WFXT
Encyclopedia
WFXT is a television station owned and operated
(O&O) by the News Corporation
-owned Fox Broadcasting Company
, located in Boston, Massachusetts. The station's studio and office facility is in Dedham, Massachusetts
, and its transmitter is located in Needham, Massachusetts
. WFXT is one of six Boston television stations seen in Canada
by subscribers of the Bell TV satellite service.
. The early format consisted of older syndicated reruns which were deemed to be "family-friendly", a healthy dose of religious programming (including CBN's own The 700 Club
), and programs of many other televangelists. Religious programming ran for about six hours a day during the week, and all day on Sundays. The station also picked up the daily and Sunday Mass
from the Boston Catholic Television Center
. Secular programming consisted of westerns, old movies, family type drama shows, old film shorts, and classic TV shows. By 1980, the religious programming was cut back on Sundays to 6 to 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. to midnight, and about four to five hours a day during the week. For several years during the WXNE era of Channel 25, CBN founder Pat Robertson
installed his son, Tim Robertson, as program director.
The station began adding more cartoons, made-for-TV movies, and off network sitcoms and family dramas in the early 1980s. Most notably, in 1980, WXNE was able to take over production of Candlepins For Cash, the weekday bowling show which had just been canceled by Boston CBS
affiliate WNAC-TV
after seven seasons. With new host Rico Petrocelli
, the show now aired out of the now-defunct Wal-Lex Lanes in Waltham, MA (the show had been aired from bowling lanes built in the basement of WNAC's studios). After only a few months as host, Petrocelli was ousted in favor of returning original WNAC host Bob Gamere
, who carried on until Candlepins ended its run on WXNE in 1983. During this time, the station rebranded itself "Boston 25", in the conversion to being a true independent. While the station was only on cable systems in the Greater Boston
market, WXNE was a solid third among independent stations, behind the longer-established WSBK-TV
and WLVI-TV
, and sixth among commercial television stations.
In 1986, WXNE was put up for sale along with other CBN stations. That October, News Corporation
purchased WXNE, with plans to make the station Boston's affiliate for its new network, Fox
, which had been unable to secure affiliation with WSBK or WLVI. Until the sale was completed, channel 25 did not air what was then the network's lone offering, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, Fox's inaugural program and a weeknight show which aired opposite Johnny Carson
's Tonight Show
on NBC
. The outgoing CBN ownership believed that the program did not fit its strict content guidelines. Fox instead contracted Boston radio station WMRE (1510 AM, now WWZN
) to carry the audio portion of the Late Show in the interim.
purchase of television stations which set the foundation for the new network at the time. Also, the new WFXT became the first network owned and operated television station in New England
. Besides adding The Late Show to the schedule, The 700 Club was demoted to a once-a-day airing, and the daily broadcast of a Roman Catholic Mass was moved to an earlier timeslot. The station changed its graphics to the then-Fox O&O model in Friz Quadrata
font. WXNE staff announcer Chris Clausen was let go in favor of the services of Fox affiliate voiceover Beau Weaver
, who would remain with both the station and Fox Television Stations for over a decade (Clausen would eventually land on WNEV-TV, now WHDH, as principal announcer that September). The schedule, however, was largely unchanged at the outset, outside of the removal of several older sitcoms that soon resurfaced at WQTV (now WBPX-TV). On April 5, 1987, the Sunday evening religious programming block was finally discontinued, when the Fox network began programming a Sunday primetime lineup.
Over the next few years, WFXT was unable to acquire the better programming and continued to only get shows that WSBK, WLVI, and the network affiliates passed on. Most of the shows added to WFXT were low-budget, first-run syndicated shows, cartoons and additional Fox programming.
In purchasing channel 25, Fox was granted a temporary waiver of a Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) rule prohibiting the common ownership of a television station and a newspaper in the same market. Fox's parent company, News Corporation, also published the Boston Herald
. In 1989, Fox placed WFXT in a trust company; the next year it sold the station outright to the Boston Celtics
, who maintained the network affiliation while making WFXT the basketball team's flagship. The station also gained a radio sister station, as the Celtics also purchased WEEI
(then at 590 AM, now WEZE
; now at 850 AM) at the same time. The Celtics, however, did not have the financial means to compete as a broadcaster. Still, under the Celtics, WFXT finally began to acquire stronger programming.
By 1992, WFXT was on many more cable systems in areas of New England
where Fox programming was not available. Locally, however, the station was still third (though not as distant as the CBN or early Fox days), behind WSBK and WLVI. Still, for a while under the Celtics' watch, WFXT was perceived to be in danger of losing its Fox affiliation. One of the instances was in the summer of 1994, when Westinghouse Broadcasting
signed a deal to affiliate all of its stations with CBS
, which caused WBZ-TV
to drop NBC for CBS at the beginning of 1995. Existing CBS affiliate WHDH-TV was thus deciding between NBC and Fox, the latter of which its sister station, WSVN
in Miami had been affiliated with since 1989. However, the Celtics soon began dropping hints about its intention to sell the station, including the shifting of the team's over-the-air telecasts to WSBK in 1993 (though WFXT officially stated that this was due to the difficulty of scheduling telecasts around the Fox lineup); furthermore, that October, Fox, as part of a larger deal, obtained an option to repurchase the station. News Corporation sold the Boston Herald in February 1994, opening the door for Fox to exercise the option in mid-1995. WHDH ultimately signed with NBC (if WHDH had joined Fox, they would have only been allowed to carry up to two
New England Patriots
football games each year, as they are part of the AFC, while Fox has rights to the NFC; WHDH's affiliation with NBC allowed them to carry most Patriots games from 1995-97).
As the 1990s progressed, WFXT began phasing in more talk and reality programs. It continued running weekday cartoons, such as Garfield and Friends
, and evening sitcoms. It was the last station running a morning kids block. WFXT was the television flagship of the Boston Red Sox
for the baseball team's 2000 through 2002 seasons (before and after that, WFXT would only carry the Red Sox if the game was being televised by Fox). WFXT is the only Boston television station that has never changed its network affiliation, having always been a Fox affiliate since the network's inception. The station launched a new website based on the Fox Television Stations internet division's new My Fox interface as of May 23, 2006. It became standard on all Fox owned-and-operated station websites in the next few months. However, the new site did not become WFXT's official web address until July 12.
At one point, the station was "tentatively planning" to air News Corporation-owned and Fox sister network MyNetworkTV
from 1 to 3 p.m. on the weekdays if the new network could not find an affiliate in the Boston market. On July 21, 2006, Derry, New Hampshire
-based WZMY-TV
was announced as Boston's affiliate of MyNetworkTV (which began operations on September 5). Although MyNetworkTV does not air on WFXT, the station has promoted programming for the network during its newscasts.
WFXT is the station featured in the 2006 film Deck the Halls
, which was distributed by News Corporation subsidiary 20th Century Fox
.
On October 12, 2007, Providence, Rhode Island
's Fox affiliate, WNAC-TV
, invoked the FCC's network non-duplication rule. This resulted in Comcast
blacking out Fox primetime and sports programming from WFXT on its cable systems in Bristol County, Massachusetts
. This change did not affect the airing of channel 25's syndicated lineup or newscasts. On July 31, 2008, the Charter
system in Westport
also became subject to the blackouts; this contributed to its eventual removal from that system on September 23. WFXT is also not available on the Verizon FiOS
cable system in the area.
WFXT's analog signal began malfunctioning on November 1, 2008 as a result of a power surge forcing the station to reduce its power. By December 9, the antenna deteriorated to the point that the station reduced its power to the point that in most areas, viewers could then only receive the station via cable, satellite, and its digital signal. The station then began to state that the possibility existed that channel 25 could have to cease its analog broadcast ahead of the DTV conversion date, at that time February 17, 2009. In the end, the station's analog service remained on the air even after that date (a result of the transition being delayed to June 12); however, after the antenna continued to fail (to the extent that the station estimated the signal was only reaching three percent of its former coverage, with no signal at all at the station's studio), the analog signal was finally shut off on February 27, 2009.
ceased analog broadcasting in December 2008, and the only Fox Television station not to terminate on the new June 12 transition date.
Many Boston-area residents had complained about poor reception of WFXT-DT compared to other major local broadcasters. This was due to the transmitter previously operating under a reduced power output of 78–kW from a side-mounted antenna. Bill Holbrook, Chief Engineer for WFXT, stated publicly that the full power broadcast would not be reached until August 2009, when construction of a new antenna and transmitter would be complete. However completion of the signal upgrades were completed in April 2009, when the new high power transmitter was turned on for the first time, giving WFXT a signal considered to be at par with the other high power stations licensed to Boston. The new antenna and transmission feedline had been replaced two weeks earlier. The license to cover, BLCDT-20090422ABH, was filed April 23, 2009.
It was also alleged that one reason for the previous low power broadcasts may be due to requirements to avoid interference with WTIC-TV
, a Fox affiliate in Hartford, Connecticut
which also broadcasts on the same digital channel (31) from less than 100 miles (160.9 km) away. However, this allegation was false; other Fox-owned stations including Philadelphia's WTXF declined to build out full-powered facilities prior to the transition date due to insufficient space in the transmitter building, on the tower, or both.
WFXT broadcasts a total of 40 hours of local news a week (seven and a half hours on weekdays, one hour on Saturdays and an hour and a half on Sundays). During weather segments, the station uses live National Weather Service
radar
data, which originates from the Local Forecast Office in Taunton
.
One of the few productive moves WFXT made under the Boston Celtics' ownership tenure was commissioning the regional cable news
channel New England Cable News
(NECN) to produce a 10 p.m. newscast, which was launched on September 7, 1993. Fox 25 News at 10 aired for a half-hour, and was initially anchored by Heather Kahn, with Tim Kelley on weather. Kahn lasted a year and a half in this role before transferring to ABC
affiliate WCVB-TV
; Lila Orbach replaced her on the newscast. Starting in September 1994, the 10 p.m. newscast was joined by a 12:30 p.m. newscast, which was subsequently canceled.
WFXT opted not to renew its contract with NECN in September 1995, with the final broadcast airing October 1; the next day, NECN moved the newscast to WSBK. For the next year, there was no local news on WFXT, and news programming consisted primarily of national Fox News updates that aired during the day. During this time, the station built an in-house news department from scratch, culminating in the September 9, 1996 launch of a new 10 p.m. broadcast, initially branded as Fox News Boston before reviving the Fox 25 News title. It was the second-to-last Fox-owned station to make such a launch.
Over the next decade, channel 25 expanded its news operation gradually. On June 4, 2001, WFXT added a 4:30 p.m., female-targeted newscast anchored by Jodi Applegate
. By fall 2002, the program was moved to 5 p.m., and on September 22, 2003, it was expanded to an hour and began using the same anchors and a similar format as the 10 p.m. broadcast, as Applegate became co-anchor, along with former WHDH-TV sports director Gene Lavanchy
, of a three-hour weekday morning newscast from 6 to 9 a.m., which launched the same day. A year later, Applegate left WFXT for sister station WNYW
's Good Day New York
and was replaced by former WHDH and WBZ-TV anchor Kim Carrigan. The station added an hour-long Sunday morning newscast at 9 a.m. on September 12, 2004; it was dropped in July 2009. A Sunday-Friday night 11 p.m. newscast, which immediately follows the 10 p.m. news, was added on November 5, 2007; the weekday morning newscast has also expanded since its launch, and has aired from 4:30 to 10 a.m. since September 20, 2010. The 5 p.m. newscast, which consistently placed fourth in its timeslot, was discontinued in favor of a half-hour 6 p.m. newscast on September 14, 2009. The 6 p.m. newscast was expanded to one hour with the launch of an additional half-hour newscast at 6:30 p.m. on March 14, 2011; the new newscast is the only local newscast in the Boston market in the 6:30 p.m. timeslot. Due to the shifts in its early evening newscast schedule, WFXT is the only Fox O&O with a 6 p.m. newscast, but no 5 p.m. newscast. WFXT is also one of only three Fox O&Os without a midday newscast (along with WNYW in New York City
and WOFL
in Orlando
).
Concurrent with the debut of the morning newscast, WFXT unveiled a 90000 square feet (8,361.3 m²) newsroom similar to that of WHDH, which also serves as the station's news set; it remains in use to this day. Channel 25 also opened a news bureau
on Beacon Hill
near the state house in downtown Boston, which serves as an interview location for Massachusetts
lawmakers as well as a home base for weekday morning commentator Doug "V.B." Goudie.
The station claims its 10 p.m. news is currently the top-rated late newscast in the Boston market. WFXT began using new music, graphics, and "Fox 25" logos (all based on that of its sister cable network, Fox News Channel
) in all newscasts on September 3, 2006; these elements have also been used on the other Fox-owned stations.
On May 19, 2009, WFXT and CBS duopoly
WBZ-TV/WSBK-TV announced a content sharing agreement between them. The stations will share video for general market news, along with a helicopter for traffic reports and breaking news. On June 14, 2009, starting with its 10 p.m. newscast, WFXT became the last station in the Boston market to launch news in high definition
. The station also adopted a new graphics package, also used by the other Fox-owned stations.
WFXT's newscasts were commonly seen in a fictional sense within the universe of David E. Kelley
's Boston-set shows Ally McBeal
, Boston Public
, and The Practice
. They were all produced by Fox's television production division 20th Century Fox Television
. This was despite The Practice airing on ABC.
Fox 25 Weather Team
"Sports Team"
Kristine Leahy-sports anchor/reporter
Reporters
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...
(O&O) by the News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
-owned 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...
, located in Boston, Massachusetts. The station's studio and office facility is in Dedham, Massachusetts
Dedham, Massachusetts
Dedham is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,729 at the 2010 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest by Westwood and on the southeast by...
, and its transmitter is located in Needham, Massachusetts
Needham, Massachusetts
Needham is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb of Boston, its population was 28,886 at the 2010 census.- History :...
. WFXT is one of six Boston television stations seen in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
by subscribers of the Bell TV satellite service.
WXNE-TV
Channel 25 signed on as WXNE-TV (for "Christ (X) in New England") on October 10, 1977. The station was originally owned by the Christian Broadcasting NetworkChristian Broadcasting Network
The Christian Broadcasting Network, or CBN, is a fundamentalist Christian television broadcasting network in the United States. Its headquarters and main studios are in Virginia Beach, Virginia.-Background:...
. The early format consisted of older syndicated reruns which were deemed to be "family-friendly", a healthy dose of religious programming (including CBN's own The 700 Club
The 700 Club
The 700 Club is the flagship news talk show of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing in syndication throughout the United States and Canada. In production since 1966, it is currently hosted by Pat Robertson, Terry Meeuwsen, Kristi Watts, and Gordon P. Robertson, two of whom will host on any...
), and programs of many other televangelists. Religious programming ran for about six hours a day during the week, and all day on Sundays. The station also picked up the daily and Sunday Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
from the Boston Catholic Television Center
CatholicTV
CatholicTV is a Catholic television network based in Watertown, Massachusetts. It is distributed on cable systems in eight U.S. states and via the internet....
. Secular programming consisted of westerns, old movies, family type drama shows, old film shorts, and classic TV shows. By 1980, the religious programming was cut back on Sundays to 6 to 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. to midnight, and about four to five hours a day during the week. For several years during the WXNE era of Channel 25, CBN founder Pat Robertson
Pat Robertson
Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson is a media mogul, television evangelist, ex-Baptist minister and businessman who is politically aligned with the Christian Right in the United States....
installed his son, Tim Robertson, as program director.
The station began adding more cartoons, made-for-TV movies, and off network sitcoms and family dramas in the early 1980s. Most notably, in 1980, WXNE was able to take over production of Candlepins For Cash, the weekday bowling show which had just been canceled by Boston 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 WNAC-TV
WHDH-TV
WHDH, digital channel 42 , is an NBC-affiliated television station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest NBC station not owned by the network. Owned by Sunbeam Television, WHDH is a sister station to CW affiliate WLVI...
after seven seasons. With new host Rico Petrocelli
Rico Petrocelli
Americo Peter "Rico" Petrocelli is an American retired baseball shortstop and third baseman who played his entire career in the American League with the Boston Red Sox...
, the show now aired out of the now-defunct Wal-Lex Lanes in Waltham, MA (the show had been aired from bowling lanes built in the basement of WNAC's studios). After only a few months as host, Petrocelli was ousted in favor of returning original WNAC host Bob Gamere
Bob Gamere
Bob Gamere is an American Sportscaster.-Career:A sports anchor on WNAC and announcer of Holy Cross football games, Gamere made his television play-by-play debut in 1970, succeeding Jerry Coleman as a broadcaster for the New York Yankees on WPIX...
, who carried on until Candlepins ended its run on WXNE in 1983. During this time, the station rebranded itself "Boston 25", in the conversion to being a true independent. While the station was only on cable systems in the Greater Boston
Greater Boston
Greater Boston is the area of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts surrounding the city of Boston. Due to ambiguity in usage, the size of the area referred to can be anywhere between that of the metropolitan statistical area of Boston and that of the city's combined statistical area which includes...
market, WXNE was a solid third among independent stations, behind the longer-established WSBK-TV
WSBK-TV
WSBK-TV is a MyNetworkTV television station for eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire that is licensed to Boston. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter along the Needham and Wellesley town line southwest of the MA 9 and I-95 / MA 128...
and WLVI-TV
WLVI-TV
WLVI, digital channel 41, is a television station licensed to Cambridge, Massachusetts which serves as the CW affiliate for the Boston, Massachusetts television market. WLVI is owned by Sunbeam Television, and is a sister station to WHDH, Boston's NBC affiliate. The two stations share studios at...
, and sixth among commercial television stations.
In 1986, WXNE was put up for sale along with other CBN stations. That October, News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
purchased WXNE, with plans to make the station Boston's affiliate for its new network, Fox
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...
, which had been unable to secure affiliation with WSBK or WLVI. Until the sale was completed, channel 25 did not air what was then the network's lone offering, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, Fox's inaugural program and a weeknight show which aired opposite Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
's Tonight Show
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....
on 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...
. The outgoing CBN ownership believed that the program did not fit its strict content guidelines. Fox instead contracted Boston radio station WMRE (1510 AM, now WWZN
WWZN
WWZN is an AM radio station licensed to serve the Boston media market. Its programming is a time-brokered mix between progressive talk radio during the daytime , sports talk and religious programming in the overnight hours...
) to carry the audio portion of the Late Show in the interim.
WFXT
When the sale to Murdoch was completed on January 19, 1987, Fox renamed the station WFXT and made a complete overhaul of the station's presentation. At the time this happened, WFXT became the seventh Fox-owned property and the first one not apart of the 1986 MetromediaMetromedia
Metromedia was a media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and owned Orion Pictures from 1986-1997.- Overview :...
purchase of television stations which set the foundation for the new network at the time. Also, the new WFXT became the first network owned and operated television station in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
. Besides adding The Late Show to the schedule, The 700 Club was demoted to a once-a-day airing, and the daily broadcast of a Roman Catholic Mass was moved to an earlier timeslot. The station changed its graphics to the then-Fox O&O model in Friz Quadrata
Friz Quadrata
Friz Quadrata is a glyphic serif typeface designed by Ernst Friz and Victor Caruso in 1973. It is currently available from the ITC and Linotype foundries.-Usage:...
font. WXNE staff announcer Chris Clausen was let go in favor of the services of Fox affiliate voiceover Beau Weaver
Beau Weaver
Beau Weaver is an American voice actor and narrator in television and film, heard widely in trailers for feature films, network television promos, documentaries, national radio and television commercials and animated cartoons. He became a disc jockey at age 15 and is sometimes known as Beauregard...
, who would remain with both the station and Fox Television Stations for over a decade (Clausen would eventually land on WNEV-TV, now WHDH, as principal announcer that September). The schedule, however, was largely unchanged at the outset, outside of the removal of several older sitcoms that soon resurfaced at WQTV (now WBPX-TV). On April 5, 1987, the Sunday evening religious programming block was finally discontinued, when the Fox network began programming a Sunday primetime lineup.
Over the next few years, WFXT was unable to acquire the better programming and continued to only get shows that WSBK, WLVI, and the network affiliates passed on. Most of the shows added to WFXT were low-budget, first-run syndicated shows, cartoons and additional Fox programming.
In purchasing channel 25, Fox was granted a temporary waiver of a Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) rule prohibiting the common ownership of a television station and a newspaper in the same market. Fox's parent company, News Corporation, also published the Boston Herald
Boston Herald
The Boston Herald is a daily newspaper that serves Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and its surrounding area. It was started in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States...
. In 1989, Fox placed WFXT in a trust company; the next year it sold the station outright to the Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
, who maintained the network affiliation while making WFXT the basketball team's flagship. The station also gained a radio sister station, as the Celtics also purchased WEEI
WEEI
WEEI is a sports radio station in Boston, Massachusetts, that broadcasts on 850 kHz from a transmitter in Needham, Massachusetts, and is owned by Entercom Communications. The station is one of the top-rated sports talk radio stations in the nation. Studios are located in Brighton, Massachusetts...
(then at 590 AM, now WEZE
WEZE
WEZE is an AM radio station in Boston, Massachusetts on 590 kHz. The station is owned by Salem Communications and airs Religious programming.- History :...
; now at 850 AM) at the same time. The Celtics, however, did not have the financial means to compete as a broadcaster. Still, under the Celtics, WFXT finally began to acquire stronger programming.
By 1992, WFXT was on many more cable systems in areas of New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
where Fox programming was not available. Locally, however, the station was still third (though not as distant as the CBN or early Fox days), behind WSBK and WLVI. Still, for a while under the Celtics' watch, WFXT was perceived to be in danger of losing its Fox affiliation. One of the instances was in the summer of 1994, when 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....
signed a deal to affiliate all of its stations with 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...
, which caused 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,...
to drop NBC for CBS at the beginning of 1995. Existing CBS affiliate WHDH-TV was thus deciding between NBC and Fox, the latter of which its sister station, 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...
in Miami had been affiliated with since 1989. However, the Celtics soon began dropping hints about its intention to sell the station, including the shifting of the team's over-the-air telecasts to WSBK in 1993 (though WFXT officially stated that this was due to the difficulty of scheduling telecasts around the Fox lineup); furthermore, that October, Fox, as part of a larger deal, obtained an option to repurchase the station. News Corporation sold the Boston Herald in February 1994, opening the door for Fox to exercise the option in mid-1995. WHDH ultimately signed with NBC (if WHDH had joined Fox, they would have only been allowed to carry up to two
NFL on FOX
NFL on Fox is the brand name of the Fox Broadcasting Company's coverage of the National Football League's National Football Conference games, produced by Fox Sports...
New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
football games each year, as they are part of the AFC, while Fox has rights to the NFC; WHDH's affiliation with NBC allowed them to carry most Patriots games from 1995-97).
As the 1990s progressed, WFXT began phasing in more talk and reality programs. It continued running weekday cartoons, such as Garfield and Friends
Garfield and Friends
Garfield and Friends is an American animated television series based on the comic strip Garfield by Jim Davis. The show was produced by Film Roman, in association with United Feature Syndicate and Paws, Inc., and ran on CBS Saturday mornings from September 17, 1988 to December 10, 1994, with...
, and evening sitcoms. It was the last station running a morning kids block. WFXT was the television flagship of the Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
for the baseball team's 2000 through 2002 seasons (before and after that, WFXT would only carry the Red Sox if the game was being televised by Fox). WFXT is the only Boston television station that has never changed its network affiliation, having always been a Fox affiliate since the network's inception. The station launched a new website based on the Fox Television Stations internet division's new My Fox interface as of May 23, 2006. It became standard on all Fox owned-and-operated station websites in the next few months. However, the new site did not become WFXT's official web address until July 12.
At one point, the station was "tentatively planning" to air News Corporation-owned and Fox sister network MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
from 1 to 3 p.m. on the weekdays if the new network could not find an affiliate in the Boston market. On July 21, 2006, Derry, New Hampshire
Derry, New Hampshire
-Climate:-Demographics:As of the census of 2010, there were 33,109 people, 12,537 households, and 8,767 families residing in the town. The population density was 924.8 people per square mile . There were 13,277 housing units at an average density of 143.2/km²...
-based WZMY-TV
WZMY-TV
WBIN-TV is an independent station licensed to Derry, New Hampshire and serving the Boston market. Its transmitter is located on Merrill Hill in Hudson, New Hampshire. Owned by Carlisle One Media, the station has studios on A Street in Derry...
was announced as Boston's affiliate of MyNetworkTV (which began operations on September 5). Although MyNetworkTV does not air on WFXT, the station has promoted programming for the network during its newscasts.
WFXT is the station featured in the 2006 film Deck the Halls
Deck the Halls (film)
Deck the Halls is a 2006 family comedy film set during the Christmas season in Massachusetts. It stars Danny DeVito, Matthew Broderick, Kristin Davis, and Kristin Chenoweth and is directed by John Whitesell.- Plot :...
, which was distributed by News Corporation subsidiary 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
.
On October 12, 2007, Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
's Fox affiliate, WNAC-TV
WNAC-TV
WNAC-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for the state of Rhode Island and Bristol County, Massachusetts licensed to Providence. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 12 from a transmitter on Homestead Avenue in Rehoboth, Massachusetts...
, invoked the FCC's network non-duplication rule. This resulted in Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
blacking out Fox primetime and sports programming from WFXT on its cable systems in Bristol County, Massachusetts
Bristol County, Massachusetts
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 534,678 people, 205,411 households, and 140,706 families residing in the county. The population density was 962 people per square mile . There were 216,918 housing units at an average density of 390 per square mile...
. This change did not affect the airing of channel 25's syndicated lineup or newscasts. On July 31, 2008, the Charter
Charter Communications
Charter Communications is an American company providing cable television, high-speed Internet, and telephone services to more than 4.7 million customers in 25 states. By revenues, it is the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States, behind Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Cox Communications...
system in Westport
Westport, Massachusetts
Westport is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 15,532 at the 2010 census.The village of North Westport lies in the town.- History :...
also became subject to the blackouts; this contributed to its eventual removal from that system on September 23. WFXT is also not available on the 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...
cable system in the area.
WFXT's analog signal began malfunctioning on November 1, 2008 as a result of a power surge forcing the station to reduce its power. By December 9, the antenna deteriorated to the point that the station reduced its power to the point that in most areas, viewers could then only receive the station via cable, satellite, and its digital signal. The station then began to state that the possibility existed that channel 25 could have to cease its analog broadcast ahead of the DTV conversion date, at that time February 17, 2009. In the end, the station's analog service remained on the air even after that date (a result of the transition being delayed to June 12); however, after the antenna continued to fail (to the extent that the station estimated the signal was only reaching three percent of its former coverage, with no signal at all at the station's studio), the analog signal was finally shut off on February 27, 2009.
Digital television
WFXT ceased broadcasting in analog on February 27, 2009, becoming the second English-language station from the six major networks in Boston to do so after WZMY-TVWZMY-TV
WBIN-TV is an independent station licensed to Derry, New Hampshire and serving the Boston market. Its transmitter is located on Merrill Hill in Hudson, New Hampshire. Owned by Carlisle One Media, the station has studios on A Street in Derry...
ceased analog broadcasting in December 2008, and the only Fox Television station not to terminate on the new June 12 transition date.
Many Boston-area residents had complained about poor reception of WFXT-DT compared to other major local broadcasters. This was due to the transmitter previously operating under a reduced power output of 78–kW from a side-mounted antenna. Bill Holbrook, Chief Engineer for WFXT, stated publicly that the full power broadcast would not be reached until August 2009, when construction of a new antenna and transmitter would be complete. However completion of the signal upgrades were completed in April 2009, when the new high power transmitter was turned on for the first time, giving WFXT a signal considered to be at par with the other high power stations licensed to Boston. The new antenna and transmission feedline had been replaced two weeks earlier. The license to cover, BLCDT-20090422ABH, was filed April 23, 2009.
It was also alleged that one reason for the previous low power broadcasts may be due to requirements to avoid interference with WTIC-TV
WTIC-TV
WTIC-TV, channel 61, is a television station in Hartford, Connecticut. Owned by the Tribune Company, WTIC-TV is a charter affiliate of the Fox Broadcasting Company...
, a Fox affiliate in Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
which also broadcasts on the same digital channel (31) from less than 100 miles (160.9 km) away. However, this allegation was false; other Fox-owned stations including Philadelphia's WTXF declined to build out full-powered facilities prior to the transition date due to insufficient space in the transmitter building, on the tower, or both.
News operation
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service , once known as the Weather Bureau, is one of the six scientific agencies that make up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States government...
radar
Weather radar
Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, estimate its type . Modern weather radars are mostly pulse-Doppler radars, capable of detecting the motion of rain droplets in addition to the...
data, which originates from the Local Forecast Office in Taunton
Taunton, Massachusetts
Taunton is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the seat of Bristol County and the hub of the Greater Taunton Area. The city is located south of Boston, east of Providence, north of Fall River and west of Plymouth. The City of Taunton is situated on the Taunton River...
.
One of the few productive moves WFXT made under the Boston Celtics' ownership tenure was commissioning the regional cable news
United States cable news
Cable news refers to television channels devoted to television news broadcasts, with the name deriving from the proliferation of such networks during the 1980s with the advent of cable television. In the United States, early networks included CNN in 1980, Financial News Network in 1981, and CNN2 ...
channel New England Cable News
New England Cable News
New England Cable News is a regional 24-hour cable news television network owned and operated by NBCUniversal serving the New England region of the United States. It is very similar to CNN in structure and style, but focuses more on regional news. The channel is also similar to Northwest Cable...
(NECN) to produce a 10 p.m. newscast, which was launched on September 7, 1993. Fox 25 News at 10 aired for a half-hour, and was initially anchored by Heather Kahn, with Tim Kelley on weather. Kahn lasted a year and a half in this role before transferring to 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 WCVB-TV
WCVB-TV
WCVB-TV, channel 5, is a television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, owned by Hearst Television and affiliated with the ABC Television Network. WCVB-TV's studios and transmitter are co-located in Needham, Massachusetts. WCVB is also one of six Boston television stations seen in Canada by...
; Lila Orbach replaced her on the newscast. Starting in September 1994, the 10 p.m. newscast was joined by a 12:30 p.m. newscast, which was subsequently canceled.
WFXT opted not to renew its contract with NECN in September 1995, with the final broadcast airing October 1; the next day, NECN moved the newscast to WSBK. For the next year, there was no local news on WFXT, and news programming consisted primarily of national Fox News updates that aired during the day. During this time, the station built an in-house news department from scratch, culminating in the September 9, 1996 launch of a new 10 p.m. broadcast, initially branded as Fox News Boston before reviving the Fox 25 News title. It was the second-to-last Fox-owned station to make such a launch.
Over the next decade, channel 25 expanded its news operation gradually. On June 4, 2001, WFXT added a 4:30 p.m., female-targeted newscast anchored by Jodi Applegate
Jodi Applegate
Jodi Applegate is an American news anchor for WPIX New York. She formerly anchored WNYW-TV's Good Day New York and News 12 Long Island.-Life and career:...
. By fall 2002, the program was moved to 5 p.m., and on September 22, 2003, it was expanded to an hour and began using the same anchors and a similar format as the 10 p.m. broadcast, as Applegate became co-anchor, along with former WHDH-TV sports director Gene Lavanchy
Gene Lavanchy
Gene P. Lavanchy , is an American radio and television personality and journalist, and a co-host of WFXT's Fox 25 Morning News in Boston.- Education and career :...
, of a three-hour weekday morning newscast from 6 to 9 a.m., which launched the same day. A year later, Applegate left WFXT for sister station WNYW
WNYW
WNYW, virtual channel 5 , is the flagship television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in New York City. The station's transmitter is atop the Empire State Building and its studio facilities are located in the Yorkville section of Manhattan...
's Good Day New York
Good Day New York
Good Day New York is a weekday morning news and entertainment feature show which airs on WNYW, the New York City flagship television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company...
and was replaced by former WHDH and WBZ-TV anchor Kim Carrigan. The station added an hour-long Sunday morning newscast at 9 a.m. on September 12, 2004; it was dropped in July 2009. A Sunday-Friday night 11 p.m. newscast, which immediately follows the 10 p.m. news, was added on November 5, 2007; the weekday morning newscast has also expanded since its launch, and has aired from 4:30 to 10 a.m. since September 20, 2010. The 5 p.m. newscast, which consistently placed fourth in its timeslot, was discontinued in favor of a half-hour 6 p.m. newscast on September 14, 2009. The 6 p.m. newscast was expanded to one hour with the launch of an additional half-hour newscast at 6:30 p.m. on March 14, 2011; the new newscast is the only local newscast in the Boston market in the 6:30 p.m. timeslot. Due to the shifts in its early evening newscast schedule, WFXT is the only Fox O&O with a 6 p.m. newscast, but no 5 p.m. newscast. WFXT is also one of only three Fox O&Os without a midday newscast (along with WNYW 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...
and WOFL
WOFL
WOFL, channel 35, is the Fox owned-and-operated television station serving the Orlando, Florida metropolitan area. It is licensed to Orlando, with studios located in Lake Mary. It broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 22. On cable, WOFL-TV is currently seen on channel 3 for subscribers of...
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...
).
Concurrent with the debut of the morning newscast, WFXT unveiled a 90000 square feet (8,361.3 m²) newsroom similar to that of WHDH, which also serves as the station's news set; it remains in use to this day. Channel 25 also opened a news bureau
News bureau
A News bureau is an office for gathering or distributing news. Similar terms are used for specialized bureaus, often to indicate geographic location or scope of coverage: a ‘Tokyo bureau’ refers to a given news operation's office in Tokyo; foreign bureau is a generic term for a news office set up...
on Beacon Hill
Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts
Beacon Hill is a historic neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, that along with the neighboring Back Bay is home to about 26,000 people. It is a neighborhood of Federal-style rowhouses and is known for its narrow, gas-lit streets and brick sidewalks...
near the state house in downtown Boston, which serves as an interview location for Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
lawmakers as well as a home base for weekday morning commentator Doug "V.B." Goudie.
The station claims its 10 p.m. news is currently the top-rated late newscast in the Boston market. WFXT began using new music, graphics, and "Fox 25" logos (all based on that of its sister cable network, 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...
) in all newscasts on September 3, 2006; these elements have also been used on the other Fox-owned stations.
On May 19, 2009, WFXT and CBS duopoly
Duopoly
A true duopoly is a specific type of oligopoly where only two producers exist in one market. In reality, this definition is generally used where only two firms have dominant control over a market...
WBZ-TV/WSBK-TV announced a content sharing agreement between them. The stations will share video for general market news, along with a helicopter for traffic reports and breaking news. On June 14, 2009, starting with its 10 p.m. newscast, WFXT became the last station in the Boston market to launch news 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...
. The station also adopted a new graphics package, also used by the other Fox-owned stations.
WFXT's newscasts were commonly seen in a fictional sense within the universe of David E. Kelley
David E. Kelley
David Edward Kelley is an American television writer and producer, known as the creator of Picket Fences, Chicago Hope, The Practice, Ally McBeal, Boston Public, Boston Legal and Harry's Law, as well as several films. Kelley is one of the only screenwriters to have had a show created by him run on...
's Boston-set shows Ally McBeal
Ally McBeal
Ally McBeal is an American legal comedy-drama series which aired on the Fox network from 1997 to 2002. The series was created by David E. Kelley, who also served as the executive producer, along with Bill D'Elia...
, Boston Public
Boston Public
Boston Public is an American drama television series created by David E. Kelley and broadcast on Fox. It centered on Winslow High School, a fictional public high school located in Boston, Massachusetts. The show was named for the real public school district in which it takes place...
, and The Practice
The Practice
The Practice is an American legal drama created by David E. Kelley centering on the partners and associates at a Boston law firm. Running for eight seasons from 1997 to 2004, the show won the Emmy in 1998 and 1999 for Best Drama Series, and spawned the successful and lighter spin-off series Boston...
. They were all produced by Fox's television production division 20th Century Fox Television
20th Century Fox Television
20th Century Fox Television is the television production division of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, and a production arm of the Fox Broadcasting Company...
. This was despite The Practice airing on ABC.
Newscast titles
- Fox 25 News at 10 (September 7, 1993–October 1, 1995)
- Fox News Boston (September 9, 1996–1997)
- Fox 25 News (umbrella title; 1997–present)
- Fox 25 Morning News (September 22, 2003–present)
- Fox 25 News at 4:30 (June 4, 2001-2002)
- Fox 25 News at 5 (2002–September 11, 2009)
- Fox 25 News at 6 (September 14, 2009-present)
- Fox 25 News at 6:30 (March 14, 2011-present)
- Fox 25 News at 10 (1997–present)
- Fox 25 News at 11 (November 5, 2007–present)
Station slogans
- So Fox 25 (2008–present; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
Current on-air staff
Anchors- Kim Carrigan – weekday mornings "Fox 25 Morning News" (4:30-10 a.m.)
- Gene LavanchyGene LavanchyGene P. Lavanchy , is an American radio and television personality and journalist, and a co-host of WFXT's Fox 25 Morning News in Boston.- Education and career :...
– weekday mornings "Fox 25 Morning News" (4:30-10 a.m.) - Shannon Mulaire – weekends at 10, and Sundays at 11 p.m.; also sports and weekday reporter
- Mark Ockerbloom – weeknights at 6, 10 and 11 p.m.
- Adam Pellerin- weekends at 10,and sundays at 11pm also weekday reporter-temporally
- Maria Stephanos – weeknights at 6, 10 and 11 p.m.
Fox 25 Weather Team
- Kevin Lemanowicz (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) – chief meteorologist; Mondays-Fridays at 6, 10 and 11 p.m. - A. J. BurnettA. J. Burnett (meteorologist)Andrew John Burnett is a television meteorologist for WFXT FOX25 in the Boston area.Burnett grew up in Centerville, Massachusetts and graduated in 1992 from Barnstable High School. He then attended and graduated from Rutgers University in 1996 with a B.S...
(AMS Seal of Approval) – meteorologist; weekends at 10 and 11 p.m., also environmental reporter and weekday fill-in meteorologist - Cindy Fitzgibbon (AMS Seal of Approval) – meteorologist; weekday mornings "Fox 25 Morning News" (4:30-10 a.m.)
- Sarah Wroblewski – meteorologist; weekend fill-in
"Sports Team"
Kristine Leahy-sports anchor/reporter
Reporters
- Mike Beaudet – investigative reporter,fill in anchor
- Brett Connolly – general assignment reporter
- Ted Daniel – general assignment reporter
- Tyisha Fernandes – general assignment reporter
- Doug "V.B." Goudie – weekday morning commentator
- Crystal Haynes- general assignment reporter
- Jared Hollbrook – general assignment reporter
- Elizabeth Hopkins – weekday morning contributing reporter,morning fill in anchor
- Nicole Jacobs – general assignment reporter
- Erica Ricci-general assignment reporter
- Sharman Sacchetti – general assignment reporter
- Bob Ward – fill-in anchor; also "New England's Unsolved" segment producer
Former on-air staff
- Jodi ApplegateJodi ApplegateJodi Applegate is an American news anchor for WPIX New York. She formerly anchored WNYW-TV's Good Day New York and News 12 Long Island.-Life and career:...
– anchor (2001–2004) - Erin HawksworthErin HawksworthErin Hawksworth is a Canadian reporter, who works for KCPQ, the Fox affiliate in Seattle. Previously, she worked for WFXT, the Fox affiliate in Boston, WFAA in Dallas, Texas and KJCT in Grand Junction, Colorado...
- reporter - Debbi Rodman – reporter (2000–2009)
- Butch StearnsButch StearnsButch Stearns is an American television and radio personality. He is a former sports anchor for WFXT and radio host for WEEI, both located in Boston, Massachusetts.-Television:...
– sports director (1999–2009)