Everything about Wbz-tv totally explained
WBZ-TV is the
CBS owned-and-operated television station serving the
Boston, Massachusetts television market and broadcasted on Channel 4 (analog) & Channel 30 (digital). The station's transmitter is located in
Needham while studios are located on Soldiers Field Road in Boston's Brighton neighborhood. It's a sister station to independent
WSBK-TV.
History
Early years
WBZ-TV took to the air for the first time
June 9,
1948. It was the first commercial television station in New England. It was owned by
Westinghouse Broadcasting (later known as Group W), a subsidiary of
Westinghouse Electric Corporation, along with WBZ radio (
AM 1030 and 100.7 FM, now
WZLX). The station immediately joined NBC owing to WBZ-AM's long affiliation with NBC Radio. It is the only television station to have been built from the ground up by Group W.
The station was knocked off the air
August 31,
1954, when
Hurricane Carol toppled the station's self-supporting tower over its studios. A temporary transmitter was installed on a nearby tower and later on the original tower of WNAC-TV (channel 7, now
WHDH-TV). In 1957, WBZ-TV began broadcasting from a 1200-foot (366-meter) tower in Needham. The tower site is now known as the CBS Digital Television Broadcasting Facility, and is used by several Boston-area television stations, including
WGBH-TV (channel 2) and
WCVB-TV (channel 5).
Channel 4 nearly lost its NBC affiliation in
1955, when Westinghouse balked at NBC's offer to trade sister stations
KYW-AM and WPTZ-TV (now
KYW-TV) in
Philadelphia in exchange for the network's owned and operated cluster in
Cleveland. In response, NBC threatened to yank its programming from both WBZ-TV and WPTZ unless Westinghouse agreed to the trade. The swap was made in
1956, but Westinghouse immediately complained to the
Federal Communications Commission and the
Justice Department about NBC's
extortion. In
1965, the FCC ordered the swap reversed without NBC realizing any profit on the deal.
WBZ-TV was a pioneer in Boston television. In 1948, it began live broadcasts of Boston's two
Major League Baseball teams, the
Red Sox and the
Boston Braves, broadcasts that at first were split with WNAC. It was also the first Boston station to have daily newscasts, starting with the station's very first night on the air.
The 1960s
In the mid-
1960s, it adopted the
Eyewitness News format that had been pioneered at KYW-TV.
The station also broadcast many locally-produced programs over the years. One of the most beloved was the long-running
Big Brother Bob Emery show, hosted by veteran radio performer Emery, who first did the show on Boston-area radio in 1921 and who in 1947 hosted the first five-times-a-week children's show on network television on DuMont. For nearly two decades, from 1956 until 1974,
Rex Trailer hosted a popular weekend-morning children's show called
Boomtown. For part of that time,
Boomtown originated from an outdoor "western town" set built next to WBZ-TV's studios. In 2005, WBZ aired a special documentary film directed by
Michael Bavaro titled "Rex Trailer's Boomtown" featuring old clips and interviews with childhood fans like
Jay Leno,
Steven Wright,
Tom Bergeron,
Jimmy Tingle, and many others. The broadcast master in now part of the permanent collection at the
Museum of Television & Radio in New York City.
The 1970s and 1980s
From 1977 to 1990,
Evening Magazine aired on the station. The original co-hosts were
Robin Young and
Marty Sender; later,
Barry Nolan and
Sara Edwards co-hosted the program.
People Are Talking, (1980–1993) a live early-afternoon talk show aired on WBZ, as it did on some other Westinghouse stations. In Boston, it was originally hosted by Nancy Merrill and later by Buzz Luttrell, but the best-known host was the program's last,
Tom Bergeron.
As an NBC affiliate, the station was known to preempt several hours of network programming a day — a common practice among Group W stations. This was significant, since WBZ-TV was NBC's second-largest affiliate in the
Eastern Time Zone. It primarily preempted several daytime morning programs. On
January 3,
1983, when
People Are Talking expanded to one hour, WBZ-TV dropped NBC's
Another World, which would move to WQTV (now
WBPX) until the fall of 1987, when the show moved to WHLL (now
WUNI-TV) and later to
WMFP in the early
1990s. The station also dropped many Saturday morning cartoons in 1990, even though NBC later abandoned such programming in favor of live-action, teen-oriented shows, such as
Saved by the Bell. NBC has traditionally been less tolerant of preemptions than the other networks. However, it was generally satisfied with WBZ-TV, which was one of NBC's strongest affiliates. As a sidebar, sister station KYW-TV in Philadelphia (ironically, NBC's largest affiliate) also heavily preempted NBC programming, but it spent most of the 1980s and 1990s as NBC's weakest major-market affiliate.
In the early 1980s, WBZ-TV lost its longtime spot as Boston's highest-rated news station to WCVB, but even then was a strong second for more than a decade. Its evening news team — anchors
Liz Walker and
Jack Williams, meteorologist
Bruce Schwoegler and sportscaster
Bob Lobel — was the longest-running news team in New England from
1980 until Walker moved to the noon newscasts in
2000. Other personalities who came to channel 4 during this time were entertainment reporter
Joyce Kulhawik and political reporter
John Henning. Williams and Walker, are still at channel 4 today, though Walker is now the host of a Sunday morning talk show.
The 1990s
In
1994, Group W and CBS struck an affiliation deal that resulted in three of Group W's five stations — WBZ-TV, KYW-TV and
WJZ-TV in
Baltimore — switching to CBS (Group W's other two stations,
KDKA-TV in
Pittsburgh and
KPIX-TV in
San Francisco, were already CBS affiliates). The Boston switch happened in the early morning hours of
January 2,
1995, with channel 7 (WHDH-TV) going to NBC. The news program
NBC Nightside ended at 5 am, followed by local news and the first program from the new affiliation,
CBS This Morning. WBZ-TV thus became the third station in Boston to affiliate with CBS. The network had originally affiliated with WNAC-TV in 1948, then moved to channel 5 (then known as WHDH-TV, no relation to the current WHDH-TV) in 1962. It then returned to channel 7 in 1972 and stayed there until the switch. As a CBS affiliate, WBZ-TV aired the entire CBS schedule with no pre-emptions except for local news emergencies, as per Westinghouse's agreement with CBS.
When Westinghouse merged with CBS in early 1996, WBZ-TV became a CBS-owned and operated station. As a condition of the merger, CBS had to sell recently-acquired
WPRI-TV in
Providence, Rhode Island. WBZ-TV's city-grade signal covers most of Rhode Island, while WPRI's city-grade signal reaches most of the Boston metropolitan area. FCC regulations at the time didn't allow common ownership of two or more television stations with overlapping city-grade signals.
WBZ-TV was the first former Group W station to drop the channel number in Group W's Anklepants font, and WBZ-TV introduced a then-new logo in 1997.
The 2000s
Although the station tends to rank #1 in daytime and primetime ratings, Channel 4's local news ratings have suffered since the switch in network affiliations. This is partly because at the time of the switch, CBS was well behind NBC in the network ratings. Taken as a whole, its local news is the lowest rated of Boston's "Big 3" affiliates, having dipped behind a resurgent WHDH-TV as well. In January of 2006, attempting to bolster its local news ratings, Channel 4 reinstated its 5 pm news and dismissed its former lead anchor
Josh Binswanger, leading to the return of long-time anchor
Jack Williams to the prime-time newscasts. In addition,
Ed Carroll's contract wasn't renewed and in
October 2005 the station hired
Ken Barlow from
KARE-TV in
Minneapolis, Minnesota, to replace him as chief meteorologist.
In late
August 2006, WBZ-TV ended its 4 pm weekday newscast and hired anchor
Chris May from
WHDH channel 7. May, along with
Sara Underwood, anchored the 5 pm weekday news on WBZ-TV. May has since moved to sister station KYW-TV in Philadelphia, and Underwood's contract with the station wasn't renewed. She left the station on March 4, 2008. As of
September 18,
2006, WHDH now airs the only 4 PM weekday newscast in the Boston area.
In January 2007, the station launched Project Mass, a commitment to cover the community's top concerns in government, transit, healthcare, education, finance, and the environment. The initiative kicked-off with an online town meeting.
Channel 4 has changed its news and station branding continuously since the affiliation switch, from "Eyewitness News" to "WBZ News 4" to "News 4 New England" to "WBZ 4 News". On
February 1,
2004, WBZ rebranded itself as "CBS4," as per the
CBS Mandate.
The "CBS4" branding was phased-out during the first quarter of 2007 and, as of February 2007, the station's newscast title was reverted from "CBS 4 News" to "WBZ News". The return of "WBZ-TV" and "WBZ News" took place Sunday,
February 4,
2007, during the station's coverage of the Super Bowl. This makes the station the first station owned by CBS to depart from the CBS Mandate standardization since. It joins sister stations
KDKA-TV in
Pittsburgh,
WCCO-TV in
Minneapolis-St. Paul,
WWJ in
Detroit and
WJZ-TV in
Baltimore in not following the Mandate currently. General manager Ed Piette told
The Boston Globe that he decided to ditch the "CBS4" branding when he arrived in Boston for his first day of work and a cabbie asked him, "Whatever happened to WBZ?" Piette hopes to reemphasize WBZ-TV's local identity--a strategy that worked well when he was general manager at WCCO-TV, ironically another station that doesn't follow the CBS Mandate.
After
Viacom's (whose head
Sumner Redstone comes from Boston) merger with CBS in 2000, WBZ-TV's operations were merged with that of Boston's
UPN affiliate,
WSBK-TV, and later with
WLWC-TV, the UPN affiliate in nearby
Providence. Today, the operations of WBZ-TV and WSBK-TV are co-located at WBZ's studios in Brighton. WLWC has since been sold to the
Four Points Media Group, a broadcaster controlled by private equity firm
Cerberus Capital Management.
WBZ's on-air staff continued to change in late 2007, when longtime morning anchor Scott Wahle was re-assigned and replaced by former
WFXT anchor David Wade. In January 2008, longtime morning and midday meteorologist Barry Burbank was re-assigned to the weekend programs. He was replaced by meteorologist Todd Gutner.
On
February 29 2008, it was reported that the
2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike caused a significant loss in viewers during the late news. WBZ-TV finished with an average of 157,800 total viewers, down from 177,800 viewers in 2007.
On Wednesday, April 2, 2008, it was reported that longtime sports director Bob Lobel, enternatinment reporter Joyce Kulhawik and TV-38 anchor Scott Wahle were among some thirty individuals fired in WBZ's staff reduction. It is expected that the three will leave the station in mid May, but that isn't confirmed. Steve Burton will presumably become the new sports director, but it's unclear who will take over the positions Wahle and Kulhawik once held.
Special events
Over the past few years, WBZ-TV and parent CBS have co-produced a live telecast of the annual Boston Pops'
July 4 concert at Boston's Hatch Shell along the Charles River. The entire concert is broadcast live locally by WBZ. The CBS network joins the show in progress at 10 p.m. to show the Pops' signature versions of "1812 Overture" and "Stars and Stripes Forever," as well as the fireworks over the Charles. Live coverage of the event was broadcast in high-definition for the first time beginning in 2007.
For several years, the station has aired exclusive
First Night Boston coverage on New Year's Eve, showcasing festivities from Boston, New England, and the world.
Also the Boston Marathon (see Sports section below).
Digital Television
The station's digital channel is multiplexed:
Digital channels
| Channel |
Programming |
| 4.1 / 30.1 |
Main WBZ programming |
In
2009, WBZ-TV will leave channel 4 and move to channel 30 when the analog to digital conversion is complete. However, the station will still map to 4.
Lottery
WBZ-TV was also the first station to air daily Mass State Lottery drawings in Boston, starting in 1975. Tom Bergeron credits one of his early TV jobs to hosting lottery drawings on Channel 4. The station holds the record for having the rights to the games the longest (12 years), before passing the torch to Channel 7 (then known as WNEV-TV) in 1987. Eleven years later,
Lottery Live would return to WBZ, with long-time host Dawn Hayes still at the helm. Due to new limited contacts permitting the local stations to carry
Lottery Live for only three years at a time, WBZ moved the games to sister station
WSBK-TV in 2001.
Sports
WBZ-TV has aired local sporting events over the years. Besides the Braves (1948 until they moved to
Milwaukee before the 1953 season) and the Red Sox (1948–1957; 1972–1974, and a handful of games in 2003 and 2004), WBZ-TV also broadcast the Boston Celtics from 1972–73 through 1984–85. In 1980, WBZ-TV was the first Boston television station to broadcast live wire-to-wire coverage of the
Boston Marathon; the station has done so every year since.
Logos
In the early
1960s, WBZ unveiled a new stylized "4" logo, using a distinctive font that had been designed especially for Group W. The logo became italicized in the late
1980s, but remained the same font. It kept this logo for over 30 years until it unveiled its first "News 4 New England" logo in September 1996. The old logo was the longest-used numeric logo in New England television history until WCVB's stylized "5" crossed the 31-year mark in 2003.
The "Circle-4" logo that replaced the original "News 4" logo in 1998 was often referred to on-air by WBZ sports anchor Bob Lobel as "The Circle 4 Ranch." As of 2007, WBZ has dropped the CBS-mandated "CBS4" logo and branding and now refers to itself simply as "WBZ-TV".
Coverage area
WBZ-TV's transmitter and antenna are located in
Needham, Massachusetts, on the same tower as
WCVB-TV/DT,
WGBH-TV/DT,
WGBX-TV/DT, and
WSBK-TV's HDTV transmitter. In fact, the tower and site are owned by CBS itself. Its signal covers
Greater Boston, southern
New Hampshire, northern
Rhode Island, and northeastern
Connecticut. WBZ is also one of six local Boston TV stations seen in
Canada on the
Bell ExpressVu satellite provider, and is also seen on most cable systems in
Atlantic Canada.
Newscasts
WBZ operates a
Bell LongRanger 206LIV called "Sky Eye". In addition to its main studios in
Boston, the station operates two other news bureaus. The "
Worcester Bureau" is located on Main Street; the "
New Hampshire Bureau" is located on Elm Street in
Manchester.
The station's
weather radar, known as "WBZ Doppler Live", is located at
Worcester Regional Airport. Along with other CBS-owned stations, WBZ offers a web-only "@ Your Desk" newscast available live and on-demand.
WBZ produces a weeknight 9 o'clock newscast for sister station
WSBK.
Newscast names
- Eyewitness News (1965-1993)
- WBZ News 4 (1993-1996)
- News 4 New England (1996-2000)
- WBZ 4 News (2000-2004)
- CBS 4 News (2004-2007)
- WBZ News (2007-present)
News team
Bruce Adams, Traffic Reporter
Karen Anderson, New Hampshire Bureau Reporter
Ken Barlow, Chief Meteorologist
Gwen Belton, National Correspondent
Joe Bergantino, I-Team Reporter
Karen Brown, National Correspondent
Barry Burbank, Meteorologist
Paul Burton, Reporter
Steve Burton, Sports Anchor/Reporter
Alexis Christoforous, National Correspondent
Sera Congi, Reporter
Alice Cook, Sports Reporter
Eileen Curran, Reporter
Kathy Curran, I-Team Reporter
Charlie D'Agata, National Correspondent
Paula Ebben, News Anchor, Consumer Reporter
Jonathan Elias, News Anchor
Manuel Gallegus, National Correspondent
Beth Germano, Special Correspondent
Todd Gutner, Meteorologist
Christina Hager, Special Correspondent
Dawn Hasbrouck, News Anchor/Reporter
John Henning, Senior Correspondent
Lisa Hughes, Principal News Anchor
Jon Keller, Political Editor
Rich Kirkland, Traffic Reporter
Joyce Kulhawik, Arts & Entertainment Editor
Josh Landis, National Correspondent
Drew Levinson, National Correspondent
Ken MacLeod, News Anchor/Reporter
Dr. Mallika Marshall, Medical Editor
Kate Merrill, News Anchor/Reporter
Mish Michaels, Meteorologist
Jennifer Miller, National Correspondent
Yadires Nova-Salcedo, Host
Teri Okita, National Correspondent
Scott Pike, Traffic Reporter
Susan Roberts, National Correspondent
David Robichaud, Feature Reporter
Dan Roche, Sports Reporter
Peg Rusconi, Reporter
Ron Sanders, Worcester Bureau Reporter
Bill Shields, Reporter
Joe Shortsleeve, Chief Correspondent
Jim Smith, Reporter
David Wade, News Anchor
Scott Wahle, News Anchor
Liz Walker, Host
Jack Williams, Principal News Anchor
Sarah Wroblewski, Meteorologist
Past personalities
Teri Adler - reporter (2005-2007)
Sharyn Alfonsi - reporter (2003-2005), formerly of CBS News, now at ABC News
Charles Austin - reporter (1972-2003) retired.
Steve Aveson - Evening Magazine tipster (1981-1986) now at WPRI-TV.
Suzanne Bates - anchor/reporter (1987-2000), now owns communications firm Bates Communications
Melissa Bell - Weekend Meteorologist (now free-lancing at WFXT)
Ed Berger - Money reporter (1978-1982)
Len Berman - sports anchor (1973-1978, now at WNBC-TV in New York)
Josh Binswanger - anchor/reporter (1994-1998 and 2001-2005)
Jeanne Blake - science and health editor (1985-1991)
Clark Booth - reporter (1967-1975)
Jack Borden - anchor (1959-1980)
David Brudnoy - commentator (1993-2004, deceased)
Kim Carrigan - anchor (2001-2004, now at WFXT)
Ed Carroll - chief meteorologist (1993-2005, now at WGGB-TV in Springfield, Massachusetts)
Terry Carter - the first black news anchor on local television news (1965-1968)
Virginia Cha - anchor (1995-2000), now at CNN
Jack Chase - anchor (1953-1982, deceased)
Paula Childs - reporter (1981-1987)
Pauline Chou - reporter (now a CBS correspondent)
Jack Cole - anchor (1972-1975)
Chris Conangla - anchor (1983-1987)
Kerry Connolly - anchor (2001-2004)
Lou Conrad - newscast director (1970's)
Paul Cousins - weekend weather (1980-1984)
Pablo Correa - reporter (early to mid-1980s)
John Dougherty - anchor/reporter (1988-1999), later moved to WMTW-TV, now retired.
Mike Dowling - sports anchor/reporter (1984-1985, now at WCVB-TV)
Ysabel Duron - reporter (1979-1980, now at KRON-TV in San Francisco)
Sara Edwards - Evening Magazine co-host (1982-1990, now at CN8)
Tom Ellis - anchor (1968-1975, now at NECN)
Dick Falvin - political critic (1967-1979)
Carmen Fields - reporter (1986-1987)
Dr. Murray Feingold - medical reporter (1970's & early 1980's) now at WBZ-AM.
Nancy Glass - reporter (Evening Magazine 1979-1984)
Gail Granik (Gardner)- sports reporter/anchor (1977-1981) formerly at NBC Sports.
Robin Hamilton - anchor/reporter (2001-2006)
Gail Harris - anchor/reporter (1977-1981)
Linda Harris - reporter (1977-1985)
John Henning - senior correspondent/political reporter (1981-2007)
Andy Hiller - political reporter (1977-1993, now at WHDH-TV)
Mike Hydeck - weekend anchor/reporter (1999-2005) now at WFSB-TV, in Hartford.
Jack Hynes - anchor (1955-1956)
Dennis Kauff - reporter (1982-1985, deceased)
Kasey Kaufman - anchor/reporter (1986-2007)
Kathryn Keefer - anchor (1980-1984)
Don Kent - veteran meteorologist (1955-1983)
Sharon King - consumer reporter/talk show host of Money Sense (1970-1981)
Joyce Kulhawik - entertainment reporter (1981-2008)
Gary LaPierre - anchor (retired from WBZ Radio in 2006)
Bob Lobel - sports director (1979-2008)
Buzz Lutrell - former host of People Are Talking (late 1980s)
Shelli Lockhart - anchor/reporter (2001-2006, now at WDAF-TV in Kansas City)
Paula Lyons - consumer reporter (1994-2003)
Chris May - anchor (2006-2007, now at KYW-TV in Philadelphia)
Arch MacDonald - WBZ-TV's first anchorman (1948-1979, deceased)
Norm MacDonald - weekend weather (1964-1975)
Mike Macklin - reporter/anchor (1984-1994)
Chris Marrou - anchor (1980-1981, now at KENS-TV in San Antonio)
Dave Maynard - host of Community Auditions (1955-1990) retired from WBZ-AM.
Jay McQuaid - morning anchor/reporter (1990-1995) now at WBZ-AM.
Jennifer McLogan - anchor/reporter (1979-1982, now at WCBS-TV in New York)
Peter Mehegan - anchor/reporter (1967-1981, now at WCVB)
Nancy Merrill - host of People are Talking (1980's)
Pat Mitchell - anchor/reporter/host (1972-1977) (former PBS-TV president)
Sean Mooney - anchor/reporter (1997-1999)
Pam Moore - anchor/reporter (1986-1991, now at KRON-TV in San Francisco)
Dave Murray - meteorologist (1986-1989, now at KTVI in St. Louis)
Bob Neumeier - sports anchor/reporter (1981-2001, now at NBC Sports)
Barry Nolan - Evening Magazine co-host (1980-1989, now at CN8)
Hampton Pearson - Now at CNBC (1987-1995)
Uma Pemmaraju - anchor/reporter (1988-1996, now at Fox News Channel)
Tony Pepper - anchor (1974-1981)
Randy Price - anchor (1983-1995, now at WHDH-TV)
Bill Rappleye - reporter (1992-1996), now at WJAR-TV
Tory Ryden - weekend anchor (1991-1992) now at WMTW-TV in Portland, ME.
Nancy Russo - meteorologist (1989-1992)
Walt Sanders - reporter (1967-1995)
Gil Santos - morning sports fill in (1990-1995) & voice of the N.E.Patriots.
Carolyn Sawyer - reporter (1990-1992 and 1997-2004)
Marty Sender - Evening Magazine co-host (1977-1980)
Bruce Schwoegler - longtime chief meteorologist (1968-2001)
Shelby Scott - first female anchor and reporter for WBZ (1965-1996)
Don Shane - sports anchor/reporter (1983-1989, now at WXYZ-TV in Detroit)
Dick Stockton (1973-1976), now at Fox Sports
Mary Stuart - arts & entertainment (1978-1982 ?)
Sarah-Ann Shaw - reporter (1969-2000)
Gary Tanguay - weekend sports anchor
Lauren Thierry - anchor/reporter (1989-1991)
James Thisle - news director (1970's)
Lou Tilley - sports (1981-1985) now at CN8 in Philadelphia,PA.
Rex Trailer - host of Boomtown (1955-1975)
Roger Twibell - sports anchor (1978-1981, now at ESPN)
Sara Underwood - anchor (2000-2008)
Scott Wahle - anchor (1989-2008)
Liz Walker - anchor (1981-2005), now host of Sunday with Liz Walker on 'BZ.
Jack Walton - reporter
Jim Watkins - Evening Magazine host/reporter (1989-1991, now at WPIX-TV)
Ted Wayman - anchor/reporter (1990-2006)
Jack White - investigative reporter (1979-1981, deceased)
Bob Wilson - sports fill-in (1970's) former voice of Boston Bruins on WBZ-AM.
T.J Winick - reporter (2001-2005) now at ABC News.
David Wittman - anchor (1982-1991, now at WOIO-TV in Cleveland)
Sharon Wright - consumer/investigative reporter (1981-1986, now at WMAQ-TV in Chicago)
Sy Yanoff - GM/Station Manger (1970's)
Robin Young - Evening Magazine co-host (1977-1982, now at WBUR)Further Information
Get more info on 'Wbz-tv'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://wbz-tv.totallyexplained.com">WBZ-TV Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
