WFAA-TV

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WFAA-TV
Dallas / Fort Worth, Texas
Branding	WFAA 8 (general) News 8 (newscasts)
Slogan	The Spirit of Texas
Channels	8 (VHF) analog, 9 (VHF), 8.2 (Xpress 8.2) digital
Affiliations	ABC
Owner	Belo Corporation
Founded	September 17, 1949
Call letters meaning	Working For All Alike or World's Finest Air Attraction (inherited from sister radio station WFAA-AM)
Former callsigns	KBTV (1949-1950)
Former affiliations	DuMont (1949-1955)
Transmitter Power	316 kW/512 m (analog) 18.6 kW/527 m (digital)
Website	www.wfaa.com

WFAA-TV ("WFAA 8") is the ABC television affiliate serving the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas DMA (6th largest nationwide). Its transmitter is located in Cedar Hill. The station is the flagship of Belo Corporation, which also owns the Dallas Morning News daily newspaper.

Contents 1 History 2 Newscasts 2.1 Anchor Lineups 2.2 Reporters 3 Trivia 4 Station Slogans 5 Ratings 6 References 7 External links

[edit] History

WFAA signed on as DuMont affiliate KBTV on September 17, 1949. (Note: The callsign KBTV was used for years by Channel 9, the ABC (now NBC) affiliate in Denver, but now belongs to Channel 4, the Beaumont, Texas NBC station.) WFAA was the first TV station in Dallas and the second in the Metroplex behind WBAP-TV (now KXAS). The station became WFAA (after sister radio station WFAA-AM) on March 21, 1950, not long after the station was purchased by Belo in the midst of a FCC television license freeze from 1948 to 1952. It became a dual affiliate of ABC and NBC in 1951 before becoming a full ABC affiliate in 1957.

WFAA was the first station to break the news that President Kennedy was shot to death on November 22, 1963. The station conducted the first live television interview with Abraham Zapruder, who shot the famous Zapruder film, about an hour and a half after the President's death. WFAA and its live remote unit fed much coverage of the assassination and its aftermath to the ABC network over the next four days. The shocking and unexpected shooting of accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby in the basement of Dallas Police Headquarters, however, was not broadcast live (as on NBC) or on tape (as on CBS a minute later) by WFAA/ABC as their live truck was positioned elsewhere at the time. ABC was thus only able to show delayed newsreel footage of the historic event.

WFAA dominated the market ratings for local news from the mid 1970s until the late 1990s, with talent such as Tracy Rowlett, Iola Johnson, Bob Gooding, John Criswell, Chip Moody, John McCaa, Gloria Campos, Scott Sams, Verne Lundquist, Dale Hansen, and Troy Dungan. Former News Director turned Belo executive Marty Haag is credited for leading the station to ratings dominance and national prominence.

WFAA became the first TV station in the market to broadcast in HDTV in February 1997. The station is the only ABC affiliate to broadcast HDTV in 1080i format; other ABC affiliates broadcast in 720p.

[edit] Newscasts

[edit] Anchor Lineups

Monday-Friday

• News 8 Daybreak - 5 a.m.-7 a.m.
  • Justin Farmer, Jackie Hyland, Greg Fields (weather), Alexa Conomos (traffic)
• Good Morning Texas - 9 a.m.-10 a.m. (Entertainment/talk show)
  • Gary Cogill, Brenda Teele, Amy Vanderoef
• News 8 Midday - noon-1 p.m.
  • Alexa Conomos, Greg Fields (weather)
• News 8 at 5 - 5 p.m.-5:30 p.m.
  • Jeff Brady, Macie Jepson, Pete Delkus (weather)
• News 8 at 6 - 6 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
  • John McCaa, Gloria Campos, Troy Dungan (weather), Dale Hansen (sports)
• The News 8 Update - 10 p.m.-10:35 p.m.
  • John McCaa, Gloria Campos, Pete Delkus (weather), Dale Hansen (sports)

Saturday

• News 8 Daybreak Saturday - 7 a.m.-8:30 a.m.
  • Debbie Denmon, Steve McCauley (weather)
• News 8 at 6 - 6 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
  • Brad Hawkins, Shelly Slater, Steve McCauley (weather), Joe Trahan (sports)
• The News 8 Update - 10 p.m.-10:35 p.m.
  • Brad Hawkins, Shelly Slater, Steve McCauley (weather), Joe Trahan (sports)

Sunday

• News 8 Daybreak Sunday - 8 a.m.-9:30 a.m.
  • Debbie Denmon, Steve McCauley (weather)
• News 8 at 5:30 - 5:30 p.m.-6 p.m.
  • Brad Hawkins, Shelly Slater, Steve McCauley (weather)
• The News 8 Update - 10 p.m.-10:20 p.m.
  • Brad Hawkins, Shelly Slater, Steve McCauley (weather)
• Dale Hansen's Sports Special - 10:20 p.m.-10:45 p.m.
• Dodge High School Sports Special - 10:45 p.m.-11 p.m.

[edit] Reporters

• Mike Castellucci, Why Guy
• Aaron Chimbel, MoJo (Mobile Journalist)
• Gary Cogill, Film Critic
• Jim Douglas
• Marjorie Ford, Metro reporter
• Jim Fry, Washington correspondent
• Bob Greene
• Henry Guerrero, La Vida host
• Byron Harris, News 8 Investigates
• Erin Hawksworth, Sports
• Chris Hawes
• Chris Heinbaugh, Political Reporter and Downtown Correspondent
• Rebecca Lopez, Dallas Bureau
• Bert Lozano
• Ted Madden, Sports
• John Pronk, Texas Tales
• Mary Ann Razuk
• Gary Reaves, Senior Correspondent
• George Riba, Senior Sports Correspondent
• Dan Ronan
• David Schechter
• Janet St. James, Health
• Brett Shipp, News 8 Investigates
• Steve Stoler, Collin County Reporter
• Angelique Tege, Metro reporter
• Cynthia Vega, Daybreak reporter
• Yolanda Walker, Ft. Worth Bureau
• Brad Watson, also has served as an anchor
• Walt Zwirko, Computer Corner

[edit] Trivia

• WFAA-TV is one of the few television stations west of the Mississippi River with a callsign beginning with a W. The FCC normally assigns stations west of the Mississippi callsigns that begin with K; W is only used east of the Mississippi. The reason WFAA-TV is different is that its callsign came from its sibling WFAA-AM, whose callsign predates this FCC policy.
• WFAA had a FM radio station in Dallas. It was 97.9, but now WFAA does not own it and it is currently an urban radio station called KBFB-FM, 97.9 The Beat.
• WFAA is the only station in the market not to be owned and operated by any major network.
• WFAA is the largest ABC affiliate not to be owned and operated by the network in terms of DMA market size.

[edit] Station Slogans

The "Spirit" news music package was used on WFAA's newscasts was written by James R. Kirk of TM Productions in 1984 for the Texas Sesquicentennial, which actually took place in 1986. "The Spirit of Texas" slogan and the "Spirit" news music package was used on WFAA's newscasts from 1984 until 1991, and The slogan "The Spirit of Texas" has been used since 1984 to present day. All of WFAA's news music packages since dropping TM Productions' package in 1991 have carried the "Spirit" motif. WFAA's newscasts have used McKinney, TX-based Stephen Arnold Music's "Evolution" music package since 2004, it carries the same signature that TM Productions' package used.

[edit] Ratings

WFAA has traditionally been one of the highest-rated local news operations in the country and was dominant in the market for many years. As of the May 2006, Nielsen ratings period, WFAA finds itself firmly in third place at 6AM and number 2 at 10PM.

[edit] References

• Shannon, Mike (January, 2004). Dallas-Fort Worth TV Station History. The History of Dallas-Fort Worth Radio and Television.

[edit] External links

• WFAA-TV Website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WFAA-TV