WPIX

This article is about the New York City television station. For the NYC radio station formerly called WPIX-FM, see WQCD.

WPIX, channel 11, is a television station in New York City. It has been owned by the Tribune Company since its inception, and is currently an affiliate of the WB television network. Before joining the WB, WPIX was one of the leading independent stations in the country. The station's signal covers the three-state New York metropolitan area, and WPIX is also available as a regional superstation via satellite and cable in the United States and Canada. WPIX can also be seen in New York City on W64AA, channel 64.

On January 24, 2006, the WB and UPN networks announced that they would merge. The newly combined network would be called the CW, the letters representing the first initial of its corporate parents CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. The merger will take effect on-air in September 2006, and WPIX was announced as the CW's New York affiliate. WPIX has yet to show its CW logo on its website, but promos for future WPIX shows have shown the new CW logo.

History

WPIX made its on-air debut on June 15, 1948. Like its longtime Chicago sister station, WGN-TV, its call letters come from the slogan of the newspaper that founded it. In this case, it was the New York Daily News, whose tag was "New York's Picture Newspaper". Both the paper and the station were owned by the Tribune Company. Then and now, WPIX's studios and offices are located in the News Building, at 220 East 42nd Street in Midtown Manhattan.

Through the early 1990s, WPIX was operated separately from the other Tribune television and radio outlets through the News-owned license holder, WPIX, Incorporated, which (starting in 1966) also operated WPIX-FM (101.9 MHz., now WQCD). The WPIX stations were separated from the Daily News in 1991, when British businessman Robert Maxwell bought the newspaper. Tribune retained WPIX and WQCD, and the radio station was sold to Emmis Communications in 1997.

From the outset, WPIX featured programming that was standard among independents: movies, syndicated reruns of network programs, children's shows, public affairs programming, religious programs, and sports -- specifically, the New York Yankees baseball team, which WPIX carried from 1951 until 1998. At various points, WPIX also aired the New York (baseball) Giants, the New York Giants and New York Jets football teams, the NHL's New York Rangers, and the NBA's New York Knicks.

In the 1960s, WPIX, like the other two major independents in New York struggled to acquire better programming. By the early 1970s, WPIX was the clear number-two independent station in the city, behind WNEW-TV. It offered a wide selection of programming including cartoons, off-network sitcoms, dramas, a strong library of movies and Yankees baseball. It identified on-air as 11 Alive from 1977 to 1986, a slogan made popular by stations like Atlanta's WXIA-TV, who started using "11 Alive" themselves in 1976 and still do so today.

WPIX suffered through a dry spell, ratings-wise, in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During this time, now-Fox-owned WNYW and a resurgent WWOR, then owned by MCA/Universal, relegated WPIX to sixth place among New York's VHF stations. After a new general manager, Michael Eigner, was transferred to WPIX from Los Angeles sister station KTLA in 1989, the station engineered a slow turnaround that eventually resulted in WPIX becoming the leading independent station in the New York market. In 1994, the station became the exclusive home of the New York City Marathon. In January 1995, WPIX became an affiliate of the new WB network.

WPIX lost its over-the-air broadcast rights to the Yankees to WNYW following the 1998 baseball season, more a result of regional cable sports networks (in this case, the Madison Square Garden Network) gaining team broadcast rights, leaving broadcast stations with fewer games to air. The station replaced them with the New York Mets, which up until that point had spent their entire televised history with WOR/WWOR. Ironically, beginning in 2005, over-the-air Yankees broadcasts were aired by WWOR, which was as synonymous with the Mets as WPIX was with the Yankees.

However, being a network affiliate does have its negatives. As WB network and syndicated daytime programming (such as Maury, Judge Mathis, and The Jerry Springer Show) became more prominent on channel 11's schedule, some of the station's local-interest programming has disappeared. WPIX was once home to the St. Patrick's Day, National Puerto Rican Day and Columbus Day parades, and Macy's Independence Day fireworks program. Along with the New York City Marathon these events moved to WNBC-TV, and the Marathon and the Macy's show are now carried on the NBC network. In recent years, WPIX has revived The Yule Log, a special holiday program that combines Christmas music with a film loop of logs burning inside a fireplace. The Yule Log aired on Christmas Eve and/or Christmas morning, initially from 1966 until 1989, and viewer response brought it back in 2001. WPIX also airs a live broadcast of the Midnight Mass, from St. Patrick's Cathedral, on Christmas Eve.

As children's programming began to fade from broadcast television, the WB dropped its morning cartoon block in 2000, leaving the time for local stations to carry their own programming. On June 2, 2000, WPIX launched the WB 11 Morning News, which has grown to challenge the established network morning programs as well as its more direct competitor, WNYW's Good Day New York. The station continues to carry Saturday morning cartoons from WB (known as Kids WB), but the afternoon cartoon block was discontinued on December 30, 2005.

On September 11, 2001, the transmitter facilities of WPIX as well as eight other New York City television stations and several radio stations were destroyed when two hijacked airplanes crashed into and destroyed the World Trade Center towers. The station's lead engineer, Steve Jacobson, was lost in the tragedy. WPIX's satellite feed eerily froze on the last image received from the WTC mast - the North Tower just as it started to collapse; the image remained on the screen for much of the day until WPIX was able to set up alternate transmission facilities (the microwave relay for WPIX's satellite feed was also up there). Since then, WPIX has transmitted its signal from the Empire State Building.

Screencap of the frozen WPIX image.

In April 2006, WPIX started broadcasting 24-hour music video channel The Tube on one of its digital sub-channels.

News programming

Appropriate for a station originally owned by the Daily News and linked to the Tribune Company, news has played an important role on WPIX from the station's beginnings. WPIX won national acclaim in 1956 for its filmed documentary coverage of the collision, and later, sinking of the New York-bound oceanliner SS Andrea Doria off the coast of Nantucket.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, WPIX used the Action News title and format for its local news programs, complete with its theme music, "Move Closer to Your World". A 30-minute newscast aired at 7:30 p.m., and a one-hour program (at some points it was also 30 minutes) ran at 10:00 p.m..

From June 1980 until June 1990, WPIX produced and syndicated Independent Network News (INN), a national newscast for independent stations. The program featured the same talent that worked on WPIX's local newscasts. WPIX transmitted the national show's live feed weeknights at 9:30 p.m. ET. In New York, WPIX paired a 10 p.m. replay of the national show with a live local newscast at 10:30 p.m., called the "Action News Metropolitan Report."

As part of a midday expansion of INN starting in 1981, Channel 11 also experimented with a newscast at 12:30 p.m. anchored by Marvin Scott. During the decade, WPIX also offered INN affiliates "The Wall Street Journal Report," a business-oriented show; and From the Editor's Desk, a Sunday newsmaker show hosted by Richard D. Heffner.

The station dropped Action News in 1984 and renamed its programs as The Independent News. In 1986, the national INN newscast, which was contained within the 10:00 show, was renamed USA Tonight, while the 7:30 program retained the title Independent News. When INN was cancelled, the 7:30 program ended as well, and WPIX focused its efforts on the 10:00 program. Currently, WPIX uses segments within its newscasts to cross-promote Newsday, the Melville, New York-based daily newspaper purchased by Tribune in 2000.

Over the years, channel 11 has won many awards for news, and was the first independent station to win a New York-area Emmy Award for outstanding newscast, first gaining the statuette in 1979 and earning it again in 1983. It was a significant comeback for a news operation that was accused of falsifying news reports broadcasts in the late 1960s, such as labeling stock footage as "via satellite", and saying a voice report was live from Prague when, in actuality, it was made from a pay telephone in Manhattan. As a result, a group called Forum Communications — led by future PBS and NBC News president Lawrence Grossman — approached the FCC to challenge WPIX Inc.'s license to operate channel 11, but after years of litigation, WPIX and the Daily News prevailed in 1979.

As a sidenote, WPIX's questionable news gathering practices of the late 1960s became fodder for jokes, and may have been the inspiration for Chevy Chase's running gag on the Weekend Update segments of Saturday Night Live in 1975-1976 in which he would introduce a "file report" from a correspondent in the field, and as the file report (some of which used clips of old 1930s cartoons or comedy one-reelers that were passed off as "File Footage," although the clips had almost nothing to do with the story being reported) ends, the "correspondent" is revealed to be Chevy himself, in the studio, using an alias and holding his nose to get the "pinched" effect of voices heard by telephone.

Newscasts

WB 11 Morning News - Monday-Friday 5:00-9:00 a.m.
WB 11 News at Ten - every night 10:00-11:00 p.m.
WB 11 News Closeup - Sundays 6:00-6:30 a.m.

Anchors

*Sukanya Krishnan - WB 11 Morning News (7 to 9 am)
*Tiffany McElroy - WB 11 Morning News (5 to 7 am)
*John Muller - WB 11 Morning News (7 to 9 am)
*Mary Murphy - weekend co-anchor
*Peter Thorne - weekend co-anchor
*Kaity Tong - weeknight co-anchor
*Craig Treadway - WB 11 Morning News (5 to 7 am)
*Jim Watkins - weeknight co-anchor

Weather Anchors:
*Linda Church - morning meteorologist
*Joe Cioffi - weekend meteorologist
*Irv "Mr. G" Gikofsky - weeknight meteorologist

Sports Anchors:
*Lolita Lopez - weekend sports anchor, reporter, fill in news anchor
*Sal Marchiano - sports director/weeknight sports anchor

Reporters

*Julie Chang
*Arthur Chi'en
*Alyssa Coleman (Anchor of wb11.com's "Commutercast")
*Patricia del Rio
*Emily Frances (entertainment)
*Chris Glorioso
*Cathy Hobbs
*Rob Hoell (Long Island)
*Larry Hoff
*Allison Kaden
*Jane King (Wall Street)
*Patricia Lopez
*Ellyn Marks (also serves as field producer)
*Ashley Morrison
*Jill Nicolini (traffic)
*Thalia Patillo
*Dr. Mike Rosen (medical)
*Dr. Steve Salvatore (medical)
*Marvin Scott - senior correspondent and host, WB-11 News Closeup
*Howard Thompson (Help Me Howard)
*Glenn Thomson (Westchester)
*Vanessa Tyler (New Jersey)

Former Personalities

*Paul Bloom - reporter/anchor during early to middle 1970s (now at KUSI-TV in San Diego)
*Joe Bolton - weatherman/children's show host ("Officer Joe")/announcer (1948-1976)
*Steve Bosh - local/INN anchor (1977-1983; now at KUSI)
*Jack Cafferty - anchor during the early 1990s (now at CNN)
*Frank Casey - reporter (1970s-1980s)
*Marysol Castro - traffic reporter, WB 11 Morning News (now at Good Morning America)
*Pamela Chan - reporter (1998-2004)
*Kirstin Cole - reporter (2000-2001; now at WCBS-TV)
*Jill Conway - reporter
*Barry Cunningham - reporter from late 1980s-late 1990s
*Morton Dean - local/INN anchor (1985-1988)
*Jonathan Dienst - local news reporter (1997-2001; now at WNBC)
*Jerry Girard - sports anchor (1968-1993)
*Rosemary Gomez - reporter during 1990s and early 2000s
*Bob Grant - commentator (1974-1975)
*Solon Gray - reporter/anchor (1971-1973)
*Donna Hanover - local/INN anchor (1983-1990)
*Joe Harper - anchor (1973-1976; deceased)
*Pat Harper - local/INN anchor (1973-1985; deceased)
*Bob Harris - weatherman during 1980s
*Brad Holbrook - local/INN anchor (1983-1989; now anchor of BusinessWeek Weekend)
*Heather Holmes - reporter
*Marc Howard - reporter/anchor (1968-1974; now at KYW-TV in Philadelphia)
*Jackie Hyland - reporter (2000-2005; now at WFAA-TV in Dallas)
*Bill Jorgensen - local/INN anchor (1978-1982)
*Tasha Jamerson - reporter (now at WTXF-TV in Philadelphia)
*Jeff Kamen - reporter (1970s-1980s)
*Sean Kimerling - weekend sports anchor/reporter (1997-2003, deceased)
*Polly Kreisman - investigative reporter (2000-2003)
*Kip Lewis - sports anchor (2004-2005)
*Doris Lilly - entertainment/gossip reporter (1974-1977; deceased)
*Bill Littauer - reporter/announcer (1970s-1980s)
*Pauline Liu - reporter during 1990s-early 2000s
*Lynda Lopez - entertainment reporter, WB 11 Morning News (2000-2002; now at WWOR)
*Jeffrey Lyons - film critic (1970-1991; now at WNBC)
*Tim Malloy - reporter/anchor during 1980s and early 1990s (now at WPTV in West Palm Beach)
*Rex Marshall - anchor/announcer (1948-1949 and 1967-1968; deceased)
*Melinda Murphy - traffic reporter, recently seen on WCBS-TV
*Lee Nelson - anchor/news director (1968-1971; deceased)
*Martin O'Hara - reporter/anchor during mid-1960s
*Julian Phillips - reporter during mid-1990s (now at Fox News Channel)
*Doug Ramsey - reporter/anchor (1971-1973)
*Sally Jessy Raphael - reporter/anchor during early 1970s
*George Scharmen - weekend anchor (1975-1977)
*Toni Senecal - entertainment reporter (2000-2006; now at WNYW)
*John Tillman - reporter/anchor/announcer (1948-1967)
*Roberto Tirado - weatherman during late 1970s
*Lynne White - co-anchor, WB 11 Morning News (2000-2005)

Public affairs and special events

In addition to its news-oriented broadcasts, WPIX was a leader in public-affairs and special events programming, inspired by its roots as the television station of the Daily News. Early on, it offered the first in-depth program to look at New York City government, called City Hall. WPIX children's show personality "Captain" Jack McCarthy anchored the station's coverage of the St. Patrick's Day Parade (now aired by WNBC-TV), and the station later added the Columbus Day Parade and National Puerto Rican Day Parade to its stable. Later on, the station produced Essence, a TV show inspired by Essence magazine and hosted by the publication's chief editor, Susan L. Taylor.

Editor's Desk host Heffner was and still is the host of the longtime interview show The Open Mind, which was produced by channel 11 in the 1970s, 80s and 90s (and was concurrently aired on PBS stations) before moving to other New York studios.

Logos

WPIX's famous Circle 11 logo was first unveiled in 1969. (A Yankee Stadium advertising billboard for WPIX with the Circle 11 logo appeared that year.) It had become the official station emblem by 1974.

The station dropped it when it adopted the 11 Alive moniker in 1976, but re-incorporated the Circle 11 into 11 Alive print ads in 1984 and the Yankee broadcast intros in April 1985. The Circle 11 returned full-time in 1986.

The current logo was first unveiled during WPIX's broadcast of the 1994 New York City Marathon, and eventually became the full-time logo, augmented with the WB logo after the station became a WB affiliate in 1995.

Logo gallery

Image:WPIX 1950s Test Pattern.jpg|This is the 1950s test pattern.Image:Tv11logo_edited.jpg|WPIX "TV/11" logo, used from 1966 to 1969Image:wpix1974.jpg|WPIX's Circle 11 logo, used from 1969 to 1977 and again from 1986 to 1995, closely resemble the Twin Towers of the World Trade CenterImage:11alivelogo.jpg|The first 11 Alive logo, which was used from 1977 to 1982Image:wpix80s.jpg|The second 11 Alive logo, used from 1982 to 1985Image:wpix92_a.jpg|Circle 11 this was used from 1985 to 1995image:wpix97.jpg|WPIX logo, used on the opening of News at Ten from 1995 to 1998image:WB11_95.jpg|WPIX logo, used from 1995-2000.Image:WPIX.png|WPIX logo, used from 2000-2005.image:WB_11_05.jpg|Current WPIX logo 2005-2006.Image:Wpix_the_cw.jpg|Future WPIX logo; taken from a local According To Jim advertisement.

See also

*The CW Television Network

External links

*WPIX Website
*Photos of WPIX's news set
*WPIX presentation on TV Ark
*Rare example of WPIX's Emergency Alert System