WKBW-TV

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WKBW-TV, Channel 7, is a television station in Buffalo, New York. It is the ABC affiliate for the Buffalo television market, and is one of many local Buffalo TV stations seen over-the-air and on cable in Canada. Its transmitter is located at 8909 Center Street in Colden, New York. The station is currently owned by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation, who also operates Equity Broadcasting-owned Retro Television Network affiliate WNGS under a local marketing agreement (LMA). For many years, it was carried via microwave to cable systems in such areas as Corning and Horseheads for ABC service; this ended when WENY-TV signed on.

History

The Channel 7 frequency was hotly contested during the 1950s; the Buffalo Courier-Express and former WBUF-TV owner Sherwin Grossman tried several times to gain rights to the channel (to compete with The Buffalo News's WBEN-TV) but was unable to secure a license. The competition for the channel continued to grow when the city's first UHF station, WBES-TV, failed. Clinton Churchill, original owner of 50,000 watt radio station WKBW AM 1520 in Buffalo, was granted the license to operate the station in 1957.

WKBW was originally intended to be an independent station. However, when NBC closed its owned and operated station, WBUF-TV(now WNED-TV), on September 30, 1958, then-ABC affiliate WGR-TV (now WGRZ-TV) went back to NBC. As a result of the network shuffle, WKBW-TV premiered as ABC's new Buffalo affiliate when it went on the air on November 30, 1958. The station was originally located at 1420 Main Street, and remained there until it moved to its current location at 7 Broadcast Plaza in downtown Buffalo in 1978.

Churchill sold the WKBW stations to Capital Cities Communications in 1961. CapCities would serve as WKBW-TV's longest tenured owner, having owned it and its radio sister for 25 years, and the station would reach its peak during Capital Cities' ownership. WKBW-TV produced iconic children's programing such as Rocketship 7 and The Commander Tom Show from the 1960s through the 1980s. A staple of its morning programing for many years was Dialing for Dollars, which later became AM Buffalo after the Dialing for Dollars franchise was discontinued. AM Buffalo still airs today.

When Capital Cities merged with ABC in 1986, it sold WKBW-TV to Queen City Broadcasting, a minority-owned firm, instead of becoming an ABC O&O. At that point WKBW radio was sold to Price Communications and renamed WWKB (currently owned by Entercom Communications).

In 1995, Queen City Broadcasting merged with Granite Broadcasting. Granite has since remained WKBW-TV's owner.

Until 2000, lottery drawings were shown on WKBW-TV (they have since moved to WGRZ).

News

From 1970 until 2003, WKBW called its news operation "Eyewitness News." However, since 1973, it borrowed most of the basic elements of the "Action News" format used at longtime sister station WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, combined with the format news director Irv Weinstein developed and called "Rock 'n' Roll Radio News" (modified for television). It even used Move Closer to Your World, the theme song made famous by WPVI.

Weinstein was WKBW's main anchor from 1964 until his retirement in 1998, doubling as news director for most of that time. From 1965 to 1989, he was partnered with sports director Rick Azar and weatherman Tom Jolls (who did double duty as host of Commander Tom); the three formed the longest continuing anchor team in television history until Azar's retirement in 1989.

The station's morning show began in about 1987 as Good Morning Western New York, which started at 6 a.m. ET before moving up to 5:30 a.m. in 1996. It currently starts at 5 a.m.. Between 2000 and 2003, the morning show was known as Eyewitness News This Morning, and now it is known as 7 News This Morning. WKBW was the first station in western New York to produce a morning news program.

From about 1989 until February 1997, the station identified itself as News Channel 7, but kept the Eyewitness News name for posterity, resulting in rather long station announcements (eg. "From WKBW-TV News Channel 7, this is Eyewitness News at 5"). During this era, they also reorchestrated the theme with a more futuristic synthesizer-based version. From 1998 to 2002, they used the slogan "Your Hometown Advantage."

Eyewitness News had been the most-watched newscast in the Buffalo market for many years, and was at times even more popular in the Toronto market than local Toronto news. Some critics have contended this was due to Canadian viewers' attitudes that local Toronto TV news was "staid" and "boring" as contrasted with WKBW's "tabloid" and "sensational" style of production, with American TV stations approaching local news coverage as a "product" rather than a "public service," as is Canada's tradition. However, in recent years, the ratings began to slip (although it was still very much a three-way battle between the three local news stations), and eventually rival WIVB overtook the #1 spot. WKBW decided to abandon their previous heritage and adopt a new identity, thus bringing the Eyewitness News era to an unceremonious end. The station's newscast were rebranded as 7 News in 2003, and Move Closer to Your World was dropped in favor of a more contemporary piece of news music (Right Here, Right Now by 615 Music). The slogan, since 2002, has been the alliterative phrase "Live, Local, Late- Breaking," a phrase that has been used on stations across the country. So far, the cosmetic changes do not appear to have restored the station to its former glory; in fact, the moves seem to have backfired and the station has since fallen to a distant third, behind WIVB and WGRZ, according to Nielsen ratings. Ratings continue to fall even further behind its rivals as the station approaches its 50th anniversary in 2008.

Channel 7 also produced a sport show called Sportsnite, a nightly sports talk program hosted by WKBW's sports department, that aired weeknights at 7:00 p.m. ET on WNGS. However, in April 2007, due to very poor ratings despite a barrage of heavy advertising, the Buffalo Sabres being in the playoffs and the upcoming 2007 NFL Draft, Sportsnite was cancelled. [1]. WNGS was not available on satellite providers during Sportsnite's run, thus limiting the show's audience.

WKBW-TV partners with Greater Niagara Newspapers, owners of the Niagara Gazette, Tonawanda News, The Journal-Register and the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal, for some of its news reporting. In addition, Buffalo Business First produces the station's business reports.

Local programming

• AM Buffalo and PM Buffalo with Linda Pellegrino - 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. ET, respectively. The show, which dates back to 1978 after the cancellation of the local version of Dialing for Dollars, features two types of segments: "talk segments," similar to talk radio shows where viewers call in and discuss the issues of the day with Pellegrino, and paid segments, with paid sponsors as "guests" (for instance, a local attorney such as Herschel Gelber or Steve Boyd (a former Channel 7 reporter) will appear to give legal advice or insight and to advertise their services, Hughesco will air a home improvement segment, or the local anti-tobacco lobby will come onto the show to discuss their latest campaign). The show only had an "AM" version prior to 2004; the "PM" version is primarily reruns of the "AM" paid segments.

• Polka Time was a polka program that aired during the 1960s. It was hosted by polka legend Frankie Yankovic and a house band known as "The New Yorkers" during its first season; Yankovic, who commuted from Cleveland, left the show after 26 weeks. The New Yorkers stayed on the show with various guest stars.

• Rocketship 7, a morning children's show, was hosted by weatherman Dave Thomas (a.k.a. "Dave Roberts" of WPVI, born David Thomas Boreanaz, father of actor David Boreanaz) and "Promo the Robot" from 1962 until Thomas left the station for Philadelphia's WPVI-TV in 1978 (changing his on-air moniker to Dave Roberts in the process). Thomas also hosted Dialing for Dollars which became AM Buffalo in the mid-1970s.

• The Commander Tom Show was an afternoon children's show hosted by another WKBW weatherman, Tom Jolls from 1965 until budget cuts forced its cancellation in 1991. In its last decade, the show aired on weekends only.

• A revival of Rocketship 7 aired from 1992 to 1993 immediately after "Commander Tom" was cancelled; this version, effectively a retooled version of "Commander Tom" with new hosts, featured Commander Mike (Randall) and sidekick "Yeoman Bob," with guest appearances by Commander Tom.

• Off Beat Cinema, a collection of offbeat B-movies, was created at WKBW in 1993 and features Buffalo native "Airborne Eddy" Dobosiewicz as the beatnik host "Maxwell Truth". Through independent syndication efforts the show has become a cult hit throughout the US and Canada. It airs locally Saturdays in the late night hours and is syndicated to various stations across North America.

• 97 Rock Ball Drop is an annual tradition held on New Year's Eve. Billed as the second-largest New Year's Eve ball drop in the United States (behind only the more famous Times Square Ball), the event is televised in synchronized split screen alongside Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve and has been carried by the station since 1988.

• Buffalo Bills football - WKBW-TV is the "Home of the Bills" and airs both its preseason games and any games carried on a cable outlet (ESPN or, if the situation arose, NFL Network).

Internet initiatives

WKBW has been proactive in its ventures on the Internet. The station was among the first in Western New York to launch a Web site in the mid-1990s. More recently, it was the first to offer RSS feeds and podcasts.

WKBW streams its noon newscasts via live video on the Internet, one of the few major network affiliates to offer a video stream. (The video feed is no longer linked on WKBW.com as of April 2007 but is still in operation video feed.) On demand video of newscasts is also available.

WKBW redesigned its Web site in April 2007, adding the user-generated content system YouNews TV, a YouTube-like video hosting service centered around news in the Buffalo area.

Financial difficulties and infomercials

Granite Broadcasting, WKBW's owner, has filed for bankruptcy. As a result, the station group as a whole has been hit hard by financial difficulties. Long time anchors have either been dismissed or seen significant pay cuts. The station is the only one in the market that does not produce a 10 p.m. newscast, nor does it produce a weekend morning newscast, while the other two stations in the market have both. The station is also short-handed (when compared to other stations in the market) in terms of staffing in sports and weather. Additionally, regularly scheduled programming is increasingly being replaced by infomercials, including syndicated programming such as Wheel of Fortune, which now preempted often.

Labor disputes have also have marred the station. View more information on the Labor Issues by going to, Nabet 25

Personalities

News Anchors

• Keith Radford- 7 News at 5, 6, & 11 P.M.
• Joanna Pasceri- 7 News at 5 , 6, & 11 P.M.
• Melanie Pritchard- 7 News at 5:30 P.M. (will be leaving May 2008 to pursue a career in real estate)
• Patrick Taney- 7 News at 5:30 P.M.
• Ginger Geoffery- 7 News Weekend/fill-in sports
• Bridget Blythe- 7 News this Morning and Noon

Sports

• Jeff Russo
• Shawn Stepner
• Tim Schmitt (Fill-in)

Weather

• Mike Randall - Chief Meteorologist
• Aaron Mentkowski - Morning and noon
• Jennifer Stanonis - Weekends/Fill in (also a reporter)
• Dave Cash - Emergency fill in/Traffic

News Reporters

• Steve Barber
• John Borsa
• Julie Fine
• Laura Gray
• Sharon Osorio
• Adam Francis
• Jenny Rizzo
• Elizabeth Carey
• Kyla Igoe
• Heather DuBose

AM/PM Buffalo

• Linda Pellegrino
• Jon Summers

Former

• Tom Jolls, Weather Forecaster/Commander Tom Show (as Commander Tom - 1965-1991) (1965 - 1999). Retired.
• Irv Weinstein, reporter/anchor (1964 - 1998). Retired.
• Rick Azar, Sports (1958 - 1989). Retired.
• Rick Zurak - 1989-1995 - Sports - Labeled "The Fun Anchor" won viewers with his risky broadcasts and fun loving style. Retired and is now the head of the New York State Junior Golf Tour and Rick Zurak's Golf Warehouse
• Bob Koshinski - 1988-1991 - Sports - Went on to found the Empire Sports Network.
• Danny Neaverth - 1970s - Weather. Better known as a disc jockey; now retired.
• Kathleen Leighton, News (1989 - 2001); now does work as a voice talent in political ads, primarily for the Republican Party.
• Andy Parker, Meteorologist, Good Morning WNY, Eyewitenss News (1992 - 2000). Now at WGRZ.
• Maria Genero, Co-anchor of 5PM Newscasts (2001 - 2004). Co-anchor of Eyewitness News This Morning, Eyewitness News at Noon/7 News This Morning, 7 News at Noon, now host of WNY Living! at rival WGRZ-TV.
• Jim Gardner (1974-1976) Anchor, left for WPVI
• Dave Thomas (Dave Thomas Boreanaz), Dialing for Dollars/Rocketship 7 (1960s - 1978, promoted to WPVI-TV under the alias "Dave Roberts")
• Nolan Johannes, co-host of Dialing for Dollars (1960s - 1978, left for WNEP-TV)
• Liz Dribben, co-host of Dialing for Dollars (1960s - 1978)
• Clip Smith (1971 - 1989) Sports/Weather - Died in a car crash in August 2004
• Tim Fleischer - (1978-1982) Now with WABC-TV in New York
• Mark Thompson (TV) - Now a Fox announcer
• Michael Evans - reporter (1988-1991; now at WPVI-TV In Philadelphia)
• Susan Banks - 1977-1981, 1990 - December 13, 2006. Banks' sudden retirement from WKBW came just two days after an announcement was made that the station's owner, Granite Broadcasting, had filed for bankruptcy protection. Banks was one of the highest paid television personalities in the Buffalo market.
• Ann Edwards - First anchor of Good Morning Western New York, left to create own real estate company.
• Sheila Mahoney - Reporter/anchor, 1988-circa 1997. Originally a weekend anchor, Mahoney went on maternity leave in the early 1990s and then returned as anchor of the morning newscast, "Good Morning Western New York," before leaving on maternity again in the mid 1990s and not returning.
• Jean Hill - longtime weekend anchor, later moved to mornings after the departure of Mahoney and Leighton. Left in the 1990s, and currently works as vice president of Corporate Communications at M&T Bank in Buffalo.
• Steve Boyd - another longtime weekend anchor, left in the 1990s to pursue law. He is now a personal injury attorney and still occasionally appears on AM Buffalo.
• Ken Houston - 2004-2006 5:30 anchor/ 11 p.m. reporter. Now at Bridges News
• Pete Kenworthy - WNY Live reporter 2003/ 7 News this morning anchor 2004-March 23, 2007.
• Don Polec- Feature/Funny man for the station in the 1980's, before leaving for WPVI-TV.
• Stefan Mychaijliw - Former host of Good Morning Western New York, was recently at WGRZ-TV and currently serves as spokesman for Buffalo Public Schools.
• Don Postles - Former co-anchor with Irv Weinstein, now the head anchor of rival WIVB-TV's nightly newscast.
• Luke Moretti - Anchor, 1990s - Now an investigative reporter at WIVB-TV.
• John Murphy - 1989-September 16, 2007. Murphy was Azar's successor and served as the station's sports anchor for 18 years. A contract dispute, in which Murphy was reportedly expected to take a twenty-percent pay cut, led to his departure. Now at WIVB-TV.
• Aaron Baskerville- 2004-2007, left for CLTV
• Erika Von Tiehl - 2005-2007 - reporter/ morning anchor. Left to anchor at WFOR-TV in Miami.
• Grace Polanski - 2002-2004 - WNY Live Anchor, now at FOX21 News at Nine weekends - Colorado
• Helen Tederous - 1997-2005 - Reporter and also PM Buffalo co-host
• Linda White - 2002-2003 - First anchor of WNY Live
• Kristin Wedemeyer - 2001-2004 - Weekend "weather forecaster"/meteorologist
• Pat Tomasulo - 2003-2006 - Fill-in sports anchor, now at WGN
• Joe Major - Weekend sports anchor circa 2000. Weekend news anchor and Sabres and Bills beat reporter on WECK.
• Jerry Azar - Sports anchor from the late 1980's to mid 1990's. No relation to Rick Azar. Now at WBBR.
• Tracy Humphrey - Weather Anchor - 1998-2000. Later weekend weather at WNYW (2003-2007) now morning/noon weather anchor at CBS 5 in San Francisco, CA

Trivia

• The station has laid claim to being the first station to use the phrase "It's 11:00. Do you know where your children are?"[2] According to lore, beginning the 11pm Newscast with the phrase originated in the early 1960s and was the idea of a local news viewer in Buffalo, who proposed the idea to Irv Weinstein, who later approved of the idea. The viewer was not paid for the slogan, which is now used by many stations across the country (although ironically, WKBW, since its 2003 image restructuring, no longer uses the phrase). The phrase is also attributed to WNEW-TV anchor Bill Jorgensen, who began using a similar phrase for that station's 10:00 newscasts at approximately the same time.

• WKBW was a sister station to WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for many years. As a result, many of WKBW's personnel were promoted to WPVI, including Jim Gardner, Dave Thomas/Dave Roberts, Don Polec and Jeff Kaye. Also, the two stations had similar styles to their newscasts, including identical theme songs (Move Closer to Your World by Al Ham). The two stations were split up in 1988 when ABC bought WKBW's and WPVI's parent company; because of the larger market, ABC decided to keep WPVI and spin off WKBW to local ownership (WKBW is now owned by Granite Broadcasting; WPVI remains owned by ABC).

• Former Rocketship 7 host Dave Roberts (born David Thomas Boreanaz), now principal weathercaster on ABC-owned WPVI in Philadelphia, is the father of actor David Boreanaz, formerly star of the "Angel" spinoff from "Buffy, The Vampire Slayer" and now star of the Fox network series "Bones".

• The station was featured in the movie Bruce Almighty, starring Jim Carrey and Jennifer Aniston. In the movie, Carrey's character was a reporter for Eyewitness News before getting fired, and was then reinstated as its main anchor. He finds a new meaning for the station's call letters as he is thrown out of building, Wimpy Kitty Baby Whiners. Additionally, WKBW sports reporter John Murphy was the only real member from the station featured in the movie; he was shown on Bruce's TV in the beginning. The station was featured at the beginning of Evan Almighty, the sequel to Bruce Almighty, with Steve Carell as the outgoing anchorman for 7 News. A WKBW crew is also shown later in the film.

• Irv Weinstein, Tom Jolls and Rick Azar hold the record for the 2nd longest on air anchor team from 1965 - 1989. Dick Nourse, Bob Welti and Paul James, from Salt Lake City's KSL-TV hold the record for the longest on-air anchor team, from 1965 to 1991.

• Liz Dribben, in addition to being co-host of "Dialing for Dollars", was one of the first female journalists in the country. Dribben got her start at WKBW-TV in 1959 as a publicist.

• WKBW was once the top rated ABC-affiliated station in the country. A number of factors contributed to this. Cynics will point to the fact that WKBW's prime location on the VHF portion of the dial, in an era when most ABC affiliates were weaker UHF stations, was the cause of this. However, in recent years, rivals WGRZ-TV and WIVB-TV have earned similar accolades for their news broadcasts, which would indicate that Buffalo residents generally watch more local television than other markets.

• The Annual Variety Club Telethon is the longest running locally produced telethon in the country. Originally 24 hours in length, it was shortened to 12 hours in 2006.

• Irv Weinstein's first name is actually "Irwin".

• The first studios for WKBW-TV (at 1420 Main Street) were converted in 1958 from a church, original station owner Clinton Churchill's Tabernacle. The building now once again houses a Religious Organization. Fellowship Christian Center, ironically is home to WHLD-AM 1270, the regions first and only 24 hour black gospel radio station, pioneered by local pastor and radio and television broadcaster John H. Young, Sr.. The tower that once held the microwave relay antenna sending programming to the station's transmitter in Colden, NY remains atop the roof. The former studios have been reconverted back into their original use as a worship center.

• Many Canadian born stars grew up watching and have fond memories WKBW-TV and have mentioned it from time to time in various local and nation interviews including Mike Myers, Howie Mandel, John Candy and Jim Carrey (the aforementioned star of Bruce Almighty). WKBW anchorman Irv Weinstein was one of the inspirations for Eugene Levy's SCTV character Earl Camembert.

• Former Eyewitness News reporter Stefan Mychajliw was the first journalist to ask Hillary Clinton about her marital intentions with President Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

• WKBW has had the same call signs throughout its entire existence. It is the only VHF station in Buffalo that can make that claim (WUTV, a UHF station, also has had the same calls), and has held its calls longer than any other station in the Buffalo market.

• WKBW meteorologist Mike Randall is known for his impersonations of Mark Twain, and performs in character at events around the Western New York region. He has his own YouTube channel at [3].

See also

• WNGS
• Do you know where your children are?

External links

• WKBW's official site
• Rocketship 7 Tribute site
• Commander Tom
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