, '''''"Channel 4"''''' is the
ABC affiliate serving the
Pittsburgh and
Wheeling /
Steubenville market areas. Its transmitter is located in
Buena Vista, Pennsylvania .
Channel 4, originally allocated to
Irwin ,
Pennsylvania , was a late addition to the Pittsburgh market's TV channels, reportedly due to political pressure from Pittsburgh mayor
David L. Lawrence , who is said to have petitioned the FCC relentlessly for a fourth VHF channel in the area. It is short-spaced to other Channel 4 stations in
Columbus, Ohio and
Buffalo, New York , with the tower located southeast of the city as a result.
WTAE-TV signed on the air on
September 14 ,
1958 as Pittsburgh's
ABC affiliate. From the beginning, it has been owned by the Hearst Corporation (now
Hearst-Argyle Television ), which purchased the station's former sister radio station, WCAE/WTAE Radio, in 1931. The radio station is now
WEAE , and is owned by ABC/
Disney as part of the
ESPN Radio network.
Along with Pittsburgh, WTAE has also served as the ABC affiliate for the
Johnstown /
Altoona ,
Wheeling, West Virginia , and
Clarksburg /
Weston ,
West Virginia television markets (both of which could receive WTAE as a grade B signal). WTAE and ABC reportedly resisted efforts by other TV stations in those cities to obtain a full-time ABC affiliation, although one was eventually granted to Altoona's channel 23.
As an ABC affiliate, WTAE ran most of the network's schedule, including prime time programming, soap opera, news, sports, and Saturday cartoons, alongside its own syndicated programming and local productions (including local news). However, from the early
1970s until the late
1990s , the station pre-empted about a quarter of ABC's programming (most notably the now-defunct
ABC Soap Opera ''
Port Charles '') causing those shows to not be seen in the Pittsburgh, Johnstown/Altoona and Wheeling markets.
In the mid 's Saturday morning newscast of the same length) and a 3-hour Sunday morning newscast. The station also extended its weekday early evening newscast to begin at 5pm, and began to air a weekday morning newscast from 5-7am.
Today, WTAE runs nearly the entire ABC schedule, pre-empting only one hour of cartoons on weekends. The station cut back its Saturday morning newscast to 3 hours, but it still runs a news-intensive schedule, alongside its top-rated syndicated first-run talk shows.
Having long been second-fiddle to
KDKA-TV in the ratings, WTAE has made some strides in recent years, even passing up KDKA on some occasions. However, WTAE has decreased dramatically in the mornings, and during the February 2006
Nielsen rating period, tied with KDKA.
- In 1972, WTAE sportscaster Myron Cope coined the phrase "The Immaculate Reception" to describe Franco Harris' miraculous, running shoestring catch that gave the Pittsburgh Steelers a 13-7 playoff victory over the Oakland Raiders.
- WTAE and its channel 4 logo was immortalized in the 1979 basketball comedy film , whose fictional sportscaster "Murray Sports" was also patterned after Cope.
- On April 24th, 1980, WTAE personality Nick Perry , who hosted '' Bowling For Dollars '' and also called the lottery drawings for the Pennsylvania Lottery , fixed the PA Lottery's ''Daily Number'' so that the drawing could come up as "666". Perry would eventually serve jail time, and the drawings were moved from WTAE to WHP-TV in Harrisburg a year later. This resulted in lotteries now being audited and monitored with "witnesses" from the government and/or accounting firms hired by them, and also inspired the movie '' Lucky Numbers ''. In addition, KDKA now airs the PA Lottery drawings in the Pittsburgh market instead of WTAE.
- ''Action News This Morning'' - 5:00-7:00AM
- ''Action News at Noon'' - 12:00-12:30PM
- ''Action News at 5'' - 5:00-6:00PM
- ''Action News at 6'' - 6:00-6:30PM
- ''Action News at 11'' - 11:00-11:35PM
- ''Action News This Morning'' - 6:00-7:00AM & 8:00-10:00AM
- ''Action News at Noon'' - 12:00-12:30PM
- ''Action News at 6'' - 6:00-6:30PM
- ''Action News at 11'' - 11:00-11:35PM
- ''Action News This Morning'' - 6:00-7:00AM & 8:00-10:30AM
- ''Action News at 6'' - 6:00-6:30PM
- ''Action News at 11'' - 11:00-11:30PM
- ''Action Sports Sunday'' - 11:30-12:00AM
Anchors:
Weather Watch 4:
Action Sports:
Reporters:
WTAE-TV
400 Ardmore Blvd.
Pittsburgh, PA 15221
News Tip: 412-244-4444
Main Desk: 412-242-4300
