WFOR-TV
Encyclopedia
WFOR-TV, virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....

 4.1 (physical
RF
-Science and technology:* Radiative forcing, a measure of the change in balance of the energy absorbed and emitted by the Earth's atmosphere* "Rate of flow", as in Volumetric flow rate* Radio frequency...

 digital channel
Digital television
Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...

 22), is the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 owned-and-operated station
Owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry , an owned-and-operated station usually refers to a television station or radio station that is owned by the network with which it is associated...

 in Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...

. WFOR shares its TV studio facilities with sister station
Sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio and/or television stations operated by the same ownership....

 WBFS-TV
WBFS-TV
WBFS-TV is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for South Florida that is licensed to Miami. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter in Miramar. Owned by the CBS Corporation, the station is sister to CBS affiliate WFOR-TV and the two share...

 (channel 33, Miami's MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...

 affiliate) in Doral
Doral, Florida
Doral is a city located in north-central Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. A suburb of Miami, it lies north-west of Miami International Airport. It takes its name from the famous golf and spa resort located within its municipal boundaries. The Doral Golf Resort & Spa was originally built...

, near Miami International Airport
Miami International Airport
Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the South Florida area...

, and its transmitter is located in Miramar
Miramar, Florida
Miramar is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. The city was named after the Miramar district of Havana, Cuba. As of the 2010 census, the population was 122,041...

.

WFOR-TV also previously had two translator stations in the Florida Keys
Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are a coral archipelago in southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry...

: W38AA (channel 38) in Marathon
Marathon, Florida
Marathon is a city on Knight's Key, Boot Key, Key Vaca, Fat Deer Key, Long Point Key, Crawl Key and Grassy Key islands in the middle Florida Keys, in Monroe County, Florida, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 10,255. As of 2005, the population estimated...

 and W39AC (channel 39) in Key West
Key West, Florida
Key West is a city in Monroe County, Florida, United States. The city encompasses the island of Key West, the part of Stock Island north of U.S. 1 , Sigsbee Park , Fleming Key , and Sunset Key...

. Mapale LLC
Limited liability company
A limited liability company is a flexible form of enterprise that blends elements of partnership and corporate structures. It is a legal form of company that provides limited liability to its owners in the vast majority of United States jurisdictions...

, which has owned them since at least 1979, now has them assigned to Key West
Key West
Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida on the North American continent at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. Key West is home to the southernmost point in the Continental United States; the island is about from Cuba....

's WSBS-TV
WSBS-TV
WSBS-TV is a Spanish-language television station in Key West, Florida, broadcasting to the lower Florida Keys on VHF channel 3 as an Mega TV flagship station. The station also operates a repeater in Miami, WSBS-CD channel 50, and has been available nationally on DirecTV since October 17, 2007 and...

, making their entire service area redundant. Their "digital companion channels" are licensed separately from the analogs, and have Mapale's own WGEN-TV
WGEN-TV
WGEN-TV is a Spanish-language television station in Key West, Florida, broadcasting locally on VHF channel 8 as a Spanish-language independent station under the GenTV branding...

 (also from Key West) listed as their primary station.

It is a television station in the South Florida metropolitan area
South Florida metropolitan area
The South Florida metropolitan area, also known as the Miami metropolitan area, and designated the Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Pompano Beach, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area by the U.S...

 (also known as the Miami metropolitan area) market in the three counties: Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County.

WCIX, channel 6

The station signed on air on September 20, 1967 on channel 6 as WCIX, owned by Coral Television, a subsidiary of General Cinema Corporation
General Cinema Corporation
General Cinema was a nationwide chain of movie theaters that operated from 1935 until 2002. The theater chain, in its prime, operated approximately 621 screens, some of which were the first cinemas certified by THX. Its mascot was Popcorn Bob and his Candy Band, which graced the company's policy...

. The callsign sounded like the word "six". Channel 6 was originally licensed to Islamorada
Islamorada, Florida
Islamorada, a "Village of Islands," is an incorporated village in Monroe County, Florida, United States. It is located on the islands of Tea Table Key, Lower Matecumbe Key, Upper Matecumbe Key, Windley Key and Plantation Key in the Florida Keys....

 in the Florida Keys
Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are a coral archipelago in southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry...

, but the local owners successfully convinced the FCC to move the license to Miami on the mainland where it could serve more viewers. It built a transmission tower in Homestead
Homestead, Florida
Homestead is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States nestled between Biscayne National Park to the east and Everglades National Park to the west. Homestead is primarily a Miami suburb and a major agricultural area....

, which was 40 miles (64.4 km) southwest of Miami, farther south than the other Miami television stations. This arrangement was necessary to protect WPTV (on adjacent channel 5) in West Palm Beach and WDBO-TV (now WKMG-TV
WKMG-TV
WKMG-TV channel 6 is the CBS network affiliate for Central Florida . WKMG is licensed to Orlando and is owned and operated by Post-Newsweek Stations, Inc., a subsidiary of the Washington Post Company. The station refers to itself as "Local6". WKMG's transmitter is located in Bithlo, Florida...

, and also on channel 6) in Orlando
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...

. As a result, WCIX only provided a "Grade B" over-the-air signal to Fort Lauderdale, and was virtually unviewable in the northern portion of Broward County. The station made up for this shortfall in its coverage by opening translator channels throughout Broward County and in Boca Raton (part of the West Palm Beach market), identifying channels 33, 61, and 69 in its identification announcements as late as the mid-1980s. The channel 33 translator ceased operations in 1984 to allow future sister station WBFS-TV
WBFS-TV
WBFS-TV is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for South Florida that is licensed to Miami. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter in Miramar. Owned by the CBS Corporation, the station is sister to CBS affiliate WFOR-TV and the two share...

 to sign on, and was then moved to channel 27 where it operated until the mid-1990s; channel 69 became WYHS-TV in 1988. Translators on channels 21 (in Pompano Beach
Pompano Beach, Florida
Pompano Beach ) is a city in Broward County, Florida, along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean just to the north of Fort Lauderdale. The nearby Hillsboro Inlet forms part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 99,845...

) and 58 (in central Broward County) were also used in later years.

WCIX was the first general-entertainment independent station in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale market, and the second in Florida, after WSUN-TV (now WTTA
WTTA
WTTA is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for the Tampa Bay Area of Florida that is licensed to St. Petersburg. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter in Riverview. Owned by Bay Television, the station is operated by the Sinclair Broadcast...

) in St. Petersburg converted to independent status in 1965. Channel 6 ran the typical independent format of children's shows, sitcoms, movies, and other local and syndicated programs. WCIX was also one of very few stations not owned by Kaiser Broadcasting
Kaiser Broadcasting
Kaiser Broadcasting was the name of an entity that owned and operated broadcast television stations in the United States from 1958 to 1977.-History:...

 to carry Lou Gordon Program from WKBD-TV in Detroit in the 1970s. It was also one of the first stations in the area to offer programming in both English and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 to serve South Florida's growing Hispanic population.

During the 1970s through the early-1980s, WCIX had widespread cable penetration throughout Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 and was seen on cable systems as far north as Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay Area
The Tampa Bay Area is the region of west central Florida adjacent to Tampa Bay. Definitions of the region vary. It is often considered equivalent to the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area defined by the United States Census Bureau. The Census Bureau currently...

 and Orlando. Outside the Miami market, WCIX shared its cable space with another Miami station, WKID-TV (channel 51, now WSCV
WSCV
WSCV Telemundo 51 is the Telemundo O&O that serves the Miami - Fort Lauderdale area and licensed to Fort Lauderdale. The transmitter is located in Miramar. The station also serves as the de facto Telemundo affiliate for the West Palm Beach market. The station is owned by NBCUniversal along with NBC...

), which presented old movies and sitcoms after WCIX left the air.

A few years after its launch, channel 6 launched The 10 O'Clock News, the first primetime newscast in South Florida. The station was the only general-entertainment independent in the market until 1976, when WHFT (channel 45) was purchased by LeSEA Broadcasting
LeSEA
LeSEA Broadcasting , also known as World Harvest Television, is an American Christian television network with over 40 affiliate stations in a number of U.S...

 and initiated a hybrid schedule of general-entertainment and religious programming. In 1980 WHFT was sold to the Trinity Broadcasting Network
Trinity Broadcasting Network
The Trinity Broadcasting Network is a major American Christian television network. TBN is based in Costa Mesa, California, with auxiliary studio facilities in Irving, Texas; Hendersonville, Tennessee; Gadsden, Alabama; Decatur, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Orlando, Florida; and New...

 and switched to religious programming full-time, leaving WCIX as the market's lone independent once again. However, it would receive competition once again in 1982 when WDZL (channel 39, now WSFL-TV
WSFL-TV
WSFL-TV, channel 39, is a The CW Television Network-affiliated television station located in Miami. Owned by the Tribune Company, the station shares studios with co-owned newspaper the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, and has its transmitter based in Miramar, Florida.It is a television station in...

) signed on.

General Cinema exchanged WCIX to the Taft Television and Radio Company
Taft Broadcasting
The Taft Broadcasting Company, also known as Taft Television and Radio Company, Incorporated, was an American media conglomerate based in Cincinnati, Ohio....

 in early 1983 for 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...

 affiliate WGR-TV (now WGRZ-TV
WGRZ-TV
WGRZ, virtual channel 2 , is the NBC-affiliated television station in Buffalo, New York. Its studio is located at 259 Delaware Avenue in downtown Buffalo. Its transmitter is located at 11530 Warner Hill Road in South Wales, New York...

) in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

. Under Taft, WCIX continued to be the leading independent station in South Florida, and moved from its original studios on Brickell Avenue in downtown Miami to its current facility in Doral (then unincorporated, now a separate city) in 1985. In 1986, WCIX became one of the charter affiliates of the newly-launched Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

, and was one of a handful of VHF stations to affiliate with Fox.

Acquired by CBS

After losing a bid to purchase then-CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 affiliate WTVJ
WTVJ
WTVJ, virtual channel 6 , is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC television network, located in Broward County. WTVJ shares its TV studio and office facility with co-owned Telemundo station WSCV in Miramar, Florida, and its transmitter is located near Sun Life Stadium in north...

 (then on channel 4) from then-owner Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
KKR & Co. L.P. is an American-based global private equity firm, specializing in leveraged buyouts, based in New York. The firm sponsors and manages private equity investment funds. Since its inception, the firm has completed over $400 billion of private equity transactions and was a pioneer in...

, CBS made a half-hearted offer to buy WCIX from Taft in January 1987. Taft declined, but a month later opted to sell all their independent stations and Fox affiliates, including WCIX, to the TVX Broadcast Group
TVX Broadcast Group
The TVX Broadcast Group was an American media company that owned a group of UHF television stations during the 1980s. Originally known as the Television Corporation, the company was headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, and was founded by a group of Norfolk-area businessmen led by Timothy McDonald...

. However, TVX became mired in debt as a result of the purchase, and began to sell off many of its medium- and small-market stations. Although TVX originally planned to keep WCIX, the company eventually decided that the station would have to be divested. One of the primary factors in the decision to sell was that WCIX was TVX's only VHF station, whereas its sisters were all on UHF.

KKR sold WTVJ to NBC in September 1987. However, CBS' affiliation contract with WTVJ expired at the end of 1988, as did NBC's contract with WSVN
WSVN
WSVN, channel 7, is a television station located in Miami, Florida, USA. WSVN is owned by Sunbeam Television, and is an affiliate of the Fox Broadcasting Company. The station has its studio facilities located in North Bay Village and transmitter based in north Miami-Dade County.WSVN operates a Key...

 (channel 7), its Miami affiliate since 1956. WSVN's parent company, Sunbeam Television
Sunbeam Television
Sunbeam Television Corporation is a broadcasting company based in Miami, Florida, and owns three television stations in the United States.-History:...

, was not willing to end channel 7's affiliation with NBC a year early. NBC was thus forced to run WTVJ as a CBS affiliate for over a year—a situation that didn't sit well with either NBC or CBS.

With the defection of WTVJ looming, CBS made another offer to TVX for WCIX in the spring of 1988. The two sides agreed to a final deal in August. In the interim, channel 6 agreed to air CBS programs pre-empted by WTVJ. Meanwhile, WSVN fought to retain its relationship with NBC, but later relented and approached CBS for an affiliation deal. CBS turned it down and went forward with its plans for WCIX despite its weak signal in Broward County.

The official affiliation changeover occurred on January 1, 1989: CBS' full schedule moved to WCIX, while NBC's full schedule of programming moved to WTVJ. Fox moved its programming over to WSVN, while most of WCIX's syndicated programs (a notable exception being Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...

, the rights to which are now owned by CBS
CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution is a global television distribution company, formed from the merger of CBS Corporation's two domestic television distribution arms CBS Paramount Domestic Television and King World Productions, including its home entertainment arm CBS Home Entertainment...

) went to WDZL. WCIX also began a half-hour newscast at 6:00 p.m., moved their 10:00 newscast to 11:00, and continued to increase its local news output in the early 1990s. CBS formally closed on its purchase of WCIX the next day. In the case of Miami-Fort Lauderdale, it is the only television market where Fox switched affiliates both on the VHF dial — and the only known instance of a long-time "Big Three
Big Three Television Networks
The Big Three Television Networks are the three traditional commercial broadcast television networks in the United States: ABC, CBS and NBC...

" affiliate switching to Fox prior to the U.S. television network affiliate switches of 1994.

Despite a significant technical overhaul and upgraded programming, WCIX struggled as a CBS station due to its weak signal in Fort Lauderdale. Despite operating a translator in the area on channel 27, CBS persuaded WPEC
WPEC
WPEC is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Gold and Treasure Coasts of South Florida. Licensed to West Palm Beach, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 13 from a transmitter in Lake Worth along U.S. 441/SR 7. The station is the flagship of Freedom Communications...

 (channel 12), the longtime ABC
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...

 affiliate in West Palm Beach, to switch to CBS (replacing UHF station WTVX
WTVX
WTVX is the CW-affiliated television station for West Palm Beach, Florida that is licensed to Fort Pierce. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 34 from a transmitter southwest of Palm City and I-95 in Martin County...

) in order to give the network a stronger signal in northern Broward County.

WCIX's transmission tower was brought down by Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew was the third Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the United States, after the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and Hurricane Camille in 1969. Andrew was the first named storm and only major hurricane of the otherwise inactive 1992 Atlantic hurricane season...

 on August 24, 1992, forcing the station off-air. Within hours, the station resumed transmission via its low power translator in Fort Lauderdale. WDZL began carrying WCIX's newscasts the next day, with the entire CBS schedule following a few days later. Within a week, WCIX was back on the air using an emergency transmitter on a borrowed tower. In the wake of the devastation, WCIX's staff helped create Neighbors Helping Neighbors, a grass roots charitable organization which aimed to help people rebuild. The organization lives on as Neighbors 4 Neighbors, which is still supported by the station.

Move to channel 4

In 1994, CBS and Westinghouse (Group W) 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....

 signed a long-term affiliation deal, part of which resulted in three Westinghouse-owned stations becoming CBS affiliates. As a sidebar, a subsequent deal between NBC and a new Group W/CBS joint venture was made in 1995, with CBS selling the channel 6 facility to NBC as compensation for the loss of two Westinghouse-owned NBC affiliates, 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 and WBZ-TV
WBZ-TV
WBZ-TV, virtual channel 4, is a CBS owned-and-operated television station, located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WBZ-TV's studios and office facilities, shared with sister station WSBK-TV , are located in the Allston-Brighton section of Boston, and its transmitter is located in Needham,...

 in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

. In return, Group W/CBS received the stronger channel 4 facility and cash as compensation for the loss of WCAU-TV in Philadelphia, which was being acquired by NBC. NBC also included stations in Denver
KCNC-TV
KCNC-TV, virtual channel 4, is a CBS owned-and-operated station television station in Denver, Colorado, owned by CBS Television Stations, Inc. KCNC broadcasts on UHF channel 35 from Lookout Mountain near Golden, Colorado.- Digital programming :...

 and Salt Lake City in the tradeoff to Group W/CBS.

At 1:00 a.m. on September 10, 1995, WCIX and WTVJ swapped dial positions. The entire WCIX intellectual unit (studios, CBS affiliation, programming and staff) moved from channel 6 to channel 4, thus returning CBS programming to channel 4 after a six-year hiatus. WTVJ had been Miami's CBS affiliate from its sign-on in 1949 until the 1989 switch to NBC. Along with the frequency change came a new set of call letters, WFOR-TV. Due to the way the asset exchange deal was structured, the two stations were required to swap licenses in addition to the transmitting facilities. As a result, the FCC considers WFOR-TV to be legally the same station as the original WTVJ; however, the studios of both WFOR-TV and WTVJ remained the same.

Under the terms of the deal, CBS sold controlling interest (55 percent) in WFOR-TV to Westinghouse, while retaining a minority interest (45 percent). WFOR became fully owned by CBS once again when the Westinghouse Electric Corporation
Westinghouse Electric (1886)
Westinghouse Electric was an American manufacturing company. It was founded in 1886 as Westinghouse Electric Company and later renamed Westinghouse Electric Corporation by George Westinghouse. The company purchased CBS in 1995 and became CBS Corporation in 1997...

 merged with CBS at the end of 1995. WFOR began its digital television
Digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television is the technological evolution of broadcast television and advance from analog television, which broadcasts land-based signals...

 service on May 1, 2001.
On January 11, 2010 WFOR-TV began broadcasting local newscasts from a temporary set in preparation for an upgrade to HD news broadcasts. This upgrade included a new set and HDTV cameras. On Sunday, January 24, 2010, WFOR-TV became the last major English-language station in the Miami television market and the last CBS-owned station that has a full news operation to make the upgrade to HD newscasts. (Currently, WWJ-TV
WWJ-TV
WWJ-TV, virtual channel 62 , is the CBS-owned and operated television station in Detroit, Michigan. It is co-owned with Detroit's CW station, WKBD-TV , and the two stations share a studio in Southfield, Michigan, a Detroit suburb....

 in Detroit is technically the only CBS-owned station with an in-house news operation that still broadcasts in standard definition
Standard-definition television
Sorete-definition television is a television system that uses a resolution that is not considered to be either enhanced-definition television or high-definition television . The term is usually used in reference to digital television, in particular when broadcasting at the same resolution as...

; however, it does not produce or air regular evening or late-night newscasts nor does it have a full-scale news department.) The newscasts on sister station WBFS-TV were also included in the upgrade.

Digital television

On June 12, 2009, WFOR-TV left channel 4 and continued broadcasting on channel 22 to complete its analog to digital conversion. However, through the use of PSIP
Program and System Information Protocol
The Program and System Information Protocol is the protocol used in the ATSC digital television system for carrying metadata about each channel in the broadcast MPEG transport stream of a TV station and for publishing information about television programs so that viewers can select what to watch...

, digital television receivers display WFOR-TV's virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....

 as "4".

News operation

With the hiring of a new news director, Shannon High-Bassalik, in 1999, major changes came to WFOR's news department. New anchors, a younger and hipper look, and flashy news coverage were all similar to the style seen at WSVN, where she was assistant news director. She also changed the newscast's name from News 4 South Florida to CBS 4 News. A short time later, Viacom bought CBS, making WFOR a sister station to UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...

 affiliate WBFS-TV, who subsequently moved into WFOR's studios (Viacom was also by this time the owner of some of WFOR's sister stations under TVX). The station also handled some support operations for WTVX
WTVX
WTVX is the CW-affiliated television station for West Palm Beach, Florida that is licensed to Fort Pierce. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 34 from a transmitter southwest of Palm City and I-95 in Martin County...

 in West Palm Beach until it was sold to Cerberus Capital Management
Cerberus Capital Management
Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. is one of the largest private equity investment firms in the United States. The firm is based in New York City, and run by -year-old financier Steve Feinberg. Former U.S...

 in 2007. When Viacom spun off CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation is an American media conglomerate focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, billboards and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBS's...

 in 2005, WFOR-TV and WBFS-TV became part of the new company.

Until June 2007, Maggie Rodriguez
Maggie Rodriguez
Margarita Dania Rodriguez is a former co-anchor of the CBS television program, The Early Show, from December 2007 through December 2010. Rodriguez was also a substitute anchor for Katie Couric on The CBS Evening News. Rodriguez was formerly co-anchor of the Saturday edition of The Early Show in 2007...

 and Elliot Rodriguez co-anchored the 5 and 11 p.m. newscasts; Maggie left the station to co-anchor the Saturday Early Show. Shannon Hori, formerly of sister station KTVT
KTVT
KTVT, virtual channel 11, is a CBS owned-and-operated television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, and serving the Dallas-Fort Worth designated market area. The station is co-owned with independent station KTXA , and the two stations share facilities in Dallas and Fort Worth...

 in Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...

, was named main anchor in June 2007. Also that month, news director High-Bassalik was forced to resign, and was replaced by Adrienne Roark. Roark left WFOR/WBFS in March 2010 to join CBS' Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex duopoly KTVT
KTVT
KTVT, virtual channel 11, is a CBS owned-and-operated television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, and serving the Dallas-Fort Worth designated market area. The station is co-owned with independent station KTXA , and the two stations share facilities in Dallas and Fort Worth...

/KTXA
KTXA
KTXA, virtual channel 21 , is an independent television station based in Fort Worth, Texas, and serving the Dallas/Fort Worth designated market area. With its transmitter in Cedar Hill, KTXA is owned by CBS Corporation and is the sister station of CBS outlet KTVT .KTXA was originally an...

. The current news director is Cesar Aldama.

On January 24, 2010, after about two weeks of preparation, WFOR debuted their newscasts and other local programming in high definition. The revamp included a major retooling of the news set, new studio equipment, master control changes, and graphics. Along with the revamp, a new logo was introduced, which would further emphasize a "South Florida feel" WFOR is the last English-language station in South Florida to begin broadcasting news and local programming in HD.

On August 9, 2010, WFOR joined other CBS O&O stations by releasing a new graphics package. The change mirrors the packages seen on WCBS and KCBS, whose openings involve a spinning glass CBS eye, and the station ID in the center, with video of various cities, like Miami-Dade, Broward County and the Keys. The color scheme is now a dark blue with the glass CBS eye featured prominently. A new logo was also introduced using the logo used on KCNC-TV, while keeping the wave of the former logo below it. Their news music package "Moving Forward" was retained in its original format. Recently they switched to "The Enforcer" music package, the basic theme of which has been used on many of CBS's O&O stations since the mid-1970s, when it was introduced by WBBM-TV.

Newscast titles

  • Channel 6 News (1967–1970s)
  • TV-6 News (1970s)
  • News Watch 6 (late 1970s–early 1980s)
  • 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...

     at Ten
    (early–mid 1980s)
  • The Ten O'Clock News (mid 1980s–January 1989)
  • Channel 6 News (January–April 1989)
  • (Channel) 6 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...

    (April 1989–1995)
  • News 4 South Florida (1995–1999, used when the station moved to Channel 4)
  • (South Florida's) CBS 4 News (1999–present)

Station slogans

  • Say 6 (19??–198?)
  • WCIX, Channel 6 -- Be a Part of It All! (mid-late 1980s)
  • Don't Let Fox 6 Weekends Pass You By (1987–1988; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
  • We're Earning Our Reputation One Story At A Time (1989–199?)
  • You're Going to Be Watching a Lot More 6! (1989–1995; used for newscast opens)
  • Taking Action For You (1992–1995)
  • Taking Action to Bring You a More Balanced View of South Florida (1992–1995)
  • Working For You (1995–1999; primary slogan)
  • News That Works For You (1995–2007; secondary slogan)
  • CBS 4 is Always On (2007–present)
  • South Florida's Smart Choice (2010–present)


News team

Anchors
  • Cynthia Demos - weeknights at 10 p.m. (on WBFS)
  • Shannon Hori - weeknights at 5, 5:30 and 11 p.m. and host of 4 Sunday Morning
  • Antonio Mora
    Antonio Mora
    Antonio Mora has been a news anchor at WFOR-TV in Miami since 2008. Before that, he served as an anchor at WBBM-TV in Chicago from 2002 to mid-January 2008. Prior to joining WBBM, he worked at ABC, where he was the news anchor for Good Morning America. He was the original anchor for Good Day L.A....

     - weeknights at 6 p.m.
  • Eliott Rodriguez
    Eliott Rodriguez
    Eliott Rodriguez is a Cuban-American television journalist who has received two Emmy Awards and two Edward R. Murrow Awards....

     - weeknights at 5, 5:30 and 11 p.m.; also host of News and Views with Eliott Rodriguez
  • Marybel Rodriguez - weekday mornings (5-7 a.m.); also reporter
  • Jawan Strader - weekday mornings (5-7 a.m.)
  • Natalia Zea - weekends at 6 and 11 p.m.; also weeknight reporter


CBS 4 Storm Specialists
  • David Bernard (AMS
    American Meteorological Society
    The 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 Meteorologist
    Certified Broadcast Meteorologist
    Certified 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,...

     and NWA
    National Weather Association
    The National Weather Association is an American professional association with a mission to support and promote excellence in operational meteorology and related activities...

     Seals of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m.
  • Jeff Berardelli (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekends at 6 and 11 p.m.
  • Lissette Gonzalez
    Lissette Gonzalez
    Lissette Gonzalez is the morning weather presenter for WFOR-TV CBS4 and WBFS-TV My 33 in South Florida, USA. Prior to that, she was the weather presenter for KTLA 5 Prime News, on weeknights at 10 PM in Los Angeles, CA...

     - meteorologist; weekday mornings (5-7 a.m.) and noon
  • Craig Setzer (AMS Seal of Approval; NWA Member) - meteorologist; weeknights at 10 p.m. (on WBFS); also fill-in meteorologist


Sports team
  • Jim Berry
    Jim Berry
    Jim Berry is an American comic strip artist.Berry was born in Chicago on January 16, 1932 and attended Dartmouth University and Ohio Wesleyan.In 1961, Berry began working for the Newspaper Enterprise Association....

     - sports director; weeknights at 6, 10 (on WBFS), and 11 p.m.
  • Kim Bokamper
    Kim Bokamper
    Kim Bokamper is a former American Football linebacker who played his entire nine year career with the National Football League Miami Dolphins from 1977 to 1985....

     - sports anchor; weekends at 6 and 11 p.m., also host of Sports Talk on WQAM-AM 560 (former Miami Dolphin
    Miami Dolphins
    The Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

    )
  • Jorge Sedano
    Jorge Sedano
    American Sports Broadcaster and Talk Show Host Jorge Sedano is the host of The Jorge Sedano Show on 790 The Ticket which airs from 6am-10am ET.. He's also currently a sports anchor at CBS4 WFOR-TV in Miami. He's also a contributor for the Miami Herald online Sports section...

     - sports anchor; fill-in, also morning host on WAXY
    WAXY
    WAXY is a radio station licensed in South Miami, Florida broadcasting on 790 kHz with a sports talk format. The station is owned by Lincoln Financial Media, which was previously known as Jefferson-Pilot Communications...

    -AM 790
  • Solange Reyner - web journalist
  • Syleys Roberts - sports reporter
  • Lesley Visser
    Lesley Visser
    Lesley Candace Visser is an American sportscaster, radio personality, and sportswriter. Visser is the first female NFL analyst on TV, and the only sportscaster in history, male or female, who has worked on Final Four, NBA Finals, World Series, Triple Crown, Monday Night Football, the Olympics, the...

     - sports reporter; also with CBS Sports
    CBS Sports
    CBS Sports is a division of CBS Broadcasting which airs sporting events on the American television network. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on West 52nd Street in midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on West 57th Street.CBS...



Reporters
  • Gio Benitez - general assignment reporter
  • Vanessa Borge - weekday morning traffic reporter
  • Carey Codd - general assignment reporter
  • Jim DeFede - evening news commentator; also host of The Jim DeFede Show on WFTL
    WFTL
    WFTL is a radio station with studios in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and licensed to West Palm Beach, Florida.WFTL serves Fort Lauderdale, Miami and The Palm Beaches. The station broadcasts a mix of news and mostly syndicated talk programming. Its signal is broadcast at 50,000 watts, covering all of...

    -AM 850
  • Peter D'Oench - general assignment reporter
  • Jorge Estevez - general assignment reporter
  • Michele Gillen - chief investigative reporter
  • Samantha Hayes - CNN
    CNN
    Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...

     NewsSource national politics reporter
  • Tiffani Helberg - general assignment reporter
  • Joan Murray - Broward County Bureau reporter
  • Gary Nelson - general assignment reporter
  • Maggie Newland - general assignment reporter
  • Lisa Petrillo - entertainment reporter and Extra
    Extra (TV series)
    Extra is an American entertainment television news program covering events and celebrities which debuted on September 5, 1994 in syndication. It is produced at Victory Studios in Glendale, California by Telepictures Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television Distribution...

    Miami correspondent
  • Ted Scouten - general assignment reporter
  • Stephen Stock - investigative reporter
  • Al Sunshine - chief consumer investigator and "Moneywatch" reporter/blogger; former "Shame On You" reporter and Miami Herald "Action Line" columnist
  • David Sutta - general assignment reporter

Station alumni

  • Gayle Anderson
    Gayle Anderson
    Gayle Anderson is a reporter for KTLA Morning News, whose participation in unique human interest stories has become a favorite among viewers....

     (now at KTLA
    KTLA
    KTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...

     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...

    )
  • Susan Barnett
    Susan Barnett
    Susan Barnett is anchor at KYW-TV for the 5, 6, and 11 P.M. newscasts and is a former beauty queen from Levittown, Pennsylvania who competed at Miss Teen USA 1990 and Miss USA 1996.-Pageantry:...

     (now at 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)
  • Lisa Cabrera
    Lisa Cabrera
    Lisa Cabrera is an American TV News Reporter and Host. She is currently a freelance TV reporter and Host living in New York City with her husband and daughter...

     (moved to WNYW-TV in New York, has since left the station)
  • Giselle Fernández
    Giselle Fernández
    -External links:...

  • John Hambrick
    John Hambrick
    John Hambrick is an American broadcast journalist, reporter, actor, and voice over announcer.-Broadcast journalist:Hambrick began his television career in 1963, at a station in Abilene, Texas. By 1967 he was working at WCPO-TV in Cincinnati when he was recruited by its sister station in...

     (1990–1993; retired to Texas, doing commercials & movies)
  • Robb Hanrahan
    Robb Hanrahan
    Robb 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-TV
    WHP-TV
    WHP-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)
  • Rob Jones
    Rob Jones (meteorologist)
    Robert A. "Rob" Jones is a television meteorologist who most recently worked for WTSP in St. Petersburg, Florida and NBC Weather Plus.- Education :...

     - freelancer, weekday morning weather (last at 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...

    )
  • Dave Malkoff
    Dave Malkoff
    Dave Malkoff is an American television journalist working for KTLA in Los Angeles. He has covered some of the most destructive hurricanes in US history and reported from several parts of Iraq at the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2010...

     (now at KTLA-TV 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...

    )
  • Bryan Norcross
    Bryan Norcross
    Bryan Norcross is a former television meteorologist and hurricane specialist for WFOR-TV and the chief hurricane analyst for CBS News in New York...

     - "Hurricane Specialist" seen during hurricane coverage, executive producer for WFOR's hurricane specials and CBS News
    CBS News
    CBS 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...

     hurricane consultant (now hurricane specialist for The Weather Channel
    The Weather Channel
    The Weather Channel is a US cable and satellite television network since May 2, 1982, that broadcasts weather forecasts and weather-related news, along with entertainment programming related to weather 24 hours a day...

    )
  • Bill O'Reilly
    Bill O'Reilly (political commentator)
    William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator. He is the host of the political commentary program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, which is the most watched cable news television program on American television...

     - political commentator (Fox news channel
    Fox News Channel
    Fox 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...

    )
  • Jeff Pegues
    Jeff Pegues
    Jeffrey Pegues is an American News Correspondent. Most recently, Jeff works as a reporter for WABC-TV in New York City....

     - reporter/anchor (2002–2005; now at WABC-TV
    WABC-TV
    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...

     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...

    )
  • Ralph Renick
    Ralph Renick
    Ralph Apperson Renick was a pioneer television news journalist for Miami's WTVJ, channel 4 , Florida's first television station...

     - commentator (1988–1990; deceased)
  • John Roberts (formerly J.D. Roberts) - anchor/reporter (Now at Fox news channel)
  • Maggie Rodriguez
    Maggie Rodriguez
    Margarita Dania Rodriguez is a former co-anchor of the CBS television program, The Early Show, from December 2007 through December 2010. Rodriguez was also a substitute anchor for Katie Couric on The CBS Evening News. Rodriguez was formerly co-anchor of the Saturday edition of The Early Show in 2007...

     - 5, 6, and 11 p.m. anchor (former co-anchor of The Early Show
    The Early Show
    The Early Show is an American television morning news talk show broadcast by CBS from New York City. The program airs live from 7 to 9 a.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday; most affiliates in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones air the show on tape-delay from 7 to 9 a.m. local time. ...

    on CBS)
  • Ken Rosato
    Ken Rosato
    Ken 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...

     - anchor (2000–2002; now at WABC-TV
    WABC-TV
    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...

     in New York City)
  • Jennifer Santiago
    Jennifer Santiago
    right|thumbnail|Jennifer SantiagoJennifer Santiago is an attorney, freelance writer, photographer and Emmy Award-Winning reporter for HDNews....

     (left September 28, 2007 for HDNews; hosted Travel Channel special and now DirecTV correspondent for "Hometown Heroes.")
  • Michael Williams
    Michael Williams
    Michael Leonard Williams was an English actor who played both classical and comedic roles, and was the husband of Dame Judi Dench.- Early life and career :Born in Liverpool, he attended St...

     - now at WPTV-TV in West Palm Beach

External links

}
}
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