WABC-TV
Encyclopedia
WABC-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 Building
.
WABC-TV is best known in broadcasting circles for its highly successful version of the Eyewitness News
format and for its morning show Live with Kelly, syndicated nationally by corporate cousin Disney-ABC Domestic Television.
Initially, over-the-air digital signals from WABC were difficult to receive in NYC. The explanation given is that WABC was requested by FCC to broadcast at less power; WABC is among many stations which have found it necessary to increase power to restore coverage to the same level as its old analog signal. On June 29, 2009, WABC did file an application to the FCC to increase power from 11.69 kW to 27 kW. At this time, it has yet to be granted. On January 31, 2010, the FCC granted an STA
for the station to increase power to 26.9 kW.
during that same year, with WENR-TV (now WLS-TV
) in Chicago
and WXYZ-TV
in Detroit being the other two. Channel 7's call letters came from its then-sister radio station, WJZ (770 AM, now WABC
). In its early years, WJZ-TV was programmed much like an independent station, as the ABC television network was still, for the most part, in its very early stages of development and affiliate recruitment. The ABC-owned stations, which operated not only in New York but in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and San Francisco, did air some common programming during this period, especially after the 1949 fall season when the network's schedule in prime time began to expand. The call letters were changed to WABC-TV on March 1, 1953, after ABC merged its operations with United Paramount Theaters, a firm which was broken off from former parent company Paramount Pictures
by decree of the U.S. government. The WJZ callsign has since been reassigned, in 1957, to Westinghouse Broadcasting
, the original owners of WJZ radio in New York, and assigned to the CBS O&O station
in Baltimore
, Maryland
, although that station was a former ABC affiliate by coincidence until 1995.
On September 11, 2001, the transmitter
facilities of WABC-TV, as well as eight other local television stations and several radio stations, were destroyed when two hijacked airplanes crashed into and destroyed the World Trade Center
towers. Transmitter maintenance engineer Donald DiFranco died in the attack. In the immediate aftermath, WABC-TV fed its signal to several UHF
stations that were still broadcasting (notably WNYE-TV
), before establishing temporary facilities at Armstrong Tower
in Alpine, New Jersey
. The station eventually established transmission facilities at the Empire State Building
.
).
Due to the fire, Channel 7 broadcast Eyewitness News from a temporary set in the newsroom, while Live with Regis and Kelly
, whose set was also affected, moved to the set of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Starting with the 5:00 p.m. newscast on June 20, 2007, the station resumed Eyewitness News and Live... broadcasts from its main studios at Columbus Avenue and 66th Street.
. As of March 4, 2009, WABC is once again available to Dish Network
customers as part of All American Direct's distant network package. In all of Mercer County, New Jersey, for Comcast Cable Subscribers, WABC-TV Channel 7 is one of two New York area stations to be aired on the basic tier on Channel 7. The other station is WNET-TV Channel 13 licensed to Newark shown on the basic tier on Channel 13. Although parts of Northern Mercer County for Comcast Cable Subscribers, get New York FOX affiliate WNYW-TV Channel 5 on the basic tier on Channel 5. The rest of Mercer County's Comcast Cable Subscribers get the other New York stations on Digital Cable only. Cablevision of Hamilton and Robbinsville and Verizon Fios in Mercer County, NJ show all New York channels on the basic tier.
On March 7, 2010 at 12:02 a.m., the station turned off its signal and was unviewable to Cablevision customers; the station was replaced by either a blank screen or a looping video containing a message from Cablevision about the removal. To avoid interruption of programming, WABC urged viewers to begin switching to other services, such as Verizon FiOS
and DirecTV or simply view the station over the air. Viewing the station over the air typically requires the purchasing an over-the-air digital antenna and, if necessary, a digital-to-analog converter box, for older television sets. WABC's sister station, WPVI-TV
, was also pulled from Cablevision service in the central New Jersey counties of Mercer County
and parts of Ocean County
, parts of Middlesex County
and Monmouth County
.
Later that same day at approximately 8:50 p.m., twenty minutes into ABC's broadcast of the 82nd Annual Academy Awards
, Cablevision and ABC had reached a deal. WABC-TV and its Philadelphia sister station WPVI-TV came back on for Cablevision subscribers. The station had been off the cable for nearly 21 hours.
In July 2010, ABC's parent company, Disney, announced that it was involved in another carriage dispute with Time Warner Cable
for the first time in ten years. This dispute involved four ABC owned-and-operated stations (WABC-TV and sister stations KABC-TV
in Los Angeles, WTVD
in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina and WTVG
in Toledo, Ohio
), Disney Channel
and the networks of ESPN
. If a deal was not in place, the broadcast stations and cable channels would have been removed from Time Warner and Bright House
cable systems across the country. On September 2, 2010, Disney and Time Warner Cable reached a long-term agreement to keep the channels on Time Warner Cable systems.
WABC-TV is best known for popularizing the Eyewitness News
format, in which reporters present their stories directly to the viewers. News director Al Primo
brought the format to WABC-TV in 1968
from KYW-TV
in Philadelphia, but added a twist—a degree of conversational chatter among the anchors, known as "happy talk." Primo used the "Tar Sequence" cue from the musical score from the 1967 film
Cool Hand Luke
, composed by Lalo Schifrin
, as the theme music. The score included a telegraphic-like melody appropriate for a newscast. The Eyewitness News format and theme music were quickly adopted by ABC's other four owned-and-operated stations at the time—WLS-TV in Chicago, WXYZ-TV in Detroit, KABC-TV
in Los Angeles
, and KGO-TV
in San Francisco (though KGO-TV and WXYZ-TV did not use the Eyewitness News title for their programs).
The format quickly rejuvenated a station that had long been an also-ran to WCBS-TV
and WNBC-TV. Within a year, channel 7 had shot to first place in the ratings for the first time in its history, displacing longtime leader WCBS-TV. It spent most of the decade going back and forth with WCBS-TV for first place. For a time in the 1980s, it fell into last place, but still fought with WNBC-TV for second place.
In 1985, the station lured WLS-TV's news director, Bill Applegate, from Chicago to New York. Applegate claimed credit for taking WLS-TV from last to first in only two years, and ABC hoped he could work the same magic at the flagship station. Their hopes were rewarded in 1987 when Channel 7 surged back into first place. It has been the ratings leader in New York since then, and has grown to become the most watched broadcast television station in the United States.
For sixteen years starting in 1970, Roger Grimsby
and Bill Beutel were the faces of Eyewitness News. Grimsby came to channel 7 in 1968 from KGO-TV, and was the station's lead anchor when Eyewitness News was introduced. He was known for his opening tagline, "Good Evening, I'm Roger Grimsby, here now the news", and his closing line, "Hoping your news is good news, I'm Roger Grimsby." Beutel had previously anchored at channel 7 from 1962
to 1968 (shortly before ABC moved Grimsby to New York) before spending two years as the network's London bureau chief. The duo were split up for the first ten months of 1975, as ABC had reassigned Beutel to its new morning show AM America
. The station brought in WXYZ-TV
anchor Bill Bonds
to take Beutel's place. When AM America
was cancelled and replaced with Good Morning America
, Beutel was re-teamed with Grimsby and Bonds returned to Detroit.
In the wake of declining ratings, Grimsby was fired on April 16, 1986, a move for which Applegate drew considerable fire, and Grimsby was quickly hired by rival WNBC-TV. Beutel stepped down from the anchor desk in 2001, two years before his retirement, which concluded the longest tenure for a main anchor in New York television history.
While banter among anchors is still part of the weekday morning and noon broadcasts, the modern-day Eyewitness News has abandoned much of the chattiness of its predecessors. WABC's news department is respected for its straight-forward presentation (especially during breaking news). For the last decade, it has waged a spirited battle for first place with WNBC, but for most of the time has held onto the lead, helped in part by lead-ins from highly-rated talk and entertainment shows. For over 24 years (December 1986 until May 2011) the 5:00 p.m. Eyewitness News lead-in had been The Oprah Winfrey Show
at 4:00 p.m., and its strong ratings brought viewers along to the 5:00 p.m. newscast.
WABC-TV cooperates with sister station WPVI-TV
in Philadelphia—popularizer of the Action News
format—in the production and broadcast of statewide New Jersey
political debates. When the two stations broadcast a statewide office debate, such as for governor
or U.S. Senate
, they will pool resources and have anchors or reporters from both stations participate in the debate. Additionally, the two stations cooperate in coverage of news from New Jersey where their markets overlap, sharing reporters, live trucks, and helicopters.
Eyewitness News airs six hours daily, three hours on Saturdays and four hours on Sundays. The newscasts were replayed on one of channel 7's digital subchannels, another which also carried a local weather and news channel. WABC-TV's website had a link for live streaming video of "Eyewitness News Now", which offered live local and national weather updated from AccuWeather
. Local news headlines and updates were also provided. The format of "Eyewitness News Now" was similar to the defunct NBC Weather Plus
. In February of 2011, ABC pulled ENN off the air and cable, not just in New York but also similar channels on its Los Angeles and Chicago sister station as well, and replaced them with a standard definition, letterboxed simulcast of the Live Well Network in all three cities.
On December 2, 2006, WABC-TV began broadcasting newscasts in high definition
, becoming the second station in the New York market to do so. On September 7, 2010, WABC-TV expanded its weekday morning newscast, now airing at 4:30 a.m.; ABC's national early morning newscast America This Morning was moved a half-hour earlier as a result. Three days earlier on September 4, 2010 WABC added an hour-long extension of its Saturday morning newscast from 9-10 a.m. On May 26, 2011, WABC-TV added another hour of local news at 4:00 p.m., replacing Oprah, which aired its final original episode the previous day.
On September 24, 2011, the station began broadcasting its newscasts and public affairs programs from a new street-level window studio at a former Disney Store
location in the ABC building on 66th Street and Columbus Avenue. The space previously used for news broadcasts will be used to expand the Live with Regis & Kelly studio.
In 1984, the station started using "News Series 2000", an updated version of the original Cool Hand Luke theme by Frank Gari
, that had been originally commissioned by WLS-TV. The original Cool Hand Luke scores returned for a time from 1986 through 1988. In 1993, Schifrin raised his royalties for using his theme and its variations to a level that effectively priced it out of the local news market (though Australia
's Nine Network
still uses cuts from that theme). Gari was commissioned by WABC-TV to compose a new music package called "Eyewitness News". This package, based slightly on Cool Hand Luke, has been updated several times. As of 2009, WABC-TV uses the "Series 4" version, which was specifically updated for the station.
WABC-TV's version of the Eyewitness News Theme is reminiscent of a typewriter
typing out a news story, while WABC's west coast sister KABC-TV
Los Angeles and use a more faster paced and more of a rock music version of the Eyewitness News Theme.
Weather team
Sports team
MetroTraffic
Reporters
Newscopter 7 HD
Local program hosts
M–Z
, a block north on West 67th Street. Another studio inside the Hotel des Artistes was used for Eyewitness News Conference.
As part of ABC's expansion program, initiated in 1977, ABC built 7 Lincoln Square
on the southeast corner of West 67th Street and Columbus Avenue
, on a site of an abandoned moving and storage warehouse. At about the same time, construction was started at 30 West 67th Street, on the site of a former parking lot. Both buildings were completed in June 1979 and WABC-TV moved its offices from 77 West 66th Street to 7 Lincoln Square.
, broadcast live at 9:00 a.m. (Eastern time
). The program originates in the same ground-floor studio at 7 Lincoln Square as Eyewitness News, thus creating a situation which forces local news updates broadcast during Good Morning America
and Live to be produced from the WABC-TV newsroom, and the morning show's presence also limits the size of the Eyewitness News set.
The program's roots originated with A.M. New York, which debuted in 1970 as a local version of NBC
's Today show; the program's first host was John Bartholomew Tucker
who lasted until 1972, after which a succession of hosts came and went, the more successful of whom was Stanley Siegel who hosted from 1975 to 1978 (for a year beginning in 1977, the series was called The Stanley Siegel Show). After 1980, the show was retitled Good Morning New York, whose co-hosts in the last years of its run in that form included Spencer Christian
, Andrea Kirby, Judy Licht
, Dick Wolfsie, and longtime Eyewitness News reporter and anchor Doug Johnson. After years of a losing ratings battle against WNBC
and Donahue, WABC cancelled Good Morning New York in early 1983. The current show began as the station's second attempt at a local morning show a month later, aptly titled The Morning Show (using the "Circle 7" logo in the actual text for one of the "o"s), and was originally hosted by Regis Philbin
and Cyndy Garvey
. In 1985, Kathie Lee Johnson
(who would marry Frank Gifford
a year later) became Philbin's co-host. Buena Vista Television (now Disney-ABC Domestic Television) began syndicating the show in 1988 as Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. Kathie Lee left the show in 2000 and was eventually replaced by current co host Kelly Ripa
. The franchise celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2008.
Regis left the show in 2011 for his retirement and was eventually replaced by current host Kelly Ripa
.
Flagship station
In 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 Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
-owned American Broadcasting Company
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
located in New York City
New York City
New 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...
. The station's studios and offices are located on the Upper West Side section of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan 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...
, adjacent to ABC's corporate headquarters, and its transmitter is atop the Empire State Building
Empire State Building
The 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...
.
WABC-TV is best known in broadcasting circles for its highly successful version of the Eyewitness News
Eyewitness News
Eyewitness News is a style of news broadcasting used by local television stations in different markets across the United States. It refers to a particular style of television newscast with an emphasis on visual elements and action video...
format and for its morning show Live with Kelly, syndicated nationally by corporate cousin Disney-ABC Domestic Television.
Digital programming
WABC's digital signal is multiplexed:| Channel | Video | Aspect Aspect ratio The 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7.1 | 720p 720p 720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan... |
16:9 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 WABC programming / ABC |
| 7.2 | Live Well Network SD letterbox on 7.3 |
||
| 7.3 | 480i 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... |
4:3 |
Analog-to-digital conversion
At 12:30 P.M. on June 12, 2009, WABC-TV discontinued regular analog programming on channel 7. The station returned from channel 45 to channel 7.Initially, over-the-air digital signals from WABC were difficult to receive in NYC. The explanation given is that WABC was requested by FCC to broadcast at less power; WABC is among many stations which have found it necessary to increase power to restore coverage to the same level as its old analog signal. On June 29, 2009, WABC did file an application to the FCC to increase power from 11.69 kW to 27 kW. At this time, it has yet to be granted. On January 31, 2010, the FCC granted an STA
Special temporary authority
In U.S. broadcast law, a special temporary authorization or special temporary authority is a type of broadcast license which temporarily allows a broadcast station to operate outside of its normal technical or legal parameters...
for the station to increase power to 26.9 kW.
History
The station signed on August 10, 1948 as WJZ-TV, the first of three television stations signed on by the American Broadcasting CompanyAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
during that same year, with WENR-TV (now WLS-TV
WLS-TV
WLS-TV, virtual channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The station operates their full power digital operations on UHF channel 44, with their digital fill-in translator on VHF channel...
) in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and WXYZ-TV
WXYZ-TV
WXYZ-TV, channel 7, is an ABC-affiliated television station in Detroit, Michigan, USA. WXYZ-TV is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company, and is the media company's largest-market TV station property...
in Detroit being the other two. Channel 7's call letters came from its then-sister radio station, WJZ (770 AM, now WABC
WABC (AM)
WABC , known as "NewsTalkRadio 77 WABC" is a radio station in New York City. Owned by the broadcasting division of Cumulus Media, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station of Cumulus Media Networks...
). In its early years, WJZ-TV was programmed much like an independent station, as the ABC television network was still, for the most part, in its very early stages of development and affiliate recruitment. The ABC-owned stations, which operated not only in New York but in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and San Francisco, did air some common programming during this period, especially after the 1949 fall season when the network's schedule in prime time began to expand. The call letters were changed to WABC-TV on March 1, 1953, after ABC merged its operations with United Paramount Theaters, a firm which was broken off from former parent company Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
by decree of the U.S. government. The WJZ callsign has since been reassigned, in 1957, to Westinghouse Broadcasting
Westinghouse Broadcasting
The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndication....
, the original owners of WJZ radio in New York, and assigned to the CBS O&O station
WJZ-TV
WJZ-TV, channel 13, is an owned and operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Baltimore, Maryland. WJZ-TV's studios and offices are located on Television Hill in the Woodberry section of Baltimore, adjacent to the transmission tower it shares with four other Baltimore...
in Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, although that station was a former ABC affiliate by coincidence until 1995.
On September 11, 2001, the transmitter
Transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications a transmitter or radio transmitter is an electronic device which, with the aid of an antenna, produces radio waves. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating...
facilities of WABC-TV, as well as eight other local television stations and several radio stations, were destroyed when two hijacked airplanes crashed into and destroyed the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The 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...
towers. Transmitter maintenance engineer Donald DiFranco died in the attack. In the immediate aftermath, WABC-TV fed its signal to several UHF
Ultra high frequency
Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...
stations that were still broadcasting (notably WNYE-TV
WNYE-TV
WNYE-TV, channel 25 is an non-commercial educational, independent television station located in New York City, USA. WNYE-TV is part of the NYC Media Group and has its studios located in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and transmitter at the Conde Nast Building....
), before establishing temporary facilities at Armstrong Tower
Armstrong Tower
The 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 Jersey
Alpine, New Jersey
Alpine 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....
. The station eventually established transmission facilities at the Empire State Building
Empire State Building
The 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...
.
Studio fire
On May 27, 2007, WABC-TV's studios at Columbus Avenue and 66th Street suffered major damage as the result of a fire that knocked the station off the air shortly before the start of the 11:00 p.m. newscast. According to preliminary reports, the fire may have been ignited by a spotlight coming into contact with a curtain inside the news studio; the WABC-TV website later reported the cause as an "electrical malfunction". The station's building was evacuated and the fire was brought under control, though there is said to have been "extensive damage", including smoke and water damage, to the studio. WABC-TV resumed broadcasting at around 1:00 a.m. on May 28, 2007 (initially carrying the network's 10:00 p.m. West Coast feed of Brothers & Sisters, followed by the full version of World News NowWorld News Now
World News Now is an American overnight news program broadcast on American Broadcasting Company's television network. Its tone is often lighthearted, irreverent and humorous...
).
Due to the fire, Channel 7 broadcast Eyewitness News from a temporary set in the newsroom, while Live with Regis and Kelly
Live with Regis and Kelly
Live! with Kelly is a syndicated American television morning talk show, hosted by Kelly Ripa. The show has aired since 1983 in New York City and 1988 nationwide. Tony Pigg has been the show's announcer since its inception...
, whose set was also affected, moved to the set of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Starting with the 5:00 p.m. newscast on June 20, 2007, the station resumed Eyewitness News and Live... broadcasts from its main studios at Columbus Avenue and 66th Street.
Cable and satellite carriage
In the few areas of the eastern United States where ABC programming is not available over-the-air, WABC-TV is seen via satellite through DirecTVDirecTV
DirecTV 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. ...
. As of March 4, 2009, WABC is once again available to Dish Network
Dish Network
Dish 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...
customers as part of All American Direct's distant network package. In all of Mercer County, New Jersey, for Comcast Cable Subscribers, WABC-TV Channel 7 is one of two New York area stations to be aired on the basic tier on Channel 7. The other station is WNET-TV Channel 13 licensed to Newark shown on the basic tier on Channel 13. Although parts of Northern Mercer County for Comcast Cable Subscribers, get New York FOX affiliate WNYW-TV Channel 5 on the basic tier on Channel 5. The rest of Mercer County's Comcast Cable Subscribers get the other New York stations on Digital Cable only. Cablevision of Hamilton and Robbinsville and Verizon Fios in Mercer County, NJ show all New York channels on the basic tier.
Disputes with Cablevision and Time Warner Cable
On March 1, 2010, WABC-TV announced that it would likely end its services with Cablevision on March 7, 2010. WABC warned Cablevision that if it could not come up with a retransmission consent agreement by March 7, the station would remove itself from Cablevision's systems, which would affect up to three million Cablevision subscribers in the station's viewing area, currently on a subscription with iO Digital Cable and Cablevision services.On March 7, 2010 at 12:02 a.m., the station turned off its signal and was unviewable to Cablevision customers; the station was replaced by either a blank screen or a looping video containing a message from Cablevision about the removal. To avoid interruption of programming, WABC urged viewers to begin switching to other services, such as Verizon FiOS
Verizon FiOS
Verizon FiOS is a bundled Internet access, telephone, and television service which operates over a fiber-optic communications network. It is offered in some areas of the United States by Verizon Communications. Verizon was one of the first major U.S...
and DirecTV or simply view the station over the air. Viewing the station over the air typically requires the purchasing an over-the-air digital antenna and, if necessary, a digital-to-analog converter box, for older television sets. WABC's sister station, WPVI-TV
WPVI-TV
WPVI-TV, channel 6, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. WPVI has its studios located on the border between Philadelphia and Bala Cynwyd, and its transmitter is located in the...
, was also pulled from Cablevision service in the central New Jersey counties of Mercer County
Mercer County, New Jersey
As of the census of 2000, there were 350,761 people, 125,807 households, and 86,303 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,552 people per square mile . There were 133,280 housing units at an average density of 590 per square mile...
and parts of Ocean County
Ocean County, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 510,916 people, 200,402 households, and 137,876 families residing in the county. The population density was 803 people per square mile . There were 248,711 housing units at an average density of 151/km²...
, parts of Middlesex County
Middlesex County, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 750,162 people, 265,815 households, and 190,855 families residing in the county. The population density was 2,422 people per square mile . There were 273,637 housing units at an average density of 884 per square mile...
and Monmouth County
Monmouth County, New Jersey
Monmouth County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey, within the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 630,380, up from 615,301 at the 2000 census. Its county seat is Freehold Borough. The most populous municipality is Middletown Township with...
.
Later that same day at approximately 8:50 p.m., twenty minutes into ABC's broadcast of the 82nd Annual Academy Awards
82nd Academy Awards
The 82nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2009 and took place March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. The ceremony was scheduled well after...
, Cablevision and ABC had reached a deal. WABC-TV and its Philadelphia sister station WPVI-TV came back on for Cablevision subscribers. The station had been off the cable for nearly 21 hours.
In July 2010, ABC's parent company, Disney, announced that it was involved in another carriage dispute with Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
for the first time in ten years. This dispute involved four ABC owned-and-operated stations (WABC-TV and sister stations KABC-TV
KABC-TV
KABC-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, licensed to Los Angeles, California. KABC-TV's studios are located in Glendale, California...
in Los Angeles, WTVD
WTVD
WTVD, channel 11, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, licensed to Durham, North Carolina. The station serves the areas of Durham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill, and Fayetteville, known as the Triangle...
in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina and WTVG
WTVG
This is about the TV station in Toledo, Ohio for the former WTVG-TV in Newark, New Jersey see WFUT-DT.WTVG, channel 13, is the ABC-affiliated television station for Northwest Ohio and licensed in Toledo, Ohio. WTVG's studios and offices are located in Toledo and its transmitter is located in...
in Toledo, Ohio
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
), Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
and the networks of ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
. If a deal was not in place, the broadcast stations and cable channels would have been removed from Time Warner and Bright House
Bright House Networks
Bright House Networks is a cable television company, the seventh largest cable operator and the sixth largest traditional multiple system operator in the United States owned by Advance/Newhouse, headquartered in Syracuse, New York...
cable systems across the country. On September 2, 2010, Disney and Time Warner Cable reached a long-term agreement to keep the channels on Time Warner Cable systems.
News operations
Eyewitness News
Eyewitness News is a style of news broadcasting used by local television stations in different markets across the United States. It refers to a particular style of television newscast with an emphasis on visual elements and action video...
format, in which reporters present their stories directly to the viewers. News director Al Primo
Al Primo
Albert T. Primo is a television news executive who was credited with creating the Eyewitness News format.-Biography:He was born in 1937 and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
brought the format to WABC-TV in 1968
1968 in television
The year 1968 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1968.For the American TV schedule, see: 1968-69 American network television schedule.-Events:...
from KYW-TV
KYW-TV
KYW-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, but added a twist—a degree of conversational chatter among the anchors, known as "happy talk." Primo used the "Tar Sequence" cue from the musical score from the 1967 film
1967 in film
The year 1967 in film involved some significant events. It is widely considered as one of the most ground-breaking years in film.-Events:* December 26 - The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour airs on British television....
Cool Hand Luke
Cool Hand Luke
Cool Hand Luke is a 1967 American prison drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg and starring Paul Newman. The screenplay was adapted by Donn Pearce and Frank Pierson from Pearce's 1965 novel of the same name. The film features George Kennedy, Strother Martin, J.D...
, composed by Lalo Schifrin
Lalo Schifrin
Lalo Schifrin is an Argentine composer, pianist and conductor. He is best known for his film and TV scores, such as the "Theme from Mission: Impossible". He has received four Grammy Awards and six Oscar nominations...
, as the theme music. The score included a telegraphic-like melody appropriate for a newscast. The Eyewitness News format and theme music were quickly adopted by ABC's other four owned-and-operated stations at the time—WLS-TV in Chicago, WXYZ-TV in Detroit, KABC-TV
KABC-TV
KABC-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, licensed to Los Angeles, California. KABC-TV's studios are located in Glendale, California...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los 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...
, and KGO-TV
KGO-TV
KGO-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, based in San Francisco, California...
in San Francisco (though KGO-TV and WXYZ-TV did not use the Eyewitness News title for their programs).
The format quickly rejuvenated a station that had long been an also-ran to WCBS-TV
WCBS-TV
WCBS-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....
and WNBC-TV. Within a year, channel 7 had shot to first place in the ratings for the first time in its history, displacing longtime leader WCBS-TV. It spent most of the decade going back and forth with WCBS-TV for first place. For a time in the 1980s, it fell into last place, but still fought with WNBC-TV for second place.
In 1985, the station lured WLS-TV's news director, Bill Applegate, from Chicago to New York. Applegate claimed credit for taking WLS-TV from last to first in only two years, and ABC hoped he could work the same magic at the flagship station. Their hopes were rewarded in 1987 when Channel 7 surged back into first place. It has been the ratings leader in New York since then, and has grown to become the most watched broadcast television station in the United States.
For sixteen years starting in 1970, Roger Grimsby
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:...
and Bill Beutel were the faces of Eyewitness News. Grimsby came to channel 7 in 1968 from KGO-TV, and was the station's lead anchor when Eyewitness News was introduced. He was known for his opening tagline, "Good Evening, I'm Roger Grimsby, here now the news", and his closing line, "Hoping your news is good news, I'm Roger Grimsby." Beutel had previously anchored at channel 7 from 1962
1962 in television
The year 1962 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1962.For the American TV schedule, see: 1962-63 American network television schedule.-Events:...
to 1968 (shortly before ABC moved Grimsby to New York) before spending two years as the network's London bureau chief. The duo were split up for the first ten months of 1975, as ABC had reassigned Beutel to its new morning show AM America
AM America
AM America was a morning news program produced by ABC in an attempt to compete with the highly rated Today on NBC. The show never found an audience after its premiere on January 6, 1975...
. The station brought in WXYZ-TV
WXYZ-TV
WXYZ-TV, channel 7, is an ABC-affiliated television station in Detroit, Michigan, USA. WXYZ-TV is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company, and is the media company's largest-market TV station property...
anchor Bill Bonds
Bill Bonds
Bill Bonds is an American television anchor and reporter, best known for his work at WXYZ-TV in Detroit, Michigan. Born in 1933, Bonds became an Action News anchorman beginning in the early 1970s.-Early career:...
to take Beutel's place. When AM America
AM America
AM America was a morning news program produced by ABC in an attempt to compete with the highly rated Today on NBC. The show never found an audience after its premiere on January 6, 1975...
was cancelled and replaced with Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
, Beutel was re-teamed with Grimsby and Bonds returned to Detroit.
In the wake of declining ratings, Grimsby was fired on April 16, 1986, a move for which Applegate drew considerable fire, and Grimsby was quickly hired by rival WNBC-TV. Beutel stepped down from the anchor desk in 2001, two years before his retirement, which concluded the longest tenure for a main anchor in New York television history.
While banter among anchors is still part of the weekday morning and noon broadcasts, the modern-day Eyewitness News has abandoned much of the chattiness of its predecessors. WABC's news department is respected for its straight-forward presentation (especially during breaking news). For the last decade, it has waged a spirited battle for first place with WNBC, but for most of the time has held onto the lead, helped in part by lead-ins from highly-rated talk and entertainment shows. For over 24 years (December 1986 until May 2011) the 5:00 p.m. Eyewitness News lead-in had been The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
at 4:00 p.m., and its strong ratings brought viewers along to the 5:00 p.m. newscast.
WABC-TV cooperates with sister station WPVI-TV
WPVI-TV
WPVI-TV, channel 6, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. WPVI has its studios located on the border between Philadelphia and Bala Cynwyd, and its transmitter is located in the...
in Philadelphia—popularizer of the Action News
Action News
Action News is a local television newscast format in the United States. It was conceived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at WFIL-TV by then-news director Mel Kampmann in 1970 as a response to the "Eyewitness News" format used on rival station KYW-TV...
format—in the production and broadcast of statewide New Jersey
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...
political debates. When the two stations broadcast a statewide office debate, such as for governor
Governor (United States)
In the United States, the title governor refers to the chief executive of each state or insular territory, not directly subordinate to the federal authorities, but the political and ceremonial head of the state.-Role and powers:...
or U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
, they will pool resources and have anchors or reporters from both stations participate in the debate. Additionally, the two stations cooperate in coverage of news from New Jersey where their markets overlap, sharing reporters, live trucks, and helicopters.
Eyewitness News airs six hours daily, three hours on Saturdays and four hours on Sundays. The newscasts were replayed on one of channel 7's digital subchannels, another which also carried a local weather and news channel. WABC-TV's website had a link for live streaming video of "Eyewitness News Now", which offered live local and national weather updated from AccuWeather
AccuWeather
AccuWeather is an American media company that provides for-profit weather forecasting services worldwide.AccuWeather was founded in 1962 by Joel N. Myers, then a Penn State graduate student working on degrees in meteorology. His first customer was a gas company in Pennsylvania. While running the...
. Local news headlines and updates were also provided. The format of "Eyewitness News Now" was similar to the defunct NBC Weather Plus
NBC Weather Plus
NBC 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...
. In February of 2011, ABC pulled ENN off the air and cable, not just in New York but also similar channels on its Los Angeles and Chicago sister station as well, and replaced them with a standard definition, letterboxed simulcast of the Live Well Network in all three cities.
On December 2, 2006, WABC-TV began broadcasting newscasts in high definition
High-definition television
High-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...
, becoming the second station in the New York market to do so. On September 7, 2010, WABC-TV expanded its weekday morning newscast, now airing at 4:30 a.m.; ABC's national early morning newscast America This Morning was moved a half-hour earlier as a result. Three days earlier on September 4, 2010 WABC added an hour-long extension of its Saturday morning newscast from 9-10 a.m. On May 26, 2011, WABC-TV added another hour of local news at 4:00 p.m., replacing Oprah, which aired its final original episode the previous day.
On September 24, 2011, the station began broadcasting its newscasts and public affairs programs from a new street-level window studio at a former Disney Store
Disney Store
Disney Store is an international chain of specialty stores selling only Disney related items, many of them exclusive. Disney Store is a business unit of Disney Consumer Products. James Fielding serves as the President....
location in the ABC building on 66th Street and Columbus Avenue. The space previously used for news broadcasts will be used to expand the Live with Regis & Kelly studio.
Newscast titles
- John DalyJohn Charles DalyJohn Charles Patrick Croghan Daly John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly (generally known as John Charles Daly or simply John Daly (February 20, 1914 – February 24, 1991) was an American journalist, game show host and radio personality, probably best known for hosting...
with World News (1948–1953) - John Cameron SwayzeJohn Cameron SwayzeJohn Cameron Swayze was a popular news commentator and game show panelist in the United States during the 1950s.- Early life :...
& the News (1953–1962) - The Big News (1962–1965)
- Channel 7 News (1965–1968)
- Channel 7 Eyewitness News (1968–present)
- ABC 7 Eyewitness News (1998–present, secondary)
News music packages
- Cool Hand LukeCool Hand LukeCool Hand Luke is a 1967 American prison drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg and starring Paul Newman. The screenplay was adapted by Donn Pearce and Frank Pierson from Pearce's 1965 novel of the same name. The film features George Kennedy, Strother Martin, J.D...
: The Tar Sequence by Lalo SchifrinLalo SchifrinLalo Schifrin is an Argentine composer, pianist and conductor. He is best known for his film and TV scores, such as the "Theme from Mission: Impossible". He has received four Grammy Awards and six Oscar nominations...
(1970s–1992) - On Your Side by Gari Media GroupFrank 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...
(?) - News Series 2000 by Gari Media Group (1984–1993)
- Eyewitness News - Series 1 by Gari Media Group (1994–1999)
- Eyewitness News - Series 4 by Gari Media Group (1999–present)
- Eyewitness News - New Generation 4 by Gari Media Group (2010–present)
In 1984, the station started using "News Series 2000", an updated version of the original Cool Hand Luke theme by Frank Gari
Frank Gari
Frank 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...
, that had been originally commissioned by WLS-TV. The original Cool Hand Luke scores returned for a time from 1986 through 1988. In 1993, Schifrin raised his royalties for using his theme and its variations to a level that effectively priced it out of the local news market (though Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
's Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
still uses cuts from that theme). Gari was commissioned by WABC-TV to compose a new music package called "Eyewitness News". This package, based slightly on Cool Hand Luke, has been updated several times. As of 2009, WABC-TV uses the "Series 4" version, which was specifically updated for the station.
WABC-TV's version of the Eyewitness News Theme is reminiscent of a typewriter
Typewriter
A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical device with keys that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper. Typically one character is printed per keypress, and the machine prints the characters by making ink impressions of type elements similar to the pieces...
typing out a news story, while WABC's west coast sister KABC-TV
KABC-TV
KABC-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, licensed to Los Angeles, California. KABC-TV's studios are located in Glendale, California...
Los Angeles and use a more faster paced and more of a rock music version of the Eyewitness News Theme.
Movie umbrella titles
- The Night Show (1953–1963)
- The Goodnight Show (1961–1971)
- Sunday Night Movie (1958–1960 and 1971–1987)
- The Best of Broadway (1963–1968)
- The Big Show (1963–1966 and 1968–1969)
- The 6 O'Clock Movie (1966–1968)
- The 4:30 MovieThe 4:30 MovieThe 4:30 Movie was a television program that aired weekday afternoons on WABC-TV in New York from 1968 to 1981. The program was mainly known for individual theme weeks devoted to theatrical feature films or made-for-TV movies starring a certain actor or actress, or to a particular genre, or to...
(1969–1981) - Saturday Night Movie (1971–1987)
- Prize Movie (1971–1973)
- The Morning Movie (1973–1977)
- The Movie in the Morning (1977–1983)
- Spring Cinema (1983)
- The Movie Matinee (1971–1979)
- Channel 7 Movie (1979–1996, primary; 2004–present, secondary)
- ABC 7 Movie (1996–present, primary)
Station slogans
- Let Us Be The One on Channel 7 (1976-1977; local version of ABC ad campaign)
- Channel 7! You're Still Having Fun and We're Still the One! (1977-1978, 1979-1980; local version of ABC ad campaign)
- Channel 7 is the One You Can Turn To. We're the One. (1978-1979; local version of ABC ad campaign)
- You and Me and Channel 7 (1980–1981; local version of ABC ad campaign)
- Now is the Time, Channel 7 is the Place (1981–1982; local version of ABC ad campaign)
- Come on Along with Channel 7 (1982–1983; local version of ABC ad campaign)
- That Special Feeling on Channel 7 (1983–1984; local version of ABC ad campaign)
- We're With You on Channel 7 (1984–1985; local version of ABC ad campaign)
- You'll Love it on Channel 7 (1985–1986; local version of ABC ad campaign)
- Together on Channel 7 (1986–1987; local version of ABC ad campaign)
- Something's Happening on Channel 7 (1987–1990; local version of ABC ad campaign)
- America's Watching Channel 7 (1990–1992; local version of "America's Watching ABC" ad campaign)
- If It's New York, It Must Be Channel 7 (1992–1993; local version of "It Must Be ABC" ad campaign)
- Watch By More New Yorkers, Channel 7, ABC (1993–1996; local version of ABC ad campaign)
- Nobody Does It Like Channel 7 (1996–1997; local version of ABC ad campaign)
- TV is Good, on Channel 7 (1997–1998; local version of ABC ad campaign)
- We Love TV on Channel 7 (1998–1999; local version of ABC ad campaign)
- WABC 7, Start Here (2007–present; local version of ABC ad campaign)
- Number One in New York (current slogan)
News team (as of July 7, 2011)
Anchors- Ken RosatoKen RosatoKen Rosato is an American journalist. He attended Regis High School in New York City and then went on to get a bachelor's degree of TV and communication at New York University. Following his undergraduate studies, he received a master's degree in the foreign languages of Spanish and Italian...
– weekday mornings (4:30-7 a.m.) and noon - Lori StokesLori StokesLori Stokes is co-anchor of Eyewitness News This Morning and Eyewitness News at Noon alongside Ken Rosato on WABC-TV in New York City...
– weekday mornings (4:30-7 a.m.) and noon - David NovarroDavid NovarroDavid Novarro is a television news journalist for WABC-TV in New York. He is currently the co-anchor of Eyewitness News 4pm Newscast alongside Liz Cho....
- weekdays at 4 p.m. - Liz Cho – weekdays at 4 and 6 p.m.
- Diana WilliamsDiana WilliamsDiana Williams is a news anchor at WABC-TV in New York City, where she currently co-anchors the 5 p.m. Eyewitness News broadcast with Sade Baderinwa and hosts the Sunday morning public affairs program Eyewitness News Up Close with Diana Williams, which airs on Sunday mornings at 11am...
– weeknights at 5 p.m.; also host of Up Close with Diana Williams - Sade BaderinwaSade BaderinwaFolasade Olayinka Baderinwa, known professionally as Sade Baderinwa , is an Emmy Award-winning news anchor at New York's WABC Channel 7. She co-anchors the weekday 5 p.m...
– weeknights at 5 and 11 p.m. - Bill Ritter – weeknights at 6 and 11 p.m.
- Phil Lipof – weekend mornings (6-8 and 9-10 a.m.)
- Michelle CharlesworthMichelle CharlesworthMichelle Charlesworth is an American television news reporter and anchor. Since 1998 she has been a reporter for both ABC News and WABC-TV, as well as a weekend morning anchor for WABC-TV's Eyewitness News and is probably best known for an award-winning series of reports about her battle with skin...
– weekend mornings (6-8 and 9-10 a.m.) - Joe TorresJoe Torres (journalist)Joe Torres is a Hispanic-American news anchor and reporter who is currently working for WABC-TV in New York...
– weekends at 6 and 11 p.m.; also host of Tiempo - Sandra BookmanSandra BookmanSandra Bookman is an American television news reporter and anchor. She is currently a weekday reporter and the weekend anchor at WABC-TV in New York City. She co-anchors the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. weekend editions of Eyewitness News.She joined the station in 1998 from WSB-TV in Atlanta, Georgia where...
– weekends at 6 and 11 p.m.
Weather team
- Lee GoldbergLee Goldberg (meteorologist)Lee Goldberg is an American meteorologist at New York City's WABC-TV, where he anchors Eyewitness News Accu-Weather coverage at 4pm, 5pm, 6pm and 11pm. He has been at WABC-TV since July 1996.-Career:...
(AMSAmerican Meteorological SocietyThe 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...
member) – chief meteorologist; weeknights at 4, 5, 6 and 11 p.m. - Bill EvansBill Evans (meteorologist)Bill Evans is an American meteorologist for WABC-TV, the ABC affiliate in New York City.-Early career:Evans' broadcasting career began at the age of 13 in his hometown of Meridian, Mississippi on WDAL Radio and WTOK-TV...
(AMS member) – senior meteorologist; weekday mornings (4:30-7 a.m.) and noon - Amy FreezeAmy FreezeAmy Freeze is the weekend meteorologist at WABC-TV in New York. She was the chief meteorologist for Fox owned-and-operated station WFLD in Chicago from 2007–2011....
(AMSAmerican Meteorological SocietyThe 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...
Certified Broadcast MeteorologistCertified Broadcast MeteorologistCertified Broadcast Meteorologist is a rating for meteorologists given by the American Meteorological Society.The Certified Broadcast Meteorologist program was established to raise the professional standard in broadcast meteorology and encourage a broader range of scientific understanding,...
Seal of Approval) – meteorologist; weekend mornings (6-8 and 9-10 a.m.) - Jeff SmithJeff Smith (meteorologist)Jeff Smith is a meteorologist for WABC-TV in New York City. He is the weather anchor for the weekend evening editions of Eyewitness News....
(AMS Certified Broadcast MeteorologistCertified Broadcast MeteorologistCertified Broadcast Meteorologist is a rating for meteorologists given by the American Meteorological Society.The Certified Broadcast Meteorologist program was established to raise the professional standard in broadcast meteorology and encourage a broader range of scientific understanding,...
Seal of Approval) – meteorologist; weekend evenings at 6 and 11 p.m.
Sports team
- Rob Powers – sports director; weeknights at 6 and 11 p.m.
- Laura Behnke – sports anchor; weekend evenings at 6 and 11 p.m.
MetroTraffic
- Debbie DuHaime – weekday mornings
- Joe Nolan – weekday mornings
Reporters
- Dr. Jay Adlersberg – medical reporter
- NJ Burkett – general assignment reporter
- Lisa ColagrossiLisa ColagrossiLisa Colagrossi is an American journalist and television news anchor and reporter. Currently, she is a reporter for WABC-TV In New York City. Colagrossi joined the ABC owned station in September 2001....
– business reporter; also fill-in anchor - Lauren DeFranco – Long IslandLong 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...
correspondent - Jim Dolan – general assignment reporter
- Josh Einiger – Long Island reporter
- Dave EvansDave Evans (reporter)Dave Evans is a reporter for WABC-TV In New York City. Evans joined the station in 1999 from a sister station in Texas.Evans was also a reporter for KAKE-TV in Wichita, Kansas for a few years. More recently, he was a reporter for WFAA-TV in Dallas, where he was a senior political reporter for a...
– political reporter - Tim Fleischer – Westchester CountyWestchester County, New YorkWestchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of and has a population of 949,113 according to the 2010 Census, residing in 45 municipalities...
reporter - Lauren GlassbergLauren GlassbergLauren Glassberg is an American journalist. Currently, Glassberg is a features reporter and substitute co-anchor for WABC-TV's editions of Eyewitness News in New York City. Lauren joined the ABC Affiliate in March 2000...
– general assignment reporter - Marci Gonzalez – general assignment reporter
- Jim Hoffer – investigative reporter
- Anthony Johnson – New JerseyNew 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 - Sandy KenyonSandy KenyonSandy Kenyon, born Sanford Klein was an American voice-over artist and character actor, best-known for voicing Jon Arbuckle in the first Garfield animated television special Here Comes Garfield, and other roles in film and television...
– film critic and entertainment reporter - Carolina Leid – general assignment reporter
- Jen Maxfield – general assignment reporter
- Darla Miles – general assignment reporter
- Art McFarlandArt McFarlandArthur McFarland is a news reporter for WABC-TV in New York City. He is the station's lead education reporter, and has held various positions at WABC since his hiring in August 1983...
– education reporter - Jeff PeguesJeff PeguesJeffrey Pegues is an American News Correspondent. Most recently, Jeff works as a reporter for WABC-TV in New York City....
– general assignment reporter - Nina PinedaNina PinedaNina Pineda is a reporter for WABC-TV in New York City. Pineda can be seen faithfully on the evening editions of ‘’Eyewitness News’’....
– "7 On Your Side" consumer reporter - Kemberly Richardson – general assignment reporter
- Jamie Roth – general assignment reporter
- Stacey Sager – general assignment reporter
- Marcus Solis – Westchester County Bureau reporter
- Sarah Wallace – investigative reporter
- Lucy YangLucy YangLucy Yang is a Taiwanese-American journalist. Yang is currently a mainstream reporter for WABC-TV in New York City, reporting for the station's 5, 6 and 11 PM broadcasts. Yang joined the Eyewitness News team in the fall of 1993 as a general assignment reporter.Upon Yang's arrival in New York, she...
– general assignment reporter - Toni YatesToni YatesToni Yates is an American news reporter and anchorwoman who currently works for Eyewitness News WABC-TV as their New Jersey reporter. She joined the station from WPHL-TV WB17 where she was a news anchor and reporter since 1994. She left the station in December 2005.Yates is Eyewitness News' New...
– New Jersey reporter
Newscopter 7 HD
- John Del Giorno – morning photojournalist
- Shannon Sohn – 5 and 6 p.m. photojournalist
- Ed Hughes – fill-in photojorunalist
- Dan Rice – fill-in photojournalist
Local program hosts
- Gil NobleGil NobleGil Noble is an American television reporter and interviewer. He was the producer and host of New York City television station WABC-TV's weekly, Like It Is, originally co-hosted with Melba Tolliver...
– Like It Is - Diana WilliamsDiana WilliamsDiana Williams is a news anchor at WABC-TV in New York City, where she currently co-anchors the 5 p.m. Eyewitness News broadcast with Sade Baderinwa and hosts the Sunday morning public affairs program Eyewitness News Up Close with Diana Williams, which airs on Sunday mornings at 11am...
– Up Close with Diana Williams - Joe TorresJoe Torres (journalist)Joe Torres is a Hispanic-American news anchor and reporter who is currently working for WABC-TV in New York...
– Tiempo
News management
- Kenny Plotnik – news director
- Bill McFarland – assistant news director
- Chad Matthews – senior executive producer
- John Antonio – managing editor
- David Bloch – executive producer
- John Stone – executive producer
- Bill Bouyer – manager of news and special events
- Kim Dillon – assignment manager
Notable former staff
A–L- Roz Abrams (later with WCBS-TV)
- Ernie AnastosErnie AnastosErnie Anastos is an American Emmy Award-winning New York City television news anchor. He was born in Nashua, New Hampshire, and has worked for several television stations in New York City during his career.-Career:...
(now with WNYW-TV) - Tex AntoineTex AntoineHerbert 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:...
- William Aylward
- Steve BartelsteinSteve BartelsteinSteve Bartelstein is a former American television journalist.He was previously a news anchor in New York City, first at WABC-TV , a flagship station of the ABC television network, WCBS-TV , a flagship station of CBS and later in Chicago, Illinois at WBBM-TV , a television station owned and operated...
(later with WBBM-TVWBBM-TVWBBM-TV, virtual channel 2 , is the CBS owned-and-operated television station in Chicago, Illinois. WBBM-TV's main studios and offices are located in The Loop section of Chicago, as part of the development at Block 37, and its transmitter is atop the Willis Tower.-History:WBBM-TV traces its history...
in Chicago) - Bill Beutel (deceased)
- Bill BondsBill BondsBill Bonds is an American television anchor and reporter, best known for his work at WXYZ-TV in Detroit, Michigan. Born in 1933, Bonds became an Action News anchorman beginning in the early 1970s.-Early career:...
- Jim BoutonJim BoutonJames Alan "Jim" Bouton is a former American Major League Baseball pitcher. He is also the author of the controversial baseball book Ball Four, which was a combination diary of his season and memoir of his years with the New York Yankees, Seattle Pilots, and Houston Astros.-Amateur and college...
- Sam ChampionSam ChampionSamuel James Champion is the weather anchor of ABC's Good Morning America and weather editor of ABC News.-Early life and education:...
(now weather anchor with ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Good Morning AmericaGood Morning AmericaGood Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
) - Spencer ChristianSpencer ChristianSpencer Christian is an American television broadcaster, best known as the former weather forecaster for ABC's Good Morning America from 1986 to 1998. He currently is the weather forecaster for ABC-owned KGO-TV in San Francisco. Christian is also the author of several children's...
(now with KGO-TVKGO-TVKGO-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, based in San Francisco, California...
in San Francisco) - Scott Clark – sports anchor (retired)
- Bertha CoombsBertha CoombsBertha Coombs Bertha Coombs is a general assignment reporter for CNBC, covering financial markets and business news stories throughout the business day...
(now with CNBCCNBCCNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
) - Victoria CorderiVictoria CorderiVictoria Corderi is an American journalist and recipient of three national news Emmys and a George Foster Peabody Award for Excellence in Journalism. She is also a 1997 recipient of the Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative journalism....
(now with NBC News) - Howard CosellHoward CosellHoward William Cosell was an American sports journalist who was widely known for his blustery, cocksure personality. Cosell said of himself, "Arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, cruel, verbose, a showoff. I have been called all of these...
(later with ABC Sports; deceased) - Penny CronePenny CroneBarbara Penny Crone is an American television reporter, personality and real estate broker.-Career:Crone began her journalism career as a federal court reporter for the Hearst Newspaper in Baltimore, before moving to WJZ-TV as a writer/producer. Her first on-air reports occurred circa 1973, while...
- Jay DeDapperJay DeDapperJay 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:...
- Tom DunnTom DunnTom Dunn was an anchor and reporter at several New York and Florida television stations.Dunn was born in Warwick, New York, and was a child actor at radio station WAAT in Newark, New Jersey. He started in television at WCTV in Tallahassee, Florida in 1959 after leaving the army. He served as...
- Storm FieldStorm FieldStorm Elliot Field is a retired American television meteorologist, most noted for his time in the New York media market. Storm Field followed his father, longtime New York weatherman Dr. Frank Field, into the business.-WABC:...
- Ira Joe FisherIra Joe FisherIra 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...
- Celeste Ford
- Linda GialanellaLinda GialanellaGialanella held the Miss New Jersey 1972 title and competed in the Miss America 1973 pageant, but did not place. The pageant was won by Terry Anne Meeuwsen of Wisconsin....
- Frank GiffordFrank GiffordFrancis Newton "Frank" Gifford is a Hall of Fame former American football player and American sportscaster.-Early life:Gifford was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Lola Mae and Weldon Gifford, an oil driller....
(later with ABC Sports) - Carlos GrandaCarlos GrandaCarlos Granda is a reporter for KABC-TV News in Los Angeles.- Backgound :Carlos Granda holds a Bachelors degree in Mass Communications and Broadcast Journalism from the University of South Florida. He became interested in journalism after watching Walter Cronkite on the news...
(now with KABC-TV in Los Angeles, CA) - Roger GrimsbyRoger GrimsbyRoger 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) - Mark HainesMark HainesMark Haines was a host on the CNBC television network.-Early life and education:Haines grew up in Oyster Bay, New York, and resided in Monmouth County, New Jersey. His alma mater was Denison University, and in 1989, the University of Pennsylvania Law School...
(later with CNBC, deceased) - Robb HanrahanRobb HanrahanRobb Hanrahan is a television newscaster currently employed by CBS affiliate WHP-TV in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Prior to joining WHP he had spent time at WFOR-TV, the CBS owned-and-operated station in Miami, Florida, where he co-anchored newscasts alongside Maggie Rodriguez for four years.He is...
(now with WHP-TVWHP-TVWHP-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for South Central Pennsylvania licensed to Harrisburg. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 21. Its transmitter on a ridge north of Linglestown Road in Susquehanna Township...
in Harrisburg, PA) - Steve HartmanSteve HartmanStephen Robert "Steve" Hartman is a television journalist.Steve Hartman attended a Catholic Elementary School in Little Flower Parish of Toledo, Ohio that has since been consolidated to "Saint Benedict Catholic Elementary School"....
(now with CBS NewsCBS NewsCBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
) - Edye Hill (Tarbox)E. D. HillE. D. Hill is an American businessperson and journalist. She has been a news anchor and radio host who formerly worked for the Fox News Channel and now works with CNN...
(later with Fox News ChannelFox 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...
) - Magee HickeyMagee HickeyMagee 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....
- Greg HurstGreg HurstGreg Hurst is an American journalist. He is currently employed by CBS affiliate KHOU-TV in Houston, Texas, where he has been since leaving New York's WABC-TV in 1997. Hurst anchors KHOU's 5, 6, and 10 p.m...
(now main anchor with KHOU-TVKHOU-TVKHOU is the CBS affiliate television station in Houston, Texas. Serving Greater Houston, it is owned by the Belo Corporation and broadcasts on digital and PSIP channel 11...
in Houston) - Carol IovannaCarol IovannaCarol Iovanna was a newscaster on Fox News from 1996 to 2006. She often did the headlines in the late night hours during the weekends. Before Fox, she worked at WCBS-TV and WABC-TV. Iovanna also anchored the news on Live with Regis and Kathie Lee....
- John JohnsonJohn Johnson (reporter)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...
- Heidi Jones
- Larry KaneLarry KaneLarry Kane is an American journalist best known as the only American reporter whom The Beatles let travel with them on their 1964 and 1965 North American tours. Kane authored a book about his experiences on the tour, called Ticket To Ride, and Lennon Revealed, a New York Times and Los Angeles...
(later with KYW-TVKYW-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...
and KYWKYW (AM)KYW is a class A AM radio station on 1060 kHz licensed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. KYW is owned by the CBS Radio unit of CBS Corporation, and has broadcasted an all-news format since 1965. The station's studios are located on Market Street in Center City Philadelphia, and it transmitters...
Radio in Philadelphia) - Bob LapeBob LapeBob Lape is an American broadcast journalist, writer, restaurant reviewer, and food critic.- Career :...
- Judy LichtJudy LichtJudy Licht is an American television and print journalist whose work often focuses on the entertainment and fashion worlds. Born to Bernard and Eleanor Licht of New York, Licht graduated from Connecticut College and received her master's degree in Broadcast Journalism from Syracuse University.For...
- Nancy LooNancy LooNancy Loo is an American television newscaster who is currently a reporter/fill-in anchor at WGN-TV in Chicago. The news anchor was born in Hong Kong. Loo worked for WABC-TV in 1994 as a health reporter. She was promoted to Eyewitness News morning and noon co-anchor in 1996 and anchored first with...
- Dorothy LuceyDorothy LuceyDorothy Lucey is an American entertainment reporter who currently can be seen on Good Day L.A., the morning news broadcast of Los Angeles Fox affiliate KTTV.-Career:...
(now with KTTVKTTVKTTV, channel 11, is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in Los Angeles, California. Serving the vast Los Angeles metropolitan area, KTTV is a sister station to KCOP , Los Angeles' MyNetworkTV station...
in Los Angeles) - Felipe LucianoFelipe LucianoFelipe Luciano is an American poet, community activist, journalist, media personality, and politician. He is of Puerto Rican heritage....
- Joan LundenJoan LundenJoan Lunden is an American journalist, author and television host. She was the co-host of ABC's Good Morning America from 1980 through 1997 and is the author of 8 books...
(later with Good Morning AmericaGood Morning AmericaGood Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
)
M–Z
- Sal MarchianoSal MarchianoSal 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....
- Corey McPherrinCorey McPherrinCorey B. McPherrin , known professionally as Corey McPherrin, is the morning news anchor for WFLD-TV in Chicago.- Early life and education :...
(now with WFLD-TV in Chicago) - Larry MendteLarry MendteLarry Mendte is an American commentator and American news anchor working at WPIX in New York City. Mendte was the first male host of the American syndicated television show Access Hollywood. His nightly commentaries are aired on TV stations across the country...
(now commentator with WPIXWPIXWPIX, 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...
) - George MichaelGeorge Michael (sportscaster)George Michael was an American sportscaster best known nationally for The George Michael Sports Machine, his long-running sports highlights television program. Originally named George Michael's Sports Final when it began as a local show in Washington, D.C...
(later with WRC-TVWRC-TVWRC-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...
in Washington, D.C. and former host of George Michael's Sports Machine; deceased) - Mary NissensonMary NissensonMary Nissenson is an award-winning American television journalist, who also has been an entrepreneur, social activist and university instructor.- Early life and education :...
- Mike ParkerMike ParkerMichael Parker is an American politician from the U.S. state of Mississippi. He served in Congress as a member of the Democratic Party and, later, the Republican Party. He later served as Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Army, with authority over the U.S...
(now at WBBM-TV in Chicago) - Jim PaymarJim PaymarJames "Jim" Paymar is an American journalist and communications specialist. He has worked as a financial correspondent and anchor for CNBC in New York, Business Week, and general manager of KCNS-TV in San Francisco...
- Charles PerezCharles PerezCharles Perez Rinehard is a former American television news reporter, anchor and former talk show host.-Career:Before entering the news business, Perez was best known as host of the nationally syndicated The Charles Perez Show...
- Tappy PhillipsTappy PhillipsTappy Phillips is an American news correspondent for ABC News and has been Consumer Affairs reporter for WABC-TV in New York since 1996 to 2009...
- Richie PowersRichie PowersRichard F. "Richie" Powers was a professional basketball referee in the National Basketball Association from 1956 to 1979. He worked 25 NBA Finals games, including the triple-overtime Game 5 contest in the 1976 NBA Finals between the Phoenix Suns and the Boston Celtics, considered "The Greatest...
- Geraldo RiveraGeraldo RiveraGeraldo Rivera is an American attorney, journalist, author, reporter, and former talk show host...
(now with Fox News Channel) - Susan RoesgenSusan RoesgenSusan Roesgen is an American television reporter. She has worked in radio and television broadcasting for more than two decades, including prime time news anchor positions at several TV stations...
- Jeff RossenJeff RossenJeff 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 with NBC NewsNBC 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...
) - Samantha ("Sam") Ryan (now with WCBS-TVWCBS-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....
) - Rose Ann ScamardellaRose Ann ScamardellaRose Ann Scamardella is a former anchorwoman of WABC-TV's Eyewitness News in New York City, and the inspiration for Gilda Radner's character "Roseanne Roseannadanna" on Saturday Night Live.-Biography:...
- John SchubeckJohn SchubeckJohn Schubeck was an American television reporter and anchor, and one of the few to anchor newscasts on all three network owned-and-operated stations in one major market....
(deceased) - Marvell ScottMarvell ScottMarvell Scott is a former sports reporter for WABC-TV in New York City. He came to WABC from Dayton, Ohio in 2002.He is a graduate of Wheaton Central High School in Wheaton, Illinois, a graduate of the University of Delaware and a graduate of Wright State University Boonshoft School of...
- Rosanna ScottoRosanna ScottoRosanna Scotto is an American news anchor. She currently anchors WNYW's Good Day New York with Greg Kelly. Previously, Scotto anchored at 5 and 10 P.M. with Ernie Anastos and Fox 5 Live at 11 A.M. Scotto has been the lead female news anchor since 1990...
(now with WNYWWNYWWNYW, 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...
) - Joel SiegelJoel SiegelJoel Siegel was an American film critic for the ABC morning news show Good Morning America for over 25 years. Born to a Jewish family of Romanian descent, and raised in Los Angeles, California, he graduated cum laude from UCLA. His Romanian-born grandmother from Botoşani survived the Triangle...
(later with Good Morning America; deceased) - Tom SnyderTom 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...
(deceased) - Lara SpencerLara SpencerLara Spencer is the lifestyle anchor for Good Morning America. She is also a correspondent for Nightline and ABC News. Previously, she was the host of the syndicated television newsmagazine The Insider and was a regular contributor to CBS's The Early Show...
(now with Good Morning America) - Spencer TillmanSpencer TillmanSpencer Tillman is a former professional American football player who played running back for eight seasons for the Houston Oilers and San Francisco 49ers.-College Football:...
(now with KTRK-TV) - Melba TolliverMelba 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...
- Kaity TongKaity TongKaity Tong is a Chinese-born American broadcast journalist who has been a television news anchor in New York City since 1981.Born in Qingdao in the Peoples Republic of China to George and Anita Tong, Tong came to the United States with her family at age four. Growing up in Washington D.C., Tong was...
(now at WPIXWPIXWPIX, 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...
) - John Bartholomew TuckerJohn Bartholomew TuckerJohn Bartholomew Tucker is an American radio and television personality, as well as an author.Along with Big Wilson, Tucker was one of the last two "communicators" of the long-running NBC Radio program Monitor; he was on the air when the show signed off for the last time on January 26, 1975...
- David UsheryDavid UsheryDavid Ushery is a veteran American television news anchor at WNBC News 4 New York, NBC’s flagship owned and operated station...
(now with WNBCWNBCWNBC, virtual channel 4 , is the flagship station of the NBC television network, located in New York City. WNBC's studios are co-located with NBC corporate headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in midtown Manhattan...
) - Rolonda WattsRolonda WattsRolonda 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...
(later with Inside EditionInside EditionInside Edition is a thirty-minute American television syndicated news program, first aired on CBS on October 9, 1988. It was originally similar to the programs Hard Copy and A Current Affair, but now more closely resembles a condensed version of breakfast television, exclusively with pre-recorded...
and talk show Rolanda) - Joe WitteJoe WitteJoe 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...
(later with NBC, now with WJLA-TVWJLA-TVWJLA-TV, channel 7, is the ABC affiliated television station in Washington, D.C.. It is the flagship station of the Allbritton Communications Company, which also operates local cable station NewsChannel 8. The two stations share broadcast facilities in the Rosslyn section of Arlington, Virginia...
in Washington, D.C.) - Warner WolfWarner WolfWarner William Wolf is an American television and radio sports broadcaster, perhaps best known as a local news sports anchor in Washington, D.C., New York City and his catchphrase "Let's go to the videotape!"....
- Jenna WolfeJenna WolfeJenna Wolfe is a national correspondent for NBC's Today, and the co-anchor of their Sunday edition...
(now Sunday anchor/reporter on NBCNBCThe 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...
's Today)
Office locations
The original WABC-TV offices were located at 77 West 66th Street, with studios at 7 West 66th Street. An underground tunnel linked ABC studios at 7 West 66th Street to the lobby of the Hotel des ArtistesCafé des Artistes
Café des Artistes was a fine restaurant at One West 67th Street in Manhattan and was owned by George Lang. He closed the restaurant for vacation at the beginning of August 2009 and decided to keep it closed permanently while away, announcing the close on August 28, 2009...
, a block north on West 67th Street. Another studio inside the Hotel des Artistes was used for Eyewitness News Conference.
As part of ABC's expansion program, initiated in 1977, ABC built 7 Lincoln Square
Lincoln Square, New York
Lincoln Square is the name of both a square and the surrounding neighborhood within the Upper West Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan...
on the southeast corner of West 67th Street and Columbus Avenue
Ninth Avenue (Manhattan)
Ninth Avenue / Columbus Avenue is a southbound thoroughfare on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Traffic runs downtown along its full length...
, on a site of an abandoned moving and storage warehouse. At about the same time, construction was started at 30 West 67th Street, on the site of a former parking lot. Both buildings were completed in June 1979 and WABC-TV moved its offices from 77 West 66th Street to 7 Lincoln Square.
Live with Kelly
WABC-TV also produces the nationally syndicated talk show Live with Regis and KellyLive with Regis and Kelly
Live! with Kelly is a syndicated American television morning talk show, hosted by Kelly Ripa. The show has aired since 1983 in New York City and 1988 nationwide. Tony Pigg has been the show's announcer since its inception...
, broadcast live at 9:00 a.m. (Eastern time
North American Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
). The program originates in the same ground-floor studio at 7 Lincoln Square as Eyewitness News, thus creating a situation which forces local news updates broadcast during Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
and Live to be produced from the WABC-TV newsroom, and the morning show's presence also limits the size of the Eyewitness News set.
The program's roots originated with A.M. New York, which debuted in 1970 as a local version of NBC
NBC
The 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...
's Today show; the program's first host was John Bartholomew Tucker
John Bartholomew Tucker
John Bartholomew Tucker is an American radio and television personality, as well as an author.Along with Big Wilson, Tucker was one of the last two "communicators" of the long-running NBC Radio program Monitor; he was on the air when the show signed off for the last time on January 26, 1975...
who lasted until 1972, after which a succession of hosts came and went, the more successful of whom was Stanley Siegel who hosted from 1975 to 1978 (for a year beginning in 1977, the series was called The Stanley Siegel Show). After 1980, the show was retitled Good Morning New York, whose co-hosts in the last years of its run in that form included Spencer Christian
Spencer Christian
Spencer Christian is an American television broadcaster, best known as the former weather forecaster for ABC's Good Morning America from 1986 to 1998. He currently is the weather forecaster for ABC-owned KGO-TV in San Francisco. Christian is also the author of several children's...
, Andrea Kirby, Judy Licht
Judy Licht
Judy Licht is an American television and print journalist whose work often focuses on the entertainment and fashion worlds. Born to Bernard and Eleanor Licht of New York, Licht graduated from Connecticut College and received her master's degree in Broadcast Journalism from Syracuse University.For...
, Dick Wolfsie, and longtime Eyewitness News reporter and anchor Doug Johnson. After years of a losing ratings battle against WNBC
WNBC
WNBC, virtual channel 4 , is the flagship station of the NBC television network, located in New York City. WNBC's studios are co-located with NBC corporate headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in midtown Manhattan...
and Donahue, WABC cancelled Good Morning New York in early 1983. The current show began as the station's second attempt at a local morning show a month later, aptly titled The Morning Show (using the "Circle 7" logo in the actual text for one of the "o"s), and was originally hosted by Regis Philbin
Regis Philbin
Regis Francis Xavier Philbin is an American media personality, actor and singer, known for hosting talk and game shows since the 1960s. Philbin is often called "the hardest working man in show business" and holds the Guinness World Record for the most time spent in front of a television camera...
and Cyndy Garvey
Cyndy Garvey
Cyndy Garvey is an American television personality and former wife of baseball player Steve Garvey.-Career:...
. In 1985, Kathie Lee Johnson
Kathie Lee Gifford
Kathie Lee Gifford is an American television host, singer, songwriter and actress, best known for her 15-year run on the talk show Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, which she co-hosted with Regis Philbin...
(who would marry Frank Gifford
Frank Gifford
Francis Newton "Frank" Gifford is a Hall of Fame former American football player and American sportscaster.-Early life:Gifford was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Lola Mae and Weldon Gifford, an oil driller....
a year later) became Philbin's co-host. Buena Vista Television (now Disney-ABC Domestic Television) began syndicating the show in 1988 as Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. Kathie Lee left the show in 2000 and was eventually replaced by current co host Kelly Ripa
Kelly Ripa
Kelly Ripa is an American actress and television host. Since February 2001, she has served as the co-host of talk show Live with Regis and Kelly, along with Regis Philbin and now solo host of Live! With Kelly...
. The franchise celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2008.
Regis left the show in 2011 for his retirement and was eventually replaced by current host Kelly Ripa
Kelly Ripa
Kelly Ripa is an American actress and television host. Since February 2001, she has served as the co-host of talk show Live with Regis and Kelly, along with Regis Philbin and now solo host of Live! With Kelly...
.