WNBC

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For broadcast stations that previously used the WNBC call sign, see WNBC (disambiguation)

WNBC
New York, New York
Branding	NBC 4 HD/NBC 4/NewsChannel 4 HD/NewsChannel 4
Slogan	NBC 4 New York
Channels	4 (VHF) analog, 28 (HDTV/UHF) digital
Affiliations	NBC, NBC Weather Plus on DT.2
Owner	NBC Universal
Founded	July 1, 1941 (originally experimental W2XBS 1928-41)
Call letters meaning	W National Broadcasting Company
Former callsigns	WNBT (1941-1954) WRCA-TV (1954-1960) WNBC-TV (1960-June 1, 1992)
Transmitter Power	30 kW/439 m (analog) 10.5 kW/270 m (digital)
Website	www.wnbc.com

WNBC, channel 4, is the flagship television station of the NBC television network. Located in New York City, its studios are located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in midtown Manhattan. WNBC is the sister station to Linden, New Jersey-based WNJU (flagship of the Telemundo network), and the two stations have some cross promotion.

In the few areas of the eastern United States where viewers cannot receive NBC programs over-the-air, WNBC is available on satellite via C band, and to subscribers of Dish Network and DirecTV, which also provides coverage of the station to Latin America, the Caribbean, and Jetblue's LiveTV inflight entertainment system.

Contents 1 History 2 News operation 2.1 Newscasts and local programming 3 Anchors 4 Helicopter crashes 5 Newscast titles 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit] History

Main article: W2XBS

WNBC traces its history to experimental station W2XBS founded in 1928. It scored numerous "firsts", including the first live telecast of a Presidential speech (President Franklin Roosevelt opening the 1939 New York World's Fair), the first live telecasts of college and Major League baseball (both in 1939), the first telecast of a National Football League game (also in 1939), the first telecast of a National Hockey League game (early 1940) and the first network telecast of a political convention (the 1940 Republican National Convention).

The station began commercial television operations on July 1, 1941, the first fully-licensed commercial television station in the United States. The call letters were changed to WNBT (for NBC Television) and it originally broadcast on channel 1. Soon after signing on that day, WNBT aired the first television commercial. The Bulova Watch Company paid $9 for a commercial aired during a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies.

In 1946, the station changed its frequency from channel 1 to channel 4 after VHF channel 1 was removed from use for television broadcasting. The station changed its call letters on October 18, 1954 to WRCA-TV (for NBC's then-parent company, the Radio Corporation of America) and on May 22, 1960 channel 4 became WNBC-TV.

In addition to channel 4, NBC also operated two New York radio stations. Located on the AM band at 660 was the station that originated in 1922 as WEAF, later to become WNBC. At 97.1 on the FM band was WEAF-FM, which became WNBC-FM, WNWS, and eventually WYNY. In February 1988, NBC announced the sale of those stations to Emmis Communications, a move which triggered a complicated switch of several stations to new dial spots in October of that same year. 660 AM is now WFAN, and 97.1 is the present home of WQHT.

WNBC-TV also earned a place in broadcasting history as the birthplace of The Tonight Show. It began on the station in 1953 as a local late-night program, The Steve Allen Show, and NBC executive Pat Weaver brought it to the network in 1954. The NBC studio from which Tonight was broadcast during the Jack Paar and early Johnny Carson years (it first originated at the Hudson Theatre on 44th Street) is now WNBC-TV's main news studio - Studio 6B.

On June 1, 1992, channel 4 dropped the -TV suffix from its call letters and became simply WNBC, with the new branding slogan 4 New York. The accompanying station image campaign was titled We're 4 New York. WNBC was rebranded again as NBC 4 on September 5, 1995.

On September 11, 2001, the transmitter facilities of WNBC, as well as eight other local television stations and several radio stations, were destroyed when two hijacked airplanes crashed into and destroyed the World Trade Center towers in the attack that day. At first the station broadcast from a radio tower originally built by Edwin Armstrong in Alpine, New Jersey. As of 2005, WNBC-TV is broadcasting from the Empire State Building.

In 2004, WNBC served as the model station for NBC Weather Plus, a 24-hour digital weather channel that airs on its second digital subchannel (4.2) and on several local cable television systems. Other NBC-owned stations launched their own Weather Plus channels in 2005.

On September 13, 2006, WNBC began broadcasting all of their local newscasts in high-definition, making it the first New York station to broadcast their newscasts in HD. On their website, they announced that in addition to local newscasts, locally produced programs Reel Talk, NewsForum, and Mike'd Up will also be broadcast in HD. With network programming included, WNBC is currently broadcasting 72 hours of high-definition programming each week.

[edit] News operation

Over its history, WNBC-TV has enjoyed success with its news department, in terms of ratings and critical acclaim. During the 1960s, channel 4 battled with WCBS-TV (channel 2) for the top-rated news department in the New York market. They also remained a strong player even after WABC-TV (channel 7) rose to the top spot with Eyewitness News in the 1970s. WNBC's hallmark over the years has been strong coverage of breaking stories and a straight news product that feaures entertainment elements as well as information. Prime examples of this are Live at Five and Today in New York, which provide a mix of news, features and interviews.

WNBC's news team is one of the most stable in the country; many of its personalities have been at the station for 20 years or more. Chuck Scarborough has been the station's main anchor since 1974 -- the longest unbroken tenure behind an anchor desk in New York television history (only WABC-TV's Bill Beutel has served as an anchor in New York longer). Since 1980, he has been teamed with Sue Simmons at 11 p.m. The two have been together longer than any anchor team in New York history, and have had some of the highest ratings of any anchor team ever. Len Berman has been the station's sports director and lead sports anchor since 1985. Senior correspondent Gabe Pressman has been at the station since 1956, except for a seven-year stint (from 1972-79) at WNEW-TV (now WNYW).

WNBC-TV was the first station in the country to have success with a 5 p.m. newscast, adding that block to its Sixth Hour show at 6 p.m. in 1974 and renaming all its local newscasts NewsCenter 4. NBC's other owned-and-operated stations soon adopted the "NewsCenter" name. The moniker remained until 1980, when they were renamed News 4 New York. The 5 o'clock slot was renamed Live at Five. Its mix of news and celebrity interviews made it the most successful local program in New York (landing the cast on the cover of New York magazine).

For most of the time from 1980 to 2003, it used various themes written by Edd Kalehoff. His theme for News 4 New York was based on a synthesized version of the NBC chimes, with a graphics package featuring a lightning bolt striking its logo from 1980 to 1992, a fancy die-cut "4'. In 1992, the station began calling itself 4 New York, and the campaign song written by Kalehoff was quickly adopted as the theme for the newscast. The theme was briefly brought back after the September 11, 2001 attacks. In 1995, after the station rebranded itself as NBC 4 and its newscasts as Newschannel 4, Kalehoff wrote a new theme called "NBC Stations" featuring the NBC chimes, the chime sequence is G-E-C. It remained in use for eight years, along with a graphics package using a simple red line for lower thirds. While very popular, it made the station look somewhat dated at the turn of the century.

The 2003 graphics package was created by Emmy Award winner Randy Pyburn of Pyburn Films. Pyburn has produced several promos for the station and the now-defunct Jane's New York specials hosted by former WNBC reporter Jane Hanson. The graphics package was also branded on other NBC stations. The music was written by Rampage Music and features a brassy version of the NBC chimes, and lower thirds feature a shimmering peacock. Other NBC-owned stations are in the process of standardizing around similar graphics packages used by Pyburn. The current 2006 HD graphics package was designed and executed by Element, based in New York City.

Many WNBC personalities have appeared, and have also moved onto the NBC network, including: Scarborough, Berman, Marv Albert, Jim Hartz, Tom Snyder, Al Roker, Matt Lauer, Tony Guida, Maurice DuBois, and Janice Huff. In the past, Albert, Roker, Lauer, Scarborough, Guida and DuBois have worked on WNBC and the network at the same time while Huff and Berman do currently.

One popular monthly feature is Berman's "Spanning the World," a reel of odd and interesting sports highlights from the past month, including a recorded introduction and closing by legendary NBC staff announcer Don Pardo. This segment also airs on NBC's The Today Show on a monthly basis.

For most of the time from 1980 to 2005, WNBC's weeknight anchor rotation had Simmons and another male anchor on Live at Five, Scarborough and another female anchor at 6:00, and Scarborough and Simmons together at 11:00. That changed in 2005 as Live at Five anchor Jim Rosenfield jumped back to WCBS-TV, where he had once been noon and 5 p.m. anchor and took on the role as lead anchor for their 5 and 11 p.m. newscasts. Perri Peltz returned to WNBC to co-anchor Live at Five with Simmons, making New York the one of the few cities that has two women anchors on the two leading 5 p.m. newscasts.

Currently WNBC cooperates with radio station WINS during its morning newscasts to provide additional coverage of traffic in the New York City area through Shadow Traffic.

Beginning in September 2006, WNBC began airing a one-hour block programming produced by the NYC Media Group, programming that can also be seen locally on WNYE-TV (channel 25) and on the municipally-owned cable channel NYCTV. The programs include: New York 360°, Eat Out NY, Cool in Your Code, $9.99, and Blueprint NYC. WNBC's fourth digital subchannel (4.4) will also carry two additional programs, Secrets of New York and Seven Secrets of Grand Central. The agreement between WNBC and the NYC Media Group is a limited one; it will run through January 2007, covering 20 weeks (100 episodes) of programming. When these programs end their run, WNBC will fill the hour with iVillage Live, a new syndicated program airing on NBC-owned stations from Universal Studios Orlando.

[edit] Newscasts and local programming

Weekdays

• Today in New York - 5:00-7:00 a.m.
• Live at Five - 5:00-6:00 p.m.
• NewsChannel 4 at 6 - 6:00-6:30 p.m.
• NewsChannel 4 at 11 - 11:00-11:35 p.m.

Saturdays

• Saturday Today in New York - 6:00-7:00 and 9:00-10:00 a.m.
• NewsChannel 4 at 6 - 6:00-6:30 p.m.
• NewsChannel 4 at 11 - 11:00-11:30 p.m.

Sundays

• Sunday Today in New York - 6:00-6:30 and 7:00-9:00 a.m.
• News Forum (public affairs) - 6:30-7:00 a.m.
• NewsChannel 4 at 6 - 6:00-6:30 p.m.
• NewsChannel 4 at 11 - 11:00-11:35 p.m.
• Mike'd Up: the Francesa Sports Final - 11:35 p.m.-12:05 a.m.

Other

• Reel Talk (movie reviews/entertainment) - Saturdays 10:00 a.m.

[edit] Anchors

Main article: WNBC news team

[edit] Helicopter crashes

On May 4, 2004, while covering a breaking news of a shooting in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, the WNBC news helicopter "Chopper4" (a Eurocopter AS350BA, registered N4NY) suddenly lost control and crashed onto a Brooklyn apartment building rooftop. The pilot and two passengers received no serious injuries, and actually walked out of the ruined helicopter, thanks to a controlled crash. Rival TV station WABC-TV's news helicopter was covering the same news story when they saw the WNBC helicopter in trouble. They called for help and also got exclusive footage of the actual crash, which won an Emmy Award for their coverage.

In December 1998, WNBC's previous Chopper4 news helicopter crashed into the Passaic River near Harrison, New Jersey and Newark, New Jersey. Again there were no serious injuries. It should be noted that this crash was with a new Chopper4 that WNBC had built earlier that year, which was an upgrade over the previous one (which returned to action after the crash).

For similar incidents involving the helicopter crashs of WNBC's former sister radio station, See article about WNBC-AM/WFAN.

[edit] Newscast titles

• The Sunoco Newscast with Lowell Thomas (1940-41) (simulcast with the NBC Blue radio network)
• The News with John McCaffrey (1950s)
• The Shell Oil News (1956-1960)
• The (Gabe) Pressman-(Bill) Ryan Report (1960-1967)
• The Sixth Hour & Eleventh Hour News (1967-1974)
• NewsCenter 4 (1974-1980)
• News 4 New York (1980-1995)
• NewsChannel 4 (1995-)

[edit] See also

• WFAN (660 khz.), formerly WNBC (AM)
• WQHT (97.1 Mhz.), formerly WNBC-FM/WYNY
• Oldest television station

[edit] References

• NBC 4 - NBC History (2002). WNBC.com.

[edit] External links

• WNBC Website
• WNBC Wireless
• WNBC History
• WNBC Set Design
• Photos of WNBC's news set
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WNBC
• Aerial photo of WNBC transmitter from Google Local

Preceded by: WRCA-TV

WNBC (TV) 1960-present

Succeeded by: Incumbent

Coordinates: 40° 42' 43" N 74° 0' 49" W