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WNBC (channel 4) 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
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 ...
, serving as the
flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
of the
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
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
Linden, New Jersey Linden is a city in southeastern Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area, located about southwest of Manhattan and bordering Staten Island, a borough of New York City, across the Arthur Kill ...
–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 ...
station
WNJU WNJU (channel 47) is a television station licensed to Linden, New Jersey, United States, broadcasting Telemundo programming to the New York City area. It is one of two flagship stations of the Spanish-language network (the other being WSCV i ...
(channel 47). WNBC's studios and offices are co-located with NBC's corporate headquarters at
30 Rockefeller Plaza 30 Rockefeller Plaza (officially the Comcast Building; formerly RCA Building and GE Building) is a skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Completed in 1933, the 66 ...
in
Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
; WNJU's facilities in
Fort Lee, New Jersey Fort Lee is a borough at the eastern border of Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, situated along the Hudson River atop the Palisades. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 40,191. As of the 2010 U.S. census, th ...
, also serve as WNBC's New Jersey news bureau. Through a channel sharing agreement with WNJU, the two stations transmit using WNJU's spectrum from an antenna atop
One World Trade Center One World Trade Center (also known as One World Trade, One WTC, and formerly Freedom Tower) is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Mer ...
. WNBC holds the distinction as the oldest continuously operating
commercial television Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship. It was the United States′ first model of radio (an ...
station in the United States.


History


Experimental operations

What is now WNBC traces its history to experimental station W2XBS, founded by the
Radio Corporation of America The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...
(RCA, a co-founder of the National Broadcasting Company), in 1928, just two years after NBC was founded as the first nationwide radio network. Originally a test bed for the experimental
RCA Photophone RCA Photophone was the trade name given to one of four major competing technologies that emerged in the American film industry in the late 1920s for synchronizing electrically recorded audio to a motion picture image. RCA Photophone was an opt ...
theater television system, W2XBS used the low-definition
mechanical television Mechanical television or mechanical scan television is a television system that relies on a mechanical scanning device, such as a rotating disk with holes in it or a rotating mirror drum, to scan the scene and generate the video signal, and a si ...
scanning system. Later it was used mostly for reception and interference tests. The call letters W2XBS meant W2XB-south, with W2XB being the call letters of the first experimental station, started a few months earlier at
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
's (GE) main factory in
Schenectady, New York Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...
, which evolved into today's
WRGB WRGB (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Schenectady, New York, United States, serving the Capital District as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside CW affiliate WCWN (channel 45, also licensed to Sc ...
. GE was the parent company of both RCA and NBC, and technical research was done at the Schenectady plant. The station originally broadcast on the frequencies of 2.0 to 2.1
MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...
. In 1929, W2XBS upgraded its transmitter and broadcast facilities to handle transmissions of sixty vertical lines at twenty frames per second, on the frequencies of 2.75 to 2.85 MHz. In 1928,
Felix the Cat Felix the Cat is a cartoon character created in 1919 by Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer during the silent film era. An anthropomorphic black cat with white eyes, a black body, and a giant grin, he was one of the most recognized cartoon charac ...
was one of the first images ever broadcast by television when RCA chose a
papier-mâché upright=1.3, Mardi Gras papier-mâché masks, Haiti upright=1.3, Papier-mâché Catrinas, traditional figures for day of the dead celebrations in Mexico Papier-mâché (, ; , literally "chewed paper") is a composite material consisting of p ...
(later
Bakelite Polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride, better known as Bakelite ( ), is a thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, formed from a condensation reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. The first plastic made from synthetic components, it was developed ...
) Felix doll for an experimental broadcast on W2XBS. The doll was chosen for its tonal contrast and its ability to withstand the intense lights needed in early television. It was placed on a rotating phonograph turntable and televised for about two hours each day. The doll remained on the turntable for nearly a decade as RCA fine-tuned the picture's definition, and converted to
electronic television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...
. The station left the air sometime in 1933 as RCA turned its attention to all-electronic
cathode-ray tube A cathode-ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube containing one or more electron guns, which emit electron beams that are manipulated to display images on a phosphorescent screen. The images may represent electrical waveforms (oscilloscope), pictur ...
(CRT) television research at its Camden, New Jersey facility, under the leadership of Dr. Vladimir K. Zworykin. In 1935, the all-electronic CRT system was authorized as a "field test" project and NBC converted a radio studio in the
RCA Building 30 Rockefeller Plaza (officially the Comcast Building; formerly RCA Building and GE Building) is a skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Completed in 1933, the 66 ...
in New York City's
Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco ...
for television use. In mid-1936, small-scale, irregularly scheduled programming began to air to an audience of some 75 receivers in the homes of high-level RCA staff, and a dozen or so sets in a closed circuit viewing room in 52nd-floor offices of the RCA Building. The viewing room often hosted visiting organizations or corporate guests, who saw a live program produced in the studios many floors below. Viewership of early NBC broadcasts was tightly restricted to those authorized by the company, whose installed set base eventually reached about 200. Technical standards for television broadcasting were in flux as well. Between the time experimental transmissions began in 1935 and the beginning of commercial television service in 1941, picture definition increased from 343 to 441 lines, and finally (in 1941) to the 525-line standard used for analog television from the start of full commercial service until the end of analog broadcasts in mid-2009. The sound signal was also changed from AM to FM, and the spacing of sound and vision carriers was also changed several times. Shortly after NBC began a semi-regular television transmission schedule in 1938, DuMont Laboratories announced TV sets for sale to the public, a move that RCA was saving for the opening of the
World's Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
on April 30, 1939, the day that regularly scheduled television programming was to begin in New York on NBC with much fanfare. In response, NBC ceased all TV broadcasting for several weeks until RCA sets went on sale; regular NBC telecasts commenced the day the fair opened.


Firsts for W2XBS

As W2XBS broadcasting on "Channel 1" (44–50 MHz), the station scored numerous "firsts". These included: the first televised Broadway drama (June 1938); the first live news event covered by a mobile unit (a fire in an abandoned building in November 1938); the first live telecast of a presidential speech (
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
opening the 1939 New York World's Fair); the first live telecasts of
college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...
and
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), ...
(both in 1939), the first telecast of a
National Football League 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 ...
game (also in 1939); the first telecast of a
National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
game (early 1940); the first broadcast of religious services (Easter Sunday 1940); the first network (multi-city) telecast of a political convention (the
1940 Republican National Convention The 1940 Republican National Convention was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from June 24 to June 28, 1940. It nominated Wendell Willkie of New York for president and Senator Charles McNary of Oregon for vice president. The contest for the 19 ...
, held June 24–28 in the
Philadelphia Civic Center The Philadelphia Convention Hall and Civic Center – more commonly known simply as the Philadelphia Civic Center – was a convention center complex located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It developed out of a series of buildings dedicated to ...
) seen also on W3XE in
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 ...
(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 W2XB in Schenectady (now WRGB); and the broadcast of the
feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
'' The Crooked Circle'' on June 18, 1940. In August 1940, W2XBS transmissions were temporarily put on hold, as "Channel 1" was reassigned by the FCC to 50–56 MHz; technical adjustments needed to be made for the conversion. The station returned to the air in October, just in time to broadcast Franklin D. Roosevelt's second and final appearance on live television, when his speech at Madison Square Garden on October 28, 1940, was telecast over W2XBS.


First commercial television station

On June 24, 1941, W2XBS received a commercial license under the calls WNBT (for "NBC Television"), thus becoming one of the first two fully licensed commercial television stations in the United States, alongside
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 Entertainm ...
' WCBW on channel 2 (now
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 ...
), which had evolved from experimental W2XAB. NBC and CBS were instructed to sign on simultaneously on July 1 so that neither of the major broadcast companies could claim exclusively to be "first". However, WNBT signed on at 1:30 p.m., one full hour before WCBW. As a result, WNBC (and essentially, NBC) inadvertently holds the distinction as the oldest continuously operating commercial television station (and television network, respectively) in the United States, and also the only one ready to accept sponsors from its beginning. The first program broadcast at 1:00 p.m. EST by the
sign-on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonwealth countries exce ...
/
opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.
with the U.S.
national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...
"
The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the b ...
", followed by an announcement of that day's programs and the commencement of NBC television programming. WNBT originally broadcast on channel 1. On its first day on the air, WNBT broadcast the world's first official television advertisement before a baseball game between the
Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...
and
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 ...
. The announcement for
Bulova Bulova is an American timepiece manufacturing company that was founded in 1875 and has been owned by Japanese multinational conglomerate Citizen Watch Co. since 2008. The company makes watches, clocks and accessories, and it is based in New York ...
watches, for which the company paid anywhere from $4.00 to $9.00 (reports vary), displayed a WNBT test pattern modified to look like a clock with the hands showing the time. The Bulova logo, with the phrase "Bulova Watch Time", was shown in the lower right-hand quadrant of the test pattern while the second hand swept around the dial for one minute. Although full commercial telecasting began on July 1, 1941, with the first paid advertisements on WNBT, there had been experimental, non-paid advertising on television as far back as 1930. NBC's earliest non-paid, television commercials may have been those seen during the first Major League Baseball game ever telecast, a game between the Dodgers and the
Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...
, on August 26, 1939, over W2XBS. To secure the rights to show the game on television, NBC allowed each of the Dodgers' regular radio sponsors at the time to have one commercial during the telecast; these were done by Dodger announcer
Red Barber Walter Lanier "Red" Barber (February 17, 1908 – October 22, 1992) was an American sports announcer and author. Nicknamed "The Ol' Redhead", he was primarily identified with broadcasts of Major League Baseball, calling play-by-play across four d ...
. For Ivory Soap, he held up a bar of the product, for
Mobil Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999. ...
gas he put on a filling station attendant's cap while giving his spiel, and for
Wheaties Wheaties is an American brand of breakfast cereal that is made by General Mills. It is well known for featuring prominent athletes on its packages and has become a cultural icon in the United States. Originally introduced as Washburn's Gold Meda ...
he poured a bowl of the cereal, added milk and bananas, and took a big spoonful. The pioneering special interest/documentary show ''The Voice of Firestone Televues'', a television offshoot of ''
The Voice of Firestone ''The Voice of Firestone'' was a radio and television program of classical music. The show featured leading singers in selections from opera and operetta. Originally titled ''The Firestone Hour'', it was first broadcast on the NBC Radio network ...
'', a mainstay on NBC radio since 1928, became the first regularly scheduled TV program not featuring news or sports when it began on WNBT on November 29, 1943. (Though a one-time-only, trial episode of ''
Truth or Consequences ''Truth or Consequences'' is an American game show originally hosted on NBC radio by Ralph Edwards (1940–1957) and later on television by Edwards (1950–1954), Jack Bailey (1954–1956), Bob Barker (1956–1975), Steve Dunne (1957–1958), ...
'' aired on WNBT's first week of programming two years earlier; it eventually returned to TV in the 1950s.) During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, RCA diverted key technical TV staff to the
U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
, which was interested in developing a television-guided bomb. WNBT's studio and program staff were placed at the disposal of the
New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...
and used for
civil defense Civil defense ( en, region=gb, civil defence) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from man-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, miti ...
training telecasts, with only a limited number of weekly programs for general audiences airing during much of the war. Programming began to grow on a small scale during 1944. On April 10, 1944, WNBT began feeding ''The Voice of Firestone Televues'' each week to a small network of stations including General Electric's Schenectady station (now called WRGB) and
Philco Philco (an acronym for Philadelphia Battery Company) is an American electronics industry, electronics manufacturer headquartered in Philadelphia. Philco was a pioneer in battery, radio, and television production. In 1961, the company was purchased ...
-owned WPTZ (now KYW-TV) in Philadelphia, both of which are now affiliated with CBS (in KYW-TV's case, they are owned by CBS). This series is considered to be the NBC Television Network's first regularly scheduled program. On May 8, 1945, WNBT broadcast hours of news coverage on the
end of World War II in Europe The final battle of the European Theatre of World War II continued after the definitive overall surrender of Nazi Germany to the Allies, signed by Field marshal Wilhelm Keitel on 8 May 1945 in Karlshorst, Berlin. After German dictator Adolf H ...
, and remotes from around New York City. This event was pre-promoted by NBC with a direct-mail card sent to television set owners in the New York City area. At one point, a WNBT camera placed atop the marquee of the
Astor Hotel Hotel Astor was a hotel on Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Built in 1905 and expanded in 1909–1910 for the Astor family, the hotel occupied a site bounded by Broadway, Shubert Alley, and 44th and 45th Stre ...
in New York City panned the crowd below celebrating the end of the war in Europe. The vivid coverage was a prelude to television's rapid growth after the war ended. In the spring of 1946, the station changed its frequency from VHF channel 1 to channel 4 after channel 1 was removed from use for television broadcasting. From 1946 to 2009, it occupied the 66–72 MHz band of frequencies which had been designated as "channel 3" in the pre-1946 FCC allocation table. It was renumbered Channel 4 in the post-war system ( DuMont-owned WABD, now
WNYW WNYW (channel 5) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Secaucus, New Jersey–licensed MyNetworkTV flagship W ...
—had been designated as "Channel 4", before that station moved to the current channel 5 but was only required to retune its video and audio carriers downward by 2 MHz under the new system). In October 1948, WNBT's operations were integrated with those of
sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
s WNBC radio (660 AM) and WNBC-FM (97.1). The station changed its call letters on October 18, 1954, to WRCA-TV (for NBC's then-parent company, Radio Corporation of America or RCA) and on May 22, 1960, channel 4 became WNBC-TV. NBC had previously used the callsign on its television station in
New Britain, Connecticut New Britain is a city in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is located approximately southwest of Hartford. According to 2020 Census, the population of the city is 74,135. Among the southernmost of the communities encompassed wit ...
, from 1957 until it was sold earlier in 1960 (that station is now
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 ...
, and is once again an NBC-owned station). WNBC-TV also earned a place in broadcasting history as the birthplace of ''
The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 201 ...
''. It began on the station in 1953 as a local late night program, ''
The Steve Allen Show ''The Steve Allen Show'' was an American variety show hosted by Steve Allen from June 1956 to June 1960 on NBC, from September 1961 to December 1961 on American Broadcasting Company, ABC,
'', and NBC executive Sylvester "Pat" Weaver brought it to the network in 1954. Studio 6B, the show's home under
Jack Paar Jack Harold Paar (May 1, 1918 – January 27, 2004) was an American talk show host, author, radio and television comedian, and film actor. He was the second host of ''The Tonight Show'' from 1957 to 1962. ''Time'' magazine's obituary of Paar repo ...
,
Johnny Carson John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He is best known as the host of ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson received six Pr ...
and today
Jimmy Fallon James Thomas Fallon (born September 19, 1974) is an American comedian, television host, actor, and writer. He is known for his work in television as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' and as the host of the late-night talk show ''The Ton ...
, was the news studio for WNBC while ''Tonight'' was produced in Los Angeles. On June 1, 1992, channel 4 dropped the ''-TV'' suffix from its call letters (following the sale in 1988 of its sister radio station WNBC, which is now
WFAN WFAN (660 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York, carrying a sports radio format known as "Sports Radio 66 AM and 101.9 FM" or "The Fan". Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station serves the New York metropolitan area while ...
) and became simply WNBC, with the new branding slogan along with a new station logo and name "4 New York". The accompanying station image campaign was titled "We're 4 New York" and featured a musical theme composed by
Edd Kalehoff Edward Woodley Kalehoff Jr. (born September 1, 1945) is an American television composer who specializes in compositions for television, known for his work on the Moog synthesizer. Kalehoff composed the musical themes to the game shows ''The Price ...
. WNBC was rebranded again as "NBC 4" on September 5, 1995, with its newscasts being renamed ''NewsChannel 4''. In July 2007, the "4 New York" branding was revived part time, but in March 2008, it was revived full time. During the
terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
, the transmitter facilities of WNBC, as well as eight other New York City area television stations and several radio stations, were destroyed when two hijacked airplanes crashed into and destroyed the
World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...
. WNBC broadcast engineer Bill Steckman died in the attack, along with Don DiFranco of WABC-TV; Gerard Copolla of WNET; Steve Jacobson of WPIX; and Bob Pattison and Isaias Rivera of WCBS-TV. In the immediate aftermath, the station temporarily fed its signal to three UHF stations that were still broadcasting (
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
member station WLIW and independent stations
WMBC-TV WMBC-TV (channel 63) is an independent television station licensed to Newton, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York metropolitan area. The station is owned by the Mountain Broadcasting Corporation, and maintains studios on Clinton R ...
and
W26CE W26CE, UHF analog channel 26, was a low-power television station licensed to New York, New York, United States. The station was owned by Atlantic Coast Communications. W26CE's transmitter was located in Manorville, New York. The station was m ...
). After resuming over-the-air transmissions, the station broadcast from the former transmitter site of Channel 68 in
West Orange, New Jersey West Orange is a suburban township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 48,843, an increase of 2,636 (+5.7%) from the 46,207 counted in the 2010 Census.
. Since 2005, WNBC has broadcast its signal from the
Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...
in midtown Manhattan, returning to the original transmitter site used from the 1930s to the 1970s. On May 9, 2017, it was announced that WNBC would return broadcasting from lower Manhattan at
One World Trade Center One World Trade Center (also known as One World Trade, One WTC, and formerly Freedom Tower) is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Mer ...
by the end of the year. In 2004, WNBC served as the model station for
NBC Weather Plus NBC Weather Plus was an American weather-oriented digital broadcast and cable television network owned as a joint venture between NBC Universal and the local affiliates of the NBC television network. The service, which was broadcast in standard d ...
, a 24-hour digital weather channel that aired on its second
digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...
(4.2) and several local
cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
systems; other NBC-owned stations launched their own Weather Plus channels in 2005, although Weather Plus was discontinued at the end of 2008. WNBC discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 4, at 12:30 p.m. on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television. The station's digital signal remained on its transition period UHF channel 28,CDBS Print
. Fjallfoss.fcc.gov. Retrieved on June 4, 2012.
using
Program and System Information Protocol The Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) is the MPEG (a video and audio industry group) and privately defined program-specific information originally defined by General Instrument for the DigiCipher 2 system and later extended for the ...
to display WNBC's
virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...
as 4 on digital television receivers. As part of the
SAFER Act In cryptography, SAFER (Secure And Fast Encryption Routine) is the name of a family of block ciphers designed primarily by James Massey (one of the designers of IDEA) on behalf of Cylink Corporation. The early SAFER K and SAFER SK designs share ...
, WNBC kept its analog signal on the air until June 26 to inform viewers of the digital television transition. During this time, the station would participate in the "Analog Nightlight" program for two weeks, with a looped video in English and Spanish explaining how to switch to digital reception. In February 2015, WNBC and the other NBC-owned stations offered live, web-based streaming of programming to subscribers of participating cable and satellite television providers, as provided through the
TV Everywhere TV Everywhere (also known as authenticated streaming or authenticated video on-demand) refers to a type of subscription business model wherein access to streaming video content from a television channel requires users to "authenticate" themselv ...
Mobile Apps A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on de ...
. On March 15, 2016, NBCUniversal pulled the signals of WNBC and WNJU along with co-owned cable channels
USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...
,
Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels *Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 *Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing company ...
,
Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...
,
MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...
and
CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...
from
Dish Network DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV. A ...
's lineup in the
New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, at , and one of the list of most populous metropolitan areas, most populous urban agg ...
as a result of a dispute between NBC and Dish; despite that, Dish claimed NBCUniversal had demanded that it renew its carriage of ten NBC-owned stations and sixteen Telemundo-owned stations, including those removed due to the dispute. Three days later, Dish announced it would continue to carry WNBC, WNJU and five other cable channels for another ten days while the FCC sought arbitration. On April 13, 2017, it was revealed that WNBC's over-the-air spectrum had been sold in the FCC's
spectrum reallocation The 2016 United States wireless spectrum auction, officially known as Auction 1001, allocated approximately 100 MHz of the United States Ultra High Frequency (UHF) spectrum formerly allocated to UHF television in the 600 MHz band. The spe ...
auction, fetching $214 million. As a result, WNBC's signal was co-located with that of sister station WNJU, which re-located its transmitter to One World Trade Center in 2017. NBC had won similar spectrum bids using Telemundo stations in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
and Philadelphia (which entered into in similar arrangements with NBC O&Os
WMAQ-TV WMAQ-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Telemundo outlet WSNS-TV (chan ...
and
WCAU WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jer ...
), but stated that in this case, the Telemundo station had a superior signal. WNBC ceased broadcasting on UHF digital channel 28 from the Empire State Building on April 2, 2018, in favor of the shared broadcast with WNJU on channel 36 from One World Trade Center. WNBC along with WNJU later moved channels again on August 1, 2019, at 1:00 p.m. (EDT) to digital channel 35.


Programming

WNBC has long presented events such as the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade, the
National Puerto Rican Day Parade The Puerto Rican Day Parade (also known as the National Puerto Rican Day Parade) takes place annually in the United States along Fifth Avenue in the Manhattan borough of New York City. The parade is held on the second Sunday in June, in honor ...
(until 2006, when coverage moved to WNYW and currently
WABC-TV WABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios in the Lincoln Square neighbor ...
), the Columbus Day Parade (until 2010, when coverage moved to WABC-TV), the
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual parade in New York City presented by the U.S.-based department store chain Macy's. The Parade first took place in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States with ...
, and the Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting. They have sponsored an annual two-day Health & Fitness Expo Fair at
MetLife Stadium MetLife Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, 5 mi (8 km) west of New York City. Opened in 2010 to replace Giants Stadium, it serves as the home for the New York Giants an ...
every summer. The station has sponsored a Food Drive together with local retailer
Stop & Shop The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, known as Stop & Shop, is a regional chain of supermarkets located in the northeastern United States. From its beginnings in 1892 as a small grocery store, it has grown to include 406 stores chain-wide. Sto ...
named "Feeding Our Families" which has been held on the second Saturday in April since 2017. Beginning in 1995, they were the exclusive local English-language carrier of the annual
New York City Marathon The New York City Marathon (currently branded TCS New York City Marathon after its headline sponsor) is an annual marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest marathon in the world, with 53,627 finishe ...
until 2013 when WABC-TV took over. From 2010 to 2014, the station was an official local broadcast partner of
Discovery Times Square Discovery Times Square (also known as Discovery TSX) was an exhibition space at 226 West 44th Street in New York City that opened June 24, 2009 and closed in September 2016. It specialized in traveling exhibitions with 60,000 square feet of exhibit ...
. From 2012 to 2014, the station along with the ''
New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...
'' had partnerships with
Mount Sinai Health System The Mount Sinai Health System is a hospital network in New York City. It was formed in September 2013 by merging the operations of Continuum Health Partners and the Mount Sinai Medical Center. The Health System is structured around eight hospit ...
, Live Well New York and Popular Community Bank (''Popular Tips''). The station, along with
Maury Povich Maurice Richard Povich (born January 17, 1939) is an American retired television personality, best known for hosting the tabloid talk show '' Maury'' which aired from 1991 to 2022. Povich began his career as a radio reporter, initially at WWD ...
and Fox owned-and-operated WNYW, co-funded the 1998 PBS documentary ''NY TV: By the People Who Made It'' produced by
WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as "Thirteen" (stylized as "THIRTEEN"), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the ...
. During the
Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
season, the station has an annual Holiday Sing-Along. The station also produces ''Visiones'', a weekly segment about Hispanic culture, that also airs in Spanish on sister Telemundo station WNJU, and ''Positively Black'', a weekly segment about African-American culture. As of January 2021, WNBC is one of nine NBC-owned stations that distributes programming either nationally and/or regionally (along with KNTV, KNBC,
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 KUA ...
, WCAU, WVIT,
WTVJ WTVJ (channel 6) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Fort Lauderdale–licensed WSCV (ch ...
, WMAQ-TV and
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 ...
).


Sports programming

Through NBC's coverage of the National Football League, WNBC has televised two
Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...
championships won by New York teams: the Jets' upset victory over the
Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...
in
Super Bowl III Super Bowl III was an American football game played on January 12, 1969 at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. It was the third AFL–NFL Championship Game in professional American football, and the first to officially bear the trademark name "Su ...
, and the
Giants A giant is a being of human appearance, sometimes of prodigious size and strength, common in folklore. Giant(s) or The Giant(s) may also refer to: Mythology and religion *Giants (Greek mythology) *Jötunn, a Germanic term often translated as 'gi ...
' win over the
New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...
in Super Bowl XLVI. WNBC also serves as the official flagship carrier of Giants preseason football games and is the New York area station for NBC's national broadcasts of '' Sunday Night Football'' featuring either one of the two teams. The station also served as the default home station of the Jets from
1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...
(when NBC became the broadcaster for the
American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...
of which the Jets were then a part) until
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 WCBS-TV became the new broadcast rightsholder (through CBS) of what was by now the
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 ...
; it also aired occasional New York Giants games from
1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...
(with the completion of the AFL/NFL merger) 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 ...
; these were limited to home interconference contests. Even as the station became the first to broadcast Major League Baseball games in
1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to ...
with the pioneer broadcast being that of an August 26 doubleheader at Ebbets Field between the
Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...
and the
Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...
, it does not have any broadcasts today. They are currently on WNYW and
WPIX WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, it is operated under a local marketing agreement (LMA) by Nexstar Media Group, making it a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station and flagship (broadcas ...
during the season. Baseball broadcasts were expected to return to the station in 2020 as part of the network-wide coverage of the baseball events of the
2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...
in
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
, with on-air news updates during the duration of the event; however, the games were postponed to 2021 due to the global effects of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus. The station has aired numerous
New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
(since 1962) and
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...
games (and before
1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...
, games of the Dodgers and
Giants A giant is a being of human appearance, sometimes of prodigious size and strength, common in folklore. Giant(s) or The Giant(s) may also refer to: Mythology and religion *Giants (Greek mythology) *Jötunn, a Germanic term often translated as 'gi ...
) as part of MLB's broadcast contract with NBC from
1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...
to 1989,
The Baseball Network The Baseball Network was an American short-lived television broadcasting joint venture between ABC, NBC and Major League Baseball (MLB). Under the arrangement, beginning in the 1994 season, the league produced its own in-house which were the ...
in
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 ...
, and playoff-only coverage from
1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
to
2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
. The station has aired 18 of the Yankees'
World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
appearances (12 of which the team won), and three Mets World Series appearances (two of which the Mets won). As the network's flagship station, per its ''
NHL on NBC The ''NHL on NBC'' is an American presentation of National Hockey League (NHL) games produced by NBC Sports, and televised on NBC properties, including MSNBC, CNBC, Golf Channel, USA Network and NBCSN in the United States. While NBC covered t ...
'' obligations (which end in 2021), it broadcasts several Stanley Cup Playoff games all the way to the Cup Final, in addition to the ''
NHL Game of the Week The ''National Hockey League Game of the Week'' is a branding used for regular season National Hockey League weekend games that are typically televised on a national broadcast network in the U.S. The branding was previously used by NBC on Sunday ...
'' (if the Rangers, Islanders or
New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional sports, professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...
are playing). It would be only in
2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
when it aired the Stanley Cup Final as part of the network-wide coverage when the
Devils A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in many and various cultures and religious traditions. Devil or Devils may also refer to: * Satan * Devil in Christianity * Demon * Folk devil Art, entertainment, and media Film an ...
lost out to the
Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...
. Also, the station aired the 2014 Cup Final, where the Rangers also lost to the Kings. 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
2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
, the station aired
New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...
and
New Jersey Nets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
games through the ''
NBA on NBC The ''NBA on NBC'' is the branding used for presentations of National Basketball Association (NBA) games produced by the NBC television network in the United States. NBC held broadcast rights from 1955 to 1962 and again from 1990 (when it obtai ...
''; this included the Knicks' appearances in the
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 ...
and 1999 NBA Finals, as well as the Nets' appearance in the
2002 NBA Finals The 2002 NBA Finals was the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s championship series for the 2001–02 season. The best-of-seven playoff was contested between the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers (who were also two-time defendi ...
.


News operation

From the late 1960s through the 1980s, WNBC was involved in a fierce three-way battle with WCBS-TV and WABC-TV for the top spot in the New York television ratings. This continued during a lean period for NBC as a whole. WNBC's hallmark over the years has been strong coverage of breaking stories and straight news products that also feature light-hearted and/or entertainment elements (such as '' Live at Five'' and '' Today in New York''). Many of WNBC's personalities have been at the station for over 20 years.
Chuck Scarborough Charles Bishop Scarborough III (born November 4, 1943) is an American television journalist and author. Since 1974, he has been the lead news anchor at WNBC, the New York City flagship station of the NBC Television Network, and has also appeared ...
has been the station's main anchor since 1974. From 1980 to 2012, he was teamed with
Sue Simmons Sue Simmons (born May 27, 1942) is an American retired news anchor who was best known for being the lead female anchor at WNBC in New York City from 1980 to 2012. Her contract with WNBC expired in June 2012 and WNBC announced that it would not ren ...
at 11:00 p.m., and the two were the longest-serving anchor team in New York City television history. Senior correspondent
Gabe Pressman Gabriel Stanley "Gabe" Pressman (February 14, 1924 – June 23, 2017) was an American journalist who was a reporter for WNBC-TV in New York City for more than 60 years. His career spanned more than seven decades; the events he covered included th ...
was at the station from 1956 until he died in 2017, except for a seven-year stint (from 1972 to 1979) at WNEW-TV (now WNYW). WNBC-TV was the first major-market station in the country to have success with a 5:00 p.m. newscast, adding that program to its ''Sixth Hour'' show at 6:00 p.m. in 1974 and renaming all of its local newscasts ''NewsCenter 4'' (three other NBC owned-and-operated stations in Chicago,
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, ...
, and Los Angeles, also adopted the ''NewsCenter'' name). The moniker remained until September 1, 1980, when the newscasts were renamed ''News 4 New York''. Shortly before then the 5:00 p.m. program was renamed ''Live at Five'', and the hour was reformatted from a straight news program to a mix of news and celebrity interviews. ''Live at Five'' eventually became the most-successful local program in New York City, a feat that resulted in landing the show's hosts on the cover of ''
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
'' magazine. For most of the time during the 1980s and early 1990s, WNBC-TV used various themes written by Scott Schreer. His theme for ''News 4 New York'' was based on a synthesized version of the
NBC chimes The NBC chimes are a sequence of three tones played on National Broadcasting Company (NBC) broadcasts. Originally developed in 1927 as seven notes, they were standardized to the current three-note version by the early 1930s, and possibly as early ...
, with a graphics package featuring a lightning bolt striking its logo from 1980 to 1990, a fancy die-cut "4". In 1992, the station began calling itself ''4 New York'' and the campaign song, written by Edd Kalehoff, was quickly adopted as the theme for the newscast. The theme was briefly brought back after the September 11 attacks in 2001. In 1995, after the station rebranded itself as "NBC 4" and its newscasts as ''Newschannel 4'', Kalehoff wrote a new theme called "NBC Stations" featuring the NBC chimes, the chime sequence being the musical notes G-E-C. It remained in use for eight years, along with a graphics package using a simple red line for the
lower third In the television industry, a lower third is a graphic overlay placed in the title-safe lower area of the screen, though not necessarily the entire lower third of it, as the name suggests. In its simplest form, a lower third can just be text ...
s. The 2003 graphics package was created by
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
-winner
Randy Pyburn Pyburn Films is a television and film production company in New York City that specializes in original content and long-form programming. Information Pyburn Films also conceived and created AXIS Graphics. The technology and privately held company ...
of
Pyburn Films Pyburn Films is a television and film production company in New York City that specializes in original content and long-form programming. Information Pyburn Films also conceived and created AXIS Graphics. The technology and privately held company ...
. Pyburn has produced several promotions for the station and the now-defunct ''Jane's New York'' specials hosted by former WNBC reporter
Jane Hanson Jane Hanson (born December 9, 1955) formerly co-hosted ''New York Live'' (formerly called ''LX New York'') on NBC-TV in New York. She joined WNBC-TV in September 1979. She hosted ''Jane Hanson's New York'' on WNBC-TV. She became host in 2003 after ...
. The graphics package was also used on other NBC stations. The music was written by Rampage Music and featured a brassy version of the NBC chimes, and lower thirds featured a shimmering
peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...
(fellow NBC O&O KNTV adopted the theme in 2007 and currently uses the same four tone variant of ''LA Groove'' used by WNBC). In March 2008, concurrent with the restoration of the ''4 New York'' branding, the newscasts began to be called ''News 4 New York'' once more. Many WNBC personalities have appeared, and have also moved up to the NBC network, including:
Marv Albert Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig; June 12, 1941) is an American retired sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he was commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he ...
,
Len Berman Leonard Berman (born June 14, 1947) is an American television sportscaster and journalist who is based in New York City. He is currently hosting the morning show on WOR-AM along with Michael Riedel. Berman is widely known for his television ...
,
Contessa Brewer Contessa Brewer (born March 16, 1974) is an American television journalist for CNBC Business News. As a correspondent, she covers casinos and gaming. She is also a substitute anchor. She formerly hosted the MSNBC weekend program ''Caught on Cam ...
,
Chris Cimino Chris Cimino (born April 27, 1961) is a meteorologist on WPIX "New York's very own" early morning show 4AM-6AM. Chris also hosts New York Living, a new lifestyle show on WPIX. Chris was the meteorologist on WNBC television's early-morning news p ...
,
Fran Charles Fran Charles (born October 19, 1968) is an American television personality for MLB Network, formerly for NFL Network. Career Charles attended John Burroughs School in Ladue, Missouri; then earned a Bachelor's degree in Communication at Stanford ...
, Darlene Rodriguez,
Maurice DuBois Maurice DuBois (born August 20, 1965) is an American television anchorman for WCBS-TV in New York City and the CBS network. Early life and education DuBois was born on Long Island, New York, the son of immigrants to the U.S. from Dominica, an ...
,
Joelle Garguilo Joelle Garguilo is an American journalist, host, digital journalist and reporter, working for NBC Universal, appearing on all platforms, including NBC News, ''Today'', today.com, msnbc.com, iVillage and WNBC, incl. daily lifestyle show "New Y ...
,
Michael Gargiulo Michael Thomas Gargiulo (born February 15, 1976) is a convicted American serial killer. He moved to Southern California in the 1990s and gained the nickname The Hollywood Ripper. He was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenc ...
,
Tony Guida Tony Guida (born November 5, 1941) is a New York-based local television and radio personality. He is currently a news anchor for WCBS Newsradio 880 and a business correspondent for CBS News. Life and career Guida began his career working as a re ...
,
Jim Hartz James Leroy Hartz (February 3, 1940 – April 17, 2022) was an American television personality, columnist and reporter during the mid- and late-1970s. At age 24, he was the youngest correspondent NBC had ever hired. Hartz became best known to a nat ...
,
Janice Huff Janice Huff (born September 1, 1960) is the chief meteorologist for WNBC in New York City. Early years As she has sometimes noted on her newscast, though born in New York City, at an early age she moved to her grandparents house in Columbia, South ...
,
Matt Lauer Matthew Todd Lauer (; born December 30, 1957) is an American former television news personality, best known for his work with NBC News. After serving as a local news personality in New York City on WNBC, his first national exposure was as the ne ...
,
Tom Llamas Thomas Edward Llamas ( ; born July 2, 1979) is an American journalist who was the weekend anchor for '' World News Tonight'' on ABC from 2014 to 2021. Afterward, he left ABC News for rival NBC News, with his last ABC broadcast being on January 3 ...
,
Dave Price David M. Price (born October 18, 1966) is an American journalist and weather forecaster who is currently working for WNBC-TV in New York as a weekday afternoon weatherman. Price is perhaps best known for his time on CBS television's ''The Earl ...
,
Al Roker Albert Lincoln Roker Jr. (born August 20, 1954) is an American weather presenter, journalist, television personality, and author. He is the current weather anchor on NBC's '' Today'', and occasionally co-hosts '' 3rd Hour Today''. He has an in ...
, Shiba Russell, Scarborough and
Tom Snyder Thomas James Snyder (May 12, 1936 – July 29, 2007) was an American television personality, news anchor, and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows '' Tomorrow'', on the NBC television network in the 1970s and 1980s, and '' ...
. In the past, Albert, Berman, Brewer, Charles, Cimino, DuBois, Guida, Hartz, Lauer, Llamas, Roker, Russell, Scarborough, and Snyder have worked at WNBC and NBC at the same time. Price, Rodriguez, Huff, Joelle Garguilo, and Michael Gargiulo currently work for both. One monthly feature was Berman's ''Spanning the World'', a reel of odd and interesting sports highlights from the past month, including a recorded introduction and closing by NBC staff announcer
Don Pardo Dominick George "Don" Pardo (February 22, 1918 – August 18, 2014) was an American radio and television announcer whose career spanned more than seven decades. A member of the Television Hall of Fame, Pardo was noted for his 70-year tenure with ...
. The segment aired monthly on ''
Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...
''. When Simmons joined the station in early 1980, she was paired with Scarborough on both the 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. newscasts. However, for most of the time until 2005, WNBC's weeknight anchor rotation had Simmons and another male anchor (including Jack Cafferty, Guida, Lauer, and briefly Scarborough) at 5:00 p.m.; Scarborough and various anchors (
John Hambrick John James Hambrick (June 21, 1940 – September 10, 2013) was an American broadcast journalist, reporter, actor, voice over announcer and TV documentary producer. Career Broadcast journalist Hambrick began his television career in 1963 at KR ...
,
Pat Harper Patricia Harper (July 3, 1934 – April 3, 1994) was an American television news anchor and reporter, and a fixture for nearly two decades on two New York City television stations. In 1975, she became the first woman to anchor a television news pr ...
, and Michele Marsh among them) at 6:00 p.m.; and Scarborough and Simmons together at 11:00 p.m. That changed in 2005 as ''Live at Five'' anchor
Jim Rosenfield Jim Rosenfield is an American local television news anchor currently working for WCAU-TV, the NBC-owned television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Career Rosenfield started his television news career in 1981, after graduating from Duk ...
jumped back to WCBS-TV, where he had once been the noon and 5:00 p.m. anchor and took on the role as lead anchor for their 5:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. newscasts. Former reporter
Perri Peltz Perri Peltz is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker, journalist and public health advocate. Most recently, Perri created the documentary news series ''Axios'' on HBO with Matthew O’Neill. Perri & Matthew also co-directed and produced the 2019 ...
returned to WNBC to co-anchor ''Live at Five'' with Simmons, making New York City one of the few large markets with two female anchors on an evening newscast. The move harkened back to three decades earlier, when the station paired
Pia Lindström Friedel Pia Lindström (born 20 September 1938) is a Swedish television journalist, and the first child of actress Ingrid Bergman. Life and career Lindström is the only child born to Ingrid Bergman and her first husband, Swedish neurosurgeon ...
with
Melba Tolliver Melba Tolliver (born 1939) is an American journalist and former New York City news anchor and reporter. She is best remembered for her defiant stance against ABC owned WABC-TV when she refused to don a wig or scarf to cover up her Afro in order ...
on its 5:00 p.m. news hour, creating one of the first all-female anchor teams on a major-market American television station. It was short-lived as Simmons and Peltz were both displaced from ''Live at Five'' because of changes in the station's early evening news lineup that went into effect on March 12, 2007:
David Ushery David Ushery (born June 5, 1967) is an African-American television news anchor at WNBC News 4 New York, NBC’s flagship owned and operated station. An integral member of the NBC 4 New York News team, Ushery has covered many of the largest and m ...
and
Lynda Baquero Lynda Baquero (born January 16, 1967) is an American correspondent for the National Broadcasting Company's flagship station in New York City. Baquero handles consumer reports for WNBC through her "Better Get Baquero" segment but has also covered t ...
became co-anchors of a truncated, 30-minute-long ''Live at Five'' broadcast, followed by Peltz with a 30-minute, soft-news program, ''News 4 You''. Simmons was moved to co-anchor at 6:00 p.m. with Scarborough. On September 13, 2006, WNBC became the first New York City television station to broadcast its newscasts in high definition. On May 5, 2007, WNBC brought back its popular campaign song "We're 4 New York", composed by Kalehoff, after nearly six years off air (after the September 11, 2001, attacks). In early autumn 2007, additional changes were brought to WNBC's early-evening lineup. On September 10, the station moved the newsmagazine series ''
Extra Extra or Xtra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * ''Extra'' (newspaper), a Brazilian newspaper * ''Extra!'', an American me ...
'' to 5:00 p.m., and cancelled ''Live at Five''. ''News 4 You'' remained at 5:30 p.m., but was replaced on October 15, 2007, with a traditional newscast, anchored by Simmons and Michael Gargiulo. The 6:00 p.m. newscast became anchored by Ushery and Baquero, and ''New York Nightly News'', a new half-hour newscast with Scarborough as sole anchor, debuted at 7:00 p.m. These changes did not lead to an increase in WNBC's ratings in the November 2007 sweeps period, partially because of the
2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike From November 5, 2007, to February 12, 2008, all 12,000 film and television screenwriters of the American labor unions Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), and Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) went on strike. The Writers Guild of America ...
. The most shocking of WNBC's ratings decreases was its 11:00 p.m. newscast, which fell to third place, behind WCBS and WABC. WNBC altered its 5:00 p.m.–6:00 p.m. hour on January 2, 2008, swapping the half-hour news at 5:30 p.m. with ''Extra''. On March 9, 2009, with the launch of ''New York Nonstop'' on digital subchannel 4.2, ''New York Nightly News'' was moved to the subchannel and expanded to one hour, while ''Extra'' was moved back to 7:00 p.m. and a full hour of news returned to the 5:00 p.m. hour. Still, WNBC's ratings struggled: during the March 2009 sweeps period, its newscasts were a distant third in all-time slots, except during the weekday mornings, where it remained in second. On May 7, 2008, NBC Universal announced plans for a major restructuring of WNBC's news department. The centerpiece of the restructuring was the creation of a 24-hour all-news channel on WNBC's second digital subchannel (4.2). Channel 4's news operations were revamped and melded into the all-news channel, which serves as a "content center" for the station's various local distribution platforms. The digital news channel was launched on March 9, 2009. In the fall of 2008, WNBC started beta-testing a new website which was apparently poised to be one of the major platforms for the content center. On November 17, 2008, WNBC moved its news studio from Studio 6B to 7E and rolled out a new set design, graphics package, and theme song written by veteran TV composer
Frank Gari Frank Daniel Garofalo (born April 1, 1944), known professionally as Frank Gari, is an American singer-songwriter and composer. Early life Gari was a popular singer and songwriter from the late 1950s and early 1960s. His best known songs as a ...
. This move came after months of planning the new content newsroom with its 24-hour news digital subchannel. It was also their debut of the updated 4 New York logo, using letters in Media Gothic Bold font and the "New York" wording was switched from its script font to
All caps In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in ...
font, which is designed by Brit Redden of Modal Pictures. On June 16, 2009, WNBC announced that its 5:00 p.m. newscast would be replaced in September by a one-hour daily lifestyle and entertainment show by
LXTV LXTV is a production unit of NBCUniversal that creates lifestyle and entertainment content. Started in 2006 by former MTV executives Morgan Hertzan and Joseph Varet as a privately owned broadband TV network and website, LXTV was acquired in Januar ...
entitled ''LX New York''. After this change, WNBC, with only three hours per day of local news, had the shortest airtime devoted to local news of any "big three" network-owned station. In the fall of 2009, WNBC began sharing its news helicopter with Fox owned-and-operated WNYW (channel 5) as part of a
Local News Service The name Local News Service refers to a variety of news resource share services all started in 2008 and 2009. It sometimes does not refer to a specific sharing service but to the category in general. Typically, these services include pooling video ...
agreement. The SkyFox HD helicopter operated by WNYW when used by WNBC was called "Chopper 4" on-air. This agreement ended in 2012, with WNBC returning to use its own helicopter when the contract expired. In the summer of 2010, ''The Debrief with David Ushery'' began to air on Sunday at noon on WNBC after launching on New York Nonstop; it now airs Sunday mornings at 5:30 a.m. ''LX New York'' was renamed to ''New York Live'' on May 26, 2011. The program was set to move to 3:00 p.m. on September 12, 2011; at that time, WNBC would resume airing a 5:00 p.m. newscast. However, due to
Hurricane Irene Hurricane Irene was a large and destructive tropical cyclone which affected much of the Caribbean and East Coast of the United States during late August 2011. The ninth named storm, first hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 2011 At ...
, the 5:00 p.m. newscast's start date was moved up to August 29, 2011, with ''New York Live'' moving to its new 3:00 p.m. slot then. On November 18, 2011, WNBC launched a noon newscast that replaced ''The Rundown'' with Russell and Llamas as the anchors. In December 2011, WNBC struck a news partnership with
non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
news-reporting organization
ProPublica ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit organization based in New York City. In 2010, it became the first online news source to win a Pulitzer Prize, for a piece written by one of its journalists''The Guardian'', April 13, 2010P ...
. The organization, which won a
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
in 2010, already has partnerships with several media outlets including ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'', ''
Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...
'', ''
HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' and ''
Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...
''. However, ProPublica's reports are incorporated across all NBC O&O stations, not just WNBC. This is part of larger efforts for NBCUniversal's television stations to partner with nonprofit news organizations following its acquisition by Comcast. WNBC relocated from Studio 7E to Studio 3C (the studio previously used by ''
NBC Nightly News ''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt'' for its weeknight broadcasts since June 22, 2015) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NB ...
'', which now originates from Studio 3B) on April 21, 2012. Channel 4 also updated its graphics and switched to the "L.A. Groove" theme that has been in use by sister station KNBC. On June 15, 2012, Sue Simmons left WNBC as her contract with the station was not renewed. In January 2013, the station expanded its Sunday 11:00 p.m. newscasts to one hour, possibly to compete with WABC which expanded its late news in January 2012. On June 6, 2016, WNBC revamped its website. On June 11, 2016, beginning with the 11:00 p.m. newscast, its news graphics were also changed and it began using Look N graphics from NBC Artworks, becoming the first NBC-owned station to use the new graphics that were rolled out to other NBC-owned stations around this time. On June 13 of the same year, the station debuted its 4:00 p.m. newscast, thus becoming the second New York television station to expand its newscasts to that time period after WABC-TV (which had their 4:00 p.m. newscasts since May 2011). On October 10, 2016, WNBC relocated from studio 3C to studio 3K (the studio also used by ''
Dateline NBC ''Dateline NBC'' is a weekly American television news magazine/reality legal show that is broadcast on NBC. It was previously the network's flagship general interest news magazine, but now focuses mainly on true crime stories with only occasion ...
'' and sister cable network MSNBC), which bears similarities to the previous set in 3C, albeit a lot larger in size and with several changes (i.e. a new weather center area, a touchscreen display similar to ''Today''s Orange Room, an LED wall, and a work space and presentation pod). In fall 2016, WNBC entered a content-sharing agreement with WOR to include news and weather content supplied by the station; WNBC's weather content is also heard on other
iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...
radio stations throughout the New York metropolitan area. On December 21, 2016, WNBC announced that it would be launching a new
S band The S band is a designation by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for a part of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum covering frequencies from 2 to 4 gigahertz (GHz). Thus it crosses the convention ...
radar system, called Storm Tracker 4, which is planned to launch in winter 2017. On December 27, 2016, the station announced it would move the midday newscast to 11:00 a.m. (the first and only 11:00 a.m. midday newscast in the New York media market), and its locally produced lifestyle/entertainment program ''New York Live'' to 11:30 a.m. beginning January 16, 2017. As part of the changes of the daytime lineup at the station, it would move ''
Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock. The soap, which aired on the American television net ...
'' from the network's default Eastern Time Zone slot of 1:00 p.m. to the early time slot of 12:00 p.m., followed by ''
Access Hollywood Live ''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 ...
'' at 1:00 p.m. On June 30, 2017, it was announced that Chuck Scarborough would step down as the anchor of the 11:00 p.m. newscast on July 14 but would continue to anchor the 6:00 p.m. newscast. 4:00 p.m. anchor Stefan Holt, whose father
Lester Lester is an ancient Anglo-Saxon surname and given name. Notable people and characters with the name include: People Given name * Lester Bangs (1948–1982), American music critic * Lester W. Bentley (1908–1972), American artist from Wisc ...
presides over ''NBC Nightly News'' down the hall from Studio 3K, assumed duties for the late newscast beginning July 17. On July 31, 2017, the station expanded its morning newscast ''Today in New York'' by a half an hour, beginning at 4:00 a.m. for a total of three hours; this is the first 4:00 a.m. newscast in the New York media market since WPIX had one from 2010 to 2014. Six days later on August 6, 2017, the Sunday edition of the morning newscast had an extra half-hour added after 9:30 a.m.; the 6:00 a.m.–8:00 a.m. portion remained unchanged. As part of the changes to the station's Sunday morning lineup, ''Sunday Today with Willie Geist'' was moved to the network's recommended time of 8:00 a.m. followed by the LXTV-produced program ''Open House NYC'' at 9:00 a.m. ''
Meet the Press ''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television news/interview program broadcast on NBC. It is the longest-running program on American television, though the current format bears little resemblance to the debut episode on November 6, 1947. ' ...
'' remained at 10:30 a.m. In November 2017, WNBC opened the San Juan news bureau led by bilingual reporter Julio "Gaby" Acevedo; the bureau delivers daily English and Spanish-language news and updates for the station and its sister station WNJU as well as all NBC and Telemundo-owned stations across the country; the new bureau operated through February 2018. On August 19, 2020, it was announced that after four years with the station, Stefan Holt would be leaving to rejoin Chicago sister station WMAQ-TV to anchor its 4:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. newscasts, beginning in October. On August 31, 2020, the station announced that 11:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. news anchor David Ushery would succeed Holt on the 4:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. newscasts, beginning October 12, 2020; however, due to Holt's early departure on September 25, the official start date was moved up to September 28. Meanwhile, weekend anchor Adam Kuperstein succeeded Ushery in the 11:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. newscasts. On June 7, 2021, WNBC started airing a new half hour weekday 7:00 p.m. newscast. In January 2022, WNBC announced plans to launch a new channel for NBCUniversal's streaming service
Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...
, called "NBC New York News"; this announcement follows the simultaneous rollout of streaming news channels from its sister stations in Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia and Boston on January 20. The channel was launched on March 17, 2022. In the summer of 2022, WNBC indicated it would return to Studio 3B, which will be split with WNJU once that station relocates operations to Rockefeller Center.


Notable current on-air staff

;Anchors *
Pat Battle Pat Battle (born December 9, 1959) is an American journalist. Since 1996, she has been at WNBC-TV. Early life Patricia (nickname, "Pat") N. Battle was born December 9, 1959. Of African-American descent, she grew up in Neptune Township, New Jer ...
– (also reporter) *
Michael Gargiulo Michael Thomas Gargiulo (born February 15, 1976) is a convicted American serial killer. He moved to Southern California in the 1990s and gained the nickname The Hollywood Ripper. He was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenc ...
* Darlene Rodriguez *
Chuck Scarborough Charles Bishop Scarborough III (born November 4, 1943) is an American television journalist and author. Since 1974, he has been the lead news anchor at WNBC, the New York City flagship station of the NBC Television Network, and has also appeared ...
*
David Ushery David Ushery (born June 5, 1967) is an African-American television news anchor at WNBC News 4 New York, NBC’s flagship owned and operated station. An integral member of the NBC 4 New York News team, Ushery has covered many of the largest and m ...
;Weather *
Janice Huff Janice Huff (born September 1, 1960) is the chief meteorologist for WNBC in New York City. Early years As she has sometimes noted on her newscast, though born in New York City, at an early age she moved to her grandparents house in Columbia, South ...
(Member,
AMS AMS or Ams may refer to: Organizations Companies * Alenia Marconi Systems * American Management Systems * AMS (Advanced Music Systems) * ams AG, semiconductor manufacturer * AMS Pictures * Auxiliary Medical Services Educational institutions * A ...
) – chief meteorologist *
Maria LaRosa Maria LaRosa is an Americans, American meteorologist. Since July 2019, she has worked as a meteorologist on WNBC-TV New York and is a substitute weather presenter on NBC's ''Today (American TV program), Today''. Previously, she worked for The We ...
(Member, AMS) – meteorologist *
Raphael Miranda Raphael Miranda (born April 26, 1977) is an American meteorologist and weather producer at WNBC television in New York City. Since 2009, Miranda serves as a weatherman for '' Weekend Today in New York'', a primary fill-in meteorologist for th ...
(AMS Seal of Approval) – meteorologist *
Dave Price David M. Price (born October 18, 1966) is an American journalist and weather forecaster who is currently working for WNBC-TV in New York as a weekday afternoon weatherman. Price is perhaps best known for his time on CBS television's ''The Earl ...
;Sports team * Bruce Beck – sports director; also host of ''Sports Final with Bruce Beck'' ;Reporters *
Lynda Baquero Lynda Baquero (born January 16, 1967) is an American correspondent for the National Broadcasting Company's flagship station in New York City. Baquero handles consumer reports for WNBC through her "Better Get Baquero" segment but has also covered t ...
– consumer affairs and general assignment reporter *
Joelle Garguilo Joelle Garguilo is an American journalist, host, digital journalist and reporter, working for NBC Universal, appearing on all platforms, including NBC News, ''Today'', today.com, msnbc.com, iVillage and WNBC, incl. daily lifestyle show "New Y ...
– correspondent; also ''
Weekend Today ''Weekend Today'' is currently the branding of the weekend editions of ''Today'', an American morning news and talk program that airs daily on NBC. Weekend editions of ''Today'', began with the launch of the Sunday edition of the program on Sep ...
'' correspondent * Steve Handelsman – NBC television stations division reporter *
Jacque Reid Jacqueline Elaine "Jacque" Reid (born January 31, 1975, in Atlanta, Georgia ...
– co-host of ''New York Live'' * Melissa Russo – political reporter * Lauren Scala – correspondent for ''New York Live'' (formerly served as traffic reporter) * Ida Siegal – general assignment reporter


Notable alumni

*
Asa Aarons Asa Aarons (born Asa Smith, October 20, 1956), co-creator of "Just Ask Asa!", is a consumer reporter and photojournalist. His reports focus on the problems, concerns and realities of everyday life, ranging from false advertising claims to credit ...
*
Cindy Adams Cynthia "Cindy" Adams (née Heller) is an American gossip columnist and writer. She is the widow of comedian/humorist Joey Adams. Early life and education Adams was an only child raised by her mother after her parents divorced. Marriage to J ...
*
Marv Albert Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig; June 12, 1941) is an American retired sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he was commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he ...
(later with
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 ...
and
Turner Sports Warner Bros. Discovery Sports (WBD Sports) is the division of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) that is responsible for sports broadcasting, sports broadcasts on its parent company's various channels in the United States, including TBS (American TV ch ...
, now retired) *
Tex Antoine Herbert Jon Antoine Jr. (April 21, 1923 – January 12, 1983), known professionally as Tex Antoine, was an American weatherman on New York City television for nearly three decades. Early life and career He was born Herbert Jon Antoine Jr., i ...
(later with
WABC-TV WABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios in the Lincoln Square neighbor ...
) *
Len Berman Leonard Berman (born June 14, 1947) is an American television sportscaster and journalist who is based in New York City. He is currently hosting the morning show on WOR-AM along with Michael Riedel. Berman is widely known for his television ...
(now with WOR) * Lynn Berry (now with HLN) *
Francesco Bilotto Francesco Bilotto (born August 30, 1981) is a television design and entertaining expert, contributing to many media sources. Currently seen as a re-appearing guest on national network news morning programs as well as daytime entertainment talk sh ...
*
Contessa Brewer Contessa Brewer (born March 16, 1974) is an American television journalist for CNBC Business News. As a correspondent, she covers casinos and gaming. She is also a substitute anchor. She formerly hosted the MSNBC weekend program ''Caught on Cam ...
(now with
CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...
) *
Bill Boggs William Boggs III (born July 11, 1941) is an American television host and journalist. Biography Boggs was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA. He earned a master's degree from the university's Annenbe ...
*
Mel Brandt Melville Brandt (June 18, 1919 – March 14, 2008) was an actor and NBC staff announcer. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Brandt joined NBC around 1948. His radio announcing credits included '' The Adventures of Frank Merriwell'', ''Author Meet ...
* Jack Cafferty (later with
WPIX WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, it is operated under a local marketing agreement (LMA) by Nexstar Media Group, making it a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station and flagship (broadcas ...
and
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
) * Ti-Hua Chang (was most recently with
CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...
) *
Fran Charles Fran Charles (born October 19, 1968) is an American television personality for MLB Network, formerly for NFL Network. Career Charles attended John Burroughs School in Ladue, Missouri; then earned a Bachelor's degree in Communication at Stanford ...
(now with
MLB Network The MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox C ...
) *
Linda Church Linda Church (born June 12, 1960) is a former morning weather anchor for the WPIX (New York) PIX11, formerly WB11 & CW11, Morning News since its debut in June 2000 until her retirement in January 2017. Church is a former WPIX weekend weather anc ...
(later with
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 WPIX, now retired) *
Chris Cimino Chris Cimino (born April 27, 1961) is a meteorologist on WPIX "New York's very own" early morning show 4AM-6AM. Chris also hosts New York Living, a new lifestyle show on WPIX. Chris was the meteorologist on WNBC television's early-morning news p ...
(now with WPIX) * Katherine Creag *
Maurice DuBois Maurice DuBois (born August 20, 1965) is an American television anchorman for WCBS-TV in New York City and the CBS network. Early life and education DuBois was born on Long Island, New York, the son of immigrants to the U.S. from Dominica, an ...
(now with WCBS-TV) *
Fred Facey Ferdinand A. Facey (October 19, 1930 – April 13, 2003), known as Fred Facey, was an American radio and television announcer. Career Facey joined the announcing staff of NBC in New York City in 1967, and remained with the network for the res ...
* Frank Field (later with WCBS-TV and
WWOR-TV WWOR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area as the Flagship (broadcasting), flagship of MyNetworkTV. It is owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by Fox Te ...
) *
Ira Joe Fisher Ira Joe Fisher (born October 31, 1947, Salamanca, New York) is an American broadcaster, poet, and educator.. The winner of two regional Emmys, he currently presents Speaking Fearlessly seminars and teaches at UConn and Mercy College. He was the ...
(later with WCBS-TV) * Art Fleming (later became the original host of ''
Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...
'') *
Betty Furness Elizabeth Mary Furness (January 3, 1916 – April 2, 1994) was an American actress, consumer advocate, and current affairs commentator. Early years Furness was born in Manhattan, the daughter of wealthy business executive George Choate Furness ...
) *
Arthur Gary Arthur John Gary (January 28, 1914 in New York City – October 31, 2005 in New York) was an American radio and television announcer. A graduate of New York University, Gary's announcing career spanned from 1936 to 1984. From the 1940s until his ...
*
Andrew Glassman Andrew Glassman is an American television producer. Glassman founded the production company Glassman Media in 2001 following his successful career as an Emmy Award-winning investigative Broadcast Journalist during which he appeared on-air at NBC N ...
*
Marty Glickman Martin Irving Glickman (August 14, 1917 – January 3, 2001) was an American radio announcer who was famous for his broadcasts of the New York Knicks basketball games and the football games of the New York Giants and the New York Jets. Glickman w ...
*
Cat Greenleaf Catherine Kaye Greenleaf (born March 13, 1972) is the former host of ''Talk Stoop''. Career Born in White Plains, New York, Greenleaf started her career as an airborne traffic reporter for KGO (AM) radio in San Francisco in 1999. The following ...
*
Erica Grow Erica Alicia Grow-Cei (born March 15, 1980) is an American meteorologist and television reporter for WPIX Channel 11 in New York City. Early life and education Erica Grow was born and raised in Bethlehem in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley. She at ...
(now with WPIX) * Max Gomez (now with WCBS-TV) * Carlos Granda (now with
KABC-TV KABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast Flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the American Broadcasting Company, ABC network. ...
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' ...
) *
Roger Grimsby Roger Olin Grimsby (September 23, 1928 – June 23, 1995) was an American journalist, television news anchor and actor. Grimsby, who for eighteen years was seen on ABC's flagship station WABC in New York City, is known as one of the pioneers of ...
*
Tony Guida Tony Guida (born November 5, 1941) is a New York-based local television and radio personality. He is currently a news anchor for WCBS Newsradio 880 and a business correspondent for CBS News. Life and career Guida began his career working as a re ...
(now with WCBS) *
Carolyn Gusoff Carolyn Gusoff is an American television news reporter and author, working as a Long Island reporter at WCBS-TV in New York City. Prior to that, she spent three years as a reporter at Fox 5 in New York City, and before that she worked for 15 year ...
(now with WCBS-TV) *
John Hambrick John James Hambrick (June 21, 1940 – September 10, 2013) was an American broadcast journalist, reporter, actor, voice over announcer and TV documentary producer. Career Broadcast journalist Hambrick began his television career in 1963 at KR ...
*
Jane Hanson Jane Hanson (born December 9, 1955) formerly co-hosted ''New York Live'' (formerly called ''LX New York'') on NBC-TV in New York. She joined WNBC-TV in September 1979. She hosted ''Jane Hanson's New York'' on WNBC-TV. She became host in 2003 after ...
*
Pat Harper Patricia Harper (July 3, 1934 – April 3, 1994) was an American television news anchor and reporter, and a fixture for nearly two decades on two New York City television stations. In 1975, she became the first woman to anchor a television news pr ...
*
Reggie Harris Reginald Allen Harris (born August 12, 1968) is an American former professional baseball middle relief pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics (1990–91), Boston Red Sox (1996), Philadelphia Phillies (1997), ...
(later with WCBS-TV and WWOR-TV) *
Jim Hartz James Leroy Hartz (February 3, 1940 – April 17, 2022) was an American television personality, columnist and reporter during the mid- and late-1970s. At age 24, he was the youngest correspondent NBC had ever hired. Hartz became best known to a nat ...
* Stefan Holt (now with
WMAQ-TV WMAQ-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Telemundo outlet WSNS-TV (chan ...
, also son of ''
NBC Nightly News ''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt'' for its weeknight broadcasts since June 22, 2015) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NB ...
'' anchor
Lester Holt Lester Don Holt Jr. (born March 8, 1959) is an American journalist and news anchor for the weekday edition of ''NBC Nightly News'' and ''Dateline NBC''. On June 18, 2015, Holt was made the permanent anchor of ''NBC Nightly News'' following the ...
) *
Wayne Howell Wayne Howell Chappelle (February 16, 1921 – July 8, 1993) was a voice-over announcer for the NBC television and radio networks from 1947 through 1986. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and became one member of a core group of New York-base ...
*
Don Imus John Donald Imus Jr. (July 23, 1940 – December 27, 2019), also known mononymously as Imus, was an American radio personality, television show host, recording artist, and author. His radio show, ''Imus in the Morning'', was aired on various stat ...
(later with WABC) * John Johnson *
Matt Lauer Matthew Todd Lauer (; born December 30, 1957) is an American former television news personality, best known for his work with NBC News. After serving as a local news personality in New York City on WNBC, his first national exposure was as the ne ...
(later with
NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
) *
Tom Llamas Thomas Edward Llamas ( ; born July 2, 1979) is an American journalist who was the weekend anchor for '' World News Tonight'' on ABC from 2014 to 2021. Afterward, he left ABC News for rival NBC News, with his last ABC broadcast being on January 3 ...
(now in his second tenure with
NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
) *
Rick Leventhal Richard Gary Leventhal (born January 24, 1960) is an American reporter. He was a senior correspondent for Fox News Channel from June 1997 to June 2021. Before joining Fox, he spent 10 years in local news, reporting and anchoring in markets inclu ...
(was at
Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
till 2021) *
Pia Lindström Friedel Pia Lindström (born 20 September 1938) is a Swedish television journalist, and the first child of actress Ingrid Bergman. Life and career Lindström is the only child born to Ingrid Bergman and her first husband, Swedish neurosurgeon ...
*
Otis Livingston Otis Livingston is a weekday sports anchor at WCBS-TV in New York City and is a sideline reporter on CBS Sports. He has won numerous Emmy Awards. Biography Livingston has been with WCBS since 2010. In New York, he also worked with WNBC-TV. He rep ...
(now with WCBS-TV) *
Lynda Lopez Lynda Lopez (born June 14, 1971) is an American journalist and author based in New York City. She is also a co-founder of Nuyorican Productions, an American production company founded in 2001 with Benny Medina which became active in 2006 with th ...
(now with WCBS) *
Felipe Luciano Felipe Luciano (born 1947, East Harlem, New York City) is a poet, community activist, journalist, media personality, and politician. He is of Afro-Puerto Rican heritage. He is known for his significant involvement in both the Young Lords Party an ...
*
Jeffrey Lyons Jeffrey Lyons (born November 5, 1944) is an American television and film critic based in the New York metropolitan area. Early life Lyons was born in Manhattan, one of the four sons of Sylvia R. (Schoenberger) and Leonard Lyons, a newspaper colu ...
(now with ''
Extra Extra or Xtra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * ''Extra'' (newspaper), a Brazilian newspaper * ''Extra!'', an American me ...
'') *
Dave Marash David Marash, known as Dave Marash (born May 3, 1942), is an American television journalist known for his work at ABC News and Al Jazeera English. Career A graduate of Williams College , Marash worked at New Brunswick, New Jersey, station WCTC-AM ...
(later 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 ...
, now with
KSFR KSFR-FM is a broadcast radio station licensed to White Rock, New Mexico, and serving the Santa Fe area broadcasting on 101.1 FM. KSFR is Santa Fe, New Mexico's community/public radio station. It is owned by the Santa Fe Community College and ...
) *
Sal Marchiano Salvatore Joseph "Sal" Marchiano (born March 3, 1941) is a former American sportscaster who worked in New York radio and television for forty four years. In December 2008 he retired from his position as sports director and anchor for the WPIX C ...
(later with
WPIX WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, it is operated under a local marketing agreement (LMA) by Nexstar Media Group, making it a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station and flagship (broadcas ...
) * Michele Marsh * Frank McGee * John Miller (now with the
NYPD The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...
) *
Tim Minton Tim Minton (born April 15, 1957) is an American television journalist and media executive. He began a career in journalism writing for ''The New York Times'' in college. He served as a news correspondent for over ten years with WABC-TV, ABC-7 Eyew ...
(now with the MTA) *
DeMarco Morgan DeMarco Morgan is an American broadcast journalist currently anchoring at ABC News. Background In 1997, Morgan graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, during which he earned an internship working at KOTV. In 2001, h ...
(later with
WXIA-TV WXIA-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WATL (channel 36). Both stations share studios at One Monroe Place on the north en ...
, now with
KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outl ...
) * Rob Morrison (was at WCBS-TV until 2013) *
Bruce Morrow Bruce Morrow (born Bruce Meyerowitz on October 13, 1935 or October 13, 1937) (sources differ) is an American radio performer, known for professional purposes as Cousin Brucie or Cousin Bruce Morrow. In an October 2020 interview, Morrow said he ...
(now with WABC radio) *
SallyAnn Mosey SallyAnn Mosey is a reporter, fill in anchor, and weekend meteorologist for News 12 New Jersey. She was a meteorologist for the FOX owned-and-operated television station WTXF-TV in Philadelphia. Mosey served as meteorologist on the station's popular ...
(now with
News 12 New Jersey News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. New ...
) * John Muller (now with WPIX) * George Page *
Don Pardo Dominick George "Don" Pardo (February 22, 1918 – August 18, 2014) was an American radio and television announcer whose career spanned more than seven decades. A member of the Television Hall of Fame, Pardo was noted for his 70-year tenure with ...
*
Ralph Penza Ralph Penza (November 22, 1932 – February 16, 2007) was a senior correspondent and substitute anchor for WNBC in New York City. He first joined WNBC in 1980, left the station in 1995 and rejoined it in October 1997. Among his many honors are six E ...
*
Perri Peltz Perri Peltz is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker, journalist and public health advocate. Most recently, Perri created the documentary news series ''Axios'' on HBO with Matthew O’Neill. Perri & Matthew also co-directed and produced the 2019 ...
* Walter Perez (now with
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 ...
) * Deb Placey (now with
MSG Network The MSG Network (MSG) is an American regional cable and satellite television network, and radio service owned by MSG Entertainment, Inc.—a spin-off of the main Madison Square Garden Company operation (itself a spin-off of local cable provider ...
) *
Gabe Pressman Gabriel Stanley "Gabe" Pressman (February 14, 1924 – June 23, 2017) was an American journalist who was a reporter for WNBC-TV in New York City for more than 60 years. His career spanned more than seven decades; the events he covered included th ...
*
Shimon Prokupecz Shimon Prokupecz (born February 4, 1978) is an American journalist who works as the crime and justice reporter for CNN. Life and career Prokupecz immigrated from Russia as a child and was raised in Brooklyn, New York. He is a graduate of Hunt ...
(now with
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
) *
Audrey Puente Audrey Puente (born March 3, 1970) is an Emmy Award winning American meteorologist. She brings the weather for the weekend news at 6 and 10 p.m. on WNYW in New York City. She also fills in on ''Good Day New York''. Early life and education Was ...
(now with
WNYW WNYW (channel 5) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Secaucus, New Jersey–licensed MyNetworkTV flagship W ...
) *
Howard Reig Howard Reig (May 31, 1921 – November 10, 2008)Carol Anne Riddell Carol Anne Riddell is an American reporter and journalist specialising in news on children and education. She was the education reporter and co-anchor of the ''News 4 New York'' newscast on Sundays for WNBC-TV in New York City until 2009. Life ...
* Bobby Rivers * Vic Roby * Gloria Rojas *
Al Roker Albert Lincoln Roker Jr. (born August 20, 1954) is an American weather presenter, journalist, television personality, and author. He is the current weather anchor on NBC's '' Today'', and occasionally co-hosts '' 3rd Hour Today''. He has an in ...
(now with
NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
) *
Jim Rosenfield Jim Rosenfield is an American local television news anchor currently working for WCAU-TV, the NBC-owned television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Career Rosenfield started his television news career in 1981, after graduating from Duk ...
(now with
WCAU WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jer ...
) *
Jeff Rossen Jeff Rossen (born November 13, 1976) is an American television journalist currently employed by Hearst Television. He previously worked at NBC News from 2008 until 2019 where he was a fixture on ''Today'' and also contributed to ''NBC Nightly New ...
(formerly with NBC News, now with
Hearst Television Hearst Television, Inc. (formerly Hearst-Argyle Television) is a broadcasting company in the United States owned by Hearst Communications. From 1998 to mid-2009, the company traded its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ...
) *
Kyle Rote William Kyle Rote, Sr. (October 27, 1928 – August 15, 2002) was an American football player, a running back and receiver for eleven years in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants. He was an All-American running back at S ...
* Bill Ryan * Jim Ryan (later with
WNYW WNYW (channel 5) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Secaucus, New Jersey–licensed MyNetworkTV flagship W ...
) * Tim Ryan (later with
CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W 5 ...
,
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 ...
,
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 ...
and
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
) *
Dick Schaap Richard Jay Schaap (September 27, 1934 – December 21, 2001) was an American sportswriter, broadcaster, and author. Early life and education Born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, and raised in Freeport, New York, on Long Island, Schaap began writ ...
(later with
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
) *
Rob Schmitt Rob Schmitt (born August 13, 1983) is an American television personality who served as a co-host on '' Fox & Friends First''. He stopped appearing on the network in August 2020 and currently hosts the nightly program ''Rob Schmitt Tonight'' on N ...
(later
Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
) * Mike Schneider (later with
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 ...
) *
Adam Shapiro Adam Shapiro is the name of: *Adam Shapiro (activist) (born 1972), American co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) *Adam Shapiro (television reporter), American television reporter and investigative journalist *Adam Shapiro, Amer ...
(now with
Yahoo Finance Yahoo! Finance is a media property that is part of the Yahoo! network. It provides financial news, data and commentary including stock quotes, press releases, financial reports, and original content. It also offers some online tools for pers ...
) *
Sue Simmons Sue Simmons (born May 27, 1942) is an American retired news anchor who was best known for being the lead female anchor at WNBC in New York City from 1980 to 2012. Her contract with WNBC expired in June 2012 and WNBC announced that it would not ren ...
*
Dr. Ian Smith Ian K. Smith (born July 15, 1969) is an American physician, author and television host best known for hosting The Doctors. In 2007, he launched the 50 Million Pound Challenge, a national weight loss initiative sponsored by CVS Pharmacy and Sta ...
* Liz Smith *
Tom Snyder Thomas James Snyder (May 12, 1936 – July 29, 2007) was an American television personality, news anchor, and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows '' Tomorrow'', on the NBC television network in the 1970s and 1980s, and '' ...
*
Scott Stanford Scott Stanford (born 30 August, 1966) is a seven time Emmy Winning American Entertainment Host, News/Sports Anchor and commentator. Stanford is currently a Studio Host for WWE (since 2009) and can also be seen Co Hosting The Suki & Scott Show o ...
(now with
WPIX WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, it is operated under a local marketing agreement (LMA) by Nexstar Media Group, making it a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station and flagship (broadcas ...
and
WWE Network WWE Network is a subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and digital television network owned by the American entertainment company WWE. It primarily distributes original professional wrestling events, films, television and ...
) *
Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio and television personality, comedian, and author. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terre ...
(now a talk show radio host) *
Carl Stokes Carl Burton Stokes (June 21, 1927 – April 3, 1996) was an American politician and diplomat of the Democratic Party who served as the 51st mayor of Cleveland, Ohio. Elected on November 7, 1967, and taking office on January 1, 1968, he was ...
*
Mike Taibbi Mike Taibbi (born c. 1949) is an American television journalist best known for his work at NBC News. He retired in 2014, having covered, among other events, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. During his career, Taibbi also worked at CBS News. He ...
(now with
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) *
Felicia Taylor Felicia Rodrica Sturt Taylor (born August 28, 1964) is a retired American anchor-correspondent who worked for CNN International's ''World Business Today'', and contributed to the Business Updates unit for CNN. She was the co-host of Retirement Liv ...
*
Bob Teague Robert Lewis Teague (January 2, 1929 – March 28, 2013) was an African-American college football star and television news reporter. Teague played college football at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. While a journalist with ''The New York ...
*
Melba Tolliver Melba Tolliver (born 1939) is an American journalist and former New York City news anchor and reporter. She is best remembered for her defiant stance against ABC owned WABC-TV when she refused to don a wig or scarf to cover up her Afro in order ...
(later at
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) *
Katy Tur Katherine Bear Tur (born October 26, 1983) is an American author and broadcast journalist working as a correspondent for NBC News. Tur is an anchor for MSNBC Reports, where since 2021 she has hosted ''Katy Tur Reports'' on MSNBC. She has also re ...
(now with MSNBC and NBC News) * Sibila Vargas (now with
WSPA-TV WSPA-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States, serving Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Asheville, North C ...
) * Jonathan Vigliotti (now with CBS News) *
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*
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(now moderator of ''
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'') * Jim Watkins (later with WPIX and WTNH) *
Rolonda Watts Rolonda Watts (born July 12, 1959) is an American actress, producer, and television and radio talk show host. She is best known for hosting the eponymous '' Rolonda'', an internationally syndicated talk show which aired from 1994 to 1997. Watts ...
(now the on-camera announcer for ''
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'') *
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(later with
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) *
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(now at Goddard Spaceflight Center) * Bill Wolff (staff announcer) * Lew Wood


Controversies and incidents


Chopper 4 helicopter crashes

1998 saw the introduction of a brand-new Chopper 4, a brand new
Eurocopter EC135 The Eurocopter EC135 (now Airbus Helicopters H135) is a twin-engine civil light utility helicopter produced by Airbus Helicopters (formerly known as Eurocopter). It is capable of flight under instrument flight rules (IFR) and is outfitted with ...
that the station heavily promoted. But the new chopper ended up crashing into the
Passaic River Passaic River ( ) is a river, approximately long, in Northern New Jersey. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey, ...
near
Harrison Harrison may refer to: People * Harrison (name) * Harrison family of Virginia, United States Places In Australia: * Harrison, Australian Capital Territory, suburb in the Canberra district of Gungahlin In Canada: * Inukjuak, Quebec, or " ...
and
Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...
on December 3, 1998; reporter Kai Simonsen and pilot Terry Hawes survived. Hence, the older model, a
Eurocopter AS350 Airbus Helicopters SAS (formerly Eurocopter Group) is the helicopter manufacturing division of Airbus. It is the largest in the industry in terms of revenues and turbine helicopter deliveries. Its head office is located at Marseille Provence Ai ...
, was returned to service and remained until May 4, 2004, when it crashed while covering a shooting in Brooklyn. Reporter Andrew Torres, pilot Russ Cowry and pilot trainee Hassan Taan survived the crash and were taken to area hospitals. The crash occurred at about 6:30 p.m. as the crew was preparing for a live report from the scene of a shooting in East Flatbush. Before the cut-in, Chopper 4 appeared to begin a steep nosedive. WABC's own helicopter captured the initial nosedive and the chopper's subsequent tailspin until crashing into a rooftop.


2008 weeknight infomercial issue

On March 25, 2008, WNBC carried a paid program leading into NBC's Tuesday night prime time and after the 7:00 p.m. newscast for mortgage lender Lend America, replacing that night's ''Access Hollywood''. Several 'Big Four' stations throughout the United States had carried paid programs leading into prime time in a period during the
Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
to some varied controversy (and often do to this day during Saturday evenings, a little-trafficked time period with no complaint), but the one airing in New York of the Lend America infomercial, which was hosted by ex-WNBC reporter Joe Avellar, attracted massive criticism from viewers and local media critics, especially involving Avellar's role as host and Lend America's part in the housing crisis, and to a much lesser extent, preemption of regular weeknight programming. Earning the station $130,000 for the -minute program, it generated low ratings and led to a quick fallout, with general manager Frank Comerford resigning his position from the station for approving the airtime sale. Although Lend America expressed interest in buying more early access time on the station, WNBC has never again carried a paid program before prime time on weeknights.


Sue Simmons "F-bomb" incident

On May 12, 2008, a prime time promo for that night's 11:00 p.m. newscast was thought by anchor Sue Simmons to be on tape for later broadcast but was actually going out live. After completing the first portion of the tease, Simmons noticed co-anchor Chuck Scarborough distracted with something on his on-desk
laptop A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...
, and thinking the
take A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production. Film In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup". Takes of each s ...
would be trashed and another take would be shot for air, shouted "The
fuck ''Fuck'' is an English-language expletive. It often refers to the act of sexual intercourse, but is also commonly used as an intensifier or to convey disdain. While its origin is obscure, it is usually considered to be first attested to aro ...
are you doing?" towards him in a manner seemingly meant as an
inside joke An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or a private joke, is a joke whose humour is understandable only to members of an ingroup; that is, people who are ''in'' a particular social group, occupation, or other community of shared interest. It i ...
among colleagues, while
YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
b-roll In film and television production, B-roll, B roll, B-reel or B reel is supplemental or alternative footage intercut with the main shot. The term ''A-roll'', referring to main footage, has fallen out of use. Film and video production Films and ...
of a cruise ship departing Manhattan continued to roll before the promo's end. Later during the actual newscast, Simmons profusely apologized for the live outburst, saying, "I have to acknowledge an unfortunate incident. I used a word that many people find offensive. It was a mistake I made and I'm truly sorry." No further comment was made by the station or Simmons about the incident. ''
Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...
'' used clips from the promo in several sketches mocking the incident.


I-Team Super Bowl promo editing controversy

On February 5, 2012, the station premiered the I-Team promo during
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 ...
' coverage of Super Bowl XLVI featuring former NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly, but later on the day after the Super Bowl, they edited out Kelly's clip due to some complaints from rival WCBS-TV. However, the spokesman declined to comment, and criticisms arose from WABC-TV, WNYW, and WPIX, the station's rivals. Station general manager Michael Jack said in the statement that "our investigative team is among the most experienced in the industry, and to suggest that the station won't cover the NYPD fairly, accurately and with balance simply because the commissioner appeared in a station promotional spot is simply not true." After the promo was edited out at the station, Lynda Baquero resigned from the investigative team but continued as a reporter for the station. She was replaced by Pei-Sze Cheng and Jonathan Vigliotti (though Vigliotti later left for WCBS-TV).


Tweet regarding anti-Semitic violence

On January 2, 2020, WNBC posted a tweet on its
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account linking to an
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
wire article, syndicated to its website, on the recent wave of anti-Semitic violence in the United States, coming three weeks after a targeted shooting at a kosher supermarket in
Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.content management system A content management system (CMS) is computer software used to manage the creation and modification of digital content (content management).''Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy''. Ann Rockley, Pamela Kostur, Steve Manning. New ...
, featured one of three bullet points summarizing the article as a whole, and stated that
Orthodox Jews Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Jewish theology, Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Torah, Written and Oral Torah, Or ...
moving from the core of New York and New Jersey and into their own self-established communities on the fringe of the Tri-State area due to
gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and urban planning, planning. Gentrification ...
was a reason for an increase of violent anti-Semitic attacks in the broader region; WNBC's headline, and its inclusion in the tweet, was met with backlash from Jewish groups and people, including the progressive
Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
group Zioness and the
Republican Jewish Coalition The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), formerly the National Jewish Coalition, founded in 1985, is a political group in the United States that supports Jewish Republicans. The organization has more than 47 chapters throughout the United States. ...
, which called out the station for "blaming the Orthodox community for the attacks". Others prominent in the community also questioned the message, including
Bari Weiss Bari Weiss (born March 25, 1984) is an American journalist, writer, and editor. She was an op-ed and book review editor at ''The Wall Street Journal'' (2013–2017) and an op-ed staff editor and writer on culture and politics at ''The New Yor ...
, former New York State Assemblyman
Dov Hikind Dov Hikind (born June 30, 1950) is an American politician, activist, and radio talk show host in the state of New York. Hikind is a former Democratic New York State Assemblyman representing Brooklyn's Assembly district 48, having held this posi ...
,
Ron Kampeas Ron Kampeas is the Washington, D.C. bureau chief of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), "responsible for coordinating coverage in the U.S. capital and analyzing political developments that affect the Jewish world."Jewish Telegraphic Agency The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) is an international news agency and wire service, founded in 1917, serving Jewish community newspapers and media around the world as well as non-Jewish press, with about 70 syndication clients listed on its web ...
, and ''
The Forward ''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ' ...
''s Batya Ungar-Sargon. The station later apologized for the original headline, deleted the original tweet, and then re-sent the article tweet with an edited headline.;


Technical information


Subchannels

The station's digital signal is
multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...
: On December 20, 2012, WNBC and other NBC-owned stations began carrying
Cozi TV Cozi TV (stylized on-air as COZI TV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal. The network airs classic television series from the 1960s to the 2000s. The network origina ...
. It replaced NBC (New York) Nonstop, which had been carried on digital subchannel 4.2 since 2009.


See also

*
Channel 4 virtual TV stations in the United States The following television stations operate on virtual channel 4 in the United States: * K02LH-D in Clarks Fork, Wyoming * K03DJ-D in Polson, Montana * K03IZ-D in Salinas, California * K04DH-D in Gunnison, Colorado * K04GF-D in Wolf Point, Montana * ...
*
Channel 35 digital TV stations in the United States The following television stations broadcast on Digital television, digital channel 35 in the United States: * K35AX-D in Hawthorne, Nevada * K35BW-D in Lewiston, Idaho * K35CH-D in Cortez/Mancos, etc., Colorado * K35CK-D in Price, Utah * K35CR-D in ...
*
Early television stations This is a list of pre-World War 2 television stations of the 1920s and 1930s. Most of these experimental stations were located in Europe (notably in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, and Russia), Australia, Ca ...
* List of television stations in New York (by channel number) *
List of television stations in New York (by region) This is a list of broadcast television stations serving cities in the state of New York (state), New York, as of 2016–2017. The branding that the stations are commonly use are shown in bold. Albany, New York, Albany/Schenectady, New York, S ...
*
Media in New York City New York City has been called the media capital of the world. The media of New York City are internationally influential and include some of the most important newspapers, largest publishing houses, biggest record companies, and most prolific te ...
*
New Yorkers in journalism New York City has been called the media capital of the world. Many journalists work in Manhattan, reporting about international, American, business, entertainment, and New York metropolitan area-related matters. New Yorkers in journalism A ...


References


External links

* *
WNBC-TV logos and screenshots from 1950s to the present day

WNBC's analog farewell video and signal shutdown
June 26, 2009; archived video at YouTube
WNBC America Technical Information


{{DEFAULTSORT:Wnbc 1928 establishments in New York City Companies based in Manhattan Cozi TV affiliates Former General Electric subsidiaries National Hockey League over-the-air television broadcasters NBC Owned Television Stations Television channels and stations established in 1941
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...