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WNYW (channel 5) is a television station in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, serving as the
flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...
of the
Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...
network. It is
owned and operated In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...
by the network's
Fox Television Stations Fox Television Stations, LLC (stylized as FOX TV STATIONS; also known as FTS) is a group of television stations in the United States owned-and-operated by Fox Corporation. It owns LiveNOW from Fox, Fox Local, and Fox Soul. It also oversees ...
division alongside
Secaucus, New Jersey Secaucus ( ) is a Town (New Jersey), town in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 22,181, an increase of 5,917 (+36.4%) from the 2010 United St ...
–licensed
MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (stylized as mynetworkTV; unofficially abbreviated MNT or MNTV) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations ...
flagship
WWOR-TV WWOR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York metropolitan area as the flagship of the MyNetworkTV programming service. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alon ...
(channel 9). The two stations share studios at the Fox Television Center on East 67th Street in
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
's
Lenox Hill Lenox Hill () is a neighborhood on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It forms the lower (southern) section of the Upper East Side, east of Park Avenue in the 60s and 70s. A significant portion of the neighborhood lies withi ...
neighborhood; WNYW's transmitter is located at
One World Trade Center One World Trade Center, also known as One WTC and as the Freedom Tower, is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, One World Tr ...
.


History


DuMont origins (1944–1956)

The station traces its history to
1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...
, when television set and equipment manufacturer Allen B. DuMont founded experimental station W2XVT in
Passaic, New Jersey Passaic ( or ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was List of municipalities in New Jersey, the state's 16th-most-populous ...
. That station's
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 as ...
was changed to W2XWV when it moved to Manhattan in 1940. On May 2, 1944, the station received its commercial license, the third in New York City and fifth overall in the United States. It began broadcasting on VHF channel 4 as WABD with its call sign made up of DuMont's initials. It was one of the few television stations that continued to broadcast during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, making it the fifth-oldest continuously broadcasting commercial station in the United States (after WNBT/WRCA/WNBC, WCBW/WCBS-TV, WPTZ/WRCV/KYW, and
WRGB WRGB (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Schenectady, New York, United States, serving the Capital District as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside CW affiliate WCWN (channel 45). The two station ...
). The station originally had its studios in the
DuMont Building The DuMont Building (also known as 515 Madison Avenue) is a 532-foot (162 m) high, 42-story building located at 53rd Street and Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States., Emporis. Accessed September 27, 2008. The buildi ...
at 515 Madison Avenue, with its transmitter tower atop the same building. (The original tower, long abandoned by the station, still remains.) On December 17, 1945, WABD moved to channel 5. WNBT (now
WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey†...
) took over channel 4 the following spring, moving from channel 1, which the FCC was de-allocating from the VHF TV broadcast band. The series '' Here's How'' first aired on WABD in 1946. Soon after channel 5 received its commercial license, DuMont Laboratories began a series of experimental
coaxial cable Coaxial cable, or coax (pronounced ), is a type of electrical cable consisting of an inner Electrical conductor, conductor surrounded by a concentric conducting Electromagnetic shielding, shield, with the two separated by a dielectric (Insulat ...
hookups between WABD and W3XWT (now
WTTG WTTG (channel 5) is a television station in Washington, D.C., serving as the market's Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV station WDCA (cha ...
), a DuMont-owned experimental station in
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
These hookups were the beginning of the
DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being first overall in ...
, the world's first licensed commercial television network. (However,
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
was feeding a few programs and special events from its New York station WNBT to outlets in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
and
Schenectady Schenectady ( ) is a City (New York), city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-most populo ...
as early as 1940.) DuMont began regular network service in 1946 with WABD as the flagship station. On June 14, 1954, WABD and DuMont moved into the $5 million DuMont Tele-Centre at 205 East 67th Street in Manhattan's
Lenox Hill Lenox Hill () is a neighborhood on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It forms the lower (southern) section of the Upper East Side, east of Park Avenue in the 60s and 70s. A significant portion of the neighborhood lies withi ...
neighborhood, inside the shell of the space formerly occupied by Jacob Ruppert's Central Opera House. Channel 5 is still headquartered in the same building, which was later renamed the Metromedia TeleCenter, and is now known as the Fox Television Center. By February 1955, DuMont realized it could not continue in network television. In most cities around the U.S., NBC and
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
had secured affiliations with the top TV stations, making it difficult for DuMont shows to develop an audience and attract advertising dollars. DuMont decided to shut down the network's operations and run WABD and Washington station WTTG as
independent station An independent station is a broadcast station, usually a television station, not affiliated with a larger broadcast television network, network. As such, it only broadcasts broadcast syndication, syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered pr ...
s. DuMont had previously sold WDTV in
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
to the locally based
Westinghouse Electric Corporation The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was ...
, arguably hastening DuMont's demise. WABD thus became the New York market's fourth independent station, alongside
WOR-TV WWOR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York metropolitan area as the flagship of the MyNetworkTV programming service. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alo ...
(channel 9),
WPIX WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City, serving as the ''de facto'' flagship of The CW Television Network. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, the station is operated by CW majority owner Nexstar Media Group under a local market ...
(channel 11) and Newark-licensed WATV (channel 13). After DuMont wound down network operations in August 1955, DuMont Laboratories spun off WABD and WTTG into a new firm, the DuMont Broadcasting Corporation. Channel 5 gained a
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 ...
in 1957, when DuMont purchased WNEW (1130 AM, now WBBR) in April of that year. The deal also included a
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
(FCC)
construction permit Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to bu ...
for an FM radio station, which went on the air as 102.7
WNEW-FM WNEW-FM (102.7 FM broadcasting, FM, ''NEW 102.7'') is a hot adult contemporary-Radio format, formatted radio station, City of license, licensed to New York, New York and owned by Audacy, Inc. The station's studios are located at the Audacy faci ...
when it began operations in August 1958.


The Metromedia era (1957–1986)

In May 1958, DuMont Broadcasting changed its name to the Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation to distinguish itself from its former corporate parent. Four months later, on September 7, 1958, WABD's
call letters 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 Identifier, unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be fo ...
were changed to WNEW-TV to match its radio sisters. The final major corporate transaction involving the station during 1958 occurred in December. Washington-based investor
John Kluge John Werner Kluge (; September 21, 1914September 7, 2010) was a German-American entrepreneur who became a television industry mogul in the United States. At one time he was the richest person in the U.S. Early life and education Kluge was b ...
acquired
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...
' controlling interest in Metropolitan Broadcasting and appointed himself as the company's chairman. Metropolitan Broadcasting began expanding its holdings across the United States, and changed its corporate name to
Metromedia Metromedia, Inc. (also often MetroMedia) was an American media company that owned radio station, radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and controlled Orion Pictures from 1988 to 1997. Metromedia was established in ...
in 1961. However, the Metropolitan Broadcasting name was retained for Metromedia's TV and radio station properties until 1967. In the early 1960s, WNEW-TV was a leader in producing local children's shows. They included '' Romper Room'' (until 1966, when it moved to WOR-TV), '' The Sandy Becker Show'' and '' The Sonny Fox Show'', which was later known as ''
Wonderama ''Wonderama'' is a children's television program that originally aired on the Metromedia-owned stations from 1955 to 1977. The show was revived from 1980 to 1987, and again in 2016. Hosts * Al Hodge (as Captain Video 1955–1956) * Jon Gna ...
''. Bob McAllister took over hosting ''Wonderama'' in 1967 and by 1970 it was syndicated to the other Metromedia stations. WNEW-TV also originated ''
The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon The ''MDA Labor Day Telethon'' was an annual telethon held on (starting the night before and throughout) Labor Day in the United States to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). The Muscular Dystrophy Association was founded in ...
'' in 1966, and broadcast the program annually until 1986 when it moved to future sister station WWOR-TV, where it aired through 2012. In the early 1960s, the educational series '' Columbia Lectures in International Studies'' was shown on early weekday mornings, before Sandy Becker, and was distributed to other Metromedia stations. The station also aired cultural programs such as ''Festival of the Performing Arts''. However, the station's prime time schedule during those years was dominated by reruns of recently concluded crime dramas such as ''
Peter Gunn ''Peter Gunn'' is an American detective fiction, private eye television series, starring Craig Stevens (actor), Craig Stevens as Peter Gunn with Lola Albright as his girlfriend, lounge singer Edie Hart. The series was broadcast by NBC from Sept ...
'', '' Outlaws'', and the 1950s edition of '' Dragnet'', bringing the station some criticism for overly violent programming. In the 1970s, and early 1980s, local programming also included a weekly public affairs show hosted by Gabe Pressman, the New York edition of ''
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. Orig ...
'', and ''Midday Live'', a daily talk/information show hosted by Lee Leonard, and later by
Bill Boggs William Boggs III (born July 11, 1941) is an American television host and journalist. Biography Boggs was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA. He earned a master's degree from the university's Anne ...
. The station also carried movies, cartoons, off-network sitcoms, drama series and a prime time nightly newscast at 10 p.m. By the 1970s, channel 5 was one of the strongest independent stations in the country. Despite WOR-TV's and WPIX's eventual status as national
superstation ''Superstation'' (alternatively rendered as "super station" or informally as "SuperStation") is a term in North American broadcasting that has several meanings. Commonly, a "superstation" is a form of distant signal, a broadcast television sign ...
s, WNEW-TV was the highest-rated independent in New York. From the early 1970s to the late 1980s, channel 5 was available as a regional superstation in large portions of the Northeastern United States, including most of
Upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...
, and sections of eastern
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
and southern
New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
.


The Fox era (1986–present)

On May 4, 1985,
Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...
's
News Corporation The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Ru ...
, which had recently bought a controlling interest in the
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
film studio, announced its purchase of Metromedia's six independent television stations, including WNEW-TV. In the interim between the announcement and the buyout, Metromedia references were largely phased out of channel 5's branding. Upon taking control nearly one year later, on March 7, 1986, channel 5's call sign was changed slightly to the present WNYW. The change was made due to an FCC rule in place (no longer in effect) that prohibited TV and radio stations with different ownership from sharing the same call sign. Along with the other former Metromedia independent stations, WNYW formed the cornerstone of the Fox Broadcasting Company when it launched on October 9, 1986. WNYW's schedule initially changed very little, as Fox aired programming only on late nights and weekends on two nights of the week in the network's first few years. It was not until 1993 that Fox began broadcasting a full seven nights' worth of programming. Although it began taking on the look of a network-owned station in the fall of 1986, channel 5 continued to carry decades-old syndicated cartoons, sitcoms and films into the late 1980s. As a result, channel 5 was still considered by many to be an independent station. Murdoch had one local obstacle to overcome before his purchase of channel 5 could become final. News Corporation had owned the ''
New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...
'' since 1976 and the FCC's media ownership rules barred common ownership of newspapers and broadcast licenses in the same
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 station, television and radio broadcasting, ra ...
. The FCC granted Murdoch a temporary waiver to keep the ''Post'' and WNYW to allow News Corporation to complete its purchase of the Metromedia television stations. News Corporation sold the ''New York Post'' in 1988, but bought the paper back five years later with a permanent waiver of the cross-ownership rules. In late summer 1986, WNYW debuted the nightly newsmagazine '' A Current Affair'', one of the first shows to be labeled as a "
tabloid television Tabloid television, also known as teletabloid, is a form of tabloid journalism. Tabloid television news broadcasting usually incorporate flashy graphics and sensationalized stories. Often, there is a heavy emphasis on crime and celebrity news. G ...
" program. Originally a local program, it was first anchored by Maury Povich, formerly of Washington sister station WTTG. (He also briefly anchored WNYW's evening newscasts.) Within a year of its launch, ''A Current Affair'' was syndicated to the other Fox-owned stations. In 1988, the series entered into national syndication, where it remained until the original incarnation of the program was cancelled in 1996. On August 1, 1988, the station dropped its weekday morning cartoons in favor of a local news and information program titled '' Good Day New York'', which continues to this day. Following the launch of the Fox network, WNYW lost much of its out-of-market superstation reach, as most markets in the Northeast had their own Fox affiliates. WNYW continued to be seen on cable in the
Binghamton metropolitan area The Binghamton Metropolitan Statistical Area, also called Greater Binghamton or the Triple Cities, is a region of southern Upstate New York in the Northeastern United States, anchored by Binghamton. The MSA encompasses Broome and Tioga count ...
and the New York side of the Plattsburgh– Burlington market until the late 1990s, when
WICZ-TV WICZ-TV (channel 40) is a television station in Binghamton, New York, United States, affiliated with Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Imagicomm Communications, the station has studios on Vestal Parkway East (NY 434) in Ves ...
and WFFF-TV joined the network. In 2001, Fox bought BHC Communications, a television station group owned by
Chris-Craft Industries Chris-Craft Industries, Inc., formerly National Automotive Fibers, Inc., was a publicly held American corporation that was traded on the New York and Pacific Stock Exchanges. In 1962, the company adopted the name of one of its acquisitions, Chris ...
, which effectively created a duopoly between WNYW and its former rival, WWOR-TV. In autumn 2001, WNYW dropped
Fox Kids Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network; stylized in all caps) was an American children's programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channels. Originally a j ...
' weekday block and moved it to WWOR-TV, where it ran for a few more months before Fox discontinued the network's weekday children's lineup at the end of that year. In 2004, Fox Television Stations announced that it would move WWOR's operations from Secaucus to WNYW's facility at the Fox Television Center in Manhattan. While some office functions were merged, plans for a full move to Manhattan were abandoned later that year due to pressure from New Jersey
Congressman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...
Steve Rothman (whose congressional district includes Secaucus) and Senator Frank Lautenberg on the grounds that any move to Manhattan would violate the conditions of WWOR's broadcast license. The company also considered moving WNYW's operations to Secaucus, but ultimately decided to remain in the Fox Television Center. On September 11, 2001, the transmitter facilities of WNYW, eight other New York City television stations, and several radio stations, were destroyed when two hijacked airplanes crashed into and destroyed the north and south towers of the World Trade Center. The station relocated to an antenna located atop the
Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story, Art Deco-style supertall skyscraper in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its n ...
, where its transmitter facilities had been located until they were moved to the World Trade Center in the 1970s. By the late 2010s, the transmitter returned to the newly built
One World Trade Center One World Trade Center, also known as One WTC and as the Freedom Tower, is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, One World Tr ...
. In April 2006, WNYW became the first Fox-owned to launch a website on Fox Interactive Media's "MyFox" platform, which featured expanded content, more videos and new community features such as blogs and photo galleries. The MyFox sites were later outsourced to WorldNow, and later Lakana beginning in 2015, after which the "MyFox" brand was discontinued. On October 15, 2010, News Corporation pulled the signals of WNYW, WWOR, along with co-owned cable channels
Fox Business Network Fox Business (officially known as Fox Business Network, or FBN) is an American conservative business news channel and website publication owned by the Fox News Media division of Fox Corporation. The channel broadcasts primarily from studios ...
,
Fox Deportes Fox Deportes (formerly Fox Sports en Español) is an American pay television network dedicated to broadcasting sports-related programming in Spanish, aimed at the Hispanic population in the United States. Launched in 1993, Fox Deportes, a divis ...
, and
National Geographic Wild National Geographic Wild (shortened as Nat Geo Wild and abbreviated NGW) is a global pay television network owned by National Geographic Partners, a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (73%) and the National Geographic Society (27%). T ...
from
Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...
systems in the New York television market area, due to a dispute between Fox and Cablevision. Cablevision claimed News Corporation had demanded $150 million a year to renew its carriage of 12 Fox-owned channels, including those removed due to the dispute. Cablevision offered to submit to binding arbitration on October 14, 2010. News Corporation rejected Cablevision's proposal, stating that it would "reward Cablevision for refusing to negotiate fairly". WWOR, WNYW and the three cable channels were restored on October 30, 2010, when Cablevision and News Corporation struck a new carriage deal. After News Corporation split into two companies on June 28, 2013, spinning off its publishing assets (including the ''New York Post'') into a new
News Corp The second and current incarnation of News Corporation, doing business as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company was formed on ...
, WNYW became part of
21st Century Fox Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., which did business as 21st Century Fox, was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was formed on June 28, 2013, as the legal successor ...
. On December 14, 2017,
The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...
, owner of ABC owned-and-operated station
WABC-TV WABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, WABC-TV maintains studios in the Hudson Square neighborhood ...
(channel 7), announced its intent to buy the assets of 21st Century Fox for $66.1 billion, pending regulatory approval. The sale did not include the Fox network, MyNetworkTV, WNYW, WWOR, the Fox Television Stations unit or any other broadcast assets, since that would be illegal under FCC rules prohibiting a merger between any of the four major networks. Ownership was transferred to a new company called
Fox Corporation Fox Corporation (commonly referred to as Fox Corp or simply Fox) is an American multinational mass media company headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas, 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, with offices also in Burbank, Cali ...
, a split officially completed on March 18, 2019. In the fall of 2018, after WWOR's license was renewed, and several months after the repeal of the FCC's main studio rule (which required WWOR to operate from New Jersey as a license condition), Fox Television Stations sold its former Secaucus studios to Hartz Mountain Industries for $4.05 million, and consolidated WWOR's operations with WNYW at the Fox Television Center.


Programming


Locally-produced programming

In 1966, WNEW produced the first edition of ''The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon'', initially as a charity event seen exclusively on WNEW. In 1968, the telethon expanded to a network of six stations in the Northeastern United States, which was dubbed the ''Love Network'', with WNEW serving as flagship. The station produced local segments for the program, which were broadcast on the Sunday night before through the evening of Labor Day, from 1966 until 1986. The telethon moved to future sister station WWOR-TV in 1987 where it aired until 2012 when it became a reduced-length special known as the ''MDA Show of Strength''. The telethon moved to ABC as a national broadcast in 2013 until its final telecast in 2014. In 1980, the station began producing one minute vignettes entitled ''Big Apple Minute'' featuring the station's on-air team touring New York City-area attractions. These lasted until 1987, following the station's acquisition by Fox and the call letter change in 1986. The station also produced the New York City version of ''
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. Orig ...
'' from 1980 until 1988 when it was transferred to WWOR where it was called ''PM''. It was renamed ''Evening Magazine'' (a name generally reserved for Group W-owned stations) and aired until its cancellation in 1989. The station also broadcast the Puerto Rican Day Parade from 2006 until 2015. Currently, the station produces several local programs. '' Chasing New Jersey'' is a daily program featuring segments and stories focusing on headlines and issues affecting the New Jersey area. The show is produced by Fairfax Productions and airs in the overnight slot after it airs on sister station WWOR-TV. ''Good Day Street Talk'' is a weekly community affairs program hosted by Antwan Lewis.


Sports programming

Through its network's sporting division, WNYW has televised major sporting championships featuring New York teams in the past years. As part of the network's coverage of the National Hockey League in 1995, the station televised games one and four of the
Stanley Cup Finals The Stanley Cup Finals in ice hockey (also known as the Stanley Cup Final among various media, ) is the annual championship series of the National Hockey League (NHL). The winner is awarded the Stanley Cup, North America's oldest professional spo ...
when the
New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The club w ...
won their first Stanley Cup. From
1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
to
2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
, WNYW held the broadcast rights to
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...
game telecasts, displacing longtime broadcaster WPIX. Under the initial deal, WNYW and actual rights holder the Madison Square Garden Network carried Yankees games until 2001. Broadcasts of the team's games were moved to the new
YES Network The Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) is an American pay television regional sports network owned by Yankee Global Enterprises (the largest shareholder with 26%), Main Street Sports Group (which owns 20%), Amazon (which owns 15% ...
through a joint arrangement with
WCBS-TV WCBS-TV (channel 2), branded CBS New York, is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–lic ...
. This lasted until the 2004 season; WWOR-TV took over the broadcasts beginning in 2005. WNYW continues to show Yankees games through Fox's national broadcast contract with Major League Baseball; through this package, the station aired the Yankees'
World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...
victories in
1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
,
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
,
2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
and
2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
and their other appearances in
2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
,
2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...
, and
2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...
. As of 2022, WNYW is the only broadcast station to carry Yankees games, as rights for games formerly shown by WPIX were sold to Amazon. It also airs any Mets games that are featured on Fox's MLB coverage, in that capacity broadcasting the aforementioned 2000 World Series in which they lost to the cross-town Yankees, and 2015 World Series in which they lost out to the
Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...
. Since the network established its sports division in 1994, most sporting events carried on channel 5 have been provided through Fox Sports. At that time, the network acquired partial television rights to the and primary rights to the . As a result of this, the station became the unofficial "home" station of the New York Giants airing select telecasts. Among the notable Giants games aired on the station is the team's victory in
Super Bowl XLII Super Bowl XLII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...
, when the
Giants A giant is a being of human appearance, sometimes of prodigious size and strength, common in folklore. Giant(s) or The Giant(s) may also refer to: Mythology and religion *Giants (Greek mythology) * Jötunn, a Germanic term often translated as 'g ...
ended their 17-year title drought by defeating the
New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...
, who were 18–0 at the time and were one win away from the second perfect season in NFL history. In addition, beginning with the 2018 season, the station aired the team's Thursday night games as part of its newly acquired ''
Thursday Night Football ''Thursday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''TNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that broadcast primarily on Thursday nights. Most of the games kick off at 8:15 Eastern Time (8:20 prior to ...
'' package that it shares with
NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League NTP and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and N ...
(along with Thursday night Jets games) until the 2021 season. Currently, Giants games are rotated between WCBS-TV (through the ''
NFL on CBS ''NFL on CBS'' is an American television sports presentation show broadcast by CBS. It aired from September 30, 1956 to January 23, 1994. The show returned since September 6, 1998. The branding is used for the presentation of the National Foot ...
''), WABC-TV (''
Monday Night Football ''Monday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''MNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that air on Monday nights. It originally ran on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from 1970 NFL season, 1970 t ...
''), WPIX (''Monday Night Football'' (if WABC-TV is not airing them)), and WNBC (through ''
NBC Sunday Night Football ''NBC Sunday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''SNF'') is an American weekly television broadcast of National Football League (NFL) games on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock in the United States. It began airing on August 6, 2006, w ...
''). The station also airs at least two games involving the Jets each year—usually whenever they play an NFC opponent at home. Since 2014, more Jets' games can be shown on WNYW as part of the NFL's new " cross-flex" broadcast rules. WNYW also provided local coverage of
Super Bowl XLVIII Super Bowl XLVIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2013 Denver Broncos season, Denver Broncos and National Football Conference (NFC) champion 2013 Seattle Seahawks season, Seattle Seahawks to ...
which was played at
MetLife Stadium MetLife Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States, 5 mi (8 km) west of New York City. It opened in 2010, replacing Giants Stadium, and serves as the home for the ...
. On March 12, 2024, it was announced that WNYW and WWOR would become the new broadcast partner for the
New York Liberty The New York Liberty are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Liberty compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Confer ...
.


News operation

WNYW broadcasts 53 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 10 hours each weekday, two hours on Saturdays and one hour on Sundays). As is standard with Fox stations that carry early evening weekend newscasts, WNYW's Saturday and Sunday 6 p.m. newscasts are subject to delay or preemption due to network sports coverage. WNYW and sister station WWOR-TV share resources with
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
sister station
WTXF-TV WTXF-TV (channel 29) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Owned and operated by the Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on Market Street in Center City an ...
in areas of New Jersey in which the New York and Philadelphia markets overlap; the stations share reporters for stories occurring in New Jersey counties served by both markets. In 1944, the first newscast for Channel 5 was ''Late Night News''. In 1945, the news department of Channel 5 rebranded its newscast as ''TV5 Late Report'', and rebranded it again as ''TV5 24 Hours'' from 1962 to March 10, 1967. The station is home to one of America's longest-running primetime local newscasts: WNYW (as WNEW-TV) first premiered its 10 p.m. newscast—the first primetime newscast in the New York market—on March 13, 1967. Each night, the newscast (originally known as ''The 10 O'Clock News'' until 2001 and currently in use since 2021) is preceded by the simple, but now well-known announcement: "It's 10 p.m., Do you know where your children are?", which was originally spoken by Mel Epstein, WNEW-TV's director of on-air promotions, and later by staff announcer Tom Gregory (this announcement continues to be shown before the newscast); other television stations in the country began using the tagline for their own 10 p.m. (or 11 pm) news (which may depend on the start of the local youth curfew in each market). Celebrities were often used to read the slogan in the 1980s, and for a time in the late 1970s, the station added a warmer announcement earlier in the day: "It's 6 p.m., have you hugged your child today?" From 1975 to 1985, the 10 p.m. newscast notably featured nightly
op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page," is a type of written prose commonly found in newspapers, magazines, and online publications. They usually represent a writer's strong and focused opinion on an issue of relevance to a targeted a ...
debates which pitted conservative Martin Abend against liberal Professor Sidney Offit. In the early 1970s, the news department launched its 30-minute program ''Sports Extra'', airing at 10:30 p.m. on Sundays; where it continues to air. The first time WNEW programmed news outside its established 10 p.m. slot was in 1985, when it premiered the short-lived ''First Edition News'', a half-hour midday newscast anchored by Jim Ryan (formerly of
WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey†...
) and Judy Licht, serving as a lead-in to ''Midday Live with Bill Boggs''; not long after the program moved to noon with ''Midday'' at 12:30 pm. After the buyout from Murdoch went through, the station began to intensify their news efforts. It first premiered a half-hour 7 p.m. newscast, simply known as ''Fox News at Seven'', in 1988; the program was canceled in 1993. On August 1, 1988, WNYW became the first Fox station to run a weekday morning newscast with the debut of the two-hour '' Good Day New York''; within five years of its launch, the program became the top-rated morning show in the New York City market. In 1991, a new and eventually very popular music package was composed for the show by
Edd Kalehoff Edward Woodley Kalehoff Jr. (born September 1, 1945) is an American television composer who specializes in compositions for television, known for his work on the Moog synthesizer. Kalehoff composed the musical themes to the game shows '' The Pr ...
, a New York-based composer best known for composing the themes and music cues for game shows such as ''
The Price Is Right ''The Price Is Right'' is an American television game show where contestants compete by guessing the prices of merchandise to win cash and prizes. A 1972 revival by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman of their The Price Is Right (1956 American game ...
''. Since the Fox takeover, WNYW's newscasts have become more tabloid in style and have been fodder for jokes, even to the point of being parodied on ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
''. The consumer reporting segment ''The Problem Solvers'' has received the same treatment on ''
The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk show, late-night talk and news satire television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central in the United States, with extended episodes released shortly after on Paramount+ ...
''. WNYW was the first television station to cover the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center that occurred on September 11, 2001. The station interrupted a commercial break at 8:48 am. ET to deliver the first public report of the attacks on air by anchor Jim Ryan and reporter Dick Oliver. WNYW donated a digitized copy of this coverage to the Internet Archive in July 2012. In 2002, WNYW brought early evening newscasts back to the station with the launch of a 90-minute weekday news block from 5 p.m. to 6:30 pm. Longtime anchor John Roland, a 35-year veteran of channel 5, retired from the station on June 4, 2004; former
NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...
correspondent Len Cannon, who joined WNYW as a reporter and anchor some time earlier, was initially named as Roland's replacement. Several months later, veteran New York City anchorman Ernie Anastos (who at the time was anchoring at WCBS-TV) signed a multi-year contract with WNYW, displacing Cannon as lead anchor; Cannon asked for, and was granted, a release from his contract with the station shortly after Anastos's contract deal was announced. Anastos joined WNYW in July 2005, and Cannon joined
KHOU-TV 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). The two stations share studios on Westheimer Road near ...
in
Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
as its lead anchor in the spring of 2006. On April 3, 2006, WNYW debuted a new set, theme music and graphics package, and introduced a new logo based on the on-air look first adopted by Tampa sister station
WTVT WTVT (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Tampa, Florida, United States, serving as the Fox network outlet for the Tampa Bay area. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, WTVT maintains studios on Ken ...
that became standard for all of Fox's owned-and-operated stations. On November 9, 2008, WNYW became the fifth New York City television station to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. On July 13, 2009, ''Good Day New York'' expanded with the addition of a fifth hour of the program from 9 a.m. to 10 am; the noon newscast was dropped in turn. In the fall of 2009, WNYW entered into a Local News Service agreement with NBC owned-and-operated station WNBC to share helicopter footage with that station; WNYW's helicopter SkyFox HD was renamed "Chopper 5" on-air, though the SkyFox name was reinstated in 2010, while the name "Chopper 4" continued to be used by WNBC. The LNS agreement ended in 2012 when WNBC began operating its own helicopter; WNYW has since entered into a helicopter-sharing agreement with CBS-owned WCBS-TV. During the 10 p.m. newscast on September 16, 2009, anchor Ernie Anastos cursed live on-air while engaging in banter with chief meteorologist Nick Gregory, saying "I guess it takes a tough man to make a tender forecast", adding "keep fucking that chicken"; the incident gained some notoriety when it and other videos of the on-air gaffe appeared on YouTube, making Anastos and WNYW the subject of a joke on ABC's ''
Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', sometimes shortened to ''JKL'', is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show tapes and is based out of the Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywo ...
'' Anastos apologized for the incident on the following night's 10 p.m. newscast. On June 5, 2014, WNYW relaunched its 6 p.m. newscast as a more topical, interactive program; on June 6, the station launched the entertainment, lifestyle and music program ''Friday Night Live'' (airing during the timeslot normally occupied by the second half-hour of the 10 p.m. newscast). This was followed by the June 7 debut of hourly news updates that air weekend mornings between 9 a.m. and noon (WNYW is the only news-producing English language network O&O in the New York City market that does not carry a full-fledged local newscast on Saturday and/or Sunday mornings, and is one of two Fox owned-and-operated stations without a weekend morning newscast, alongside
KTTV KTTV (channel 11) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network. It is owned a ...
in Los Angeles). As of January 2021, WNYW is the only news-producing station in the New York City market that continues to present field video in widescreen
standard definition Standard-definition television (SDTV; also standard definition or SD) is a television system that uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. ''Standard'' refers to offering a similar resolution to the ...
; all of the other stations broadcast all or most of their field video in high definition.


Notable current on-air staff

* Tina Cervasio – sports anchor * Lisa Evers – general assignment reporter * Nick Gregory ( AMS Seal of Approval) – chief meteorologist (1986–present) * Curt Menefee – anchor (1995–2000, 2024–present); also with
Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...
* Audrey Puente (member, AMS; member, NWA) – meteorologist * Rosanna Scotto – anchor (1986–present) * Natasha Verma – anchor (2023–present)


Notable former on-air staff


In popular culture

WNYW was portrayed in an episode of the Fox animated comedy ''
Futurama ''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company and later revived by Comedy Central, and then Hulu. The series follows Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1 ...
'', titled " When Aliens Attack", in which the station was accidentally knocked off the air by Philip J. Fry in 1999. That resulted in angry Omicronians invading Earth in the year 3000 (having received the broadcast signal 1000 years later being 1000
light-year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year (ly or lyr), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equal to exactly , which is approximately 9.46 trillion km or 5.88 trillion mi. As defined by the International Astr ...
s away) and demanding to see the end of an ''
Ally McBeal ''Ally McBeal'' is an American legal comedy-drama television series created by David E. Kelley that originally aired on Fox from September 8, 1997, to May 20, 2002. It revolves around Calista Flockhart in the title role as a lawyer working ...
''-esque program called ''Single Female Lawyer''.


Technical information


Subchannels

The station's signal is
multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource— ...
:


Analog-to-digital conversion

WNYW discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 5, at 11:59 p.m. ET on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television; the shutdown occurred during the closing credits of a syndicated rerun of ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...
''. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition
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 ...
channel 44, using
virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered as digits on a receiver's ...
5. It carried WWOR's programming on digital subchannel 5.2 until 2009, when it changed the PSIP data to identify the virtual channel carrying WWOR's programming to 9.2. As of 2019, a channel of WWOR's programming is no longer multiplexed with WNYW.


See also

*
Media in New York City New York City has been called the media capital of the world. The media organizations based in New York City are internationally influential and include some of the most important newspapers, largest publishing houses, biggest record companies, ...
*
New Yorkers in journalism New York City has been called the Media in New York City, media capital of the world. Many journalists work in Manhattan, reporting about international, American, sports journalism, sports, business journalism, business, entertainment journalism ...


References


External links

* * – WWOR-TV
Official facebook

Official twitter

Kinescope of a WABD station identification from 1948 (YouTube)
{{Major U.S. TV O-O Stations 1944 establishments in New York City Catchy Comedy affiliates Fox Broadcasting Company affiliates Fox Television Stations Metromedia Movies! affiliates Raiders/Golden Blades/Knights WHA franchise Roar (TV network) affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1944 NYW