| Dallas / Fort Worth, Texas | |
|---|---|
| Branding | WFAA-TV Channel 8, Channel 8, WFAA-TV (general) News 8, News 8 HD (newscasts) |
| Slogan | The Spirit of Texas (primary) Start Here (secondary) |
| Channels | Digital: 8 (VHF) |
| Subchannels | (See article) |
| Affiliations | ABC The Local AccuWeather Channel (DT2) Live Well Network (DT3) |
| Owner | Belo Corporation (WFAA-TV, Inc.) |
| First air date | September 17, 1949 |
| Call letters' meaning | "Working For All Alike"[1] |
| Sister station(s) | KFWD |
| Former callsigns | KBTV (1949-1950) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 8 (VHF, 1949-2009) Digital: 9 (VHF, 1998-2009) |
| Former affiliations | Primary: DuMont (1949-1950) NBC (1950-1957) Secondary: DuMont (1950-1955) ABC (1950-1957) |
| Transmitter power | 55 kW |
| Height | 512 m |
| Facility ID | 72054 |
| Website | www.wfaa.com |
WFAA, channel 8, is an ABC-affiliated television station serving the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, one of the top ten media markets in North America. The station is the flagship of Belo Corporation and the largest ABC affiliate not owned and operated by the network. It is also the largest affiliate of any of the "big four" networks (ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox) not owned by that respective network. In turn, WFAA and CW affiliate KDAF (channel 33) are the only network-affiliate stations in the market not to be owned and operated by their network.
The station is licensed to Dallas and its studios and offices are located downtown next to the office of The Dallas Morning News—with whom it was co-owned from 1950 to 2008—and at the Victory Park development next to the American Airlines Center where the noontime news is filmed with the anchors sitting in front of a window view of the outside street activity. The station has small bureaus in Collin County at Dr Pepper Ballpark, and in Tarrant County near downtown Fort Worth. Both bureaus house a few reporters but are rarely used for filming. Its transmitter is located in Cedar Hill, Texas.
WFAA is carried as the local ABC affiliate to DISH Network and DirecTV subscribers within that market and the sole ABC affiliate carried by cable operators in several of the largest cities in the Sherman-Ada market including Ardmore, Durant and Hugo in Oklahoma; this is despite the presence of an ABC-affiliated digital subchannel broadcast over the digital signal of NBC affiliate KTEN (channel 10) in the Ada-Sherman market, which launched in May 2010.
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The station began telecasting on September 17, 1949 as KBTV, an affiliate of the DuMont Television Network and owned by Lacy-Potter TV Broadcasting Company, partially controlled by Texas oil magnate Tom Potter. The channel 8 frequency in Dallas was the third TV station in Texas behind Fort Worth's WBAP-TV (now KXAS-TV, channel 5) and Houston's KLEE-TV (now KPRC-TV). It was the second in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, and the first licensed to Dallas.
The station became WFAA-TV on March 21, 1950, not long after it was purchased from Lacy-Potter for $575,000 by A.H. Belo Corporation (FCC approval on March 13, 1950) in the midst of a FCC television license freeze from 1948 to 1952. It took its call letters from new sister station WFAA radio (570 AM, now KLIF). The WFAA call letters reportedly stood for "Working For All Alike," and later the radio station billed itself the "World's Finest Air Attraction" (the KBTV call letters were later used by two unrelated stations; from 1953 to 1983 on what is now KUSA-TV in Denver, and currently on channel 4 in Beaumont). WFAA is one of the few television stations west of the Mississippi River with call letters beginning with a W, the Federal Communications Commission normally assigns stations west of the Mississippi call letters that begin with K; W is only used east of the Mississippi. The reason WFAA is different is that its call letters came from its sibling WFAA-AM, whose callsign predates this FCC policy.
In addition to the DuMont affiliation, KBTV affiliated with the short-lived Paramount Television Network; the station agreed to air 4.75 hours of Paramount programming per week in 1949.[2] In 1950, the station switched its primary affiliation to NBC, and also took on a secondary ABC affiliation. DuMont shut down in 1955, and NBC disappeared from the schedule in 1957 when WBAP-TV boosted its signal to cover Dallas, making WFAA the market's ABC affiliate. In the 1958-1959 television season, WFAA videotaped for a national audience Jack Wyatt's ABC crime/police reality show, Confession, in which assorted criminals explain why they rejected the mores of society and turned to lawlessness.[3]
WFAA was the first station to break the news that President Kennedy had been assassinated on November 22, 1963 about two blocks north of the television station near Dealey Plaza outside the Texas School Book Depository. The station conducted the first live television interview with Abraham Zapruder, who shot the famous Zapruder film, which was processed at WFAA's photo lab, about an hour and a half after the President's death. WFAA and its live remote unit fed much coverage of the assassination and its aftermath to the ABC network over the next four days. The shocking and unexpected shooting of accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby in the basement of Dallas police headquarters, however, was not broadcast live (as on NBC) or on tape (as on CBS a minute later) by WFAA and ABC as their live truck was positioned elsewhere at the time. ABC was thus only able to show delayed newsreel footage of the historic event.
As television matured, WFAA grew to become known as a pioneer in broadcast journalism as well as for many technological advancements including: the first computerized newsroom, the market's first station to use a helicopter in coverage, live trucks, microwaves and more. WFAA uncovered significant stories in the 1980s including information that would lead to SMU's football team being given the "death penalty" in the mid-1980s, as well as the first major media investigation into America's Savings & Loan scandal rooted in Texas.
WFAA dominated the market ratings for local news from the mid 1970s through the late 1990s, with anchors including Tracy Rowlett, Iola Johnson, Bob Gooding, Murphy Martin, Judi Hanna, John Criswell, Chip Moody, John McCaa, Gloria Campos, Lisa McRee, Verne Lundquist, Dale Hansen, and Troy Dungan. Former News Director turned Belo vice president/news Marty Haag is credited for leading the station's news department to ratings dominance and national prominence. Haag was honored with a special Lifetime Achievement George Foster Peabody Award shortly before his death. WFAA pioneered community outreach with town hall meetings all over north Texas through its Family First (F1) program. Family First began in 1993 and remains a significant part of the station's commitment to community service.
WFAA became the first television station in America to broadcast a digital signal on a VHF channel (VHF channel 9) on February 27, 1998 at 2:17 p.m. and holds the distinction of broadcasting the nation's first local news program in HDTV. When the station's digital signal went online, its frequency was already in use by Dallas hospitals and there was interference with the medical equipment.[4] The station is one of a few ABC affiliates to broadcast HDTV in a 1080i format; other ABC affiliates broadcast in 720p. Some programming is broadcast from the station's sleek Victory Park studios (News 8 Daybreak, Good Morning Texas, News 8 Midday, News 8 at 5 and 6 p.m., and also when a major event is being held at Victory Park).[5][6]
WFAA didn't have its current affiliate's logo in its branding until 2007. In 2008, Belo decided to split its broadcasting and newspaper interests into separate companies. WFAA remained with the broadcasting side, which retained the Belo Corporation name, while the newspapers (including The Dallas Morning News) became the similarly named A.H. Belo Corporation. However, the former corporate cousins still have a news partnership.
| Channel | Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | Main WFAA programming / ABC |
| 8.2 | 480i | AccuWeather Channel | |
| 8.3 | Live Well Network |
WFAA also has a Mobile DTV feed of subchannel 8.1, broadcasting at 1.83 Mbps.[7][8]
Previously, channel 8.2 carried "News 8 Now" (formerly known as "Xpress 8.2"). It screened weather radar, regular news updates and headlines on a crawl, and occasional live programming. This live programming included ABC News Now.[9] This subchannel could also be used for special programming, especially hurricane season, when it was used to relay WWL-TV in New Orleans for Hurricanes Katrina in 2005 and Gustav in 2008; and KHOU-TV in Houston for Hurricane Ike in 2008. Both WWL and KHOU are sister stations to WFAA. While viewing the Doppler radar, it broadcasts NOAA Weather Radio station KEC56 in Dallas. It also utilizes NOAA's KEC55 in Fort Worth and KXI87 in Corsicana as alternate feeds. On April 30, 2011, WFAA's secondary channel switched to AccuWeather from its previous format as News 8 Now.
Subchannel 8.3 originally carried This TV until November 8, 2010. WFAA placed the Live Well Network in the 8.3 slot the following day.[10] On December 7, 2010, This TV was moved to KDAF on digital subchannel 33.3.[11] Subchannel 8.3 also carries college sports from the Southland Conference.
The analog television shutdown took place on June 12, 2009 at 12:03 p.m.[12][13] and WFAA-DT has moved to channel 8 (formerly the analog WFAA-TV).[14] The last few moments of WFAA's analog signal included its first broadcasting days followed by historic moments caught on tape (as narrated by Pete Delkus), then its sign-off video used in the 1970s was played as the analog send-off.
On December 23, 2009, WFAA filed an application to the FCC to increase its effective radiated power (ERP) from a 45 kW with an omni-directional antenna to a 55 kW with a directional antenna. The reason for the power increase is because some over-the-air viewers are having difficulty receiving the station's signal on channel 8.[15]
As an ABC affiliate, WFAA airs syndicated entertainment news and talk shows in addition to its newscasts and ABC's primetime programming. However, as an affiliate not owned by the network itself, WFAA would occasionally set aside 30 to 60 minutes of the primetime schedule for their own locally produced specials. Shows of ABC that were omitted that night or otherwise delayed by locally-driven breaking news would be aired in the overnight hours.
WFAA airs The Chew on a day-behind basis at 11 a.m. instead of the recommended time of 12 noon (previously, All My Children aired in that slot prior to September 27, 2011), this is due to the station carrying an hour-long midday newscast during the noon hour. Until September 2011, WFAA aired the ABC Kids children's programming block significantly out of pattern compared to many ABC stations. Until ABC dropped the program on August 28, 2010, a double run of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers aired on a one-week delay from 5-6 a.m., instead of the recommended time of 11 a.m. to 12 noon, when the ABC network fed the show to its affiliates "live". The Emperor's New School and The Replacements were airing on same-day delay from 11 a.m. to 12 noon, instead of the recommended 8-9 a.m. timeslot for both shows. The remaining two hours aired in pattern "live" from the ABC feed. As of September 2011, ABC Kids is replaced by ABC's new block, Litton's Weekend Adventure and all programming airs on a same-day one-hour delay from its "live feed"; WFAA airs the block following the Saturday edition of News 8 Daybreak. WFAA also airs Anderson at 3 p.m. followed by The Dr. Oz Show.
For years, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune aired on Channel 8. After 18 years of airing Wheel of Fortune at 6:30 p.m., WFAA dropped it in the fall of 2005 in favor of the younger-oriented Entertainment Tonight; it dropped Jeopardy! at the same time. Both game shows now appear on CBS owned-and-operated station KTVT.
WFAA broadcasts a total of 34 hours of local news a week (5½ hours on weekdays, three hours on Saturdays and 3½ hours on Sundays). WFAA also operates a news helicopter called HD Chopper 8 (formerly known as Telecopter 8), which still has the 1984-1996 dual-outlined "8" logo on the underside of the helicopter and reads: N8TV.
Since 1986, WFAA's news organization has won six Peabody Awards,[16] with a seventh awarded personally to H. Martin "Marty" Haag, who was WFAA's executive news director from 1973 to 1989 and a Belo Corporation executive after that.[17] WFAA's Peabody Awards were for:
In 2009, WFAA received the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award's Gold Baton for its "continuing commitment to outstanding investigative reporting", the first local station to win that recognition in the 20-year history of the award; reporters Byron Harris and Brett Shipp were recognized for:[23] three exemplary investigative reports about corruption and waste at the Export-Import Bank of the United States, grade changing for failing high school athletes, and the danger posed by aging gas pipeline couplings. Among the Dallas Independent School District high schools exposed by their investigations were South Oak Cliff High School[24] and Roosevelt High School.[25]
Also recognized were Mark Smith (producer), Kraig Kirchem (editor and photographer), and Michael Valentine, executive news director. The pipeline-couplings investigation was featured in the PBS documentary series, Exposé: America's Investigative Reports, in an episode entitled "Beneath the North Texas Dirt."
WFAA started producing newscasts and other local programming in high definition on February 2, 2007. WFAA is one of the few television stations not using the First Warning broadcast weather alert system, instead when severe weather alerts are in effect for viewing area, the warning type and the counties the alert is in effect for are displayed in text form at the top of the screen.
WFAA's News 8 Update at 10 pm is typically the market's most-watched late local newscast, and its 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts are typically the area's most-watched early evening local newscasts.
According to the local Nielsen ratings for the February 2011 sweeps period, the rating for WFAA's newscasts slid in some timeslots; after placing first at 10 p.m. in the November 2010 sweeps period, WFAA's News 8 Update fell to a relatively distant second place with total viewers and with adults 25-54. The morning newscast placed a distant third with total viewers and a relatively distant third with adults 25-54, behind KXAS and a dominant KDFW. WFAA's only #1 finish during the period was in the 5 p.m. time period in total viewers (it lost to KDFW in the adult 25-54 demographic), aided by its Oprah lead-in, which won the 4 p.m. hour in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds. Overall, the station was in last place in the key 25-to-54 demographic for the first time in at least the last 30 years; and fell from first place at both 6 and 10 p.m. in total viewers for the first time in at least three decades. However while its 10 p.m. newscast placed second, Nightline gave WFAA the most-watched late night program in the market among total viewers.[26]
According to the local Nielsen ratings for the May 2011 sweeps period, the News 8 Update regained the #1 position at 10 p.m. with total viewers and adults 25-54, while its morning newscast placed third in both demographics (like WFAA, both KXAS and KTVT lost viewership of their morning newscast compared to the previous year. In total viewers, the 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts placed first among the area's early evening newscasts (aided by the outgoing Oprah Winfrey Show as a lead-in), though they both placed second, behind KDFW, in the 25- to 54-year-old demographic.[27]
The "Spirit" news music package that was used on WFAA's newscasts was written by James R. Kirk of TM Productions, and was used from 1984 until 1991. All of WFAA's news music packages have carried the "Spirit" motif, including an unnamed theme used from 1992-1996. WFAA also used McKinney, TX-based Stephen Arnold Music's "Spirit" from 1996–2000, a package customized by the station and composed by Arnold from 2000–2004, the News Matrix package from 2004–2005, and the Evolution package from 2004-2007 (which all carry the same signature that TM Productions' package used). They switched to a brand new 615 Music package called "Propulsion" (which is also based on the Spirit signature logo). This package is also being rolled out to several other Belo owned stations.
Other former packages used by WFAA include Tuesday Productions' "TuesdayC" from 1978–1980, and TM Productions' "Newsbeat" from 1980-1984.
In addition to its use by WFAA, the Spirit signature was also used in a news theme commissioned by sister station and CBS affiliate KHOU in Houston (who also used the original TM Productions "Spirit" theme from 1986–1989), called "American Spirit" composed by John Hegner and used from 1994 to 2000. WFAA's "Spirit" campaign has been the basis for campaigns at sister stations like KHOU-TV, KIII-TV, WVEC-TV, WWL-TV, and KXTV.
(Year person joined WFAA in parentheses)
WFAA-AM was the radio counterpart to the TV station. It signed on June 26, 1922,[31] and used the WFAA call letters through July 2, 1983. (Thereafter, it was known as "KRQX" until Belo sold it, along with sister station KZEW-FM {the former WFAA-FM,} on January 1, 1987.) WFAA-AM has a rich history of service to the Dallas area. Moving around the AM dial, as most stations did in the 1920s and 1930s, the station settled into a permanent stay at 570 AM by 1938, while splitting time with WBAP at their clear-channel frequency of 820. This was the longest timeshare agreement in the US, starting in 1929 and concluding on April 27, 1970.
WFAA-AM was the first network-affiliated station in Texas (initially with NBC beginning April 2, 1923; later with Texas Quality Network, then ABC [to August 1, 1975] and CBS thereafter,) the first US station to carry educational programs, the first to produce a serious radio drama series, the first to air a state championship football game, and the first to air presidential inaugural ceremonies. WFAA-AM was home to the long-running morning program, "The Early Birds", hosted by John Allen; "Hymns We Love", "Saturday Night Shindig", "The Big D Jamboree", "Murray Cox RFD", "Slo-and-Ezy", and later, "57 Nostalgia Place."
After many years of an entertainment/variety format, the station flipped to Middle of the Road in 1970, followed by Top 40. On Election Day 1976, the station made its final format change to News/Talk (as "Newstalk 570.")
WFAA-AM was initially located in a 9' x 9' tent on the roof of The Dallas Morning News; to the Morning News library thereafter; to the Baker Hotel on October 1, 1925; atop the Santa Fe Railroad Warehouse on Jackson St. from June 20, 1941 to April 4, 1961 (the building still has "WFAA" clearly painted along a panel on the top floor) and to Communications Center, which was dropped entirely a few years ago.
Sister station WFAA-FM was the first FM to sign on in Texas, beginning October 5, 1946 as "KERA-FM" (no relation to the current radio and TV station known under the same call letters,) although its roots go back to an experimental FM station "W5X1C" that signed on October 15, 1945, and another experimental trial dating back to 1939. By 1947, it had moved from its original home at 94.3 FM to a preferred location in the center of the dial at 97.9 FM. With FM broadcasting in its infancy, WFAA-FM signed on and off the air for months and even two years at a time before settling on a permanent broadcast schedule by 1965. Initially a simulcast of the AM side, it programmed MOR and Beautiful Music until 1973, then flipped to album oriented rock (AOR) as KZEW-FM (known to listeners as The Zoo) on September 16, 1973. Featuring talent such as John LaBella and John Rody ("LaBella and Rody,") George Gimarc, Charley Jones, Dave Lee Austin, John B. Wells, Nancy Johnson, John Dew, John Dillon, Doc Morgan and Tempie Lindsey, the station's concept and programming were initially under the direction of Ira Lipson. The FM station shared studio locations with WFAA-AM on the second floor of the facility. The FM station is currently an urban-format radio station called KBFB-FM, 97.9 The Beat.
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