WGNO

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WGNO
New Orleans, Louisiana
Branding	WGNO, ABC 26
Slogan	Getting Answers.; We've Got New Orleans
Channels	26 (UHF) analog, 15 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	ABC
Owner	Tribune Broadcasting
Founded	1967
Call letters meaning	Greater New Orleans; We've Got New Orleans (also a homage to Tribune's Chicago flagship station WGN, and a portmanteau of "WGN" and "NO" abbreviation for New Orleans)
Former affiliations	Independent (1967-1/11/1995) The WB (1/11/1995-1/1/1996)
Website	www.abc26.com

WGNO, ABC26 is the ABC affiliate for the greater New Orleans, Louisiana area as well as southeastern Louisiana and parts of southern and coastal Mississippi. It broadcasts on analog channel 26, and is owned by Tribune Broadcasting. The station offers ABC programming along with syndicated programming and local news. Its transmitter is located in New Orleans.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Former logos 2 Hurricane Katrina 3 Former Employees 4 News Staff 5 Newscasts 6 References 7 External links

[edit] History

The station signed on in 1967 as WWOM-TV (The Wonderful World Of Movies). It programmed as a general entertainment station, with an emphasis on old movies and cartoons. It was owned by David Wagenvoord until its sale to Communications Corp. of the South in 1971, and its call letters were changed to WGNO.

The station was sold to Seymor Smith and family in 1976. It continued to program a general entertainment format with cartoons, vintage sitcoms, older movies, and religious shows. The station was purchased by Glendive Media in 1978.

Tribune Broadcasting bought the station in 1983. With the slogan "New Orleans Style," the station continued to grow, and as other competitors signed on, WGNO remained the leading independent station in the market. It turned down the Fox affiliation in 1986 (which then went to WNOL). It finally ceased to be an independent station in January 1995 when it affiliated with the new WB Network (which Tribune owns an interest in-so in a way WGNO was a WB owned and operated station) changing its name to "WB 26".

After WVUE channel 8 dropped the ABC affiliation to become a Fox station, WGNO became the market's new ABC affiliate on January 1, 1996. The station launched newscasts in the evening and at 10pm in March 1996. The WB affiliation, along with the cartoons and some of the syndicated programming, moved to WNOL channel 38.

WNOL later came under management by Tribune, and WGNO officially became sister station to WNOL after Tribune purchased the latter in 2000, creating a "duopoly" operation in the market. Although WGNO is longer established, WNOL is the senior partner in the duopoly because it has been a network affiliate longer than WGNO has been.

In July 2005, the station moved its facilities from the World Trade Center New Orleans to a facility at the New Orleans Centre.

[edit] Former logos

Part of 1989 WGNO newspaper advertisement featuring the old logo.

WGNO logo in 1996, when the station became an ABC affiliate.

[edit] Hurricane Katrina

As Hurricane Katrina approached in August 2005, WGNO's operations were moved to fellow ABC affiliate WBRZ in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

For a time after Hurricane Katrina hit, nightly newscasts were broadcast from various locations throughout the New Orleans area, because the main studio was inaccessible. Temporary facilities (including a makeshift studio and control room) were eventually established in two trailers outside of the Louisiana Superdome, and most of the station's broadcast equipment was purchased from eBay resellers.

In April 2006, WGNO announced that it was temporarily moving its broadcast operations back to the World Trade Center New Orleans tower. Management at the New Orleans Centre terminated the station's lease when it decided not to reopen the complex -- the station had only moved into the facility a few weeks before Katrina. In February 2007, the station announced that it would be moving to the Galleria building in nearby Metairie. This would make WGNO the first local station to move outside of New Orleans - station management indicated that they wanted to keep WGNO in New Orleans, but that there wasn't a facility suitable for the purpose.^[1]

Hurricane Katrina also destroyed WGNO's analog and digital transmitters. The station plans to have their analog and digital transmitters back on line, at their own transmitter site, housed in a greatly improved hurricane proof building, sometime in 2007. In the interim, their digital signal (with full resolution HDTV content) is being carried on a sub-channel of WPXL's digital transmitter on channel 50, and a temporary reduced-power analog transmitter is providing their analog signal on their normal channel 26 from the WPXL tower site, a large multi-purpose tower that contains the transmit antennas of several local TV and radio stations.

[edit] Former Employees

• Tom Bagwell - currently at WLAE
• Val Bracy - currently at WVUE
• Kim Davis- currently at KPRC Houston
• Yunji de Nies - now with ABC News
• Brad Giffen - currently at WWSB
• Doug Mouton - now at WWL-TV
• Dawn Ostrom - currently doing freelance work
• Jeff Peterson
• Kris Rhodes
• Harry MacCulla
• Susan Roesgen - now at CNN
• Eric Richey - currently at WALA
• Mike Russ - now at WPMI in Mobile, Alabama
• Melinda Spaulding- currently at KRIV Houston
• André Trevigne - now at WRNO 99.5FM

[edit] News Staff

• Larry Delia General Manager

Anchors

• Ed Daniels - sports director; weekdays
• Michael Hill - weekdays
• Adam Norris - sports; weekends
• Liz Reyes - weekdays
• Curt Sprang - weekends

Meteorologists/Weathercasters

• Mike Janssen - mornings, weekends
• Bruce Katz - chief meteorologist; weekdays

Reporters

• Rick Barrett
• Glynn Boyd
• Mark Deane
• Sheldon Fox
• Meredith Mendez - North Shore reporter
• Paul Murphy
• Chris Nakamoto
• Joni Naquin
• Cyndi Nguyen

[edit] Newscasts

Monday-Friday

• ABC 26 News at 5: 5-5:30 pm
• ABC 26 News at 6: 6-6:30 pm
• ABC 26 News at 10: 10-10:35 pm

Saturday

• ABC 26 News at 5: 5-5:30 pm
• ABC 26 News at 10: 10-10:30 pm

Sunday

• ABC 26 News at 5: 5:30-6 pm
• ABC 26 News at 10: 10-10:30 pm

WGNO also produces a half-hour newscast for WNOL, called "ABC 26 News at 9 on New Orleans CW."

[edit] References

1. ^ New Orleans Times-Picayune/NOLA.com, accessed February 10, 2007

[edit] External links

• WGNO ABC26 Homepage

Broadcast television in the New Orleans market  (Nielsen DMA #54)
WWL 4 (CBS) - WDSU 6 (NBC) - WVUE 8 (Fox) - WYES 12 (PBS/LPB) - WHNO 20 (LeSEA) - WGNO 26 (ABC) - KFOL-CA 30 / KJUN-CA 7 (Ind) - WLAE 32 (PBS) - WNOL 38 (The CW) - WPXL 49 (ION) - WUPL 54 / WBXN-CA 18 (MNTV)
Local cable television channels
NewsWatch 15
See also: Broadcast television stations in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Biloxi/Gulfport, Mississippi Markets