seven. In August 1988, WNYW launched Good Day New York, a program comparable to the Today Show, Good Morning America or The Early Show. In 1991 a new and eventually very popular music package was composed for the show by Edd Kalehoff, a New York composer who is best known for composing the themes and music cues for several game shows, notably The Price Is Right. Since the Fox takeover, WNYW's newscasts have become more tabloid in style and has been fodder for jokes, even to the point of being parodied on Saturday Night Live, and the consumer reporting segment The Problem Solvers receiving the same treatment on The Daily Show.[citation needed]

In 2002, WNYW added a 90-minute block of newscasts from 5-6:30 p.m. on weekdays, giving the station just under 40 hours of local news per week, which is the most of any television station in New York City. In 2004, two events occurred involving the WNYW news department. Longtime anchor John Roland, a 35-year veteran of channel 5, retired from the station on June 4, 2004. Len Cannon, a former NBC News correspondent who had joined WNYW as a reporter and anchor some time earlier, was initially named as Roland's replacement. Then, several months later, veteran New York City anchorman Ernie Anastos signed a multi-year contract with WNYW, despite the fact that he was at the time anchoring at WCBS-TV. The signing would displace Cannon as lead anchor, and shortly after it was announced, he asked for, and was granted, a release from contractual obligations with the station. Anastos joined WNYW in July 2005, and Cannon joined KHOU-TV in Houston as its lead anchor in the spring of 2006.

In areas of New Jersey where the New York and Philadelphia markets overlap, both WNYW and sister station WWOR-TV share resources with Philadelphia sister station WTXF-TV. The stations share reporters for stories occurring in New Jersey counties served by both markets.

On April 3, 2006, WNYW revamped their entire on-air appearance with a new set, new music, new graphics, and a new logo. The new graphics and logo package was later standardized for all of News Corp.'s Fox stations. Channel 5 is also one of the first Fox owned-and-operated stations to launch a MyFox powered website, which features video, more detailed news, and new community features such as blogs and picture galleries.

On November 9, 2008, WNYW began broadcasting their newscasts in high-definition, becoming the fifth New York City television station to do so. On July 13, 2009, a fifth hour of Good Day New York was added, from 9-10 a.m. In exchange for the hour, the midday newscast was dropped. In the fall of 2009, WNYW began sharing its news helicopter with NBC owned-and-operated WNBC. The SkyFox HD helicopter operated by WNYW on-air was renamed "Chopper 5"; However, as of 2010, the SkyFox name has been reinstated for on-air use, while the "Chopper 4" name continues to be used by WNBC.

News/station presentation[]

Newscast titles[]

  • Late Night News (1944–1945)
  • TV-5 Late Report (1945–1962)
  • TV-5 24 Hours (1962–March 10, 1967)
  • The 10 O'Clock News (late newscast; March 10, 1967–2001, 2021-present)[7]
  • Channel 5 News (1980s-1987)
  • Fox Channel 5 News (1987–1997)
  • Good Day New York (morning newscast; August 1, 1988–present)[8]
  • Fox 5 News (1997–2021)[9]
  • The News on Fox 5 (2021-present)
    • The Noon (noon newscast)
    • The 5'O Clock News (early newscast)
    • The 6'O Clock News (evening newscast)

Station slogans[]

  • New York's Window On The World (1944-1973)
  • Take 5! (late 1970s)
  • Turn to 5 for a Change (1976)
  • The Choice is Channel 5, Metromedia New York 5 (1977–1978)
  • We Give You a Choice (1978–1980)
  • Your Choice is 5 (1980-1984)
  • Forty Years of Fine Tuning (1984–1985)
  • Don't Let Fox 5 Weekend Pass You By (1987-1988; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
  • Fox 5, This is the Year (1988-1990; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
  • It's on Fox 5 (1990-1992; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
  • You're Watching Fox 5 (1992-1993; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
  • Tough Enough for New York (1992-1993; news slogan)[10]
  • Fox 5, You're Watching It (1993-1994; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
  • It Could Only Happen on Fox 5 (January-September 1994; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
  • Fox 5 is Kickin' It (1994-1995)
  • The Spirit of 5 / We're Gonna Keep it on Fox 5 (1994-1995; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
  • Non-Stop Fox 5 (January-October 1996; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
  • Just One Fox 5 (1997-2002; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
  • What New Yorkers Watch (2001–2006)[11]
  • Fox 5 NOW (2002–2006)
  • The Most Powerful Name in Local News (2006–2020; news slogan)
  • Fox 5 On (2007-2008; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
  • So Fox 5 (2008-2009; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
  • Experience the Magic (2009–2012; general slogan)

Gallery[]

News team[]

Current on-air staff

Anchors

  • Ernie Anastos - weeknights at 6:00 p.m. (2005-present)
  • Dari Alexander - weeknights at 5:00 and 10:00 p.m. (2006-present)
  • Steve Lacy - weeknights at 5:00 and 10:00 p.m. (2011-present)
  • Sukanya Krishnan - weekday mornings on Good Day Wake Up (4:30-7:00 a.m.) (2017-present)
  • Christina Park - weekends at 6:00 and 10:00 p.m. (2007-present)
  • Antwan Lewis - weekends at 6:00 and 10:00 p.m. (2010-present)
  • Lori Stokes - weekday mornings on Good Day New York (7:00–10:00 a.m.) (2017-present)
  • Rosanna Scotto - weekday mornings on Good Day New York (7:00–10:00 a.m.) (1986-present)
  • Jennifer Lahmers - weekday mornings on Good Day Wake Up (4:30-7:00 a.m.) (2012-present)

Weather team

  • Nick Gregory (AMS Seal of Approval)- chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5:00, 6:00 and 10:00 p.m. (1986-present)
  • Audrey Puente (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekends at 6:00 and 10:00 p.m. (2012-present)
  • Mike Woods (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings on Good Day Wake Up (4:30-7:00) and Good Day New York (7:00-10:00 a.m.) (2001-present)

Sports team

  • Tina Cervasio - sports anchorr; weekends at 6:00 and 10:00 p.m.
  • Erika Wachter - sports director; weeknights at 6:00 and 10:00 p.m.., also co-host of Sports Extra (Sundays at 10:30 p.m.) (2016-present)
  • Duke Castiglione - sports anchor; weekday mornings on Good Day New York (7:00-10:00 a.m.), also co-host of "Sports Extra" (Sundays at 10:30 p.m.) (2007-present)

Traffic team

  • Ines Rosales - traffic reporter; weekday mornings (4:30-10:00 a.m.) and weeknights at 5:00 p.m. (2007-present)
Reporters
  • Matt Alvarez- freelance reporter
  • Dan Bowens - general assignment reporter (2010-present)
  • Arthur Chi'en - general assignment reporter
  • Sharon Crowley- general assignment reporter; also fill-in anchor
  • Lidia Curanaj - freelance reporter (2011-present)
  • Liz Dahlem- freelance reporter
  • Stacey Delikat - freelance reporter (2012-present)
  • Lisa Evers - general assignment reporter
  • Jessica Formoso - general assignment reporter (2015-present)
  • Mac King- freelance reporter
  • John Huddy - general assignment reporter
  • Jennifer Lahmers - general assignment reporter; also fill-in anchor (2014-present)
  • Ashley Mastronardi- freelance reporter
  • Linda Schmidt - general assignment reporter (1993-present)
  • Adrianne Supino - freelance reporter
  • Joel Waldman - investigative reporter
  • Simone Boyce- entertainment reporter (2014-present)
  • Kerry Drew - Good Day New Yowk reporter; also fill-in anchor (2012-present)
  • Robert Moses - Good Day New York reporter (2011-present)
  • Roshini "Dr. Raj" Rajapaksa - Good Day New York medical reporter

Notable former on-air staff[]

D Denotes person is deceased.

Cable and satellite carriage[]

2010 Cablevision carriage dispute[]

At midnight on October 15, 2010, News Corporation pulled the signal of WNYW, along with MyNetworkTV affiliate WWOR, Fox Business Network, Fox Deportes and National Geographic Wild from Cablevision systems in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut (News Corporation also pulled WNYW sister station WTXF (channel 29) in Philadelphia, from Cablevision's Philadelphia-area system). The removal of these channels was due to an impasse between Fox and Cablevision on a retransmission agreement renewal in which Cablevision claims that News Corporation demanded $150 million a year for access to 12 Fox channels, including those that News Corporation had removed in response to the dispute.[13]

Cablevision called this an "act of corporate greed" on News Corporation's part, stating "This is an unfortunate attempt to get unreasonable and unfair fee increases from Cablevision and our customers." [14] News Corporation responded to Cablevision's claims, stating "During the past year we’ve submitted numerous proposals to Cablevision in an effort to make sure you continue to receive Fox’s programming. Unfortunately, Cablevision has refused to recognize how much you value our programming and as of October 16, has dropped Fox’s television stations in New York (WNYW 5 and WWOR 9) and Philadelphia (WTXF 29) and Fox Networks’ cable channels: FOX Deportes, Nat Geo WILD, and Fox Business Network."[15]

As of October 30th, 2010 Fox 5 and My 9 are back on the air. On October 14, 2010 Cablevision said that it was willing to submit to binding arbitration and called on Fox not to pull the plug on the channels, though News Corporation chose to reject Cablevision's call for arbitration, stating that it would "reward Cablevision for refusing to negotiate fairly".

In popular culture[]

WNYW was portrayed in an episode of the Fox animated comedy Futurama, titled "When Aliens Attack", in which the station was accidentally knocked off the air by Philip J. Fry in 1999. That resulted in angry Omicronians invading Earth in the year 3000 (having received the broadcast signal 1000 years later being 1000 light-years away) and demanding to see the end of a program which had been cut off for them.

External links[]

References[]

  1. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/18/nyregion/18anastos.html
  2. ^ YouTube - Ernie Anastos: "Keep f*cking that chicken"
  3. ^ Fox anchor Ernie Anastos apologizes for chicken expletive
  4. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
  5. ^ CDBS Print
  6. ^ Elliot, Stuart (March 16, 2007). Do You Know Where Your Slogan Is?. The New York Times, accessed on April 11, 2007, [1]
  7. ^ YouTube - WNEW (now WNYW) New York Channel 5-"The 10 O' Clock Weekend News" 1982 Tease and Open
  8. ^ YouTube - WNYW Good Day NY 1988 Open
  9. ^ YouTube - WNYW Fox 5 10pm News Open
  10. ^ YouTube - WNYW Tough Enough Promos 1991
  11. ^ YouTube - WNYW - Fox 5 News @ 10 Open - 2005
  12. ^ People Who Work At Fox 5 | Fox 5 Reporters
  13. ^ Fox Pulls Channels From Cablevision, TVNewsCheck.com, October 16, 2010. Accessed October 17, 2010.
  14. ^ Cablevision
  15. ^ KeepFoxOn :: Stories
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