WWL-TV

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It has been suggested that NewsWatch 15 be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

WWL-TV
New Orleans, Louisiana
Branding	WWL-TV Channel 4 (general) Channel 4's Eyewitness News (newscasts)
Slogan	The Spirit of Louisiana Louisiana's News Leader
Channels	Analog: 4 (VHF) Digital: 36 (UHF)
Affiliations	CBS
Owner	Belo Corporation (WWL-TV, Inc.)
First air date	September 7, 1957
Call letters’ meaning	World Wide Loyola (after Loyola University New Orleans, founder and former owner)
Sister station(s)	WUPL
Transmitter Power	100 kW (analog) 957.8 kW (digital)
Height	294 m (analog) 311 m (digital)
Facility ID	74192
Transmitter Coordinates	29°54′22.9″N, 90°2′22.1″W
Website	www.wwltv.com

WWL-TV Channel 4 is the CBS affiliate serving New Orleans, Louisiana, southeast Louisiana and parts of southern and coastal Mississippi. It broadcasts on channel 4, with many area cable systems carrying the station on the same channel (except it's on cable 3 in New Orleans proper). Its main studios and offices are located on Rampart Street in the historic French Quarter, with a North Shore bureau located on North Causeway Boulevard in suburban Mandeville. Its transmitter is located at 4 Cooper Road in Gretna, Louisiana.

[edit] History

WWL-TV signed on the air on September 7, 1957 as the third television station in New Orleans, behind WDSU-TV and WJMR (now WVUE). It was owned by Loyola University of New Orleans along with WWL radio (AM 870 and FM 101.9, now WLMG). WWL-AM had been a CBS affiliate since 1935 so WWL-TV naturally joined CBS. It competed head to head with NBC affiliate WDSU in the 1960s and 70s. However, after WDSU was sold to out-of-town owners, it began deemphasizing local features in favor of news. WWL, as the only locally-owned station in town, heavily stressed its local roots. By the early 1980s, WWL had emerged as the market's ratings leader.

The station has been the strongest CBS affiliate in the country for more than 20 years, aided by a strong programming lineup (with popular syndicated shows such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune and Live with Regis and Kelly), and the fact that it was unaffected by the market's affiliation switch in the mid-1990s. When Viacom, which owned UPN affiliate WUPL, merged with CBS in 2000, CBS didn't even consider moving its affiliation from WWL to WUPL.

In 1988, WWL and Cox Communications, the cable company serving the Greater New Orleans area south of Lake Pontchartrain, began a joint venture called NewsWatch 15. It was one of the first regional cable news networks in the United States at the time. Viewed on cable channel 15, the network broadcasted recent editions of "Eyewitness News" around the clock as well as simulcasted live newscasts and breaking news. The venture has not hurt the station's ratings.

In 1989, Loyola sold its media properties to different owners. WWL-TV's employees formed a group called Rampart Broadcasting (named after the station's studios on Rampart Street), led by general manager J. Michael Early and longtime news director and station editorialist Phil Johnson, and bought the station. It was the first (and thus far, last) time an employee-investor group acquired a local television station. Belo Corporation bought the station in 1994. To this day, WWL is a subsidiary of Belo, known as WWL TV, Inc.

WWL Building on Rampart Street

Despite having been owned by a Roman Catholic organization, WWL-TV has always been a commercial television station and showed almost no connection to its religious background (other than broadcasting the Sunday Mass, which the station had done for many years until recently).

In 1990, WWL began running one of the most successful station image campaigns in the United States with its "Spirit of Louisiana" promotions. The one minute spots feature the region's musical and cultural heritage as well as showcases life in southeastern Louisiana. Many of the ads feature well-known area musicians and singers. The campaigns continue today. [2]

In 2005, Viacom/CBS, which owned WUPL at the time, made an offer to buy WWL-TV. After Belo rejected Viacom's offer, Viacom instead made a deal to sell WUPL to Belo. This would have created a duopoly with WWL and WUPL. However, due to uncertainty created after Hurricane Katrina hit the New Orleans market, Belo delayed the deal to purchase WUPL. As a result, CBS filed a lawsuit against Belo in February 2006 for breach of contract. The litigation has apparently been settled as Belo agreed to complete the purchase of WUPL in late February 2007.^[1] The deal has already received regulatory approval, and closed on February 26, 2007. In April 2007, Belo moved WUPL's operations into the WWL facility.

[edit] Hurricane Katrina

WWL began 24-hour continuous coverage on Saturday August 27 from its New Orleans studio. At 10:45 p.m. CDT Sunday operations moved to the Manship School of Mass Communications at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. LSU students and staff helped produce the telecast with WWL-TV staff in a 'bare bones' fashion.

The station briefly returned to its Rampart Street studios in New Orleans Monday afternoon at 4 p.m. Flooding forced the station to again move operations back to LSU, as well as a makeshift studio at the transmitter site in Gretna. The station relayed its signal via fiber optics and the use of a satellite truck from sister station KHOU in Houston.

Beginning Thursday, September 1, 2005, the station again moved operations, this time to the studios of Louisiana Public Broadcasting in Baton Rouge. This provided WWL with a much larger facility and expanded their audience to include LPB's statewide network. WWL would finally return to New Orleans about six weeks later.

WWL's coverage of Hurricane Katrina earned the station its sixth Peabody Award in early April 2006.

WWL's coverage of Katrina was featured on an episode The Weather Channel's "Storm Stories."

[edit] Post-Katrina

After Hurricane Katrina, some of the station's most visible talent - including weekend anchor/reporter Josh McElveen and reporter Stephanie Riegel - left the station to pursue other opportunities. Fans were also shocked to hear that 10 p.m. anchor Karen Swensen was leaving the station to work at NECN in Boston. Meteorologists David Bernard and John Gumm also left (Bernard was already scheduled to leave before the storm.)

The station has also brought back an old WWL-TV tradition, the editorial. Modeled after the editorials of Phil Johnson (the station's long-time and very popular news director/station manager), today's editorials are in the form of a narrator reading from a virtual notepad, talking about the current hot issue when it comes to rebuilding New Orleans.

The station and Belo announced plans to construct a new multi-million dollar broadcasting facility for WWL, WUPL and WWLTV.com at 700 Loyola Avenue in downtown New Orleans. It was originally scheduled to be completed in late 2007-early 2008 and will be called the J. Michael Early Broadcast Center, after the former general manager. However, as of early May 2007, construction has yet to begin.

[edit] Programming

Part of WWL's ascent to number one was its local programming. In 1977, then-general manager J. Michael Early decided to do a 45-minute local morning news show beginning at 6:15 am. Hosted by Eric Paulsen, it later began airing at 7 am and instantly garnered higher ratings than Today and Good Morning America. In 1979, John Quaintance and Andre Trevigne took over anchoring the morning news. It would later evolve into the three-hour, very-popular "Eyewitness Morning News" and pre-empt all CBS morning programming through the years, including the CBS Morning News, CBS This Morning and The Early Show. A few years back, the newscast expanded to four hours moving Live with Regis & Kelly up to 9:00 a.m.

However, WWL carries all other CBS programming. (The Early Show was added to sister station WUPL's schedule in April 2005.)

Popeye and Pals, a kiddie program which delved in showing classic Max Fleischer/Famous Studios Popeye theatrical shorts (the 1960 King Features Syndicate made-for-TV shorts were presented as well), was a major fixture on WWL-TV from its inception in 1957 until August 1991, starting at a Monday-Friday afternoon slot and graduating to Saturday morning status.

In 1979, the station was one of a handful nationwide to air a syndicated feature program called PM Magazine. Hosted locally by Paulsen and Lee Sinclair, the show became an instant hit and dominated the local TV scene for five years, becoming one of the best localized PM Magazine broadcasts in the country.

From 1989-1996, weekday anchor Angela Hill hosted the very popular talk show Angela, which aired right after The Oprah Winfrey Show. It dealt with local and national matters and featured local and national talent in entertainment, academics and business.

Since they usually preempt CBS programming for coverage of Mardi Gras and primetime political debates, viewers in Biloxi/Gulfport, Mississippi could see them -- and The Early Show -- on Mobile, Alabama CBS affiliate WKRG; both stations are available to that area's cable subscribers.

The station has used the Eyewitness News format for many years, and according to local AC Nielsen ratings, has had the leading newscast in New Orleans for nearly 30 years. The November 2007 sweeps period -- the first major ratings period in New Orleans reported to Nielsen since Hurricane Katrina -- did not change that, as WWL continues to lead its nearest competitors, WDSU and WVUE, by a wide margin.

As mentioned above, WWL-TV has a strong syndicated programming lineup. However, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! moved to WVUE once the contract with the station expired. Dr. Phil now airs at 3:00 p.m. followed by The Oprah Winfrey Show at 4:00 p.m. WWL-TV originally kept Oprah at 3:00 and aired Dr. Phil afterwards at 4:00. After a short time, they flipped them around as they air in most other markets. Inside Edition now airs at 6:30 p.m. with The Insider at 11:40 p.m. delaying CBS's Late Late Show to 12:10 a.m.

In March 2006, WWL began "I-News", a 30-minute newscast featuring more in-depth reporting on topics important to viewers. The newscast also features live interviews with local, state and national officials. The newscast aired weekday evenings on the station's Web site after the 6 pm newscast and rebroadcasted on Channel 4. The Webcast has since been canceled.

On June 4, 2007, WWL-TV began airing a 30-minute weekday newscast called "Eyewitness News at 9" on WUPL-TV. It is anchored by Lucy Bustamante and Mike Hoss, the current "Eyewitness News Nightwatch" anchors.

WWL-TV celebrated a half a century of broadcasting on September 7, 2007. The station remains as one of America's top-rated CBS affiliates.

[edit] News staff

[edit] Anchors

• Lucy Bustamante: 9 and 10 pm weeknights.
• Scott Cody: Weekend sports.
• Jim Henderson: Sports director, weekday evenings.
• Angela Hill: 5 and 6 pm.
• Mike Hoss: 9 and 10 pm.
• Rob Nelson: 5 am weekdays
• Eric Paulsen: 6-9 am weekday mornings and at noon.
• Sally-Ann Roberts: 6-9 am weekday mornings (sister of Robin Roberts).
• Dennis Woltering: 5 and 6 pm weekdays. Also hosts "Sunday Morning with Dennis Woltering."
• Lee Zurik: Weekends.

[edit] Reporters

• Krystal Boothe: Traffic
• Bill Capo: "Action Report"
• Frank Davis: "In The Kitchen" Tuesday mornings and "The Fishing Game" and "Naturally N'Awlins" at 6 pm Thursdays and Wednesdays, respectively.
• Susan Edwards
• Meg Farris: "Medical Watch"
• Jill Hezeau
• Juan Kincaid: Sports
• Katie Moore
• Doug Mouton: North Shore bureau chief
• Paul Murphy
• Maya Rodriguez
• Scott Satchfield
• Bigad Shaban

[edit] Meteorologists

• Carl Arredondo: Chief meteorologist, 6, 9 and 10 pm weekdays
• Dawn Brown: Weekends
• Laura Buchtel: Morning
• Jonathan Myers: Noon and 5:00 pm

[edit] Former employees

• Jason Allen - currently with WGCL in Atlanta
• Dave Barnes: meteorologist (1984-1996)
• Jim Basquil: Sports (now with ESPN Radio)
• David Bernard: Meteorologist (now Chief Meteiologist at WFOR-TV, Miami, Florida)
• Karen Carlson: Anchor
• Len Cannon: Now at KHOU-TV, Houston, Texas
• Doug Darby: Reporter
• Albert "Al" Duckworth: Meteorologist (1968-1984); later went to WVUE-TV New Orleans. Died August 17, 2001 at age 71.
• Jeremy Eisenzopf: Meteorologist (2006-2007); now at WXYZ-TV, Detroit, Michigan, now known as Jeremy Eisen.
• Bill Elder: Anchor/investigative reporter, nicknamed the "Mike Wallace of Louisiana" (1965-2000). Died September 17, 2003 at age 65 of complications from cancer treatment.
• Keith Esparros: Executive Producer (1980-1991); now Assistant News Director with KNBC, Los Angeles
• Patrick Evans: Now at WVUE on leave in Iraq
• John Ferguson: weekend sportscaster (1970s); also broadcast LSU sports over The Big 870 from 1946–1987. Died December 16, 2005 at age 86.
• Tom Foreman: Now at CNN
• Terry Jones: (1979-2006). Now at Sat-Link of Arkansas
• Nancy Russo: meteorologist, later at WVUE-TV.
• Lloyd "Hap" Glaudi: Sports anchor, dubbed "The Dean of New Orleans Sports" (1964-1978); succeeded by Jim Henderson. Died December 31, 1989.
• Bob Greene: Reporter, now at WFAA, Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas
• John M. Gumm: Weekend meteorologist (1999-2005); now at WKRC-TV, Cincinnati, Ohio)
• Taylor Henry: Reporter (1981-1986); later at CNN, now KNOE-TV News Director
• Dana Howard: Reporter (1988-1992); now at KXTV, Sacramento, California
• Jennifer Huntley: Eyewitness News Early Edition and Eyewitness Morning News anchor (2000-2006); now External Relations Coordinator at Washington State Department of Personnel
• Ron Hunter: anchor/reporter (1967-1972); later at WGRZ-TV, WMAQ-TV, WVUE-TV, WTIX-AM and WSMB-AM; also hosted New Orleans Most Wanted on WGNO-TV from 1988-89. Retired.
• Rosemary James: station's first female anchor/reporter (1968-197?)
• Ken Johnson: Reporter
• Phil Johnson: Editorialist, news director, station manager (1960-1999)
• Hoda Kotb: Anchor/reporter (1992-1998); now with NBC News
• Bob Krieger: Anchor/reporter; also worked at WDSU and WVUE. Died August 13, 1996.
• Dr. Janet Lawhon: Anchor/medical reporter (Now a board certified psychiatrist and clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas
• Ben Lemoine: Reporter, also covered Hurricane Katrina (2005-2007); now at KTVK, Phoenix, Arizona
• Josh McElveen: Now with New England Cable News
• Dave McNamara: Reporter (now at KTVK Phoenix)
• Larry Matson: Sports anchor; later at WGNO-TV; now play by play man for the Tulane ISP Sports Network.
• Jim Metcalf: Anchor/reporter; A Sunday Journal (1966-1977). Died March 8, 1977 at age 59; The Jim Metcalf Memorial Award is named in his honor.
• Michelle Miller: anchor/reporter (1994-2003); now with CBS News
• Miles Muzio: Meteorologist (now at KBAK, Bakersfield, California
• Chris Myers: Sports anchor/featured reporter (1982-1988); now with Fox Sports
• Brad Panovich: Meteorologist (now at WCNC, Charlotte, North Carolina)
• John Pela: Host of The John Pela Show, a dance show from 1961-72 styled after American Bandstand. Also provided voiceovers.
• John Quaintance: Reporter (1976-1984), morning news anchor (1979-1984). Now syndicated radio host
• Stephanie Riegel: Political and investigative reporter (1993-2005); now with 225BatonRouge.com
• Susan E. Roberts: Anchor/reporter (1995-1997); later at WDSU-TV; now with CBS News
• Nash C. Roberts Jr.: Meteorologist (1978-2001)
• Garland Robinette: Anchor/reporter (1970-1990); now at WWL-AM/FM.
• Norman Robinson: Now at WDSU
• Shauna Sanford: Anchor/reporter (2003–2006); now a Project Advisor at the Louisiana Department of Education / Recovery School District (RSD)
• Dan Simon: Now with CNN
• John Snell: succeeded Garland Robinette (1990-1994); now at WVUE.
• Judy Storch
• Karen Swensen: anchor/reporter (1992-2005); now with New England Cable News
• André Trevigne: later at WGNO-TV ABC 26; then at WRNO-FM New Orleans
• Thahn Truong: general assignment reporter (2002-2005); now at KUSA, Denver, Colorado
• Ronnie Virgets: Feature reporter
• Don Westbrook: meteorologist; also provided voiceovers. Retired from WWL-TV on July 30, 1999, simultaneously with Phil Johnson.
• Charles Zewe: weekend anchor (197?-1977); later at WDSU-TV and CNN; now Vice President of Communications for the Louisiana State University System.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• 4 WWL-TV
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WWL-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WWL-TV