WFAA (channel 8) is a

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the ea ...

licensed to

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

, United States, serving the

Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, officially designated Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is a conurbated metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Texas encompassing 11 counties and anchor ...

as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Decatur-licensed

Estrella TV Estrella TV () is an American Spanish-language broadcast television network owned by the Estrella Media subsidiary of HPS Investment Partners, LLC. The network primarily features programs, the vast majority of which are produced by the network ...

affiliate

KMPX KMPX (channel 29) is a television station licensed to Decatur, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex as an affiliate of the Spanish-language Estrella TV network. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Dallas-licensed ABC ...

(channel 29), which provides a full-market high definition simulcast of WFAA's main channel on its

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...

physical channel assigned to channel 8.8, due to long-term issues involving WFAA's digital

VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...

signal. WFAA maintains studio facilities and business offices at the

WFAA Communications Center Studios WFAA Communications Center Studios are the main studio operations for Tegna, Inc. owned television stations WFAA, an ABC affiliate, and KMPX, an Estrella TV affiliate; located at 606 Young Street in Dallas, Texas. WFAA and Nexstar Media Group-owne ...

on Young Street in

downtown Dallas Downtown Dallas is the central business district (CBD) of Dallas, Texas, United States, located in the geographic center of the city. It is the second-largest business district in the state of Texas. The area termed "Downtown" has traditionally ...

(next to the offices of its former sister newspaper under the ownership of former parent company Belo, ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...

''); sister station KMPX maintains separate facilities on Gateway Drive in Irving. WFAA's transmitter is located in

Cedar Hill, Texas Cedar Hill is a city in Dallas and Ellis counties in the U.S. state of Texas. It is located approximately southwest of downtown Dallas and is situated along the eastern shore of Joe Pool Lake and Cedar Hill State Park. Per the 2020 United States ...

. WFAA is the largest ABC affiliate by market size that is not owned and operated by the network through its

ABC Owned Television Stations ABC Owned Television Stations is a division of Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution operated by Disney Networks Group that oversees the owned-and-operated stations of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), a division of The Walt Disney ...

subsidiary. This also makes Dallas the largest media market with a " Big Four" station (ABC,

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

, Fox) that is not owned by that respective network. It is also the only station among the Big Four in the Dallas–

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...

market that is not network-owned and operated.

History

Early history

The initial application for the television station was filed on October 23, 1944, when local businessman Karl Hoblitzelle, owner of

movie theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

chain Interstate Circuit Theatres, applied with the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

(FCC) to obtain a

construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...

and

license A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

to operate a television station on VHF channel 8; it was the first such license application for a television station in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

. Hoblitzelle planned to operate the station out of the Republic Bank building in downtown Dallas, and even conducted a

closed-circuit television Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly tr ...

broadcast of the opening of one of his properties, the Wilshire Theatre. Texas oil magnate Tom Potter filed a separate application for the Channel 8 license and was ultimately awarded the permit over Hoblitzelle. OriginalKBTVandWFAAstationsite

The station first signed on the air at 8 p.m. on September 17, 1949, as KBTV, with a fifteen-minute ceremony inaugurating the launch of Channel 8 as its first broadcast; KBTV broadcast for one hour that evening, with the remainder of its initial schedule consisting of its first locally produced program, the

variety series Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a compère ...

''Dallas in Wonderland''. Potter founded and operated the station through the Lacy-Potter TV Broadcasting Company, which he partially controlled. It was the third television station to sign on in Texas (behind WBAP-TV (channel 5, now

KXAS-TV KXAS-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, United States, broadcasting NBC programming to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongs ...

) in nearby Fort Worth, which signed on almost one year earlier on September 29, 1948; and KLEE-TV (now

KPRC-TV KPRC-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Graham Media Group. Its studios are located on Southwest Freeway (I-69/US 59) in the Southwest Management District (formerly Greater ...

) in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

, which debuted on January 1, 1949), the second station in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and the first to be licensed to Dallas. The station originally operated from studio facilities located at Harry Hines Boulevard and Wolf Street, north of downtown Dallas. When the station commenced its full schedule on September 18, KBTV had broadcast for only four hours of programming per day. It originally operated as a primary affiliate of the

DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being ...

and a secondary affiliate of the short-lived

Paramount Television Network Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

; under the arrangement, through an agreement between Lacy-Potter and

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

, the station agreed to air 4.75 hours of Paramount Television's programming each week during 1949. KBTV,

affiliate WBAP-TV and

affiliate KRLD-TV (channel 4, now Fox owned-and-operated station KDFW)—the latter of which was also licensed to Dallas and signed on three months later on December 3—would be the only television stations in the Dallas–Fort Worth area to sign on for the next six years as the FCC had instituted a freeze on new applications for television station licenses in November 1948, a moratorium that would last for four years.

Belo ownership and ABC affiliation

Lacy-Potter Television Broadcasting lost $128,020 in net revenue during its four-month stewardship of KBTV, leading Tom Potter to make the decision to put the station up for sale. The A.H. Belo Corporation, owner of ''

'', had attempted to launch a new television station in Dallas two years earlier, when it applied for a construction permit to build transmitter and broadcasting facilities for a proposed station that would have transmitted on VHF channel 12. The FCC rejected Belo's application and, following the issuance of the Sixth Report and Order that lifted the agency's freeze on new television station licensing applications in 1952, eventually chose to reassign the Channel 12 allocation to

Waco Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the s ...

(after the agency assigned that same channel to

Ardmore, Oklahoma Ardmore is the county seat of Carter County, Oklahoma, United States. According to the 2010 census, the city had a population of 24,283, with an estimated population of 24,698 in 2019. The Ardmore micropolitan statistical area had an estimated ...

, where it would be licensed to

KXII KXII (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Sherman, Texas, United States, serving the Sherman, Texas–Ada, Oklahoma market as an affiliate of CBS, MyNetworkTV, and Fox. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains studios on Te ...

, the FCC would eventually move the VHF channel 12 allocation from Waco to Abilene, which became home to present-day ABC affiliate KTXS-TV). Complicating matters, the agency's moratorium on new license applications, which the FCC instituted to sort out the backlog of prospective applicants that already filed to build such operations, left Belo with the sole recourse of acquiring a television station that was already on the air if it wanted to own one in the Dallas–Fort Worth area. In January 1950, Belo purchased KBTV from Lacy-Potter for $575,000; the sale received FCC approval on March 13, 1950, with Belo formally assuming control of Channel 8 on March 17. The station was the first television property to be owned by the Dallas-based company, and also served as the

flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyalt ...

of its broadcasting division until Belo merged with the

Gannett Company Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.KLIF). The WFAA calls reportedly stood for "Working For All Alike," although the radio station later billed itself as the "World's Finest Air Attraction" (the KBTV call letters were later used from 1953 to 1984 by what is now sister station

KUSA Kusa or KUSA may refer to: * Kusa, Russia, a town in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia * Kusa, Latvia, a village in Madona District, Latvia * Kusa, Oklahoma, United States * Kusa, indigenous name of Beles River (in Gumuz language) * Kusa, Afghanistan ...

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, and since 1999 are used by a

Beaumont station Beaumont station is an Amtrak station in Beaumont, Texas, served by the ''Sunset Limited'' service. Station buildings The current station building and adjacent police substation were constructed in 2012 and opened on September 14 of that year. ...

). WFAA is one of a relatively limited number of broadcast television stations located west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

whose call letters begin with a "W"; the FCC normally assigns

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally ass ...

s prefixed with a "K" to television and radio stations with cities of license located west of the river and broadcast call signs prefixed with a "W" to stations located east of the river. The anomaly in the case of the WFAA television and radio stations is due to the fact the policy predates the launch of the former, as Dallas was originally located east of the original "K"/"W" border distinction defined by the FCC. In 1950, WFAA switched its primary affiliation to NBC, and also affiliated with ABC on a secondary basis. DuMont shut down in 1955, amid various issues that arose from its relations with Paramount that hamstrung it from expansion. Although it had been apparent from the start that Dallas and Fort Worth (which

Arbitron Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging ...

originally designated as separate

media market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

s) were going to be collapsed into a single television market due to their close proximity, ''

Fort Worth Star-Telegram The ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'' is an American daily newspaper serving Fort Worth and Tarrant County, the western half of the North Texas area known as the Metroplex. It is owned by The McClatchy Company. History In May 1905, Amon G. Carte ...

'' owner Amon G. Carter—who founded WBAP-TV through his company, Carter Publications—did not care whether residents in Dallas could view that station; WFAA affiliated with NBC under a time share arrangement with WBAP-TV to expand coverage of the network's programming to areas of central and eastern Dallas County that only received rimshot coverage of the Channel 5 signal. After ownership of Carter Publications transferred to his familial heirs after Carter suffered a fatal

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

two years before, in early 1957, NBC threatened to strip WBAP-TV of its affiliation if it did not agree to move its transmitter eastward to reach the entire Dallas area. Belo had attempted to get an exclusive NBC affiliation first, and approached the network with an offer to make WFAA its exclusive affiliate for the entire market. The network also approached the Roosevelt family-owned Texas State Network about affiliating with

independent station An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, marke ...

KFJZ-TV (channel 11, now CBS owned-and-operated station

KTVT KTVT (channel 11) is a television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, United States, broadcasting CBS programming to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outl ...

), which had earlier moved its transmitter to the antenna farm in

Cedar Hill Cedar may refer to: Trees and plants *''Cedrus'', common English name cedar, an Old-World genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae *Cedar (plant), a list of trees and plants known as cedar Places United States * Cedar, Arizona * ...

. Carter's heirs—who initially did not want to move the transmitter closer to Dallas, in their aim to continue Carter's legacy of civic boosterism for Fort Worth—eventually agreed to NBC's demands that it move WBAP-TV's transmitter facilities to Cedar Hill, installing a transmitter antenna on a

candelabra tower A candelabra (plural candelabras) or candelabrum (plural candelabra or candelabrums) is a candle holder with multiple arms. Although electricity has relegated candleholders to decorative use, interior designers continue to model light fixtures ...

that was already shared by WFAA and KRLD-TV, and operate it at a higher

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would h ...

strong enough to adequately cover Dallas. WFAA lost its NBC affiliation on September 1, 1957, as the network had awarded WBAP-TV the exclusive affiliation for the Dallas–Fort Worth market as a byproduct of the transmitter relocation and signal boost; this left Channel 8 as an exclusive affiliate of the then-low-rated ABC. Channel 8 became known for its heavy schedule of local programs during the period from the 1950s through the 1980s. The most popular was a show aimed at younger audiences;

Jerry Haynes Jerome Martin "Jerry" Haynes (January 31, 1927 – September 26, 2011) was an American actor from Dallas, Texas. He is most well known as Mr. Peppermint, a role he played for 30 years as the host of one of the longest-running local children's show ...

hosted a local children's program on the station on-and-off from 1961 to 1996. Originally debuting in March 1961 as ''Mr. Peppermint'', Haynes (who donned a red- and white-striped jacket and straw hat in his portrayal of the titular character, accompanied by a candy-striped cane) starred alongside a variety of

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods or strings to move ...

characters (performed by Vern Dailey) and presented various segments from educational content to

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of imag ...

shorts; five years after ending its original nine-year run on WFAA in 1970, the program was revived as the half-hour magazine-style educational series ''Peppermint Place'' in 1975, running for 21 additional years—expanding into syndication for its final seven—until the program ended its collective 30-year run in July 1996. Other notable WFAA local productions included the music series ''The Group And Chapman'' and its progenitor ''

Sump'n Else ''Sump'n Else'' was an American live teen dance television show that aired from 1965 to 1968 on Channel8 WFAA-TV in Dallas, Texas, formatted similarly to ''American Bandstand''. Hosts The show featuring a youthful host, Ron Chapman, who went ...

'' (both of which were hosted by Ralph Baker Jr. and Ron Chapman), ''Dallas Bandstand'' (also hosted by Haynes), lifestyle and fashion talk program ''The Julie Bennell Show'' (hosted by ''Dallas Morning News'' food editor Julie Bennell), the viewer Q&A series ''Let Me Speak to the Manager'' (originally titled ''Ask the Manager'' and later named ''Inside Television'' for the final four years of its run, co-hosted by Belo vice president Myron "Mike" Shapiro), and local versions of the '' Dialing for Dollars'' and ''

PM Magazine ''PM/Evening Magazine'' is a television series with a news and entertainment format. It was syndicated to stations throughout the United States. In most areas, ''Evening/PM Magazine'' was broadcast from the late 1970s into the late 1980s. Origi ...

'' franchises. Channel 8 also served as the original Dallas–Fort Worth home of the magazine series ''

Texas Country Reporter ''Texas Country Reporter'' is a weekly syndicated television program, hosted and produced by Bob Phillips and Kelli Phillips, which airs in all twenty-two Texas media markets, generally on weekends, and nationally on the satellite/cable channel ...

'', after host

Bob Phillips Robert Leon Phillips, known as Bob Phillips (born June 23, 1951), is an American television journalist best known for his long-running program ''Texas Country Reporter''. In 2005, Phillips was inducted into the Silver Circle of the Lone Star ...

, who originated it on KDFW in September 1972 as the locally produced ''4 Country Reporter'', sold the series into regional syndication (airing on WFAA under the title ''8 Country Reporter'') in 1986. In 1958, WFAA became the first television station in the market to use a

videotape Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videoca ...

recorder for broadcasting purposes; the station would gradually shift much of its locally produced programming from a live to a pre-recorded format, outside of newscasts, sports and special events, and eventually became one of the first television stations in the U.S. to convert its news footage to videotape in the 1970s. During the 1958–59 television season, WFAA served as the taping location for Jack Wyatt's ABC true crime

reality series Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early ...

, ''

Confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...

'', in which assorted criminals explained why they chose to reject the mores of society and turn to crime. On April 2, 1961, the station's operations were relocated to the

, a state-of-the-art broadcasting complex located at Young and Record Streets in downtown Dallas; the former studio facilities on Harry Hines Boulevard were subsequently purchased by North Texas Public Broadcasting for use as the broadcasting facilities for

National Educational Television National Educational Television (NET) was an American educational broadcast television network owned by the Ford Foundation and later co-owned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It operated from May 16, 1954 to October 4, 1970, and ...

station KERA-TV (channel 13, now a PBS member station). The Communications Center complex housed three production studios, offices and sound recording studios for the WFAA radio stations as well as ''The Dallas Morning News'' headquarters. The first live telecast to originate from the building was ''Young America Speaks'', a 13-week intercollegiate debate tournament series (the first such program ever televised), which aired until June of that year. In 1974, Texas State Sen. Jim Wade filed a motion to the FCC, challenging Belo's renewal application for the Channel 8 license and strip it of rights to operate WFAA; Wade's efforts, in which he also attempted to convince the FCC to award the television station's license to him, would prove unsuccessful as the agency chose to approve renewal of the existing license owned by Belo. Over time, Belo gradually expanded its television broadcasting unit. The company acquired its second television station in 1969, when it purchased

KFDM-TV KFDM (channel 6) is a television station in Beaumont, Texas, United States, affiliated with CBS, The CW Plus, and Fox. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to Port Arthur–licensed Dabl affiliate KBTV-TV (cha ...

in Beaumont from Beaumont Broadcasting, later followed in 1980 by its purchase of WTVC in

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020 ...

. Among its purchases in later years, Belo acquired the Corinthian Broadcasting subsidiary of

Dun & Bradstreet The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation is an American company that provides commercial data, analytics, and insights for businesses. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, the company offers a wide range of products and services for risk and financia ...

in December 1983, adding six additional stations—including CBS affiliate

KHOU KHOU (channel 11) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Conroe-licensed Quest station KTBU (channel 55). Both stations share studios on Westheimer Road near Uptow ...

in Houston—to its portfolio (forcing the respective sales of KFDM and WTVC to Freedom Communications, and of

WISH-TV WISH-TV (channel 8) is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is locally owned by Circle City Broadcasting alongside Marion-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WNDY-TV (channel 23) and low-power, C ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

and WANE-TV in

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

LIN Broadcasting LIN Media was an American holding company founded in 1994 that operated 43 television stations. All except one were affiliates of the six major U.S. television networks. One of the remaining stations was a low powered weather station in Ind ...

, to comply with FCC ownership limits); and added ten additional stations through its 1997 merger acquisition of the

Providence Journal Company ''The Providence Journal'', colloquially known as the ''ProJo'', is a daily newspaper serving the metropolitan area of Providence, Rhode Island, and is the largest newspaper in Rhode Island. The newspaper was first published in 1829. The newspap ...

. By 1999, when it purchased ABC affiliate KVUE in

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

from the Gannett Company, Belo owned television stations in Texas' four largest television markets (WFAA, KHOU, KVUE and CBS affiliate

KENS KENS (channel 5) is a television station in San Antonio, Texas, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Fredericksburg Road in northwest San Antonio, near the South Texas Medical Center, w ...

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

). In May 1984, WFAA unveiled one of the most successful station image campaigns in the United States with the launch of the "Spirit of Texas", which was created in commemoration of the forthcoming 1986 sesquicentennial of Texas' independence. The promotions that aired as part of the campaign focused on the region's cultural heritage, accompanied by an imaging theme written by James R. Kirk of TM Productions, who composed it as part of an associated music package that was used for the station's newscasts until 1991. All of the news themes that WFAA commissioned afterward had carried the TM Productions theme's seven-note musical signature (including the "WFAA 1992 News Theme" from 1992 to 1996; four packages composed by McKinney-based

Stephen Arnold Music Founded in 1993 by Stephen Arnold, Stephen Arnold Music is a Dallas-sonic branding agency and full-service music production company, with additional studios in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Often referred to as the most-heard, least-known composers in ...

: "The Spirit" from 1996 to 2000, the "Custom WFAA-TV News Package" from 2000 to 2004, a variation of Arnold's "News Matrix" from 2004 to 2005 and "Evolution" from 2004 to 2007; and the

615 Music 615 Music is a broadcast production music company based in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded by Randy Wachtler. 615 Music composes television news music packages and custom image campaigns for many television networks around the world. 615 Music al ...

-composed "Propulsion" from 2006 to 2014). The "Spirit" image campaign and/or slogan was also adapted by some of its Belo-owned

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

s (such as KHOU in Houston,

WVEC WVEC (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Hampton, Virginia, United States, serving the Hampton Roads area as an affiliate of ABC. The station is owned by Tegna Inc., and maintains studios on Woodis Avenue in Norfolk; its transmitte ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

WWL-TV WWL-TV (channel 4) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Slidell-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WUPL (channel 54). Both stations share studios on Rampart St ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

and

KXTV KXTV (channel 10) is a television station in Sacramento, California, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on Broadway, just south of US 50 at the south edge of downtown Sacramento, and its tra ...

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

) and by television stations owned by other companies such as future Tegna sister station

KIII KIII (channel 3) is a television station in Corpus Christi, Texas, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on South Padre Island Drive ( SH 358) in Corpus Christi, and its transmitter is loca ...

in Corpus Christi. In addition, the "Spirit" image campaign was sometimes used in conjunction with its accompanying theme (KHOU used the original TM-composed theme from 1986 to 1989, with the themes it used until 2014 also incorporating the "Spirit" signature including the custom John Hegner-composed "American Spirit", which was used from 1994 to 2000). WFAA discontinued the signature after three decades on August 27, 2014, when it switched to

Gari Media Group Frank Daniel Garofalo (born April 1, 1944), known professionally as Frank Gari, is an American singer-songwriter and composer. Early life Gari was a popular singer and songwriter from the late 1950s and early 1960s. His best known songs as a ...

's standardized package for Gannett's stations, "This is Home" (the station's news graphics and imaging were also overhauled to match Gannett's mandated look at that time); however, the station continues to use its longtime "Spirit of Texas" slogan, which is still used sparingly in some on-air promotions. On January 14, 1987, the Hill Tower transmitter facility in Cedar Hill (which was jointly owned by WFAA and KDFW) was struck by a

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

F-4 Phantom The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and Bo ...

as it was performing training exercises while on approach to the Dallas Naval Air Station. The jet clipped several

guy-wire A guy-wire, guy-line, guy-rope, or stay, also called simply a guy, is a tensioned cable designed to add stability to a free-standing structure. They are used commonly for ship masts, radio masts, wind turbines, utility poles, and tents. A ...

s; however, its two occupants had ejected themselves from the aircraft and parachuted to the ground before it crashed. The tower consortium between the two stations decided to have a new -tall tower constructed a southwest of the original facility, which was completed in 1989. The candelabra mast that encompassed the upper of the former tower, meanwhile, was dismantled (reducing its height to ), with new transmitters installed to serve as auxiliary facilities for WFAA, KDFW and radio stations KJMZ (100.3 FM, now

KJKK KJKK (100.3 FM broadcasting, FM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station in Dallas, Dallas, Texas and serving the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. It is owned by Audacy, Inc., and airs an adult hits radio format known as "Jack FM." The stati ...

), KMEZ (107.5 FM, now

KMVK KMVK (107.5 FM, "La Grande 107.5"), is a commercial radio station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas and serving the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The station is owned and operated by Audacy, Inc. KMVK broadcasts in Spanish and airs a radio form ...

), KQZY (105.3 FM, now

KRLD-FM KRLD-FM (, "105.3 The Fan") is a commercial radio station licensed to Dallas, Texas, and serving the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. KRLD-FM is owned by Audacy, Inc., and airs a sports radio format. The station's studios and offices are located a ...

KKDA-FM KKDA-FM (104.5 MHz), known as K104, has been a leading radio station in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex for 46 years. It is a longtime heritage urban contemporary formatted station. It is owned by Service Broadcasting Corporation alongside K ...

(104.5) and KMGC (102.9 FM, now KDMX). In April 1998, when

KTEN KTEN (channel 10) is a television station licensed to Ada, Oklahoma, United States, serving the Sherman, Texas–Ada, Oklahoma market as an affiliate of NBC, The CW Plus, and ABC. The station is owned by Lockwood Broadcast Group, and maintain ...

(which had been affiliated with ABC on a part-time basis since its sign-on in 1956) disaffiliated from the network, WFAA began serving as a default ABC station for areas near and south of the Red River within the adjacent Sherman–

Ada Ada may refer to: Places Africa * Ada Foah, a town in Ghana * Ada (Ghana parliament constituency) * Ada, Osun, a town in Nigeria Asia * Ada, Urmia, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Ada, Karaman, a village in Karaman Province, T ...

market—including Gainesville, and the southern

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

cities of Ardmore, Durant and Hugo—through its existing availability on most cable providers in the region ( KOCO-TV in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

served as the primary default affiliate for the northern counties of the DMA in south-central Oklahoma). However, residents in extreme

North Texas North Texas (also commonly called North Central Texas) is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the north central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort Wo ...

could view most ABC programs that were preempted by KTEN via WFAA for several years beforehand, particularly after the former switched to a primary NBC affiliation in 1986 (steadily reducing ABC-provided content on its schedule to select daytime and prime time programs by 1994, when it added an additional primary affiliation with Fox). The market would regain an ABC station of its own when KTEN launched a

digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compres ...

affiliated with the network on May 1, 2010. Despite this, WFAA remains available on some

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

providers in the southern half of the market;

Cable One Cable One, Inc. is an American broadband communications provider. Under the Sparklight brand, it provides service to 21 states and 900,000 residential and business customers. It is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, though it does not serve that ...

, however, removed the station from its Sherman and Denison systems on February 26, 2015, due to a clause in its retransmission agreement with KTEN that precluded it from carrying any other ABC stations from nearby markets. On

January 1 January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the ye ...

, 1999, Belo launched

Texas Cable News Texas Cable News (TXCN) was an American regional cable news television channel that was owned by the Gannett Company. The channel operated out of offices in Dallas, Texas, located on Young Street in the city's downtown district. Background Beginn ...

(TXCN), a statewide cable news channel that initially featured rolling news, weather and sports content, as well as public affairs, sports-talk and entertainment news programs, utilizing staff and resources from WFAA and sister stations KVUE, KHOU and KENS, and ''The Dallas Morning News''. TXCN switched to a format primarily consisting of repackaged newscasts featuring segments seen on each of Belo's Texas-based stations, and in-house weather segments on January 1, 2005, citing limited cable distribution in Texas' largest television markets for the format change that resulted in the

layoff A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing (reducing the ...

s of 45 of the channel's employees. Following its acquisition of Belo, Gannett shut down Texas Cable News on May 1, 2015. On July 20, 2005, Belo announced that it had reached an agreement with real estate developer Hillwood Capital to build a secondary studio facility in the eastern tower of the Plaza Towers complex then under construction in the Victory Park development at the corner of Olive and Houston Streets (adjacent to the

American Airlines Center The American Airlines Center (AAC) is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the Victory Park neighborhood in downtown Dallas, Texas. The arena serves as the home of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association and the Dallas St ...

). The facility, which opened in January 2007, incorporates a street-level studio where most of the station's news programming (with the exception of the 10 p.m. newscast) and the local talk show ''Good Morning Texas'' is produced, and houses news production staff and engineering operations; initially, the building also housed certain operations run by Belo's other Dallas-based properties, including its publishing division. The WFAA Communications Center continues to house the station's newsroom and most other business operations (including its

master control Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a production control room (PCR) in television studios where the activities such as swi ...

, traffic, advertising and programming departments). On October 1, 2007, Belo announced plans to split off its broadcasting and newspaper interests into two independent companies. WFAA would remain with the broadcasting entity, which retained the Belo Corporation name and was structured as the legal successor to the previous company, while the newspaper division (which in addition to ''The Dallas Morning News'', included among other publications '' Al Día'', '' Neighborsgo'' and ''

Quick Quick, as an adjective, refers to something moving with high speed. Quick may also refer to: In business * Quick (restaurant), a Belgian fast-food restaurant chain * Quick (sportswear), a Dutch manufacturer of sportswear * Quick (automobile) ...

'') was spun off into the similarly named, shareholder-held entity

A. H. Belo Corporation DallasNews Corporation, formerly A. H. Belo Corporation (), is a Dallas-based media holding company of The Dallas Morning News and Belo + Company. The current corporation was formed when Belo Corporation separated its broadcasting and publi ...

(the name used by the original company from 1865 to 2001). The split – which was completed on February 8, 2008 – ended the joint ownership of WFAA television and ''The News'' after 59 years, becoming the last of the three newspaper/television broadcasting combinations in the Dallas–Fort Worth market to be separated into different companies (KXAS-TV was co-owned with the ''Star-Telegram'' from September 1948 until Carter Publications sold the former two properties and radio stations WBAP (820 AM) and

KSCS KSCS (96.3 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, and serving the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The station is owned by Cumulus Media and broadcasts a hot country music radio format. The studios are in the Victory Par ...

(96.3 FM) to separate companies in 1974, while KDFW was co-owned with the '' Dallas Times-Herald''—which ended publication after Belo acquired the newspaper in December 1991—from December 1949 until the

Times Mirror Company The Times Mirror Company was an American newspaper and print media publisher from 1884 until 2000. History It had its roots in the Mirror Printing and Binding House, a commercial printing company founded in 1873, and the ''Los Angeles Times'' ...

sold the latter to the

MediaNews Group MNG Enterprises, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Digital First Media and MediaNews Group, is a Denver, Colorado-based newspaper publisher owned by Alden Global Capital. The company has been growing its portfolio and as of May 2021, owns ove ...

in 1986). However, WFAA and ''The News'' continued to maintain a news content partnership through the end of 2013, at which time the newspaper entered into a collaborative agreement with KXAS-TV.

Gannett/Tegna ownership

On June 13, 2013, the Gannett Company announced that it would acquire Belo for $1.5 billion (the purchase price would increase to $2.2 billion by the merger's completion). The deal was granted FCC approval on December 20, and was finalized on December 23. Through the merger with Gannett, WFAA became the company's largest television station by market size (supplanting CBS-affiliated sister station WUSA in Washington, D.C., which has been owned by the company since 1986); it also marked channel 8's first ownership change in 63 years. This also marked Gannett's reentry in the Dallas–Fort Worth market since its ownership of radio station KOAI/KHKS (106.1) from 1989 to 1997. Additionally in July 2014, WFAA gained new sister stations in nearby markets—including NBC affiliate

KCEN-TV KCEN-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Temple, Texas, United States, serving Central Texas as an affiliate of NBC. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on North 3rd Street in downtown Temple, with a news bureau and ...

in Waco and its Bryan

semi-satellite A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...

KAGS-LD KAGS-LD (channel 23) is a low-power television station licensed to Bryan, Texas, United States, serving the Brazos Valley as an affiliate of NBC. The station is owned by Tegna Inc., and maintains studios on South Texas Avenue in Bryan and a tran ...

, CBS affiliate

KYTX KYTX (channel 19) is a television station licensed to Nacogdoches, Texas, United States, serving East Texas as an affiliate of CBS and The CW Plus. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station has studios near Loop 323 in the southeastern portion of Tyler ...

Tyler Tyler may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tyler (name), an English name; with lists of people with the surname or given name * Tyler, the Creator (born 1991), American rap artist and producer * John Tyler, 10th president of the United ...

and Fox affiliates

KXVA KXVA (channel 15) is a television station in Abilene, Texas, United States, affiliated with Fox and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station broadcasts from a transmitter located in rural southwestern Callahan County. Its operations and ...

in Abilene and KIDY in

San Angelo San Angelo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tom Green County, Texas, United States. Its location is in the Concho Valley, a region of West Texas between the Permian Basin to the northwest, Chihuahuan Desert to the southwest, Osage Pl ...

—through Gannett's purchase of six television stations owned by the Dallas-based London Broadcasting Company, which based its portfolio of broadcasting properties exclusively within Texas (independent station

KTXD-TV KTXD-TV (channel 47) is a television station licensed to Greenville, Texas, United States. Owned by Cunningham Broadcasting and serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, it carries programming from the four digital multicast television network ...

(channel 47) in nearby Greenville was one of two stations that London exempted from the deal, along with

MeTV MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television program ...

affiliate

KCEB KCEB (channel 54) is a television station in Longview, Texas, United States. It is broadcasting public domain movies, interspersed with Infomercials, and is owned by Innovate Corp. alongside Tyler, Texas, Tyler-licensed low-power broadcasting#T ...

in Tyler, although FCC ownership regulations did not play a factor in the case of KTXD and WFAA as the Dallas–Fort Worth market had enough full-power television stations to allow a fourth

duopoly A duopoly (from Greek δύο, ''duo'' "two" and πωλεῖν, ''polein'' "to sell") is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market. It is the most commonly studied form of oligopoly due to its simplicit ...

). On August 5, 2014, Gannett announced that it would split its broadcast and print media properties into separate publicly traded companies. Once the corporate separation was finalized on June 29, 2015, WFAA became part of

Tegna Tegna Inc. (stylized in all caps as TEGNA) is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into t ...

, which was structured as the legal successor of the old Gannett and assumed ownership of the original company's non-publishing assets (including the broadcasting unit and most of its digital media properties); the Gannett Company, meanwhile, was re-established as a new company absolved of all existing debt that retained its predecessor's newspapers (including the company's flagship publication, ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'') and select digital assets not acquired by Tegna. On September 25, 2020, WFAA would gain a sister station when Tegna acquired

(channel 29) from

Estrella Media Estrella Media (formerly known as Liberman Broadcasting, Inc. from 1987 to October 14, 2019 and LBI Media, Inc. from October 15, 2019 until February 2, 2020) is an American media company based in Burbank, California, owned by private equity firm ...

which airs its

network over that station. The sale was completed on November 20 with KMPX moving most of its internal operations days later into WFAA's Communications Center Studios on Young Street. While KMPX continues to serve as an Estrella TV affiliate, the signal is utilized to provide a full-market high definition simulcast of WFAA's main channel (which remains on VHF channel 8) for those who only have a UHF antenna. The deal also includes a five-year affiliation agreement between Estrella and Tegna, as well as an option for Estrella to purchase WFAA's VHF license. If the five-year agreement to sell the station to Estrella is carried out in full, Estrella would purchase the license and transmitter assets of WFAA, and the two stations would swap physical channels, with WFAA then taking KMPX's FCC

facility ID The facility ID number, also called a FIN or facility identifier, is a unique integer number of one to six digits, assigned by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Media Bureau to each broadcast station in the FCC Consolidated Databas ...

and in technicality, KMPX moving to the channel 8 facility ID established in 1949.

Pending sale to Cox Media Group

On February 22, 2022, Tegna announced that it would be acquired by Standard General and Apollo Global Management for $5.4 billion. As a part of the deal, WFAA and KMPX, along with their Austin sister station KVUE and Houston sister stations KHOU and KTBU would be resold to Cox Media Group.

Radio

WFAA (AM)

WFAA (AM), which would eventually serve as the sister radio station to WFAA television, first signed on the air on June 26, 1922. The station had long participated in a time-sharing arrangement with Fort Worth radio station WBAP, which was maintained as the latter operated at various frequencies; it originally began in 1922, when WBAP (which first went on the air on May 2 of that year, nine weeks before WFAA began operations) transmitted at 630 kHz and continued until 1927, before resuming when that station moved to 800 kHz in 1929 and settling when WBAP moved its current frequency at 820 kHz in 1941. In 1947, WFAA and WBAP began time-sharing on a second frequency, 570 kHz, which was formerly occupied by KGKO. Until WFAA (AM) began to transmit full-time on 570 kHz in 1970, WBAP and WFAA were engaged in the somewhat bizarre situation of having to switch back and forth between the 570 and 820 frequencies at various times of the day: WBAP broadcast on 820 AM from midnight to 6:00 a.m., with WFAA taking over the frequency space until noon; WBAP returned to the 820 signal for a few hours, before WFAA once again took over the frequency. WFAA had control over 820 during prime evening hours, when the 50,000-watt clear channel signal could often be heard as far west as

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and as far east as

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

(at the time, there were significantly fewer radio stations that were operating at night, reducing the likelihood of interference). WFAA was the first radio station in Texas to join a national network (becoming an affiliate of the

NBC Red Network The NBC, National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (known as the NBC Red Network prior to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in operation from 1926 through 2004. Along with the Blue Network, NBC Blue Network it was ...

in 1927, four years after it agreed to join the network), co-founded the Texas Quality Network, and was the first Texas station to carry educational programs, to produce a serious radio drama series, to air a state championship

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

game and the first to broadcast an inaugural ceremony (that of Texas Governor Ross Sterling in 1931). The station's original on-air staff members and reporters consisted of columnists and editors employed with ''The Dallas Morning News''. WFAA (AM) was home to the long-running morning program, ''The Early Birds'', hosted by John Allen (and which was one of the early appearances by

Dale Evans Dale Evans Rogers (born Frances Octavia Smith; October 31, 1912 – February 7, 2001) was an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She was the third wife of singing cowboy Roy Rogers. Early life Evans was born Frances Octavia Smith on ...

, who would later go on to star in several

western films Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that i ...

with actor husband

Roy Rogers Roy Rogers (born Leonard Franklin Slye; November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998) was an American singer, actor, and television host. Following early work under his given name, first as co-founder of the Sons of the Pioneers and then acting, the rebra ...

); as well as programs such as the

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is co ...

series ''Hymns We Love'', hosted by Norvell Slater; music programs ''Saturday Night Shindig'', ''The Big D Jamboree'' and ''Slo-and-Ezy''; the agricultural news program ''Murray Cox RFD''; and later, ''57 Nostalgia Place''. Many of the early Dallas television pioneers began their careers at WFAA radio, including Ed Hogan, one of the most well-known personalities in Dallas during the early years of television. After maintaining an entertainment/variety format for many years, the station became a Middle of the Road (MOR) music station in 1970, before switching to a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "cont ...

format in 1973. On

November 9 Events Pre-1600 * 694 – At the Seventeenth Council of Toledo, Egica, a king of the Visigoths of Hispania, accuses Jews of aiding Muslims, sentencing all Jews to slavery. * 1277 – The Treaty of Aberconwy, a humiliating settleme ...

, 1976, the station made its final format change, adopting a news and talk-based schedule (as "Newstalk 570"). WFAA (AM) was initially based its operations in a 9×9-ft tent on the roof of the ''Dallas Morning News'' headquarters, before relocating to the newspaper's library. On October 1, 1925, it later moved to the 17th floor of the Baker Hotel at the southeast corner of Commerce and Akard Streets in downtown Dallas (which would be demolished in 1980), and then moved to facilities atop the Santa Fe Railroad Warehouse on Jackson Street on June 20, 1941 (the building still has the "WFAA" calls clearly painted along a panel on the top floor). On April 4, 1961, it moved to the WFAA Communications Center at Young and Record Streets. On July 2, 1983, its call letters were changed to KRQX.

WFAA-FM

WFAA-FM signed on October 5, 1946 as KERA-FM (no relation to the current

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a tr ...

and television station using those call letters). It was the first FM radio station to sign on in Texas, although its roots can be traced back to two test stations that signed on years prior: an experimental trial that dated back to 1939, and experimental FM station W5X1C, which signed on October 15, 1945. By 1947, WFAA-FM had moved from its original frequency at 94.3 FM to a preferred location at 97.9. With FM broadcasting in its infancy, the station signed on and off the air for months—and even going silent for two years—at a time, before settling on a permanent broadcast schedule by 1965. Initially acting as a simulcast of the AM station, WFAA-FM programmed a MOR and

Beautiful Music Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator mu ...

format until 1973, when it changed to

album oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. Album-orient ...

(AOR) under the call letters KZEW-FM (branded as "The Zoo") on September 16, 1973. The station's concept and programming were initially under the direction of Ira Lipson, who brought in talent such as John LaBella and John Rody ("LaBella and Rody"),

George Gimarc George Douglas Gimarc ( ; born 1957) is an American disc jockey, record and radio program producer and author based in Texas and is in the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. He is known for his extensive and authoritative knowledge about the classic rock ...

, Charley Jones, Dave Lee Austin, John B. Wells, Doc Morgan, Nancy Johnson, John Dew, John Dillon and Tempie Lindsey (Wells and Morgan would later serve as the respective primary and secondary

announcers An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience of a broadcast media programme or live event. Television and other media Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations ...

for WFAA television from the 1980s to the early 2000s; Wells primarily did news promos, while Morgan primarily did programming promos). The FM station shared facilities with WFAA-AM on the second floor of the Communications Center building. Belo sold both KRQX and KZEW-FM on January 1, 1987; the FM station has since changed its calls to KBFB and maintains an

urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban conte ...

format.

Subchannel history

WFAA-DT2

WFAA-DT2 is the second digital subchannel of WFAA, broadcasting in-house weather and local programming in

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ...

standard definition on channel 8.2. WFAA launched a digital subchannel on virtual channel 8.2 in 2004, as a locally programmed format under the name "Xpress 8.2". The service, which was later renamed "News 8 Now" (which the station also used as the branding for promotional content and as an alternative program-specific title for the station's newscasts starting in 1996), featured

weather radar Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern weather radars are mostly pulse- ...

imagery, regular news updates and occasional live programming (including content from

ABC News Now ABC News Live (a.k.a. ABCNL) is an American streaming video news channel for breaking news, live events, newscasts, and longer-form reports and documentaries operated by ABC News since 2018. The channel is available through various streaming de ...

), as well as a ticker that displayed local and national headlines. The subchannel was also used to air special programming; in particular, WFAA-DT2 was used to relay wall-to-wall coverage from its sister stations during hurricane season from New Orleans sister station WWL-TV for

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

in August 2005 and

Hurricane Gustav Hurricane Gustav () was the second most destructive hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. The seventh tropical cyclone, third hurricane, and second major hurricane of the season, Gustav caused serious damage and casualties in Haiti, ...

in 2008; and Houston sister station KHOU for

Hurricane Ike Hurricane Ike () was a powerful tropical cyclone that swept through portions of the Greater Antilles and Northern America in September 2008, wreaking havoc on infrastructure and agriculture, particularly in Cuba and Texas. Ike took a sim ...

in 2008 and

Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey was a devastating Category 4 hurricane that made landfall on Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest ...

in 2017. In addition to the weather radar feed, it also carried an audio simulcast of local

NOAA Weather Radio NOAA Weather Radio NWR; also known as NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards is an automated 24-hour network of VHF FM weather radio stations in the United States (U.S.) that broadcast weather information directly from a nearby National Weather Servi ...

station KEC56, with fellow NOAA stations KEC55 in Fort Worth and KXI87 in

Corsicana Corsicana is a city in Navarro County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 45, 56 miles northeast of Waco, Texas. The population was 23,770 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Navarro County, and an important Agri-business ...

used as alternate feeds. On April 30, 2011, the subchannel became an affiliate of

The Local AccuWeather Channel AccuWeather Inc. is an American media company that provides commercial weather forecasting services worldwide. AccuWeather was founded in 1962 by Joel N. Myers, then a Pennsylvania State University graduate student working on a master's degree ...

. In rare instances, this channel space is used to air preempted ABC programming due to live sporting events such as ''

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, ...

'' when the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

are scheduled to play. On January 20, 2020, the subchannel ended its affiliation with The Local AccuWeather Channel (it was one of the last full-power stations still known to be carrying the channel), and began broadcasting in-house weather programming under the name "WFAA Two". The programming consists of local weather outlooks, local and regional radars, local and regional conditions, airport conditions, traffic conditions, various tower cams around Dallas–Fort Worth, and some advertisements. It continues to simulcast audio from NOAA Weather Radio, as well as instrumental music. In February, WFAA Two expanded its content to also include local programming; it planned to carry the home baseball games of Dallas Baptist University in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, COVID-19 pandemic canceled the college baseball season.

WFAA-DT3

WFAA-DT3 is the True Crime Network-affiliated third digital subchannel of WFAA, broadcasting in widescreen standard definition on channel 8.3. WFAA launched a tertiary digital subchannel on virtual channel 8.3 on November 1, 2008 as a charter affiliate of This TV. WFAA-DT3 disaffiliated from the film-focused network on November 8, 2010, when the subchannel became an affiliate of the lifestyle-formatted Live Well Network as a result of a group affiliation agreement between Belo and network parent Disney-ABC Television Group (This TV moved its Dallas affiliation to KDAF (channel 33) on December 7, 2010, when that station began carrying it on digital subchannel 33.3 through the network's affiliation deal with Tribune Broadcasting, which acquired 50% of the network in November 2013). On January 20, 2015, the subchannel became a charter affiliate of the Justice Network (later re-branded True Crime Network), which replaced Live Well on many of the Gannett Company's television stations after Disney-ABC chose to shut down affiliate relations and relegate distribution of Live Well exclusively to ABC Owned Television Stations, ABC's eight owned-and-operated stations, such as KTRK-TV in Houston.

WFAA-DT4

WFAA-DT4 is the Quest (American TV network), Quest-affiliated fourth digital subchannel of WFAA, broadcasting in widescreen standard definition on channel 8.4. On January 29, 2018, WFAA launched a digital subchannel on virtual channel 8.4, to serve as a charter affiliate of Quest, a travel/science/history/adventure-focused network owned by Tegna in conjunction with Cooper Media (which also serves as Justice Network's corporate parent).

Programming

Syndicated and non-news local programming

Broadcast syndication, Syndicated programs broadcast by WFAA () include ''Matter of Fact with Soledad O'Brien'', ''Inside Edition'' and ''Entertainment Tonight'', as well as the Tegna-distributed syndicated shows ''Daily Blast Live'' and ''Sister Circle'' (until the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas, COVID-19 pandemic in 2020). The station also produces the talk, entertainment and lifestyle program ''Good Morning Texas'', which airs weekdays at 9 a.m. and is produced independently of WFAA's news department; the hour-long program, which debuted on September 12, 1994 under original hosts Scott Sams and Deborah Duncan (, it is currently co-hosted by Alanna Sarabia and former KXAS-TV anchor Jane McGarry), served as the basis for other similarly formatted local late-morning talk shows that debuted on its sister stations under Belo ownership in subsequent years. Some of the topics that were shown on ''Good Morning Texas'' were also used during its morning newscasts known as ''News 8 Daybreak''. In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, an extension version of ''Good Morning Texas'' was added to the 2 p.m. schedule called ''Good Morning Texas Extra'' which contains the same content as their morning show, which replaced ''Sister Circle''. Channel 8 held the local syndication rights to the game shows ''Jeopardy!'' and ''Wheel of Fortune (American game show), Wheel of Fortune'' for several years starting in the early 1980s. After spending eighteen years in the 6:30 p.m. slot, WFAA dropped ''Wheel'', as well as ''Jeopardy!'', from its schedule in the fall of 2005. Both series moved to KTVT, with the former being replaced by ''Entertainment Tonight'', which prior to the change, Channel 8 had aired following ''Nightline'' since it acquired the rights to ''ET'' from KDFW in September 1984 (currently, the Dallas–Fort Worth market is one of the few in which ''Wheel'' and ''Jeopardy!'' air on separate stations, as the latter program eventually moved to KTXA (channel 21) in 2013). WFAA carries the majority of the ABC network schedule; however, as an affiliate that is not owned by the network itself, WFAA may occasionally preempt some of the network's prime time shows to run locally produced specials. ABC programs that were preempted or otherwise interrupted by breaking news or severe weather coverage are broadcast delay, tape delayed to air in overnight timeslots or in rare times, on WFAA's DT2 channel space; although station personnel gives viewers the option to watch the affected shows the following day on ABC's desktop and mobile streaming platforms or its cable/satellite video-on-demand service. WFAA currently airs ''This Week (American TV program), This Week'' on a half-hour delay as the station produces and broadcasts ''Inside Texas Politics'' during the first 30 minutes of ''This Week''s usual Central Time airing, and also airs the Saturday edition of ''Good Morning America'' one hour earlier than most ABC stations (airing it at 6 a.m. via the live Eastern Time Zone feed rather than on tape delay). It also carries the ''Litton's Weekend Adventure'' block on a one-hour delay from its "live feed" due to the Saturday edition of ''News 8 Daybreak'', although midday ESPN College Football on ABC, college football games that ABC airs during the fall may subject programs normally aired on Saturdays in the 11 a.m. hour to be deferred to Sundays to fulfill E/I, educational programming obligations (during the 1990s, such deferrals were also caused by the local sports highlight program ''High School Football Roundup'', which WFAA aired as a lead-in to ABC's college football telecasts).

Sports programming

WFAA airs select Dallas Mavericks games through NBA on ABC, ABC's broadcast contract with the NBA, select Dallas Stars games through NHL on ABC, the network's contract with the NHL, and select Dallas Cowboys games when the team appears on ''Monday Night Football''. The station also aired the Mavericks' 2011 NBA Finals victory, their first NBA championship in franchise history.

Past program preemptions and deferrals

Historically, the station has either preempted or aired out of pattern certain ABC network programs to make room for other local or syndicated programs or because of internal concerns over a program's content. Beginning in 1970, it was one of a handful of ABC stations that did not carry ''American Bandstand'', opting to air public service programming instead. It also preempted ''Good Morning America'' for the first five months of its run from November 1975 to March 1976, in favor of the existing local morning program ''The AM Show'' (''GMA''s short-lived predecessor ''AM America'' was also not cleared throughout its run from January to November 1975). Because of its hour-long midday newscast—which aired at noon—WFAA has aired programming scheduled during that hour nationally on a day-behind basis at 11 a.m.: the soap opera ''All My Children'' aired in that slot until September 27, 2011, when it was replaced by ''The Chew''. On September 10, 2018, WFAA moved its midday newscast to 11 a.m. in order to carry ''GMA Day'' (now ''GMA3: What You Need To Know'') at noon. From the mid-1970s until that soap concluded in December 1984, WFAA aired ''The Edge of Night'' (which the network recommended be aired at 3 p.m.) on a day-behind basis prior to ABC's morning sitcom rerun block, in order to air feature films after ''General Hospital''. Following the midday newscast's expansion into an hour-long broadcast in September 1992, WFAA aired ''Loving (TV series), Loving''—which many ABC stations in the Central Time Zone normally aired at 12:30 p.m.—on a day-behind basis until the soap opera (which by that time, was reformatted as ''The City (1995 TV series), The City'') was cancelled in 1996; for similar reasons, it also carried ''Port Charles (TV series), Port Charles'' on Tuesday through Saturday early mornings throughout that soap's run from 1997 to 2004. The station traditionally aired syndicated programs following its 10 p.m. newscast for many years, resulting in certain ABC late night programs that the network recommended its stations air immediately after their late local newscasts being delayed to accommodate them. From its debut in 1980 until September 1983, WFAA delayed ''Nightline'' in favor of late night movie presentations; the News magazine#Television, newsmagazine aired in its then-recommended 10:30 slot from September 1983 until September 1984, when it settled into a half-hour tape delayed airing after the station acquired the local syndication rights to ''Entertainment Tonight''. As a byproduct of WFAA's swap of ''Nightline'' and ''ET''s respective timeslots in September 1989 (placing the former back in its network "live" slot), Channel 8 aired ''Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher'' a half-hour later than its then-recommended 11:05 p.m. Central time slot from its ABC debut in September 1995 until its cancellation in December 2002; the talk show that replaced it, ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', also aired in this manner starting with its January 2003 premiere (WFAA would begin airing ''Kimmel'' directly following ''Nightline'', as intended by ABC, on September 12, 2011). WFAA has traditionally run ABC's Saturday morning children's program lineup in its entirety; however, from September 1998 to September 2011, WFAA aired several programs within the block programming, block significantly out of pattern. The station usually aired the block continuously via the network's "live" feed from 7 a.m. to noon until September 1998, when WFAA separated the lineup (by then, known under the ''Disney's One Saturday Morning'' banner) into two blocks bookending the newly launched Saturday edition of ''News 8 Daybreak'', with the first two hours being switched to a one-week delayed broadcast from 5 to 7 a.m. and the final three hours continuing to air off the "live" network feed from 9 a.m. to noon. Following its September 2002 rebranding as ABC Kids (TV programming block), ABC Kids, WFAA began timeshifting some programs featured on the block. Until ABC dropped the program on August 28, 2010, a double run of ''Mighty Morphin Power Rangers'' (both the iterations that aired on ABC and Disney XD, Toon Disney prior to the 2010 transfer of franchise rights from Disney to original distributor Saban Entertainment, as well as repeats of the show's first season that ABC aired during the 2009–10 season) aired on a one-week delay from 5 to 6 a.m., instead of the network's "live"-fed slot of 11 a.m. to noon. In addition, the ABC Kids programs that were recommended to air during the 8 a.m. hour (including later entries ''The Emperor's New School'' and ''The Replacements (TV series), The Replacements'') aired instead on a three-hour delay during the 11 a.m. hour; WFAA aired the remaining two hours in pattern from the ABC off-air feed. In the past, WFAA has also chosen to preempt certain ABC programs because of content deemed inappropriate by station management, in some cases due to concerns over possible FCC-imposed fines. Under the stewardship of general manager Mike Shapiro during the 1960s and 1970s, WFAA preempted certain theatrical and television film, made-for-television films aired by ABC which management deemed too risque for broadcast. WFAA was the largest ABC affiliate to preempt ''NYPD Blue'' (which had its first two seasons air on independent station-turned-UPN affiliate KTXA instead) due to concerns over its violent content, and occasional strong profanity and partial nudity. Channel 8 substituted the police procedural in its Tuesday night timeslot with alternate programming, before launching ''Good Evening Texas''—a weekly talk show serving as an extension of ''Good Morning Texas''—in September 1994; WFAA began clearing ''NYPD Blue'' at the start of its third season in September 1995. It was also among the more than 20 ABC-affiliated stations that declined to air the network's telecast of ''Saving Private Ryan'' in November 2004, due to concerns over possible fines over the intense war violence and strong profanity in the film that ABC opted against editing out of the broadcast amid the FCC's crackdown on indecent material following the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy, wardrobe malfunction incident that occurred during Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson's Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show performance that February. The station aired ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' and the 1986 film ''Hoosiers (film), Hoosiers'' in its place, although the FCC would eventually declare ''Saving Private Ryan''s telecast as not being in violation of the agency's broadcast decency regulations after it aired.

News operation

As of September 2020, WFAA broadcasts 36½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with six hours each weekday, 3½ hours on Saturdays and 2½ hours on Sundays). In addition, the station produces two Sunday evening sports programs: the highlight program ''Dale Hansen's Sports Special'' (hosted by longtime sports director Dale Hansen, who joined the station from KDFW in March 1983), and ''High School Sports Special'' (hosted by weekend sports anchor Joe Trahan and airing during the school year). WFAA also previously operated a news helicopter, ''HD Chopper 8'' (formerly known as ''Telecopter 8''), which featured the 1984–1996 dual-outlined "8" logo on its underside. The station maintains bureaus in Collin County, Texas, Collin County at Riders Field, and in Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County near downtown Fort Worth; both bureaus house a limited staff of reporters, but are rarely used for newscast production. WFAA is one of the few television stations that does not use the First Warning broadcast weather alert system; a text display of the warning type and the affected counties is instead shown at the top of the screen when severe weather alerts are in effect for the viewing area.

News department history

Channel 8 had been the ratings leader among the television newscasts in the Dallas–Fort Worth market for much of its history, having overtaken WBAP-TV/KXAS-TV in the position during the mid-1970s. WFAA's 10 p.m. newscast, known as ''The News 8 Update'' from 1980 to 2012, has typically placed as the market's most-watched late evening newscast, and its 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts are typically the area's most-watched early evening local newscasts. However, the station's ratings have suffered in recent years, particularly among adults between the ages of 25 and 54 due to competition from Fox owned-and-operated station KDFW as well as improving viewership since the late 2000s for CBS owned-and-operated station KTVT's newscasts; WFAA's 10 p.m. newscast slid from first place for the November 2010 sweeps to a relatively distant second during the February 2011 sweeps period with total viewers and with adults 25-54 (its first fall from first place in that slot as well as at 6 p.m. in total viewers for the first time in at least three decades). WFAA's only #1 finish during the latter period was at 5 p.m. in total viewers (it lost to KDFW in the adult 25-54 demographic), aided by its ''Oprah'' lead-in. The station was in last place overall in among adults 25 to 54 for the first time in at least 30 years. During the May 2011 sweeps period, the 10 p.m. news regained its position as the market's #1 late newscast in total viewers and adults 25–54; its morning newscast placed third in both demographics, while the 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts placed first in the early evening slot (aided by the outgoing ''Oprah'') in total viewers and second (behind KDFW) in the 25- to 54-year-old demographic. WFAA was the first station to break the news of President of the United States, President John F. Kennedy's Assassination of John F. Kennedy, assassination on November 22, 1963, which occurred about two blocks north of the station's studios near Dealey Plaza, outside the Texas School Book Depository (now known as the Dallas County Administration Building), and seriously injured then-Governor of Texas, Governor John Connally, who was riding in the motorcade carrying Kennedy. The station conducted the first live television interview with Abraham Zapruder, who shot the famous Zapruder film, film of the assassination. During the course of the interview with Zapruder, who came to the Communications Center studio by police escort, WFAA announcer and program director, Jay Watson (who reported on the shooting with Jerry Haynes, both of whom heard the gunshots being fired at Kennedy), intimated that the film was to be developed in the station's film lab; however, WFAA did not possess the ability to process the Kodachrome II 8 mm film, 8 mm safety film from Zapruder's camera. WFAA and its live remote unit with reporter Ed Hogan fed much of the coverage of the assassination and its aftermath to ABC News, ABC over the next four days. The shooting of accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby in the basement of Dallas police headquarters, however, was not broadcast live (as it was on NBC News, NBC) or on tape (as on CBS News, CBS one minute later) by WFAA and ABC as the former's live newsgathering truck was positioned elsewhere at the time. ABC was therefore only able to show delayed newsreel footage of the historic event. WFAA had purchased a fully equipped, live broadcast studio truck prior to the assassination of Kennedy, but the truck was not rolled out for the parade through downtown Dallas. In the aftermath of the murder, the staff was told the cost would have been too great for the news department to compensate the production facility for its use. As local television news evolved into a more polished presentation, WFAA became known for groundbreaking achievements and reporting in broadcast journalism as well as for many technological advancements including being the first to convert to a computerized newsroom; and the first station in the market to deploy a helicopter and live trucks for field newsgathering, to use microwave transmission for live broadcast and the use of satellite uplink trucks for broadcasts from around Texas and the nation. WFAA was the first U.S. television station to make use of international communications satellite, satellite capacity, broadcasting a live program (anchored by the late Murphy Martin) from Paris, France, in 1969, consisting of interviews with wives of American Prisoner of War, POWs in Vietnam. It was perhaps the first in the nation to broadcast videotaped field reports (film was used almost exclusively in local news until the late 1970s and early 1980s), televising the arrival of President Richard Nixon at Dallas Love Field within 30 minutes of his plane's touchdown in 1969 (a Sony reel-to-reel video recorder made for home use was pressed into service for this broadcast presented on a regular, midnight newscast). WFAA uncovered significant stories in the 1980s including information of academic improprieties that would lead to the Southern Methodist University SMU Mustangs football, football team being given the "Southern Methodist University football scandal, death penalty" in the mid-1980s, as well as the first major media investigation into the Savings and loan crisis, America's Savings & Loan scandal that was rooted in Texas. WFAA-TV began its rise to news dominance in Dallas–Fort Worth during the late 1960s and early 1970s under the leadership of news manager Travis Linn, who had previously served as news director for WFAA radio. Linn later became Dallas bureau chief for CBS News before becoming professor and dean of the journalism program at the University of Nevada–Reno. Under Linn, the station expanded its news programming to 4½ hours per day, including an unprecedented one-hour program at 10 p.m. each weeknight as well as a 15-minute newscast at midnight four nights a week; the station also launched ''News 8 Etc.'', a 90-minute breakfast television, morning news-talk show that replaced the children's program ''Mr. Peppermint'' in January 1970 and was originally hosted by Suzie Humphreys and Don Harris, who conducted the broadcast without the assistance of cue cards or a TelePrompTer; following anchor Gene Thomas' death when a jet-powered dragster he was riding in for a story being produced for the show crashed at speeds of at Dallas International Motor Speedway in October 1971, the program underwent several changes to its anchor team and was later retooled in May 1974 as ''The AM Show'' (later shortened to simply ''AM''), before ending in January 1978. Building its existing success, WFAA dominated the market's local news ratings from the mid-1970s—having overtaken WBAP-TV/KXAS' once-dominant ''The Texas News''—through the late 1990s. The station strengthened its on-air news staff with top-tier talent, led by anchors including Tracy Rowlett (one of three reporters—along with Doug Fox and Byron Harris—whom news director Marty Haag brought over to WFAA from his previous job as news department head at KWTV-DT, KWTV in Oklahoma City in 1973), Iola Johnson (who became the first African American news anchor in Dallas in 1978, serving as a lead anchor with Rowlett), Bob Gooding, Murphy Martin, Judi Hanna, John Criswell, Chip Moody, John McCaa, Gloria Campos, Lisa McRee, Verne Lundquist, Dale Hansen and Troy Dungan (who, as chief weather anchor from 1976 to 2007, developed modern-day chroma key techniques for televised weather forecasts, the five-day forecast concept and created the "News 8 Doppler Net," a network of National Weather Service radar sites throughout Texas). Other notable people who once worked at Channel 8 include Scott Pelley (who was recently anchorman of the ''CBS Evening News''), the late David Garcia (journalist), David Garcia (who went on to become a network reporter for ABC News), Mike Lee (who covered news in Europe for many years at ABC News' London bureau), Doug Terry (who became a founding reporter/producer at NPR's ''All Things Considered'' and created several Washington-based television news services), and the late Don Harris (who, while working for NBC News at the time, was killed at the start of the Jonestown massacre and mass suicides in Guyana in 1978). Channel 8's approach to news during this period was characterized by an aggressive, all-out commitment to get the story and to present it in graphic, visual detail. The station was rewarded with some of the highest ratings of any local station in a major media market. A standard practice was to have each reporter cover only one beat, such as Dallas City Hall or the Dallas County Commission, making the reporter an expert on the subject that he or she was covering. Former news director Marty Haag, H. Martin "Marty" Haag is credited with leading the station's news department to ratings dominance and national prominence, as well as convincing the ''Dallas Morning News'' ownership to allow much greater spending on news at WFAA than ever seen before, far surpassing the budgets of other local rival stations. Haag was honored with a special Lifetime Achievement George Foster Peabody Award shortly before his death in 2004. The station resumed a local morning newscast in 1987, when it launched the initially 60-minute traditional news program ''News 8 Daybreak'' (which evolved out of local news inserts that it aired during ''America This Morning, World News This Morning''). WFAA pioneered community outreach in 1977 with the "Wednesday's Child" series of feature segments, which profiled children in need of an adoptive family and was descended from a feature segment on ''News 8 Etc.''; the current iteration was initially conducted by John Criswell during his stint as co-host of the retooled ''AM'', before becoming a weekly feature on WFAA's 10:00 p.m. newscast in September 1980. In 1994, the station began conducting town hall meetings all over North Texas through its ''Family First'' (F1) initiative, which remains a significant part of the station's commitment to community service. Mark Smith and the WFAA-TV Team at the 67th Annual Peabody Awards

Mark Smith and the WFAA-TV Team at the 67th Annual Peabody Awards

Since 1986, WFAA's news department has won six Peabody Awards, with a seventh awarded personally to Marty Haag, WFAA's executive news director from 1973 to 1989 and vice president of news operations for Belo Corporation afterward. WFAA was honored with Peabody Awards in 1986 (for an investigative report that led to the Southern Methodist University Mustangs' "Death penalty (NCAA), death penalty" sanction by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA), 1995 (for ''The Peavy Investigation'', a "revealing series of reports into insurance purchases involving the Dallas Independent School District[...] centered on the chairman of the Board of Education's Committee on Insurance"), 2002 (for the investigative report series ''Fake Drugs, Real Lives'', about confidential informants who worked with Dallas Police Department, Dallas police that planted powdered Sheetrock or billiard chalk near unsuspecting Mexican immigrants to "contrive drug cases"), 2004 (for ''State of Denial'', a long-running series into improprieties in the Texas Workers Compensation Commission, part of the Texas Department of Insurance), 2007 (for four separate investigative stories: "Money for Nothing", about a major U.S. financial institution that made loans to non-existent companies in Mexico; "The Buried and the Dead", on the safety issues of pipelines carrying gas into homes; "Television Justice", about regional law-enforcement officers who collaborated with news crews to produce a prime time television program; and "Kinder Prison", on the deplorable conditions at a juvenile detention facility) and 2010 (for "Bitter Lessons," an investigation into government-funded career schools). The station has also been recognized with several national Edward R. Murrow Award (Radio Television Digital News Association), Edward R. Murrow Awards and eight Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, duPont-Columbia University Silver Batons. Coinciding with the commencement of local programming production at the Plaza Towers studios in Victory Park, WFAA began broadcasting its newscasts and other local programs in high definition on February 2, 2007, becoming the first television station in the Dallas–Fort Worth market to begin broadcasting their newscasts in the format on a regular basis. Initially, all footage shot in-studio was broadcast in high definition, while all news video from on-remote locations was upconverted in standard-definition television, standard definition. In 2009, WFAA became the first local station to receive the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award's Gold Baton, for its commitment to investigative journalism; reporters Byron Harris and Brett Shipp were recognized for investigative reports about corruption and waste at the Export-Import Bank of the United States, grade changing for No Pass No Play, failing high school athletes (among the Dallas Independent School District high schools exposed in that report were South Oak Cliff High School, and Franklin D. Roosevelt High School (Dallas), Franklin D. Roosevelt High School) and dangers posed by aging gas Piping and plumbing fittings, pipeline couplings (an investigation that was featured on the PBS documentary series ''Exposé: America's Investigative Reports'' in the episode "Beneath the North Texas Dirt"). On September 12, 2013, WFAA debuted an hour-long weekday 4:00 p.m. newscast, which competes against existing hour-long newscasts in that slot on KXAS and KTVT.

Notable current on-air staff

* Pete Delkus (American Meteorological Society, AMS and National Weather Association, NWA Seals of Approval) – chief meteorologist * Tiffany Liou – reporter * Alex Rozier – reporter

Notable former on-air staff

* Ralph Baker Jr. – host of ''The Group And Chapman'' and ''

'' (1964–1970; was also at KFXR (AM), KLIF during the same years; later with KRLD (AM), KRLD radio and

in Sherman, Texas, also was a model for Sanger-Harris and the Kim Dawson Agency) * Julie Bologna – weekend morning meteorologist (2011–2016) * Ron Chapman – host of ''The Group And Chapman'' and ''Sump'n Else'' (1964–1968; was simultaneously with KLIF during that period, left WFAA for KVIL) * Aaron Chimbel – mobile journalist (2006–2009; now a journalism professor at Texas Christian University) * Lin Sue Cooney – anchor/reporter (1980–1984; last at KPNX in Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix) * Ron Corning – ''Daybreak'' anchor (2011–2019; currently host of ''The Morning After'' on KDAF) * Troy Dungan – chief weathercaster (1976–2007; later at

as co-host of ''The Texas Daily'') * Bill Evans (meteorologist), Bill Evans – meteorologist (1987–1989; now at WLNG in Sag Harbor, New York) * Shon Gables – ''Daybreak'' weekend co-anchor (2010–2014; now at WANF in Atlanta) * Chris Gailus – ''Daybreak'' co-anchor (2000–2003; now at CHAN-DT in Vancouver) * David Garcia (journalist), David Garcia – weekend anchor/reporter (1965–1968; later with ABC and KPSP-TV in Palm Springs, California; deceased) * Leeza Gibbons – reporter/co-host of ''

'' (early 1980s) * Dale Hansen – sports director (1983–2021) * Don Harris (journalist), Don Harris – reporter/anchor (1967–?; became a reporter for NBC News, was killed in Guyana in 1978) * Brad Hawkins (actor), Brad Hawkins – ''Daybreak'' anchor (now with Southwest Airlines) *

– host of ''Peppermint Place'', (the WFAA-produced local morning show) ''The Early Show'', ''Dallas Bandstand'' and ''The Julie Bennell Show'' (1949–1970 and 1975–1996) * Jackie Hyland – ''Daybreak'' anchor/reporter (2005–2007; now an anchor at WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina) * Iola Johnson – anchor/reporter (1973–1985; last with KTXA as host of ''Positively Texas'') * Charlie Jones (sportscaster), Charlie Jones – sports director (?–1965; also with ESPN on ABC, ABC Sports at the time; later with NBC Sports, died on June 15, 2008) * Andrea Joyce – sports reporter (1987–1988; later with ESPN, CBS Sports and NBC Sports) * Verne Lundquist – sports anchor/host of ''Bowling for Dollars'' (1967–1983; now at CBS Sports) (Lundquist retired from full-time sports anchoring in December 2016 now covers golf events for the network) * Bill Macatee – sports anchor (now at CBS Sports) * John McCaa – anchor (1984–2019) * Lisa McRee – anchor/reporter (1989–1991; now Spectrum News 1 in Los Angeles) * Don Meredith – sports reporter (1966; later at CBS Sports and ESPN on ABC, ABC Sports; died on December 5, 2010) * Russ Mitchell – anchor (1983–1985; now at WKYC in Cleveland) * Bill O'Reilly (political commentator), Bill O'Reilly – reporter (Formerly at Fox News Channel as host of ''The O'Reilly Factor'' was fired from Fox News April 19, 2017, amid sexual harassment claims) * Scott Pelley – reporter (1982–1989; now at CBS News as correspondent for ''60 Minutes'') * Uma Pemmaraju – reporter (now anchor at Fox News Channel) * Robyne Robinson – reporter (1985–1987; last at KMSP-TV in Minneapolis) * Dan Ronan – reporter (2003–2007; now Vice President of Communications at the Intelligent Transportation Society of America in Washington, D.C.) * Tracy Rowlett – anchor (1974–1999; later at KTXD-TV as co-host of ''The Texas Daily'') * Rene Syler – anchor/reporter (1992–1997; left for

, last with CBS News as co-anchor of ''The Early Show'') * Doug Terry – reporter/anchor (1966–1970; a founding reporter/producer at NPR in Washington, D.C., writer, technologist, photography, photographer, poetry, poet) * Wes Wise – sports anchor (1950s; later mayor of Dallas from 1971 to 1976) * Paula Zahn – reporter (1978–1979; later went to CNN)

Controversy

Jimmy Kimmel monologue cut-off

WFAA came under scrutiny in May 2022 when the station extended its newscast past 10:35 p.m. to cover the Robb Elementary School shooting, Uvalde school shooting. A monologue by Jimmy Kimmel which addressed the shooting and gun control was partially blocked out by commercials. A statement from the station claimed that computer automation which preset the commercial breaks and triggered them as if the coverage did not take place caused that night's episode of ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' to be partially preempted. The monologue was made available on WFAA's website and on Kimmel's social media channel. The episode was already available on Hulu and other services by the next day.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is Multiplex (TV), multiplexed: WFAA is one of a handful of ABC affiliates that transmits its main channel in the 1080i high definition resolution format; most of ABC's other owned-and-operated stations and affiliates transmit the digital feed assigned to carry the network's programming in 720p, the resolution designated by network parent The Walt Disney Company as the HD format for ABC and its other U.S. television properties.

Analog-to-digital conversion

WFAA became the first television station in the United States to broadcast their digital television signal on a Very high frequency, VHF channel on February 27, 1998, at 2:17 p.m., when it began test broadcasts on VHF channel 9; the following day on February 28, it became the nation's first television station to broadcast a local news program in high definition. When the transmission tests began, the digital feed's Channel 9 assignment was already in use by Dallas area hospitals; this would result in Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, Baylor University Medical Center and Methodist Dallas Medical Center having to reconfigure their telemetry systems to different frequencies before WFAA began full-time digital transmissions on March 16 (when it became the country's first commercial station to begin regular digital broadcasts on the VHF band) as the station's assigned digital channel corresponded to a portion of the broadcast spectrum utilized by the hospitals for their wireless medical equipment, creating RF interference issues that notably disrupted several wireless heart monitors at both facilities. WFAA shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 8, at 12:03 p.m. on June 12, 2009, as part of the Digital television transition in the United States, federally mandated transition from analog to digital television. The station's digital signal relocated from VHF channel 9 to channel 8. Immediately before WFAA ceased transmission of its analog signal, the station aired a retrospective of its history that was narrated by meteorologist Pete Delkus, which was followed by a video of the sign-on and sign-off, sign-off that the station had aired at the conclusion of its broadcast day during the 1970s. On December 23, 2009, WFAA filed an application to the FCC to obtain permission to increase its transmitter's effective radiated power (ERP) from 45 kW through an omni-directional antenna to 55 kW, through the installation of a directional antenna. The reasoning behind its proposal for the power increase was due to difficulties experienced by some viewers in portions of the Dallas–Fort Worth market who tried to maintain adequate over-the-air reception of the channel 8 digital signal.

References

External links

*
FCC Public Inspection File: WFAA

Technical and ownership information for WFAA
at RabbitEars
Renovation of KBTV/WFAA Telecruiser vehicle

DFW Radio/TV History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wfaa ABC network affiliates Local AccuWeather Channel affiliates Tegna Inc. Television channels and stations established in 1949 Television stations in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex Peabody Award winners 1949 establishments in Texas True Crime Network affiliates Quest (American TV network) affiliates Former Gannett subsidiaries