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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 as [[WFAN (AM)|WNBC-AM]] became WRCA-AM and [[WQHT|WNBC-FM]] became WRCA-FM. On [[May 22]], [[1960]] the 3 stations changed their calls back to WNBC.
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 as [[WFAN (AM)|WNBC-AM]] became WRCA-AM and [[WQHT|WNBC-FM]] became WRCA-FM. On [[May 22]], [[1960]] the 3 stations changed their calls back to WNBC.


WNBC-TV also earned a place in broadcasting history as the station at which ''[[The Tonight Show]]'' was originated. 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.
WNBC-TV also earned a place in broadcasting history as the station at which ''[[The Tonight Show]]'' was originated. 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.


[[Image:Chuck&SueWNBC2005 .jpg|thumb|left|[[Sue Simmons]] and [[Chuck Scarborough]] in [[2005]].]]
[[Image:Chuck&SueWNBC2005 .jpg|thumb|left|[[Sue Simmons]] and [[Chuck Scarborough]] in [[2005]].]]

Revision as of 16:43, 20 February 2006

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

{{Infobox broadcast}} may refer to:

{{Template disambiguation}} should never be transcluded in the main namespace.

WNBC, "NBC4" is the flagship TV station of the NBC television network with studios located at 30 Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. WNBC is sister station to Telemundo affiliate WNJU and the two stations have some cross promotion.

WNBC is not just a local Tri-State Area station—its reach is nationwide and international. Thanks to satellite technology, the station is seen on cable and satellite systems, where there is no NBC affiliate locally. The station is seen via satellite in the U.S. via C-Band satellite, Dish Network and DirecTV with DirecTV providing coverage to Latin America.

History

WNBC was the first commercially licensed television station in the United States, starting broadcasting on Channel 1 as WNBT (for NBC Television) on July 1, 1941 at 1:29 p.m. and was most likely the only television station to have a news special report about the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7 of that year. However, it traces its history to experimental station W2XBS, founded in 1928.

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 as WNBC-AM became WRCA-AM and WNBC-FM became WRCA-FM. On May 22, 1960 the 3 stations changed their calls back to WNBC.

WNBC-TV also earned a place in broadcasting history as the station at which The Tonight Show was originated. 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.

File:Chuck&SueWNBC2005 .jpg
Sue Simmons and Chuck Scarborough in 2005.

WNBC-TV was simply branded as "Channel 4" from 1946 to 1992. On June 1, 1992, WNBC-TV became simply WNBC, because WNBC-AM switched calls to WFAN and WNBC-FM had switched calls to WQHT), and was rebranded 4 New York. The accompanying station image campaign was entitled We're 4 New York. WNBC was rebranded as NBC 4 on September 5, 1995 with the newscast entitled NewsChannel 4. For many years, in various image campaigns, the station used themes composed by Edd Kalehoff.

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 was broadcasting 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 as 4-2 on over the air digital television and on several cable television systems in the tri-state area. The Weather Plus channel was rolled out by other NBC stations in 2005.

News Operation

File:Sue&BrianWNBC2004.jpg
Sue Simmons and Brian Williams during the 2004 Presidential Election.

For years WNBC has had strong ratings without resorting to sensationalism or forays into tabloid television unlike most of the other stations in the market. WNBC's hallmark over the years has been strong coverage of breaking stories and a no-nonsense news product that informs and at times entertains. Prime examples of this are Live at Five and Today in New York, which provide a mix of news, features and interviews. All newscasts are broadcast from NBC's Studio 6B at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in the Rockefeller Center complex.

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, longer than anyone in New York television history except WABC-TV's Bill Beutel. Sometime in 2006, he will pass Beutel for the longest unbroken tenure behind a New York anchor desk. Since 1980, he has been teamed with Sue Simmons at 11 pm. 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 since 1985. Senior correspondent Gabe Pressman has been at the station since 1956, except for a brief stint at WNEW-TV (now WNYW).

WNBC-TV was the first station in New York to successfully program news at 5 p.m. 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 O&Os 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 until 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 1993, a fancy die-cut "4." In 1993, 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 started calling itself "NBC4" and its newscasts "Newschannel 4," Kalehoff wrote a new theme called "NBC Stations" featuring the NBC chimes. 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 current graphics package was created by Emmy Award winner Randy Pyburn of Pyburn Films. Pyburn has produced several promos for the station and the Jane's New York specials hosted by reporter Jane Hanson. The music was written by Rampage Music and features a brassy version of the NBC chimes, and lower thirds feature a shimmering peacock. NBC's O&Os are in the process of standardizing around similar graphics packages used by Pyburn.

Many WNBC personalities have moved onto the NBC network—including Scarborough, Marv Albert, Jim Hartz, Tom Snyder, Al Roker, Matt Lauer and Janice Huff. In the past, Roker, Berman, Lauer and Scarborough have worked on WNBC and the network at the same time while Huff does currently.

File:PerriPeltzWNBC2005.jpg
Perri Peltz on Live at Five in 2005.

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 Don Pardo. This segment also airs on NBC's The Today Show on a monthly basis.

For most of the time from 1980-2005, WNBC's weeknight anchor rotation had Simmons and another male anchor on Live at Five, Scarborough and another female anchor at 6, and Scarborough and Simmons together at 11. That changed in 2005 as Live at Five anchor Jim Rosenfeld jumped back to WCBS-TV, where he had once been noon and 5 pm anchor and took on the role as lead anchor for their 5 & 11 pm 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 PM newscasts as Diana Williams and Sade Baderinwa anchor WABC's 5PM edtion of Eyewitness News.

The President & General Manager of WNBC is Frank Comerford.

Newscasts

Weekdays

Saturdays

  • Saturday Today in New York - 6:00-7:00AM & 9:00-10:00AM
  • NewsChannel4 at 6 - 6:00-6:30PM
  • NewsChannel4 at 11 - 11:00-11:30PM

Sundays

  • Sunday Today in New York - 6:00-6:30AM & 7:00-9:00AM
  • News Forum (Public Affairs) - 6:30-7:00AM
  • NewsChannel 4 at 6 - 6:00-6:30PM
  • NewsChannel4 at 11 - 11:00-11:35PM
  • Mike'd Up, Francesa Sports Final - 11:35PM-12:05AM

Current On-Air personalities

Anchors:


Weather Anchors:


Sports Anchors:


Reporters:

Past On-Air personalities

Helicopter crashes

File:Chopper4CrashWABC 2004.jpg
Rival WABC-TV covered the 2004 crash live.

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 fell out of the sky and crashed onto a Brooklyn apartment building rooftop. The pilot and two passengers miraculously didn't receive serious injuries. 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.

Newscast titles

File:1974WNBC2004.jpg
Chuck Scarborough behind the news desk in 1974.
  • The Sunoco Newscast with Lowel Thomas (1941)
  • The News with John McCaffrey (1950s)
  • The Shell Oil News (1956-1960)
  • The Pressman-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-)

See also

File:WNBC Weather Plus 2005.jpg
WNBC Weather plus in 2005.

References

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