Wabc Tv
WABC-TV is best known in broadcasting circles for its highly successful version of the Eyewitness News format and for its morning show Live with Regis and Kelly, syndicated nationally by corporate cousin Disney-ABC Domestic Television.
In the few areas of the eastern United States where ABC programming is not available over-the-air, WABC-TV is seen via satellite through DirecTV. As of March 4, 2009, WABC is once again available to Dish Network customers as part of All American Direct's distant network package.
History
The station signed on August 10, 1948 as WJZ-TV, the first of three television stations signed-on by the American Broadcasting Company during that same year, with WENR-TV (now WLS-TV) in Chicago and WXYZ-TV in Detroit being the other two.
Channel 7's call letters came from its then-sister radio station, WJZ (770 AM, now WABC). In its early years, WJZ-TV was programmed like an independent station, as the ABC television network was still, for the most part, in the planning stages; the ABC-owned stations did air common programming during this period.
The call letters were changed to WABC-TV on March 1, 1953, after ABC merged its operations with United Paramount Theaters, a firm which was broken-off from former parent company Paramount Pictures by decree of the U.S. The WJZ callsign has since been reassigned to the CBS owned station in Baltimore, Maryland, although that station was a former ABC affiliate by coincidence until 1995.
On September 11, 2001, the transmitter facilities of WABC-TV, as well as eight other local television stations and several radio stations, were destroyed when two hijacked airplanes crashed into and destroyed the World Trade Center towers.
In the immediate aftermath, WABC-TV fed its signal to several UHF stations that were still broadcasting (notably WNYE-TV), before establishing temporary facilities in Alpine, New Jersey. The station eventually established transmission facilities at the Empire State Building.
Studio Fire
On May 27, 2007, WABC-TV's studios suffered major damage as the result of a fire that knocked the station off the air shortly before the start of the 11:00 p.m.
According to preliminary reports, the fire may have been ignited by a spotlight coming into contact with a curtain inside the news studio; the WABC-TV website later reported the cause as an "electrical malfunction". The station's building was evacuated and the fire was brought under control, though there is said to have been "extensive damage", including smoke and water damage, to the studio.
on May 28, 2007.
Due to the fire, channel 7 broadcasted Eyewitness News from the newsroom's update desk, while Live with Regis and Kelly, whose set was also affected, shared a studio with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. broadcasts from their main studios.
Digital television
The station's digital channel is multiplexed:
Digital channels
Analog-to-Digital Conversion
WABC-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 7, on June 12, 2009 at 12:30 p.m.
The station had been broadcasting its pre-transition digital signal over UHF channel 45, but returned to channel 7 for its post-transition operations. News operations
WABC-TV's Eyewitness News open, 2008-present.
WABC-TV is best known for popularizing the Eyewitness News format, in which reporters present their stories directly to the viewers.
News director Al Primo brought the format to WABC-TV in 1968 from KYW-TV in Philadelphia, but added a twist—a degree of conversational chatter among the anchors, known as "happy talk." Primo used the "Tar Sequence" cue from the musical score from the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke, composed by Lalo Schifrin, as the theme music. The Eyewitness News format and theme music were quickly adopted by ABC's other four owned-and-operated stations at the time—WLS-TV in Chicago, WXYZ-TV in Detroit, KABC-TV in Los Angeles, and KGO-TV in San Francisco (though KGO-TV and WXYZ-TV did not use the Eyewitness News title for their programs).
The format quickly rejuvenated a station that had long been an also-ran to WCBS-TV and WNBC-TV.
It spent most of the decade going back and forth with WCBS-TV for first place. For a time in the 1980s, it fell into last place, but still fought with WNBC-TV for second place.
In 1985, the station lured WLS-TV's news director, Bill Applegate, from Chicago to New York. Applegate had claimed credit for taking WLS-TV from last to first in only two years, and ABC hoped he could work the same magic at the flagship station.
Their hopes were rewarded in 1987, when channel 7 surged back into first place. Grimsby came to channel 7 in 1968 from KGO-TV, and was the station's lead anchor when Eyewitness News was introduced.
In the wake of declining ratings, Grimsby was fired on April 16, 1986, a move for which Applegate drew considerable fire, and he was quickly hired by rival WNBC-TV. Beutel stepped down from the anchor desk in 2001, two years before his retirement, which concluded the longest tenure for a main anchor in New York television history.
While banter among anchors is still part of the 5:00 a.m.
Gari was commissioned by WABC-TV to compose a new music package called "Eyewitness News." This package, based slightly on Cool Hand Luke, has been updated several times. As of 2009, WABC-TV uses the "Series 4" version, which was specifically updated for the station.
Movie umbrella titles
The Night Show (1956–1963)
Sunday Night Movie (1958–1959 & 1971–1987)
The Best of Broadway (1963–1971)
The Big Show (1963–1966 & 1968–1969)
The 6 O'Clock Movie (1966–1968)
The 4:30 Movie (1969–1981)
Saturday Night Movie (1971–1987)
Prize Movie (1969–1973)
The Morning Movie (1973–1977)
The Movie in the Morning (1977–1983)
Spring Cinema (1983)
The Movie Matinee (1971–1979)
Channel 7 Late Movie (1979–1998, primary & 2004-present, secondary)
ABC 7 Late Movie (1998–present, primary)
News Music Packages
Cool Hand Luke- The Tar Sequence
On Your Side
News Series 2000
Cool Hand Luke- The Tar Sequence
Eyewitness News
Office locations
The original WABC-TV offices were located at 77 West 66th Street, with studios at 7 West 66th Street.
There was an underground tunnel that links ABC studios at 7 West 66th Street to the lobby of the Hotel des Artistes, a block north on West 67th Street. There was another studio inside the Hotel des Artistes that was used for Eyewitness News Conference.
As part of ABC's expansion program, initiated in 1977, ABC built 7 Lincoln Square on the southeast corner of West 67th Street and Columbus Avenue, on a site of an abandoned moving and storage warehouse.
At about the same time, construction was started at 30 West 67th Street, on the site of a former parking lot. In 1985, Kathie Lee Johnson (who would marry Frank Gifford a year later) became Philbin's co-host.