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| Channels | |
| Branding | CBS New York;CBS News New York |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| WLNY-TV | |
| History | |
| Founded | July 21, 1931 (1931-07-21) |
First air date | July 1, 1941 (84 years ago) (1941-07-01) |
Former call signs | WCBW (1941–1946) |
Former channel numbers | |
Call sign meaning | Columbia Broadcasting System, formerlegal name of CBS |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 9610 |
| ERP | 548kW |
| HAAT | 520 m (1,706 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 40°42′46.8″N74°0′47.3″W / 40.713000°N 74.013139°W /40.713000; -74.013139 |
| Translator(s) | 22 (UHF)Riverhead |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WCBS-TV (channel 2), brandedCBS New York, is a television station inNew York City. It is theflagship station of theCBS television network,owned and operated through itsCBS News and Stations division. Under common ownership withRiverhead, New York–licensedindependent stationWLNY-TV (channel 55), the two stations share studios within theCBS Broadcast Center on West 57th Street inMidtown Manhattan; WCBS-TV's transmitter is located atOne World Trade Center.
WCBS-TV's history dates back to CBS' opening of experimental station W2XAB on July 21, 1931, using themechanical television system that had been more-or-less perfected in the late 1920s.[2][3] Its first broadcast featuredNew York MayorJimmy Walker,Kate Smith, andGeorge Gershwin.[4] The station had the first regular seven-day broadcasting schedule in American television, broadcasting 28 hours a week. Among its early programming wereHarriet Lee (1931),The Television Ghost (1931–1933),Helen Haynes (1931–1932), andPiano Lessons (1931–1932). Because W2XAB was broadcasting its video on 2750 kc and audio separately on W2XE at 6120 kc in theshortwave band in 1931,[5] the experimental station's signal could be received in nearby states beyond the New York metropolitan area, as far away asBoston andBaltimore.[2][3] InAllentown, Pennsylvania, some 80 miles (130 km) distant, the local newspaper even listed W2XAB's daily program schedules, for example, as did theIthaca Journal in upstate New York, 175 miles (282 km) northwest.[5][6]
Announcer-director Bill Schudt was the station's only paid employee; all other staff were volunteers. W2XAB pioneered program development including small-scale dramatic acts, monologues, pantomime, and the use of projection slides to simulate sets. Engineer Bill Lodge[7] devised the first synchronized sound wave for a television station in 1932, enabling W2XAB to broadcast picture and sound on a singleshortwave channel instead of the two previously needed. On November 8, 1932, W2XAB broadcast the first television coverage of presidential election returns. The station suspended operations on February 20, 1933, as monochrome television transmission standards were in flux, and in the process of changing from the limited mechanical operation to an all-electronic system. W2XAB returned with an all-electronic system in 1939 from a new studio complex inGrand Central Station and a transmitter located at theChrysler Building broadcasting on channel 2.[8] W2XAB transmitted the first color broadcast in the United States on August 28, 1940, although it was not black and white compatible.[9]
On June 24, 1941, W2XAB received a commercialconstruction permit and program authorization as WCBW. The station went on the air at 2:30 p.m. on July 1, one hour after rivalWNBT (channel 1, formerly W2XBS), making it the second authorized fully commercial television station in the United States. TheFederal Communications Commission (FCC) issued permits to CBS and NBC at the same time and intended WNBT and WCBW to sign on simultaneously on July 1, so no one station could claim to be the "first". WCBW's initial broadcast was the first local newscast aired on a commercial station in the country. Its assigned frequency was 60–66 MHz, now known as channel 3 but then referred to as Channel 2 in the 1940–46 alignment of the VHF band.[citation needed]
Program schedules were irregular through the summer and early fall of 1941. Regular daily operations began on October 29 and WCBW received a fullbroadcast license, its construction permit and commercial program authorization on March 10, 1942. After the war, the FCC re-allocated the television andFM bands. WCBW closed down its operation on the old channel 2 at the end of February 1946 (the 60–66 MHz band had been re-allocated toWPTZ in Philadelphia as channel 3) to move to a new channel 2 at 54–60 MHz. It quickly began operation on the new frequency, where it remained from the spring of 1946 for the next 63 years until the end of analog full power television service in the late spring of 2009.
After the FCC allowed television stations owned by radio stations in the same city to use the same call letters as the radio station with the suffix "-TV",[10] the call letters were changed to WCBS-TV on November 1, 1946.[11] The change coincided with the renaming of CBS' New York radio stations, WABC (880 AM) and WABC-FM (101.1), as WCBS (nowWHSQ) andWCBS-FM.[11]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion with: more information on the station from the 1950s to the present day. You can help byadding to it.(February 2011) |
On February 26, 1951, WCBS-TV became the first station to broadcast a regularly scheduled feature film series,The Late Show. On August 11, 1951, WCBS-TV broadcast the first baseball game oncolor television, between theBrooklyn Dodgers andBoston Braves fromEbbets Field. As were all color programs at the time, it was transmitted via afield-sequential color system developed by CBS. Signals transmitted this way could not be seen on existing black-and-white sets. The CBS color system was scrapped after the FCC embraced the alternativeRCA all-electronic dot sequential system, which was fully compatible with the existing monochrome television standard, late in 1953. However, CBS telecast few programs in color, either locally or through the network, until the mid-1960s when color television sets became more affordable to the American public.[citation needed]
In May 1997, the station adopted the "CBS 2" branding, along with sister stationsKCBS-TV in Los Angeles andWBBM-TV in Chicago, while retaining a unique and distinctive logo.
WCBS-TV's over-the air signal was not affected by theSeptember 11 terrorist attacks that destroyed theWorld Trade Center. Unlike its competitors, channel 2 had long maintained a full-powered backup transmitter at the Empire State Building after moving its main transmitter to the North Tower of the then-new World Trade Center in 1975. The station's coverage of the attacks was alsosimulcast nationally onViacom (which owned CBS at the time) cable networkVH1 that day. In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, WCBS-TV was briefly the only full-coverage over-the-air television service operating in New York City, although the station lent transmission time to other stations who had lost their transmitters until they found suitable backup equipment and locations. The backup transmitter had been put into operation once before, when theWorld Trade Center bombing of February 26, 1993, knocked most of the area's stations off the air for a week.
WCBS-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal, overVHF channel 2, at 2 p.m. on June 12, 2009, as part of thefederally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[12] The station moved its digital signal from its pre-transitionUHF channel 56, which was among the high band UHF channels (52–69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to channel 33,[13] usingvirtual channel 2. Since the station qualified for thenightlight clause in theDTV Delay Act,[14][15] WCBS kept its analog signal on for one month to providepublic service announcements, starting at 3 p.m. on June 12 and permanently shutting it down during the early morning hours of July 13, 2009; this possibly made it the last full powerNTSC broadcast television station in the United States to discontinue analog transmissions.[citation needed]
Digital subchannel 2.2, branded asCBS New York Plus, was launched in November 2011 as a 24-hour news channel drawing upon the resources of WCBS-TV, WCBS radio (880 AM),WINS (1010 AM), andWFAN (660 AM). The Plus service was eventually planned to be rolled out to CBS' other owned-and-operated stations, but only WCBS and KYW-TV in Philadelphia added Plus channel services.[16]
On December 12, 2011, CBS Television Stations announced its intent to purchaseRiverhead, New York–licensedWLNY-TV (channel 55), later announced for a purchase price of $55 million, creating a duopoly with WCBS-TV.[17] The company announced that it would add additional on-air staff and expand WLNY's local news programming (at the time, that station had only an 11 p.m. newscast). The FCC approved the sale on January 31, 2012, and CBS took control of the station on March 30. WLNY suspended its own news operations the previous day[18] and began airing WCBS-TV produced newscasts on July 2, 2012.
WCBS-TV as of February 2012 has a construction permit for a digital fill-in translator on channel 22, to be licensed toPlainview, New York, which would serve portions of eastern and central Long Island where WCBS-TV's signal is affected by the presence ofWFSB, a CBS affiliate inHartford, Connecticut, which also broadcasts on channel 33.[19] In 2016, WCBS-TV returned to transmitting fromOne World Trade Center in lower Manhattan.[20]
On October 21, 2014, CBS andWeigel Broadcasting announced the launch of a new digital subchannel service calledDecades, scheduled to launch on all CBS-owned stations on May 25, 2015, including on WCBS-TV on channel 2.2. The channel is co-owned by CBS and Weigel (owner of CBS affiliateWDJT-TV inMilwaukee), with Weigel being responsible for distribution to non-CBS-owned stations. It airs programs from the extensive library of CBS Television Distribution (nowCBS Media Ventures), including archival footage fromCBS News.[21] On September 3, 2018, Decades was replaced on 2.2 byStart TV. (Decades returned to the New York market in October 2019, when it was added toWNYW channel 5.5 as part of an agreement between Weigel andFox Television Stations).[22]
As a result of the 2016–17 FCCspectrum incentive auction, WCBS-TV moved its digital signal from channel 33 to channel 36 on August 1, 2019.
On December 12, 2018, WCBS-TV in cooperation withCBS Interactive, launched CBSN New York—a local version and partner of theCBSN service.[23] CBS News New York can be accessed from cbsnewyork.com, cbsnews.com, and their respective mobile andstreaming apps.
On December 4, 2019, CBS Corporation andViacomremerged; WCBS and WLNY therefore became part of ViacomCBS (nowParamount Skydance).[24][25]
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Upon becoming commercial station WCBW in 1941, the station broadcast two daily news programs, at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. weekdays, anchored by Richard Hubbell.[26] Most of the newscasts featured Hubbell reading a script with only occasional cutaways to a map or still photograph. When Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941, WCBW (which was usually off the air on Sunday to give the engineers a day off), took to the air at 8:45 p.m. that Sunday with an extensive special report. The national emergency even broke down the unspoken wall between CBS radio and television. WCBW executives convinced radio announcers and experts such as George Fielding Elliot and Linton Wells to come down to the Grand Central Station studios during the evening and give information and commentary on the attack. The WCBW special report that night lasted less than 90 minutes. But that special broadcast pushed the limits of live television in 1941 and opened up new possibilities for future broadcasts. As CBS wrote in a special report to the FCC, the unscheduled live news broadcast on December 7 "was unquestionably the most stimulating challenge and marked the greatest advance of any single problem faced up to that time". Additional newscasts were scheduled in the early days of the war. In May 1942, WCBW (like almost all television stations) sharply cut back its live program schedule and the newscasts were cancelled, since the station temporarily suspended studio operations, resorting exclusively to the occasional broadcast of films. This was primarily due to the fact that much of the staff had either joined the service or were redeployed to war-related technical research, and to prolong the life of the early, unstable cameras which were now impossible to repair due to the wartime lack of parts.
In May 1944, as the war began to turn in favor of the Allies, WCBW reopened the studios and the newscasts returned, briefly anchored byNed Calmer, and then by Everett Holles.[27] After the war, expanded news programs appeared on the WCBW schedule—renamed WCBS-TV in 1946—first anchored by Milo Boulton and later byDouglas Edwards. On May 3, 1948, Douglas Edwards began anchoringCBS Television News, a regular 15-minute nightly newscast on the rudimentary CBS network, including WCBS-TV. It aired every weeknight at 7:30 p.m. and was the first regularly scheduled network television news program featuring an anchor. The NBC television network's offering at the timeNBC Television Newsreel (premiering in February 1948) was simply film with voice narration. In 1950, the name of the nightly news was changed toDouglas Edwards with the News, and the following year, it became the first news program to be broadcast on both coasts, thanks to a new coaxial cable connection, prompting Edwards to use the greeting "Good evening everyone, coast to coast." The broadcast was renamed theCBS Evening News whenWalter Cronkite replaced Edwards in 1962.[28] Edwards remained with CBS News with various daytime television newscasts and radio news broadcasts until his retirement on April 1, 1988.
In the 1950s through the mid-1960s, WCBS-TV's local newscasts were anchored by CBS News correspondentsRobert Trout (at 7 pm) and byDon Hollenbeck and later Douglas Edwards (at 11 pm). Beginning in 1965, production of local news broadcasts on WCBS-TV and other CBS-owned television stations, which had been previously produced by CBS News, were taken over by the local stations. Trout and Edwards were succeeded byJim Jensen. Jensen had only come to WCBS-TV a year earlier (he had been atWBZ-TV in Boston), but was already well known for his coverage ofRobert F. Kennedy's 1964 campaign for the United States Senate. During the 1960s, WCBS-TV battled WNBC-TV (channel 4) for the top-rated news department in New York City. After WABC-TV (channel 7) introducedEyewitness News in the late 1960s, WCBS-TV went back and forth in first place with Channel 7, in a rivalry that continued through the 1970s. For much of the early 1980s, New York's "Big Three" stations took turns in the top spot. During this time, three of the longest-tenured anchor teams in New York – Jensen andRolland Smith, WABC-TV'sRoger Grimsby andBill Beutel, and WNBC-TV'sChuck Scarborough andSue Simmons – went head-to-head with each other.[citation needed] On January 25, 1982, WCBS-TV debuted its 5 p.m. weekday newscast.WCBS-TV had many well-known personalities during this era: anchorsDave Marash, Rolland Smith,Michele Marsh and Vic Miles;meteorologistsFrank Field andJohn Coleman; reportersMeredith Vieira,Randall Pinkston,Tony Guida,John Stossel andArnold Díaz and sportscasterWarner Wolf. Vieira, Pinkston and Guida later moved to the CBS network.
In 1988, controversy involving an exchange between Jim Jensen and co-anchorBree Walker, whose fingers and toes are fused together as a result of the conditionectrodactyly. After Walker did a report about her experience with the condition, Jensen asked Walker, on the air, if her parents would have aborted her had they known she would have been born with the condition. Walker kept her composure on air but soon left the station. The incident took place shortly before Jensen's entry todrug rehabilitation. As the 1990s began, Channel 2 found itself increasingly losing its ratings share to WNBC. On August 31, 1992, Channel 2 debuted its one-hour weekday morning newscast, this time with the anchor team ofMorry Alter and Lisa Rudolph, Jay Trelease with traffic, and Craig Allen with weather. In late 1994 Jensen was taken off the anchor desk and demoted to host of a Sunday morningpublic-affairs show,Sunday Edition. He also hosted a few episodes of the regularSports Update show on Sunday nights at 11:30 pm. At the time, Jensen had served as an anchor longer than anyone in New York television history (he has since been passed by WABC-TV's Beutel and WNBC's Scarborough). In 1995, Jensen was forced to retire shortly after theWestinghouse Electric Corporation announced it was buying CBS. By the end of 1995, Channel 2's ratings were in last place for the first time in its history, while WNBC's ratings had risen to second place – a pecking order that would remain in place for eleven years. The station's news branding change fromChannel 2 News to just2 News during that time, contributed to the station's last-place finish in the February 1996 sweeps period.[citation needed]
On October 2, 1996, the station executed an unprecedented mass firing without any advance warning, citing the need to shake up its news operation. Seven people were fired: anchorsJohn Johnson, Michele Marsh and Tony Guida; sports anchor Bernie Smilovitz (who promptly returned to his previous station,WDIV in Detroit); and reporters Reggie Harris, Roseanne Colletti and Magee Hickey.[29] The firings came after the 6 p.m. newscast. Johnson and Marsh had anchored the 5 p.m. newscasts and signed off at 6 p.m. saying, "We'll see you at 11," but never got a chance to say goodbye on the air.
The "massacre", as it has come to be known, was part of a move enacted by then-news director Bill Carey to boost ratings, although it came at a time when CBS was under pressure to boost revenues, having just merged with Westinghouse. It was also part of a major reconstruction of the newscast, culminating in the May 1997 rebranding toNews 2; two months prior, Warner Wolf had returned to the station, having left in 1992 forWUSA-TV, the CBS affiliate in Washington.
When theNews 2 name was put in place, a format change was also instituted, going for a faster-paced newscast with more stories; this was reinforced by reminders thatNews 2 had "More news in less time, every time" and a "Rundown" of stories to come. A new, bold and italicized "2" logo, contained in a blue or white slanted box alongside the CBS eye, replaced the long-running Futura "2" used in some form since the 1980s; the overall station branding switched fromNew York's Channel 2 to simplyCBS 2 at this point, remaining the primary brand of the station to this day. After a year, little to no progress in the ratings was made, so this format was done away with; a new "virtual studio" format (involving CGI being used to depict sections of the news studio that did not exist in reality), alongside bright, orange and white graphics and a "club" remix of WBBM-TV's "This is Chicago, Chicago's My Town" theme (which the station has used in various forms for all but a few years since 1982) was tried out. This did not work either, so this approach was also abandoned, in favor of a more "traditional" newscast. The "club" remix of the WBBM theme would continue to be used until early 2000.[citation needed]
In 2000,Joel Cheatwood, creator of the7 News format atWSVN in Miami, was appointed as the station's news director. At his suggestion, the newscasts were rebranded fromNews 2 tothe CBS 2 Information Network, using "content partners" such asU.S. News & World Report and VH1. He also gave the newscasts more of atabloid feel. While considerably watered down compared to Bill Applegate's work at WBBM-TV in Chicago, John Lippmann's work at KCBS-TV in Los Angeles,Fox flagship WNYW, and Cheatwood's work at WSVN – and even compared to WSVN's sister station,WHDH in Boston—it was much flashier than had been seen on New York's "Big Three" affiliates. He also retooled the 11 p.m. report as a "gritty, down-to-earth" style newscast, termedNightcast. At this point, the station was sharing studio space withCBS Sports (after previously sharing street-side studios with CBS' then-morning newscast,The Early Show). It also began usage of two different music packages fromEdd Kalehoff (who had composed WNBC's "We're 4 New York" campaign and "NBC Stations" package that was in use at the time), one for the normal newscasts titled "WCBS Grand", which began alongside the debut of the 4 p.m. news, and another package especially intended forNightcast. It did not work, and Cheatwood was gone by 2002 in favor of New York veteran news director Dianne Doctor. The station became simplyCBS 2, and gradually phased out the tabloid elements, the Information Network, andNightcast. In its place, Doctor introduced a "news for the people" approach similar to that of her previous employer, WNBC. The Kalehoff-produced themes were replaced with the John Hegner-produced "News in Focus" which sister KCBS had used starting in 1997 (and had replaced just days before WCBS adopted the package). Several pieces of "WCBS Grand" have since been recycled by Kalehoff as music cues onThe Price Is Right under the title "Grandeur". The graphics and logo mainly became blue and silver, with that color motif remaining to this day (albeit with the addition of gold) with successive graphics packages, including the last several which have been shared with most of the other stations in the CBS O&O group.
After Doctor's arrival, WCBS placed a revived emphasis on hard news, while attempting to revive some elements of its glory days. For instance, in 2003 Arnold Diaz rejoined the station to revive "Shame on You", anEmmy Award–winning series of investigative segments. He had worked at the station from 1973 to 1995, leaving to serve a similar investigative role atABC News. In December 2005, Diaz once again departed, this time leaving for WNYW. Another segment was "Eat at Your Own Risk", which highlighted unsafe conditions at New York-area restaurants. Ironically, the cafeteria at the CBS Broadcast Center was cited for violations by theNew York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Violations included the presence of rats and roaches, as well as food temperature issues.[30]
Despite this and other attempts at fixes, the ratings did not significantly improve under Doctor's watch. Doctor was criticized for airing "Shame on You" and "Eat at Your Own Risk" segments ahead of major stories. She also came under fire when channel 2 led its 11 p.m. newscast of May 24, 2005, with a story and exclusive video of actorBurt Reynolds slapping a CBS producer, while rivals WABC-TV and WNBC-TV led with an important vote in theU.S. House onstem cell research.[citation needed]
On May 27, 2004, Doctor fired popular sports anchor Warner Wolf, three months before his contract expired, without giving Wolf a chance to say goodbye on air. This incident was widely panned by several newspapers, including theNew York Daily News, and the move alienated and angered many viewers. Wolf was replaced by the much youngerChris Wragge, who was brought in from NBC affiliateKPRC-TV inHouston. On June 1, 2005, Jim Rosenfield rejoined the station to anchor the 5 and 11 p.m. newscasts withRoz Abrams, who joined channel 2 the previous year after an 18-year run at WABC-TV. The son of a former CBS executive, Rosenfield had worked at the station from 1998 to 2000 before moving to WNBC (to anchorLive at Five) after a contract dispute with channel 2. Rosenfield replacedErnie Anastos, who moved to WNYW in July 2005.[citation needed]
On August 22, 2005, WCBS-TV launched its newDoppler weather radar named "Live Doppler 2 Million". It has one million watts of power, and is live, compared to other dopplers in the market which are delayed by about 15 minutes. "Live Doppler 2 Million" was the punch line of a joke on an episode ofJimmy Kimmel Live! and was ridiculed on the popularOpie and Anthony radio show. The station renamed the radar in 2006 to "Live Doppler". The station also uses theVIPIR radar processing software. Coincidentally, transportation reporter Arthur Chi'en was fired from the station three months earlier after mistakenly using expletives live on the air in response to someone fromOpie and Anthony disrupting his live report as part of their "Assault on the Media" contest. On April 14, 2006, Dianne Doctor left WCBS-TV. The station decided to move its news department in a new direction under new general manager Peter Dunn, who axed "Shame on You" and "Eat at Your Own Risk". Doctor reportedly did not agree with the new plans, and opted to leave. The station has since overhauled its graphics and anchor lineup, winning praise from media observers.
In early September 2006, WCBS-TV's weather department entered into a partnership withThe Weather Channel, with meteorologists from thecable channel often appearing on-air with existing WCBS-TV meteorologists. WCBS-TV also received information from The Weather Channel, in addition to using its radars and satellite imagery. The Weather Channel featured updates with WCBS for New York City's weather on itsEvening Edition program with one of the WCBS meteorologists, and forecast intros on WCBS began with "now time for your exclusive forecast from CBS 2 and The Weather Channel". On July 7, 2008, this partnership ended when it was announced that The Weather Channel had been sold toNBCUniversal (owner of competitor WNBC).[citation needed]
On November 6, 2006, WCBS-TV made a personnel change on its noon and 5 p.m. newscasts. Former sports director and anchor Chris Wragge became co-anchor of both programs, along with newly hired Kristine Johnson; both replaced Roz Abrams andMary Calvi on those newscasts; Abrams' contract was allowed to lapse, and Calvi was reassigned to weekends as the sole evening anchor. Calvi co-anchored on mornings with Rob Morrison. More changes came on December 25, 2006, as John Elliot was introduced as the new morning and noon meteorologist, replacingAudrey Puente, whose abrupt breach-of-contract demotion led to her being allowed to become the new chief meteorologist at WWOR-TV less than two weeks later. WCBS-TV also hiredLonnie Quinn, who had been a weatherman in Miami, as they phased outJohn Bolaris, who had rejoined WCBS in 2002. On June 25, 2007, Wragge and Johnson added the 11 p.m. newscast to their duties, trading places withDana Tyler and Jim Rosenfield on the noon program; Tyler and Rosenfield continued to co-anchor the 6 p.m. newscast. Rosenfield left WCBS in May 2008 and was replaced with recently hired weekend anchorDon Dahler.[citation needed]
In the February 2007 ratings period, WCBS-TV finished second behind WABC-TV from sign-on to sign-off – its best showing in 16 years, although most of its newscasts still finished in third place at that time. By the November 2007 sweeps period, channel 2's local evening newscasts had overtaken WNBC for second place (mainly due to declining ratings at WNBC). It was channel 2's best news performance in 12 years, but it still trailed WABC-TV by a fairly wide margin. On April 11, 2007, WCBS-TV became the third New York City television station to begin broadcasting its newscasts inhigh-definition. In May 2008, WCBS led WNBC by an even wider margin. However, its longtime No. 1 noon newscast's ratings fell behind WABC, the only other station to offer a noon newscast in the New York area. WCBS has been unable to regain the lead at noon since, although they were still second in New York City among the market's evening broadcasts at the time.
WCBS elected to change the noon anchors again after approximately a year and put the noon broadcast in the hands of the morning news team; the then-current anchors were Maurice DuBois and Mary Calvi with John Elliott providing weather forecasts. DuBois has since switched to anchoring the weeknight 5 and 11 p.m. newscasts with Johnson (with Wragge moving toThe Early Show; he later returned to anchor WCBS's 6 p.m. weekday broadcast with Dana Tyler) and is now partnered with Calvi weekday mornings and at noon.
In the February 2011 Nielsen sweeps period, WCBS-TV's 11 p.m. newscast unseated WABC-TV for first place in total households in that timeslot. WABC continued to lead in the key demographics at 11 pm. WCBS-TV quickly lost its lead at 11 p.m. after WABC-TV regained its status as No. 1 at 11 p.m. in the May 2011 sweeps.[31] WABC-TV has since kept its No. 1 status at 11 pm. Recently,[when?] WCBS-TV has fallen back to third place due to an increase in ratings at WNBC.
On March 12 and 13, 2020, WCBS-TV's evening newscasts were produced by Los Angeles sister station KCBS-TV, and its morning newscasts originated fromKPIX-TV in San Francisco, after the CBS Broadcast Center was closed for disinfection due to two employees testing positive forCOVID-19, with weathercasts being originated from the weather department's mobile broadcast unit.[32][33] Newscasts resumed from the Broadcast Center that weekend;[34] however, on March 18, the Broadcast Center was again shut down and production was transferred back to KCBS-TV.[35] On March 20, WCBS-TV began to originate newscasts with their regular talent from theStamford, Connecticut, studios of YES Network, which were otherwise dark due to thedelay of Major League Baseball's upcoming season due to the pandemic,[36] before moving back again to the Broadcast Center, beginning on April 17, with the morning newscast.
Maurice DuBois was promoted to co-anchor of theCBS Evening News withJohn Dickerson in January 2025, and subsequently departed WCBS-TV in order to focus on the national broadcast.[37]
From1956 until1993, WCBS-TV carried mostNew York Giants games throughthe network's coverage of theNational Football League. CBS lost the rights to theNational Football Conference (NFC) toFox in1994, resulting in Giants games moving to WNYW; currently, Giants preseason games are carried byNBC owned-and-operated station WNBC (with WWOR-TV being served as an overflow station if theSummer Olympics conflicts with the preseason schedule). After a 5-year absence, the NFL returned to CBS and WCBS-TV in 1998 through a package ofAmerican Football Conference (AFC) games; the station currently airsNew York Jets preseason games and most regular season games, along with occasional Giants games, usually when the team plays host to an AFC opponent atMetLife Stadium (or, since 2014, through the 'cross-flex' broadcast rules, any Giants games where they play another NFC team that are moved from Fox to CBS). The station also aired occasional Jets games when they played at home to an NFC team from 1970 to 1993. During the regular season, some Jets games are rotated with WNBC (throughNBC Sunday Night Football), WNYW (throughNFL on Fox andThursday Night Football),WABC-TV (throughMonday Night Football),WPIX (throughMonday Night Football, if WABC-TV is not airing them and select TNF telecasts not carried by Fox's package it shares with NFL Network), and in rare cases, WWOR-TV (throughMonday Night Football). The station has aired the Giants' victory inSuper Bowl XXI and loss inSuper Bowl XXXV.
In 1980, WCBS-TV aired Game 6 of theStanley Cup Finals via an episode ofCBS Sports Spectacular, where theNew York Islanders won their first of four straightStanley Cups. In 2021 and 2022, the station aired theNew York City ePrix after the network acquired the rights to broadcastFormula E races.[38]
In2002, WCBS-TV acquired the over-the-air rights toNew York Yankees baseball games, replacing Fox owned-and-operated station WNYW. The games, produced by the newYES Network, remained on the station until the2004 season; the rights moved toUPN affiliate (nowMyNetworkTV owned-and-operated station)WWOR-TV beginning in2005. It also aired any Yankees orMets games as part of CBS' MLB broadcast contract from 1990 to 1993.
WCBS-TV also served as the official regional host station of the1996 NCAA Men's Final Four which was held atContinental Airlines Arena.
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WCBS-HD | CBS |
| 2.2 | 480i | STARTTV | Start TV | |
| 2.3 | DABL | Dabl | ||
| 2.4 | FAVE-TV | Fave TV | ||
| 2.5 | COMET | Comet | ||
| 21.2 | 480i | 16:9 | CREATE | Create (WLIW) |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofNew York | ||
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Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of New York | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
| Religious | ||
| Spanish | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofNew Jersey | ||
|---|---|---|
Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of New Jersey | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
| Spanish | ||
| Religious | ||
| Other | ||
| ||
Broadcast television stations by affiliation inNew England | ||
|---|---|---|
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
| Religious | ||
| Spanish | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
| ||
Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the Commonwealth ofPennsylvania | ||
|---|---|---|
Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Pennsylvania | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
| Religious | ||
| Spanish | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
| ||
