KDAF, virtual channel 33 (digital channel 32), is a CW-affiliated television station serving the Dallas-Fort Worth television market area. The station is licensed to Dallas and owned by the Tribune Company with its studios located off the John W. Carpenter Freeway in northwest Dallas. The station's transmitter is located in Cedar Hill. KDAF is broadcast on channel 9 on many cable systems in the Metroplex.

History[link]

Early history[link]

Channel 33 in Dallas has been used by several companies over four decades of operation. It first signed on-the-air as KMEC in October 1967, the second UHF station in the market after KFWT-TV (see KTXA). The station aired a mix of syndicated programming and locally produced shows. KMEC signed off less than a year later. That short-lived attempt was followed by another in 1972, with another company using channel 33 using the call letters KBFI and a religious programming format. But, like its predecessor, KBFI signed off after only ten months on the air.

The Christian Broadcasting Network purchased channel 33's license and, on January 11, 1973, channel 33 returned to the air as KXTX-TV (for "Christ (X) for TeXas"), a station with a religious format and some general entertainment. But CBN's stay on channel 33 wouldn't be a long one: Doubleday Broadcasting wanted to get rid of its independent station, KDTV on channel 39. After an attempt to donate KDTV to non-profit interests, Doubleday instead donated the channel 39 license and assets to CBN. Then, in April 1973, CBN moved the KXTX call letters and its programming to channel 39, while Doubleday took over broadcasting channel 33 under the KDTV calls for another several months before turning the station off in December. Channel 33 would remain unused in Dallas for the next six and-a-half years.

In May 1980, channel 33 returned to the Dallas airwaves for a fourth time. The new station was called KNBN-TV, owned by a local company, Hill Broadcasting (Nolanda Hill 40%, Sheldon Turner 40% and others). The station's call letters were derived from its on-air branding, "National Business Network". The daytime broadcast was all business while evening hours were filled by subscription television from VEU, a program service owned by Gene Autry's Golden West Broadcasters. Again, this format turned out to be short-lived, and channel 33 revamped itself again. Within a year and-a-half, the business programming was gone, the subscription television service moved to rival UHF station KTWS (channel 27, now KDFI-TV), and KNBN-TV picked up programming from the Spanish International Network, the forerunner to today's Univision.

Stabillity, then transition[link]

In late 1983, Hill Broadcasting sold KNBN to Metromedia. Initially, KNBN remained a Spanish station (with plans to eventually switch to an English speaking format) but added a couple syndicated English shows that Metromedia distributed but had no other station to run. Then on July 31, 1984, the station was renamed KRLD-TV after new sister station KRLD radio, which Metromedia later sold and finally switched from Spanish to a general entertainment format. The new KRLD-TV was entering a very crowded marketplace—its competition included KTXA, KXTX-TV, and the market's leading independent, KTVT (channel 11). Metromedia's initial programming featured the first 7:00 p.m. newscast ever attempted in the Dallas-Fort Worth market. The station initially programmed a schedule with primarily adult fare such as first-run syndicated shows, plenty of off-network dramas, reruns of old game shows and some low-budget movies. The station had very few cartoons at first because they were found on other stations. Also for four seasons starting in 1984, channel 33 was the broadcast home for Dallas Sidekicks indoor soccer club. In the fall of 1985, with a huge abundance of barter cartoons now available, KRLD-TV added a couple hours of them in the 7 to 9 a.m. time slot and on the 3 to 5 p.m. timeslots. The station also began phasing in more off network sitcoms at that point and began looking more like a traditional independent station for that time.

In 1986 Metromedia sold its group of independent stations, including KRLD-TV, to the News Corporation and the 20th Century Fox film studio. On March 6 of that year, channel 33's call letters were changed to the current KDAF, and it would become one of the cornerstones of the Fox Broadcasting Company, making it the Metroplex's first network-owned station. However, Fox closed down the station's news department shortly after assuming control. The station continued running mostly cartoons, off-network sitcoms, and older movies. KDAF remained unprofitable well into the 1990s as, for all intents and purposes, it was still an independent station. However, with Fox's growth in the early 1990s, by 1994 the station was turning modest profits. With an increase in revenues, Fox decided to reactivate channel 33's news department by launching a primetime newscast that would go head-to-head with KTVT. KDAF was well into its news plans when Fox made an announcement which put the station's immediate future in limbo.

In November 1993, Fox acquired the broadcast rights to the National Football Conference of the National Football League from CBS. This made Fox desire more VHF stations, especially those in NFC markets. Fox was already beginning to phase in news departments on most of its stations with plans to become news intensive. Then in April 1994, Fox made a group deal with New World Communications to move its network affiliation in several markets, including Dallas-Fort Worth, to stations New World either owned outright or were currently purchasing.^[1] In Dallas, then-CBS affiliate KDFW-TV (channel 4, which ironically had been the original KRLD-TV, and had carried Dallas Cowboys games, which often draw high ratings, since 1962) was only recently bought from Times Mirror and now being sold by Argyle Television to New World, and was included in the New World-Fox deal. Fox jumped at the chance of getting on a VHF station in the nation's seventh-largest market. It placed KDAF up for sale and scrapped the newscast plans. New World took over operations of KDFW in June 1995. Fox network prime time and sports programming moved from KDAF to KDFW on July 1, 1995. Fox Kids programming remained on KDAF for another two years. Two days later (on July 3, 1995), Fox finalized the sale of channel 33 to Renaissance Broadcasting (in exchange for KDVR, channel 31, in Denver), and KDAF took over the market's The WB affiliation from KXTX-TV, which only had an agreement to hold it temporarily until Fox could move to KDFW.^[2]

Renaissance merged with Tribune in 1997^[3]; this, in a way, made the station a network O&O once again (Tribune was a minority partner in The WB). In August 1996, Fox announced that it was buying New World outright, now making KDFW an Fox O&O. In the Fall of 1997, Fox Kids moved off KDAF and onto KDFW's partner station, KDFI (channel 27), which was more of a traditional independent station. KDAF's focus gradually changed as well. Initially, KDAF ran a blend cartoons from both Fox Kids and Kids WB, some syndicated cartoons, older off network sitcoms, recent off network sitcoms, The WB programming, and some first run syndicated shows. Gradually, from the mid 1990s to about 2002, KDAF began focusing more on first run talk shows, reality shows, court shows, moving away from older shows. By 2002, the only cartoons on KDAF came from Kids WB which also ended weekday operations early in 2006; KDAF was the last station in the market left running afternoon weekday cartoons until that point.

On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN networks announced they would shut down. Their respective owners joined forces merge into a new service, The CW Television Network, co-owned by CBS and the Warner Bros. Television unit of Time Warner. As part of the deal, the new network signed a 10-year affiliation deal with 16 of Tribune's WB stations, including KDAF. The station rebranded as "CW 33" in the summer of 2006, two months before the network officially launched in September.

On June 23, 2008, KDAF changed its branding to KDAF 33 in a corporate effort by Tribune to strengthen the local branding of its stations and reduce the dependence on the use of the "The CW" in its stations' brandings due to sagging ratings of its current affiliation, however it has kept its CW 33 logo until August 2008 when the station changed its branding from CW 33 to The 33. After three years, KDAF returned to the "CW33" branding in September 2011, using the partial circle used under "The 33" branding and the same color scheme. Today, KDAF runs a format consisting of first-run series from The CW, talk shows, court shows, reality shows, recent off-network sitcoms, first-run and off-network recent drama series, and cartoons on weekend mornings.

Digital television[link]

KDAF had aired a 24-hour music network called The Tube on digital channel 33.2, but it ceased operations on October 1, 2007. Digital subchannel 33.2 came back on the air around November 1, 2007 with bilingual Latino programming from LATV. The contract with LATV expired in June 2010, however. On December 7, 2010 KDAF began carrying programming from This TV on digital subchannel 33.3.^[4]

The station also became a charter affiliate of parent company Tribune Broadcasting's new digital multicast channel Antenna TV upon its launch on January 1, 2011, it is carried on digital subchannel 33.2.^[5]

Analog-to-digital conversion[link]

KDAF's analog transmitter on Channel 33 was shut off at 8 a.m. on Friday, June 12, 2009. KDAF-DT remains on channel 32 following the digital transition.^[6] PSIP is used to display KDAF's virtual channel as 33 on digital television receivers.

News operation[link]

KDAF broadcasts a total of 10½ hours of local news each week. On weeknights, the station airs a half-hour newscast at 5 p.m. and an hour-long newscast at 9 p.m. On Saturdays, the station airs a half-hour newscast at 5:30 p.m. and an hour-long newscast at 9 p.m. On Sundays, the station airs half-hour newscasts at 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., followed by the half-hour sports wrap-up show Inside Sports at 9:30 p.m.

After having its plans for a newscast during the Fox era in the mid-1990s shelved, new owners Tribune decided to return newscasts to KDAF by launching a weekday 30-minute newscast in 1999, airing at 9 p.m. to compete with KDFW's news broadcast in the same time slot. Within a year, it was expanded to seven days a week and then expanded to an hour (on weeknights only) in January 2001.^[7]

In late February 2009, longtime anchors Terri Chappell and Tom Crespo were replaced by new anchors Amanda Salinas and Walt Maciborski (from WFTS in Tampa). Both Salinas and Maciborski anchor the weekday 5 and 9 p.m. newscasts, while Dawn Tongish anchors the weekend at 5:30 and 9 p.m. newscasts.

KDAF expanded its newscast output by producing a new nightly 5:30 p.m. newscast on September 21, 2009 that would compete with KDFW's local newscast at 5:30 and the network newscasts on WFAA, KXAS and KTVT. It features former interns turned full-time reporters and some new segments that would end up being irrelevant at the 9 p.m. hour. In March 2010, KDAF expanded its early evening newscast to a full hour from 5-6 p.m. on weekdays while the weekend edition retained the 5:30 start time; then in May, the weekday newscast was reduced to a half-hour newscast retaining the 5 p.m. start time. On weekdays, the newscast now competes against local newscasts on KDFW, WFAA, KXAS and KTVT, while the weekend 5:30 p.m. newscast competes on Saturdays against national newscasts on WFAA, KXAS and KTVT as they (along with KDFW) do not air their early evening newscasts until 6 p.m., and on Sundays, the newscast competes against local newscasts on KTVT, WFAA and KDFW and a national network newscast on KXAS.

On May 22, 2010 KDAF became the last remaining television station in the Dallas-Fort Worth market to broadcast its newscasts in high definition; the station quietly debuted its newscasts in high definition on that date. Unlike the other stations in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, video shot during field reports is recorded and broadcast in true high-definition. The other stations broadcast studio segments in HD, but their video footage during field reports are shot in 16:9 standard definition widescreen.

On October 31, 2011 KDAF began producing and broadcasting EyeOpener, a morning news program by Tribune Broadcasting that was test marketed on sister station KIAH in Houston beginning in May 2011; airing for three hours starting at 5 a.m., it features a mix of news, lifestyle, entertainment and opinion segments. Local news and traffic updates are presented live by current KDAF reporters Tommy Noel and Toni Duclottni, while weather segments are presented by meteorologist Laura Thomas. Other segments are also produced at the KDAF studios (which replaced Tribune Company's Chicago headquarters as the show's production hub), the program is also syndicated to Tribune stations in three additional markets (WPHL-TV in Philadelphia, WSFL-TV in Miami and KRCW in Portland, Oregon), where local news and weather segments will also be provided by those stations.^[8]

News/station presentation[link]

Newscast titles[link]

• Channel 33 Night Report (1977–1981)
• KNBN-TV 33 News (1981–1984)
• KRLD-TV 33 News (1984–1986)
• WB33 News (1999–2006)
• CW33 News (2006–2008, 2011–present)^[9]
• KDAF 33 News (2008)
• The 33 News (2008–2011)^[10]

Station slogans[link]

• "Channel 33, First in Texas" (1981–1984)
• "Channel 33 Is Your Place" (1984–1986)
• "Fox 33, This is the Year!" (1988–1990; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
• "It's on Fox 33!" (1990–1992; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
• "The Future Home of WB 33" (early–late 1995; used to promote the switch from Fox to The WB)
• "Watch Your Frog" (2002–2005; reference to Michigan J. Frog, The WB's then-mascot)
• "Putting Our Community First" (2003–present; used for its promotion)
• "We Play Favorites" (2005–2006; also briefly used as slogan for Nick at Nite during 2006 and early 2007)
• "The Future Home of the New CW33" (2006; used to promote the switch from The WB to The CW)
• "Free To Be" (2006–2007; also initial CW network slogan)
• "TV That Gets U" (2008–2009)
• "TV To Talk About" (2009–present; also current CW network slogan)
• "Watch Something New(s)" (2009–present; news slogan)

News team[link]

[edit] Current on-air staff^[11]

Anchors

• Walt Maciborski - weeknights at 5 and 9 p.m.
• Tommy Noel - news cut-in anchor during EyeOpener; also general assignment reporter^[8]
• Amanda Salinas - weeknights at 5 and 9 p.m.
• Dawn Tongish - weekends at 5:30 and 9 p.m.

Weather team

• Rebecca Miller (AMS Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5 and 9 p.m.
• Bob Goosmann (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekends at 5:30 and 9 p.m.
• Laura Thomas - meteorologist; weather cut-ins during EyeOpener^[8]

Sports team

• Andy Scholes - sports reporter
• Chase Williams - sports multimedia journalist

Reporters

• Charles Bassett - general assignment reporter
• Barry Carpenter - general assignment and health reporter
• Toni Duclottni - lifestyle and entertainment reporter, and traffic reporter for news cut-ins during EyeOpener ^[8]
• Amber Fisher - general assignment reporter ("Backpack Journalist")
• Erin Harris - social media reporter ("PluggedIN")
• Shama Kabani - technology reporter ("Tech Zen with Shama")
• Doug Magditch - feature reporter ("Backpack Journalist")
• Daniel Novick - general assignment reporter ("Backpack Journalist")
• Giselle Phelps - general assignment and Collin County reporter
• Roni Proter - lifestyle and entertainment reporter^[12]

EyeOpener

• Sean Dowling - co-host and entertainment correspondent; also producer
• Ellen Fox - co-host
• Danielle Vollmar - co-host; also KDAF fill-in meteorlogist

DFW Close Up

• Ashley Roberts - host

References[link]

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

External links[link]

Dallas-Fort Worth portal

• KDAF home page
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KDAF
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KDAF-TV

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There are many people in history who are commonly appended with the phrase "the Great", or who were called that or an equivalent phrase in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes such as e Bozorg and e azam in Persian and Urdu respectively.

In Persia, the title "the Great" at first seems to be a colloquial version of the Old Persian title "Great King". This title was first used by the conqueror Cyrus II of Persia.^[1]

The Persian title was inherited by Alexander III of Macedon (336–323 BC) when he conquered the Persian Empire, and the epithet "Great" eventually became personally associated with him. The first reference (in a comedy by Plautus)^[2] assumes that everyone knew who "Alexander the Great" was; however, there is no earlier evidence that Alexander III of Macedon was called "the Great".

The early Seleucid kings, who succeeded Alexander in Persia, used "Great King" in local documents, but the title was most notably used for Antiochus the Great (223–187 BC).

Later rulers and commanders began to use the epithet "the Great" as a personal name, like the Roman general Pompey. Others received the surname retrospectively, like the Carthaginian Hanno and the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great. Once the surname gained currency, it was also used as an honorific surname for people without political careers, like the philosopher Albert the Great.

As there are no objective criteria for "greatness", the persistence of later generations in using the designation greatly varies. For example, Louis XIV of France was often referred to as "The Great" in his lifetime but is rarely called such nowadays, while Frederick II of Prussia is still called "The Great". A later Hohenzollern - Wilhelm I - was often called "The Great" in the time of his grandson Wilhelm II, but rarely later.

Rulers[link]

• Abbas I of Persia (1571–1629), Shah of Iran
• Akbar (1542–1605), ruler of the Mughal Empire of South Asia, mainly India
• Alain I of Albret (1440–1522), French aristocrat
• Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), King of Macedonia, Persia, Greece, Egypt, and all of Mesopotamia
• Alexander I of Georgia (1386–1446), King of Georgia
• Alfonso III of León (c. 848-910), King of León, Galicia and Asturias
• Alfred the Great (848/849-899), King of Wessex
• Antiochus III the Great (c. 241–187 BC), ruler of the Seleucid Empire
• Ashoka the Great (c. 304–232 BC), Indian emperor of the Maurya dynasty
• Ashot I of Iberia “the Great”(died 826/830), presiding prince of Iberia (modern Georgia),
• Askia Mohammad I (c. 1442–1538), ruler of the Songhai Empire
• Bhumibol Adulyadej (born 1927), King of Thailand
• Bolesław I Chrobry (967-1025), sometimes called "the Great", first King of Poland
• Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the following section)
• Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (1736–1809), founder and ruler of the Rattanakosin Kingdom (in what is now Thailand)
• Cnut the Great (c. 985 or 995-1035), King of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden
• Casimir III the Great (1310–1370), King of Poland
• Catherine the Great (1729–1796), Empress of Russia
• Chandragupta II (reigned 375-413/415), also known as Vikramaditya, ruler of the Gupta empire in India
• Charlemagne (died 814), King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans
• Chulalongkorn (1853–1910), King of Siam (now Thailand)
• Chlothar II (584-629), King of Neustria and King of the Franks
• Conrad, Margrave of Meissen (c. 1097-1157), Margrave of Meissen
• Constantine I (c. 272-337), Roman emperor
• Cyaxares the Great (c. 625-585 BC), third king of Media
• Cyrus the Great (c. 600 BC or 576 BC–530 BC), founder and ruler of the Persian or Achaemenid Empire
• Darius the Great (550 – 486 BC), third ruler of the Persian Empire
• Devapala (died 850), ruler of the Pala Empire in the Indian subcontinent
• Dionysius I, Greek tyrant of Syracuse^[3]
• Ferdinand I of León and Castile (c. 1015–1065), King of León and Count of Castile
• Frederick the Great (1712–1786), King of Prussia
• Genghis Khan (1162?-1227), founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire
• Gero (c. 900–965), ruler of Marca Geronis, a very large march in Europe
• Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1594–1632), King of Sweden, founder of the Swedish Empire, and noted military leader
• Gwanggaeto the Great, King of Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea^[4][5]
• Hanno the Great, the name of three leaders of Carthage, in the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd centuries BC
• Henry I, Duke of Burgundy (946–1002)
• Henry IV of France (1553–1610), King of France and King of Navarre
• Herod the Great (73/74 BC-4 BC), King of Judea
• Hugh the Great (898-956), Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris
• Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France
• Hugh I, Count of Vermandois (1057–1101)
• Humphrey I de Bohun (died c. 1123), Anglo-Norman aristocrat
• Ivan III of Russia (1440–1505), Tsar of Russia
• John I of Portugal (1358–1433), King of Portugal and the Algarve
• John II of Aragon (1398–1479), King of Aragon and, through his wife, King of Navarre
• Justinian I (483-565), Byzantine Emperor
• Kamehameha I (c. 1758-1819), first King of Hawai'i
• Kanishka (died c. 127), ruler of the Kushan Empire in Central Asia and parts of India
• Kvirike III of Kakheti (1010–1029), King of Kakheti in eastern Georgia
• Kublai Khan (1215–1294), Mongol ruler in the 13th century and Emperor of China; founder of the Yuan Dynasty
• Llywelyn the Great (c. 1172–1240), Prince of Gwynedd and de facto ruler of most of Wales
• Louis I of Hungary (1326–1382), King of Hungary, Croatia and Poland
• Mangrai the Great (1238–1317), Lanna, northern Thailand
• Emperor Meiji (1852–1912), Emperor of Japan
• Mircea I of Wallachia (1355–1418)
• Mithridates II of Parthia (died 88 BC), ruler of the Parthian Empire (in present day Iran)
• Mithridates VI of Pontus (134 BC–63 BC), ruler of Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom
• Mstislav I of Kiev (1076–1132), Grand Prince of Kievan Rus
• Naresuan (1555–1605), King of Ayutthaya
• Narai (1633–1688), King of Ayutthaya (in what is now modern Thailand)
• Odo the Great (died c. 735), Duke of Aquitaine
• Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (912-973)
• K'inich Janaab' Pakal (603-683), ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque
• Parakramabahu I of Polonnaruwa (1123–1186), King of Sri Lanka
• Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia (died 1075), King of Croatia
• Peter the Great (1672–1725), Tsar of Russia
• Peter III of Aragon (1239–1285), King of Aragon and King of Sicily
• Pompey (106 BC-48 BC), military and political leader of the late Roman Republic, rival of Julius Caesar
• Radama I (1793–1828), first king of greater Madagascar
• Raja Raja Chola I (c. 947-1014), Indian emperor of the Cholas.^[6][7][8]
• Rajendra Chola I (reigned 1014–1044), Tamil King of India
• Ramesses II (reigned 1279 BC – 1213 BC), considered the greatest pharaoh of Ancient Egypt
• Ram Khamhaeng (around 1237 to 1247-1298), King of Sukhothai (in present day Thailand)
• Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona (1082–1131), also Count of Provence and various other counties
• Rhodri the Great (c. 820–878), King of Gwynedd (in present day Wales)
• Roman the Great (after 1160-1205), Grand Prince of Kiev
• Saladin (c. 1138-1193), Kurdish Sultan of Egypt and Syria, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, and victor over the Crusaders
• Samudragupta (c. 335–375), ruler of the Gupta empire in the Indian subcontinent
• Sancho III of Navarre (c. 992-1035), King of Kingdom of Navarre
• Sargon of Akkad (died c. 2215 BC), ruler of the Akkadian Empire
• Sejong the Great (1397–1450), Korean king^[9]
• Shapur II (309-379), king of the Sassanid Empire, Persia
• Simeon I of Bulgaria (864/865-927), ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire
• Stephen III of Moldavia (1433–1504), Prince of Moldavia (Romania)
• Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia (c. 1308-1355), King of Serbia and Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks
• Taksin (1734–1782), King of the Thonburi Kingdom (Thailand)
• Tamar (1160-1123), Queen of the Georgian Empire
• Timur (1336–1405), better known as Tamerlane, founder of the Timurid Dynasty
• Theobald II, Count of Champagne (1090–1151), Count of Blois and of Chartres as Theobald IV, Count of Champagne and of Brie
• Theodoric the Great (454-526), King of the Ostrogoths, regent of the Visigoths and a viceroy of the Byzantine Empire
• Theodosius I (347-395), Roman emperor
• Tigranes the Great (140-55 BC), Emperor of Armenia
• Tiridates III of Armenia (285-339), King of Armenia
• Umar (c. 586 to 590–644), second caliph of the Muslim Empire
• Valdemar I of Denmark (1131–1182), King of Denmark
• Valentinian I (364-375), Roman Emperor
• Vladimir I of Kiev (c. 958-1015), ruler of Kievan Rus
• Vytautas (c. 1350-1430), archduke of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy
• William I, Count of Burgundy (1020–1087), Count of Burgandy and Mâcon
• William V, Duke of Aquitaine (969-1030), also Count of Poitou
• Xerxes I (519-465 BC), King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire (Persia)
• Yu the Great (c. 2200-2100 BC), legendary ruler in ancient China

Religious figures[link]

• Abraham the Great of Kashkar (ca. 492-586), monk and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East
• Abraham Kidunaia (died c. 366, hermit, priest, and Christian saint of Mesopotamia
• Albertus Magnus (1193/1206–1280), medieval German philosopher and theologian
• Anthony the Great (c. 251–356), early Christian saint of Egypt
• Babai the Great (c. 551–628), Assyrian church leader
• Basil of Caesarea (330-379), Greek bishop and theologian
• Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the previous section)
• Euthymius the Great (377-473), abbot and Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint
• Gertrude the Great (1256-c. 1302), German Benedictine, mystic, theologian and Roman Catholic saint
• Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604)
• Hiyya the Great, 3rd-century rabbi, Palestine
• Pope John Paul II (1920–2005)
• Pope Leo I (c. 391 or 400-461)
• Macarius of Egypt (c. 300-391), Egyptian hermit
• Pope Nicholas I (c. 800-867)
• Photius I of Constantinople (c. 810–c. 893), Eastern Orthodox saint and Patriarch of Constantinople
• William of Maleval (died 1157), founder of the Catholic congregation of Williamites

Other[link]

• Beli Mawr, a figure in medieval Welsh literature and genealogies
• Emmy the Great, folk singer
• Matteo Rosso the Great, Roman politician and father of Pope Nicholas III
• Prokop the Great, Hussite general in Bohemia

See also[link]

• Epithet
• List of monarchs by nickname
• List of nicknames of European Royalty and Nobility: G-I
• James, son of Zebedee, also known as James the Greater, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus
• Ajax (mythology), called Ajax the Greater
• Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, whose common honorific "Mahatma" means "Great Soul"

Notes[link]

Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg, 37th G8 summit (2011)
Born	Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (1984-05-14) May 14, 1984 (age 28)[1] White Plains, New York, U.S.
Residence	Palo Alto, California, U.S.[2]
Alma mater	Harvard University (Dropped out)
Occupation	Chairman and CEO of Facebook [3]
Years active	2004–present
Known for	Co-founding Facebook in 2004; world's youngest billionaire as of 2008[4]
Net worth	US$ 17.5 billion (2012)[5]
Spouse	Priscilla Chan, M.D. (m. 2012) «start: (2012)»"Marriage: Priscilla Chan, M.D. to Mark Zuckerberg" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Mark_Zuckerberg)
Relatives	Randi, Donna and Arielle (sisters)
Awards	TIME Person of the Year 2010
Website
Facebook.com/MarkZuckerberg

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (born May 14, 1984) is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known as one of four co-founders of the social networking site Facebook, of which he is chairman and chief executive.^[6]

Zuckerberg was born and raised in a Jewish household in New York state. While still in middle school in his early teens, he took up writing software programs as a hobby, beginning with BASIC, with help from his father. His father then hired a tutor to help his son develop his programming skills further. Zuckerberg's enjoyment in writing programs led him to developing computer games, writing a music player, and setting up a primitive home network he called "ZuckNet." His private tutor calls him a "prodigy." In high school he excelled in classic literature and science, while becoming proficient in four other languages. He was also captain of the school's fencing team.

He later enrolled in Harvard, majoring in computer science and sociology. In his sophomore year he wrote a program called Facemash as a "fun" project, letting students on the college's network vote on other students' photo attractiveness. It was shut down within days, but would become a template for his writing Facebook, a program he launched from his dormitory room. With the help of friends, including roommate Dustin Moskovitz, Facebook went national on other campuses, and they moved to Palo Alto, California. By 2010, the site had an estimated 500 million users worldwide. Zuckerberg and Facebook have since been involved in various legal disputes initiated by others who have claimed a share of the company's profits due to their help in setting it up. Zuckerberg is the largest individual shareholder with 28.4 percent of the common stock and controls 56.9 percent of the voting power.^[7] As of 2012^[update], his personal wealth was estimated at more than $19.1 billion, making him one of the world's youngest billionaires.^[8] Zuckerberg is one of the 30 richest people on Earth.

Zuckerberg was named four times in Time 100: in 2009 as one of the 100 influential people of the world, in 2010 as Time magazine's Person of the Year,^[9] in 2011^[10] and 2012, along with being one of the world's richest and most influential people.^[8][11] In 2010 a fictionalized account of Zuckerberg creating Facebook while in college and its later start-up phase was made into a movie dramatization, The Social Network.

Early life[link]

Zuckerberg was born in 1984 in White Plains, New York.^[12] He is the son of Karen (née Kempner), a psychiatrist, and Edward Zuckerberg, a dentist.^[13] He and his three sisters, Randi, Donna, and Arielle,^[2] were brought up in Dobbs Ferry, New York.^[2] Zuckerberg was raised Jewish, had his bar mitzvah when he turned 13,^[14][15] and has since described himself as an atheist.^{[15][16][17][18]}

At Ardsley High School, Zuckerberg had excelled in the classics before transferring to Phillips Exeter Academy in his junior year, where he won prizes in science (math, astronomy and physics) and classical studies (on his college application, Zuckerberg listed as non-English languages he could read and write: French, Hebrew, Latin, and ancient Greek) and was a fencing star and captain of the fencing team.^{[17][19][20][21]} In college, he was known for reciting lines from epic poems such as The Iliad.^[19]

Software developer[link]

Early years[link]

Zuckerberg began using computers and writing software as a child in middle school. His father taught him Atari BASIC Programming in the 1990s, and later hired software developer David Newman to tutor him privately. Newman calls him a "prodigy", adding that it was "tough to stay ahead of him". Zuckerberg also took a graduate course in the subject at Mercy College near his home while he was still in high school. He enjoyed developing computer programs, especially communication tools and games. In one such program, since his father's dental practice was operated from their home, he built a software program he called "ZuckNet", which allowed all the computers between the house and dental office to communicate by pinging each other. It is considered a "primitive" version of AOL's Instant Messenger, which came out the following year.^[2]

According to writer Jose Antonio Vargas, "some kids played computer games. Mark created them." Zuckerberg himself recalls this period: "I had a bunch of friends who were artists. They'd come over, draw stuff, and I'd build a game out of it." However, notes Vargas, Zuckerberg was not a typical "geek-klutz", as he later became captain of his prep school fencing team and earned a classics diploma. Napster co-founder Sean Parker, a close friend, notes that Zuckerberg was "really into Greek odysseys and all that stuff", recalling how he once quoted lines from the Roman epic poem Aeneid, by Virgil, during a Facebook product conference.^[2]

During Zuckerberg's high school years, under the company name Intelligent Media Group, he built a music player called the Synapse Media Player that used artificial intelligence to learn the user's listening habits, which was posted to Slashdot^[22] and received a rating of 3 out of 5 from PC Magazine.^[23] Microsoft and AOL tried to purchase Synapse and recruit Zuckerberg, but he chose instead to enroll at Harvard University in September 2002.

Harvard years[link]

By the time he began classes at Harvard, he had already achieved a "reputation as a programming prodigy", notes Vargas. He studied psychology and computer science as well as belonging to Alpha Epsilon Pi, a Jewish fraternity.^{[2][6][9][24]} In his sophomore year, he wrote a program he called CourseMatch, which allowed users to make class selection decisions based on the choices of other students and also to help them form study groups. A short time later, he created a different program he initially called Facemash that let students select the best looking person from a choice of photos. According to Zuckerberg's roommate at the time, Arie Hasit, "he built the site for fun". Hasit explains:

We had books called Face Books, which included the names and pictures of everyone who lived in the student dorms. At first, he built a site and placed two pictures, or pictures of two males and two females. Visitors to the site had to choose who was "hotter" and according to the votes there would be a ranking.^[25]

The site went up over a weekend, but by Monday morning the college shut it down because its popularity had overwhelmed Harvard's server and prevented students from accessing the Internet. In addition, many students complained that their photos were being used without permission. Zuckerberg apologized publicly, and the student paper ran articles stating that his site was "completely improper".^[25]

Around the time of Facemash, however, students were requesting that the university develop an internal website that would include similar photos and contact details. According to Hasit, "Mark heard these pleas and decided that if the university won't do something about it, he will, and he would build a site that would be even better than what the university had planned."^[25]

Career[link]

Zuckerberg listening to President Barack H. Obama before a private meeting where Obama dined with technology business leaders in Woodside, California, February 17, 2011. (Also pictured, from left: Carol Bartz of Yahoo!, Art Levinson of Genentech, Steve Westly of The Westly Group, and Eric Schmidt of Google.)

Facebook[link]

Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his Harvard dormitory room on February 4, 2004.^[26][27] An earlier inspiration for Facebook may have come from Phillips Exeter Academy, the prep school from which Zuckerberg graduated in 2002. It published its own student directory, “The Photo Address Book,” which students referred to as “The Facebook.” Such photo directories were an important part of the student social experience at many private schools. With them, students were able to list attributes such as their class years, their proximities to friends, and their telephone numbers.^[26]

Once at college, Zuckerberg's Facebook started off as just a "Harvard thing" until Zuckerberg decided to spread it to other schools, enlisting the help of roommate Dustin Moskovitz. They first started it at Stanford, Dartmouth, Columbia, New York University, Cornell, Penn, Brown, and Yale, and then at other schools that had social contacts with Harvard.^{[28][29][30][31]}

Zuckerberg moved to Palo Alto, California, with Moskovitz and some friends. They leased a small house that served as an office. Over the summer, Zuckerberg met Peter Thiel who invested in the company. They got their first office in mid-2004. According to Zuckerberg, the group planned to return to Harvard but eventually decided to remain in California.^[32][33] They had already turned down offers by major corporations to buy out Facebook. In an interview in 2007, Zuckerberg explained his reasoning:

It's not because of the amount of money. For me and my colleagues, the most important thing is that we create an open information flow for people. Having media corporations owned by conglomerates is just not an attractive idea to me.^[27]

He restated these same goals to Wired magazine in 2010: "The thing I really care about is the mission, making the world open."^[34] Earlier, in April 2009, Zuckerberg sought the advice of former Netscape CFO Peter Currie about financing strategies for Facebook.^[35]

On July 21, 2010, Zuckerberg reported that the company reached the 500 million-user mark.^[36] When asked whether Facebook could earn more income from advertising as a result of its phenomenal growth, he explained:

I guess we could ... If you look at how much of our page is taken up with ads compared to the average search query. The average for us is a little less than 10 percent of the pages and the average for search is about 20 percent taken up with ads ... That’s the simplest thing we could do. But we aren’t like that. We make enough money. Right, I mean, we are keeping things running; we are growing at the rate we want to.^[34]

In 2010, Steven Levy, who authored the 1984 book Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution, wrote that Zuckerberg "clearly thinks of himself as a hacker".^[37] Zuckerberg said that "it's OK to break things" "to make them better".^[37][38] Facebook instituted "hackathons" held every six to eight weeks where participants would have one night to conceive of and complete a project.^[37] The company provided music, food, and beer at the hackathons, and many Facebook staff members, including Zuckerberg, regularly attended.^[38] "The idea is that you can build something really good in a night", Zuckerberg told Levy. "And that's part of the personality of Facebook now ... It's definitely very core to my personality."^[37]

Vanity Fair magazine named Zuckerberg number 1 on its 2010 list of the Top 100 "most influential people of the Information Age".^[39] Zuckerberg ranked number 23 on the Vanity Fair 100 list in 2009.^[40] In 2010, Zuckerberg was chosen as number 16 in New Statesman's annual survey of the world's 50 most influential figures.^[41]

In a 2011 interview with PBS after the death of Steve Jobs, Zuckerberg said that Jobs had advised him on how to create a management team at Facebook that was "focused on building as high quality and good things as you are".^[42]

Wirehog[link]

A month after Facebook launched in February 2004, i2hub, another campus-only service, created by Wayne Chang, was launched. i2hub focused on peer-to-peer file sharing. At the time, both i2hub and Facebook were gaining the attention of the press and growing rapidly in users and publicity. In August 2004, Zuckerberg, Andrew McCollum, Adam D'Angelo, and Sean Parker launched a competing peer-to-peer file sharing service called Wirehog, a precursor to Facebook Platform applications.^[43][44]

Platform and Beacon[link]

Zuckerberg at World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland (January 2009)

On May 24, 2007, Zuckerberg announced Facebook Platform, a development platform for programmers to create social applications within Facebook. Within weeks, many applications had been built and some already had millions of users. It grew to more than 800,000 developers around the world building applications for Facebook Platform.

On November 6, 2007, Zuckerberg announced a new social advertising system called Beacon, which enabled people to share information with their Facebook friends based on their browsing activities on other sites. For example, eBay sellers could let friends know automatically what they have for sale via the Facebook news feed as they list items for sale. The program came under scrutiny because of privacy concerns from groups and individual users. Zuckerberg and Facebook failed to respond to the concerns quickly, and on December 5, 2007, Zuckerberg wrote a blog post on Facebook^[45] taking responsibility for the concerns about Beacon and offering an easier way for users to opt out of the service.

In 2007, Zuckerberg was named to the MIT Technology Review TR35 as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35.^[46]

On July 23, 2008, Zuckerberg announced Facebook Connect, a version of Facebook Platform for users.

Legal controversies[link]

ConnectU lawsuits[link]

Harvard students Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra accused Zuckerberg of intentionally making them believe he would help them build a social network called HarvardConnection.com (later called ConnectU).^[47] They filed a lawsuit in 2004 but it was dismissed on a technicality on March 28, 2007. It was refiled soon thereafter in federal court in Boston. Facebook counter sued in regards to Social Butterfly, a project put out by The Winklevoss Chang Group, an alleged partnership between ConnectU and i2hub. On June 25, 2008, the case settled and Facebook agreed to transfer over 1.2 million common shares and pay $20 million in cash.^[48]

In November 2007, confidential court documents were posted on the website of 02138, a magazine that catered to Harvard alumni. They included Zuckerberg's social security number, his parents' home address, and his girlfriend's address. Facebook filed to have the documents removed, but the judge ruled in favor of 02138.^[49]

Saverin lawsuit[link]

A lawsuit filed by Eduardo Saverin against Facebook and Zuckerberg was settled out of court. Though terms of the settlement were sealed, the company affirmed Saverin's title as co-founder of Facebook. Saverin signed a non-disclosure contract after the settlement.^[50][51]

Pakistan criminal investigation[link]

In June 2010, Pakistani Deputy Attorney General Muhammad Azhar Sidiqque launched a criminal investigation into Zuckerberg and Facebook co-founders Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes after a "Draw Muhammad" contest was hosted on Facebook. The investigation also named the anonymous German woman who created the contest. Sidiqque asked the country's police to contact Interpol to have Zuckerberg and the three others arrested for blasphemy. On May 19, 2010, Facebook's website was temporarily blocked in Pakistan until Facebook removed the contest from its website at the end of May. Sidiqque also asked its UN representative to raise the issue with the United Nations General Assembly.^[52][53]

Paul Ceglia[link]

On June 30, 2010, Paul Ceglia, the owner of a wood pellet fuel company in Allegany County, upstate New York, filed a lawsuit against Zuckerberg, claiming 84% ownership of Facebook and seeking monetary damages. According to Ceglia, he and Zuckerberg signed a contract on April 28, 2003, that an initial fee of $1,000 entitled Ceglia to 50% of the website's revenue, as well as an additional 1% interest in the business per day after January 1, 2004, until website completion. Zuckerberg was developing other projects at the time, among which was Facemash, the predecessor of Facebook, but did not register the domain name thefacebook.com until January 1, 2004. Facebook management dismissed the lawsuit as "completely frivolous". Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt told a reporter that Ceglia's counsel had unsuccessfully sought an out-of-court settlement.^[54]

Pursuant to the contract, Ceglia agreed to pay Zuckerberg $1,000 for StreetFax and $1,000 for PageBook. The contract also refers to The Face Book, a project that was to be completed by January 2004. Ceglia offered a receipt for $1,000, dated six months after the contract, to prove he paid Zuckerberg, but it was not the full amount due, and the contract did not specify what occurs in the event of a default.^[55]

In an interview with ABC World News, Zuckerberg stated he was confident he had never signed such an agreement. At the time, Zuckerberg worked for Ceglia as a code developer on a project named "StreetFax". Judge Thomas Brown issued a restraining order on all financial transfers concerning ownership of Facebook until further notice; in response, Facebook removed the case to federal court and asked that the state court injunction be dissolved. According to Facebook, the injunction would not affect their business and lacked any legal basis.^{[56][57][58][59][60][61]}

Depictions in media[link]

[edit] The Social Network

A movie based on Zuckerberg and the founding years of Facebook, The Social Network was released on October 1, 2010, and stars Jesse Eisenberg as Zuckerberg. After Zuckerberg was told about the film, he responded, "I just wished that nobody made a movie of me while I was still alive."^[62] Also, after the film's script was leaked on the Internet and it was apparent that the film would not portray Zuckerberg in a wholly positive light, he stated that he wanted to establish himself as a "good guy".^[63] The film is based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, which the book's publicist once described as "big juicy fun" rather than "reportage".^[64] The film's screenwriter Aaron Sorkin told New York magazine, "I don't want my fidelity to be to the truth; I want it to be to storytelling", adding, "What is the big deal about accuracy purely for accuracy's sake, and can we not have the true be the enemy of the good?"^[65]

Upon winning the Golden Globes award for Best Picture on January 16, 2011, producer Scott Rudin thanked Facebook and Zuckerberg "for his willingness to allow us to use his life and work as a metaphor through which to tell a story about communication and the way we relate to each other.”^[66] Sorkin, who won for Best Screenplay, retracted some of the impressions given in his script:^[67]

"I wanted to say to Mark Zuckerberg tonight, if you're watching, Rooney Mara's character makes a prediction at the beginning of the movie. She was wrong. You turned out to be a great entrepreneur, a visionary, and an incredible altruist."

On January 29, 2011, Zuckerberg made a surprise guest appearance on Saturday Night Live, which was being hosted by Jesse Eisenberg. They both said it was the first time they ever met.^[68] Eisenberg asked Zuckerberg, who had been critical of his portrayal by the film, what he thought of the movie. Zuckerberg replied, "It was interesting."^[69] In a subsequent interview about their meeting, Eisenberg explains that he was "nervous to meet him, because I had spent now, a year and a half thinking about him ..." He adds, "Mark has been so gracious about something that’s really so uncomfortable ... The fact that he would do SNL and make fun of the situation is so sweet and so generous. It’s the best possible way to handle something that, I think, could otherwise be very uncomfortable."^[70][71]

Disputed accuracy[link]

Jeff Jarvis, author of the book Public Parts, interviewed Zuckerberg and believes Sorkin has made too much of the story up. He states, "That's what the internet is accused of doing, making stuff up, not caring about the facts."^[72]

According to David Kirkpatrick, former technology editor at Fortune magazine and author of The Facebook Effect:The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World, (2011),^[73] "the film is only "40% true ... he is not snide and sarcastic in a cruel way, the way Zuckerberg is played in the movie." He says that "a lot of the factual incidents are accurate, but many are distorted and the overall impression is false", and concludes that primarily "his motivations were to try and come up with a new way to share information on the internet".^[72]

Although the film portrays Zuckerberg's creation of Facebook in order to elevate his stature after not getting into any of the elite final clubs at Harvard, Zuckerberg himself said he had no interest in joining the final clubs.^[2] Kirkpatrick agrees that the impression implied by the film is "false".^[72]

Karel Baloun, a former senior engineer at Facebook, notes that the "image of Zuckerberg as a socially inept nerd is overstated ... It is fiction ..." He likewise dismisses the film's assertion that he "would deliberately betray a friend".^[72]

Other depictions[link]

Zuckerberg voiced himself on an episode of The Simpsons, "Loan-a Lisa", which first aired on October 3, 2010. In the episode, Lisa Simpson and her friend Nelson encounter Zuckerberg at an entrepreneurs' convention. Zuckerberg tells Lisa that she does not need to graduate from college to be wildly successful, referencing Bill Gates and Richard Branson as examples.^[74]

On October 9, 2010, Saturday Night Live lampooned Zuckerberg and Facebook.^[75] Andy Samberg played Zuckerberg. The real Zuckerberg was reported to have been amused: "I thought this was funny."^[76]

Stephen Colbert awarded a "Medal of Fear" to Zuckerberg at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear on October 30, 2010, "because he values his privacy much more than he values yours".^[77]

Use of other social networks[link]

Zuckerberg created an account with Google+ soon after the social network was unveiled, saying he sees it as a "validation for his vision" of online social networking.^[78] By July 2011, Zuckerberg had become the most followed user on Google+, outranking Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.^[79] As of March 6, 2012, his ranking has dropped to 184 on the service, behind Page and Brin.^[80] His public profile is minimal with one photo and a bio that reads "I make things".^[81]

Zuckerberg has maintained a private account on Twitter under the username "zuck", though in 2009 he revealed that the public account "finkd" also belonged to him.^[82]

Philanthropy[link]

Zuckerberg donated an undisclosed amount to Diaspora, an open-source personal web server that implements a distributed social networking service. He called it a "cool idea".^[34]

Zuckerberg founded the Start-up: Education foundation.^[83][84] On September 22, 2010, it was reported that Zuckerberg had arranged to donate $100 million to Newark Public Schools, the public school system of Newark, New Jersey.^[85][86] Critics noted the timing of the donation as being close to the release of The Social Network, which painted a somewhat negative portrait of Zuckerberg.^[87][88] Zuckerberg responded to the criticism, saying, "The thing that I was most sensitive about with the movie timing was, I didn’t want the press about The Social Network movie to get conflated with the Newark project. I was thinking about doing this anonymously just so that the two things could be kept separate."^[87] Newark Mayor Cory A. Booker stated that he and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie had to convince Zuckerberg's team not to make the donation anonymously.^[87]

On December 9, 2010, Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and investor Warren Buffett signed a promise they called the "Giving Pledge", in which they promised to donate to charity at least half of their wealth over the course of time, and invited others among the wealthy to donate 50% or more of their wealth to charity.^[89][90][91]

Personal life[link]

At a party put on by his fraternity during his sophomore year, Zuckerberg met Priscilla Chan, a fellow student who he began dating in 2003. Chan is of Chinese descent, was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, and is a 2003 graduate of Quincy High School.^[92][93] In September 2010, Zuckerberg invited Chan, by then a medical student at the University of California, San Francisco,^[94] to move into his rented Palo Alto house.^[2][95] Zuckerberg studied Mandarin Chinese in preparation for the couple's visit to the People's Republic of China in December 2010.^[96][97]

On Zuckerberg's Facebook page, he listed his personal interests as "openness, making things that help people connect and share what's important to them, revolutions, information flow, minimalism".^[98] Zuckerberg sees blue best because of red–green colorblindness; blue is also Facebook's dominant color.^[99]

On May 19, 2012, Zuckerberg and Chan married in Zuckerberg's backyard in a celebration also marking her graduation from medical school.^{[100][101][102]} Chan has a medical degree, and, according to some sources, is planning to begin interning and residencing towards becoming a pediatrician in 2012 or is a pediatrician currently.^{[103][104][105][106]}

References[link]