WPIX (channel 11) 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 earth's s ...

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 ''de facto''

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 ...

The CW Television Network The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the first ...

. Owned by

Mission Broadcasting Mission Broadcasting, Inc. is a television station group that owns 29 full-power television stations in 26 markets in the United States. The group's chair is Nancie Smith, the widow of David S. Smith, who founded the company in 1996 and died in 2 ...

, the station is operated by CW majority owner

Nexstar Media Group Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarters in Irving, Texas, Midtown Manhattan, and Chicago. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 television station ...

under a

local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...

(LMA). Since its inception in 1948, WPIX's studios and offices have been located in the

Daily News Building The Daily News Building (also the News Building) is a skyscraper at 220 East 42nd Street in the East Midtown neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The original tower, designed by Raymond Hood and John Mead Howells in th ...

on East 42nd Street (also known as "11 WPIX Plaza") in

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...

. The station's transmitter is located at 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 ...

. WPIX is also available as a regional

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 ...

via

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

and

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 ...

in the United States and Canada. It is the largest Nexstar-operated station by population of market size.

History

As an independent station (1948–1995)

The station first signed on the air on June 15, 1948; it was the fifth television station to sign on in New York City and was the market's second

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 ...

. It was also the second of three stations to launch in the New York market during 1948, debuting one month after

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

–based independent WATV (channel 13, now

WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as Thirteen (stylized as THIRTEEN), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the Educ ...

) and two months before WJZ-TV (channel 7, now

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 ...

). WPIX's call letters come from "New York's Picture ("PIX") Newspaper" the nameplate slogan of the ''

New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...

'' its founding owner. The ''Daily News''s partial corporate parent was the Chicago-based

Tribune Company Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 ...

, publishers of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

''. Until becoming owned outright by Tribune in 1991, WPIX operated separately from the company's other television and radio outlets (including

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is sister station, sister to the company ...

in Chicago, which signed-on two months before WPIX in April 1948) through the ''News''-owned license holder, WPIX, Incorporated – which in 1963, purchased New York radio station, WBFM (101.9 FM) and soon changed that station's call letters to WPIX-FM. British businessman

Robert Maxwell Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, politician and fraudster. After escaping the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, ...

bought the ''Daily News'' in 1991. Tribune retained WPIX and WQCD; the radio station was sold to

Emmis Communications Emmis Corporation is an American media conglomerate based in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Emmis, based on the Hebrew word for "Truth" (''Emet'') was founded by Jeff Smulyan in 1980. Emmis has owned many radio stations, including KPWR ...

in 1997 (it is now

WFAN-FM WFAN-FM (101.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station simulcasts a sports radio format known as "Sports Radio 66 AM and 101.9 FM", or "The FAN", along with co-owned WFAN (660 AM) ...

). WPIX initially featured programming that was standard among independents: children's programs,

movies A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...

, syndicated

rerun A rerun or repeat is a rebroadcast of an episode of a radio or television program. The two types of reruns are those that occur during a hiatus and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Variations In the United Kingdom, the word "repe ...

s of network programs, public affairs programming, religious programs and

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

– specifically, the

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 ...

, whose baseball games WPIX carried from

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

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 ...

. To generations of New York children, channel 11 was also the home of memorable personalities. In 1955, original WPIX staffer and weather forecaster Joe Bolton, donned a policeman's uniform and became "Officer Joe", hosting several programs based around ''

Little Rascals ''Our Gang'' (also known as ''The Little Rascals'' or ''Hal Roach's Rascals'') is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, who also pr ...

'', ''

Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short-subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical, farce, and slapstick comedy. Six total ...

'', and later ''

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.Jack McCarthy, also hosted ''Popeye'' and ''

Dick Tracy ''Dick Tracy'' is an American comic strip featuring Dick Tracy, a tough and intelligent police detective created by Chester Gould. It made its debut on Sunday, October 4, 1931, in the '' Detroit Mirror'', and was distributed by the Chicago T ...

cartoons A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

as "Captain Jack" in the early 1960s, though he was also the longtime host of channel 11's

St. Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Chri ...

parade coverage from 1949 to 1992. WPIX aired a local version of ''

Bozo the Clown Bozo the Clown, sometimes billed as "Bozo, The World's Most Famous Clown", is a clown character created for children's entertainment, widely popular in the second half of the 20th century. He was introduced in the United States in 1946, and to tel ...

'' (with Bill Britten in the role) from 1959 to 1964; comic performers

Chuck McCann Charles John Thomas McCann (September 2, 1934 – April 8, 2018) was an American actor, comedian, puppeteer, commercial presenter and television host. His career spanned over 70 years. He was best known for his work in presenting children's televi ...

and

Allen Swift Ira J. Stadlen (January 16, 1924 – April 18, 2010), known professionally as Allen Swift, was an American actor, writer and magician, best known as a voiceover artist who voiced cartoon characters Simon Bar Sinister and Riff-Raff on the ' ...

also hosted programs on WPIX during the mid-1960s before each moved to other entertainment work in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

. Jazz singer

Joya Sherrill Joya Sherrill (August 20, 1924 – June 28, 2010) was an American jazz vocalist and children's television show host. Biography Sherrill was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, on August 20, 1924. Her first ambition was to become a writer: she was the ...

hosted a weekday children's show, ''Time for Joya'' (later known as ''

Joya's Fun School ''Joya's Fun School'' is a children's television series that was produced and broadcast by WPIX-TV in New York City, hosted by Joya Sherrill. After an early iteration with a different title ran in 1970, the series aired weekly from January 3, 197 ...

''). Channel 11 produced the '' Magic Garden'' series, which ran on the station from 1972 to 1984. Beginning in the late 1970s and continuing through spring 1982, the station aired " TV PIXX", a television video game show played during commercial breaks of afternoon programs. Kids would call into the station for the chance to control a video game via telephone in hopes of winning prizes. Another staple of WPIX's programming was its selection of movies; unlike many independent stations, WPIX's library went beyond the usual offerings from major studios and low-budget B-movies, to movies produced by

Samuel Goldwyn Samuel Goldwyn (; born Szmuel Gelbfisz; ; July 1879 (most likely; claimed to be August 27, 1882) January 31, 1974), also known as Samuel Goldfish, was a Polish-born American film producer and pioneer in the American film industry, who produce ...

and imports from Britain. The station also became famous to many area viewers for their various holiday broadcasts of films that became traditions at the station, such as the broadcast of the 1934 movie '' March of the Wooden Soldiers'' on Thanksgiving Day. This reputation for film programming (for much of the station's history, a movie ran at 8 p.m. every night in prime time; movies also made up much of the schedule on weekends) became so ingrained that the station frequently promoted itself as being "New York's Movie Station" during the late 1980s and 1990s. Another notable programming stunt was ''Shocktober'', where for the entire month of October, various horror and thriller films were played; this occurred for several years in the early 1990s, and became a cult favorite among area viewers. From its early years through the 1960s, WPIX, like the other two major independents in New York, WOR-TV (channel 9, now WWOR) and WNEW-TV (channel 5, now

WNYW WNYW (channel 5) is a television station in New York City, serving as the Flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Secauc ...

), struggled to acquire other programming. In 1966, WPIX debuted ''

The Yule Log ''The Yule Log'' is a television show originating in the United States, which is broadcast traditionally on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. It originally aired from 1966 to 1989 on New York City television station WPIX (channel 11), which re ...

'', which combines

Christmas music Christmas music comprises a variety of Music genre, genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas and holiday season, Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or in the case of Christmas ...

with a film loop of logs burning inside a

fireplace A fireplace or hearth is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the design. ...

. Airing on Christmas Eve and/or Christmas morning initially until 1989, the film was made in 1966 and was shot at

Gracie Mansion Gracie Mansion (also Archibald Gracie Mansion) is the official residence of the mayor of New York City. Built in 1799, it is located in Carl Schurz Park, at East End Avenue and 88th Street in the Yorkville, Manhattan, Yorkville neighborhood of ...

, with the cooperation of then

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

John V. Lindsay John Vliet Lindsay (; November 24, 1921 – December 19, 2000) was an American politician and lawyer. During his political career, Lindsay was a U.S. congressman, the mayor of New York City, and a candidate for U.S. president. He was also a regu ...

. WPIX revived the ''Yule Log'' due to viewer demand in 2001, and has proven to be just as popular. Several of Tribune's other television stations (as well as

WGN America WGN America was an American subscription television network that operated from November 9, 1978 to February 28, 2021. The service was originally uplinked to satellite by United Video Inc. as a national feed of Chicago independent station WGN-T ...

and

Antenna TV Antenna TV is an American digital television network owned by Nexstar Media Group. The network's programming consists of classic television series, primarily sitcoms, from the 1950s to the 1990s. Antenna TV's programming and advertising operatio ...

) have carried the WPIX version, complete with its audio soundtrack, on Christmas morning since the late 2000s, and is also streamed online on WPIX's website. Since 1977, Channel 11 has aired a live broadcast of Midnight Mass from St. Patrick's Cathedral every Christmas Eve. The station's "Circle 11" logo – predating the existence of the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are the hundreds of sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may also refer to: Buildings * World Trade Center (1973–2001), a building complex that was destroyed during the September 11 at ...

(which was not completed until 1973), which it closely resembled – was first unveiled in 1969 (an advertising billboard for WPIX with the "Circle 11" logo began appearing that year at

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx in New York City. It is the home field of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. The stadium opened in April 2009, replacing the Yankee S ...

). By the mid-1970s, WPIX emerged as the second highest-rated independent station in the area, behind WNEW-TV. WPIX dropped the "Circle 11" when it rebranded as "11 Alive" in September 1976, though it continued to appear during station editorials until around 1982 (the "Alive" slogan was popularized by such stations as

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

WXIA-TV WXIA-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WATL (channel 36). The two stations share studios at One Monroe Place on the north end ...

, which itself has branded as "11 Alive" ever since that point, with the exception of a brief removal in 1995); the "Circle 11" logo returned as part of the "11 Alive" branding in 1984, before being restored full-time in the fall of 1986. Its relaunch featured a series of humorous promos in which a fictional station employee, "Henry Tillman", was searching for a "big idea" for something uniquely New York in nature to serve as the perfect WPIX symbol. The running gag in these ads was the fact that Tillman was constantly surrounded by – but never noticed – objects resembling a giant "11", most notably the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. In 1978, WPIX was uplinked to

and became a

that was distributed to cable providers throughout the U.S. (many providers carried WPIX's signal until the early 1990s, when most systems outside of the Northeastern United States began replacing WPIX with the superstation feed of WGN-TV, though the station continues to be distributed through

Dish Network DISH Network L.L.C., often referred to as DISH, an abbreviation for Digital Sky Highway, is an American provider of satellite television and IPTV services and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation. The company was originally establ ...

domestically (which since it halted sales of the package to new subscribers in September 2013, is available only to grandfathered subscribers of its

a la carte A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient ...

superstation tier) and on most cable and satellite providers throughout Canada). Two years later, WPIX began operating on a 24-hour programming schedule. During the late 1980s, WPIX fell to sixth place in the ratings among New York's VHF stations, behind WNYW (which was now owned by

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 ...

) and a resurgent WWOR (then owned by MCA–

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company that is a subsidiary of Comcast ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of N ...

). After president Leavitt Pope stepped down as general manager (though he remained as president and CEO of WPIX), Michael Eigner was transferred from Los Angeles sister station

KTLA KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is ...

to become WPIX's general manager in August 1989. Over the next few years the station engineered a slow turnaround that eventually resulted in WPIX becoming the leading independent station in the market. In 1994, the station became the exclusive home of the

New York City Marathon The New York City Marathon, currently branded as the TCS New York City Marathon for sponsorship reasons, is an annual marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest marathon in the world, with 53,627 fini ...

, carrying the event for the next five years. It was during the initial broadcast of that event that WPIX unveiled a stylized serifed "11" logo; the new numerical look eventually became the full-time logo, augmented with The WB's logo after the station affiliated with that network in 1995. In mid-January 1994, the station began airing the '' Action Pack'' programming block with the TV movie ''

TekWar ''TekWar'' is a series of science fiction novels created by Canadian actor William Shatner, ghost-written by American writer Ron Goulart, and published by Putnam beginning in October 1989. The novels gave rise to a comic book series, video gam ...

''. WPIX earned the biggest ratings of all the stations airing the program, with an 11.7/17 rating.

WB affiliation (1995–2006)

On November 2, 1993, the

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios, operating under the name Warner Bros. Television (abbreviated as WBTV; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division), is an American television production and distribution studio and the flagship studio o ...

division of

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warne ...

and the Tribune Company announced the formation of

The WB Television Network The WB Television Network (shortened to The WB, stylized as "THE WB", and nicknamed the "Frog Network" and/or "The Frog" for its former mascot Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network that ran from 1995 to 2006. It launched on br ...

. Due to the company's ownership interest in the network (initially a 12.5% stake, before expanding to 22%), Tribune signed the majority of its independent stations to serve as The WB's charter affiliates, resulting in WPIX becoming a network affiliate for the first time upon its January 11, 1995, debut. The station was verbally branded as "The WB, Channel 11" (simply adding The WB name to the "Channel 11" branding in use since 1986), until it was simplified to "The WB 11" in 1997, and further to "WB11" in 2000. Initially, WPIX's programming remained unchanged, as The WB had broadcast only prime time shows on Wednesday nights at its launch. As with other WB-affiliated stations during the network's first four years, WPIX ran feature films and select first-run scripted series prior to its 10 p.m. newscast on nights when The WB did not offer network programming. WB network and syndicated daytime programs (such as '' Maury'' and ''

Jerry Springer Gerald Norman Springer (February 13, 1944 – April 27, 2023) was a British-American broadcaster, journalist, actor, lawyer, and politician. He was best known for hosting the controversial tabloid talk show '' Jerry Springer'' from 1991 to 2 ...

'') became more prominent on channel 11's schedule starting in 1996 at the expense of most of its local-interest programming outside of news. By September 1999, when The WB completed its prime time expansion and the network began running its programming Sunday through Friday nights, movies were limited to Saturday evenings and weekend afternoons.

September 11 attacks

On September 11, 2001, the transmitter facilities of WPIX, and several other New York City area television and radio stations were destroyed when two hijacked airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center; both of the complex's main towers collapsed due to fires caused by the impact. WPIX lead engineer Steven A. Jacobson was among those who were killed in the terrorist attack. WPIX's satellite feed froze on the last video frame received from the WTC mast, a replay of the North Tower burning and the start of the impact of the South Tower; the image remained on-screen for much of the day until WPIX was able to set up alternate transmission facilities (the

microwave relay Microwave transmission is the transmission of information by electromagnetic waves with wavelengths in the microwave frequency range of 300 MHz to 300 GHz (1 m - 1 mm wavelength) of the electromagnetic spectrum. Microwave signal ...

for WPIX's satellite feed was also located at the World Trade Center). WPIX also broadcast on W64AA in the interim. Since then, WPIX has transmitted its signal from the

. The station's coverage of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack was notable in that WPIX's helicopter was the last to land following an FAA directive that grounded all aircraft. WPIX was given special permission to continue airing aerial video from its helicopter after the collapse of the World Trade Center, though that permission wasn't conditioned on WPIX distributing the footage as a pool camera. Footage from WPIX's helicopter was one of many videos used by the NIST in its investigation into the collapse of the World Trade Center complex.

CW affiliation (2006–present)

On January 24, 2006, the

Warner Bros. Entertainment Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

unit of Time Warner and

CBS Corporation CBS Corporation was an American multinational media company with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing and television production. It was split from Viacom on December 31, 2005, alongside an entirely new Viacom; both ...

announced that the two companies would shut down The WB and

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that operated from 1995 to 2006. It was originally a joint venture between Chris-Craft Industries (later sold to News Corporation)'s subsidiary, United Television, ...

and combine the two networks' respective programming to create a new "fifth" network called The CW. As part of the announcement, Tribune signed ten-year affiliation agreements with the network for 16 of its 19 WB-affiliated stations, including WPIX. Tribune chose not to exercise an ownership interest in The CW. At the time, WPIX was the largest CW affiliate that was not owned by either CBS Corporation or Time Warner, and the largest

English-language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

network-affiliated station that was not an

owned-and-operated station 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 network af ...

of its respective network. WPIX began transitioning its on-air branding to "CW 11" during the summer of 2006; prior to the start of the station's 10 p.m. newscast on September 17, 2006 (which aired following The WB's final night of programming and the night prior to The CW's official launch), shortly after airing the WB's final sign off bumper featuring stars from the WB's shows, the station aired a video montage of past WPIX logos, starting with a 1948 test pattern and concluding with the official unveiling of the new "CW11" logo.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
On April 2, 2007, investor

Sam Zell Samuel Zell (born Shmuel Zielonka; September 28, 1941 – May 18, 2023) was an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist primarily engaged in real estate investment. Companies founded by or controlled by Zell include Equity Residential ...

announced plans to purchase the Tribune Company, with intentions to take the publicly traded firm private. The deal was completed on December 20, 2007. Prior to the sale's closure, WPIX had been the only commercial television station in New York City to have never been involved in an ownership transaction (Tribune subsequently filed for

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

protection in 2008, due to debt accrued from Zell's

leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is the acquisition of a company using a significant proportion of borrowed money (Leverage (finance), leverage) to fund the acquisition with the remainder of the purchase price funded with private equity. The assets of t ...

and costs from the company's privatization; it emerged from bankruptcy in December 2012 under the control of its senior debt holders

Oaktree Capital Management Oaktree Capital Management, Inc. is an American global asset management firm specializing in alternative investment strategies. As of September 30, 2024, the company managed $205 billion for its clientele. The firm was co-founded in 1995 by a ...

, Angelo, Gordon & Co. and

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational financial services, finance corporation headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is List of largest banks in the United States, the largest ba ...

). The station began gradually adopting a modernized "Circle 11" logo in mid-October 2008, featuring a slimmer version of the WB-era "11" (the CW logo is sometimes used next to the "Circle 11", primarily in station promos for CW programs). The station's branding was then changed to "PIX 11" on December 1, 2008 (the "PIX" in the call letters are pronounced phonetically, similar to the word "picks"). On August 17, 2012,

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 ...

removed the station from its

New York area The New York metropolitan area, also called the Tri-State area and sometimes referred to as Greater New York, is the largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a gross metropolitan product of over US$2.6 trillion. It is also the lar ...

systems, part of a

carriage dispute A carriage dispute is a disagreement over the right to "carry", that is, retransmit, a broadcaster's signal. Carriage disputes first occurred between broadcasters and cable companies and now include direct broadcast satellite and other multichan ...

with Tribune in which WPIX's

Hartford Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

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

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

sister stations were removed from Cablevision's systems in those markets. Cablevision accused Tribune of demanding higher carriage fees (claiming to total in the tens of millions of dollars) for use to help pay off debt, and alleged that it illegally bundled carriage agreements for WPIX and Hartford's

WTIC-TV WTIC-TV (channel 61) is a television station in Hartford, Connecticut, United States, serving the Hartford–New Haven market as an affiliate of the Fox network. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Waterbury-licensed CW affiliate WCCT-TV ( ...

(which was later pulled as well, but unlike co-owned WCCT, was initially unaffected due to a separate carriage agreement); the company denied the claims, stating its approach complied with FCC regulations. The stations and WGN America were restored in an agreement reached on October 26, following a plea by Connecticut State Senator

Gayle Slossberg Gayle Slossberg (born May 14, 1965) is an American politician. A Democrat, Slossberg is a former seven term Connecticut State Senator having served between 2005 and 2019. A resident of Milford, Slossberg as senator represented the western sub ...

for the FCC to intervene in the dispute. On May 23, 2016, WPIX owner Tribune Broadcasting and The CW reached a five-year affiliation agreement that renewed the network's affiliations with twelve of Tribune's CW-affiliated stations (including WPIX) through the 2020–21 television season; the deal came after a year-long disagreement between The CW's managing partner CBS Corporation and Tribune concerning financial terms, specifically the amount of reverse compensation that The CW had sought from the group's CW affiliates.

Sinclair acquisition attempt and subsequent transactions

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair, Inc., doing business as Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb o ...

announced plans to acquire Tribune Media for $3.9 billion on May 8, 2017, plus the assumption of $2.7 billion in Tribune debt. To meet regulatory approval, WPIX was one of several stations identified by Sinclair for divestitures to a third party; Sinclair partner licensee

Cunningham Broadcasting Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation is an owner of broadcast television stations in the United States. The company owns fifteen stations–eight affiliated with Fox, three affiliated with The CW, two affiliated with ABC, and two affiliated with ...

was later revealed as the buyer for WPIX-TV with a below market-value $15 million purchase price. Several weeks after that divestment was announced, Sinclair withdrew the resale with intentions to retain WPIX outright. The attempted sale of WPIX—along with Tribune stations in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

and

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 ...

—to Cunningham, and in particular a planned sale of WGN-TV to an

LLC A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...

controlled by a friend of Sinclair executive chairman

David D. Smith David Deniston Smith is an American businessman who has been the executive chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBGI) since January 2017, having been its president and CEO from September 1990 to January 2017. In 2024, he acquired majority owners ...

, resulted in FCC chairman

Ajit Pai Ajit Varadaraj Pai (; born January 10, 1973) is an American lawyer who served as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 2017 to 2021. He became a partner at the private-equity firm Searchlight Capital in April 2021. He bec ...

publicly rejecting the merger. Despite Sinclair abandoning the divestments, the FCC voted to send the merger up for an evidentiary review. Tribune Media moved to terminate the merger outright on August 9, 2018, and filed a

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other part ...

lawsuit in the process. Following the Sinclair deal's collapse,

agreed to acquire Tribune Media's assets on December 3, 2018, for $6.4 billion in cash and debt. WPIX-TV was then sold by Nexstar to the

E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company, also known as Scripps, is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglom ...

for $75 million as part of a series of divestitures totaling $1.32 billion; both transactions were completed on September 19, 2019. Under the terms of the deal, Nexstar was granted an option by Scripps to repurchase WPIX between March 31, 2020, and December 31, 2021. Nexstar partner licensee

exercised said option to buy WPIX on July 13, 2020—Nexstar had previously transferred to Mission said repurchase option—for $75 million plus accrued interest. This coincided with Scripps's eventual merger with

Ion Media Ion Media, LLC (formerly known as Paxson Communications Corporation and Ion Media Networks) is a subsidiary of the E.W. Scripps Company that operates the linear broadcast networks Ion Television, Ion Mystery, and Ion Plus. Prior to its acquis ...

, owner of

WPXN-TV WPXN-TV (channel 31) is a television station in New York City, serving as the local Ion Television outlet. Owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E.W. Scripps Company, the station maintains offices on Seventh Avenue in Midtown ...

. The sale to Mission was approved by the FCC on December 1 and completed on December 30. On May 20, 2021, Nexstar announced that they renewed affiliations for The CW in 37 media markets, which includes WPIX. On March 21, 2024, the FCC ruled Mission's ownership of WPIX to be an illegal circumvention of its ownership limits, due to Nexstar treating the station like its own, and ordered Nexstar to either sell it to an independent third party or sell off some of its other stations to buy WPIX outright. The decision came as

s and similar licensing deals came under increased scrutiny by the FCC. Nexstar stated its intent to dispute the ruling, claiming that it had always complied with FCC regulations.

Programming

News operation

As most stations did in the late 1940s and early 1950s, WPIX aired filmed coverage of news events. The station's first news program, ''TelePIX Newsreel'', was the first in New York City to consist entirely of filmed coverage. From 1948 to 1965, WPIX produced ''Three Star News'', a 6:30 p.m. newscast which employed a three-anchor format—with Kevin Kennedy reading world and national news, John Tillman reporting local stories and Joe Bolton as the weatherman. Bolton was later assigned to host children's programming and was replaced by Gloria Okon. The program was canceled after an FCC complaint that some of Tillman's "man on the street" interviews were staged with paid actors, most notable of which was a "pro- Castro sympathizer", who was "interviewed" with a copy of the ''

Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in Chicago founded by communists, socialists, union members, and other activists. Publication began in 1924. It generally reflected the prevailing views of members of the Communist Party USA (CPU ...

'' newspaper conveniently tucked under his arm. WPIX produced the '' Independent Network News'', a national newscast that was syndicated to independent stations from June 1980 to June 1990. The program – whose live feed was transmitted nationally weeknights at 9:30 p.m. ( ET) – featured the same on-air staff as channel 11's newscasts and was broadcast from the same news studio, with ''INN'' logos covering the station's own logo on various set pieces. In New York City, WPIX paired a 10 p.m. replay of the national news with a live local newscast at 10:30 pm, called the ''Action News Metropolitan Report''. As part of a midday expansion of ''INN'', starting in 1981, channel 11 also launched a newscast at 12:30 pm. During the decade, WPIX also produced two other programs syndicated to stations that carried the ''INN'' program: the business-oriented ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

Report''; and ''From the Editor's Desk'', a Sunday news discussion program hosted by Richard D. Heffner, host of the long-running public-affairs program '' The Open Mind''. WPIX was also noted for the many post–news editorials that were delivered by Richard N. Hughes, vice president of news operations from 1969 to 1995. His editorials ended with the tagline "What's your opinion? We'd like to know." Periodically, he would read excerpts from viewers' letters in response to the editorials, invariably closing each excerpt by saying, "And that ends that quote." In 1984, the station renamed its local and syndicated news programs as ''The Independent News''. In 1986, the national ''INN'' newscast was renamed ''USA Tonight'' and aired at 10 pm, while the 7:30 p.m. program retained the ''Independent News'' title and the 10:30 p.m. local newscast was renamed ''New York Tonight''. When ''INN'' was canceled, the 7:30 p.m. program ended as well, and WPIX focused its efforts on the 10 p.m. newscast. Pix 11 News

Over the years, channel 11 has won many news awards and was the first independent station to win a New York area Emmy award for outstanding newscast, first earning the statuette in 1979 and again in 1983. It was a significant comeback for a news operation that was accused of falsifying news reports in the late 1960s, such as labeling stock footage as being shown "via satellite", and claiming a voice report was live from

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

when it had actually been made from a pay telephone in Manhattan. As a result, Forum Communications – led by future

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

and

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 ...

president

Lawrence K. Grossman Lawrence Kugelmass Grossman (June 21, 1931 – March 23, 2018) was a cable television industry executive who served as president of PBS from 1976 to 1984 and headed NBC News from 1985 to 1988. Early life and career Grossman was born Lawrence K ...

– approached the

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 ...

to challenge WPIX Inc.'s license to operate channel 11. WPIX and the ''Daily News'' prevailed in 1979 after years of litigation. Concurrent with the challenge to its license, WPIX began airing nine public-service programs in mid-1969, including ''Puerto Rican New Yorker'', ''

Black Pride Black pride is a movement which encourages black people to celebrate their respective cultures and embrace their African heritage. In the United States, it initially developed for African-American culture and was a direct response to white ...

'', ''Suburban Closeup'', ''Focus New Jersey'', ''Everywoman'', ''Rendezvous'', ''Jewish Dimension'', ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...

'', and ''The Green Thumb''. On June 5, 2000, WPIX launched a weekday morning newscast, the ''WB11 Morning News'' (now the ''PIX 11 Morning News''), which has grown to challenge the established network morning programs as well as its more direct competitor, WNYW's ''

Good Day New York ''Good Day New York'' is a morning show airing on WNYW Fox 5 (channel 5), hosted by Rosanna Scotto and Curt Menefee. It is a Fox owned-and-operated television station in New York City, owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of Fox C ...

''. On April 26, 2008, WPIX became the fourth television station in New York City to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in

high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *Blu-ray Disc, the universal optical High Definition disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tap ...

. The station resumed a half-hour early evening newscast on September 14, 2009, that ran nightly at 6:30 pm, until it was replaced by syndicated reruns on June 27, 2010. Three months later, on September 11, the station launched a weekend evening 6 p.m. newscast (making WPIX one of the few U.S. television stations to carry an early evening newscast on weekends, without an existing weekday news program in that daypart). On September 20, 2010, WPIX expanded its weekday morning newscast to five hours, with the addition of an hour at 4 am. On October 11, 2010, newly appointed

news director A news director is an individual at a broadcast station or network who is in charge of the news department. In local news, the news director is typically in charge of the entire news staff, including journalists, news presenters, photographers, ...

Bill Carey instituted controversial format changes for the newscasts in an attempt to boost the station's ratings. Carey made the newscasts flashier than they had previously been;

Kaity Tong Kaity Tong (; born July 23, 1947) is a Chinese-born American broadcast journalist. She has been a television news anchor in New York City since 1981. Early life Kaity (pronounced "kite-ee")Tong, Kaity"What's in a name?" ''WPIX Blog'', March 4, 2 ...

and Jim Watkins were replaced as anchors of the weeknight 10 p.m. broadcasts by

Jodi Applegate Jodi Applegate (born May 2, 1964)"Anchor Jodi Applegate Shares ...

, and multiple commentators and an edgy graphics and music package were introduced. The revamped newscast's first week was not well received by most viewers or critics, with the station fielding numerous complaints through phone calls, emails and Facebook comments, as well as a scathing review in the ''Daily News''. A Facebook page was created calling for Tong and Watkins's return to the 10 pm news. WPIX's sports department was shut down in March 2011, with sports segments being reduced to a two-minute feature presented by the station's news anchors. In September 2011, WPIX relieved Watkins of his duties as weekend anchor, replacing him with Tong (who now solo anchors the 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts on Saturdays and Sundays). By late 2011, the station's newscast ratings would fall to last place. Carey, who stepped down on October 3, 2012, was replaced as news director by Mark Effron in April 2013. On September 12, 2011, WPIX restored an early evening newscast to its weeknight schedule with the debut of an hour-long 5 p.m. broadcast, which was originally aimed at women between the ages of 18 and 49. On December 19, 2012, Jodi Applegate left WPIX, to prepare for the birth of her child through a gestational surrogate. Morning anchor Tamsen Fadal was later named her replacement; the station later restored a two-anchor format with the hiring of WNBC sports anchor Scott Stanford as Fadal's co-anchor on the 5 pm and 10 pm newscasts in September 2013. In March 2014, WPIX hired consumer reporter

Arnold Diaz Arnold Theodore Diaz (June 16, 1949 – October 24, 2023) was an American television consumer watchdog journalist, last employed by WPIX-TV in New York. Diaz was known for his ''Shame on You'' series of consumer reports which aired on WCBS-TV fo ...

(who was fired by WNYW two months earlier due to the shutdown of its consumer investigative unit) to head up a new four-person investigative unit. On April 5, 2014, WPIX moved its weekend early evening newscast one hour earlier, from 6 to 5 pm. On April 23, 2014, the station debuted a new graphics package during its 5 p.m. newscast (the opening sequences used in this package had previously debuted in January 2014, but were updated with the revamp); along with the change, the station brought back Non-Stop Music's "WPIX Custom News Package", which had previously been used as the theme for WPIX's evening newscasts from 1993 until the 2010 format change. On June 9, the station reduced the morning newscast to four hours (with the 4 a.m. hour replaced with syndicated programs) to allow the station "the flexibility to invest more resources into the key morning hours". On July 14, 2014,

John Muller John William Muller (born 7 July 1966) is an American television journalist. From 2011 until 2014, he was with ABC News, where his anchor duties included ''World News Now'' and '' ABC News Now''. He is the weeknight anchor of NYC's Emmy Awar ...

(who joined WPIX in 1999 and served as anchor of the morning newscast from its launch until he left for

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

in 2011) returned to the station as evening co-anchor; Scott Stanford was reassigned to lead sports anchor (as part of a gradual reformation of the sports department that included the launch of the highlight program ''PIX11 Sports Desk''). During the July 2014 ratings period and again during the August 2014 ratings period, WPIX beat WNYW and WNBC, earning 3rd place in ratings only behind WABC and WCBS in the 5 p.m. timeslot among adults 25–54 (as well as in certain other demographics) for the first time since 2011; it was the only newscast in the market to make year-to-year gains in key demographics. WPIX's newscasts also saw increases in the morning and at 10 pm in the 25–54 demographic. On April 20, 2015, WPIX debuted a 6 p.m. newscast on weekdays with current evening anchors John Muller and Tamsen Fadal. On December 8, 2015, WPIX announced the hiring of former WWOR anchor Brenda Blackmon, and the addition of a new 6:30 p.m. program, to rival the network news on the other main stations. Kaity Tong and Blackmon began anchoring the broadcast on January 11, 2016. The 6:30 p.m. newscast was cancelled in September 2016. On April 13, 2016, WPIX made an announcement of more anchor changes preceding May Sweeps. This includes Scott Stanford moving from evening sports anchor to morning news anchor with Sukanya Krishnan. Kori Chambers, formerly on the morning show, and weekend evenings, will co-anchor with Tamsen Fadal on the weekday 5 p.m. version and handle political coverage for the station. Andy Adler, who handled weekend sports duties, will become the primary sports anchor. In addition, Kala Rama and Craig Treadway, who anchored on the weekends, will now anchor the first portion of the morning news (5–6 a.m.). In May 2017, WPIX once again revamped its anchor lineup. The station announced that former ''

CBS Morning News ''CBS News Mornings'' (formerly ''CBS Morning News'') is an American early-morning news broadcast presented weekdays on the CBS television network. The program features late-breaking news stories, national weather forecasts and sports highlight ...

'' and ''

Early Today ''Early Today'' is an American early morning news broadcasting#Television, television news program that is broadcast on NBC on weekday mornings. The program is hosted by Frances Rivera, and features general national and international news stories ...

'' anchor

Betty Nguyen Betty Nguyen (born September 1, 1974) is an American news anchor, currently WFOR-TV, CBS Miami morning news co-anchor. Nguyen has previously worked for NBC News, MSNBC, CBS News, CNN, and WPIX. Career Nguyen began her career as a morning anchor ...

would become part of the morning news team along with a returning Dan Mannarino, with Scott Stanford once again returned to anchoring sports for the evening broadcasts. In addition, WPIX announced that it would begin featuring traffic reports from WCBS radio's Tom Kaminski, who reports from the radio station's helicopter as he does every weekday; when he files his television reports the helicopter is referred to as "Air 11". Until the show's cancellation in spring 2022, WPIX's news studio was the home base for the daily syndicated entertainment news series ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

TV'' from

CBS Media Ventures CBS Media Ventures, Inc. (formerly CBS Paramount Domestic Television and CBS Television Distribution) is the television broadcast syndication arm of CBS Studios, a division of the CBS Entertainment Group, in turn a division of Paramount Global, ...

, which WPIX carried locally. This was done to avert a costly remodeling of the ''Daily Mail'' New York bureau for television operations. WPIX only contributed technical staff to the series, and ''Daily Mail TV'' was taped using removable logos which overlay WPIX's logos on the set during 'dark' time for the studio (in

breaking news Breaking news, also called late-breaking news, a special report, special coverage, or a news flash, is a current issue that warrants the interruption of a scheduled broadcast in order to report its details. News broadcasters also use the term ...

situations during ''Daily Mail TV'' tapings, WPIX originated coverage from its newsroom instead). In January 2020, WPIX expanded its morning newscast to include the 9a.m. hour. On September 14, 2020, WPIX added an hour-long 10a.m. newscast, becoming New York's only 10a.m. newscast; the newscast now runs from 4a.m. to 10a.m.

Sports programming

Since 1999, the station has been the over-the-air broadcast partner of the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

. Prior to 1999, the Mets had spent their entire televised history (since 1962) with (W)WOR. WPIX, since 2013, has also simulcast some

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

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 ...

'' telecasts involving the Giants or Jets by arrangement with WABC-TV, the main local rightsholder for the over-the-air simulcasts. WPIX has also carried

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 ...

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 ...

'' telecasts involving the Giants or Jets (mostly prior to the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

's decision to simulcast most Thursday night games on CBS, NBC, or Fox). WPIX served as the longtime over-the-air television broadcaster of New York Yankees baseball from 1951 to 1998.

Mel Allen Mel Allen (born Melvin Allen Israel; February 14, 1913 – June 16, 1996) was an American sportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees. During the peak of his career in the 1940s, 1 ...

served as the primary announcer for the broadcasts,

Red Barber Walter Lanier "Red" Barber (February 17, 1908 – October 22, 1992) was an American sports announcer and author. Nicknamed "The Ol' Redhead", he was primarily identified with broadcasts of Major League Baseball, calling play-by-play across four ...

from 1954 to 1966,

Phil Rizzuto Philip Francis Rizzuto ( ; September 25, 1917 – August 13, 2007), nicknamed "the Scooter", was an American Major League Baseball shortstop. He spent his entire 13-year baseball career with the New York Yankees (1941–1956), and was elected to ...

from 1957 to 1996, and

Bobby Murcer Bobby Ray Murcer (May 20, 1946 – July 12, 2008) was an American professional baseball outfielder who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1965 and 1983. He played the majority of his career for the New York Yankees, whom he ...

from 1997 to 1998. With his "Holy Cow!" catchphrase, Rizzuto became popular especially through the 1970s. WPIX lost the broadcast rights for the Yankees to WNYW in 1998, more so the result of regional cable sports networks (in this case,

MSG Monosodium glutamate (MSG), also known as sodium glutamate, is a sodium salt of glutamic acid. MSG is found naturally in some foods including tomatoes and cheese in this glutamic acid form. MSG is used in cooking as a flavor enhancer with a ...

) gaining team broadcast rights, leaving broadcast stations with fewer games to air. In

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, the Yankees returned to WPIX after a 17-year absence, having picked up

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% ...

's package of over-the-air Yankees broadcasts, replacing WWOR-TV. These games co-existed with WPIX's existing Mets broadcasts (produced by

SportsNet New York SportsNet New York (SNY) is an American regional sports network owned by Sterling Entertainment Enterprises, LLC, itself a joint venture between Fred Wilpon's Sterling Equities (which owns a controlling 65% interest), Charter Communications th ...

). In

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, these games left WPIX for

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

. At various points, WPIX also aired Major League Baseball's New York Giants, the New York Football Giants and

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

from 1984 to 1991 from various companies such as

Pro Wrestling USA Pro Wrestling USA was a professional wrestling promotion in the United States in the mid-1980s. It was an attempt to unify various federations, including the American Wrestling Association (AWA), Jim Crockett Promotions and other members of the ...

, AWA

All Star Wrestling All Star Wrestling (ASW), also known as Super Slam Wrestling (SSW), is a British professional wrestling promotion founded by Brian Dixon in 1970 and based in Birkenhead, England. Founded as Wrestling Enterprises of Birkenhead in October 1970, i ...

, UWF, NWA/

WCW Worldwide ''WCW WorldWide'' is an American syndicated television show that was produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) that aired from October 8, 1975, to March 31, 2001. At the time of its cancellation, ''WorldWide'' was the longest-running, unin ...

and

Pro Pro is an abbreviation meaning "professional". Pro, PRO or variants thereof might also refer to: People * Miguel Pro (1891–1927), Mexican priest * Pro Hart (1928–2006), Australian painter * Mlungisi Mdluli (born 1980), South African ret ...

, GLOW and briefly WWF (now

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

) from late 1998 to early 1999, the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. The Rangers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team plays ...

, the

MISL Major Indoor Soccer League has been the name of three different American professional indoor soccer leagues: *Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992), known in its final two seasons as the Major Soccer League *Major Indoor Soccer League (2001–2 ...

New York Arrows The New York Arrows were an indoor soccer team that played in the original Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992), Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) from 1978 to 1984. They were the MISL's first dynasty, winning the first four championships. H ...

and local

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

. However, it was through its coverage of Yankees baseball that WPIX gained perhaps its greatest fame and identity. In March 2017, it was announced that WPIX would air selected

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Indepen ...

soccer games beginning in the 2017 season. In 2021, WPIX aired two

Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), ...

playoff games. The Nets' usual network,

YES Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * Young Eisner Scholars, in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Appalachia, US * Young Ep ...

, was airing a Yankees game instead.

Notable current on-air staff

Ben Aaron Benjamin Aron Colonomos (born September 10, 1981) is a New York City-based media personality formerly for NBCUniversal's LXTV and WNBC's ''New York Live'', and for the nationally syndicated '' Crazy Talk'' television series. From 2017 to 2019, h ...

– anchor; ''New York Living'' host *

Ernie Anastos Ernie Anastos (born July 12, 1943) is a New York Emmy award winning television news anchor and talk show host on WABC (770 AM) with ''Positively Ernie'' focusing on uplifting stories and interviews. He is also a children’s author and host of hi ...

– ''Positively America'' host *

Marysol Castro Marysol Castro is a public address announcer at Citi Field, home of the New York Mets. She is also an American broadcast journalist who is employed as a morning news anchor at WPIX in New York City, a weather forecaster for ''The Early Show'' ...

– anchor, ''New York Living'' host *

Chris Cimino Chris Cimino (born April 27, 1961) is a meteorologist on WPIX "New York's very own" early morning show 4AM-6AM. Chris also hosts New York Living, a new lifestyle show on WPIX. Chris was the meteorologist on WNBC television's early-morning news p ...

– meteorologist, ''New York Living'' Host *

Kendis Gibson Kendis Gibson (born September 6, 1972, Belize City) is a Belizean-born American journalist. He has won two Emmy Awards for "outstanding news reporting" and "sports feature". He has been an anchor and correspondent for CNN, CBS News, ABC News, a ...

– anchor * Irv "Mr. G" Gikofsky - meteorologist * Allison Kaden – general assignment reporter * Byron Miranda – meteorologist *

– weekend morning anchor; fill-in and substitute weekday/weekend anchor *

Jill Nicolini Jill Marie Nicolini (born January 10, 1978) is a reporter and former model, actress, and reality TV show participant. Currently, Nicolini is a traffic reporter on WPIX 11 Morning News in New York City. Life and career Nicolini was born in Farmin ...

– fill in traffic/entertainment anchor *

– weekend anchor * Craig Treadway – weekend morning anchor/reporter

Notable former on-air staff

* Craig Allen (

AMS AMS or Ams may refer to: Organizations Companies * Alenia Marconi Systems * American Management Systems * AMS (Advanced Music Systems) * ams AG, semiconductor manufacturer * AMS Pictures * Auxiliary Medical Services Educational institutions ...

Seal of Approval) – meteorologist (2010–2020) *

Jodi Applegate Jodi Applegate (born May 2, 1964)"Anchor Jodi Applegate Shares ...

(2010–2012) * Brenda Blackmon *

Remy Blumenfeld Remy Blumenfeld (born 1965) is a British television producer and format creator, who co-founded the production company Brighter Pictures which he sold to Endemol in 2004. He is the TV format creator of '' There's Something About Miriam'', '' G ...

* Joe Bolton *

Sharon Carpenter Sharon Lee Carpenter (born 2 March 1982) is a British broadcast journalist, television host, and producer. She has worked as an on-air personality for a number of top American television networks including CBS, BET, Sean "Diddy" Combs' REVOLT ...

(2010–2011) *

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(1992–1998) * Jason Carroll *

Julie Chang Julie Ju-young Chang is an American television personality and former anchor for '' Good Day L.A.'' and Fox 11 Morning News on KTTV in Los Angeles, joining the station in November 2012 to May 2020. She joined the morning show ''Good Day New Yor ...

* Linda Church (1990–2017) *

Morton Dean Morton Dean Dubitsky (born August 22, 1935), better known as Morton Dean, is an American retired television and radio anchor, news correspondent and author. Dean is a former weekend news anchor for '' CBS Evening News,'' as well as ABC's '' Go ...

(1985–1987) * Vince DeMentri *

Laurie Dhue Laurie Walker Dhue (born February 10, 1969) is an American television journalist. She was a Fox News Channel anchor from 2000 to 2008, reporting for the television show '' Geraldo at Large'' and the host of '' Fox Report'' ''Weekend''. Born in Ch ...

Arnold Díaz Arnold Theodore Diaz (June 16, 1949 – October 24, 2023) was an American television consumer watchdog journalist, last employed by WPIX-TV in New York. Diaz was known for his ''Shame on You'' series of consumer reports which aired on WCBS-TV fo ...

– investigative reporter * Tom Ellis – host of ''NewsWorthy'' * Amber Lee Ettinger * Tamsen Fadal (2008–2023) * Emily Frances (2001–2010) *

Shon Gables Shon Gables is currently an evening news anchor with WANF in Atlanta. Broadcasting career Gables worked as a news anchor at WCBS-TV in New York City. As co-anchor of ''CBS 2 News This Morning'' from 2003 to 2006, Gables covered many New York City ...

Jerry Girard Jerry Girard (August 6, 1932 – March 25, 2007) was an American radio personality and sports anchor, most notably at WPIX in New York City. Early life and career Born as Gerard Alfred Suglia in Chicago and raised in The Bronx, New York, where he ...

(1974–1995) *

Donna Hanover Donna Hanover (born Donna Ann Kofnovec; February 15, 1950) is an American journalist, radio and television personality, television producer, and actress, who appears on CUNY TV in New York City. From 1994 through 2001, she was First Lady of New ...

(1983–1990) *

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(1975–1985) * Cathy Hobbs (1997–2009) * Richard N. Hughes * Jackie Hyland (2000–2005, 2007–2011) * Bill Jorgensen (1979–1987) *

Marvin Kitman Marvin Kitman (November 24, 1929 – June 29, 2023) was an American television critic, humorist, and author. He was a columnist for ''Newsday'' for 35 years and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1982. Kitman was the aut ...

(1973–1974) * Sukanya Krishnan (2001–2003, 2005–2017) *

Shari Lewis Shari Lewis (born Phyllis Naomi Hurwitz; January 17, 1933 – August 2, 1998) was a Peabody awards, Peabody-winning American Ventriloquism, ventriloquist, puppeteer, children's entertainer, television show host, dancer, singer, actress, author, a ...

* Lionel (2009–2015) *

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* Patricia Lopez *

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(1970–1991) *

Sal Marchiano Salvatore Joseph "Sal" Marchiano (born March 3, 1941) is a former American sportscaster who worked in New York radio and television for forty four years. In December 2008 he retired from his position as sports director and anchor for the WPIX C ...

(1995–2008) *

* Jack McCarthy * Myles Miller (2015–2017) * Kaitlin Monte (2014–2016) * Felonious Munk (2011–2012) *

Melinda Murphy Melinda Murphy was born in December 1963. She is the General Manager of Planet Murph Media. Her two main clients are VanMedia Group where she is a senior media trainer who teaches communication skills to executives, and American Association of Sin ...

(2000–2002) *

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(1986–1987) * Tim Ryan * Bonnie Schneider *

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(2001–2005) *

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* Peter Thorne (2001–2011) * Jim Watkins (1998–2011)

Public affairs and special events

WPIX specialized in public affairs and special event programming, inspired by its roots under the ownership of the ''Daily News''. Early on, it offered the first in-depth program to look at New York City government, ''City Hall''. WPIX children's show personality Jack McCarthy anchored the station's coverage of the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade; the station later added the

Columbus Day Columbus Day is a national holiday in many countries of the Americas and elsewhere, and a federal holiday in the United States, which officially celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas. He went ashore at ...

and National Puerto Rican Day Parade to its stable of events. Later on, the station produced ''Essence'', a series inspired by ''

Essence Essence () has various meanings and uses for different thinkers and in different contexts. It is used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property (philosophy), property or set of properties or attributes that make an entity the ...

'' magazine and hosted by the magazine's chief editor,

Susan L. Taylor Susan L. Taylor (born January 23, 1946) is an American editor, writer, and journalist. She served as editor-in-chief of ''Essence'' from 1981 through 2000. In 1994, ''American Libraries'' referred to Taylor as "the most influential black woman i ...

. The station also aired the

Macy's 4th of July Fireworks The Macy's 4th of July Fireworks is an annual Independence Day (United States), Independence Day fireworks display held in New York City. The fireworks show, usually held over the East River or Hudson River, has been sponsored by Macy's, Inc. ea ...

event beginning in 1983. Along with the New York City Marathon, these events moved to

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� ...

(channel 4) after the station joined The WB. Since 2000, the Macy's fireworks event has been carried nationally on

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 ...

, while WABC-TV (locally) and

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

(nationally outside the New York City area) broadcast the Marathon. Special guest Coby Kranz was invited onto the daily news segment on his 11th birthday, because he was one of the only people to turn 11 on 11/11/11. ''Editor's Desk'' host Richard D. Heffner served as host of ''The Open Mind'', which was produced by WPIX (and was concurrently aired on PBS member stations), before moving to other New York studios. Since 1992, WPIX has produced ''PIX News Closeup'' (hosted by WPIX senior correspondent Marvin Scott since its debut), a half-hour public affairs and interview program on Sunday mornings that focuses on domestic and international issues in the news, and discussions on political issues.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's ATSC 1.0 channels are carried on the

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— ...

signals of other New York City television stations:

Analog-to-digital conversion

WPIX ended regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 11, at 12:30 p.m. on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 33 to VHF channel 11.

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 ...

took over the channel 33 allocation as it moved its digital signal from channel 56 as a result of the phaseout of channels 52–69. On January 1, 2011, Tribune launched its new digital broadcast network, Antenna TV, which affiliated with WPIX through a new fourth

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 compress ...

. In May 2012, WPIX moved Antenna TV to digital subchannel 11.2, while digital channel 11.4 was removed (

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 networ ...

, which was carried on 11.2 at the time, is now affiliated with

Port Jervis Port Jervis, named after John Bloomfield Jervis, a Roman civil engineer who oversaw the construction of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, is a city located at the confluence of the Neversink and Delaware rivers in western Orange County, New York, ...

low-power station

WASA-LD WASA-LD (channel 24) is a low-power television station licensed to Port Jervis, New York, United States, serving the New York City area with programming from the Spanish-language network Estrella TV. The station is owned by Estrella Media, and ...

, which is owned by the network's parent company

Estrella Media Estrella Media Co (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 f ...

). 11.4 returned to the air in 2018 as an affiliate of

TBD TBD may refer to: Arts and media * TBD (TV network), an American broadcast television network for millennials * TBD TV (now ''WJLA 24/7 News''), a local cable news channel for Washington, D.C. * TBD Records, an American record label * TBD.com ...

. On September 1, 2021, 11.4 switched to Nexstar–owned classic network

Rewind TV Rewind TV is an American digital television network owned by Nexstar Media Group, and is a spinoff/sister network of Antenna TV. The network's programming consists of classic television series, primarily sitcoms, from the 1980s to the early 2000 ...

. On October 28, 2019,

Court TV Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former pay-television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news cover ...

launched on 11.3, replacing

This TV This TV (also known as This TV Network and alternately stylized as thisTV) was an American free-to-air television network owned by Allen Media Broadcast Networks, LLC, part of the Allen Media Group division of Entertainment Studios. Originally ...

. On April 1, 2023, 11.3 switched to

Grit Grit, Grits, or Gritty may refer to: Food * Grit (grain), bran, chaff, mill-dust or coarse oatmeal * Grits, a corn-based food common in the Southern United States Minerals * Grit, winter pavement-treatment minerals deployed in grit bins * G ...

ATSC 3.0 lighthouse service

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wpix 1948 establishments in New York City Antenna TV affiliates ATSC 3.0 television stations The CW affiliates Former E. W. Scripps Company subsidiaries Grit (TV network) affiliates Nexstar Media Group Rewind TV affiliates Superstations in the United States Television channels and stations established in 1948 PIX