Information AboutWwl-tv |
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| channel 4 tv stations in the united states | |
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WWL-TV '''CBS 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 . 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. 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. {Link without Title} In 2005, 2007 . In April 2007, Belo moved WUPL's operations into the WWL facility. Hurricane Katrina WWL began 24-hour continuous coverage on Saturday August 27th 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 ." 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. 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 . However, WWL carries all other CBS programming. ('' The Early Show '' was added to sister station WUPL 's schedule in April 2005.) 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. 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. They have been replaced with '' Access Hollywood '' and '' The Insider ''. That will change in Fall 2006, when "Dr. Phil" will air on the station after " The Oprah Winfrey Show ". "Access Hollywood" and " Inside Edition " have been pushed to early evenings and late nights, respectively. 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. Newscast Schedule ''Weekdays''
''Weekends''
NEWS STAFF Anchors
Reporters
Meteorologists
FORMER STAFF
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