WNBC,
virtual channelIn telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
4 (digital channel 28), is the
flagship stationIn broadcasting, a flagship is the broadcast which originates a television network, or a particular radio show or TV show, primarily in the United States and Canada. This includes both direct network feeds and broadcast syndication, but generally not backhauls...
of the
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
television network, located in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. WNBC's studios are co-located with NBC corporate headquarters at
30 Rockefeller PlazaRockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th and 51st streets in New York City, United States. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National...
in midtown
ManhattanManhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. WNBC is the sister station to
Linden, New Jersey- Local government :, the Mayor of Linden is . The former longtime Mayor of Linden is 82-year-old John T. Gregorio, who served as mayor of Linden for 30, nonconsecutive years and was repeatedly tagged with scandal during his mayoral career, including one felony conviction, later pardoned, which...
-based
WNJUWNJU, channel 47, is the flagship station of the Spanish-language Telemundo television network, licensed to Linden, New Jersey and serving the Tri-State area television market. WNJU is owned by NBCUniversal, and is one-half of a duopoly with NBC network flagship WNBC-TV...
(flagship of the co-owned
TelemundoTelemundo is an American television network that broadcasts in Spanish. The network is the second-largest Spanish-language content producer in the world, and the second-largest Spanish-language network in the United States, behind Univision....
network), and
SportsNet New YorkSportsNet New York is a New York City-based regional sports cable network which airs in the New York metro area and all of New York state, and nationwide via satellite. It is owned jointly by the New York Mets, Time Warner Cable, and NBCUniversal...
, which NBCUniversal acquired a minority stake in as part of its purchase by
ComcastComcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
. 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 bandThe C band is a name given to certain portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, including wavelengths of microwaves that are used for long-distance radio telecommunications. The IEEE C-band - and its slight variations - contains frequency ranges that are used for many satellite communications...
, and to subscribers of
DirecTVDirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
, which also provides coverage of the station to
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, the
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
and
JetBlue AirwaysJetBlue Airways Corporation is an American low-cost airline. The company is headquartered in the Forest Hills neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens. Its main base is John F. Kennedy International Airport, also in Queens....
's
LiveTVLiveTV is a major provider of airline in-flight entertainment systems. Originally a joint venture of Harris Corporation and BE Aerospace , it is now a wholly owned subsidiary of JetBlue Airways Corporation...
inflight entertainment system. DirecTV also allows subscribers in the
Greater Los Angeles AreaThe Greater Los Angeles Area, or the Southland, is a term used for the Combined Statistical Area sprawled over five counties in the southern part of California, namely Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Bernardino County, Riverside County and Ventura County...
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 NetworkDish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...
as part of All American Direct's distant network package and is broadcast on
Delta Air LinesDelta Air Lines, Inc. is a major airline based in the United States and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline operates an extensive domestic and international network serving all continents except Antarctica. Delta and its subsidiaries operate over 4,000 flights every day...
through Dish Network.
Digital programming
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
WNBC-DT broadcasts on digital channel 28.>
| Channel |
Video |
AspectThe aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,...
|
Programming |
| 4.1 |
1080i 1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels...
|
16:9 16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...
|
Main WNBC programming / NBC |
| 4.2 |
480i 480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC...
|
New York NonstopWNBC-DT2 is a 24-hour entertainment-oriented news service broadcasting on a digital television subchannel of WNBC in New York City...
|
| 4.4 |
4:3 |
Universal Sports Universal Sports is an American television network that airs various sports, primarily those contested in the Olympic Games, including swimming, gymnastics, cycling, track and field, figure skating, skiing, bobsledding and triathlon.-Programming:...
|
WNBC also has a Mobile DTV feed of subchannel 4.2, labelled "WNBC Mobile", broadcasting at 1.83 Mbit/s.
Analog-to-digital conversion
On June 12, 2009, WNBC discontinued regular analog programming on channel 4. The station remained on its pre-transition channel 28, using PSIP to display the station's
virtual channelIn telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
as 4. WNBC was one of two stations in New York City participating in the "
Analog NightlightThe Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act, or SAFER Act, is a U.S. law to require the Federal Communications Commission to allow the continuation of full-power analog TV transmissions in 2009 for 30 more days, for the purpose of broadcasting public service announcements regarding the...
" program, and did so through June 26, 2009.
Experimental operations
What is now WNBC-TV traces its history to experimental station
W2XBS, founded by the
Radio Corporation of AmericaRCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
(a co-founder of the National Broadcasting Company), in 1928, just two years after NBC was founded as the first nationwide
radio networkThere are two types of radio networks currently in use around the world: the one-to-many broadcast type commonly used for public information and mass media entertainment; and the two-way type used more commonly for public safety and public services such as police, fire, taxicabs, and delivery...
. Originally a test bed for the experimental
RCA PhotophoneRCA Photophone was the trade name given to one of four major competing technologies that emerged in the American film industry in the late 1920s for synchronizing electrically recorded audio to a motion picture image. RCA Photophone was a sound-on-film, "variable-area" film exposure system, in...
theater television system, W2XBS used the low-definition
mechanical televisionMechanical television was a broadcast television system that used mechanical or electromechanical devices to capture and display video images. However, the images themselves were usually transmitted electronically and via radio waves...
scanning system, and later was used mostly for reception and interference tests. The call letters W2XBS meant W2XB-south, with
W2XBWRGB, channel 6, is a television station located in Schenectady, New York, USA. WRGB is owned by Freedom Communications, and is the CBS affiliate for the Albany-Schenectady-Troy television market...
being the call letters of the first experimental station, started a few months earlier at
General ElectricGeneral Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
's main factory in
Schenectady, New YorkSchenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135...
, which evolved in later years to commercial station
WRGBWRGB, channel 6, is a television station located in Schenectady, New York, USA. WRGB is owned by Freedom Communications, and is the CBS affiliate for the Albany-Schenectady-Troy television market...
. GE was the parent company of both RCA and NBC, and technical research was done at the Schenectady plant.
The station left the air sometime in 1933 as RCA turned its attention to all-electronic
cathode ray tubeThe cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent screen to create the images. The image may represent electrical waveforms , pictures , radar targets and...
(CRT) television research at its
Camden, New JerseyThe city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...
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 CatFelix the Cat is a cartoon character created in the silent film era. His black body, white eyes, and giant grin, coupled with the surrealism of the situations in which his cartoons place him, combine to make Felix one of the most recognized cartoon characters in film history...
was one of the first images ever broadcast by
televisionTelevision is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
when
RCARCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
chose a
papier-mâchéPapier-mâché , alternatively, paper-mache, is a composite material consisting of paper pieces or pulp, sometimes reinforced with textiles, bound with an adhesive, such as glue, starch, or wallpaper paste....
(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 turntableThe phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
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 televisionThe history of television records the work of numerous engineers and inventors in several countries over many decades. The fundamental principles of television were initially explored using electromechanical methods to scan, transmit and reproduce an image...
.
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 BuildingThe GE Building is an Art Deco skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the midtown Manhattan section of New York City. Known as the RCA Building until 1988, it is most famous for housing the headquarters of the television network NBC...
— in New York City's
Rockefeller CenterRockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th and 51st streets in New York City, United States. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National...
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 LaboratoriesDuMont Laboratories was an American television equipment manufacturer. The company was founded in 1931, by inventor Allen B. DuMont. Among the company's developments were long-lasting cathode ray tubes that would be used for television. Another product out of the lab was a DuMont invention, the...
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.
Firsts for W2XBS
As W2XBS, the station scored numerous "firsts", including the first televised Broadway drama (June 1938), live news event covered by mobile unit (a fire in an abandoned building in November 1938), live telecast of a Presidential speech (
Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
opening the
1939 New York World's FairThe 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...
), the first live telecasts of college and
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
(both in 1939), the first telecast of a
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
game (also in 1939), the first telecast of a
National Hockey LeagueThe National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
game (early 1940), and the first network telecast of a political convention (the 1940
Republican National ConventionThe Republican National Convention is the presidential nominating convention of the Republican Party of the United States. Convened by the Republican National Committee, the stated purpose of the convocation is to nominate an official candidate in an upcoming U.S...
, held June 24–28 in the
Philadelphia Civic CenterThe Philadelphia Convention Hall and Civic Center, more commonly known as the Philadelphia Civic Center and the Philadelphia Convention Center, was a complex of five or more buildings developed out of a series of buildings dedicated to expanding trade which began with the National Export Exhibition...
).
But in the fall of 1940, W2XBS transmissions were put on hold once again, as the TV industry's leaders continued deliberations on technical standards through the National Committee on Television Standards before reaching consensus on several major issues, including 525-line picture definition, FM audio, a 6-megahertz wide channel, asymmetrical-sideband AM video, and 4.5-MHz spacing between the video carrier (nominally 1.25 MHz from the bottom of each channel) and audio carrier (at 5.75 MHz above the lower limit of the channel). Those parameters became standard for TV from the spring of 1941 to June 2009 and the adoption of today's all-digital system, and it was that system that W2XBS used when it resumed test operation in the spring of 1941 in preparation for the start of regular commercial TV.
First commercial TV station
On June 24, 1941; W2XBS received a commercial license under the calls
WNBT (
NBC
Television). It was one of the first two fully licensed commercial television stations in the United States, along with
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
' WCBW (now
WCBS-TVWCBS-TV, channel 2, is the flagship station of the CBS television network, located in New York City. The station's studios are located within the CBS Broadcast Center and its transmitter is atop the Empire State Building, both in Midtown Manhattan....
). The NBC and CBS stations were licensed and instructed to sign on simultaneously on July 1 so that neither of the major broadcast companies could claim exclusively to be "first." However WCBW did not manage to sign on the air until 2:30 p.m., one full hour after WNBT. Thus, WNBC inadvertently holds the distinction as the oldest continuously operating station in the United States, and also the only one ready to accept sponsors from its beginning.
| Broadcast time |
Broadcast programmes |
| 13:30-13:39 |
Test Pattern A test card, also known as a test pattern in North America and Australia, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast...
|
| 13:39-13:40 |
Clock identA clock ident is a form of television ident that employs a clock displaying the current time with the station logo, typically used before news bulletins and closedown.-Appearance:...
|
| 13:40-13:50 |
National anthem"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships...
, AnnouncerAn announcer is a presenter who makes "announcements" in an audio medium or a physical location.-Television and other media:Some announcers work in television production , radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, news updates, station identification, or an introduction of a product in...
, Television listingsA television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
, Opening of NBC Television (WNBT) |
| 17:30-18:45 |
Live broadcast Live television refers to a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. From the early days of television until about 1958, live television was used heavily, except for filmed shows such as I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke. Video tape did not exist until 1957...
:
Major League Baseball-Awards and honors:*Most Valuable Player**Hank Greenberg – OF, Detroit Tigers**Frank McCormick – 1B, Cincinnati Reds*The Sporting News Player of the Year Award**Bob Feller – P, Cleveland Indians...
at Ebbets FieldEbbets Field was a Major League Baseball park located in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York, USA, on a city block which is now considered to be part of the Crown Heights neighborhood. It was the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League. It was also a venue for professional football...
from BrooklynBrooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
in New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
between Brooklyn DodgersThe Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
versus Philadelphia PhilliesThe Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
|
| 18:44-18:45 |
Clock identA clock ident is a form of television ident that employs a clock displaying the current time with the station logo, typically used before news bulletins and closedown.-Appearance:...
|
| 18:45-19:00 |
Newsreel with Lowell ThomasLowell Jackson Thomas was an American writer, broadcaster, and traveler, best known as the man who made Lawrence of Arabia famous...
|
| 19:00-20:15 |
Rerun broadcast A rerun or repeat is a re-airing of an episode of a radio or television broadcast. The invention of the rerun is generally credited to Desi Arnaz. There are two types of reruns—those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Reruns can also be, as the...
:
Major League Baseball-Awards and honors:*Most Valuable Player**Hank Greenberg – OF, Detroit Tigers**Frank McCormick – 1B, Cincinnati Reds*The Sporting News Player of the Year Award**Bob Feller – P, Cleveland Indians...
at Ebbets FieldEbbets Field was a Major League Baseball park located in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York, USA, on a city block which is now considered to be part of the Crown Heights neighborhood. It was the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League. It was also a venue for professional football...
from BrooklynBrooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
in New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
between Brooklyn DodgersThe Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
vs. Philadelphia PhilliesThe Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
|
| 20:15-20:55 |
United Service OrganizationsThe United Service Organizations Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the U.S. military, with programs in 160 centers worldwide. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense , and has provided support and...
Program with Thomas E. Dewey and Winthrop W. AldrichWinthrop Williams Aldrich GBE was an American banker and financier, scion of a prominent political family, and US Ambassador to the United Kingdom.-Early years:...
|
| 20:55-21:00 |
Announcer An announcer is a presenter who makes "announcements" in an audio medium or a physical location.-Television and other media:Some announcers work in television production , radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, news updates, station identification, or an introduction of a product in...
, Television listingsA television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
, Clock identA clock ident is a form of television ident that employs a clock displaying the current time with the station logo, typically used before news bulletins and closedown.-Appearance:...
, National anthem"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships...
, Sign-off |
| 21:00-21:01 |
Test Pattern A test card, also known as a test pattern in North America and Australia, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast...
|
WNBT originally broadcast on channel 1. On its first day on the air, WNBT broadcast the world's first television commercial before a
baseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and
Philadelphia PhilliesThe Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
. The ten-second spot for
BulovaBulova is a corporation making luxury watches and clocks. It has its headquarters in Woodside, Queens, New York City.Bulova was founded and incorporated as the J. Bulova Company in 1875 by Joseph Bulova , an immigrant from Bohemia...
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 FirestoneThe Voice of Firestone, is a long-running radio and television program of classical music. The show featured leading singers in selections from opera and operetta. Originally titled The Firestone Hour, it was first broadcast on the NBC Radio network December 3, 1928 and was later also shown on...
, 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 ConsequencesTruth or Consequences is an American quiz show originally hosted on NBC radio by Ralph Edwards and later on television by Edwards , Jack Bailey , Bob Barker , Bob Hilton and Larry Anderson . The television show ran on CBS, NBC and also in syndication...
aired on WNBT's first week of programming two years earlier; it eventually returned to TV in the 1950s).
During
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, 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 DepartmentThe New York City Police Department , established in 1845, is currently the largest municipal police force in the United States, with primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City...
and used for
Civil DefenseCivil defense, civil defence or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state from military attack. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, or emergency evacuation, and recovery...
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 ElectricGeneral Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
-owned
WRGBWRGB, channel 6, is a television station located in Schenectady, New York, USA. WRGB is owned by Freedom Communications, and is the CBS affiliate for the Albany-Schenectady-Troy television market...
in
Schenectady, New YorkSchenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135...
and
PhilcoPhilco, the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company , was a pioneer in early battery, radio, and television production as well as former employer of Philo Farnsworth, inventor of cathode ray tube television...
's WPTZ-TV (now
KYW-TVKYW-TV, virtual channel 3, is an owned and operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. KYW-TV shares a studio facility with its sister station, CW flagship WPSG just north of Center City Philadelphia...
) 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 EuropeVictory in Europe Day commemorates 8 May 1945 , the date when the World War II Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. The formal surrender of the occupying German forces in the Channel Islands was not...
, 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 HotelThe Hotel Astor was a hotel located in the Times Square area of Manhattan, in operation from 1904 through 1967. The former site of the hotel, the block bounded by Broadway, Astor Plaza, West 44th Street, and West 45th Street, is now occupied by the high-rise 54-story office tower One Astor Plaza.-...
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
WNYWWNYW, virtual channel 5 , is the flagship television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in New York City. The station's transmitter is atop the Empire State Building and its studio facilities are located in the Yorkville section of Manhattan...
) 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 radioWNBC was a radio station that operated in New York City from 1922 to 1988. For most of its history, it was the flagship station of the NBC Radio Network...
(660 AM, frequency now occupied by
WFANWFAN , also known as "Sports Radio 66" or "The FAN", is a radio station in New York City. The station broadcasts on a clear channel and is owned by CBS Radio...
).
The station changed its call letters on October 18, 1954, to
WRCA-TV (for NBC's then-parent company, Radio Corporation of America or RCA) and on May 22, 1960, channel 4 became
WNBC-TV. NBC had previously used the callsign on its television station in
New Britain, ConnecticutNew Britain is a city in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is located approximately 9 miles southwest of Hartford. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 71,254....
, from 1957 until it was sold earlier in 1960. That station is now
WVITWVIT, virtual channel 30, is the NBC owned and operated television station for the state of Connecticut, licensed to New Britain. WVIT has its offices and studios located in West Hartford, and transmitter based in Farmington, Connecticut....
, and is once again an NBC-owned station. WNBC-TV also earned a place in broadcasting history as the birthplace of
The Tonight ShowThe Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
. It began on the station in 1953 as a local late-night program,
The Steve Allen ShowThe Steve Allen Show is an American variety show hosted by Steve Allen from June 1956 to June 1960 on NBC, from September 1961 to December 1961 on ABC, and in first-run syndication from 1962 to 1964....
and NBC executive Sylvester "Pat" Weaver brought it to the network in 1954. Studio 6B, the show's former home under
Jack PaarJack Harold Paar was an author, American radio and television comedian and talk show host, best known for his stint as host of The Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962...
and
Johnny CarsonJohn William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
, would become the news studio for WNBC after
Tonight departed for
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
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 KalehoffEdward Woodley "Edd" Kalehoff is a music composer who specializes in compositions for television.-Notable pieces:Composer of about 1,000 pieces, mainly for television, his credits include the majority of cues used on The Price is Right as well as the Nickelodeon game show Double Dare, a music...
. WNBC was rebranded again as
NBC 4 on September 5, 1995, with its newscasts being renamed
Newschannel 4. In March 2008, the
4 New York branding was revived.
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 CenterThe original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
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 TowerThe Armstrong Tower, also known as Alpine Tower, is a 425 foot tall lattice tower built and used by Edwin Armstrong in 1938 at Alpine, New Jersey, United States, at 40°57'39.0" N and 73°55'21.0" W for his transmission experiments that led to modern FM radio. The original transmissions occurred at...
in
Alpine, New JerseyAlpine is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located northwest of Midtown Manhattan. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 1,849....
. Since 2005, WNBC is broadcasting its signal from the
Empire State BuildingThe Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
in New York City. In 2004, WNBC served as the model station for
NBC Weather PlusNBC Weather Plus was a 24-hour, commercially sponsored, weather-oriented broadcast/cable television network jointly owned by NBC Universal and the local affiliates of the NBC network. It debuted on November 15, 2004 and shut down on December 31, 2008...
, a twenty-four-hour digital weather channel that airs on its second
digital subchannelDigital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...
(4.2) and on several local
cable televisionCable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
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 FallonLate Night with Jimmy Fallon is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon on NBC. The show premiered on March 2, 2009, as the third incarnation of the Late Night franchise originated by David Letterman....
now occupies 6B.
News operation
From the late 1960s through the 1980s, WNBC was involved in a fierce three-way battle with WCBS-TV and
WABC-TVWABC-TV, channel 7, is the flagship station of the Disney-owned American Broadcasting Company located in New York City. The station's studios and offices are located on the Upper West Side section of Manhattan, adjacent to ABC's corporate headquarters, and its transmitter is atop the Empire State...
for the top spot in the New York television ratings. This continued during a lean period for NBC as a whole. WNBC's hallmark over the years has been strong coverage of breaking stories and a straight news products that also feature light-hearted and/or entertainment elements (i.e.
Live at FiveLive at Five was WNBC's 5 p.m. weekday newscast broadcasting from NBC Studio 6B at 30 Rockefeller Center. A mix of news, features and interviews, the Live at Five concept was first introduced in 1979 by WNBC News Director Ron Kershaw and Bob Davis. Their first anchors were Pia Lindstrom and Melba...
and
Today in New YorkToday in New York is an early-morning local news and entertainment television program on WNBC in New York City, New York.It is broadcast pre-Today from 4:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. weekdays. On the weekends, the program is branded as Weekend Today in New York and is broadcast from 6 a.m to 7 a.m. and later...
).
Many of WNBC's personalities have been at the station for over 20 years.
Chuck ScarboroughCharles Bishop "Chuck" Scarborough III is an American television journalist and author. Since 1974 Scarborough has been the lead male news anchor at WNBC-TV, the New York City-based flagship station of the NBC Television Network, and has also appeared on NBC News. He currently co-anchors with...
has been the station's main anchor since 1974. Since 1980, he has been teamed with
Sue SimmonsSusan "Sue" Simmons has been the lead female news anchor at WNBC television in New York City since 1980.-Background:Simmons grew up in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem; her father was John Simmons, a renowned jazz bassist whose compatriots included Louis Armstrong, Art Tatum, John...
at 11 p.m., and the two have been together longer than any anchor team in New York City television history. Senior correspondent
Gabe PressmanGabe Pressman is the senior correspondent for WNBC-TV. Pressman has been a journalist in the New York City area for over 60 years. He is considered one of the pioneers of United States television news.-Early years:...
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
ChicagoWMAQ-TV, channel 5, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, located in Chicago, Illinois. WMAQ-TV's main studios and offices are located within the NBC Tower in the Streeterville neighborhood, with an auxiliary street-level studio on the Magnificent Mile at 401...
,
Washington, D.C.WRC-TV, channel 4, is an owned and operated television station of the NBC television network, located in the American capital city of Washington, D.C...
, and
Los AngelesKNBC, channel 4, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, licensed to Los Angeles, California, USA. KNBC's studios and offices are located within the NBC Studios complex in Burbank, California, and its transmitter is located on Mount Wilson...
, 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 YorkNew York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine.
For most of the time from 1980 to 1990, WNBC-TV used various themes written by Jim McAllister. His theme for
News 4 New York was based on a synthesized version of the
NBC chimesThe NBC chimes, named for the radio and television network on which they have been used, consists of a succession of three distinct pitches: G3, E4, and C4 , sounded in that order, creating an arpeggiated C-major chord in the second inversion, within about two seconds time, and reverberating for...
, with a graphics package featuring a
lightning boltA thunderbolt is a discharge of lightning accompanied by a loud thunderclap or its symbolic representation. In its original usage the word may also have been a description of meteors, or, as Plato suggested in Timaeus, of the consequences of a close approach between two planetary cosmic bodies,...
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 KalehoffEdward Woodley "Edd" Kalehoff is a music composer who specializes in compositions for television.-Notable pieces:Composer of about 1,000 pieces, mainly for television, his credits include the majority of cues used on The Price is Right as well as the Nickelodeon game show Double Dare, a music...
, 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 AwardAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
-winner Randy Pyburn of
Pyburn FilmsPyburn Films are a television and film production company in New York City that specializes in original content and long-form programming.Pyburn Films also conceived and created AXIS Graphics. The technology and privately held company was acquired in January 2008 by the Chyron Corporation....
. Pyburn has produced several promotions for the station and the now-defunct
Jane's New York specials hosted by former WNBC reporter
Jane HansonJane Hanson currently co-hosts New York Live on NBC-TV in New York. She joined WNBC-TV in September 1979. She hosted the Emmy Award-winning Jane Hanson's New York on WNBC-TV. She became host in 2003 after serving as co-anchor of Today in New York from 1988-2003...
. 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
KNTVKNTV, channel 11, is the NBC owned-and-operated television station in the Bay Area market. It is licensed to San Jose, with its transmitter located on San Bruno Mountain, just south of San Francisco. It shares facilities in San Jose with NBC Universal sister station KSTS and CNBC's Silicon...
currently has used this music theme since 2007, and remains so today). In March 2008, concurrent with the restoration of the
4 New York branding, the newscasts began to be called
News 4 New York once more.
Many WNBC personalities have appeared, and have also moved up to the NBC network, including:
Marv AlbertMarv Albert is an American television and radio sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he is commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball." From 1967–2004, he was also known as "the voice of the New York Knicks."Including Super Bowl XLII, Marv has called...
,
Len BermanLen Berman is the former weekday evening sports anchor on WNBC-TV. Berman was with WNBC/NBC from 1982-2009. He was previously with WCBS-TV from 1979–1982, and before that at WBZ-TV in Boston from 1973–1978.-Early life:...
,
Chris CiminoChris Cimino is the meteorologist on WNBC television's early-morning news program, Today in New York in New York City, New York, and a substitute meteorologist for the NBC network's Today program....
,
Darlene RodriguezDarlene Rodriguez is co-anchor of Today in New York on WNBC. Rodriguez became co-anchor of the show in July 2003 after serving as a reporter for WNBC and then co-anchor of Weekend Today in New York....
,
Maurice DuBoisMaurice DuBois is an American television journalist.-Early life and education:He was born on Long Island, New York, the son of immigrants to the U.S...
,
Tony GuidaTony Guida is a New York-based local television and radio personality. He is currently a news anchor for WCBS Newsradio 880 and a business correspondent for CBS News....
,
Jim HartzJim Hartz was an American television personality during the mid- and late-1970s. Hartz became best known to a national audience for a two-year stint as the co-host of the Today Show, along with Barbara Walters. Hartz replaced Frank McGee.Hartz was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and graduated from Tulsa...
,
Janice HuffJanice Huff is chief meteorologist for WNBC in New York City.-Early years:As she has sometimes noted on her newscast, though born in New York City, at an early age she moved to her grandparents in Columbia, South Carolina, and graduated from Eau Claire High School with honors, where she was a...
,
Matt LauerMatthew Todd "Matt" Lauer . is an American television journalist best known as the host of NBC's The Today Show since 1997. He was previously a news anchor in New York and a local talk-show host in Boston, Philadelphia, Providence and Richmond...
,
Al RokerAlbert Lincoln "Al" Roker, Jr. is an American television meteorologist as well as an actor and book author. He is best known as being the weather anchor on NBC's Today. On Monday, July 20, 2009, he began co-hosting his new morning show, Wake Up with Al, on The Weather Channel, which airs weekdays...
, Scarborough and
Tom SnyderThomas James "Tom" Snyder was an American television personality, news anchor and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows The Tomorrow Show, on the NBC television network in the 1970s and 1980s, and The Late Late Show, on the CBS Television Network in the 1990s...
. In the past, Albert, Berman, DuBois, Guida, Roker, Lauer, Scarborough and Snyder have worked at Channel 4 and at NBC's network at the same time. Huff, Rodriguez and Cimino currently do 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 PardoDominick George "Don" Pardo is an American radio and television announcer. He is best known as the voice of the long-running late night sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live....
. This segment airs on
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 CaffertyJack Cafferty is a CNN commentator and occasional host of specials. In the summer of 2005, Cafferty joined The Situation Room.-Career:...
, Guida, Lauer, and briefly Scarborough) at 5 p.m.; Scarborough and various anchors (
John HambrickJohn Hambrick is an American broadcast journalist, reporter, actor, and voice over announcer.-Broadcast journalist:Hambrick began his television career in 1963, at a station in Abilene, Texas. By 1967 he was working at WCPO-TV in Cincinnati when he was recruited by its sister station in...
,
Pat HarperPatricia "Pat" Harper was an American television news anchor and reporter, and a fixture for nearly two decades on two New York City television stations...
, and
Michele MarshMichele Marsh is a former New York Television anchorwoman from Connecticut.Michele started as a reporter/anchor at WABI-TV, Channel 5 in Bangor, Maine after graduating from Northwestern University. She reported in the field and anchored the 11 p.m. Monday-Friday newscasts, and the 6 p.m. Saturday...
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 RosenfieldJim Rosenfield is an American local television news anchor. He most recently co-anchored the noon and 6 p.m. newscasts on WCBS-TV in New York City alongside Dana Tyler. At various times, he has appeared on the newscasts at noon, 5, 6, and 11 pm at WCBS-TV...
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 PeltzPerri Peltz rejoined WNBC in 2005 after a nine year absence to co-anchor Live at Five with Sue Simmons. Peltz's previous stint at WNBC was from 1987 to 1996 where she co-anchored Weekend Today in New York with Ken Taylor and Weekend editions of News 4 New York at 6 and 11 with Ralph Penza...
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 LindströmFriedel Pia Lindström in Stockholm, Sweden, is the first child of actress Ingrid Bergman and Dr. Petter Aron Lindström, a Swedish American Neurosurgeon....
with
Melba TolliverMelba Tolliver is an American journalist and former New York City news anchor and reporter. She is best remembered for her defiant stance against ABC owned WABC-TV when she refused to don a wig or scarf to cover up her Afro in order to cover the White House wedding of President Richard Nixon's...
on its 5 p.m. news hour, creating one of the first all-female anchor teams on a major-market American television station. 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 UsheryDavid Ushery is a veteran American television news anchor at WNBC News 4 New York, NBC’s flagship owned and operated station...
and
Lynda BaqueroLynda Baquero is an American correspondent for WNBC news in New York City. Baquero has filed numerous reports for the station both at home and abroad, including a trip to Puerto Rico where she filed stories on the island’s economy and tourism...
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 definitionHigh-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
. 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
ExtraExtra is an American entertainment television news program covering events and celebrities which debuted on September 5, 1994 in syndication. It is produced at Victory Studios in Glendale, California by Telepictures Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television Distribution...
to 5 p.m., and cancelled
Live at Five.
News 4 You remained at 5:30 p.m., but was replaced on October 15, 2007 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 did not 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 GariFrank Gari is a popular singer and songwriter from the late 1950s and early 1960s. His best known songs as a performer are "Utopia" , "Lullaby of Love" and "Princess" , all of which hit the U.S. Top 40 in 1961. He co-wrote with Roger McGuinn the song Beach Ball for Bobby Darin...
. This move comes after months of planning of the new content newsroom with its twenty-four-hour-news digital sub-channel.
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
WNYWWNYW, virtual channel 5 , is the flagship television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in New York City. The station's transmitter is atop the Empire State Building and its studio facilities are located in the Yorkville section of Manhattan...
(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 NonstopWNBC-DT2 is a 24-hour entertainment-oriented news service broadcasting on a digital television subchannel of WNBC in New York City...
; it now airs Sunday mornings at 5 a.m.
LX New York was renamed to
New York Live on May 26, 2011 after a kick off party for all viewers the evening before; the show still has the same anchors and reporters. The program was set to move to 3 p.m. on September 12, 2011; at that time, WNBC would return to airing a 5 p.m. newscast. However, due to
Hurricane IreneHurricane Irene was a large and powerful Atlantic hurricane that left extensive flood and wind damage along its path through the Caribbean, the United States East Coast and as far north as Atlantic Canada in 2011...
, the newscast's start date was moved up to Monday, August 29, 2011, with
New York Live moving to 3 p.m. On November 18, 2011, WNBC launched a noon newscast that replaced
The Rundown with Russell and Llamas as the anchors.
WNBC will relocate from Studio 7E to Studio 3C by the end of 2011. The studio was used by
NBC Nightly NewsNBC Nightly News is the flagship daily evening television news program for NBC News and broadcasts. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is located in the center...
, now originated from Studio 3B, also home to
Rock Center with Brian WilliamsRock Center with Brian Williams is an American weekly television newsmagazine broadcast by NBC, and hosted by NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams...
(launched on October 31st,).
Newscast titles
- The Sunoco
Sunoco Inc. is an American petroleum and petrochemical manufacturer headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, formerly known as Sun Company Inc. and Sun Oil Co. ....
Newscast with Lowell Thomas (1940–1941; simulcast with the NBC Blue radio network)
- The News of World War II (1941–1944)
- The Camel News Caravan (1944–1951)
- The News with John McCaffrey (1951–1956)
- The Shell Oil
Shell Oil Company is the United States-based subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, a multinational oil company of Anglo Dutch origins, which is amongst the largest oil companies in the world. Approximately 22,000 Shell employees are based in the U.S. The head office in the U.S. is in Houston, Texas...
News (1956–1960)
- Gabe Pressman and the New York Area News (1960–1963)
- The (Gabe) Pressman-(Bill) Ryan Report (1963–1966)
- The Sixth Hour News (1966–1974, 6 p.m. newscast)
- The Eleventh Hour News (1966–1974, 11 p.m. newscast)
- NewsCenter 4 (1974–1980)
- News 4 New York
News 4 New York is the brand identifier of WNBC-TV in New York City. It began using this for its news broadcasts in 1971 to 1972, again on October 13, 1980, and again in March 2008. Prior to this, WNBC used the NewsCenter 4 brand for their newscasts...
(1980–1995; since 2008)
- NewsChannel 4 (1995–2008; used with NewsChannel 4 HD branding from 2006–2008)
Station slogans
- We're Part of Your Life (1974)
- We're 4 (1975–1981)
- We're 4 New York (1992–1995; since 2007/2008)
- The Tri-State NewsChannel (1995–2003)
- 4 New York (since 2007)
News personnel
Anchors
- Pat Battle
Patricia N. "Pat" Battle is an African American television journalist at NBC's network affiliate station, WNBC-TV, in New York City, New York....
– weekend mornings Weekend Today in New York; also New JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
reporter
- Michael Gargiulo – weekday mornings Today in New York (4:30 a.m. to 7 a.m.)
- Tom Llamas
-Early career:Llamas began his career in New York with the NBC News Specials Unit during the 2000 presidential election and then moved to MSNBC. In his first two years at MSNBC, he worked on coverage of the September 11 attacks and the war with Afghanistan. He later became an embedded political...
– weekdays at noon, weeknights at 5 p.m.
- Darlene Rodriguez
Darlene Rodriguez is co-anchor of Today in New York on WNBC. Rodriguez became co-anchor of the show in July 2003 after serving as a reporter for WNBC and then co-anchor of Weekend Today in New York....
– weekday mornings Today in New York (4:30 a.m. to 7 a.m.)
- Shiba Russell – weekdays at noon, weeknights at 5 p.m.
- Chuck Scarborough
Charles Bishop "Chuck" Scarborough III is an American television journalist and author. Since 1974 Scarborough has been the lead male news anchor at WNBC-TV, the New York City-based flagship station of the NBC Television Network, and has also appeared on NBC News. He currently co-anchors with...
– weeknights at 6 p.m., New York Nightly News (7 p.m. on New York NonstopWNBC-DT2 is a 24-hour entertainment-oriented news service broadcasting on a digital television subchannel of WNBC in New York City...
) and 11 p.m.
- Sue Simmons
Susan "Sue" Simmons has been the lead female news anchor at WNBC television in New York City since 1980.-Background:Simmons grew up in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem; her father was John Simmons, a renowned jazz bassist whose compatriots included Louis Armstrong, Art Tatum, John...
– weeknights at 11 p.m.
- Erika Tarantal
Erika Tarantal is an anchor/reporter for WNBC.Tarantal currently serves as co-anchor for “Weekend Today in New York” and as a general assignment reporter filing stories for various News 4 New York newscasts during the week...
– weekend mornings Weekend Today in New York; also weekday morning fill-in anchor
- David Ushery
David Ushery is a veteran American television news anchor at WNBC News 4 New York, NBC’s flagship owned and operated station...
– weekends at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.; host of The Debrief with David Ushery
Weather reporters
- Chris Cimino
Chris Cimino is the meteorologist on WNBC television's early-morning news program, Today in New York in New York City, New York, and a substitute meteorologist for the NBC network's Today program....
(AMS Seal of Approval) – meteorologist; weekday mornings Today in New York (4:30 a.m. to 7 a.m.)
- Domenica Davis (AMS Seal of Approval) – meteorologist; weekends at 6 a.m. and 11 p.m.
- Janice Huff
Janice Huff is chief meteorologist for WNBC in New York City.-Early years:As she has sometimes noted on her newscast, though born in New York City, at an early age she moved to her grandparents in Columbia, South Carolina, and graduated from Eau Claire High School with honors, where she was a...
(AMSThe American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, the American Meteorological Society has a membership...
Seal of Approval) – chief meteorologist; weekdays at 3 p.m. (on New York Live) and weeknights at 5 p.m., 6 p.m., 7 p.m. and 11 p.m., also Sunday TodayWeekend Today is the unofficial title of the weekend editions of Today, an American morning news and talk show which airs daily on NBC.-History:...
meteorologist on NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
network
- Raphael Miranda (NWA
The National Weather Association is an American professional association with a mission to support and promote excellence in operational meteorology and related activities...
Seal of Approval) – meteorologist; weekend mornings Today in New York
Sports reporters
- Bruce Beck
Bruce Beck is the weekday Sports anchor at WNBC-TV. He is currently in his twelfth year with News 4 New York. He also files numerous sports reports for the station's various newscasts....
– sports director; weeknights at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.
- Siafa Lewis fill-in sports anchor
- Scott Stanford
Scott Stanford is a sports anchor and commentator. He is the weekend sports anchor at New York City's NBC Affiliate, WNBC-TV. In addition, he is a play-by-play commentator for the Monday Night Raw portion of the WWE's Internationally syndicated program, WWE Superstars, an interviewer for Monday...
– sports anchor; weekends at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m., also an announcer with World Wrestling EntertainmentWorld Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
Traffic
- Lauren Scala
Lauren Scala is a television and web video host based in New York City. She currently serves as the traffic reporter on WNBC's Today in New York and the host of WNBC's Megaphone Interactive Trivia Game on Weekend Today in New York in the 9am broadcast...
– traffic reporter; weekday mornings Today in New York (4:30 a.m. to 7 a.m.)
Chopper 4
- Kai Simonsen
Kai Simonsen is a helicopter reporter for WNYW In New York City. Simonsen joined the station in 1999, as the station's first full-time helicopter reporter. Since his debut on WNYW, Simonsen has reported many high-profile events and functions, including the death of John F. Kennedy, Jr., and the...
– Chopper 4 reporter
- Dennis Protsko – Chopper 4 reporter
Reporters
- Lynda Baquero
Lynda Baquero is an American correspondent for WNBC news in New York City. Baquero has filed numerous reports for the station both at home and abroad, including a trip to Puerto Rico where she filed stories on the island’s economy and tourism...
– general-assignment reporter
- Greg Cergol
Greg Cergol is WNBC's Long Island correspondent and serves as a substitute anchor. He joined WNBC in 1999 after spending 9 years as a reporter and anchor with News 12 Long Island....
– Long IslandLong Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
reporter
- Pei-Sze Cheng – general assignment reporter
- Roseanne Colletti – consumer-affairs
Consumer protection laws designed to ensure fair trade competition and the free flow of truthful information in the marketplace. The laws are designed to prevent businesses that engage in fraud or specified unfair practices from gaining an advantage over competitors and may provide additional...
reporter
- Katherine Creag
Katherine Creag is a television news reporter for WNBC TV, News 4 New York. She reports primarily for the award-winning morning news show: Today in New York, from 4:30 a.m. - 7:00 a.m. She can also be seen on the Saturday and Sunday programs: Weekend Today in New York and News 4 New York at...
– Today in New York reporter
- Jonathan Dienst – investigative reporter
- Chris Glorioso – general-assignment reporter
- Cat Greenleaf
Catherine Kaye "Cat" Greenleaf is host of "Talk Stoop with Cat Greenleaf" on NY Nonstop and WNBC. She films the show from her front stoop in Brooklyn...
– feature reporter; Talk StoopTalk Stoop with Cat Greenleaf is an Emmy Award winning interview program hosted by Cat Greenleaf that airs on both NBC and NBC's lifestyle Channel, LXTV. One episode consists of several interviews laid out with Cat Greenleaf introducing each interview...
host
- Demarco Morgan
DeMarco Morgan is a news anchor and reporter for WNBC, in New York City. He joined the station in December 2008 after leaving WTVJ in Miami. In 2002, Morgan was the only African-American male ranked in the Scripps Howard's Top 10 Collegiate Journalists in the country.-Background:In 1997, Morgan...
– general-assignment reporter
- John Noel – general-assignment reporter
- Gabe Pressman
Gabe Pressman is the senior correspondent for WNBC-TV. Pressman has been a journalist in the New York City area for over 60 years. He is considered one of the pioneers of United States television news.-Early years:...
– senior correspondent
- Melissa Russo
Melissa Russo is a television journalist currently working for WNBC-TV News Channel 4 in New York City. She is currently the co-anchor for the News 4 New York at the 6pm and 11pm Saturday newscasts...
– political reporter
- Ida Siegal – general-assignment reporter
- Andrew Siff – general-assignment reporter
- Tracie Strahan – Today in New York reporter
- Brian Thompson – New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
reporter
- Katy Tur – general-assignment reporter
- Jonathan Vigliotti general-assignment reporter
New York City–based LXTV personnel
- Ben Aaron
- Pedro Andrade
Pedro Andrade is a Brazilian journalist-actor-model raised in Rio de Janeiro. He began his acting career at the early age of 7 in Brazil. A student of journalism, Pedro originally came to the United States on a Poetry scholarship. He lives in the West Village in New York City...
- Sara Gore
- Jane Hanson
Jane Hanson currently co-hosts New York Live on NBC-TV in New York. She joined WNBC-TV in September 1979. She hosted the Emmy Award-winning Jane Hanson's New York on WNBC-TV. She became host in 2003 after serving as co-anchor of Today in New York from 1988-2003...
- Siafa Lewis
- George Oliphant
- Maria Sansone
Maria Grace Sansone is a American television personality, and the former correspondent/co-host of LX New York airing on the NBC flagship station WNBC, New York. Sansone also is a red carpet host for the TV GUIDE NETWORK coverage of award shows...
Notable alumni
- Asa Aarons
Asa Aarons , co-creator of "Just Ask Asa!", is an Emmy award-winning consumer reporter and photojournalist.His reports focus on the problems, concerns and realities of everyday life, ranging from false advertising claims to credit card rip-offs and business swindles...
(now at NY1NY1, New York One, is a 24-hour cable-news television channel focusing on the five boroughs of New York City. In addition to news and weather forecasts, the channel also features human-interest segments such as the "New Yorker of the Week" and the "Scholar Athlete of the Week", and specialty...
)
- Marv Albert
Marv Albert is an American television and radio sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he is commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball." From 1967–2004, he was also known as "the voice of the New York Knicks."Including Super Bowl XLII, Marv has called...
(now calls NBA on TNT, Nets BasketballThe New Jersey Nets are a professional basketball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
on the YES NetworkThe Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network is a New York City-based, regional cable television channel; it broadcasts a variety of sports events, with an emphasis on New York Yankees baseball games, and New Jersey Nets basketball games. YES made its debut on March 19, 2002...
and NFL on Westwood OneThe NFL on Westwood One is the brand name given to weekly National Football League games carried on the radio over the Dial Global Radio Network...
)
- Tex Antoine
Herbert Jon Antoine, Jr. , known professionally as Tex Antoine, was an American weatherman on New York City television for nearly three decades.-Biography and early career:...
(deceased)
- Len Berman
Len Berman is the former weekday evening sports anchor on WNBC-TV. Berman was with WNBC/NBC from 1982-2009. He was previously with WCBS-TV from 1979–1982, and before that at WBZ-TV in Boston from 1973–1978.-Early life:...
- Lynn Berry
Lynn Marie Berry serves and an anchor/correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC. Berry can be seen weekday mornings anchoring Early Today on NBC, First Look on MSNBC and newsbreaks on Wake Up With Al on The Weather Channel...
(now anchors overnight newsbreaks on MSNBC and anchors NBC's Early Today and MSNBC's First Look programs)
- Bill Boggs
William "Bill" Boggs III is an Emmy Award–winning American television presenter and journalist.Boggs was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania...
- Mel Brandt
Melville Brandt was an actor and NBC staff announcer. He was born in Brooklyn, New York.Brandt joined the network around 1948. His radio announcing credits included The Adventures of Frank Merriwell, Author Meets the Critics, and The Eternal Light...
(deceased)
- Jack Cafferty
Jack Cafferty is a CNN commentator and occasional host of specials. In the summer of 2005, Cafferty joined The Situation Room.-Career:...
(now at CNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
)
- Ti-Hua Chang
Ti-Hua Chang is an award-winning Chinese American broadcast journalist based in New York.He is currently a general assignment and investigative reporter for WNYW, the FOX affiliate in New York. Before joining WCBS in 2005, Chang worked as a general assignment/investigative TV reporter at WNBC-TV...
(now at WNYWWNYW, virtual channel 5 , is the flagship television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in New York City. The station's transmitter is atop the Empire State Building and its studio facilities are located in the Yorkville section of Manhattan...
)
- Linda Church
Linda Church has been the morning weather anchor for the WPIX CW11, formerly WB11, Morning News since its debut in June 2000. She also leads the Wakeup Workout segment that airs on Monday mornings....
(now at WPIXWPIX, channel 11, is a television station in New York City built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WPIX also serves as the flagship station of The CW Television Network...
)
- Jay DeDapper
Jay Warren DeDapper is a political analyst and journalist located in New York City. DeDapper was a senior political reporter at WNBC-TV Channel 4 in New York City until 2009.-Life:...
– political reporter
- Maurice DuBois
Maurice DuBois is an American television journalist.-Early life and education:He was born on Long Island, New York, the son of immigrants to the U.S...
(now at WCBS-TVWCBS-TV, channel 2, is the flagship station of the CBS television network, located in New York City. The station's studios are located within the CBS Broadcast Center and its transmitter is atop the Empire State Building, both in Midtown Manhattan....
)
- Fred Facey
Ferdinand A. Facey was an American radio and television announcer.Facey joined the announcing staff of NBC in New York City in 1967, and remained with the network for the rest of his life. In time, he would join the likes of Don Pardo and Howard Reig in holding lifetime contracts with the network...
(deceased)
- Frank Field
Franklyn Field , best known as Dr. Frank Field, is a television personality and meteorologist who was on TV in New York City for five decades, reporting not only on the weather but also on science and health topics. He was instrumental in publicizing the Heimlich Maneuver to aid food choking victims...
- Ira Joe Fisher
Ira Joe Fisher is an American meteorologist and poet. He was the weather reporter for CBS's The Saturday Early Show, a position he held from 1999 until 2006...
- Dawn Fratangelo
Dawn Fratangelo is a reporter based in New York City and reports for NBC News, including Dateline, Today, Nightly News and MSNBC. She has held this position since January 1996....
- Betty Furness
Elizabeth Mary Furness was an American actress, consumer advocate and current affairs commentator.-Early years:...
(deceased)
- Arthur Gary
Arthur James Gary was an American radio and television announcer.A graduate of New York University, Gary's announcing career spanned from 1936 to 1984...
(deceased)
- Marty Glickman
Martin "Marty" Glickman was a Jewish American track and field athlete and sports announcer, born in The Bronx, New York. His parents, Harry and Molly Glickmann, immigrated to the United States from Jassy, Romania....
(deceased)
- Max Gomez
Dr. Max Gomez, Ph. D. is a native of Havana, Cuba and was the medical correspondent/senior health editor for NBC flagship television station WNBC in New York City. He delivered segments on health, science and medicine on the 5pm news. Before that he was the health and science editor for KYW-TV in...
(now at WCBS-TVWCBS-TV, channel 2, is the flagship station of the CBS television network, located in New York City. The station's studios are located within the CBS Broadcast Center and its transmitter is atop the Empire State Building, both in Midtown Manhattan....
)
- Roger Grimsby
Roger Grimsby was an American journalist, television news anchor and actor. Grimsby is known as one of the pioneers of local television broadcast news.-Early life:...
(deceased)
- Tony Guida
Tony Guida is a New York-based local television and radio personality. He is currently a news anchor for WCBS Newsradio 880 and a business correspondent for CBS News....
- Carolyn Gusoff (now freelancer at WNYW
WNYW, virtual channel 5 , is the flagship television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in New York City. The station's transmitter is atop the Empire State Building and its studio facilities are located in the Yorkville section of Manhattan...
)
- Pablo Guzmán
Pablo Guzmán is an Emmy Award-winning reporter for WCBS-TV in New York. He joined CBS 2 News in 1995 and is currently a senior correspondent for the station. Before WCBS-TV, he was a reporter for Metromedia Channel 5 WNEW-TV from 1984–1992 and from 1992–1995, he was a reporter for WNBC-TV...
(now at WCBS-TVWCBS-TV, channel 2, is the flagship station of the CBS television network, located in New York City. The station's studios are located within the CBS Broadcast Center and its transmitter is atop the Empire State Building, both in Midtown Manhattan....
)
- John Hambrick
John Hambrick is an American broadcast journalist, reporter, actor, and voice over announcer.-Broadcast journalist:Hambrick began his television career in 1963, at a station in Abilene, Texas. By 1967 he was working at WCPO-TV in Cincinnati when he was recruited by its sister station in...
- Pat Harper
Patricia "Pat" Harper was an American television news anchor and reporter, and a fixture for nearly two decades on two New York City television stations...
(deceased)
- Jim Hartz
Jim Hartz was an American television personality during the mid- and late-1970s. Hartz became best known to a national audience for a two-year stint as the co-host of the Today Show, along with Barbara Walters. Hartz replaced Frank McGee.Hartz was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and graduated from Tulsa...
- Magee Hickey
Magee Hickey is a reporter for WPIX in New York City.Hickey attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart, an elite, all-girls school in Manhattan, before graduating from Brown University in 1977....
(now at WPIX-TV)
- Wayne Howell
Wayne Clay Howell Chappelle , known professionally as Wayne Howell, was a voice-over announcer for the NBC television and radio networks from 1947 through 1986...
- John Johnson
John Johnson is an American television news reporter. He had been a fixture in New York City television news for many years.In 1972, he began a long run at WABC. In the late 1980s, he served as a rotating anchor of the 6 p.m. newscast in the aftermath of Roger Grimsby's firing with Kaity Tong and...
- Deb Kaufman
Deborah Kaufman Placey is the New Jersey Devils news anchor/reporter for the team's televised home and road games on MSG Plus and the MSG Network. Placey is joining the New Jersey Devils after ten seasons reporting for the New York Islanders...
- Matt Lauer
Matthew Todd "Matt" Lauer . is an American television journalist best known as the host of NBC's The Today Show since 1997. He was previously a news anchor in New York and a local talk-show host in Boston, Philadelphia, Providence and Richmond...
(now Today co-host)
- Rick Leventhal
Richard Gary Leventhal , known professionally as Rick Leventhal, is an American reporter. He is a senior correspondent for Fox News Channel since June 1997. Before joining FNC he spent 10 years in local news, reporting and anchoring in markets including Columbia and Spartanburg, West Palm Beach and...
(now at Fox News ChannelFox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
)
- Pia Lindström
Friedel Pia Lindström in Stockholm, Sweden, is the first child of actress Ingrid Bergman and Dr. Petter Aron Lindström, a Swedish American Neurosurgeon....
- Lynda Lopez
Lynda López is an Emmy Award-winning Puerto Rican American journalist and the youngest sister of actress and singer Jennifer Lopez.-Early years:...
(now at WCBS NewsRadio 88WCBS , often referred to as "WCBS Newsradio 880" , is a radio station in New York City. Owned by CBS Radio, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station of the CBS Radio Network...
)
- Felipe Luciano
Felipe Luciano is an American poet, community activist, journalist, media personality, and politician. He is of Puerto Rican heritage....
- Jeffrey Lyons
Jeffrey Lyons is an American television and film critic.-Life and career:Lyons was born in New York City, one of the four sons of Sylvia and Leonard Lyons...
- Dave Marash
David Marash, known as Dave Marash is an American television journalist.Marash garnered considerable attention when he joined Al Jazeera English in January 2006 as the network's Washington, D.C. anchor, thus becoming the de facto American face of the new English language station. Two years later,...
- Sal Marchiano
Sal Marchiano is a sportscaster who worked in New York radio and television for forty years. In December 2008 he retired from his position as sports director and anchor for the WPIX Channel 11 News At Ten....
(retired)
- Michele Marsh
Michele Marsh is a former New York Television anchorwoman from Connecticut.Michele started as a reporter/anchor at WABI-TV, Channel 5 in Bangor, Maine after graduating from Northwestern University. She reported in the field and anchored the 11 p.m. Monday-Friday newscasts, and the 6 p.m. Saturday...
- Frank McGee
Frank McGee was an American television journalist.Born in Monroe in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, McGee began his broadcast news career at WKY-TV in his hometown. In 1955, the owners of WKY purchased WSFA-TV in Montgomery, Alabama, and sent McGee there as news...
(deceased)
- John Miller
John Miller is an American journalist and a former government official.He is the former Associate Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analytic Transformation and Technology...
- Rob Morrison
Rob Morrison is an American television journalist.-Early life and education:He grew up in Holden, Massachusetts, with his parents, Robert and Donna, and his sister, Traci, who is six years his junior...
(now at WCBS-TVWCBS-TV, channel 2, is the flagship station of the CBS television network, located in New York City. The station's studios are located within the CBS Broadcast Center and its transmitter is atop the Empire State Building, both in Midtown Manhattan....
)
- Bruce Morrow
Bruce Morrow is an American radio personality known to many listeners as Cousin Brucie.-Radio work:...
(now at Sirius XM Satellite Radio)
- SallyAnn Mosey
SallyAnn Mosey is a meteorologist for the FOX owned-and-operated television station WTXF-TV in Philadelphia. She serves as meteorologist on the station’s popular weekday morning show Good Day Philadelphia from 4:30 a.m...
(now at WTXF in Philadelphia)
- George Page (deceased)
- Don Pardo
Dominick George "Don" Pardo is an American radio and television announcer. He is best known as the voice of the long-running late night sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live....
- Ralph Penza
Ralph Penza was a senior correspondent and substitute anchor for WNBC in New York City. He first joined WNBC in 1980, left the station in 1995 and rejoined it in October 1997...
(deceased)
- Perri Peltz
Perri Peltz rejoined WNBC in 2005 after a nine year absence to co-anchor Live at Five with Sue Simmons. Peltz's previous stint at WNBC was from 1987 to 1996 where she co-anchored Weekend Today in New York with Ken Taylor and Weekend editions of News 4 New York at 6 and 11 with Ralph Penza...
- Walter Perez
- Audrey Puente
Audrey Puente is a meteorologist for WWOR-TV in New York City. She is the daughter of legendary Latin percussionist Tito Puente and the sister of musician Tito Puente, Jr.. Puente succeeded WWOR veteran meteorologist Storm Field in January 2007 as the station's main meteorologist...
(now at WWOR-TVWWOR-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the flagship station of the MyNetworkTV programming service, licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey and serving the Tri-State metropolitan area. WWOR is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network flagship...
)
- Howard Reig
Howard Reig was an American radio and television announcer. His last name was pronounced "reeg."-Personal life:...
- Carol Anne Riddell
Carol Anne Riddell was the education reporter and co-anchor of the News 4 New York at 6pm newscast on Sundays for WNBC-TV in New York.Riddell chiefly covered children and education—in 2004, she launched "Family Matters," a weekly segment that focused on family and parenting issues. Riddell joined...
- Bobby Rivers
For the Jon English character, see All Together Now .Bobby Rivers was the host of the now-defunct Top 5 show on the Food Network, and Watch Bobby Rivers, a critically acclaimed prime-time celebrity talk show on VH1...
- Vic Roby
Victor Mills "Vic" Roby, Jr. was a radio and television announcer, voice-over artist and public affairs show host, and served for years as a staff announcer with NBC.-Early life and career:...
- Al Roker
Albert Lincoln "Al" Roker, Jr. is an American television meteorologist as well as an actor and book author. He is best known as being the weather anchor on NBC's Today. On Monday, July 20, 2009, he began co-hosting his new morning show, Wake Up with Al, on The Weather Channel, which airs weekdays...
(now on Today and The Weather ChannelThe Weather Channel is a US cable and satellite television network since May 2, 1982, that broadcasts weather forecasts and weather-related news, along with entertainment programming related to weather 24 hours a day...
)
- Jim Rosenfield
Jim Rosenfield is an American local television news anchor. He most recently co-anchored the noon and 6 p.m. newscasts on WCBS-TV in New York City alongside Dana Tyler. At various times, he has appeared on the newscasts at noon, 5, 6, and 11 pm at WCBS-TV...
- Jeff Rossen
Jeff Rossen is an American television journalist who is currently employed by NBC News. He joined the network in September 2008. Rossen contributes to all NBC News programs and platforms, including "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams," and "TODAY." Rossen also fills in at the anchor desk for...
(now NBC NewsNBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
correspondent)
- Kyle Rote
William Kyle Rote, Sr. was an American football player and sports announcer.-Early life:Rote attended Thomas Jefferson High School in San Antonio, Texas, where he was an all-state basketball and football player....
(deceased)
- Bill Ryan (deceased)
- Jim Ryan
-Biography:He was born in 1939 and graduated from Manhattan College in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. He started his broadcast news career as a producer at WNBC in 1974, eventually becoming an anchor/reporter until he left for WNEW in 1985...
- Dick Schaap
Richard Jay Schaap was an American sportswriter, broadcaster, and author.-Early life and education:...
(deceased)
- Mike Schneider
- Adam Shapiro
Adam Shapiro is an American co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement , a pro-Palestinian organization, the stated mission of which is to bring civilians from around the world to resist nonviolently the Israeli occupation of West Bank and previously the Gaza Strip...
(now at Fox Business)
- Liz Smith
Mary Elizabeth "Liz" Smith is an American gossip columnist. She is known as The Grand Dame of Dish.- Early life and career :...
- Tom Snyder
Thomas James "Tom" Snyder was an American television personality, news anchor and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows The Tomorrow Show, on the NBC television network in the 1970s and 1980s, and The Late Late Show, on the CBS Television Network in the 1990s...
(deceased)
- Howard Stern
Howard Allan Stern is an American radio personality, television host, author, and actor best known for his radio show, which was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005. He gained wide recognition in the 1990s where he was labeled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style...
(now at Sirius XM Satellite Radio)
- Carl B. Stokes
Carl Burton Stokes was an American politician of the Democratic party who served as the 51st mayor of Cleveland, Ohio. Elected on November 7, 1967, but took office on Jan 1, 1968, he was the first African American mayor of a major U.S. city. Fellow Ohioan Robert C. Henry was the first African...
(deceased)
- Mike Taibbi
Mike Taibbi is an Emmy-award winning television journalist working at NBC. Taibbi is also a four-time winner of the Edward R. Murrow Award.-Biography:...
(now NBC NewsNBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
correspondent)
- Felicia Taylor
Felicia Taylor is currently an anchor-correspondent for CNN International's "World Business Today" having previously been contributing to the Business Updates unit for CNN; She was previously the co-host of Retirement Living TV's Daily Cafe till November 2009.Previously, Taylor was a business...
(now at CNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
)
- Melba Tolliver
Melba Tolliver is an American journalist and former New York City news anchor and reporter. She is best remembered for her defiant stance against ABC owned WABC-TV when she refused to don a wig or scarf to cover up her Afro in order to cover the White House wedding of President Richard Nixon's...
- Chris Wallace
Christopher "Chris" Wallace is an American journalist, currently the host of the Fox Network program, Fox News Sunday. Wallace has won three Emmy Awards, the Dupont-Columbia Silver Baton Award, and a Peabody Award. Wallace has been with Fox News since 2003...
(now at Fox News ChannelFox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
)
- Jim Watkins
Jim Watkins was the anchor of the weekend editions of "PIX News at Six" and "PIX News at Ten" on WPIX-TV. He joined the station in 1998 where he co-anchored the weeknight news at 10 pm with Kaity Tong after three years working at WNBC-TV in New York. While at WNBC, Watkins anchored the weekend...
(now at WPIXWPIX, channel 11, is a television station in New York City built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WPIX also serves as the flagship station of The CW Television Network...
)
- Rolonda Watts
Rolonda Watts is an American actress, producer, voice over artist, novelist, motivational speaker, and television and radio talk show host. She was the host of eponymous Rolonda, an internationally-syndicated talk show which aired from 1994 to 1998...
- Mary Alice Williams
Mary Alice Williams is a former co-anchor of NBC's Weekend Today and a former anchor and news division Vice President on CNN....
- Joe Witte
Joe Witte is the morning and midday weathercaster for TBD TV, a local cable news network owned by Albritton Communication headquartered in Rosslyn, VA and serving the Washington, D.C area. He previously worked at Washington's ABC affiliate, WJLA, which is also owned by Albritton and headquartered...
See also
- Early television stations
- List of television stations in New York (by channel number)
- List of television stations in New York (by region)
- WNBC (AM)
WNBC was a radio station that operated in New York City from 1922 to 1988. For most of its history, it was the flagship station of the NBC Radio Network...
(660 AM, now WFANWFAN , also known as "Sports Radio 66" or "The FAN", is a radio station in New York City. The station broadcasts on a clear channel and is owned by CBS Radio...
)
- WQHT (97.1 MHz), formerly WNBC-FM/WYNY
External links