WPIX (channel 11) 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 ea ...

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 ...

. Owned by

Mission Broadcasting Mission Broadcasting, Inc. is a television station group that owns 20 television stations in 17 markets in the United States. The group's Chair is Nancie Smith, the widow of David S. Smith, who founded the company in 1996 and died in 2011. All but ...

, it is operated under a

local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or tim ...

(LMA) by

Nexstar Media Group Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarter offices in Irving, Texas; Midtown Manhattan; and Chicago, Illinois. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 te ...

, making it a ''de facto''

owned-and-operated station 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 ...

and

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 ...

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

, which Nexstar acquired 75% ownership in October 2022. Since its inception in 1948, WPIX's studios and offices have been located in the

Daily News Building The Daily News Building, also known as The News Building, is a skyscraper at 220 East 42nd Street in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The original building was designed by architects Raymond Hood and John Me ...

on East 42nd Street (also known as "11 WPIX Plaza") 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 Buildi ...

. The station's transmitter is located at 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 ...

. WPIX is also available as a regional

superstation ''Superstation'' (alternatively rendered as "super station" or informally as "SuperStation") is a term in North American broadcasting that has several meanings. Commonly, a "superstation" is a form of distant signal, a broadcast television sign ...

via

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...

and

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 ...

in the United States and Canada. It is the largest CW affiliate by population of market size.

History

As an independent station (1948–1995)

The station first signed on the air on June 15, 1948; it was the fifth television station to sign on in New York City and was the market's second

independent station An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, marke ...

. It was also the second of three stations to launch in the New York market during 1948, debuting one month after

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat, seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and the second largest city within the New Yo ...

-based independent WATV (channel 13, now

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 ...

) and two months before WJZ-TV (channel 7, now

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 neig ...

). WPIX's call letters come from the slogan of the newspaper which founded the station, 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 ...

'', whose slogan was "New York's Picture Newspaper". The ''Daily News''s partial corporate parent was the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

-based

Tribune Company Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 ...

, publishers of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

''. Until becoming owned outright by Tribune in 1991, WPIX operated separately from the company's other television and radio outlets (including

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...

in Chicago, which signed-on two months before WPIX in April 1948) through the ''News''-owned license holder, WPIX, Incorporated – which in 1963, purchased New York radio station, WBFM (101.9 FM) and soon changed that station's call letters to WPIX-FM.

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

businessman

Robert Maxwell Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, Parliament of the United Kingdom, member of parliament (MP), suspected spy, and fraudster. Early i ...

bought the ''Daily News'' in 1991. Tribune retained WPIX and WQCD; the radio station was sold to

Emmis Communications Emmis Communications is an American media conglomerate based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Emmis, based on the Hebrew word for Truth (Emet) was founded by Jeff Smulyan in 1980. Emmis has owned many radio stations, including KPWR and WQHT, which h ...

in 1997 (it is now

WFAN-FM WFAN-FM (101.9 FM), is a commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York. Owned by Audacy, Inc. the station simulcasts a sports radio format known as "Sports Radio 66 AM and 101.9 FM", or "The FAN", along with co-owned WFAN 660 AM. ...

). WPIX initially featured programming that was standard among independents: children's programs,

movies A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

, syndicated

rerun A rerun or repeat is a rebroadcast of an episode of a radio or television program. There are two types of reruns – those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Variations In the United Kingdom, the word ...

s of network programs, public affairs programming, religious programs and

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

– specifically, the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...

, whose baseball games WPIX carried from

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

. To generations of New York children, channel 11 was also the home of memorable personalities. In 1955, original WPIX staffer and weather forecaster Joe Bolton, donned a policeman's uniform and became "Officer Joe," hosting several programs based around ''

Little Rascals ''Our Gang'' (also known as ''The Little Rascals'' or ''Hal Roach's Rascals'') is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, also the ...

'', ''

Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeare ...

'', and later ''

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.Jack McCarthy, also hosted ''Popeye'' and ''

Dick Tracy ''Dick Tracy'' is an American comic strip featuring Dick Tracy (character), Dick Tracy (originally Plainclothes Tracy), a tough and intelligent police detective created by Chester Gould. It made its debut on Sunday, October 4, 1931, in the ''De ...

cartoons A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...

as "Captain Jack" in the early 1960s, though he was also the longtime host of channel 11's St. Patrick's Day parade coverage from 1949 to 1992. WPIX aired a local version of ''

Bozo the Clown Bozo the Clown, sometimes billed as "Bozo, The World's Most Famous Clown", is a clown character created for children's entertainment, widely popular in the second half of the 20th century. He was introduced in the United States in 1946, and to te ...

'' (with Bill Britten in the role) from 1959 to 1964; comic performers

Chuck McCann Charles John Thomas McCann (September 2, 1934 – April 8, 2018) was an American actor, comedian, puppeteer, commercial presenter and television host. He was best known for his work in presenting children's television programming and animation, a ...

and

Allen Swift Ira Stadlen (January 16, 1924 – April 18, 2010), known professionally as Allen Swift, was an American voice actor, best known for voicing cartoon characters Simon Bar Sinister and Riff-Raff on the ''Underdog'' cartoon show. He took his pro ...

also hosted programs on WPIX during the mid-1960s before each moved to other entertainment work in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

. Jazz singer

Joya Sherrill Joya Sherrill (August 20, 1924 – June 28, 2010) was an American jazz vocalist and children's television show host. Sherrill was born in Bayonne, New Jersey on August 20, 1924. Her first ambition was to become a writer: she was the editor of her ...

hosted a weekday children's show, ''Time for Joya'' (later known as '' Joya's Fun School''). Channel 11 produced the '' Magic Garden'' series, which ran on the station from 1972 to 1984. Beginning in the late 1970s and continuing through spring 1982, the station aired " TV PIXX", a television video game show played during commercial breaks of afternoon programs. Kids would call into the station for the chance to control a video game via telephone in hopes of winning prizes. Another staple of WPIX's programming was its selection of movies; unlike many independent stations, WPIX's library went beyond the usual offerings from major studios and low-budget B-movies, to movies produced by

Samuel Goldwyn Samuel Goldwyn (born Szmuel Gelbfisz; yi, שמואל געלבפֿיש; August 27, 1882 (claimed) January 31, 1974), also known as Samuel Goldfish, was a Polish-born American film producer. He was best known for being the founding contributor an ...

and imports from Britain. The station also became famous to many area viewers for their various holiday broadcasts of films that became traditions at the station, such as the broadcast of the 1934 movie '' March of the Wooden Soldiers'' on Thanksgiving Day. This reputation for film programming (for much of the station's history, a movie ran at 8 p.m. every night in prime time; movies also made up much of the schedule on weekends) became so ingrained that the station frequently promoted itself as being "New York's Movie Station" during the late 1980s and 1990s. Another notable programming stunt was ''Shocktober'', where for the entire month of October, various horror and thriller films were played; this occurred for several years in the early 1990s, and became a cult favorite among area viewers. From its early years through the 1960s, WPIX, like the other two major independents in New York, WOR-TV (channel 9, now

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 of MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox flagship WNYW ...

) and WNEW-TV (channel 5, 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 flagsh ...

), struggled to acquire other programming. In 1966, WPIX debuted '' The Yule Log'', which combines

Christmas music Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject ...

with a film loop of logs burning inside a

fireplace A fireplace or hearth is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the desig ...

. Airing on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

and/or

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

morning initially until 1989, the film was made in 1966 and was shot at

Gracie Mansion Archibald Gracie Mansion (commonly called Gracie Mansion) is the official residence of the Mayor of New York City. Built in 1799, it is located in Carl Schurz Park, at East End Avenue and 88th Street in the Yorkville neighborhood of Manhattan. ...

, with the cooperation of then

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

John V. Lindsay. WPIX revived the ''Yule Log'' due to viewer demand in 2001, and has proven to be just as popular. Several of Tribune's other television stations (as well as

WGN America WGN America was an American subscription television network that was owned by the Nexstar Media Group, and was the company's only wholly owned, national cable-originated television channel. The channel in its final form under the WGN branding ra ...

and

Antenna TV Antenna TV is an American digital television network owned by Nexstar Media Group. The network's programming consists of classic television series, primarily sitcoms, from the 1950s to the 1990s. Antenna TV's programming and advertising operati ...

) have carried the WPIX version, complete with its audio soundtrack, on Christmas morning since the late 2000s, and is also streamed online on WPIX's website. Since 1977, Channel 11 has aired a live broadcast of Midnight Mass from St. Patrick's Cathedral every Christmas Eve. The station's "Circle 11" logo – predating the existence of the World Trade Center (which was not completed until 1973), which it closely resembled – was first unveiled in 1969 (an advertising billboard for WPIX with the "Circle 11" logo began appearing that year at

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...

). By the mid-1970s, WPIX emerged as the second highest-rated independent station in the area, behind WNEW-TV. WPIX dropped the "Circle 11" when it rebranded as "11 Alive" in September 1976, though it continued to appear during station editorials until around 1982 (the "Alive" slogan was popularized by such stations as

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

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 ...

, which itself has branded as "11 Alive" ever since that point, with the exception of a brief removal in 1995); the "Circle 11" logo returned as part of the "11 Alive" branding in 1984, before being restored full-time in the fall of 1986. Its relaunch featured a series of humorous promos in which a fictional station employee, "Henry Tillman," was searching for a "big idea" for something uniquely New York in nature to serve as the perfect WPIX symbol. The running gag in these ads was the fact that Tillman was constantly surrounded by – but never noticed – objects resembling a giant "11", most notably the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. In 1978, WPIX was uplinked to

and became a

that was distributed to cable providers throughout the U.S. (many providers carried WPIX's signal until the early 1990s, when most systems outside of the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...

began replacing WPIX with the superstation feed of WGN-TV, though the station continues to be distributed through

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 ...

domestically (which since it halted sales of the package to new subscribers in September 2013, is available only to

grandfathered A grandfather clause, also known as grandfather policy, grandfathering, or grandfathered in, is a provision in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations while a new rule will apply to all future cases. Those exempt from t ...

subscribers of its

a la carte A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...

superstation tier) and on most cable and satellite providers throughout Canada). Two years later, WPIX began operating on a 24-hour programming schedule. During the late 1980s, WPIX fell to sixth place in the ratings among New York's VHF stations, behind WNYW (which was now owned by Fox) and a resurgent WWOR (then owned by

MCA MCA may refer to: Astronomy * Mars-crossing asteroid, an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars Aviation * Minimum crossing altitude, a minimum obstacle crossing altitude for fixes on published airways * Medium Combat Aircraft, a 5th gen ...

–

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a t ...

). After president Leavitt Pope stepped down as

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

(though he remained as president and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of WPIX), Michael Eigner was transferred from Los Angeles sister station

KTLA KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is the s ...

to become WPIX's general manager in August 1989. Over the next few years the station engineered a slow turnaround that eventually resulted in WPIX becoming the leading independent station in the market. In 1994, the station became the exclusive home of the

New York City Marathon The New York City Marathon (currently branded TCS New York City Marathon after its headline sponsor (commercial), sponsor) is an annual Marathon (sport), marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest mar ...

, carrying the event for the next five years. It was during the initial broadcast of that event that WPIX unveiled a stylized serifed "11" logo; the new numerical look eventually became the full-time logo, augmented with The WB's logo after the station affiliated with that network in 1995. In mid-January 1994, the station began airing the '' Action Pack'' programming block with ''

TekWar ''TekWar'' is a series of science fiction novels created by Canadian actor William Shatner and ghost-written by American writer Ron Goulart, published by Putnam beginning in October 1989. The novels gave rise to a comic book series, video game, an ...

'' TV movie. WPIX earned the biggest ratings of all the stations airing the program, with an 11.7/17 rating.

WB affiliation (1995–2006)

On November 2, 1993, the

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...

division of

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

and the Tribune Company announced the formation of The WB Television Network. Due to the company's ownership interest in the network (initially a 12.5% stake, before expanding to 22%), Tribune signed the majority of its independent stations to serve as The WB's charter affiliates, resulting in WPIX becoming a network affiliate for the first time upon its January 11, 1995, debut. The station was verbally branded as "The WB, Channel 11" (simply adding The WB name to the "Channel 11" branding in use since 1986), until it was simplified to "The WB 11" in 1997, and further to "WB11" in 2000. Initially, WPIX's programming remained unchanged, as The WB had broadcast only prime time shows on Wednesday nights at its launch. As with other WB-affiliated stations during the network's first four years, WPIX ran feature films and select first-run scripted series prior to its 10:00 p.m. newscast on nights when The WB did not offer network programming. WB network and syndicated daytime programs (such as '' Maury'' and ''

Jerry Springer Gerald Norman Springer (born February 13, 1944) is a British-American broadcaster, journalist, actor, producer, former lawyer, and politician. He hosted the tabloid talk show '' Jerry Springer'' between September 30, 1991 and July 26, 2018, an ...

'') became more prominent on channel 11's schedule starting in 1996 at the expense of most of its local-interest programming outside of news. By September 1999, when The WB completed its prime time expansion and the network began running its programming Sunday through Friday nights, movies were limited to Saturday evenings and weekend afternoons.

September 11 attacks

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 commerc ...

, the transmitter facilities of WPIX, and several other New York City area television and radio stations were destroyed when two hijacked airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center; both of the complex's main towers collapsed due to fires caused by the impact. WPIX lead engineer Steve Jacobson was among those who were killed in the terrorist attack. WPIX's satellite feed froze on the last video frame received from the WTC mast, an image of the North Tower burning and the start of the impact of the South Tower; the image remained on-screen for much of the day until WPIX was able to set up alternate transmission facilities (the

microwave relay Microwave transmission is the transmission of information by electromagnetic waves with wavelengths in the microwave frequency range of 300MHz to 300GHz(1 m - 1 mm wavelength) of the electromagnetic spectrum. Microwave signals are normally limi ...

for WPIX's satellite feed was also located at the World Trade Center). WPIX also broadcast on W64AA in the interim. Since then, WPIX has transmitted its signal from the

. The station's coverage of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack was notable in that WPIX's helicopter was the last to land following an FAA directive that grounded all aircraft. WPIX was given special permission to continue airing aerial video from its helicopter after the collapse of the World Trade Center, though that permission wasn't conditioned on WPIX distributing the footage as a pool camera. Footage from WPIX's helicopter was one of many videos used by the NIST in its investigation into the collapse of the World Trade Center complex.

CW affiliation (2006–present)

On January 24, 2006, the

Warner Bros. Entertainment Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

unit of Time Warner and

CBS Corporation The second incarnation of CBS Corporation (the first being a short-lived rename of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation) was an American multinational media conglomerate with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing, an ...

announced that the two companies would shut down The WB and UPN and in their place, would combine the two networks' respective programming to create a new "fifth" network called The CW. As part of the announcement, Tribune signed ten-year affiliation agreements with the network for 16 of its 19 WB-affiliated stations, including WPIX. Tribune chose not to exercise an ownership interest in The CW. At the time, WPIX was the largest CW affiliate that is not owned by either CBS Corporation (later ViacomCBS, now

Paramount Global Paramount Global ( doing business as Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned and operated by National Amusements (79.4%) and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York. ...

) or Time Warner (later WarnerMedia, now Warner Bros. Discovery) and the largest

English-language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the i ...

network-affiliated station that was not an

of its respective network. WPIX began transitioning its on-air branding to "CW 11" during the summer of 2006; prior to the start of the station's 10:00 p.m. newscast on September 17, 2006 (which aired following The WB's final night of programming and the night prior to The CW's official launch), shortly after airing the WB's final sign off bumper featuring stars from the WB's shows, the station aired a video montage of past WPIX logos, starting with a 1948 test pattern and concluding with the official unveiling of the new "CW11" logo.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
On April 2, 2007, investor Sam Zell announced plans to purchase the Tribune Company, with intentions to take the publicly traded firm private. The deal was completed on December 20, 2007. Prior to the sale's closure, WPIX had been the only commercial television station in New York City to have never been involved in an ownership transaction (Tribune subsequently filed for

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debto ...

protection in 2008, due to debt accrued from Zell's

leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is one company's acquisition of another company using a significant amount of borrowed money ( leverage) to meet the cost of acquisition. The assets of the company being acquired are often used as collateral for the loa ...

and costs from the company's privatization; it emerged from bankruptcy in December 2012 under the control of its senior debt holders Oaktree Capital Management, Angelo, Gordon & Co. and

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, t ...

). The station began gradually adopting a modernized "Circle 11" logo in mid-October 2008, featuring a slimmer version of the WB-era "11" (the CW logo is sometimes used next to the "Circle 11", primarily in station promos for CW programs). The station's branding was then changed to "PIX 11" on December 1, 2008 (the "PIX" in the call letters are pronounced phonetically, similar to the word "picks"). On August 17, 2012,

Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its e ...

removed the station from its

New York 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 landmass, at , and one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. The vast metropolitan area ...

systems, part of a

carriage dispute A carriage dispute is a disagreement over the right to "carry", that is, retransmit, a broadcaster's signal. Carriage disputes first occurred between broadcasters and cable companies and now include direct broadcast satellite and other multicha ...

with Tribune in which WPIX's

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

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. Since ...

and

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

sister stations were removed from Cablevision's systems in those markets. Cablevision accused Tribune of demanding higher carriage fees (claiming to total in the tens of millions of dollars) for use to help pay off debt, and alleged that it illegally bundled carriage agreements for WPIX and Hartford's

WTIC-TV WTIC-TV (channel 61) is a television station in Hartford, Connecticut, United States, serving the Hartford–New Haven market as an affiliate of the Fox network. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Waterbury-licensed CW affiliate WCCT-TV ...

(which was later pulled as well, but unlike co-owned WCCT, was initially unaffected due to a separate carriage agreement); the company denied the claims, stating its approach complied with FCC regulations. The stations and WGN America were restored in an agreement reached on October 26, following a plea by Connecticut State Senator Gayle Slossberg for the FCC to intervene in the dispute. On May 23, 2016, WPIX owner Tribune Broadcasting and The CW reached a five-year affiliation agreement that renewed the network's affiliations with twelve of Tribune's CW-affiliated stations (including WPIX) through the 2020–21 television season; the deal came after a year-long disagreement between The CW's managing partner CBS Corporation and Tribune concerning financial terms, specifically the amount of reverse compensation that The CW had sought from the group's CW affiliates.

Sinclair acquisition attempt and subsequent transactions

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, ...

announced plans to acquire Tribune Media for $3.9 billion on May 8, 2017, plus the assumption of $2.7 billion in Tribune debt. In order to meet regulatory approval, WPIX was one of several stations identified by Sinclair for divestitures to a third party; Sinclair partner licensee

Cunningham Broadcasting Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation is an owner of broadcast television stations in the United States. The company currently owns fifteen stations – eight affiliated with Fox, three affiliated with The CW, two affiliated with ABC, and two affi ...

was later revealed as the buyer for WPIX-TV with a below market-value $15 million purchase price. Several weeks after that divestment was announced, Sinclair withdrew the resale with intentions to retain WPIX outright. The attempted sale of WPIX—along with Tribune stations in

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

and

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

—to Cunningham, and in particular a planned sale of WGN-TV to an

LLC A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of ...

controlled by a friend of Sinclair executive chairman David D. Smith, resulted in FCC chairman

Ajit Pai Ajit Varadaraj Pai (; born January 10, 1973) is an American lawyer who served as chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 2017 to 2021. He has been a partner at the private-equity firm Searchlight Capital since April 20 ...

publicly rejecting the merger. Despite Sinclair abandoning the divestments, the FCC voted to send the merger up for an evidentiary review. Tribune Media moved to terminate the merger outright on August 9, 2018, and filed a

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other part ...

lawsuit in the process. Following the Sinclair deal's collapse,

agreed to acquire Tribune Media's assets on December 3, 2018, for $6.4 billion in cash and debt. WPIX-TV was then sold by Nexstar to the E. W. Scripps Company for $75 million as part of a series of divestitures totaling $1.32 billion; both transactions were completed on September 19, 2019. Under the terms of the deal, Nexstar was granted an option by Scripps to repurchase WPIX between March 31, 2020, and December 31, 2021. Nexstar partner licensee

exercised said option to buy WPIX on July 13, 2020—Nexstar had previously transferred to Mission said repurchase option—for $75 million plus accrued interest. This coincided with Scripps's eventual merger with

Ion Media Ion Media (formerly known as Paxson Communications Corporation and Ion Media Networks) was an American broadcasting company that owned and operated over 71 television stations in most major American markets (through its television stations group ...

, owner of

WPXN-TV WPXN-TV (channel 31) is a television station in New York City, airing programming from the Ion Television network. Owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E.W. Scripps Company, the station maintains offices on Seventh Avenue ...

. The sale to Mission was approved by the FCC on December 1 and completed on December 30.

Programming

News operation

As most stations did in the late 1940s and early 1950s, WPIX aired filmed coverage of news events. The station's first news program, ''TelePIX Newsreel'', was the first in New York City to consist entirely of filmed coverage. From 1948 to 1965, WPIX produced ''Three Star News'', a 6:30 p.m. newscast which employed a three-anchor format—with Kevin Kennedy reading world and national news, John Tillman reporting local stories and Joe Bolton as the weatherman. Bolton was later assigned to host children's programming and was replaced by Gloria Okon. The program was canceled after an FCC complaint that some of Tillman's "man on the street" interviews were staged with paid actors, most notable of which was a "pro- Castro sympathizer", who was "interviewed" with a copy of the ''

Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, attempts were m ...

'' newspaper conveniently tucked under his arm. WPIX produced the '' Independent Network News'', a national newscast that was syndicated to independent stations from June 1980 to June 1990. The program – whose live feed was transmitted nationally weeknights at 9:30 p.m. ( ET) – featured the same on-air staff as channel 11's newscasts and was broadcast from the same news studio, with ''INN'' logos covering the station's own logo on various set pieces. In New York City, WPIX paired a 10 p.m. replay of the national news with a live local newscast at 10:30 p.m., called the ''Action News Metropolitan Report''. As part of a midday expansion of ''INN'', starting in 1981, channel 11 also launched a newscast at 12:30pm. During the decade, WPIX also produced two other programs syndicated to stations that carried the ''INN'' program: the business-oriented ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

Report''; and ''From the Editor's Desk'', a Sunday news discussion program hosted by Richard D. Heffner, host of the long-running public-affairs program '' The Open Mind''. WPIX was also noted for the many post–news editorials that were delivered by

Richard N. Hughes Richard Norman Hughes (March 1, 1927 in Michigan – October 9, 2004 in Durham, North Carolina) was an American television executive and television station editorialist. Early career Hughes began his career in 1950 as an assistant account executiv ...

, vice president of news operations from 1969 to 1995. His editorials ended with the tagline "What's your opinion? We'd like to know". Periodically, he would read excerpts from viewers' letters in response to the editorials, invariably closing each excerpt by saying, "And that ends that quote." In 1984, the station renamed its local and syndicated news programs as ''The Independent News''. In 1986, the national ''INN'' newscast was renamed ''USA Tonight'' and aired at 10 p.m., while the 7:30 p.m. program retained the ''Independent News'' title and the 10:30 p.m. local newscast was renamed ''New York Tonight''. When ''INN'' was cancelled, the 7:30 p.m. program ended as well, and WPIX focused its efforts on the 10:00 p.m. newscast. Pix 11 News

Over the years, channel 11 has won many news awards and was the first independent station to win a New York area Emmy award for outstanding newscast, first earning the statuette in 1979 and again in 1983. It was a significant comeback for a news operation that was accused of falsifying news reports in the late 1960s, such as labeling stock footage as being shown "via satellite", and claiming a voice report was live from

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

when it had actually been made from a pay telephone in Manhattan. As a result, Forum Communications – led by future PBS and

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 v ...

president

Lawrence K. Grossman Lawrence Kugelmass Grossman (June 21, 1931 – March 23, 2018) was a cable television industry executive who served as president of PBS from 1976 to 1984 and headed NBC News from 1985 to 1988. Early life and Career Grossman was born Lawrence Ku ...

– approached the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

to challenge WPIX Inc.'s license to operate channel 11. WPIX and the ''Daily News'' prevailed in 1979 after years of litigation. Concurrent with the challenge to its license, WPIX began airing nine public-service programs in mid-1969, including ''Puerto Rican New Yorker'', ''

Black Pride Black Pride in the United States is a movement which encourages black people to celebrate African-American culture and embrace their African heritage. In the United States, it was a direct response to white racism especially during the Civi ...

'', ''Suburban Closeup'', ''Focus New Jersey'', ''Everywoman'', ''Rendezvous'', ''Jewish Dimension'', ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000 ...

'', and ''The Green Thumb''. On June 5, 2000, WPIX launched a weekday morning newscast, the ''WB11 Morning News'' (now the ''PIX 11 Morning News''), which has grown to challenge the established network morning programs as well as its more direct competitor, WNYW's ''

Good Day New York ''Good Day New York'' is a morning show airing on WNYW Fox 5 (channel 5), hosted by Rosanna Scotto and Bianca Peters. It is a Fox owned-and-operated television station in New York City, owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of Fox Co ...

''. On April 26, 2008, WPIX became the fourth television station in New York City to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. The station resumed a half-hour early evening newscast on September 14, 2009, that ran nightly at 6:30 p.m., until it was replaced by syndicated reruns on June 27, 2010. Three months later, on September 11, the station launched a weekend evening 6 p.m. newscast (making WPIX one of the few U.S. television stations to carry an early evening newscast on weekends, without an existing weekday news program in that daypart). On September 20, 2010, WPIX expanded its weekday morning newscast to five hours, with the addition of an hour at 4 a.m. On October 11, 2010, newly appointed

news director A news director is an individual at a broadcast station or network or a newspaper who is in charge of the news department. In local news, the news director is typically in charge of the entire news staff, including journalists, news presenters, ...

Bill Carey instituted controversial format changes for the newscasts in an attempt to boost the station's ratings. Carey made the newscasts flashier than they had previously been; Kaity Tong and Jim Watkins were replaced as anchors of the weeknight 10 p.m. broadcasts by

Jodi Applegate Jodi Applegate (born May 2, 1964)"Anchor Jodi Applegate Shares a ...

, and multiple commentators and an edgy graphics and music package were introduced. The revamped newscast's first week was not well received by most viewers or critics, with the station fielding numerous complaints through phone calls, emails and

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

comments, as well as a scathing review in the ''Daily News''. A Facebook page was created calling for Tong and Watkins's return to the 10pm news. WPIX's sports department was shut down in March 2011, with sports segments being reduced to a two-minute feature presented by the station's news anchors. In September 2011, WPIX relieved Watkins of his duties as weekend anchor, replacing him with Tong (who now solo anchors the 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts on Saturdays and Sundays). By late 2011, the station's newscast ratings would fall to last place. Carey, who stepped down on October 3, 2012, was replaced as news director by Mark Effron in April 2013. On September 12, 2011, WPIX restored an early evening newscast to its weeknight schedule with the debut of an hour-long 5 p.m. broadcast, which was originally aimed at women between the ages of 18 and 49. On December 19, 2012, Jodi Applegate left WPIX, to prepare for the birth of her child through a gestational surrogate. Morning anchor Tamsen Fadal was later named her replacement; the station later restored a two-anchor format with the hiring of WNBC sports anchor Scott Stanford as Fadal's co-anchor on the 5pm and 10pm newscasts in September 2013. In March 2014, WPIX hired consumer reporter

Arnold Diaz Arnold may refer to: People * Arnold (given name), a masculine given name * Arnold (surname), a German and English surname Places Australia * Arnold, Victoria, a small town in the Australian state of Victoria Canada * Arnold, Nova Scotia Un ...

(who was fired by WNYW two months earlier due to the shutdown of its consumer investigative unit) to head up a new four-person investigative unit. On April 5, 2014, WPIX moved its weekend early evening newscast one hour earlier, from 6 to 5 p.m. On April 23, 2014, the station debuted a new graphics package during its 5 p.m. newscast (the opening sequences used in this package had previously debuted in January 2014, but were updated with the revamp); along with the change, the station brought back Non-Stop Music's "WPIX Custom News Package", which had previously been used as the theme for WPIX's evening newscasts from 1993 until the 2010 format change. On June 9, the station reduced the morning newscast to four hours (with the 4 a.m. hour replaced with syndicated programs) to allow the station "the flexibility to invest more resources into the key morning hours". On July 14, 2014,

John Muller John William Muller (born 7 July 1966) is an American television journalist. From 2011 until 2014, he has been with ABC News, where his anchor duties include ''World News Now'' and '' ABC News Now''. He is the weeknight anchor of NYC's Emmy ...

(who joined WPIX in 1999 and served as anchor of the morning newscast from its launch until he left for

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast '' ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include morning news-talk show '' Good Morning America'', '' ...

in 2011) returned to the station as evening co-anchor; Scott Stanford was reassigned to lead sports anchor (as part of a gradual reformation of the sports department that included the launch of the highlight program ''PIX11 Sports Desk''). During the July 2014 ratings period and again during the August 2014 ratings period, WPIX beat WNYW and WNBC, earning 3rd place in ratings only behind WABC and WCBS in the 5 p.m. timeslot among adults 25–54 (as well as in certain other demographics) for the first time since 2011; it was the only newscast in the market to make year-to-year gains in key demographics. WPIX's newscasts also saw increases in the morning and at 10pm in the 25–54 demographic. On April 20, 2015, WPIX debuted a 6pm newscast on weekdays with current evening anchors John Muller and Tamsen Fadal. On December 8, 2015, WPIX announced the hiring of former WWOR anchor Brenda Blackmon, and the addition of a new 6:30 p.m. program, to rival the network news on the other main stations. Kaity Tong and Blackmon began anchoring the broadcast on January 11, 2016. The 6:30 p.m. newscast was cancelled in September 2016. On April 13, 2016, WPIX made an announcement of more anchor changes preceding May Sweeps. This includes Scott Stanford moving from evening sports anchor to morning news anchor with Sukanya Krishnan. Kori Chambers, formerly on the morning show, and weekend evenings, will co-anchor with Tamsen Fadal on the weekday 5 p.m. version and handle political coverage for the station. Andy Adler, who handled weekend sports duties, will become the primary sports anchor. In addition, Kala Rama and Craig Treadway, who anchored on the weekends, will now anchor the first portion of the morning news (5–6 a.m.). In May 2017, WPIX once again revamped its anchor lineup. The station announced that former ''

CBS Morning News The ''CBS Morning News'' is an American early-morning news broadcast presented weekdays on the CBS television network. The program features late-breaking news stories, national weather forecasts and sports highlights. Since 2013, it has been anc ...

'' and ''

Early Today ''Early Today'' is an American early morning television news program that is broadcast on NBC on weekday mornings. The program features general national and international news stories, financial and entertainment news, off-beat stories, nationa ...

'' anchor

Betty Nguyen Betty Nguyen (born September 1, 1974) is an American news anchor, who is currently at WPIX in New York City. Nguyen has previously worked for NBC News, MSNBC, CBS News, and CNN. Career Nguyen began her career as a morning anchor and reporte ...

would become part of the morning news team along with a returning Dan Mannarino, with Scott Stanford once again returned to anchoring sports for the evening broadcasts. In addition, WPIX announced that it would begin featuring traffic reports from WCBS radio's Tom Kaminski, who reports from the radio station's helicopter as he does every weekday; when he files his television reports the helicopter is referred to as "Air 11". Until the show's cancellation in spring 2022, WPIX's news studio was the home base for the daily syndicated entertainment news series ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

TV'' from

CBS Media Ventures CBS Media Ventures, Inc. (formerly CBS Television Distribution, Inc. and CBS Paramount Domestic Television, Inc.) is an American television distribution company owned by CBS Studios, part of CBS Entertainment Group, a division of Paramount Glob ...

, which WPIX carried locally. This was done to avert a costly remodeling of the ''Daily Mail'' New York bureau for television operations. WPIX only contributed technical staff to the series, and ''Daily Mail TV'' was taped using removable logos which overlay WPIX's logos on the set during 'dark' time for the studio (in

breaking news Breaking news, interchangeably termed late-breaking news and also known as a special report or special coverage or news flash, is a current issue that broadcasters feel warrants the interruption of scheduled programming or current news in orde ...

situations during ''Daily Mail TV'' tapings, WPIX originated coverage from its newsroom instead). In January 2020, WPIX expanded its morning newscast to include the 9a.m. hour. On September 14, 2020, WPIX added an hour-long 10a.m. newscast, becoming New York's only 10a.m. newscast; the newscast now runs from 4a.m. to 10a.m. News expansion increased in 2021, with the addition of an hour-long 4 p.m. newscast, as well as a weekend morning newscast (8–10 a.m.) in 2022. On March 28, 2022, WPIX added a new nightly half-hour 6:30 p.m. newscast once again, called the ''PIX11 Evening News''; now becoming New York's only local news broadcast at 6:30 p.m.

Sports programming

WPIX served as the longtime over-the-air television broadcaster of New York Yankees baseball from 1951 to 1998.

Mel Allen Mel Allen (born Melvin Allen Israel; February 14, 1913 – June 16, 1996) was an American sportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees. During the peak of his career in the 1940 ...

served as the primary announcer for the broadcasts,

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 ...

from 1954 to 1966, Phil Rizzuto from 1957 to 1996, and

Bobby Murcer Bobby Ray Murcer (May 20, 1946 – July 12, 2008) was an American professional baseball outfielder who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball between 1965 and 1983. He played the majority of his career for the New York Yankees, whom he later ...

from 1997 to 1998. With his "Holy Cow!" catchphrase, Rizzuto became very popular especially through the 1970s. At various points, WPIX also aired Major League Baseball's New York Giants, the New York Football Giants and

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The ...

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

from 1984 to 1991 from various companies such as

Pro Wrestling USA Pro Wrestling USA was a professional wrestling promotion in the United States of America in the mid-1980s. It was an attempt to unify various federations, including the American Wrestling Association (AWA), Jim Crockett Promotions and other membe ...

, AWA

All Star Wrestling All Star Wrestling (ASW) is a British professional wrestling promotion operated by Brian Dixon and based in Birkenhead, England. Founded as Wrestling Enterprises of Birkenhead in October 1970, it has also been known over the years as All Star P ...

, UWF,

NWA NWA or Nwa most commonly refers to: * N.W.A ("Niggaz Wit Attitudes"), a hip hop group from Compton, California, US * National Wrestling Alliance, a professional wrestling organization NWA or Nwa may refer to: Music * New Weird America, a subgenr ...

WCW Worldwide ''WCW WorldWide'' was an American syndicated television show that was produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) that aired from October 8, 1975, to March 31, 2001. At the time of its cancellation, ''WorldWide'' was the longest-running, uni ...

and

Pro Pro is an abbreviation meaning " professional". Pro, PRO or variants thereof may also refer to: People * Miguel Pro (1891–1927), Mexican priest * Pro Hart (1928–2006), Australian painter * Mlungisi Mdluli (born 1980), South African retire ...

, GLOW and briefly WWF (now WWE) from late 1998 to early 1999, the NHL's

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its ho ...

, the

MISL The Misls (derived from an Arabic word مِثْل meaning 'equal') were the twelve sovereign states of the Sikh Confederacy, which rose during the 18th century in the Punjab region in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent and is cit ...

New York Arrows The New York Arrows were an indoor soccer team that played in the original Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) from 1978 to 1984. They won the first four MISL championships. History Preparing for the first season In 1978, the New York Arrows beg ...

and local

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

. However, it was through its coverage of Yankees baseball that WPIX gained perhaps its greatest fame and identity. WPIX lost the broadcast rights for the Yankees to WNYW in 1998, more so the result of regional cable sports networks (in this case, MSG) gaining team broadcast rights, leaving broadcast stations with fewer games to air. In 1999, the station acquired rights to

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 lea ...

games, which up until that point had spent their entire televised history (since 1962) with (W)WOR. In

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

, the Yankees returned to WPIX after a 17-year absence, having picked up

YES Network The Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) is an American pay television regional sports network owned by Yankee Global Enterprises (the largest shareholder with 26%), Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios (which owns 20%), ...

's package of over-the-air Yankees broadcasts, replacing WWOR-TV. These games co-existed with WPIX's existing Mets broadcasts (produced by

SportsNet New York SportsNet New York (SNY) is an American regional sports network owned by Sterling Entertainment Enterprises, LLC, itself a joint venture between the Fred Wilpon (which owns a controlling 65% interest) Sterling Equities, Charter Communications ...

). In

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

, these games left WPIX for

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pr ...

. Since 2013, WPIX has simulcast some

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 ...

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, ...

'' telecasts involving the Giants or Jets by arrangement with WABC-TV, the main local rightsholder for the over-the-air simulcasts. WPIX has also carried

NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League (NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and NF ...

Thursday Night Football ''Thursday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''TNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that broadcast primarily on Thursday nights. Most of the games kick off at 8:15 Eastern Time (8:20 prior to 2 ...

'' telecasts involving the Giants or Jets (mostly prior to the NFL's decision to simulcast most Thursday night games on CBS, NBC, or Fox). In March 2017, it was announced that WPIX would air selected

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independ ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

games beginning in the 2017 season.

Notable current on-air staff

Ben Aaron Benjamin "Ben" Aron Colonomos (born September 10, 1981) is a New York City-based media personality formerly for NBCUniversal's LXTV and WNBC's ''New York Live'', and for the nationally syndicated '' Crazy Talk'' television series. From 2017 to 2 ...

– anchor; New York Living host *

Marysol Castro Marysol Castro is a public address announcer at Citi Field, home of the New York Mets. She was also an American broadcast journalist who was employed as a news anchor at WPIX in New York, a weather forecaster for ''The Early Show'' on CBS in 20 ...

– anchor; New York Living host *

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 ...

– meteorologist; New York Living Host *

Tamsen Fadal Tamsen Fadal (born ) is an American journalist, news anchor at WPIX in New York City and author of ''The New Single: Finding, Fixing and Falling Back In Love With Yourself.'' She is host/executive producer of ''The Broadway Show''. Fadal is an ad ...

– anchor * Allison Kaden – general assignment reporter *

Byron Miranda Byron Miranda is an American television journalist. The five-time Regional Emmy Award-winner, currently morning meteorologist on WPIX in New York City. Personal background A California native, Miranda served in the United States Air Force and ...

– meteorologist *

– morning anchor *

Jill Nicolini Jill Marie Nicolini (born January 10, 1978) is a reporter and former model, actress, and reality TV show participant. Currentl, Nicolini is a traffic reporter on WPIX 11 Morning News in New York City. Life and career Nicolini was born in Farming ...

– fill in traffic/entertainment anchor * Kaity Tong – weekend anchor * Craig Treadway – weekend morning anchor/reporter

Notable former on-air staff

* Craig Allen ( AMS Seal of Approval) – meteorologist - 2010-2020 *

Jodi Applegate Jodi Applegate (born May 2, 1964)"Anchor Jodi Applegate Shares a ...

– 2010–2012 *

Brenda Blackmon Brenda Blackmon is an American anchor based in New York City. Blackmon most recently anchored the PIX11 News weeknights at 6:30 with Kaity Tong. Blackmon joined the station in 2016 as an anchor. She first co-anchored in New York at WWOR-TV with R ...

Remy Blumenfeld Remy Blumenfeld (born 1965) is a British television producer and format creator, who co-founded the production company Brighter Pictures which he sold to Endemol in 2004. He is the TV format creator of '' There's Something About Miriam'', '' G ...

* Joe Bolton – deceased * Sharon Carpenter – 2010–2011 *

Jack Cafferty Jack Cafferty (born December 14, 1942) is a former CNN commentator and occasional host of specials. In the summer of 2005, Cafferty joined '' The Situation Room''. He left CNN after November 15, 2012. Career Cafferty started his career in Reno ...

– 1992–1998; now retired * Jason Carroll – now at CNN * Julie Chang – now at

KTTV KTTV (channel 11) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV ou ...

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 ...

* Linda Church – 1990–2017; now retired *

Morton Dean Morton Dean Dubitsky (born August 22, 1935), better known as Morton Dean, is an American television and radio anchor, news correspondent and author. Dean is a former weekend news anchor for ''CBS Evening News,'' as well as ABC’s ''Good Mornin ...

– 1985–1987; now retired * Vince DeMentri *

Laurie Dhue Laurie Walker Dhue (born February 10, 1969) is an American television journalist. She was a Fox News Channel anchor from 2000–2008, reporting for the television show ''Geraldo at Large'' and the host of '' Fox Report'' ''Weekend''. Early life ...

Arnold Díaz Arnold Diaz (born July 4, 1949) is an American television consumer watchdog journalist who retired on 3/29/2022 last employed by WPIX-TV in New York. Diaz is famous for his Shame on You series of reports which he did on WCBS-TV for over twenty ...

– investigative reporter; retired March 2022 * Amber Lee Ettinger *

Emily Frances Emily Frances is a former news entertainment anchor for WPIX in New York City. Currently, she is hosting the show "TRENDING" on the International Israeli channel, i24 News. Early life Frances was born in Malibu, California. She lived in Ecuador ...

– 2001–2010 *

Shon Gables Shon Gables is currently an evening news anchor with WANF in Atlanta Broadcasting career Gables worked as a news anchor at WCBS-TV in New York City. As co-anchor of ''CBS 2 News This Morning'' from 2003 to 2006, Gables covered many New York City ...

– now at

WANF WANF (channel 46) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is the flagship property of locally based Gray Television and is co-owned with independent station WPCH-TV (channel 17) and low-power, Clas ...

* Jerry Girard – 1974–1995; deceased *

Donna Hanover Donna Hanover (born Donna Ann Kofnovec; February 15, 1950) is an American journalist, radio and television personality, television producer, and actress, who appears on CUNY TV in New York City. From 1994 through 2001 she was First Lady of New ...

– 1983–1990 * Pat Harper – 1975–1985; deceased * Cathy Hobbs – 1997–2009 *

– deceased * Jackie Hyland – 2000–2005 and 2007–2011; last at

WRAL-TV WRAL-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Raleigh, North Carolina, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Research Triangle area. It is the flagship station of the locally based Capitol Broadcasting Company, which h ...

Bill Jorgensen Bill Jorgensen (born 1927) was the founding and longtime anchor of New York City's WNEW-TV's (now WNYW Fox 5) ''Ten O'Clock News'' from its inception on March 13, 1967, until he left in the spring of 1979. Jorgensen moved to WPIX-TV, also in New Y ...

– 1979–1987; now retired *

Marvin Kitman Marvin Kitman (born November 24, 1929) is an American television critic, humorist, and author. He was a columnist for ''Newsday'' for 35 years and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1982. He is the author of nine books, ...

– 1973–1974; now retired * Sukanya Krishnan – 2001–2003 and 2005–2017; last at

* Shari Lewis – deceased * Lionel – 2009–2015 *

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 at WCBS Newsradio * Patricia Lopez *

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 ...

– 1970–1991 *

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 Ch ...

– 1995–2008; now retired *

– deceased * Jack McCarthy – deceased * Myles Miller – 2015–2017; now at

WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo stati ...

* Kaitlin Monte – 2014–2016; now at KRIV in

Felonious Munk Arif Bilal Shahid (born August 4, 1972) better known by his stage name Felonious Munk is an Ethiopian-American comedian, writer, actor, playwright, and social commentator. He is best known as Hassan on the ABC show For Life. Career After lea ...

– 2011–2012 * Melinda Murphy – 2000–2002 * Shimon Prokupecz – 2004–2009 *

Sally Jessy Raphael Sally Lowenthal (born February 25, 1935), better known as Sally Jessy Raphael, is an American former tabloid talk show host known for her program '' Sally'' (originally called ''The Sally Jessy Raphael Show''). Early life and education Lowent ...

Frances Rivera Frances Rivera (born 1970) is a Filipino-American journalist and television news anchor. For ten years, until August 2011, she was a television reporter and anchor for Boston's NBC affiliate, WHDH. From 2011-2013, she was a morning news anchor fo ...

– 2011–2013; now at

and

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 ...

* Tim Ryan – now retired * Toni Senecal – 2001–2005; now at

WLNY-TV WLNY-TV (channel 55) is an independent television station licensed to Riverhead, New York, United States, serving the New York City television market. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS flagship WCBS-TV (channel 2 ...

Bonnie Schneider Bonnie Schneider is a national television meteorologist and the author of ''Extreme Weather'', published by Palgrave Macmillan. She appears on The Weather Channel. She previously worked for Headline News, and Bloomberg Television. A native of Jeri ...

Eric Shawn Eric Shawn is an American television news anchor and reporter for the Fox News, based in Manhattan alongside co-anchor Arthel Neville. Early life and education Shawn is the son of Gilbert Shawn and Melba Rae, an actress best known for her long ...

– now at

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– 1970–1982; deceased *

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– 2013–2019 *

David Susskind David Howard Susskind (December 19, 1920 – February 22, 1987) was an American producer of TV, movies, and stage plays and also a TV talk show host. His talk shows were innovative in the genre and addressed timely, controversial topics beyond th ...

– deceased *

– deceased * Peter Thorne – 2001–2011 * Jim Watkins – 1998–2011

Public affairs and special events

WPIX was a leader in public affairs and special event programming, inspired by its roots under the ownership of the ''Daily News''. Early on, it offered the first in-depth program to look at New York City government, ''City Hall''. WPIX children's show personality Jack McCarthy anchored the station's coverage of the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade; the station later added the

Columbus Day Columbus Day is a national holiday in many countries of the Americas and elsewhere, and a federal holiday in the United States, which officially celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492. ...

and

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 (Manhattan), Fifth Avenue in the Manhattan boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City. The pa ...

to its stable. Later on, the station produced ''Essence'', a series inspired by ''

Essence Essence ( la, essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it ...

'' magazine and hosted by the publication's chief editor,

Susan L. Taylor Susan L. Taylor (born January 23, 1946) is an American editor, writer, and journalist. She served as editor-in-chief of ''Essence'' from 1981 through 2000. In 1994, ''American Libraries'' referred to Taylor as "the most influential black woman i ...

. The station also aired the

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

4th of July Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

fireworks Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices ...

event. Along with the New York City Marathon, these events moved to

(channel 4) after the station joined The WB. Since 2000, the Macy's fireworks event has been carried nationally on

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 ...

, while WABC-TV (locally) and

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

(nationally outside the New York City area) broadcast the Marathon. Special guest Coby Kranz was invited onto the daily news segment on his 11th birthday, because he was one of the only people to turn 11 on 11/11/11. ''Editor's Desk'' host Richard D. Heffner served as host of ''The Open Mind'', which was produced by WPIX (and was concurrently aired on PBS member stations), before moving to other New York studios. Since 1992, WPIX has produced ''PIX News Closeup'' (hosted by WPIX senior correspondent Marvin Scott since its debut), a half-hour public affairs and interview program on Sunday mornings that focuses on domestic and international issues in the news, and discussions on political issues.

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 January 1, 2011, Tribune launched its new digital broadcast network, Antenna TV, which affiliated with WPIX through a new fourth

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 compres ...

. In May 2012, WPIX moved Antenna TV to digital subchannel 11.2, while digital channel 11.4 was removed (

Estrella TV Estrella TV () is an American Spanish-language broadcast television network owned by the Estrella Media subsidiary of HPS Investment Partners, LLC. The network primarily features programs, the vast majority of which are produced by the network ...

, which was carried on 11.2 at the time, is now affiliated with

Port Jervis Port Jervis is a city located at the confluence of the Neversink and Delaware rivers in western Orange County, New York, United States, north of the Delaware Water Gap. Its population was 8,775 at the 2020 census. The communities of Deerpark, ...

low-power station

WASA-LD WASA-LD, virtual channel 24 (VHF digital channel 13), is a low-power Estrella TV- owned-and-operated television station licensed to Port Jervis, New York, United States and serving the New York City media market. The station is owned by Estrella ...

, which is owned by the network's parent company

Estrella Media Estrella Media (formerly known as Liberman Broadcasting, Inc. from 1987 to October 14, 2019 and LBI Media, Inc. from October 15, 2019 until February 2, 2020) is an American media company based in Burbank, California, owned by private equity firm ...

). 11.4 returned to the air in 2018 as an affiliate of

TBD To be announced (TBA), to be confirmed (TBC), to be determined or decided or declared (TBD), and other variations, are placeholder terms used very broadly in event planning to indicate that although something is scheduled or expected to happen, a ...

. On September 1, 2021, 11.4 switched to Nexstar–owned classic network Rewind TV.

Analog-to-digital conversion

WPIX discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over

VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...

channel 11, at 12:30 p.m. on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.List of Digital Full-Power Stations
/ref> The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 33 to VHF channel 11.WWOR-DT FCC Form 387
, Exhibit 4, September 15, 2008

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 W ...

took over the channel 33 allocation as it moved its digital signal from channel 56 as a result of the phaseout of channels 52–69.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wpix 1948 establishments in New York City The CW affiliates Antenna TV affiliates Court TV affiliates Rewind TV affiliates Nexstar Media Group Former E. W. Scripps Company subsidiaries Superstations in the United States Television channels and stations established in 1948 PIX