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| History | |
| Founded | May 8, 1947 (78 years ago) (1947-05-08)[1][2] |
First air date | August 10, 1948 (77 years ago) (1948-08-10) |
Former call signs | WJZ-TV (1948–1953) |
Former channel numbers | |
Call sign meaning | American Broadcasting Company |
| Technical information[3] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 1328 |
| ERP | 34kW |
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| Website | abc7ny |
WABC-TV (channel 7) is atelevision station inNew York City. It is theflagship station of theABC television network,owned and operated through itsABC Owned Television Stations division. WABC-TV maintains studio facilities in theHudson Square neighborhood ofLower Manhattan, co-located with ABC's corporate headquarters. The station transmits from atop theEmpire State Building.
WABC-TV is best known in broadcasting circles for its version of theEyewitness News format and for itsmorning show, syndicated nationally by corporate cousinDisney Media & Entertainment Distribution.
The station signed on August 10, 1948, as WJZ-TV,[4] the first of three television stations signed on by ABC during that same year, withWENR-TV in Chicago andWXYZ-TV in Detroit being the other two. Channel 7's call letters came from its then-sister radio station,WJZ. In its early years, WJZ-TV was programmed much like anindependent station, as the ABC television network was still, for the most part, in its very early stages of development; the ABC-owned stations did air some common programming during this period, especially after the 1949 fall season when the network's prime time schedule began to expand. The station's original transmitter site was located atThe Pierre Hotel at 2 East 61st Street, before moving to the Empire State Building a few years later. The station's original studios were located at 77 West 66th Street, with additional studios at 7 West 66th Street. A tunnel linked ABC studios at 7 West 66th Street to the lobby of the Hotel des Artistes, a block north on West 67th Street. Another studio inside the Hotel des Artistes was used forEyewitness News Conference.[citation needed]
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The station's call letters were changed to WABC-TV on March 1, 1953,[6][7] after ABC merged its operations withUnited Paramount Theatres, a firm which was broken off from former parent companyParamount Pictures by decree of the U.S. government.[8] The WJZ-TV callsign was later reassigned toWestinghouse Broadcasting (the original owners of WJZ radio in New York) as an historical nod in 1957 for their newly acquiredtelevision station inBaltimore – a station that was, by coincidence, an ABC affiliate until 1995.
As part of ABC's expansion program, initiated in 1977, ABC built 7Lincoln Square on the southeast corner of West 67th Street andColumbus Avenue, on the site of an abandoned moving and storage warehouse. At about the same time, construction was started at 30 West 67th Street on the site of a former parking lot. Both buildings were completed in June 1979 and WABC-TV moved its offices from 77 West 66th Street to 7 Lincoln Square.
On September 11, 2001, the transmitter facilities of WABC-TV, as well as eight other local television stations and several radio stations, were destroyed when twohijacked airplanes crashed into and destroyed the north and south towers of theWorld Trade Center. WABC-TV's transmitter maintenance engineer Donald DiFranco died in the attack.[9] In the immediate aftermath, the station fed its signal toWNYE-TV,WHSE-TV,WHSI-TV, and theNew Jersey Network[10] before establishing temporary facilities at theArmstrong Tower inAlpine, New Jersey. The station eventually re-established transmission facilities at the Empire State Building, its original home when it signed on the air in 1948.[11]
ABC News Now was launched in 2004 on digital subchannels of the ABC O&O stations.[12] On January 31, 2005, ABC removed ABC News Now from O&O and affiliated stations' subchannels as the channel ended its experimental phase originally.[13] The group changed its programming on secondary channels to ABC Plus, a local news and public affairs format. ABC teamed up withAccuWeather to launch amulticast service on WABC's third subchannel between December 9, 2005, and March 31, 2006.[14]
On May 27, 2007, WABC-TV's studios suffered major damage as the result of a fire that knocked the station off the air shortly before the start of the 11 p.m. newscast. According to preliminary reports, the fire may have been ignited by a spotlight coming into contact with a curtain inside the news studio; the station's website later reported the cause as an "electrical malfunction". The station's building was evacuated and the fire was brought under control, though the studio was said to be "badly damaged", having suffered smoke and water damage. WABC-TV resumed broadcasting at around 1 a.m. on May 28, 2007 (initially carrying the network's 10 pm. West Coast feed ofBrothers & Sisters, followed by the full broadcast ofWorld News Now). Due to the fire, the station broadcastEyewitness News from the newsroom, whileLive! with Regis and Kelly, whose set was also affected, moved to the set ofWho Wants to Be a Millionaire. Starting with the 5 p.m. newscast on June 20, 2007, the station resumed theEyewitness News andLive! broadcasts from its main studios at Columbus Avenue and 66th Street.[15]
TheLive Well Network (LWN) was launched on April 27, 2009, in high definition by ABC's O&O stations on the stations' .2 subchannels.[16][17]
WABC-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal,VHF channel 7, at 12:30 p.m. on June 12, 2009, as part of thefederally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[18] The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 45 to VHF channel 7.[19][20] WABC's digital signal was initially difficult to receive over-the-air in New York City. The station was requested by theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) to broadcast at a lower power; WABC was among many stations which have found it necessary to increase power to restore coverage to the same level as its former analog signal. On June 29, 2009, WABC filed an application with the FCC to increase power from 11.69 kW to 27 kW.[21] On January 31, 2010, the FCC granted aspecial temporary authority (STA) for the station to increase power to 26.9 kW.[22]
In May 2013, WABC-TV andPhiladelphiasister stationWPVI-TV became the first two ABC-owned stations to offer live, web-based streaming of programming to authenticated subscribers of participating cable and satellite television providers as provided through the relaunchedWatch ABCmobile apps.[23][24]
ABCOTS indicated in January 2015 that its stations' third subchannel would affiliate withLaff network upon launch on April 15, 2015; until then, LWN would run on both subchannels.[25] ABC Stations rebranded Live Well Network on .2 as Localish on February 17, 2020, to add an outlet for the Localish lifestyle content.[26]
WABC has long presented events such as theColumbus Day Parade andPuerto Rican Day Parade and beginning in 2017, they became the first television station to air theNew York City LGBT Pride March.[27] In addition, the station is also producing local programs such asHere and Now, a program covering the latest issues, trends and news stories impacting the local black community,Tiempo, a weekly program that focus on the issues affecting local Hispanic citizens, andUp Close, a public affairs program on the latest issues with the newsmakers. The station also formerly producedViewpoint, a weekly program that highlighted the cultural and community efforts in New York, Long Island and New Jersey (each of these regions rotated weekly).
As of 2023[update], aside fromLive with Kelly and Mark, WABC's first-run syndicated programs includeTamron Hall,Jeopardy!, andWheel of Fortune.
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WABC-TV produces the nationallysyndicated talk showLive with Kelly and Mark.[28] Until the station's newscasts were moved to a separate studio in 2011, the program originated in the same ground-floor studio at 7 Lincoln Square asEyewitness News, thus creating a situation which forced local news updates broadcast duringGood Morning America andLive to be produced from the WABC-TV newsroom and the morning show's presence also limited the size of theEyewitness News set.
The program's roots originated withA.M. New York, which debuted in 1970 as a local version ofNBC'sToday show;[29] its first host wasJohn Bartholomew Tucker, who remained with the program until 1972. After Tucker's departure, a succession of hosts came and went, the most successful of whom was Stanley Siegel, who hosted from 1975 to 1978 (for a year beginning in 1977, the series was calledThe Stanley Siegel Show).[30] After 1980, the show was retitledGood Morning New York, whose co-hosts in the last years of its run in that form includedSpencer Christian, Andrea Kirby,Judy Licht, Dick Wolfsie and longtimeEyewitness News reporter and anchor Doug Johnson. After years of a losing ratings battle againstDonahue on WNBC-TV, WABC-TV canceledGood Morning New York in early 1983.[31]
The current show began as the station's second attempt at a local morning show a month later, aptly titledThe Morning Show (using the "Circle 7" logo in the actual text for one of the "o"s) and was originally hosted byRegis Philbin andCyndy Garvey. After Garvey's departure a year later, she was replaced by Ann Abernathy, who in turn, left in 1985 to return to Los Angeles. That year,Kathie Lee Johnson (who would marryFrank Gifford a year later) became Philbin's new co-host.
In 1988,Buena Vista Television began syndicating the show nationally asLive with Regis and Kathie Lee. Gifford left the show in 2000 and was eventually replaced byKelly Ripa. Philbin left the show in November 2011 and the show aired for nearly a year asLive! with Kelly until formerNew York Giants defensive endMichael Strahan became Ripa's permanent co-host in September 2012. In May 2016, Strahan left the show to become a full-time anchor atGood Morning America, thus leaving Ripa as the solo host again. On May 1, 2017, it was announced thatRyan Seacrest would become the new host of the show; to accommodate his syndicated radio showOn Air with Ryan Seacrest (which normally originates from Los Angeles), an additional studio was built within WABC's facilities.[32] Seacrest departedLive on April 14, 2023, and three days later Ripa's husband,Mark Consuelos, became the new co-host of the show.
WABC-TV serves as the local over-the-air broadcaster ofMonday Night Football games, airing simulcasts of the ESPN-televised games carried nationally on ABC. However, ESPN-onlyMNF telecasts involving the Giants orJets air locally onWPIX.[33] Previously, the station carried coverage of the Giants' victory inSuper Bowl XXV.
Since 2013, WABC-TV serves as the exclusive local English-language carrier of the annualNew York City Marathon. The station preempts a weekend edition ofGood Morning America and delaysThis Week to schedule time for the live broadcast. The marathon is also simulcast onESPN2 nationally (although viewers in the Tri-State area cannot see it via ESPN2 because the simulcast is blacked out locally).
WABC-TV currently airs anyNew York Knicks andBrooklyn Nets games televised via theNBA on ABC. The station has aired the Knicks' appearances in the1970,1972 and1973 NBA Finals (where the Knicks won in 1970 and 1973), as well as the then-New Jersey Nets' appearance in the2003 NBA Finals.
WABC-TV airedNew York Rangers,New York Islanders andNew Jersey Devils games carried through theNHL on ABC; this included the Devils' victories in the2000 and2003 Stanley Cup Finals, as well as their appearance in the2001 Stanley Cup Finals. Beginning in2021, it officially reassumed this duty, this time as the OTA simulcast partner of theNHL on ESPN.
Through the ABC portion of theMLS on ESPN package, WABC-TV airedNew York City FC's victory in the2021 MLS Cup and theNew York Red Bulls' appearance in the2008 MLS Cup.
WABC-TV also previously aired anyNew York Yankees andNew York Mets games throughABC's baseball contract; this included the Yankees' victory in the1977 World Series and appearance in the1981 World Series.
WABC-TV presently broadcasts 48 hours, 55 minutes of locally produced newscasts each week (with 7 hours, 35 minutes each weekday and5+1⁄2 hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). The station partners with Philadelphia sister station, WPVI-TV—which popularized theAction News format—in the production and broadcast of statewideNew Jersey political debates. When the two stations broadcast a statewide office debate, such as forGovernor orU.S. Senate, they pool resources and have anchors or reporters from both stations participate in the debate. Additionally, the two stations share coverage of news from New Jersey where their markets overlap, pooling reporters, live trucks, and helicopters.
WABC-TV launchedReport to New York, its first regular news program, on October 26, 1959, featuringScott Vincent with news,Howard Cosell with sports, and Lynn Dollar with the weather.Report to New York aired Monday through Friday at 11 pm. By January 1961, channel 7 expandedReport to New York with a 15-minute early edition at 6:15 p.m. on weeknights, and on Saturday and Sunday evenings.
On October 22, 1962, WABC-TV expanded its weeknight news to 45 minutes, and retitled itThe Big News. NewcomersBill Beutel and Jim Burnes[34] were the anchors, with Cosell continuing on sports and Rosemary Haley as "weather girl".[35] However, this effort failed to draw viewers from the ratings leaderWCBS-TV and second-placeWNBC-TV.
In early 1968, Beutel left the station to become the London bureau chief forABC News and was replaced byRoger Grimsby, who was transferred by ABC from San Francisco sister stationKGO-TV. In a complete revamp, Grimsby was joined byTex Antoine doing weather, celebrity gossip columnistRona Barrett,New York Daily News columnistJimmy Breslin with political commentary and reviews byMartin Bookspan and Allan Jeffries, while Cosell continued doing sports. Known asRoger Grimsby and the Noisemakers, this format didn't help the ratings, which plunged to an all-time low.[36]
Later that year, newly hired news directorAl Primo brought to WABC-TV theEyewitness News format and branding, in which reporters present their stories directly to the viewers. Having experienced great success introducing the format during his time atKYW-TV in Philadelphia, Primo this time added a twist – a degree of conversational chatter among the anchors, known as "happy talk". The "Tar Sequence" cue from the musical score of the1967 filmCool Hand Luke, composed byLalo Schifrin, was introduced as the theme music. The score included a telegraphic-style melody appropriate for a newscast. TheEyewitness News format and theme music were quickly adopted by ABC's other four owned-and-operated stations at the time: KGO-TV, WLS-TV in Chicago, WXYZ-TV in Detroit andKABC-TV in Los Angeles (though KGO-TV and WXYZ-TV did not use theEyewitness News title for their programs). The format quickly rejuvenated a station that had long been an also-ran to WCBS-TV and WNBC-TV. Within a year, Channel 7 had shot to first place in the ratings for the first time in its history, displacing longtime leader WCBS-TV. It spent most of the decade going back and forth with WCBS-TV for first place. For a time in the 1980s, it fell into last place among the network-owned stations, but still fought with WNBC-TV for second place.
Retaining only Grimsby, Cosell, and Antoine from the earlierNoisemakers format, Primo also hiredTom Dunn away from WCBS-TV to serve as Grimsby's co-anchor. After Dunn departed forWOR-TV in 1970, Bill Beutel returned to the station as his replacement and for the next 16 years, Grimsby and Beutel were the faces ofEyewitness News.
The Grimsby-Beutel team were split up for several months in 1975 after ABC had reassigned Beutel to its new morning show,AM America that January. The station brought in WXYZ-TV'sBill Bonds and veteranBoston anchorTom Ellis to help replace Beutel, with Grimsby teaming with Ellis at 6 p.m. and Bonds at 11 pm.[37] WhenAM America was canceled and replaced withGood Morning America in November 1975, Beutel was re-teamed with Grimsby at 6 p.m, with Ellis joining Bonds at 11 pm. Bonds returned to Detroit in June 1976[38] and was replaced byLarry Kane,[39] who lasted only one year as the sole 11 p.m. anchor before returning to his home market of Philadelphia. Ellis remained until May 1977[40] and Kane's successor,Ernie Anastos, began his New York career at the station; he co-anchored at 11 p.m. withRose Ann Scamardella and laterKaity Tong for most of his tenure there.
On November 30, 1981, the station became the second in the city to expand its late afternoon/evening newscasts by adding of a 5 p.m. edition. The broadcast was initially anchored by weather forecasterStorm Field along with Scamardella; Anastos, and later Tong, would replace them.Tom Snyder, who joined WABC after his late night talk show,Tomorrow, was canceled, would take Anastos' place in 1982 and would remain at the station until 1984; WABC attempted an early afternoon, feature-driven newscast shortly thereafter with Anastos and Beutel anchoringEyewitness Extra, but the program was short lived and was canceled in early 1983.
In 1985, the station lured WLS-TV's news director, Bill Applegate, from Chicago to New York City. Applegate claimed credit for taking WLS-TV from last to first in only two years and ABC hoped he could work the same magic at the flagship station. In the wake of declining ratings, Grimsby was fired on April 16, 1986, a move for which Applegate drew considerable ire and Grimsby was quickly hired by rival WNBC-TV. In 1987, Channel 7 surged back into first place. It has been the ratings leader in New York City since then, and has grown to become the most-watched broadcast television station in the United States.[41] Beutel stepped down from the anchor desk in 2001, which concluded the longest tenure for a main anchor in New York City television history at that time. His record has since been surpassed by WNBC's Chuck Scarborough andWXTV's Rafael Pineda. Scarborough's uninterrupted run behind the desk is the longest in New York television (since 1974). Pineda is second, having started with WXTV in 1972, retiring in 2013 after 41 years.
WABC-TV's news department is respected for its straightforward presentation (especially during breaking news). For the last decade, it has waged a spirited battle for first place, but for most of the time has held onto the lead, helped in part by lead-ins from the highly rated talk and entertainment shows. For over 24 years (December 1986 to May 2011), the lead-in for the 5 p.m.Eyewitness News broadcast had beenThe Oprah Winfrey Show at 4 p.m. and its strong ratings brought viewers along to the 5 p.m. newscast.
The newscasts were replayed on one of channel 7's digital subchannels, another which also carried local weather and news channel. WABC-TV's website had a link for live streaming video of "Channel 7 Eyewitness News NOW", which offered live local and national weather updated from AccuWeather alongside local news. The format of "Eyewitness News NOW" is similar to the defunctNBC Weather Plus. On February 24, 2011, AccuWeather and ABC both replaced ENN as well as similar news channels on WABC-TV's sister stations, KABC-TV in Los Angeles and WLS-TV in Chicago, replacing them in all three cities with astandard definition,letterboxed simulcast of the Live Well Network, and then on April 15, 2015, these stations were replaced by Laff.
On December 2, 2006, WABC-TV became the second station in the New York City market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts inhigh definition. On September 7, 2010, WABC-TV expanded its weekday morning newscast, moving its start time to 4:30 am. Three days earlier on September 4, 2010, WABC added an hour-long extension of its Saturday morning newscast from 9 a.m. to 10 am.[42] On May 26, 2011, WABC-TV added another hour of local news at 4 p.m. to replaceOprah, which aired its last original episode the previous day.
On September 24, 2011, the station began broadcasting its newscasts and public affairs programs from a new street-level window studio at a formerDisney Store location in the ABC building on 66th Street and Columbus Avenue. The space previously used for news broadcasts was used to expand theLive with Kelly studio.[43][44] In January 2012, the station also expanded its weekend 11 p.m. newscasts to an hour. On September 8, 2014, the station expanded its Noon newscast to one full hour from the previous half-hour.[45]
On January 31, 2022, WABC announced they would be launching a streaming channel titled "ABC 7 New York 24/7 Stream". As part of the launch of the service, WABC announced a new 6:30 p.m. newscast, available only through the stream.[46]
On September 11, 2023, WABC-TV, along with sister stations WPVI-TV andWTVD inDurham, North Carolina, launched an additional hour-long newscast at 10 a.m. which took over the time slot previously occupied byTamron Hall. The broadcast delivers news in a traditional format, and also allows more focus to be placed on local newsmakers, and further discussion on topics addressed onGood Morning America andLive with Kelly and Mark.[47] WABC delayed its launch by one day, due to coverage of events in the city, marking the anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001.
WABC-TV left its longtime home of Lincoln Square for anew Disney campus, located atHudson Square in Lower Manhattan, on February 22, 2025.[48]
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The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.1 | 720p | 16:9 | WABC 7 | ABC |
| 7.2 | LOCLish | Localish | ||
| 7.3 | 480i | Charge | Charge! | |
| 7.4 | HSN | HSN | ||
| 11.1 | 720p | 16:9 | PIX11 | The CW (WPIX) |
On March 7, 2010, at 12:02 am. WABC-TV's signal was removed fromCablevision's New York area systems (including iO Digital Cable) after the two sides failed to reach terms on a newretransmission consent agreement; the station was replaced by either a blank screen or a looping video containing a message from Cablevision about the removal. To avoid interruption of programming, the station urged Cablevision subscribers in the station's viewing area (totaling up to three million subscribers) to switch to other services, such asVerizon FiOS andDirecTV or simply view the station over the air through an over-the-air digital antenna and if necessary, a digital converter box, for older television sets.[75] WABC's sister station, WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, was also pulled from Cablevision's New Jersey systems inMercer,Ocean andMonmouth counties.[76]
Later that same day at approximately 8:50 p.m. 20 minutes into ABC's broadcast of the82nd Academy Awards, Cablevision and ABC reached a deal, restoring WABC and WPVI's signals for Cablevision subscribers after a nearly 21-hour blackout.[77]
In July 2010, ABC's parent company Disney announced that it was involved in a carriage dispute withTime Warner Cable (nowSpectrum), its first with that provider in 10 years. This dispute involved four ABC owned-and-operated stations (WABC-TV and sister stations KABC-TV, WTVD andWTVG inToledo, Ohio [the latter station would be sold by ABC the next year]),Disney Channel and theESPN networks. If a deal was not in place, the affected stations and cable channels would have been removed from Time Warner Cable andBright House Networks systems across the country. On September 2, 2010, Disney and Time Warner Cable reached a long-term agreement to keep the channels on Time Warner Cable systems.[78]
On August 31, 2023, Disney removed all of its channels, including WABC-TV, two other ABC-owned stations, and the ESPN networks, from Spectrum cable systems due to a carriage dispute, its first with the provider since 2010 when its predecessor, Time Warner Cable, was involved in a dispute with Disney.[79] On September 11, 2023, the stations and their sister cable channels were restored byCharter Communications (the parent company of Spectrum) after the company and Disney reached an agreement.[80]
On September 1, 2024, Disney pulled its networks fromDirecTV after the two sides failed to reach a distribution deal. The removal, which included WABC-TV and ESPN, would ultimately impact theNew York Jets' season-opening game onMonday Night Football against theSan Francisco 49ers (ABC simulcast ESPN's coverage of the game).[81] Disney and DirecTV ended their standoff on September 14, restoring WABC and ESPN to the satellite provider.[82]
Media related toWABC-TV at Wikimedia Commons
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Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of New York | ||
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| Fox | ||
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| The CW | ||
| MyNetworkTV | ||
| Ion Television | ||
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| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of New Jersey | ||
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| Fox | ||
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| The CW | ||
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| Ion Television | ||
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Broadcast television stations by affiliation inNew England | ||
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| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Pennsylvania | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
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| The CW | ||
| MyNetworkTV | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| PBS | ||
| Religious | ||
| Spanish | ||
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| ATSC 3.0 | ||
