WTTG

WTTG, "FOX5 DC" is an owned and operated TV station of the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is located in Washington, D.C. and serves the entire Washington metropolitan area (including Northern Virginia, Maryland, and the Martinsburg, West Virginia area) from a studio and transmitter located in the Tenleytown section of Washington. It also operates a low-powered translator in Harrisonburg, Virginia. WTTG's sister station is UPN affiliate WDCA, forming a duopoly owned by Fox Television Stations Group.

History

The station traces its history to May 19, 1945, when television set and equipment manufacturer Allen B. DuMont founded W3XWT, the second experimental station in the nation's capital (after NBC's W3XNB, forerunner to WRC-TV).

Later in 1945, DuMont Laboratories began a series of experimental coaxial cable hookups between W3XWT and its other television station, WABD in New York City (now WNYW). These hookups were the beginning of the DuMont Television Network, the world's first licensed commercial television network. DuMont began regular network service in 1946. Almost a year later, on January 3, 1947, W3XWT received a commercial licenseas WTTG. The station was named for Thomas T. Goldsmith, Dr. DuMont's best friend and the DuMont network's chief engineer.

Like its New York sister station, WTTG was far more successful than the network as a whole. In 1956, after DuMont ended network operations, WTTG and WABD were spun off as the "DuMont Broadcasting Corporation." It later changed its name to Metropolitan Broadcasting due to the failure associated with DuMont. In 1958, Washington investor John Kluge bought controlling interest in Metropolitan Broadcasting and installed himself as its chairman. He changed the company's name to Metromedia in 1961. Goldsmith sat on Metromedia's board for over a quarter-century.

At first, WTTG ran on a low budget. However, in the late 1960s, it benefited from Metromedia's aggressiveness in acquiring top syndicated programming, giving it a significant leg up on WDCA, which signed on in 1966. By the 1970s, WTTG was one of the leading independent stations in the country, running a broad lineup of cartoons, off-network sitcoms, first-run syndicated shows, old movies, local news and locally produced programs. During this time period, and well into the early 1990s, WTTG was the flagship station for the Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team. Its main claim to fame was Panorama, an afternoon talk show hosted by John Willis, and Maury Povich.

When cable television began in the 1970s, WTTG became a regional superstation. At one point, it appeared on every cable system in Maryland and Virginia, as well as most of Delaware and in parts of North Carolina. Though not distributed as widely as it once was the popularity of WTTG has kept it available on cable on several Maryland and Virginia cable systems and to this day serves as the default Fox affiliate for the Harrisonburg and Salisbury, Maryland TV markets.

Metromedia owned the station until 1986 when Rupert Murdoch, after buying 20th Century Fox, purchased the Metromedia television stations to form the nucleus of the Fox network. WTTG has since become a Fox owned-and-operated station (O&O), but has retained consistently high ratings, a rarity for a Fox affiliate. Initially, its programming was similar to what it had run as a true independent station, since Fox only programmed for a few hours on weekends. Then, in the summer of 1990, the morning cartoon block was ended in favor of Fox 5 Morning News. It was the second Fox O&O to have a morning newscast and the fourth or fifth Fox affiliate with morning news.

In the 1990s, Fox 5 added more syndicated talk shows and reality shows. It continued to air afternoon cartoons from Fox Kids until the fall of 2001, when they moved to WDCA (only to be cut to Saturdays everywhere in 2002). But WTTG later on brought back Fox children's programming under the banner 4Kids TV. On October 29, 2001, WDCA became WTTG's sister station when Fox bought it from Viacom. Fox 5 continued to run top rated off-network sitcoms in the evenings. In 2002, it added an evening 5 to 6 p.m. newscast. Today, Fox 5 has over 40 hours a week of local news.

On May 15, 2006 WTTG launched a test of a new website, which features more news and video with the "MyFox" name and interface. (The "My" in the MyFox name may be a reference to Fox's new network My Network TV, which will be shown locally on WDCA.) It is at www.myfoxdc.com. Sister stations WNYW in New York and WBRC in Birmingham already have new "MyFox" test websites, and WNYW has already put in place the new Fox News Channel-inspired logo shown at myfoxny.com; this spread and logo will come to other FOX O&O Stations in the months to come.

The new logo and set premiered on June 25, 2006. WTTG launched "The Edge", its 11-11:30pm newscast, on July 31, 2006. "The Edge", which is anchored solo by 10pm co-anchor Brian Bolter, follows its 10-11pm newscast.

It was announced on August 10 that WTTG will simulcast versions of its morning and 10:00PM newscasts on Baltimore's Fox-owned WUTB, starting in September. The programming, under the banner of My 24 News, will feature news catered to residents of the immediate Baltimore area, as well as the Eastern Shore. 1

Criticism

The inner operations of WTTG were sructinized in the 2004 Robert Greenwald documentary Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism. Former WTTG employees claimed that media magnate Rupert Murdoch used the station as an experiment to test the allegedly right-wing slanted formula that would be the trademark of his FOX News Channel. Former producers and reporters reminisced about how Murdoch ordered them to air, among other things, a piece from A Current Affair "rehashing the whole affair of [Senator Ted Kennedy's deadly car accident at] Chappaquiddick" which had "zero news value"; an uncut tribute to Ronald Reagan as seen at the 1988 Republican National Convention, and hot-button issues such as race relations and AIDS (a former WTTG producer said that "I constantly remember complaints that there was too much being done on AIDS.")

Logos and idents

Image:Wttg1980s.jpg|WTTG logo from 1981 to 1984Image:Wttg1984.jpg|WTTG logo from 1984 to 1986. It is very similar to KTLA-TV's 1981-97 logo.Image:Wttg1986.jpg|WTTG's first ident under Fox ownership, used from 1986 to 1987. The "5" survived until 1997.Image:Wttg1987.jpg|WTTG ident from 1987 to 1994Image:Wttg1997.jpg|WTTG ident from 1994 to 1997Image:Wttg1990s.jpg|WTTG logo from 1997 to 2006.Image:Fox5dclogo.jpg|Present WTTG logo. The "5" in this logo is very similar to the one used from 1981-84. "NEWS" is put in place of where "WTTG" is for newscasts.

Newscast schedule

The station's radar is called "Storm Trac".

Will Thomas and Shawn Yancy anchor the weekday 5 PM newscast, 2006. Mr. Will Thomas was filling in when this picture was taken. He is currently the weekend anchor at FOX5.

Weekdays

*FOX 5 Morning News at 5 a.m.
**Anchors: Steve Chenevey, Allison Seymour, or Gurvir Dhinsa
**Weather: Tony Perkins
**Traffic: Julie Wright, along with SkyFox
*FOX 5 Morning News at 6 a.m.
**Same
*FOX 5 Morning News
**Anchors: Lark McCarthy and "Revolving Anchor" (Cheveney, Dhinsa, or Seymour)
**Weather: Tony Perkins
**Traffic: Julie Wright, along with SkyFox
*FOX 5 News at Noon
**Anchors: Holly Morris-Sater and "Revloving Anchor"
**Weather: ?
*FOX 5 News at 5 p.m.
**Anchors: Brian Bolter, Shawn Yancy
**Weather: Sue Palka
**Sports: Dave Feldman
*FOX 5 News at 10
**Anchors: Brian Bolter, Shawn Yancy
**Weather: Sue Palka
**Sports: Dave Feldman
*THE EDGE at 11
**Anchor: Brian Bolter

Saturday

*FOX 5 News at 10
**Anchors: Will Thomas, Maureen Umeh
**Weather: Tucker Barnes or Gary McGrady
**Sports: Lou Holder
*THE EDGE at 11
**Anchor: Will Thomas

Sunday

*'''FOX 5 Morning News Sunday
*FOX 5 News at 10
**Anchors: Will Thomas, Sara Simmons
**Weather: Tucker Barnes
*THE EDGE at 11
**Anchor: Will Thomas

References

*History of WTTG FOX 5. Fox5DC.com.

External links

*WTTG FOX 5