WDSU

WDSU

New Orleans, Louisiana
Branding	WDSU (general) WDSU News (newscasts)
Slogan	On Your Side
Channels	Digital: 43 (UHF) Virtual: 6 (PSIP)
Subchannels	(see article)
Affiliations	NBC
Owner	Hearst Television (New Orleans Hearst Television, Inc.)
First air date	December 18, 1948
Call letters' meaning	DeSoto Hotel (station's former location) Joseph Uhalt (founder of WDSU radio)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 6 (VHF, 1948–2009)
Former affiliations	DuMont (secondary, 1948–1955) CBS (secondary, 1948–1957) ABC (secondary, 1948–1957)
Transmitter power	1000 kW
Height	230 m
Facility ID	71357
Transmitter coordinates	29°57′0.1″N 89°57′27.6″W
Website	WDSU.com MeTVNewOrleans.com

WDSU, virtual channel 6, is an NBC-affiliated television station located in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. It is owned by Hearst Television, which in turn is wholly owned by the Hearst Corporation. It broadcasts on UHF digital channel 43. Its transmitter is located in Chalmette, Louisiana; while its studios are located in downtown New Orleans.

The station's current tagline is "6 On Your Side." On cable, WDSU is carried on Cox Communications channel 7 in standard definition and digital channel 1007 in high definition in the New Orleans market.

Digital television

Channel	Video	Aspect	Programming
6.1	1080i	16:9	Main WDSU programming / NBC
6.2	480i	4:3	6 eXact Weather

Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display WDSU's virtual channel as "6".

WDSU broadcasts "6 WDSU eXact Weather: News & Traffic" on channel 6.2, with weather shots provided by AccuWeather.com's national feed. Channel 6.2 can be seen on digital cable channel 108 for Cox Communications customers in the New Orleans viewing area, on channel 115 for Charter Communications customers on the Northshore, and on channel 136 for Charter Communications customers on the Southshore.

Digital retransmission disputes

In October 2006, a dispute between WDSU's owner, Hearst-Argyle, and Cox Communications caused WDSU's HDTV signal to be pulled from New Orleans area cable TV systems. As a result, no high-definition television content was available from WDSU via any medium (over the air, cable, or satellite), forcing New Orleans viewers looking for high-definition NBC programming to attempt to pull in a signal from Baton Rouge affiliate WVLA. In April 2007, WDSU-DT was added to DirecTV's lineup, after which local cable carriers one-by-one began to add it also.

On September 27, 2007, Cox Communications and Hearst-Argyle announced an agreement to restore WDSU-DT to Cox's New Orleans area cable systems [2]; WDSU-DT and WDSU's WeatherPlus channel were added to Cox's channel lineup the next day.[3]

History

WDSU-TV signed on the air on Saturday, December 18, 1948 as the first television station in Louisiana. It was owned by New Orleans businessman Edgar B. Stern, Jr. along with WDSU radio (1280 AM, now WODT; and 93.3 FM, now WQUE-FM).

The station initially carried programming from NBC, CBS, ABC and DuMont. Even after WJMR-TV on channel 61 (now Fox affiliate WVUE on channel 8) signed on in 1953 as a primary CBS and secondary ABC affiliate, WDSU continued to "cherry-pick" a few of the higher-rated CBS and ABC programs until 1957, when WWL-TV signed on as a full-time CBS affiliate. At that time, WJMR took the ABC affiliation full-time, leaving WDSU as an exclusive NBC affiliate. It lost DuMont when that network ceased operations in 1956.

The radio station was originally located at the DeSoto Hotel (now Le Pavillon Hotel) on Baronne Street. WDSU-TV began operations in the Hibernia Bank Building, at that time the tallest building in New Orleans. It moved into the historic Brulatour Mansion on Royal Street in the French Quarter in April 1950. At that point, Stern reorganized his broadcast holdings as the Royal Street Corporation. The transmitter site remained at the Hibernia Bank Building until 1955 when the new transmitter facilities were completed in Chalmette, Louisiana, where the tower remains today.

In the 1950s, WDSU-TV became the springboard for the career of Dick Van Dyke, first as a single comedian and later as emcee of a comedy program.

WDSU was the ratings leader in New Orleans for over a quarter century, largely because of its strong commitment to local coverage. It originated the first live broadcasts of the Sugar Bowl and Mardi Gras, and was the first area station to have extensive local coverage of a hurricane.

Royal Street merged with Cosmos Broadcasting of Columbia, South Carolina in 1972. Cosmos had to sell off the radio stations because it was over the Federal Communications Commission's ownership limit of the time. Cosmos eliminated much of the local flavor that had been the station's hallmark, opting to concentrate on its already strong news operation (it had been saluted by Time as a news pioneer in 1966). By the early 1980s, rival WWL-TV had overtaken WDSU as the ratings leader. WDSU has been a solid runner-up to WWL for most of the last quarter-century, though in recent years it has had to fend off a strong challenge from a resurgent WVUE.

Today, WDSU generally clears NBC's entire lineup; however, in the early 1980s, the station sustained local criticism when it preempted Late Night with David Letterman in favor of Thicke of the Night, a notorious syndicated talk show flop, along with carrying films in late night instead of the short-lived NBC News Overnight. When Letterman returned, the station aired the show later than the network-mandated timeslot, instead airing reruns of The Love Boat.

WDSU building on Howard Avenue

Cosmos sold WDSU to Pulitzer in 1989. Pulitzer sold its entire television division, including WDSU, to Hearst-Argyle Television (predecessor to the present-day Hearst Television) in 1999. The station moved into a new facility on Howard Avenue and Baronne Street in March 1996.

WDSU became the first station in the market to provide color telecasts in 1955, and the first New Orleans station with its own doppler weather radar in the 1990s (Super Doppler 6000).

On November 11, 2006, after a remarkable 51 years in New Orleans broadcast television—nearly all of them with WDSU—anchor and former news director Alec Gifford officially announced his retirement. His retirement became effective in December 2006. WDSU looked back on six decades of broadcasting on December 18, 2008.

The station contracts with Cumulus Media's New Orleans FM cluster (KKND, KMEZ, WRKN and WMTI) to provide additional channels of audio simulcasting during hurricane coverage.

WDSU also airs any ESPN Monday Night Football games the New Orleans Saints play (Hearst holds a 20% interest in ESPN) and have added analysis from former Saints coach Jim E. Mora.

Hurricane Katrina

WDSU's New Orleans studios ceased operations around 9:30 pm Sunday, August 28, 2005, allowing staff at the station to take shelter. At that point, WDSU broadcasts began originating from sister Hearst-Argyle station WAPT-TV, the ABC affiliate in Jackson, Mississippi, to which some WDSU on-air staff had already evacuated. Sister station WESH, the NBC affiliate in Orlando, Florida, also originated some on-air weather content. In the immediate weeks following the hurricane, WDSU's news content originated from WAPT with a hybrid team of WAPT and WDSU meteorologists and anchors, with programs simulcast in Jackson and New Orleans.

WDSU's analog and digital transmitters were both destroyed in the hurricane. WDSU arranged to transmit via Ion Television affiliate WPXL channel 49 through the end of December 2005; reduced-power service was restored on channel 6 in October 2005.[4] WDSU replaced its transmitter building with an elevated and rugged hurricane resistant building to house its analog and digital transmitters. Construction of this building was completed in early February 2008.[5][6] On August 1, 2007 WDSU's digital signal was restored, temporarily sharing a frequency with WHNO's digital channel 21. In late February 2008 its analog signal was restored to full power and their digital signal on channel 6.1 was restored on March 6, 2008.

Hurricane Gustav

In 2008, WDSU broadcast nonstop coverage of the approach, landfall and aftermath of Hurricane Gustav for five consecutive days. The storm prompted a massive evacuation of much of the station's viewing area. On September 1, 2008 WDSU's coverage of Hurricane Gustav aired nationally on DirecTV channel 361. Coverage was also available on the station's website, and its audio was carried by the Citadel group of radio stations in New Orleans. C-SPAN 2, and ABC affiliate WBRZ (channel 2) in Baton Rouge made portions of live coverage available as well.

WDSU tapped the resources of its parent company, Hearst-Argyle Television, and brought in personnel from across the country to assist in various capacities. Some WDSU news team members were relocated to support studios in Baton Rouge and Orlando and provided reports via satellite. All three locations stayed operational throughout the storm. One of WDSU's sister stations, ABC affiliate KOCO-TV (channel 5) in Oklahoma City, also provided WDSU's coverage of Hurricane Gustav via its second digital subchannel for evacuees who came to Oklahoma City.

News operation

Currently, WDSU broadcasts a total of 32.5 hours of local newscasts each week (with five hours on weekdays, three hours on Saturday and four and a half hours on Sunday). On December 14, 2008, the Sun Herald, a local newspaper on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, partnered with WDSU-TV to give more news and weather coverage for South Mississippi.

On September 14, 2009, WDSU dropped its noon newscast in favor of a new hour-long 4 pm newscast. On September 12, 2011 WVUE began broadcasting an hour long 4 pm newscast, adding a second TV station in the New Orleans market to offer a newscast at that timeslot.

On July 10, 2010, WDSU started broadcasting local news in 16:9 widescreen standard definition along with updated graphics. On August 16, 2010, WDSU expanded its weekday morning newscast to 2½ hours, by adding a 4:30 am newscast entitled WDSU News First Edition.

Ratings

In July 2011, WDSU claimed ratings wins in key demographics at 5 pm and 6 pm – the first time in a quarter-century that a station other than WWL-TV placed first among viewers most sought by advertisers. Newscasts in less competitive time periods of 4:30 am and 4 pm also scored wins in key demographic categories, as well as household ratings.

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

• Your Esso Reporter (1948–1956)
• WDSU-TV News (1956–1962)
• The Six O'Clock Report/The Eleventh Hour Report (1962–1966)
• Channel 6 News (1966–1974)
• Newswatch 6 (1974–1982)
• NewsCenter 6 (1982–1987)
• 6 News (1987–1994)
• Channel 6 News (1994–2000)
• NewsChannel 6 (2000–2006)
• WDSU NewsChannel 6 (2006–2009)
• WDSU News (2009–present)

Station slogans

• "Comin' on TV-6" (1980–1987)
• "Channel 6, Our Pride Is Showing" (1981–1982; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
• "We're Channel 6, Just Watch Us Now" (1982–1983; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
• "Channel 6 There, Be There" (1983–1984; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
• "Channel 6, Let's All Be There" (1984–1986; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
• "You're What Makes New Orleans Great!" (1985–1987; used during period station used Frank Gari's "Turn to News")
• "Come Home to Channel 6" (1986–1987; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
• "Come on Home to Channel 6" (1987–1988; localized version of NBC ad campaign)

• "Come Home To The Best, Only On Channel 6" (1988–1990; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
• "Your 24-Hour News Source" (1990–1994)
• "WDSU, The Place To Be!" (1990–1992; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
• "It's A Whole New Channel 6" (1992–1993; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
• "The Stars Are Back on Channel 6" (1993–1994; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
• "We're Building WDSU Around You" (1994–2004)
• "Local. Live. Latebreaking." (2004–2006)
• "On Your Side" (2006–present; reporters also often use "We're on Your Side" as tags at the end of reports just before identifying the newscast title)

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

News staff

Current on-air staff

Anchors

• LaTonya Norton – weekend mornings WDSU News This Morning; also weekday reporter
• Norman Robinson – weeknights at 6 and 10 pm
• Randi Rousseau – weekday mornings WDSU News This Morning (4:30–7 a.m.); also reporter
• Scott Walker – weekdays at 4, and weeknights at 5 and 10 pm; also reporter
• Camille Whitworth – weekdays at 4, and weeknights at 5 and 6 pm; also reporter
• Rachel Wulff – weekends at 5 and 10 pm; also weekday reporter

WDSU Exact Weather

• Margaret Orr (member, AMS; member, NWA) – chief meteorologist; weekdays at 4, and weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 pm
• Patrick Crawford (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) – meteorologist; weekends at 5 and 10 pm
• Jay Gallé (AMS Seal of Approval; member, NWA) – meteorologist; weekday mornings WDSU News This Morning (4:30–7 a.m.)
• Dan Milham (AMS Seal of Approval; member, NWA) – chief meteorologist emeritus
• Damon Singleton – meteorologist; weekend mornings WDSU News This Morning

Sports team

• Fletcher Mackel – sports director; weeknights at 6 and 10 pm
• Chris Miles – sports anchor; weekends at 5 and 10 pm

Reporters

• Heath Allen – Northshore Bureau Chief/general assignment reporter (married to former WWL-TV/WVUE-TV reporter Janet Gross)
• Tiffaney Bradley – general assignment reporter
• Siemny Chhuon – general assignment reporter
• Rosa Flores – general assignment reporter
• Lisamarie Luminais – weekday morning traffic reporter (Time Saver Traffic)
• Travers Mackel – investigative reporter (twin brother of Fletcher Mackel)
• Howard Robertson – crime and safety specialist

Contributors

• Arthur Hardy – also editor/publisher of Mardi Gras Guide magazine
• Dr. Corey J. Hebert, MD – medical editor ("On Call")

Hearst Television Washington Bureau

• Sally Kidd – Washington bureau reporter
• Nikole Killion – Washington bureau reporter

Notable former on-air staff

• Bernard "Buddy" Diliberto – sportscaster (1981–1990; later worked for WWL Radio; deceased)
• Mel Leavitt – Newscaster, Commentator, Moderator, Historian; deceased
• Bill Monroe – first News Director; later Meet the Press moderator; deceased
• Helena Moreno – weekday mornings and consumer reporter (2000–2008; defeated in Democratic primary race for Congress, but later won state representative of District 93)
• Nash Roberts – meteorologist (1948–1973; later at WVUE and WWL-TV; deceased)
• Susan E. Roberts – anchor/reporter (now at WPRI)
• Susan Roesgen – anchor/reporter (2000–2001)
• Dick Van Dyke
• Charles Zewe – anchor/reporter (1976–1987; previously with WWL-TV; formerly at CNN; now Vice President of Communications for the Louisiana State University System)

External links

• WDSU.com (Official WDSU-TV Website)
• MeTVNewOrleans.com (Official Me-TV New Orleans Website)
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WDSU
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WDSU-TV