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WUSA (TV)
Encyclopedia
WUSA is a television station broadcasting on channel 9 in Washington, D.C.
. Owned by the Gannett Company
, WUSA is an affiliate of the CBS
television network, and the longest-tenured affiliate of that network. WUSA's studios and transmitter are located in the Tenleytown
neighborhood of Washington.
. Bamberger also owned WOR-AM
-FM in New York City
, and was working to put WOR-TV (now WWOR-TV
) on the air at the same time. Nine days later, WOIC broadcast the first televised American
presidential inaugural address, given by President Harry S. Truman
.
WOIC-TV picked up the CBS affiliation upon signing on, replacing WMAL-TV (channel 7, now WJLA-TV
) as CBS's Washington outlet. But the Bamberger/Macy's ownership had other plans for their station: both WOIC and its New York sister station were scheduled to become affiliates of a planned television network operated by Mutual Radio. However, Mutual Television never made it to air, leaving channel 9 to remain a CBS station.
to WTOP-TV, after its new sister stations WTOP radio
(then at 1500 AM) and WTOP-FM (96.3 MHz., now WHUR-FM
). Since WTOP took the callsign from the radio partners at the time, the callsign was a coincidence under ownership of the publisher, since they never stood for WashingTOn Post.
In July 1950, WTOP-TV became the first television station in Washington authorized to broadcast color television in the 405-line field sequential color standard, which was incompatible with the black-and-white 525-line NTSC standard. Color broadcasts continued for nearly 30 months, when regulatory and commercial pressures forced the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) to rescind its original color standard and begin the process of adopting the 525-line NTSC-3 standard, developed by RCA to be backwards compatible with the existing black-and-white televisions.
In 1954, the WTOP stations moved into a new facility, known as "Broadcast House", at 40th and Brandywine streets NW in Washington. The building was the first in the country designed as a unified radio and television facility. Its name was in honor of Broadcasting House
, home of the BBC
in London
. The building was well-known to WTOP's president. since he had spent much of World War II assigned to the BBC. Previous to the move to Broadcast House, the radio stations operated out of the Earle Building (now the Warner Building, home of the Warner Theatre
), and WTOP-TV had operated out of the small WOIC studios at the same location. When Broadcast House was completed and the new television studios were inaugurated, the old studio became the garage for Broadcast House and the old master control room became both the master control and transmitter room for channel 9, since Broadcast House had been built around the station's original, four-sided tower. The building with the tower remains in the middle at the same location, although it is now an office building and retail store front operated by Douglas Development Corp.
The WTOP-TV tower was known in Washington for two things. First, at Christmas
time, the tower was strung with Christmas lights and glowed brightly on top of Mount Reno, the tallest point in the District of Columbia. Second, the tower tended to sway much more than three-sided towers. In a strong wind the tower could be seen swaying back-and-forth, and during the winter ice from the tower fell quite often on the streets below.
Also in 1954, CBS sold its share of WTOP Inc. to the Washington Post to comply with the Federal Communications Commission
's new seven-station-per-group ownership rule. CBS's partial ownership of WTOP radio and WCCO radio in Minneapolis
exceeded the FCC's limit for AM stations. CBS opted to sell its share of WTOP, which it had purchased in whole in 1932 before selling controlling interest to the Post in 1949.
After the sale closed, the Post merged the WTOP stations with its other broadcast property, WMBR
-AM-TV in Jacksonville, Florida
and changed the name of the licensee from "WTOP Inc." to "Post Stations, Inc." WMBR radio was sold off in 1958, and WMBR-TV became WJXT
. The Post renamed its broadcasting group "Post-Newsweek Stations
" in 1961 after the Post bought Newsweek
magazine. Post-Newsweek acquired its third television station, WLBW-TV (now WPLG
) in Miami in 1970 and in 1974 added WTIC-TV (now WFSB
) in Hartford, Connecticut
to the group.
In 1972, WTOP-TV joined with the Evening Star Broadcasting Company (owned by the Post's rival, the now-defunct Washington Star
and licensee of WMAL-TV) to build the Joint Tower, a 1040 feet (317 m), three-sided tower across the alley from Broadcast House at 4010 Chesapeake Street, NW. Transmission lines were extended from Broadcast House's transmitter area to the new tower for both WTOP-TV and WHUR-FM (the former WTOP-FM, which had been donated by Post-Newsweek to Howard University
in 1971). The old tower continued to serve as the backup antenna for channel 9 until the station sold Broadcast House in 1996.
In 1974, WTOP and the other Post-Newsweek stations adopted the slogan The One and Only. The moniker was part of a trend toward group identification of stations, with each station being The One and Only Channel (channel number). Staff members from the One and Only period usually refer to themselves as "the one and onlies" as a source of pride. The slogan was dropped from active use in the late 1990s and has not been used as part of an image campaign since 1996. The slogan no longer appears on the air, but was revived in a sense when channel 9 adopted its current slogan, First and Only with Local News in HDTV.
, and M for Maryland
. The Washington Post and the Evening News Association, which published the Detroit News, decided to swap their stations for fear the FCC would force them to sell the stations at unfavorable terms or revoke their very valuable licenses because the FCC at the time was considering forbidding ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations in the same market.
, 1986, Gannett changed WDVM's call letters to WUSA both in honor of the station being located in the nation's capital and Gannett's ownership of USA Today
. The same connection is noted with Gannett's NBC-affiliated Denver
station, KUSA-TV
. The WUSA callsign had previously been used by Gannett's station in Minneapolis, which changed its callsign to KARE
. While the station's current call sign is commonly printed as W*USA, particularly in Gannett press releases, the asterisk
or star
between the W and U is not officially recognized as part of the call sign, as FCC records list the station as WUSA. The star device was used to denote its connection to USA Today. (KUSA-TV employs a similar practice.) After the Women's United Soccer Association
(the WUSA) was founded in the late 1990s (which also incorporates the star in the same fashion), the star was replaced on-air with the CBS eye.
From 1989 to 2000, WUSA had a 4 p.m. newscast and expanded its news block from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., moving the CBS Evening News
to 7:00 p.m.. In 2000, the 4pm newscast was dropped and WUSA cut a half-hour off the end of its 4-7 news block repositioning the CBS Evening News to 6:30 p.m. like most CBS affiliates. (The reason why the 4 p.m. newscast had been implemented in 1989 was that the station gave up The Oprah Winfrey Show
to neighboring WJLA due to the program's cost.)
WUSA moved to a new Broadcast House at 4100 Wisconsin Avenue, NW in January 1992. WTOP-FM had left the old Broadcast House in 1971, but kept its transmitter there. WTOP radio departed in 1978; the Post had sold it a year earlier to the Outlet Company
. The move to the more modern building was tinged with sadness due to the death from a brain tumor of channel 9's popular sportcaster, Glenn Brenner, just days before the move.
In 1998, WUSA launched its web site, wusatv9.com, but later removed the TV reference in the domain name to become wusa9.com.
During the September 11 attacks in 2001, WUSA made the decision to preempt CBS' national coverage of the attacks on the Pentagon
and the World Trade Center
with its own local coverage. This decision proved controversial. As a local affiliate, WUSA did not possess the resources to cover the attacks as extensively as the national network, and its decision to institute a "CBS blackout" prevented its audience from viewing much of the national reportage anchored by Dan Rather
. The Washington Post
criticized this decision, writing, "The city was subjected to a CBS blackout by the local affiliate, Gannett-owned Channel 9. The station chose to view this, incredibly enough, as a local story and reported it initially as if it were a winter snow day and school closings were of the utmost importance."
On May 2, 2005, WUSA became the first station in the Washington market to broadcast its newscasts in high definition. In May 2008, The McLaughlin Group
, a nationally syndicated half-hour weekly public affairs television program, began production in the WUSA studios. On April 20, 2009 it was announced that Washington, DC will be the first market to get free mobile digital television via cell phones and other mobile devices through Mobile TV
. WUSA will be one of the first stations in the country to launch this new platform. Like all of the DC-area Mobile DTV broadcasters, WUSA-TV commenced ATSC-M/H
broadcasting on February 27, 2011.
In 2008, Gannett and Tribune partnered to expand the Metromix brand that has been successful for many years in Chicago
at the Chicago Tribune
. WUSA's local Metromix.com site launched in July 2008 and is WUSA's fourth web site. There are 35 other Gannett and/or Tribune properties that have a Metromix site. In August 2008, Gannett revamped its moms sites, and DVMmoms.com was renamed MomsLikeMe.com. Like the previous versions, the site features topics related to young moms and includes technology from Ripple 6, which was recently acquired by Gannett. There are MomsLikeMe.com sites in 85 other markets throughout the country.
In September 2008, WUSA's fifth web site was launched, called HighSchoolSports.net. The site features high school sports rankings, schedules, scores across the US for high school football, soccer, basketball, baseball, and more. Again, this is a Gannett-owned property that was launched in many markets throughout the country.
In June 2010, Gannett Broadcasting and DataSphere Technologies announced a partnership to create community-focused websites in 10 of their television station markets. WUSA was one of the first to launch these sites in August 2010. The sites are integrated within the existing website and feature hyper local news and user-generated content about area happenings and events. In addition to powering the community web sites, DataSphere provides enhanced functionality, including market-leading site search, coupons, a business directory and ad targeting. WUSA created 53 different neighborhood sites in the Metro DC area.
. W50BD is not owned by WUSA and the Gannett Company
and is owned by Valley TV Cooperative, Inc. instead.
Digital channels>
Channel
Video
Aspect
Programming
9.1
1080i
16:9
Main WUSA programming / CBS
9.2
480i
4:3
Doppler 9000 HD Weather Radar
WUSA also has a Mobile DTV feed of subchannel 9.1, labelled "WUSA 9", broadcasting at 3.67 Mbit/s.
On June 12, 2009, WUSA returned its digital broadcasts to its former analog channel number, 9.
On November 1, 2011, WUSA signed an affiliation agreement with Bounce TV
, a digital multicast network aimed at African-Americans aged 25-54; the network will be available on WUSA digital subchannel 9.2, with the launch date to be determined.
and Warner Wolf
are among WUSA's most successful alumni. Max Robinson
was co-anchor of Eyewitness News
with Gordon Peterson from 1969 to 1978 before he became the first black anchorman on network television and one of the original anchors of ABC's World News Tonight. James Brown of CBS Sports
was a sports anchor at the station in the 1980s.
9 Weather Now
Sports team (also seen on Sports Plus)
Traffic
Reporters
- Deceased
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. Owned by the Gannett Company
Gannett Company
Gannett Company, Inc. is a publicly-traded media holding company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States, near McLean. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. Its assets include the national newspaper USA Today and the weekly USA Weekend...
, WUSA is an affiliate of 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...
television network, and the longest-tenured affiliate of that network. WUSA's studios and transmitter are located in the Tenleytown
Tenleytown
Tenleytown is a historic neighborhood in Northwest, Washington, DC.-History:In 1790, Washington locals began calling the neighborhood "Tennally's Town" after area tavern owner John Tennally...
neighborhood of Washington.
WOIC-TV
The station went on the air on January 11, 1949 as WOIC-TV, and began full-time operations on January 16. The fourth-oldest station in the nation's capital, channel 9's original owner was the Bamberger Broadcasting Service, a subsidiary of R.H. Macy and CompanyMacy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
. Bamberger also owned WOR-AM
WOR (AM)
WOR is a class A , AM radio station located in New York, New York, U.S., operating on 710 kHz. The station has a talk format and has been owned by Buckley Broadcasting since 1987, after the station was sold by RKO. The station has conservative, or right-of-center hosts.Its call letters have no...
-FM 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 was working to put WOR-TV (now WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the flagship station of the MyNetworkTV programming service, licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey and serving the Tri-State metropolitan area. WWOR is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network flagship...
) on the air at the same time. Nine days later, WOIC broadcast the first televised American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
presidential inaugural address, given by President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
.
WOIC-TV picked up the CBS affiliation upon signing on, replacing WMAL-TV (channel 7, now WJLA-TV
WJLA-TV
WJLA-TV, channel 7, is the ABC affiliated television station in Washington, D.C.. It is the flagship station of the Allbritton Communications Company, which also operates local cable station NewsChannel 8. The two stations share broadcast facilities in the Rosslyn section of Arlington, Virginia...
) as CBS's Washington outlet. But the Bamberger/Macy's ownership had other plans for their station: both WOIC and its New York sister station were scheduled to become affiliates of a planned television network operated by Mutual Radio. However, Mutual Television never made it to air, leaving channel 9 to remain a CBS station.
WTOP-TV
In June 1950, CBS teamed up with the Washington Post to purchase WOIC-TV from Bamberger/Macy's. The new owners, WTOP Incorporated (the Washington Post owned 55 percent, and CBS held the remaining 45 percent), changed the station's call signCall sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In North America they are used as names for broadcasting stations...
to WTOP-TV, after its new sister stations WTOP radio
WTOP-FM
WTOP is an all-news formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Washington, D.C., serving Metropolitan Washington, DC area. WTOP is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting.WTOP is one of two all-news stations in the Washington, D.C...
(then at 1500 AM) and WTOP-FM (96.3 MHz., now WHUR-FM
WHUR-FM
WHUR-FM is an Urban Adult Contemporary radio station that serves the Washington D.C. area. WHUR is licensed to Washington, D.C. and is owned by Howard University. Also, the staff of the station mentors the students of the university's school of communications. WHUR is also the home of the...
). Since WTOP took the callsign from the radio partners at the time, the callsign was a coincidence under ownership of the publisher, since they never stood for WashingTOn Post.
In July 1950, WTOP-TV became the first television station in Washington authorized to broadcast color television in the 405-line field sequential color standard, which was incompatible with the black-and-white 525-line NTSC standard. Color broadcasts continued for nearly 30 months, when regulatory and commercial pressures forced the 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) to rescind its original color standard and begin the process of adopting the 525-line NTSC-3 standard, developed by RCA to be backwards compatible with the existing black-and-white televisions.
In 1954, the WTOP stations moved into a new facility, known as "Broadcast House", at 40th and Brandywine streets NW in Washington. The building was the first in the country designed as a unified radio and television facility. Its name was in honor of Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House is the headquarters and registered office of the BBC in Portland Place and Langham Place, London.The building includes the BBC Radio Theatre from where music and speech programmes are recorded in front of a studio audience...
, home of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The building was well-known to WTOP's president. since he had spent much of World War II assigned to the BBC. Previous to the move to Broadcast House, the radio stations operated out of the Earle Building (now the Warner Building, home of the Warner Theatre
Warner Theatre (Washington, D.C.)
The Warner Theatre is a theater located at 513 13th Street, N.W. in Downtown Washington, D.C.. The basement level is at 1299 Pennsylvania Avenue.-History:...
), and WTOP-TV had operated out of the small WOIC studios at the same location. When Broadcast House was completed and the new television studios were inaugurated, the old studio became the garage for Broadcast House and the old master control room became both the master control and transmitter room for channel 9, since Broadcast House had been built around the station's original, four-sided tower. The building with the tower remains in the middle at the same location, although it is now an office building and retail store front operated by Douglas Development Corp.
The WTOP-TV tower was known in Washington for two things. First, at Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
time, the tower was strung with Christmas lights and glowed brightly on top of Mount Reno, the tallest point in the District of Columbia. Second, the tower tended to sway much more than three-sided towers. In a strong wind the tower could be seen swaying back-and-forth, and during the winter ice from the tower fell quite often on the streets below.
Also in 1954, CBS sold its share of WTOP Inc. to the Washington Post to comply with the 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...
's new seven-station-per-group ownership rule. CBS's partial ownership of WTOP radio and WCCO radio in Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
exceeded the FCC's limit for AM stations. CBS opted to sell its share of WTOP, which it had purchased in whole in 1932 before selling controlling interest to the Post in 1949.
After the sale closed, the Post merged the WTOP stations with its other broadcast property, WMBR
WMBR
WMBR is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology student-run college radio station, licensed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and broadcasting on 88.1 FM. It is all-volunteer and funded by listener donations and MIT funds...
-AM-TV in Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
and changed the name of the licensee from "WTOP Inc." to "Post Stations, Inc." WMBR radio was sold off in 1958, and WMBR-TV became WJXT
WJXT
WJXT, channel 4 , is an independent television station serving Jacksonville, Florida, and surrounding communities. Its transmitter is in the Kilarney Shores section of Jacksonville, with the WTLV transmitter. The station originally broadcast an analog signal on VHF channel 4 and a digital signal...
. The Post renamed its broadcasting group "Post-Newsweek Stations
Post-Newsweek Stations
Post-Newsweek Stations is the official name of the broadcasting division of the Washington Post Company and is a self-contained corporation within that company...
" in 1961 after the Post bought Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
magazine. Post-Newsweek acquired its third television station, WLBW-TV (now WPLG
WPLG
WPLG, channel 10, is an ABC network affiliated television station located in Miami, Florida. WPLG is owned and operated by Post-Newsweek Stations, a subsidiary of the Washington Post Company. The station's studios are located in Pembroke Park, and its transmitter is located at the massive broadcast...
) in Miami in 1970 and in 1974 added WTIC-TV (now WFSB
WFSB
'WFSB, channel 3, is a CBS-affiliated television station located in Hartford, Connecticut, USA, owned by the Meredith Corporation. WFSB's studios and offices are located in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, and its broadcast transmitter is based on Talcott Mountain in Avon, Connecticut. Syndicated...
) 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...
to the group.
In 1972, WTOP-TV joined with the Evening Star Broadcasting Company (owned by the Post's rival, the now-defunct Washington Star
Washington Star
The Washington Star, previously known as the Washington Star-News and the Washington Evening Star, was a daily afternoon newspaper published in Washington, D.C. between 1852 and 1981. For most of that time, it was the city's newspaper of record, and the longtime home to columnist Mary McGrory and...
and licensee of WMAL-TV) to build the Joint Tower, a 1040 feet (317 m), three-sided tower across the alley from Broadcast House at 4010 Chesapeake Street, NW. Transmission lines were extended from Broadcast House's transmitter area to the new tower for both WTOP-TV and WHUR-FM (the former WTOP-FM, which had been donated by Post-Newsweek to Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
in 1971). The old tower continued to serve as the backup antenna for channel 9 until the station sold Broadcast House in 1996.
In 1974, WTOP and the other Post-Newsweek stations adopted the slogan The One and Only. The moniker was part of a trend toward group identification of stations, with each station being The One and Only Channel (channel number). Staff members from the One and Only period usually refer to themselves as "the one and onlies" as a source of pride. The slogan was dropped from active use in the late 1990s and has not been used as part of an image campaign since 1996. The slogan no longer appears on the air, but was revived in a sense when channel 9 adopted its current slogan, First and Only with Local News in HDTV.
WDVM-TV
In July 1978, Post-Newsweek exchanged WTOP-TV with the Evening News Association's WWJ-TV (now WDIV) in Detroit. Upon completion of the swap, WTOP-TV changed its call letters to WDVM-TV, with the new call letters representing the initials of the areas which channel 9 serves: D for the District of Columbia, V for VirginiaVirginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, and M for Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
. The Washington Post and the Evening News Association, which published the Detroit News, decided to swap their stations for fear the FCC would force them to sell the stations at unfavorable terms or revoke their very valuable licenses because the FCC at the time was considering forbidding ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations in the same market.
WUSA-TV
In 1985, the Gannett Company purchased the Evening News Association. On July 4Independence Day (United States)
Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain...
, 1986, Gannett changed WDVM's call letters to WUSA both in honor of the station being located in the nation's capital and Gannett's ownership of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
. The same connection is noted with Gannett's NBC-affiliated Denver
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
station, KUSA-TV
KUSA-TV
KUSA, channel 9, is an NBC-affiliated television station in Denver, Colorado. KUSA is owned by the Gannett Company, and is a sister station to MyNetworkTV affiliate KTVD...
. The WUSA callsign had previously been used by Gannett's station in Minneapolis, which changed its callsign to KARE
KARE
KARE, digital channel 11, is an NBC-affiliated television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota and portions of western Wisconsin. It also operates KARE WX NOW, formerly known as NBC Weather Plus on its second digital subchannel...
. While the station's current call sign is commonly printed as W*USA, particularly in Gannett press releases, the asterisk
Asterisk
An asterisk is a typographical symbol or glyph. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often pronounce it as star...
or star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
between the W and U is not officially recognized as part of the call sign, as FCC records list the station as WUSA. The star device was used to denote its connection to USA Today. (KUSA-TV employs a similar practice.) After the Women's United Soccer Association
Women's United Soccer Association
The Women's United Soccer Association, often abbreviated to the WUSA, was the world's first women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000, the league began its first season in April 2001 with eight teams in the United States...
(the WUSA) was founded in the late 1990s (which also incorporates the star in the same fashion), the star was replaced on-air with the CBS eye.
From 1989 to 2000, WUSA had a 4 p.m. newscast and expanded its news block from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., moving the CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS. The network has broadcast this program since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963....
to 7:00 p.m.. In 2000, the 4pm newscast was dropped and WUSA cut a half-hour off the end of its 4-7 news block repositioning the CBS Evening News to 6:30 p.m. like most CBS affiliates. (The reason why the 4 p.m. newscast had been implemented in 1989 was that the station gave up The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
to neighboring WJLA due to the program's cost.)
WUSA moved to a new Broadcast House at 4100 Wisconsin Avenue, NW in January 1992. WTOP-FM had left the old Broadcast House in 1971, but kept its transmitter there. WTOP radio departed in 1978; the Post had sold it a year earlier to the Outlet Company
The Outlet Company
The Outlet Company was a corporation based in Providence, Rhode Island, which owned holdings in both retail and broadcasting. The centerpieces of the group was its flagship Providence store and WJAR radio and television, also in Providence....
. The move to the more modern building was tinged with sadness due to the death from a brain tumor of channel 9's popular sportcaster, Glenn Brenner, just days before the move.
In 1998, WUSA launched its web site, wusatv9.com, but later removed the TV reference in the domain name to become wusa9.com.
During the September 11 attacks in 2001, WUSA made the decision to preempt CBS' national coverage of the attacks on the Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
and the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
with its own local coverage. This decision proved controversial. As a local affiliate, WUSA did not possess the resources to cover the attacks as extensively as the national network, and its decision to institute a "CBS blackout" prevented its audience from viewing much of the national reportage anchored by Dan Rather
Dan Rather
Daniel Irvin "Dan" Rather, Jr. is an American journalist and the former news anchor for the CBS Evening News. He is now managing editor and anchor of the television news magazine Dan Rather Reports on the cable channel HDNet. Rather was anchor of the CBS Evening News for 24 years, from March 9,...
. The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
criticized this decision, writing, "The city was subjected to a CBS blackout by the local affiliate, Gannett-owned Channel 9. The station chose to view this, incredibly enough, as a local story and reported it initially as if it were a winter snow day and school closings were of the utmost importance."
On May 2, 2005, WUSA became the first station in the Washington market to broadcast its newscasts in high definition. In May 2008, The McLaughlin Group
The McLaughlin Group
The McLaughlin Group is a syndicated half-hour weekly public affairs television program in the United States, where a group of five pundits discuss current political issues in a round table format. It has been broadcast since 1982, and is currently sponsored by MetLife...
, a nationally syndicated half-hour weekly public affairs television program, began production in the WUSA studios. On April 20, 2009 it was announced that Washington, DC will be the first market to get free mobile digital television via cell phones and other mobile devices through Mobile TV
Mobile TV
Mobile television usually means television watched on a small handheld device. It may be a pay TV service broadcast on mobile phone networks or received free-to-air via terrestrial television stations from either regular broadcast or a special mobile TV transmission format...
. WUSA will be one of the first stations in the country to launch this new platform. Like all of the DC-area Mobile DTV broadcasters, WUSA-TV commenced ATSC-M/H
ATSC-M/H
ATSC-M/H is a standard in the USA for mobile digital TV, that allows TV broadcasts to be received by mobile devices.....
broadcasting on February 27, 2011.
Websites
In July 2007, WUSA launched a second web site at DVMmoms.com. The site focused on topics relating to local young moms in the Washington, D.C. area. Gannett also rolled out similar moms sites in other select markets where it have properties. In February 2008, WUSA launched a third web site at DVMOurTime.com. The site is fronted by noon anchor J.C. Hayward and provides local restaurant and business discounts as well as news and events targeted towards baby boomers.In 2008, Gannett and Tribune partnered to expand the Metromix brand that has been successful for many years in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
at the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
. WUSA's local Metromix.com site launched in July 2008 and is WUSA's fourth web site. There are 35 other Gannett and/or Tribune properties that have a Metromix site. In August 2008, Gannett revamped its moms sites, and DVMmoms.com was renamed MomsLikeMe.com. Like the previous versions, the site features topics related to young moms and includes technology from Ripple 6, which was recently acquired by Gannett. There are MomsLikeMe.com sites in 85 other markets throughout the country.
In September 2008, WUSA's fifth web site was launched, called HighSchoolSports.net. The site features high school sports rankings, schedules, scores across the US for high school football, soccer, basketball, baseball, and more. Again, this is a Gannett-owned property that was launched in many markets throughout the country.
In June 2010, Gannett Broadcasting and DataSphere Technologies announced a partnership to create community-focused websites in 10 of their television station markets. WUSA was one of the first to launch these sites in August 2010. The sites are integrated within the existing website and feature hyper local news and user-generated content about area happenings and events. In addition to powering the community web sites, DataSphere provides enhanced functionality, including market-leading site search, coupons, a business directory and ad targeting. WUSA created 53 different neighborhood sites in the Metro DC area.
Translator
WUSA is broadcast on a low-powered translator called W50BD in Moorefield, West VirginiaMoorefield, West Virginia
Moorefield is a town in Hardy County, West Virginia, USA. Moorefield is the county seat of Hardy County. It was originally chartered in 1777 and named for Conrad Moore, who owned the land upon which the town was laid out...
. W50BD is not owned by WUSA and the Gannett Company
Gannett Company
Gannett Company, Inc. is a publicly-traded media holding company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States, near McLean. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. Its assets include the national newspaper USA Today and the weekly USA Weekend...
and is owned by Valley TV Cooperative, Inc. instead.
Digital television
The station's digital channel is multiplexed:Aspect ratio
The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,...
1080i
1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels...
16:9
16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...
480i
480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC...
WUSA also has a Mobile DTV feed of subchannel 9.1, labelled "WUSA 9", broadcasting at 3.67 Mbit/s.
On June 12, 2009, WUSA returned its digital broadcasts to its former analog channel number, 9.
On November 1, 2011, WUSA signed an affiliation agreement with Bounce TV
Bounce TV
Bounce TV is a United States television network airing on digital terrestrial television stations. Promoted as "the first 24/7 digital multicast broadcast network created exclusively for African Americans," Bounce TV launched on September 26, 2011 and features programming geared toward blacks in...
, a digital multicast network aimed at African-Americans aged 25-54; the network will be available on WUSA digital subchannel 9.2, with the launch date to be determined.
News operation
WUSA was the launchpad for several well-known news anchors. Sam DonaldsonSam Donaldson
Samuel Andrew "Sam" Donaldson, Jr. is a reporter and news anchor, serving with ABC News from 1967 to the present, best known as the network's White House Correspondent and as a panelist and later co-anchor of the network's Sunday Program "This Week."-Early life and career:Donaldson was born in El...
and Warner Wolf
Warner Wolf
Warner William Wolf is an American television and radio sports broadcaster, perhaps best known as a local news sports anchor in Washington, D.C., New York City and his catchphrase "Let's go to the videotape!"....
are among WUSA's most successful alumni. Max Robinson
Max Robinson
Max Robinson was an American broadcast journalist, and ABC News World News Tonight co-anchor. He was the first African American broadcast network news anchor in the United States and one of the first television journalists to die of AIDS...
was co-anchor of 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...
with Gordon Peterson from 1969 to 1978 before he became the first black anchorman on network television and one of the original anchors of ABC's World News Tonight. James Brown of 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...
was a sports anchor at the station in the 1980s.
Current on-air staff
Anchors- Anita Brikman - weeknights at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.; also "Living Well" health reporter
- Lesli Foster - weeknights at 5 and 6 p.m.; also "Living Smart" consumer reporter
- J.C. Hayward - weekdays at noon
- Mike Hydeck - weekday mornings (4:30-7 a.m.)
- Bruce Johnson - weekend evenings; also weekday reporter
- Derek McGinty - weeknights at 5, 7 and 11 p.m.
- Andrea Roane - weekday mornings (4:30-7 a.m.); also "Buddy Check" reporter
9 Weather Now
- Topper ShuttTopper ShuttCharles "Topper" Shutt is Chief Meteorologist at WUSA Channel 9 in Washington, DC and forecaster for WHUR-FM.-Career:In 1981, Shutt began his television weather career with CNN in Atlanta, Georgia, working as a weather producer and substitute weather anchor. In 1984,he moved on to a weekday weather...
(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...
Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6, 7 and 11 p.m. - Howard Bernstein (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings (4:30-7 a.m.) and noon
- Anny Hong - meteorologist; weekend evenings, also weeknight fill-in
Sports team (also seen on Sports Plus)
- Kristin Berset - sports anchor; weekend evenings, also sports reporter and fill-in weeknight sports anchor
- Dave Owens - sports reporter and fill-in sports anchor
- David Elfin - Washington Redskins reporter
Traffic
- Monika Samtani - weekday morning traffic anchor
- Dave Calhoun - fill-in traffic anchor
Reporters
- Scott Broom - general assignment reporter
- Surae Chinn - weekday morning reporter
- Jessica Doyle - business/consumer reporter; also fill-in weekday morning anchor
- Kristin Fisher - general assignment reporter
- Delia Goncalves - general assignment reporter
- Matt Jablow - general assignment reporter
- Lindsey Mastis - general assignment reporter
- Andrea McCarrenAndrea McCarrenAndrea McCarren was WJLA-TV’s Special Projects Reporter until her dismissal on January 23, 2009 for financial reasons.McCarren was born and raised in Hartford, Connecticut and graduated cum laude from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York and The London School of Economics and Political Science...
- general assignment reporter (previously with WUSA from 1992-1995) - Ken Molestina - general assignment reporter
- Bruce Leshan - general assignment reporter
- Brittany Morehouse - general assignment reporter
- Gary Neurenberg - general assignment reporter
- Armando Trull - general assignment reporter
Notable former staff
- Jess AtkinsonJess AtkinsonJess Gerald Atkinson is a former American football placekicker in the National Football League for the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants, Washington Redskins, and the Indianapolis Colts...
- sports anchor (2000–2002, now works with the Maryland Terrapins) - Patranya BhoolsuwanPatranya BhoolsuwanPatranya Bhoolsuwan is a news reporter and anchor. She began her career in San Francisco as a production assistant at then NBC affiliate KRON-TV. She worked her way up to an overnight anchor before she took off to Redding, California to be the morning anchor for the ABC station there...
- evening traffic anchor (?-2010; now at KLAS-TVKLAS-TVKLAS-TV, virtual channel 8 , is the CBS-affiliated television station serving the Las Vegas, Nevada market; it is owned and operated by Landmark Media Enterprises...
in Las Vegas) - Maureen BunyanMaureen BunyanMaureen Bunyan is an Aruban-American Washington, D.C.-based television journalist. Currently she is the lead co-anchor at WJLA-TV.Bunyan is a founder and board member of IWMF , a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists...
- anchor/reporter (1973–1995) (now at WJLA-TVWJLA-TVWJLA-TV, channel 7, is the ABC affiliated television station in Washington, D.C.. It is the flagship station of the Allbritton Communications Company, which also operates local cable station NewsChannel 8. The two stations share broadcast facilities in the Rosslyn section of Arlington, Virginia...
) - James Brown - sports anchor (1984–1990; now at CBS SportsCBS SportsCBS 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...
) - Walter CronkiteWalter CronkiteWalter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
- Channel 9's first anchorman (1950–1954; died in July 2009) - Sam DonaldsonSam DonaldsonSamuel Andrew "Sam" Donaldson, Jr. is a reporter and news anchor, serving with ABC News from 1967 to the present, best known as the network's White House Correspondent and as a panelist and later co-anchor of the network's Sunday Program "This Week."-Early life and career:Donaldson was born in El...
- anchor/reporter (1961–1967) - Brett HaberBrett HaberBrett Haber is an American sportscaster. He is currently a play-by-play commentator and host for Tennis Channel and several other national and regional sports outlets. Haber is also Editor-at-Large/Sports Editor for Washingtonian Magazine. In July of 2011 Haber announced his resignation as Sports...
- sports director (2004-2011; becoming editor-at-large at Washingtonian (magazine)Washingtonian (magazine)Washingtonian is a monthly magazine distributed in the Washington, DC area since 1965. The magazine describes itself as "the magazine Washington lives by." The magazine's core focuses are local feature journalism, guide book-style articles, and real estate advice.-Editorial Content:Washingtonian...
and Tennis Channel play-by-play commentator) - Frank HerzogFrank HerzogFrank Herzog is a former American sportscaster, best known for his role as a play-by-play announcer for Washington Redskins radio broadcasts from 1979 to 2004, where he teamed with Sam Huff and Sonny Jurgensen...
- sports anchor and reporter (1969-1983 and 1992-2004, retired) - Hillary HowardHillary HowardHillary Howard is an Emmy-award winning reporter. She currently co-anchors the 2pm to 7pm shift on all-news station WTOP in Washington, DC.- Career :...
(Statter) - meteorologist (2000-2004; now at WTOP radio) - Doug Llewelyn - anchor/reporter (1970–1976)
- Davey Marlin-JonesDavey Marlin-JonesDavey Marlin-Jones was an American stage director, as well as a local television personality. He was born in Winchester, Indiana, and was known as a tireless advocate for the local stage and theatrical scene in the many places he lived during his long career.From 1970 to 1987, he was a film and...
- film critic and entertainment reporter (1970–1987) - Todd McDermottTodd McDermottTodd McDermott is a television journalist.McDermott is a Buffalo, New York native, and he has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Canisius College in Buffalo....
- anchor (2004–2008, now at WPXIWPXIWPXI, channel 11, is the NBC-affiliated television station for Western Pennsylvania that is licensed to Pittsburgh. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 48 from a transmitter located on the north side of Pittsburgh. Owned by Cox Enterprises, the station has studios in the...
in Pittsburgh) - Andrea MitchellAndrea MitchellAndrea Mitchell is an American television journalist, anchor, reporter, and commentator for NBC News based in Washington, D.C.. She is the NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent, and has recently reported on the 2008 Race for the White House for NBC News broadcasts, including NBC Nightly...
- reporter (1976–1978) - Ralph PenzaRalph PenzaRalph Penza was a senior correspondent and substitute anchor for WNBC in New York City. He first joined WNBC in 1980, left the station in 1995 and rejoined it in October 1997...
- reporter (1979–1980) - Gordon Peterson - anchor/reporter (1969–2004; now at WJLA)
- Levan ReidLevan ReidLevan Reid is an American sportscaster who serves as a sports reporter for WBZ-TV in Boston.Levan began working in television when he was 16 years old at "A Current Affair" in New York City. He went on to produce sports for "Good Day New York" at WNYW. His first job after college was as a sports...
- sports reporter/weekend sports anchor (2003-2008) - Max RobinsonMax RobinsonMax Robinson was an American broadcast journalist, and ABC News World News Tonight co-anchor. He was the first African American broadcast network news anchor in the United States and one of the first television journalists to die of AIDS...
- anchor/reporter (1969-1978) - Bob StricklandBob StricklandRupert "Bob" Strickland was an American television journalist who established a mentoring program for minority broadcasters.-External links:* *...
- anchor/reporter (1969-1996) - Ruth ToddRuth ToddRuth Todd is an award winning Salt Lake City television news anchor. She most recently worked for ABC4 Television. Ruth joined the ABC4 newsteam in December 2001, but first appeared On-Air April 15, 2002 as the station's lead female anchor...
- meteorologist/anchor (1991-1992) - Warner WolfWarner WolfWarner William Wolf is an American television and radio sports broadcaster, perhaps best known as a local news sports anchor in Washington, D.C., New York City and his catchphrase "Let's go to the videotape!"....
- sports anchor (1968-1976 and 1992-1996) - Eun YangEun YangEun Yang is a Korean American morning news anchor for NBC4/WRC-TV, the local NBC television affiliate in Washington, DC. She has worked at News 4 since 2002....
- reporter/anchor (1995-2001, now at WRC-TV)
- Deceased