WFOR-TV
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| WFOR-TV | |
|---|---|
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| Miami - Fort Lauderdale, Florida | |
| Branding | CBS 4 |
| Channels | 4 (VHF) analog, 22 (UHF) digital |
| Translators | 39 W39AC Key West 38 W38AA Marathon |
| Affiliations | CBS |
| Owner | CBS Corporation (CBS Television Stations Inc.) |
| Founded | September 2, 1967 (on channel 6; moved to channel 4 on Sept. 11, 1995) |
| Call letters meaning | W FOuR |
| Former callsigns | WCIX (1967-1995) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1967-1986) Fox (1986-1989) |
| Website | www.cbs4.com/ |
WFOR-TV, channel 4, is the CBS owned-and-operated television station for the Miami - Ft. Lauderdale, Florida television market. Its studios are located in Doral, Florida, a suburb of Miami, while its transmitter is located in Miramar, Florida.
WFOR is the flagship station of a CBS-owned television cluster in South Florida. It shares its studios with Miami's MyNetworkTV affiliate WBFS-TV (channel 33), and handles some support operations for West Palm Beach-area stations WTVX, WTCN-CA and WWHB-CA (which are all being divested to Cerberus Capital Management.) WFOR produces weekday morning and daily 10 PM newscasts for WBFS. In addition, WBFS shows any CBS programming that WFOR has to pre-empt due to breaking news coverage, as well as any CBS-produced Miami Dolphins games that are moved to another timeslot in the case of a weather postponment.
WFOR operates two translators in the Florida Keys: W38AA (channel 38) in Marathon and W39AC (channel 39) in Key West.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] WCIX, channel six
The station signed on air on September 2, 1967 on channel 6 as WCIX, owned by Coral Television, a subsidiary of General Cinema Corporation. The callsign sounded like the word "six." Channel 6 was originally licensed to Islamorada in the Florida Keys, but the local owners successfully convinced the Federal Communications Commission to move the license to Miami on the mainland, where it could serve more viewers. It built a transmission tower in Homestead, which was 20 miles southwest of Miami -- farther south than the other Miami television stations. This arrangement was necessary to protect WDBO-TV (now WKMG-TV) in Orlando. As a result, WCIX only provided a poor over-the-air signal to Fort Lauderdale and the northern portion of Broward County. WCIX made up for this shortfall in its coverage by opening a translator on channel 33 in Fort Lauderdale, which was turned off in 1984 when WBFS signed on (the translator was then moved to channel 27, where it operated until the mid-1990s).
WCIX was the first general-entertainment independent station to serve the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area, running the typical independent format of children's shows, sitcoms, movies, and other local and syndicated programs. WCIX was also one of very few stations not owned by Kaiser Broadcasting to carry The Lou Gordon Program from Detroit's WKBD-TV in the 1970s.
During the 1970s through the early-1980s, WCIX had widespread cable penetration throughout Florida, seen on cable systems as far north as Tampa Bay and Orlando. Outside the Miami market, WCIX shared its cable space with another Miami station, WKID-TV (channel 51, now WSCV), which presented old movies and sitcoms after WCIX left the air.
A few years after its launch, the station started airing Eyewitness News at 10:00, the first prime-time newscast in South Florida. The station was the only general-entertainment independent in the market until WHFT (channel 45) signed on in 1976 with a mix of entertainment and religious programming. It regained the title in 1980 after WHFT was sold to the Trinity Broadcasting Network and switched to religious programming full-time. However, it would receive competition once again in 1982 when WDZL (channel 39, now WSFL-TV) signed on.
General Cinema exchanged WCIX to the Taft Television and Radio Company in early 1983 for NBC affiliate WGR-TV (now WGRZ-TV) in Buffalo, New York. Under Taft, WCIX continued to be the leading independent station in South Florida, and moved from its original studio in downtown Miami to its current facility in Doral (then unincorporated, now a separate city) in 1985. In 1986, WCIX became one of the charter affiliates of the newly-launched Fox Broadcasting Company, and was one of a handful of VHF stations to affiliate with Fox.
[edit] Acquiring CBS
After losing a bid to purchase then-CBS affiliate WTVJ (then on channel 4), CBS made a half-hearted offer to buy WCIX from Taft in January 1987. Taft declined, but a month later opted to sell all their independent stations and Fox affiliates, including WCIX, to the TVX Broadcast Group. However, TVX became mired in debt as a result of the purchase, and began to sell off many of its medium- and small-market stations. Although TVX originally planned to keep WCIX, the company eventually decided that the station would have to be divested. One of the primary factors in the decision to sell was that WCIX was TVX's only VHF station, whereas its sisters were all on UHF.
NBC purchased WTVJ in September 1987. However, CBS' affiliation contract with WTVJ expired at the end of 1988, as did NBC's contract with WSVN (channel 7), its Miami station since 1956. This situation didn't sit well with either network, but WSVN's owner, Ed Ansin, was not willing to end channel 7's affiliation with NBC a year early. With the defection of WTVJ looming, CBS made a formal offer to TVX for WCIX in the spring of 1988. In the interim, channel 6 agreed to air CBS programs pre-empted by WTVJ. Meanwhile, WSVN fought to retain its relationship with NBC, but later relented and approached CBS for an affiliation deal. CBS turned it down and went forward with its plans for WCIX, despite its considerably weaker signal in the northern portions of the market.
The official affiliation changeover occurred on January 1, 1989. WCIX became a CBS affiliate, while NBC's full schedule of programming moved to WTVJ. Fox moved its programming over to WSVN, while most of WCIX's syndicated programs went to WDZL. The station also began a half-hour newscast at 6 p.m., moved the 10 p.m. newscast to 11 p.m., and continued to increase its local news output in the 1990s. Channel 6 officially became a CBS-owned station on January 2, 1989. However, WCIX struggled as a CBS station due to its weak signal in Fort Lauderdale. Despite operating a translator in the area on channel 27, CBS persuaded WPEC, the longtime ABC affiliate in West Palm Beach, to switch to CBS in order to give the network a stronger signal in northern Broward County.
WCIX's transmission tower was brought down by Hurricane Andrew in 1992, forcing the station off the air. Within hours, the station resumed transmission via its low power translator in Fort Lauderdale. WDZL began carrying WCIX's newscasts the next day, with the entire CBS schedule following a few days later. Within a week, WCIX was back on the air using an emergency transmitter on a borrowed tower. In the wake of the devastation, WCIX's staff helped create Neighbors Helping Neighbors, a grass roots charitable organization which aimed to help people rebuild. The organization lives on as Neighbors 4 Neighbors, which is still supported by the station.
[edit] Move to channel four
In 1994, CBS and Westinghouse (Group W) Broadcasting signed a long-term affiliation deal, part of which resulted in three Westinghouse-owned stations becoming CBS affiliates. As a sidebar, a subsequent deal between NBC and a new Group W/CBS joint venture was made in 1995, with CBS selling the channel 6 broadcasting facility to NBC as compensation for the loss of two Westinghouse-owned NBC affiliates, KYW-TV in Philadelphia and WBZ-TV in Boston. In return, Group W/CBS received the stronger channel 4 broadcasting facility and cash as compensation for the loss of WCAU-TV in Philadelphia, which was being acquired by NBC. NBC also included stations in Denver and Salt Lake City in the tradeoff to Group W/CBS.
On September 12, 1995, WTVJ and WCIX swapped dial positions. The entire WCIX intellectual unit (calls, shows, CBS network and staff) moved from channel 6 to channel 4, thus returning CBS programming to channel 4 after a six-year hiatus. WTVJ had been Miami's CBS affiliate from its sign-on in 1949 until the 1989 switch to NBC. Along with the change came new call letters, WFOR-TV. Even though the FCC regards channel 4 as changing its call letters from WTVJ to WFOR on September 12, the stations themselves did not change hands, only the broadcasting facilities.
Under the terms of the deal, CBS sold controlling interest (55 percent) in WFOR-TV to Westinghouse, while retaining a minority interest (45 percent). WFOR became fully owned by CBS once again when the Westinghouse Electric Corporation purchased CBS at the end of 1995.
WFOR began its digital television service on May 1, 2001.
When Shannon High-Bassalik took over as news director in 2000, major changes came to WFOR. New anchors, a younger and hipper look, and flashy news coverage were all similar to the style seen at WSVN, where she was assistant news director. She also changed the newscast's name from News 4 South Florida to CBS 4 News. A short time later, Viacom and CBS merged, making WFOR a sister station to WBFS. WBFS moved to WFOR's studio, which was renamed the Viacom South Florida Broadcast Center. The station also began handling some support operations for WTVX in West Palm Beach.
When Viacom spun off CBS Corporation in 2005, WFOR became part of the new company, and its studio was renamed the CBS South Florida Broadcast Center.
[edit] Controversy
WFOR was heavily criticized after it broke into regular programming to announced that the son of Robert Parker, the director of the Miami-Dade Police Department had been arrested on armed robbery charges. The story and report turned out to be false. Later, WFOR retracted the story, saying, "It turns out that information is not correct." [1]
On February 14, 2007, WFOR investigative reporter Mike Kirsch was arrested after police say he threatened an officer during a traffic stop in Doral. Miami-Dade officer Patricia Perez charged him with assault on a law enforcement officer, resisting with violence and disorderly conduct. [2]
[edit] News Operations
[edit] Newscasts
Weekdays
- CBS 4 News This Morning (5 to 7 AM)
- My 33 News On The Move (7 to 9 AM on WBFS)
- CBS 4 News at Noon (12 to 12:30 PM)
- CBS 4 News First at 5 (5 to 6PM)
- CBS 4 News at 6 (6 to 6:30 PM)
- My 33 News at 10 (10 to 11 PM on WBFS)
- CBS 4 News Tonight (11:00 to 11:35 p.m.
Saturday
- CBS 4 News This Morning Saturday (6 to 7 AM and 9 to 10 AM)
- CBS 4 News at 6:00 (6 to 6:30 PM)
- My 33 News at 10 (10 to 10:30 PM on WBFS)
- CBS 4 News at 11 (11 to 11:35 PM)
Sunday
- CBS 4 News This Morning Sunday (8 to 9 AM)
- 4 Sunday Morning (11 to 11:30 PM)
- CBS 4 News at 6:30 (6:30 to 7 PM)
- My 33 News at 10 (10 to 10:30 PM on WBFS)
- CBS 4 News at 11 (11 to 11:35 PM)
- Jim Berry's Sports Wrap (11:35 PM to 12:05 AM)
[edit] Personalities
[edit] Current
Anchors
- Jade Alexander - weekend mornings (also entertainment reporter)
- Brian Andrews - fill-in (also I-Team reporter)
- Jorge Estevez - weekday mornings
- Robb Hanrahan - Noon and 6.
- Danielle Knox - weekday mornings
- Joy Purdy - noon and 6
- Eliott Rodriguez - 5 and 11 p.m. (also host of 4 Sunday Morning)
- Maggie Rodriguez - 5, and 11 p.m.
- Jawan Strader - weekend evenings (also early evening anchor)
- Ileana Varela - weekend evenings (also reporter on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday)
CBS 4 Storm Specialists (Meteorologists)
- Jeff Beradelli - weekend mornings (beginning April 11th, 2007)
- David Bernard - weeknights
- Erin Coakley - weekend mornings
- Bryan Norcross - "Hurricane Specialist" seen during hurricane coverage
- Craig Setzer - weekend evenings
- Pamela Wright - weekday mornings
- Rob Jones - weekday mornings
Sports
- Jim Berry - sports director/weekday anchor
- Kim Bokamper - rotating weekend anchor (a former Miami Dolphin)
- Jill Martin - rotating weekend anchor
Reporters
- Evan Bacon - General Assignment
- Art Barron - General Assignment
- Carey Codd - General Assignment
- Liv Davalos - General Assignment
- Jim DeFede - Commentary
- Michele Gillen - I-Team chief
- Mark Henry - Morning Traffic
- Nefertiti Jáquez - Morning General Assignment
- Dr. Sean Kenniff - Health
- Dave Malkoff - General Assignment / SciTech
- Joan Murray - General Assignment (Broward County)
- Gary Nelson - General Assignment / Political
- Lisa Petrillo - Entertainment
- Yusila Ramirez - Morning General Assignment
- Marybel Rodriguez - General Assignment
- Jennifer Santiago - WBFS Anchor
- Ted Scouten - General Assignment (Broward County)
- Laurie Stein - I-Team (also fill-in anchor)
- Shomari Stone - General Assignment
- Al Sunshine - Consumer Investigator (Shame on You)
- Natalia Zea - General Assignment
[edit] Former
- John Roberts (FKA J.D. Roberts)
- Mike Kirsch
- Leif Pedersen-Diaz, Nightside Reporter
- James Hill - "National Enquirer TV" Now lead anchor at ABC Columbia, Columbia SC
- Aleen Sirgany
- Phil Lipof - Now at WABC-TV
- Susan Barnett
- Alita Guillen
- Dr. Deanna Lites - Now at WHDH-TV
- Ken Rosato - Now at WABC-TV
- Angela Rae
- Steve Wolford
- Bryan Norcross, CBS News
- Giselle Fernández, journalist
- Gayle Anderson, KTLA
[edit] External links
- WFOR-TV Website
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WFOR
- Query the FCC's TV station database for W38AA
- Query the FCC's TV station database for W39AC
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Miami-Dade / Fort Lauderdale, Florida stations |
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| Local television stations In Key West (These stations either serve Miami proper, or are repeaters of Miami stations.) WGEN 8 (Ind) - WSBS 22 (Ind) - W38AA 38 / W39AC 39 (CBS) - W44AC 44 / W52BB 52 / W58BU 58 (NBC) - W47AC 47 (ABC) - WKIZ-LP 49 (FOX) |
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| Local digital television channels | ||
| CBS Network Affiliates in the state of Florida | |
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WFOR 4 (Miami) - WCTV 6 (Tallahassee) - WKMG 6 (Orlando) - WTSP 10 (St. Petersburg) - WINK 11 (Fort Myers) - WPEC 12 (West Palm Beach) - WTEV 47 (Jacksonville) - WGFL 53 (High Springs / Gainesville) |
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| See also: ABC, CW, Fox, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS, Religious, Spanish and Other stations in the state of Florida | |
