WCAU (channel 10) is a
television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...
in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, United States, airing programming from the
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
network. It is
owned and operated
In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...
by the network's
NBC Owned Television Stations
NBC Owned Television Stations (formerly NBC Local Media and NBC Television Stations Division (TVSD)) is the division of NBCUniversal Owned TV Stations (NBCUniversal), a subsidiary of Comcast that oversees the NBC owned-and-operated television s ...
division alongside
Mount Laurel, New Jersey
Mount Laurel is a township in Burlington County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of Philadelphia and part of the South Jersey region. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 41,864, reflecting an increase of 1 ...
–licensed
Telemundo
Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language Terrestrial television, terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Television and Streaming#NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a divi ...
outlet
WWSI
WWSI (channel 62) is a television station licensed to Mount Laurel, New Jersey, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language Telemundo network to the Philadelphia area. It is owned and operated by NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Group along ...
(channel 62); it is also sister to
regional sports network
In the United States and Canada, a regional sports network (RSN) is a cable television channel (many of which are also distributed on direct broadcast satellite services) that presents sports programming to a local market or geographical region.
...
NBC Sports Philadelphia
NBC Sports Philadelphia is an American regional sports network owned by the NBC Sports Group unit of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by locally based cable television provider Comcast (and owns a controlling 75% interest), and the Philadelph ...
. WCAU and WWSI share studios within the
Comcast Technology Center
The Comcast Technology Center is a supertall skyscraper in Center City, Philadelphia. The 60-floor building, with a height of , is the tallest building in Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the fourteenth-tallest building in the ...
on
Arch Street
Arch Street is a major east-west street in Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
History
The street was called Mulberry Street in William Penn's original city grid, but it was renamed Arch in 1854. Other parts of the street were once called Hol ...
in
Center City, with some operations remaining at their former main studio at the corner of
City Avenue
U.S. Route 1 (US 1) is a major north–south U.S. Highway, extending from Key West, Florida, in the south to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border in the north. In the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, US 1 runs for from the Maryland state line ...
and Monument Road in
Bala Cynwyd
Bala Cynwyd ( ) is a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania. It is located on the Philadelphia Main Line in Southeastern Pennsylvania, bordering the western edge of Philadelphia at U.S. Route 1 (City Avenue). It was originally two separa ...
, along the
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
–
Montgomery county line. Through a
channel sharing agreement, the two stations transmit using WCAU's spectrum from a tower in the
Roxborough Roxborough may refer to:
Places
* Roxborough, Manchester, Jamaica
* Roxborough, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, a neighborhood
* Roxborough, Trinidad and Tobago, Tobago Island, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
* Roxborough Castle, Ireland
* Roxborou ...
section of Philadelphia.
History
As a CBS station (1946–1995)
In 1946, the ''
Philadelphia Evening Bulletin
The ''Philadelphia Bulletin'' was a daily evening newspaper published from 1847 to 1982 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the largest circulation newspaper in Philadelphia for 76 years and was once the largest evening newspaper in the United ...
'' secured a
construction permit
Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...
for channel 10, naming its proposed station WPEN-TV after the newspaper's WPEN radio stations (950 AM, now
WKDN, and 98.1 FM, later WCAU-FM and now
WOGL
WOGL (98.1 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. and broadcasts a classic hits radio format. The broadcast tower used by the station is located in the Roxborough se ...
). The picture changed dramatically in 1947, when ''
The Philadelphia Record
''The Philadelphia Record'' was a daily newspaper published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1877 until 1947. It became among the most circulated papers in the city and was at some points the circulation leader.
History
''The Public Record'' ...
'' folded. The ''Bulletin'' inherited the ''Record''s "
goodwill", along with the rights to buy the radio station WCAU (1210 AM, now
WPHT
WPHT (1210 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station broadcasts a talk radio format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. Its transmitter and broadcast tower are in Moorestown, New Jersey. The radio studios ...
) and the original WCAU-FM (102.9 FM) from their longtime owners, brothers Isaac and Leon Levy. The ''Bulletin'' sold the less-powerful WPEN and WCAU-FM, with the latter being renamed WPEN-FM (it is now
WMGK
WMGK (102.9 FM, "102.9 MGK") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Beasley Broadcast Group and broadcasts a classic rock radio format. The broadcast tower used by the station i ...
). The ''Bulletin'' kept its FM station, renaming it WCAU-FM to match its new AM sister. The newspaper also kept its construction permit for channel 10, renaming it WCAU-TV.
WCAU-TV went on the air March 1, 1948, as Philadelphia's third television station with an initial test pattern on Channel 10. It carried its first CBS network show on a "sneak preview" basis on March 3, but the official opening of the station wasn't until May 23, 1948. It secured an affiliation with
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
through the influence of the Levy brothers, who continued to work for the newspaper as consultants. WCAU radio had been one of CBS' original 16 affiliates when the network launched in 1927. A year later, the Levy brothers persuaded their brother-in-law,
William S. Paley
William Samuel Paley (September 28, 1901 – October 26, 1990) was an American businessman, primarily involved in the media, and best known as the chief executive who built the Columbia Broadcasting System ( CBS) from a small radio network into ...
, to buy the struggling network. The Levy brothers were shareholders and directors at CBS for many years. Due to this long relationship, channel 10 signed on as CBS's third television affiliate.
![WTP D03 AMP 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/WTP_D03_AMP_1.jpg)
In the late 1950s, the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) collapsed northern
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
, southern New Jersey and the
Lehigh Valley
The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the no ...
into the Philadelphia market. The ''Bulletin'' realized that channel 10's original tower, atop the
PSFS Building
The PSFS Building, now known as the Loews Philadelphia Hotel, is a skyscraper in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A National Historic Landmark, the building was the first International style skyscraper constructed in the United States. ...
in Center City, was not nearly strong enough to serve this larger viewing area. In 1957, WCAU-TV moved to a new tower in Roxborough, which added most of Delaware, the
Jersey Shore
The Jersey Shore (known by locals simply as the Shore) is the coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Geographically, the term encompasses about of oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy in the north to Cape May Po ...
and the Lehigh Valley to its city-grade coverage.
![Wcau70s](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Wcau70s.jpg)
Also in 1957, the ''Bulletin'' formed a limited partnership with the Megargee family, owner of CBS affiliate WGBI-TV (channel 22) in
Scranton
Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U ...
. As part of the deal, channel 22's call letters were changed to WDAU-TV (WDAU's call letters were changed again to
WYOU
WYOU (channel 22) is a television station licensed to Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with ...
in 1986). Soon afterward, the FCC ruled that the ''Bulletin'' could not keep both stations due to a large signal overlap in the Lehigh Valley. Although the ''Bulletin'' had only bought a minority stake in channel 22, the FCC ruled that this stake was so large that the two stations were effectively a
duopoly
A duopoly (from Greek δύο, ''duo'' "two" and πωλεῖν, ''polein'' "to sell") is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market. It is the most commonly studied form of oligopoly due to its simplicit ...
. The ''Bulletin'' could not afford to get a waiver to keep both stations, so it opted to keep its stake in WDAU-TV and sell the WCAU stations to CBS. CBS had to seek a waiver to buy the WCAU stations, as the signals of WCAU's AM and television stations overlapped with those of
WCBS radio and
WCBS-TV
WCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–licensed independent station WL ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
(in the case of the AM outlets, both were
clear-channel stations
A clear-channel station is an AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The system exists to ensure the viability of cross-co ...
; the FCC at the time usually did not allow common ownership of clear-channel stations with overlapping nighttime coverage areas). However, in its application for a waiver, CBS cited NBC's then-ownership of WRCV-TV in Philadelphia (channel 3, now
KYW-TV
KYW-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside CW affiliate WPSG (channel 57 ...
) and WRCA-TV in New York City (now
WNBC
WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station WN ...
). The FCC readily granted the waiver, and CBS took control in 1958.
Switch from CBS to NBC (1994–1995)
![WCAU-TV logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/WCAU-TV_logo.png)
In July 1994, CBS entered into a long-term affiliation agreement with
Westinghouse (Group W) Broadcasting, owners of Philadelphia's longtime NBC affiliate, KYW-TV, and its sister stations in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
(
WJZ-TV
WJZ-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, and maintains studios and offices on Televi ...
) and
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
(
WBZ-TV
WBZ-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent station WSBK-TV (channe ...
). Westinghouse converted all three of those stations into CBS affiliates. CBS was reluctant to include KYW-TV in the deal since it had been a very distant third in the Philadelphia ratings for more than a decade. In contrast, WCAU was a solid runner-up to
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
-owned station
WPVI-TV
WPVI-TV (channel 6), branded on-air as 6 ABC, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station ...
(channel 6). Ultimately, CBS decided to affiliate with channel 3 and sell channel 10, ending a 47-year relationship (including 37 years of ownership) with the station.
NBC and
New World Communications
New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment and New World Communications Group, Inc.) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia company. It was founded in 197 ...
then emerged as the leading bidders for WCAU. NBC had wanted to own a station in Philadelphia for many years; for most of the broadcasting era, Philadelphia was the largest market where NBC didn't own a station. It briefly succeeded in 1956, when it
extorted
Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...
Westinghouse into exchanging channel 3 (then called WPTZ-TV) and KYW radio for NBC's
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
stations,
WTAM-AM-
FM and
WNBK television. However, after Westinghouse complained, the FCC and the
U.S. Justice Department
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United States ...
nullified the swap in June 1965. New World got into the bidding because it had just signed a multi-year affiliation deal with
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
, and intended to make WCAU a Fox station had it emerged victoriously. Fox's affiliate in Philadelphia,
WTXF-TV
WTXF-TV (channel 29) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on Market ...
, was about to become an affiliate of the United Paramount Network (
UPN
The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which prod ...
), which was to be programmed mostly by WTXF's owner,
Paramount Stations Group
Paramount Stations Group (sometimes abbreviated as PSG) was a company that controlled a group of American broadcast television stations. The company existed from 1991 until 2001.
History
Paramount Communications, the then-parent company of Para ...
. New World found the chance to give Fox a VHF station in the nation's fourth-largest market too much to resist. Fox jumped into the bidding as well in case New World's bid fell through.
However,
Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to:
* Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate
* Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom
* Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...
, which bought Paramount in mid-1994, opted instead to sell WTXF-TV to Fox, making WTXF-TV a Fox O&O. New World pulled out of the bidding war for WCAU as well, effectively handing channel 10 to NBC. Had WCAU become a Fox station, it would have retained its status as the "home" station of the
NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
's
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...
. The station had carried Eagles games since 1950, and had carried the majority of Eagles games since
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
won the rights to NFL games in 1956. Indeed, Fox had cut its affiliation deal with New World because it had recently
won the rights to the
National Football Conference
The National Football Conference (NFC) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest professional level of American football in the United States. The NFC and its counterpart, the American Football Conference ...
, where the Eagles play, and most games were thus moved to WTXF; New World owned a large number of CBS affiliates.
As an NBC-owned station (1995–present)
While KYW-TV's sister stations in Boston and Baltimore switched to CBS in January 1995, the swap was delayed in Philadelphia when CBS discovered that an outright sale of channel 10 would have forced it to pay
capital gains tax
A capital gains tax (CGT) is the tax on profits realized on the sale of a non-inventory asset. The most common capital gains are realized from the sale of stocks, Bond (finance), bonds, precious metals, real estate, and property.
Not all count ...
es on the proceeds from the deal. To solve this problem, CBS, NBC and Group W entered into a complex ownership and affiliation deal in November 1994. To make the deal for WCAU an even trade, NBC transferred
KCNC-TV
KCNC-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, and maintains studios on Lincoln Street (between ...
in
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
and
KUTV
KUTV (channel 2) is a television station in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside independent station KJZZ-TV (channel 14) and St. George–licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate K ...
in
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
(a station that NBC had only acquired earlier that year) to CBS in exchange; additionally, the
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
and
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
stations in
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
traded broadcasting facilities, with CBS moving to the stronger of the two signals. CBS then traded controlling interest in KCNC and KUTV to Group W in return for a minority stake in KYW-TV. The deal officially took effect on September 10, 1995. Group W's parent, the
Westinghouse Electric Corporation
The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...
, purchased CBS two months later, making CBS' Philadelphia radio stations sisters to WCAU-AM/WPHT's longtime rival, KYW radio. The last CBS network program to air on channel 10 was a repeat of ''
Walker, Texas Ranger
''Walker, Texas Ranger'' is an American action crime television series created by Leslie Greif and Paul Haggis. It was inspired by the film ''Lone Wolf McQuade'', with both this series and that film starring Chuck Norris as a member of the Texa ...
'', which began at 10:00 p.m. on September 9, 1995.
Although the radio stations had dropped the WCAU calls some years before, NBC dropped the ''-TV'' suffix from channel 10's callsign soon after it assumed control.
In January 2011, the Philadelphia-based cable and media company
Comcast
Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...
acquired a 51% majority stake in WCAU's parent company, by then known as NBC Universal, which effectively makes the station locally owned. Comcast bought the other 49% in early 2013.
In March 2013, NBCUniversal announced that it would buy
Telemundo
Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language Terrestrial television, terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Television and Streaming#NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a divi ...
affiliate
WWSI
WWSI (channel 62) is a television station licensed to Mount Laurel, New Jersey, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language Telemundo network to the Philadelphia area. It is owned and operated by NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Group along ...
from
ZGS Communications
ZGS Communications, also referred to as the ZGS Group or ZGS Broadcasting, was a television and radio station operator in the United States, based in Arlington, Virginia. The company operated 11 stations: 10 television stations and one radio statio ...
for $20 million, giving WCAU a duopoly partner, as with several other NBC O&Os. The sale was completed on June 2 of that year. In August 2012, NBC Owned Stations Group rebranded channel 10, to reflect the Look F package.
On February 14, 2014, WCAU, along with nearby NBC affiliate
WBAL-TV
WBAL-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is the flagship property of Hearst Television, which has owned the station since its inception, and is sister to the company's sole radio ...
in Baltimore, began to be shown on Comcast cable systems in the
Susquehanna Valley
The Susquehanna Valley is a region of low-lying land that borders the Susquehanna River in the United States, U.S. states of New York (state), New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. The valley consists of areas that lie along the main branch o ...
after
WGAL
WGAL (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States, serving the Susquehanna Valley region as an affiliate of NBC. Owned by Hearst Television, the station maintains studios on Columbia Avenue ( PA 462) in ...
, the NBC affiliate in that market, was knocked off the air after a portion of the roof at the station's Columbia Avenue studio facility collapsed due to heavy accumulations of snow and ice caused by a
winter storm that moved through the Eastern United States earlier that week.
On April 16, 2014,
WMGM-TV
WMGM-TV (channel 40) is a television station licensed to Wildwood, New Jersey, United States, affiliated with the True Crime Network. It is owned by TelevisaUnivision alongside Vineland, New Jersey–licensed Univision owned-and-operated statio ...
(channel 40), the NBC affiliate in nearby
Atlantic City
Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...
, announced that the station would drop its NBC affiliation and shut down its news operation on
January 1
January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the yea ...
, 2015, presumably due to WCAU claiming market exclusivity (Atlantic City is part of the Philadelphia market). Following an hour-long documentary focusing on the station's history and staff entitled ''NewsCenter 40: The Stories Behind the Station'', WMGM-TV then began carrying programs from the
Soul of the South
Soul of the South Television (sometimes referred to as SSN TV) is an African-American-focused regional broadcast network owned by SSN Media Group, LP. It primarily broadcasts in the Southern United States and secondarily in other high African-Ame ...
network, while WCAU became the sole NBC affiliate in the market. WMGM-TV was sold to
Univision Communications
TelevisaUnivision (formerly known as Univision Communications) is a Mexican-American media company headquartered in New York and Mexico City, which owns the American Spanish language broadcast network Univision. 45% of the company is held by the ...
in 2017 and is now a primary
True Crime Network
True Crime Network (formerly Justice Network) is an American digital multicast television network that is operated by True Crime Network, LLC, a limited liability company, which is owned by Tegna Inc. The network specializes in true crime, inv ...
affiliate; it also relays sister station and
Univision
Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and includes ...
network O&O
WUVP-DT
WUVP-DT (channel 65) is a television station licensed to Vineland, New Jersey, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language Univision network to the Philadelphia area. It is owned and operated by TelevisaUnivision alongside Wildwood, Ne ...
(channel 65) on its third digital subchannel.
Studios
Channel 10 was originally located at 1622 Chestnut Street in
Center City along with its sister radio stations (the building, which was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1983, now houses The Art Institute). In 1952, WCAU-AM-FM-TV moved to a new facility in the
Main Line
Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to:
Transportation
Railway
* Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system
* Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...
suburb of Bala Cynwyd, just north of the Philadelphia–Montgomery County line. The studio, located on Monument Road at City Avenue, was a state-of-the-art television center, and the first building in America constructed specifically for mainly television productions (though the WCAU radio stations were also based out of the facility until the 1995 sale to NBC).
On January 16, 2014, it was announced that WCAU and sister station WWSI would move to the then-under-construction
Comcast Technology Center
The Comcast Technology Center is a supertall skyscraper in Center City, Philadelphia. The 60-floor building, with a height of , is the tallest building in Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the fourteenth-tallest building in the ...
on Arch Street in Center City, which was built by NBC parent Comcast. This 59-story building became the tallest building in Philadelphia, and is now recognized as the tallest building in the United States outside of New York and Chicago. After several weeks of off-air tests, WCAU and WWSI officially moved all on-air operations to the new facility on October 21, 2018. However, some technical and other operations, and the base and staging for the station's live news vehicles, will remain in Bala Cynwyd for the time being.
Programming
As of September 2022,
syndicated programs broadcast on WCAU include ''
Access Hollywood
''Access Hollywood'', formerly known as ''Access'' from 2017 to 2019, is an American weekday television entertainment news program that premiered on September 9, 1996. It covers events and celebrities in the entertainment industry. It was created ...
'', ''
Dateline
A dateline is a brief piece of text included in news articles that describes where and when the story was written or filed, though the date is often omitted. In the case of articles reprinted from wire services, the distributing organization is ...
'' (in its syndicated package; first-run episodes of the series are also broadcast on the station through NBC), and ''
The Kelly Clarkson Show
''The Kelly Clarkson Show'' is an American daytime television variety talk show hosted by American singer Kelly Clarkson. It is produced and distributed by NBCUniversal Syndication Studios and features Clarkson interviewing celebrities and seg ...
''. WCAU is one of the ten NBC O&Os (along with WNBC in New York City,
WVIT
WVIT (channel 30) is a television station licensed to New Britain, Connecticut, United States, broadcasting NBC programming to the Hartford–New Haven market. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alo ...
in
Hartford
Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...
,
KNTV
KNTV (channel 11), branded as NBC Bay Area, is a television station licensed to San Jose, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's NBC network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Sta ...
in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
,
KNBC
KNBC (channel 4) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Corona-licens ...
in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, WMAQ-TV in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
,
KXAS-TV
KXAS-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, United States, broadcasting NBC programming to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Televis ...
in
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
, WTVJ in Miami,
KNSD
KNSD (channel 39) is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations alongside Poway-licensed Telemundo outlet KUAN-L ...
in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
, and
WRC-TV
WRC-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Class A television se ...
in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
) that carry and distribute programming either nationally or regionally.
From 1965 to 1986, WCAU-TV was the only network-owned station in Philadelphia. As such, it was the only station in the city that did not heavily or moderately preempt network programming. Channel 10 did, however, run an hour of
Saturday morning cartoon
"Saturday-morning cartoon" is a colloquial term for the original animated series programming that was typically scheduled on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the United States on the "Big Three" television networks. The genre's popularity had a br ...
s during the 7 a.m. hour on a one-week delay in order to run the hour-long locally produced children's program, ''
The Gene London Show'', which ended in 1977. Beginning in 1978, WCAU-TV began preempting an hour of Sunday morning cartoon reruns and in the beginning of 1979 the station preempted an hour of the Saturday morning cartoons. By 1980, the station was running the entire Saturday morning cartoon lineup again and by early in 1981, the Sunday morning hour of children's programs was brought back.
''Wawa Welcome America''
In July 2016, Comcast announced that they would take over as presenting sponsor of the ''
Wawa Welcome America''
4th of July
Fourth or the fourth may refer to:
* the ordinal form of the number 4
* ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971
* Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision
* Fourth (music)
In music a fourth is an interval spanning four staff po ...
festivities, particularly the Philly July 4 Jam and Grand Finale Fireworks; WCAU and WWSI assumed the local broadcast duties beginning in 2016, thus ending 32 years of broadcast rights with ABC owned-and-operated WPVI, while the Philly July 4 Jam concert was also broadcast nationally on
VH1. By airing the event, the station preempts the live national NBC telecast of the ''
Macy's
Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...
4th of July Fireworks'' from New York City, though it carries the condensed replay immediately after both ceremonies end.
Sports programming
Since Comcast acquired the station's parent NBCUniversal in 2011, WCAU has aired Philadelphia's major sports teams in many years. Because of those commitments to air these major sports teams, they reschedule NBC network programs preempted on the station. WCAU, as both a CBS and NBC station, has also aired Philadelphia's pro sports teams through their network coverage as well.
Philadelphia Phillies
On January 2, 2014, Comcast and the
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...
announced a 25-year, $2.5 billion TV contract, including WCAU and Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia (now
NBC Sports Philadelphia
NBC Sports Philadelphia is an American regional sports network owned by the NBC Sports Group unit of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by locally based cable television provider Comcast (and owns a controlling 75% interest), and the Philadelph ...
); although it averaged $100 million a year, it was structured to begin below the average and end above it. As part of its 25-year TV contract, WCAU took over free-to-air broadcast rights for Phillies baseball games from
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...
affiliate
WPHL-TV
WPHL-TV (channel 17) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group and has studios in the Wynnefield section of West Philadelphia; it maintains a ...
beginning in the
2014 season, including its Opening Day game and selected games aired on the station. Some games may air on
WTXF
WTXF-TV (channel 29) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on Market ...
, per the national broadcast agreement between
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
and
Fox Sports
Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world.
The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...
. As a CBS station, WCAU also aired select Phillies games as part of
CBS' broadcast contract with Major League Baseball from
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
to
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
, including the
1993 World Series
The 1993 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) season. The 90th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the defending World Series champion and American League (AL) champio ...
, in which the Phillies lost to the
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...
.
Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles games primarily aired on Channel 10 back when it was a CBS station and that network carried the National Football Conference, a relationship that began in 1956 when CBS took on the broadcast rights to the pre-merger National Football League. That arrangement lasted until
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
, when
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
acquired the NFC contract and with it, the Eagles games to WTXF. After being traded to NBC, only select games where the Eagles hosted an
American Football Conference
The American Football Conference (AFC) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest professional level of American football in the United States. The AFC and its counterpart, the National Football Conference ...
opponent would air on WCAU from
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
to
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
, when CBS regained the NFL. Since
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
, Eagles games broadcast nationally by
NBC Sports
NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...
have aired on WCAU, mostly ''
Sunday Night Football'' contests but also
Super Bowl LII
Super Bowl LII was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2017 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles defeated the American Football Conferen ...
, which saw the Eagles clinch their first NFL championship in the modern Super Bowl era.
In the summer of 2015, Comcast and the Eagles announced a new TV contract; WCAU began airing the preseason games in the
2015 season after ending its contract with ABC owned-and-operated station WPVI in the
2014 season. Pre-season games are sub-licensed to other stations during
Olympic
Olympic or Olympics may refer to
Sports
Competitions
* Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896
** Summer Olympic Games
** Winter Olympic Games
* Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...
years.
Philadelphia Flyers
WCAU has free-to-air rights to the
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Wells ...
hockey games beginning with the
2017–18 season with NBC Sports Philadelphia. Flyers games were also broadcast nationally on the station through
its broadcast package of the National Hockey League until the contract's expiration at the end of the
2020–21 season, including the team’s appearance in the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals.
Philadelphia 76ers
Beginning in the 2017–18 Philadelphia 76ers season, 2017–18 season, WCAU began displaying its in-court advertisements during all of the Philadelphia 76ers National Basketball Association, NBA franchise home games held at the Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia), Wells Fargo Center; the home games of the 76ers are currently broadcast on its sister regional sports network NBC Sports Philadelphia. Prior to the launch of the station's in-court advertisement campaign, the station carried these 76ers games as part of NBA on NBC, the network's broadcasting package of the NBA from 1995 until 2002 (including the team's appearance in the 2001 NBA Finals). Since then, 76ers games was moved to NBA on ABC, ABC (WPVI locally) and NBA on ESPN, ESPN. During its run as a CBS station, all 76ers games that were broadcast as part of NBA on CBS, that network's NBA broadcast contract from 1973 to 1990 aired on channel 10, including the team's victory in the 1983 NBA Finals.
Broad Street Run
In 2015, WCAU assumed the local English broadcast rights of the Broad Street Run, Blue Cross Broad Street Run, held every first Sunday of May, taking over from ABC O&O WPVI after the 36th annual event in 2014.
News operation
WCAU presently broadcasts 47 hours, 55 minutes of locally produced newscasts each week (with 7 hours, 35 minutes each weekday, four hours on Saturdays and six hours on Sundays). News has been produced at WCAU from when the station went on the air on in 1948. Charles Shaw (journalist), Charles Shaw, who had worked with Edward R. Murrow as a CBS correspondent in London during World War II, was the station's news director from 1948 until he left the station in the early 1960s. John Facenda, who later gained fame as the voice of NFL Films, was the station's main anchorman from shortly after it signed on until 1973. At the time he retired, he had been a main anchor longer than anyone in Philadelphia; he has since been passed by WPVI's Jim Gardner (broadcaster), Jim Gardner.
Soon after joining the station, Facenda sold the ''Bulletin'' on the idea of a local 11 p.m. newscast—the first in the country. It aired for the first time on September 8. In 1950, WCAU became the first station with a four-man news team. The 6 p.m. newscast was anchored by Facenda, with Philadelphia radio legend Phil Sheridan handling weather, Jack Whitaker on sports and Ed McMahon as announcer. In 1965, channel 10 introduced the "Big News" format from Los Angeles sister station KNXT (now KCBS-TV).
The station's news operation was the ratings leader in Philadelphia for most of the time from the late 1940s until the 1960s, when it was surpassed by KYW-TV's ''Eyewitness News''. The station then remained a strong second until the 1970s, when WPVI-TV's ''Action News'' bumped channel 10 down to third place. WCAU struggled through the late 1970s while most of its CBS sister stations dominated the ratings, but has since recovered and has been a solid runner-up to longtime leader WPVI for over a quarter century. WCAU managed to pass WPVI in the 5 p.m. time slot for a time in the early 1980s with its original ''Live at 5'', anchored by Larry Kane and Deborah Knapp (now at KENS in San Antonio). In 2001, WCAU made national news when its 11 p.m. newscast (anchored by Larry Mendte and Renee Chenault-Fattah) knocked WPVI from the top spot in the local news ratings for the first time in decades. Since 2003, WCAU has had to fend off a spirited challenge from a resurgent KYW-TV for second place in the Philadelphia ratings; Channel 3's resurgence was fueled in part by luring Mendte away from channel 10.
WCAU used music based on "Channel 2 News", written by Dick Marx for WBBM-TV in Chicago (the ''de facto'' official music for CBS' O&O stations) and variations on it from 1982 until the 11 p.m. newscast on September 9, 1995, hours before the switch to NBC. It used the original 1975 version from 1982 to 1987, a synthesized version produced by a local composer during the 1987–88 season and the "Palmer News Package" composed by Shelly Palmer#Work as a Composer, Shelly Palmer from 1988 to 1995. KYW-TV has used variants on this theme in recent years.
Shortly after CBS agreed to sell the station to NBC in the fall of 1994, WCAU began to slowly remove CBS references from the station's branding; in January 1995, the longtime moniker of ''Channel 10 News'' was eliminated in favor of ''NewsCenter 10'', which coincided with the debut of a reconstructed newsroom facility. During this time, new cuts of the Palmer News Package were used alongside an aqua blue and purple graphical package, and a black-and-white logo with no references to any network affiliation. After the sale closed, NBC changed the name to ''News 10'', with anchors Ken Matz, Renee Chenault and reporter Siani Lee anchoring a special newscast the morning of September 10, 1995, explaining the station's new identity and the affiliation switch.
The station's news operation was renamed again, this time to ''NBC 10 News'', beginning with the 11 p.m. newscast on September 11, 2000. On December 10, 2005, WCAU took over production of WPHL-TV (channel 17)'s nightly half-hour 10 p.m. newscast after that station shuttered its in-house news department and laid off its entire news and production staff; this new newscast was called ''WB 17 News at 10, Powered by NBC 10''. On July 25, 2006, the program was renamed ''My PHL 17 News, Powered by NBC 10'' to correspond with WPHL's then-pending switch to MyNetworkTV. This newscast competed with the 10 p.m. newscasts on WTXF (channel 29, which is produced in-house) and WPSG (channel 57, which is produced by KYW-TV). On September 14, 2012 WCAU produced its final edition of WPHL's newscast. The next day WPVI officially took over production and rebranded the newscast as ''Action News at 10 on PHL 17''.
From 2001 to 2005, WPPX-TV rebroadcast some of WCAU's newscasts.
On November 13, 2008, Fox Television Stations and NBC Local Media entered into an agreement to test a system that would allow Fox-owned stations and NBC-owned stations to pool their news resources ranging from shared video to any aerial video from a helicopter. WCAU and Fox owned-and-operated station WTXF were the first stations to undertake the plan (known as a "Local News Service" agreement) as an effective way to deal with the difficulties in costs in news operations. WCAU later announced in September 2012, that it would be leaving the Local News Service agreement with WTXF and KYW-TV (which entered the agreement by 2010) and utilize its own helicopter. The new helicopter, dubbed "SkyForce 10", debuted on February 25, 2013.
WCAU became the fourth and last English-language television station in the Philadelphia media market, market to begin broadcasting its local news programming in high-definition television, high-definition on December 10, 2008, starting with its 4 p.m. newscast. On September 12, 2011, WCAU expanded its weekday morning newscast to 4:30 a.m., along with the launch of a new midday newscast at 11 a.m., and the reduction of ''The 10! Show'' to a half-hour program. On December 6, 2011, the station announced a partnership with public broadcasting stations WHYY-FM-WHYY-TV, TV as part of a larger effort by NBCUniversal to partner with nonprofit news organizations following its acquisition by Comcast.
On September 15, 2012, ''The 10! Show'' ended its run after ten years. On September 17, 2012, WCAU's midday newscast expanded to one hour. Their morning newscast starts at 4:00am.
Former morning anchor Vai Sikahema may be the station's most recognizable current personality. A former Philadelphia Eagle, Sikahema is one of several former NFL stars who have gone on to become sports news anchors (other notable examples include Jim Hill (American football), Jim Hill of KCBS-TV in Los Angeles and Len Dawson of KMBC-TV in Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City). While Sikahema anchored the sportscasts on WCAU-TV weeknights, on-air personalities from NBC Sports Philadelphia have anchored sports on weekends in recent years, owing to Comcast owning NBC through NBCUniversal since the start of the 2010s.
In February 2014, WCAU became the second television station in Philadelphia (behind Fox O&O WTXF-TV) to expand its weekday morning newscast to three hours, with addition of a half-hour at 4:00 a.m.; this newscast was canceled in 2016 but revived on July 31, 2017. In conjunction with this, they switched its music to the "L.A. Groove" theme that has been in use by sister stations KNBC in Los Angeles, KNSD in San Diego, KNTV in San Francisco and by WNBC in New York City (in the case of WNBC, it no longer uses "L.A. Groove" as its news theme as of 2016).
On July 11, 2016 beginning with the 4:00 p.m. newscast, WCAU became the seventh NBC-owned station to begin using ArtWorks' "Look N" graphics package following WNBC, WTVJ, WVIT, KXAS-TV, WMAQ-TV and WRC-TV.
On October 21, 2018, WCAU moved to their new studios within the Comcast Technology Center, beginning with the 6:00 p.m. newscast. The logo was also simplified to remove the redundant "NBC" text and streamline the NBC Peacock and the "10" numeral together more closely, as had been done with sister station WYCN-LD, WBTS-LD's new "10" logo upon their numerical rebranding to "NBC 10 Boston" at the start of 2018.
In August 2019, WCAU announced that the last 15 minutes of its 11:00 a.m. newscast would be cut in favor of their lifestyle show ''Philly Live'' beginning September 9.
In February 2020, WCAU announced a content partnership with Philadelphia-based company Entercom Communications (which in 2021 officially became known as Audacy, Inc., Audacy) and its AM radio station KYW (AM), KYW-AM along with its sister stations WIP-FM, WTDY-FM, WOGL-FM, WPHT (AM), WPHT-AM and WBEB-FM for use of WCAU's on-air talent on the radio stations; it is the second station partnership between Entercom/Audacy and NBC (following KXAS-TV and KRLD (AM), KRLD in Dallas beginning in 2018). Fellow NBC O&O stations had already partnered with radio stations in markets including Washington, D.C. (WRC-TV and WTOP-FM), New York City (WNBC and WOR (AM), WOR), Los Angeles (KNBC and KABC (AM), KABC-AM), Hartford (WVIT and WILI (AM), WILI), and Miami (WTVJ and WIOD).
On February 17, 2020, WCAU added a half-hour 7 p.m. newscast on weekdays.
It was announced in July 2020 that Sikahema would be retiring from NBC10 in November of that year after a 26-year run at the station, stepping away from the anchor position but still being active around the station until fully retiring. Additionally, co-anchor Tracy Davidson would be shifting away from the morning editions to anchor the 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. newscasts alongside Jacqueline London and Jim Rosenfield respectively. It was also revealed that previous 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. anchor team Keith Jones and Erin Coleman would take over the anchoring duties for the morning show. Sikahema and Davidson's last day anchoring the broadcast was on September 17, 2020, with Jones and Coleman taking over the next day.
In July 2021, WCAU testing its "Look S" graphics package in their sponsor plugs; but the new graphics package was officially debuted on July 19 of the same year, beginning with the 11:00 a.m. newscast (sister Telemundo station WWSI also debuting the same package on that date).
On January 22, 2022, WCAU launched a new 24-hour streaming channel made exclusively for NBCUniversal's streaming service Peacock (streaming service), Peacock, dubbed as "NBC Philadelphia News" featuring the simulcasts and encores of the station's newscasts as well as the station's original content made for the channel. The new streaming channel comes following the announcement they would have a simultaneous rollout of streaming news channels with its sister stations in Chicago, Miami and Boston beginning on that date, with channels in New York and Los Angeles followed suit on March 17. Prior to the launch of the streaming channel, the station had a curated playlist made available on the streaming service since its April 2020 launch.
Notable current on-air staff
* Tracy Davidson – anchor
* Keith Jones (broadcaster), Keith Jones – anchor/reporter
* Jim Rosenfield – anchor
Notable former on-air staff
On June 26, 1972, three news correspondents were killed in a helicopter crash in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where they had been covering the flooding stemming from Hurricane Agnes. The victims were Del Vaughn of CBS News and Sid Brenner and Louis Clark of WCAU, and the pilot, Mike Sedio.
*Diane B. Allen, Diane Allen
*Donald Barnhouse (deceased)
*Suzanne Bates (later with
WBZ-TV
WBZ-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent station WSBK-TV (channe ...
in Boston, now owns a speech firm in Boston)
*Pat Battle (now at
WNBC
WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station WN ...
in New York City)
*John Bolaris (later at
WCBS-TV
WCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–licensed independent station WL ...
and
WTXF-TV
WTXF-TV (channel 29) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on Market ...
)
*Tom Brookshier (later with CBS Sports)
*Ron Burke (sportscaster), Ron Burke (now with WPBF in West Palm Beach, Florida)
*Bill Campbell (sportscaster), Bill Campbell (deceased)
*Renee Chenault-Fattah
*Herb Clarke (weatherman), Herb Clarke – meteorologist (1958-1997) (deceased)
*Gene Crane (deceased)
*Lori Delgado
*Vince DeMentri (later with WPIX and WICS in Springfield, IL)
*Herb Denenberg (deceased)
*Howard Eskin (now at
WTXF-TV
WTXF-TV (channel 29) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on Market ...
)
*John Facenda (deceased)
*Frank Ford (broadcaster), Frank Ford (deceased)
*Amy Freeze (later at WFLD in Chicago and WABC-TV in New York, now at Fox Weather)
*Doreen Gentzler (now with
WRC-TV
WRC-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Class A television se ...
in Washington, DC)
*Mike Golic (now with ESPN)
*Judd Hambrick
*Edie Huggins (deceased)
*Jack Jones (reporter), Jack Jones (later at
KYW-TV
KYW-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside CW affiliate WPSG (channel 57 ...
, now deceased)
*Larry Kane (was most recently with the Comcast Network until it ceased operations in 2017)
*Tim Lake (now with WTEN in Albany)
*Siani Lee (later with
KYW-TV
KYW-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside CW affiliate WPSG (channel 57 ...
, now deceased)
*Don Lemon (now anchor/reporter at CNN)
*Gene London – children's entertainer (deceased)
*J. J. Maura (deceased)
*Jade McCarthy (later with ESPN, now at NBC Sports Boston)
*Ed McMahon (later with ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'', now deceased)
*Jillian Mele (now at Fox News)
*Al Meltzer (sports anchor, 1978–1998) (deceased)
*Larry Mendte (anchor, 1996–2003; now with WABC (AM), WABC in New York)
*Barney Morris (deceased)
*Kathy Orr (meteorologist), Kathy Orr (was Chief Meteorologist at
KYW-TV
KYW-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside CW affiliate WPSG (channel 57 ...
, now at WTXF)
*Ralph Penza (later with
WNBC
WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station WN ...
in New York City, deceased)
*Terry Ruggles
(retired from television)
*Glenn Schwartz (meteorologist), Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz – meteorologist (retired)
*Phillip Sheridan
*Fred Sherman (business commentator), Fred Sherman (deceased)
*Vai Sikahema (Former sports anchor & morning anchor, retired in November 2020)
*Tammie Souza
*Stephanie Stahl (reporter), Stephanie Stahl (now Medical Specialist with KYW-TV)
*Chuck Stone (deceased)
*Mike Strug (reporter), Mike Strug (retired)
*Bill Vargus (later with
WTXF-TV
WTXF-TV (channel 29) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on Market ...
)
*Jane Velez-Mitchell (later with KCAL-TV in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
)
*Lou Wagner
*Jack Whitaker (deceased)
*Brian Williams (New Jersey correspondent, 1985–1987; later anchor/managing editor at ''NBC Nightly News'', was most recently anchor of ''The 11th Hour (news program), The 11th Hour'' on MSNBC until his departure on December 9, 2021)
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's digital signal is Multiplex (TV), multiplexed:
On October 25, 2010, WCAU introduced its own version of WNBC's NBC New York Nonstop, New York Nonstop channel, ''NBC Philadelphia Nonstop''. This subchannel featured various news and entertainment programs, and a locally produced newscast at 7 p.m. On December 20, 2012, digital subchannel 10.2 became an affiliate of Cozi TV, which replaced the Nonstop network. 34.5 (virtual 62.1) carries WWSI, as described below, with 34.6/62.2 carrying TeleXitos, under a channel share agreement.
Analog-to-digital conversion
WCAU signed on its digital signal on December 4, 1998. The station shut down its analog signal, over Very high frequency, VHF channel 10, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States Digital television transition in the United States, transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal moved from its pre-transition Ultra high frequency, UHF channel 67 to channel 34 for post-transition digital operations, because ABC affiliate WHTM-TV in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania continued broadcasting on channel 10 after ceasing channel 27 analog transmission that day.
[FCC DTV status report for WCAU](_blank)
/ref> Through the use of Program and System Information Protocol, PSIP, digital television receivers continue to display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 10.1.
Channel share with WWSI
On April 13, 2017, it was revealed that the over-the-air spectrum of sister station WWSI has been sold in the FCC's spectrum reallocation auction, fetching $125.9 million—the highest payout from the process. As a result, WWSI's signal is now co-located with WCAU. NBC had won similar spectrum bids using the Telemundo station in Chicago (which will be in similar arrangement with NBC O&O WMAQ-TV) and the NBC station in New York (also in similar arrangement with Telemundo O&O WNJU), but stated that in this case, the NBC station had a superior signal.
Out-of-market carriage
WCAU is carried in central and southern New Jersey on certain cable systems that generally receive local channels from New York. It is available from Comcast in select towns in southern Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, on digital channel 253, being moved there in December 2007 from analog channel 10 to "preserve bandwidth." In Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth County, WCAU is carried on Altice USA, Optimum Monmouth and Monmouth/Wall Township, New Jersey, Wall. All of Ocean County, New Jersey, Ocean County receives WCAU on Comcast and Cablevision systems, and for Ocean County Comcast subscribers, WCAU is on digital channel 253, for the same reasons above.
Comcast transmits WCAU to most of Sussex County, Delaware, Sussex County in Delaware, except for Fenwick Island, Delaware, Fenwick Island as the town uses former TCI (now Comcast) service, on channel 10. It is the only Philadelphia local channel remaining on the Limited Analog Service. Mediacom and Verizon FiOS do not broadcast WCAU in Sussex County.
Comcast and Blue Ridge Communications also carry WCAU in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
References
External links
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Television stations in Philadelphia
NBC Owned Television Stations
Cozi TV affiliates
Television channels and stations established in 1948
1948 establishments in Pennsylvania
National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia
Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia
Telecommunications buildings on the National Register of Historic Places
National Hockey League over-the-air television broadcasters
National Football League primary television stations
Former CBS Corporation subsidiaries
Former General Electric subsidiaries