| Call letters | WNBC |
|---|---|
| Station logo | |
| Station slogan | We're 4 New York (general) We are New York (promos) |
| Station branding | NBC 4 New York (general) News 4 New York (newscasts) |
| Digital | 28 (UHF)Virtual: 4 (PSIP) |
| Affiliations | NBC |
| Subchannels | (see article) |
| Airdate | July 1, 1941 (originally experimental as W2XBS 1928-1941) |
| Location | New York, New York |
| Callsign meaning | WNationalBroadcastingCompany |
| Former callsigns | WNBT (1941–1954)WRCA-TV (1954–1960) |
| Former channel numbers | Analog:1 (VHF, 1941–1946)4 (VHF, 1946–2009) |
| Owner | NBC Universal |
| Licensee | NBC Telemundo License, Co. |
| Sister stations | WNJU |
| Effective radiated power | 200.2 kW |
| Haat | |
| Facility id | 47535 |
| Coordinates | |
| Homepage | nbcnewyork.com/ |
WNBC, channel 4, is the flagship station of the NBC television network, located in New York City. WNBC's studios are co-located with NBC corporate headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in midtown Manhattan. WNBC is the sister station to Linden, New Jersey-based WNJU (flagship of the co-owned Telemundo network) and the two stations have some cross promotion. WNBC is the United States' oldest television station in continuous operation.
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 DirecTV, which also provides coverage of the station to Latin America, the Caribbean and JetBlue Airways's LiveTV inflight entertainment system. DirecTV also allows subscribers in the Greater Los Angeles Area to receive the channel for an additional monthly fee. The station is also seen on certain cable providers in markets where there is no local NBC affiliate. As of March 4, 2009, WNBC is once again available on Dish Network as part of All American Direct's distant network package.
The station left the air sometime in 1933 as RCA turned its attention to all-electronic cathode ray tube (CRT) television research at its Camden, New Jersey facility, under the leadership of Dr. Vladimir K. Zworykin. The station originally broadcast on the frequencies of 2.0 to 2.1 megahertz. In 1929, W2XBS upgraded its transmitter and broadcast facilities to handle transmissions of sixty vertical lines at twenty frames per second, on the frequencies of 2.75 to 2.85 megahertz. In 1928, Felix the Cat was one of the first images ever broadcast by television when RCA chose a papier-mâché (later Bakelite) Felix doll for an experimental broadcast on W2XBS. The doll was chosen for its tonal contrast and its ability to withstand the intense lights needed in early television and was placed on a rotating phonograph turntable and televised for about two hours each day. The doll remained on the turntable for nearly a decade as RCA fine-tuned the picture's definition, and converted to electronic television. (Photo of Felix doll)
In 1935, the all-electronic CRT system was authorized as a "field test" project and NBC converted a radio studio in the RCA Building—now the GE Building -- in New York City's Rockefeller Center for television use. In mid-1936, small-scale programming began to air to an audience of some 75 receivers in the homes of high-level RCA staff, and a dozen or so sets in a closed circuit viewing room in 52nd-floor offices of the RCA Building. The viewing room often hosted visiting organizations or corporate guests, who saw a live program produced in the studios many floors below.
Viewership of early NBC broadcasts was tightly restricted to those authorized by the company, whose installed set base eventually reached about 200. Technical standards for TV broadcasting were in flux as well. Between the time experimental transmissions began in 1935 and the beginning of commercial TV service in 1941, picture definition increased from 343 to 441 lines, and finally (in 1941) to the 525 line standard used for analog TV from the start of full commercial service until the end of analog broadcasts in mid-2009. The sound signal also was changed from AM to FM, and the spacing of sound and vision carriers was also changed several times. Shortly after NBC began a semi-regular television transmission schedule in 1938, DuMont Laboratories announced TV sets for sale to the public, a move RCA was not yet contemplating because of the ongoing shift in technical parameters. In response, NBC ceased all TV broadcasting for several months.
WNBT originally broadcast on channel 1. On its first day on the air, WNBT broadcast the world's first television commercial before a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. The ten-second spot for Bulova watches, for which the company paid $9.00, displayed a picture of a clock superimposed on a map of the United States, accompanied by the voice-over "America runs on Bulova time." The Voice of Firestone, a mainstay on NBC radio since 1928, became the first regularly scheduled TV program not featuring news or sports, when it began on WNBT on November 29, 1943 (though a trial episode of Truth or Consequences aired on WNBT's first week of programming two years earlier; it eventually returned to TV in the 1950s).
During World War II, RCA diverted key technical TV staff to the U.S. Navy, who were interested in developing a television-guided bomb. WNBT's studio and program staff were placed at the disposal of the New York City Police Department and used for Civil Defense training, with only a limited number of weekly programs for general audiences airing during much of the war. Programming began to grow on a small scale during 1944. During that period, WNBT began feeding The Voice of Firestone Televues, a pioneering news and information magazine show, each week to a small network of stations including General Electric-owned WRGB in Schenectady, New York and Philco's WPTZ-TV (now KYW-TV) in Philadelphia. This program is considered to be the NBC television network's first regularly scheduled program in its history.
On May 8, 1945, WNBT broadcast hours of news coverage on the end of World War II in Europe, and remotes from around New York City. This event was pre-promoted by NBC with a direct-mail card sent to television set owners in the New York City area. At one point, a WNBT camera placed atop the marquee of the Astor Hotel in New York City panned the crowd below celebrating the end of the war in Europe. The vivid coverage was a prelude to television's rapid growth after the war ended.
In the spring of 1946, the station changed its frequency from channel 1 to channel 4 after VHF channel 1 was removed from use for television broadcasting. From 1946 to 2009 it occupied the 66-72 mHz band of frequencies which had been designated as "channel 3" in the pre-1946 FCC allocation table but was renumbered Channel 4 in the postwar system. (WABD (now WNYW) had been designated as "Channel 4" before that station moved to the current channel 5 but was only required to retune its video and audio carriers downward by 2 mHz under the new system.) In October 1948, WNBT's operations were integrated with those of sister station WNBC radio (660 AM, frequency now occupied by WFAN).
The station changed its call letters on October 18, 1954, to WRCA-TV (for NBC's then-parent company, RCA) and on May 22, 1960, channel 4 became WNBC-TV. NBC had previously used the callsign on its television station in New Britain, Connecticut, from 1957 until it was sold earlier in 1960. That station is now WVIT, and is once again an NBC-owned station.
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 Sylvester "Pat" Weaver brought it to the network in 1954. Studio 6B, the show's former home under Jack Paar and Johnny Carson, would become the news studio for WNBC after Tonight departed for Los Angeles.
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 and featured a musical theme composed by Edd Kalehoff. WNBC was rebranded again as NBC 4 on September 5, 1995, with its newscasts being renamed Newschannel 4.
During the September 11, 2001, attacks, 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 in New York City. WNBC broadcast engineer Bill Steckman died in the tragedy, along with six other engineers from other television stations. After resuming over-the-air transmissions, the station broadcast from the Armstrong Tower in Alpine, New Jersey. Since 2005, WNBC is broadcasting its signal from the Empire State Building in New York City.
In 2004, WNBC served as the model station for NBC Weather Plus, a twenty-four-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, although Weather Plus was phased out at the end of 2008.
The station vacated Studio 6B in November 2008 and moved into its present-day "content center" at Studio 7E. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon now occupies 6B.
WNBC will also add the transmitter on top of the new 1 World Trade Center, will be setting in 2013.
Programming on WNBC-TV includes: The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Nate Berkus Show, Extra, Access Hollywood, The Real Housewives of New York City, and .
Many of WNBC's personalities have been at the station for over 20 years. Chuck Scarborough has been the station's main anchor since 1974. Since 1980, he has been teamed with Sue Simmons at 11 p.m., and the two have been together longer than any anchor team in New York City television history. Senior correspondent Gabe Pressman has been at the station since 1956, except for a seven-year stint (from 1972 to 1979) at WNEW-TV (now WNYW).
WNBC-TV was the first major-market station in the country to have success with a 5 p.m. newscast, adding that program to its Sixth Hour show at 6 p.m. in 1974 and renaming all its local newscasts NewsCenter 4. (Three of NBC's other owned-and-operated stations, in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, also adopted the NewsCenter name.) The moniker remained until October 1980, when they were renamed News 4 New York. Shortly before then the 5 p.m. time slot was renamed Live at Five, and the hour was reformatted from a straight news program into a mix of news and celebrity interviews. Live at Five eventually became the most-successful local program in New York City, a feat that resulted in landing the show's cast on the cover of New York magazine.
For most of the time from 1980 to 1990, it used various themes written by Jim McAllister. 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 1990, a fancy die-cut "4". In 1992, the station began calling itself 4 New York and the campaign song, written by Edd 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 the musical notes G-E-C. It remained in use for eight years, along with a graphics package using a simple red line for the lower thirds.
The 2003 graphics package was created by Emmy Award-winner Randy Pyburn of Pyburn Films. Pyburn has produced several promotions for the station and the now-defunct Jane's New York specials hosted by former WNBC reporter Jane Hanson. The graphics package was also used on other NBC stations. The music was written by Rampage Music and featured a brassy version of the NBC chimes, and lower thirds featured a shimmering peacock. (It is noted that fellow NBC O&O; KNTV currently has used this music theme since 2007, and remains so today.) In March 2008, the 4 New York branding was revived.
Many WNBC personalities have appeared, and have also moved up to the NBC network, including: Marv Albert, Len Berman, Chris Cimino, Darlene Rodriguez, Maurice DuBois, Tony Guida, Jim Hartz, Janice Huff, Matt Lauer, Al Roker, Scarborough and Tom Snyder. In the past, Albert, Berman, DuBois, Guida, Roker, Lauer, Scarborough and Snyder have worked on channel 4 and at the NBC network at the same time. Huff , Rodriguez and Cimino currently does both.
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 Today on a monthly basis.
When Simmons joined the station in early 1980, she was paired with Scarborough on both the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts. However, for most of the time until 2005, WNBC-TV's weeknight anchor rotation had Simmons and another male anchor (including Jack Cafferty, Guida, Lauer, and briefly Scarborough) at 5 p.m.; Scarborough and various anchors (John Hambrick, Pat Harper, and Michele Marsh among them) at 6 p.m.; and Scarborough and Simmons together at 11 p.m.. That changed in 2005 as Live at Five anchor Jim Rosenfield jumped back to WCBS-TV, where he had once been the noon and 5 p.m. anchor and took on the role as lead anchor for their 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts.
Former reporter Perri Peltz returned to WNBC to co-anchor Live at Five with Simmons, making New York City one of the few large markets with two female anchors on an evening newscast. The move harkened back to three decades earlier, when the station paired Pia Lindström with Melba Tolliver on its 5 p.m. news hour, creating one of the first all-female anchor teams on a major-market American television station.
Although a notable event, it was short-lived as Simmons and Peltz were both displaced from Live at Five because of changes in the station's early evening news line-up that went into effect on March 12, 2007: David Ushery and Lynda Baquero became co-anchors of a truncated, thirty-minute-long Live at Five broadcast, followed by Peltz with a thirty-minute, soft-news program, News 4 You. Simmons was moved to co-anchor at 6 p.m. with Scarborough.
On September 13, 2006, WNBC-TV became the first New York City television station to broadcast its newscasts in high definition.
In early May 2007, WNBC brought back its popular campaign song "We're 4 New York", composed by Kalehoff, after nearly six years off air (after the September 11, 2001, attacks).
In early Autumn 2007, this brought additional changes to WNBC's early-evening lineup. On September 10, the station moved the newsmagazine series Extra to 5 p.m., and cancelled Live at Five. News 4 You remained at 5:30 p.m., but was replaced on October 15 with a traditional newscast, anchored by Simmons and Michael Gargiulo. The 6 p.m. newscast is now anchored by Ushery and Baquero, and New York Nightly News, a new half-hour newscast with Scarborough as sole anchor, debuted at 7 p.m..
Unfortunately, these changes didn't result to an increase in WNBC's ratings in the November 2007 sweeps period. The most shocking of WNBC's ratings decrease is their 11 p.m. newscast as it fell to third place, behind WCBS and WABC. WNBC altered their 5 p.m.-6:00 p.m. hour on January 2, 2008, swapping the half-hour news at 5:30 with Extra. On March 9, 2009, with the launch of New York Nonstop on digital subchannel 4.2, New York Nightly News was moved to the subchannel and expanded to one hour, while Extra was moved back to 7 p.m. and the 5 p.m.-6 p.m. hour returned to a full hour of news. Still, WNBC's ratings have struggled: In the March 2009 sweeps period, its newscasts were a distant third in all time slots except weekday mornings.
On May 7, 2008, NBC Universal announced plans for a major restructuring of WNBC-TV's news department. The centerpiece of the restructuring is the creation of a twenty-four-hour all-news channel, which operates on WNBC's second digital subchannel (4.2). Channel 4's current news operations were revamped and melded into the all-news channel, which serve as a "content center" for the station's various local distribution platforms.
The digital news channel was launched on March 9, 2009.
In the fall of 2008, WNBC started beta-testing a new website which is apparently poised to be one of the major platforms for their content center.
On November 17, 2008, WNBC moved its news studio from Studio 6B to 7E and rolled out a new set design, graphics package and theme song written by veteran TV composer Frank Gari. This move comes after months of planning of the new content newsroom with its twenty-four-hour-news digital sub-channel. It was also their debut of WNBC's updated "4 New York" logo, using letters that was used in KNTV's branding when KNTV debuted its logo a few months ago.
On June 16, 2009, WNBC announced that its 5 p.m. newscast would be replaced in September by a one-hour daily lifestyle and entertainment show by LX.TV entitled LX New York. After this change, WNBC will, with only three hours per day of local news, have the shortest airtime devoted to local news of any station owned and operated by a "big 3" network.
On July 30, 2009, WNBC introduced a new look to its websites. In the fall of 2009, WNBC began sharing its news helicopter with Fox owned-and-operated WNYW (channel 5). The SkyFox HD helicopter operated by WNYW on-air is now called "Chopper 4", when used by WNBC.
In the summer of 2010, The Debrief with David Ushery began to air on Sunday at noon on WNBC after launching on New York Nonstop.
Reporters
Weather
Sports
Traffic
Chopper 4
Category:Channel 28 digital TV stations in the United States Category:Channel 4 virtual TV stations in the United States Category:Companies based in Manhattan Category:NBC owned-and-operated television stations Category:Television channels and stations established in 1941 Category:Television stations in New York City Category:Television stations in New Jersey Category:Television stations in Connecticut Category:Major League Baseball over-the-air television broadcasters Category:National Hockey League over-the-air television broadcasters
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| Name | Sue Simmons |
|---|---|
| Birth date | May 27, 1943 |
| Birth place | New York City |
| Occupation | Newscaster |
| Nationality | American |
Susan "Sue" Simmons (born May 27, 1943) has been the lead female news anchor at WNBC television in New York City since 1980.
Each Groundhog Day, Simmons does an on-air facial impression of a groundhog for fun.
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| Name | Len Berman |
|---|---|
| Caption | Len Berman |
| Birth date | June 14, 1947 |
| Birth place | Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Education | Stuyvesant High School, Brooklyn, New York Syracuse University |
| Occupation | television journalist |
| Salary | $1 million |
| Name | Berman, Len |
| Date of birth | June 14, 1947 |
| Place of birth | New York City |
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| Name | Howard Stern |
|---|---|
| Caption | Howard Stern in 1996. |
| Birth name | Howard Allan Stern |
| Birth date | January 12, 1954 |
| Birth place | Jackson Heights, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Radio personality, humorist, television host, author, actor |
| Years active | 1975–present |
| Spouse | Alison Berns (1978–2001; div.)Beth Ostrosky (2008–present) |
| Website | www.howardstern.com |
Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio personality, humorist, television host, author and actor, best known for his long-running radio show, The Howard Stern Show. He gained national recognition in the 1990s when he was labelled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style. Stern wished for a radio career since he was five; his father, a recording and radio engineer, being a big influence. While studying at Boston University, Stern worked at its campus station WTBU before making his professional début in 1975 at WNTN.
In 1977, Stern worked at WRNW in Briarcliff Manor, New York performing on-air, production and managerial duties. After his departure in 1979 he began to develop a more open personality working mornings at WCCC in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1980, he moved to WWWW in Detroit, Michigan, where he earned his first Billboard radio award. Stern relocated to WWDC in Washington, D.C. in 1981, where he was paired with current show newscaster and co-host Robin Quivers. He moved to WNBC in New York City to host afternoons until his firing in 1985. Stern returned to the city's airwaves on WXRK for the next 20 years until his move to Sirius XM in December 2005. In this time, The Howard Stern Show would be syndicated to 60 markets while reaching a peak audience of 20 million listeners. The show was the highest-rated morning program from 1994 to 2001 in the New York market. Stern is an eight-time winner of the Billboard Nationally Syndicated Air Personality of the Year award (1994–2002). He is the highest-paid radio figure, In 1955, the family moved to the hamlet of Roosevelt on Long Island.
On completion of sixth grade, Stern left Washington-Rose Elementary School for Roosevelt Junior-Senior High School. He also hosted a comedy program, with three fellow students, called The King Schmaltz Bagel Hour. and now funds a scholarship at the university. Away from the microphone, Stern also worked managerial positions. In November 1977, he switched roles from production director to program director for an increased pay of $250 a week. An attorney was hired to man a "dump button", and cut Stern off the microphone should potentially offensive areas be discussed. This became the task of program director Kevin Metheny, who Stern nicknamed "Pig Virus". On May 21, 1984, Stern made his first appearance on Late Night with David Letterman, launching him into the national spotlight.
In 1985, Stern claimed a 5.7% market share, the highest ratings at the station in four years. "Over the course of time, we made a very conscious effort to make Stern aware that certain elements of the program should be changed...I don't think it's appropriate to say what those specifics were", The radio pair kept in touch with their WNBC audience throughout October and November, touring club venues with a stage show. He signed a five-year contract with owner Infinity Broadcasting worth around $500,000 that escalated in successive years. In October 1992, Stern became the first to top the New York and Los Angeles Arbitron ratings simultaneously. Over 60,000 homes purchased the two-hour special that grossed $1.2 million. Both events were released for home video. From 1990 to 1992, Stern was the host of The Howard Stern Show, a Saturday night program on WWOR-TV. The series ran for 69 episodes to 65 markets across the country. He returned to Saturday night television a month later with The Howard Stern "Interview", a one-on-one celebrity interview series on E! that lasted 36 episodes. The book spent 20 weeks on The New York Times Best-Seller list. Stern has written forewords for Steal This Dream (1998), a biography of Abbie Hoffman, Disgustingly Dirty Joke Book (1998) by Jackie Martling, Too Fat to Fish (2008) by Artie Lange, and Dear Mrs. Fitzsimmons: Tales of Redemption from an Irish Mailbox (2010) by Greg Fitzsimmons.
Stern hosted his second pay-per-view event, The Miss Howard Stern New Year's Eve Pageant, on December 31, 1993. It surpassed the subscriber record for a non-sports event held by a 1990 New Kids on the Block concert.
Production for a film adaptation of Private Parts began in May 1996, with all shooting complete in four months. Selling 178,000 copies in the first week of release, the film's topped the Billboard 200 chart between March 15–21, 1997. They married on October 3, 2008, at Le Cirque restaurant in New York City.Nominated – Golden Satellite Award for "Best Male Actor Performance in a Comedy or Musical" (1998) |}
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Album ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Label ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- | 1982 | 50 Ways to Rank Your Mother | Wren Records | Re-released as Unclean Beaver (1994) on Ichiban and Citizen X labels |- | 1991 | Crucified By the FCC | Infinity Broadcasting | |- | 1997 | | Warner Brothers | Billboard 200 Number-one album from March 15–21, 1997 |}
Category:1954 births Category:Actors from New York City Category:American actor-politicians Category:American comedians Category:American actors Category:American Jews Category:American libertarians Category:American radio personalities Category:American talk radio hosts Category:American television personalities Category:American television producers Category:American television talk show hosts Category:American writers Category:Free speech activists Category:Boston University alumni Category:Jewish comedians Category:Jewish comedy and humor Category:Living people Category:Obscenity controversies Category:People from Jackson Heights, Queens Category:People from Nassau County, New York Category:People from New York City Category:Radio personalities from New York City Category:Sirius Satellite Radio Category:Transcendental Meditation practitioners
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Scarborough has won 31 Emmy Awards, and was one of the first inductees into the New York State Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 2005. He was inducted alongside Sue Simmons, his 11 p.m. co-anchor. The pair has been anchoring together since 1980, longer than any other anchor team in New York City television history.
A native of Pittsburgh, and a graduate of the The University of Southern Mississippi, he served in the United States Air Force, and currently has a Commercial pilot certificate. Before coming to WNBC, he worked at WDAM in Hattiesburg, Mississippi as well as WNAC (now WHDH) in Boston. In his final commentary on WNAC, he identified the issue of race as the most important challenge facing Boston. A scant few months later, Boston erupted into racial unrest as the result of a federal court order to end its policy of de facto racial segregation in the public schools.
He was the host of the syndicated program Images - A Year in Review in the late 1980s and also anchored the NBC News Digest for NBC News during the 1980s.
He is married to Ellen Ward Scarborough, and was previously married to Anne Ford. He has two children: Chad, and Elizabeth.
Scarborough and Simmons are mentioned in the Fountains of Wayne song "Traffic & Weather" from their 2007 album of the same title.
Aftershock was made into a made for television movie, Aftershock: Earthquake in New York in 1999, airing on the CBS television network.
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