WRC-TV

Washington, D.C. United States
Channels	Digital: 34 (UHF), shared withWZDC-CD Virtual: 4
Branding	NBC 4;News 4
Programming
Affiliations	4.1:NBC for others, see§ Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	NBC Owned Television Stations (NBC Telemundo LicenseLLC)
Sister stations	WZDC-CD
History
First air date	June 27, 1947 (78 years ago) (1947-06-27)
Former call signs	WNBW (1947–1954)
Former channel numbers	Analog: 4 (VHF, 1947–2009) Digital: 48 (UHF, 1998–2019)
Call sign meaning	Radio Corporation of America (NBC's former parent)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	47904
ERP	1,000kW
HAAT	244 m (801 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	38°56′24″N77°4′53″W / 38.94000°N 77.08139°W /38.94000; -77.08139
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	www.nbcwashington.com

WRC-TV (channel 4) is atelevision station inWashington, D.C. It isowned and operated by theNBC television network via itsNBC Owned Television Stations division. Under common ownership withClass ATelemundo outletWZDC-CD (channel 44), the two stations share studio and transmitter facilities on Nebraska Avenue in theTenleytown neighborhood ofNorthwest Washington.^[2]

Through achannel sharing agreement, both stations transmit using WRC-TV's spectrum from a tower adjacent to their studios.

The station traces its roots toexperimental television station W3XNB, which was put on the air by theRadio Corporation of America, the then-parent company of NBC, in 1939. A construction permit with the commercialcallsign WNBW (standing for "NBC Washington") was first issued on channel 3 (60–66 MHz, numbered channel 2 prior to 1946)^[3] on December 23, 1941. NBC requested this permit to be cancelled on June 29, 1942; channel 3 was reassigned toHarrisonburg, Virginia (WHSV-TV) in 1953.^[4][5]

On June 27, 1947, WNBW was re-licensed on channel 4 and signed on the air. Channel 4 is the second-oldest commercially licensed television station in Washington, afterWTTG (channel 5), which signed on seven months earlier in December 1946. WNBW was also the second of the five original NBC-owned television stations to sign-on, behindWNBT in New York City and ahead ofWNBQ in Chicago,WNBK inCleveland andKNBH in Los Angeles. The station was operated alongside WRC radio (980 AM, nowWTEM, and 93.9 FM, nowWKYS).

On October 18, 1954, the television station's call sign changed to the present WRC-TV to match its radio sisters.^[6] The new calls reflected NBC's ownership at the time by RCA. It has retained its "-TV" suffix to this day, nearly four decades after the radio stations were sold off and changed call letters.

In 1955, while in college (at the nearbyUniversity of Maryland) and serving as a puppeteer on a WRC-TV program,Jim Henson was asked to create a puppet show for the station. The series he created,Sam and Friends, was the first series to featurethe Muppets, and launched theJim Henson Company.^[7]

The second presidential debate between candidatesJohn F. Kennedy andRichard M. Nixon was broadcast from the station's studios on October 7, 1960.David Brinkley's Washington segment of theHuntley-Brinkley Report originated at WRC-TV between 1956 and 1970, as did Washington reports or commentaries by Brinkley orJohn Chancellor onNBC Nightly News in the 1970s.

The earliestcolor videotape in existence is a recording of the dedication of WRC-TV's Washington studios on May 22, 1958. PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower spoke at the event, introduced by NBC PresidentRobert W. Sarnoff. Before Eisenhower spoke, Sarnoff pushed a button, which converted the previously black and white signal into color. It was also the first time a U.S. president had been videotaped in color.^[8][9]

At the time of its sign-on, channel 4 was one of two wholly network-owned stations in Washington, the other beingDuMont's WTTG. DuMont was shut down in 1956, and for the next 30 years, WRC-TV was Washington's only networkowned-and-operated station.

From the opening of its Nebraska Avenue facility in 1958 through 2020, WRC-TV housedNBC News' Washington bureau, out of which the network's long-running political affairs programMeet the Press was based.^[10][11] In January 2021, NBC News moved the bureau near Capitol Hill.^[12]

In September 2017, NBC announced they were to launch a newTelemundo owned-and-operated station based out of WRC-TV.ZGS Communications, owner of Washington's existing Telemundo affiliateWZDC-CD (channel 25), sold the station's channel allocation in theFederal Communications Commission (FCC)'s 2017–18incentive auction, accepting a $66 million payout to turn off its signal and continue operations by sharing the channel of another station. A Telemundo spokesperson stated that the sale of WZDC's spectrum "gave us the ability to take back the Telemundo affiliation for this market", without elaborating what that meant.^[13][14][15] NBC later purchased WZDC-CD with the intention of moving its over-the-air signal to that of WRC-TV through a channel-sharing agreement.^[16]

NBC took control of WZDC-CD on January 1, 2018, and added a temporary relay to WRC-TV's digital subchannel 4.3.^[17] The channel-sharing agreement took effect on March 7, 2018.^[18] Under the agreement, WZDC shares WRC-TV's physical signal as a subchannel would and is managed with its ownvirtual channel number and license. WZDC's virtual channel changed from 25.1 to 44.1 to avoid a conflict withWDVM-TV, which also occupies virtual channel 25.1.^[19]

Because of its ownership by the network, WRC-TV generally carries the entire NBC network schedule. However, the station airsNBC Nightly News at 7 p.m. (rather than 6:30 p.m. as with most NBC stations in theEastern Time Zone); this is due to an hour-long 6 p.m. newscast. The weekend edition of the network's newscast airs at its usual 6:30 p.m. time slot. Despite being the originating station ofMeet the Press for most of the show's history, it airs on a 90-minute delay at 10:30 a.m., competing head-to-head withCBS'Face the Nation.

WRC-TV previously housedIt's Academic, which premiered in 1961 and is the longest-running game show in television history according to theGuinness Book of World Records (as of October 29, 2022, it is now aired onPBS member stationWETA-TV).Sam and Friends, Jim Henson's late-night precursor toSesame Street andThe Muppet Show, got its start on WRC-TV on May 9, 1955. WRC-TV served as the production facilities for the original run ofThe McLaughlin Group from its premiere in 1982 until May 2008, when the production facilities moved toTegna Inc.-owned CBS affiliate and WRC-TV's rivalWUSA and it remained until the original show's ending in 2016.

WRC-TV was the over-the-air home ofWashington Commanders (formerly the Washington Redskins) preseason games from2009 through2023. Before the Comcast–NBC Universal merger, games were syndicated to over-the-air stations only instandard definition, with actual rights-holder CSN Mid-Atlantic (later NBC Sports Washington, nowMonumental Sports Network) exclusively airing the high definition broadcast.

WRC-TV presently broadcasts 45 hours, 55 minutes of locally produced newscasts each week (with 7 hours, 35 minutes each weekday; three hours on Saturdays and five hours on Sundays). By 2001, WRC's newscasts had all been rated number one in the market, with some of the success attributed toJim Vance andDoreen Gentzler, who anchored together from 1989 until Vance's death in 2017. Vance had been with Channel 4 since 1969, and was promoted to anchor three years later.^[20] In the May 2010 sweeps, it placed first at 5 a.m., 6 a.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. in total viewers, and first at 6 a.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. in the 25–54 demo. It still leads most time slots today, although WTTG's morning news and WJLA's 11 p.m. news have given it much competition in the 25–54 demo.

In 1974, WRC-TV adopted theNewsCenter branding, following the three other NBC-owned stations at the time in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago in adopting theNewsCenter branding.

In 1975, the station adoptedMFSB's song "My Mood" as the closing theme music for the 6 p.m. newscast every Friday, which remains in use by the station today.^[21][22] Michael Randall commissioned the news theme for WRC-TV entitled "NewsCenter Theme", which was used by the station until 1986; also,Charlie Rose was hired by WRC-TV after his short stint atKXAS-TV inDallas and hosted theCharlie Rose Show from its premiere in 1980 until he left the station in 1984 forCBS News. The station also hiredGeorge Michael as sports anchor, eventually launching the nationally syndicated programThe George Michael Sports Machine, which originated from the studios of WRC-TV from its entire run from 1984 until 2007 (The George Michael Sports Machine was distributed by the station's sister companyNBCUniversal Television Distribution).

In 1982, after 8 years of using theNewsCenter branding, the news branding was changed toChannel 4 News. The station added a 5 p.m. newscast in 1984. On September 7, 1987, the station changed its news branding toNews 4. In 1989, the station used a new promotional campaign "We Work Well Together", produced by Music Oasis, which was also adopted as its news theme until 1992. In 1991, WRC-TV added a morning newscast under the title ofNews 4 Today. From January 14 to October 25, 1991, the station also produced a 7:30 p.m. newscast for then-independent station WFTY (nowCW affiliateWDCW) entitled7:30 News Headlines. The newscast suffered low ratings throughout its run.

In 1993, the station adopted the news music theme entitled "Working 4 You", which also serves as a current station slogan for News 4. In 1994, WRC-TV expanded a late weekday newscast from 4:30 p.m. to a full-hour at 4 p.m.615 Music remixed the theme in 1997, this time under the title of "Working For You". The theme was also used by other NBC affiliates (includingWHO-TV inDes Moines, Iowa,KPLC inLake Charles, Louisiana,WPSD-TV inPaducah, Kentucky, andWEAU inEau Claire, Wisconsin). In 2002, WRC-TV adopted "The Tower" news theme commissioned by 615 Music from Chicago sister station WMAQ-TV with the notes of the "Working For You" theme as a musical trademark added only in the news opens. The "Working For You" theme continued to be used as a closing theme for all of its newscasts. Both "Working For You" and "The Tower V.1 with Working For You" were both in use by the station until 2008, when they switched toGari Media Group's "The NBC Collection" now with added notes of the "Working For You" theme.

On January 14, 2009, WRC-TV and WTTG entered into aLocal News Service (called LNS) agreement in which the two stations pool video and share news helicopter footage. The agreement is similar to ones already made between Fox and NBC owned-and-operated stations in Chicago (WMAQ-TV andWFLD) andPhiladelphia (WCAU andWTXF).^[23] WUSA later joined that agreement. In 2012, News Director Camille Edwards announced the station would no longer participate in LNS, but the stations would continue to share the helicopter. In 2016, the station launched its own helicopter, Chopper4.

On April 8, 2010, the station began test broadcasts of its news programming in high definition during local news updates seen duringToday; regular newscasts continued to be broadcast in standard definition. WRC-TV started broadcasting its newscasts from a temporary set on February 8, 2010, while "upgrades" were being made on its main set and the station made final adjustments for its switch to high definition. On April 22, 2010, WRC became the fourth (and final)English-language television station in the Washington, D.C.market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. It is the only station in the Washington market that shoots most of its remote field video in16:9widescreen; other stations still shoot live field video in4:3 and then eitherpillarbox or stretch this content to widescreen—though WRC's field video is shot in standard definition.

On September 15, 2014, the station's newscasts shifted to a full 16:9 widescreen presentation, therefore becoming the third English-language television station in the Washington, D.C. market to do so, following Tegna-owned CBS affiliate WUSA (January 2013) and Fox-owned WTTG (August 2013). In conjunction with this, the newscast title was changed to a variation of the station's NBC 4 logo and also, its longtime newscast theme music was heavily updated. Also, the station's "Look F" graphics package from NBC ArtWorks, which was introduced 2 years earlier (May 2012), was reformatted for the 16:9 presentation.

On June 29, 2016, the station officially began using the "Look N" graphics package that was first adopted by sister station WNBC (which began using the package on June 11), becoming the sixth NBC-owned station to use this package, followingWVIT (June 13),WTVJ (also on June 13), KXAS-TV (June 20) and WMAQ-TV (testing on June 21; full usage beginning June 28).

On July 31, 2017, WRC-TV became the first station in Washington, D.C. to expand its morning newscasts to 4 am. In May 2018, after 10 years of using "The NBC Collection with Working for You" news theme, the station brought back 615 Music's "The Tower" news theme, this time without the famous "Working for You" musical trademark; the news theme was previously used with the "Working for You" signature only in the news opens from 2002 until 2008^{[clarification needed]}; the theme has also been used by sister station WVIT since 2016.

On October 19, 2021, WRC-TV became the last station in the group to introduce their "Look S" graphics, beginning with the 4 p.m. newscast.

Starting withNews 4 Today on February 27, 2023, WRC-TV's newscasts moved to a new studio that formerly housedMeet the Press, where an entirely new set debuted for the first time in almost 13 years.

On August 12, 2024, WRC-TV's morning newscast moved its starting time back to 4:25 a.m., leaving WTTG as the only station in the Washington market to start its morning newscast at 4 a.m. On that same day, the previously online-only 7:30 p.m. newscastNews 4 Rundown started airing on the station.

In 2025, the station established a partnership with the Montgomery County bureau ofThe Baltimore Banner. Banner journalists will appear on WRC and its Telemundo sister station.^[24]

• Tony Perkins – anchor
• Eun Yang – anchor

• Miguel Almaguer – reporter (2006–2009)
• Jess Atkinson – sports anchor (1990–1996)^[25]
• Shannon Bream – anchor (2004–2007)^[26]
• Nick Charles – sports anchor/reporter (1976–1979)^[27]
• Katie Couric – reporter (1987–1989)^[28]
• Lindsay Czarniak – sports anchor/reporter (2005–2011)^[29]
• Steve Doocy – features reporter (1983–1989)
• Peter Ford – news anchor (1988–1992)
• Doreen Gentzler – anchor (1989–2022)^[30]
• Angie Goff – anchor (2011–2018)
• Savannah Guthrie – reporter (2000–2002)
• Robert Hager – reporter (1960s)
• Mike Hambrick – anchor (1982–1985)
• Steve Handelsman – reporter (1984–2017)
• Richard C. Harkness – Washington correspondent for NBC network and local radio/TV news anchor (1942–1970)
• Leon Harris – anchor (2017–2025)
• Jim Hartz – anchor (1977–1979)^[31]
• Dan Hellie – sports anchor (2006–2013)^[32]
• Cathy Hobbs – anchor/reporter (1994–1997)
• Joe Johns – reporter (1983–1993)
• Veronica Johnson – meteorologist (2000–2016)
• Susan King – anchor/reporter (1983–1987)
• Joe Krebs – anchor/reporter (1980–2012)^[33]
• Suzanne Malveaux – reporter (1996-1999)
• Dave Marash – anchor (1985–1989)
• Marjorie Margolies – reporter (1975–1990)
• Doug McKelway – anchor/reporter (1992–2001)
• Craig Melvin – anchor (2008–2011)
• George Michael – sports anchor/reporter; former host ofThe George Michael Sports Machine (1980–2008)^[34]
• Wendy Rieger – anchor (1988–2021)^[35]
• Bob Ryan – chief meteorologist (1980–2010)^[36]
• Jim Rosenfield – anchor (2012–2013)
• Dianna Russini – sports anchor/reporter (2013–2015)
• Willard Scott – NBC page (1950),Bozo the Clown (1959–1962), weather anchor (1968–1980)^[37][38]
• Sue Simmons – anchor/reporter (1976–1980)
• Jim Vance – anchor (1969–2017)^[39]

WRC-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal, onVHF channel 4, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United Statestransitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcast on its pre-transitionUHF channel 48,^[41] using virtual channel 4.

The station participated in the "Analog Nightlight" program, with its analog signal carrying information on the digital transition until analog signal broadcasts were permanently discontinued on June 26, 2009.

Beginning in 1996, WRC-TV's studios were the home ofWHD-TV, an experimentalhigh definition television station owned by aconsortium of industry groups and stations which carried the nation's first program in the format transmitted by a television station, an episode ofMeet the Press,^[42] and aired on UHF channel 34 to provide the FCC and theNational Association of Broadcasters a channel to conduct many experiments in the new format.^[43][44] WHD-TV was discontinued around 2002.

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