An independent station is a broadcast station, usually a television station , not affiliated with a larger broadcast network . As such, it only broadcasts syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered programming, for which a third party pays the station for airtime; and local programs that it produces itself.
139-509: WHDH (channel 7) is an independent television station in Boston, Massachusetts , United States. It is owned by Sunbeam Television alongside Cambridge -licensed CW affiliate WLVI (channel 56). WHDH and WLVI share studios at Bulfinch Place (near Bowdoin Square and Government Center ) in downtown Boston ; through a channel sharing agreement , the two stations transmit using WHDH's spectrum from
278-542: A CBS owned-and-operated station ). On January 1, 2017, after losing NBC's affiliation to a newly formed owned-and-operated station, WBTS-LD (channel 8, now Telemundo O&O WYCN-LD in Providence, Rhode Island ), WHDH became a news-intensive independent station. The original occupant of the channel 7 allocation in Boston was WNAC-TV , which commenced operations on June 21, 1948, as Boston's second commercial station. Originally
417-519: A CBS affiliate, the station switched to ABC in 1961, but rejoined CBS in 1972. By 1965, WNAC-TV's owner, RKO General , faced numerous investigations into its business and financial practices. Though the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) renewed WNAC-TV's license in 1969, RKO General lost the license in 1981 after its parent company, General Tire , admitted to a litany of corporate misconduct—which among other things, included
556-427: A New Day Dawning", WNEV-TV dropped WNAC-TV's strip-layered "7" logo in favor of a new stylized "SE7EN" logo. However, the new station inherited WNAC-TV's CBS affiliation and syndicated program contracts, and most of the former WNAC-TV staff—including news reporter and anchor Mike Taibbi , who signed the station on the air in a brief ceremony prior to WNEV-TV's first program, CBS' Summer Semester . NETV's mission from
695-478: A Sunday morning religious affairs program, Higher Ground , the weekend talk and advice show Boston Common , the Saturday night newsmagazine Our Times , and Studio 7 , which focused on the arts. In 1987, another of WNEV's ambitious efforts premiered, the hour-long live children's variety show Ready to Go . Featuring Broadway actress/singer Liz Callaway and Scott Reese, who not only hosted but also sang and acted,
834-522: A burden not faced by network-affiliated stations – these factors made prospective owners skittish about signing on a television station as an independent. By the 1970s, however, cable television had gained enough penetration to make independent stations viable in smaller markets. This was especially true in markets that were either located in rugged terrain or covered large areas; in these regions, cable (and later satellite) are all but essential for acceptable television. Nearly 300 independent stations existed in
973-495: A companion series to the syndicated program Inside Edition , appeared on WHDH's fall 1992 daytime schedule. Ellis had been named the host of IE Extra , which was a co-production of WHDH-TV and King World Productions ; Ellis, thus, was employed by Boston's channel 7 yet again, albeit for the national show. IE Extra , which was broadcast from the same New York City studio as Inside Edition , and aired in most markets after its parent series as part of an hour-long IE block (WHDH aired
1112-405: A company-owned station would "[enable] Comcast to increase its monopoly power in the Boston television market, and the resulting decrease in competition will harm consumers, advertisers and other broadcasters." On May 16, 2016, the court granted a request of Comcast to dismiss the lawsuit, Judge Richard Stearn stated the loss of over-the-air coverage "may be a matter of public concern, [but] it is not
1251-561: A complicated six-station affiliation switch in South Florida saw WSVN in Miami switch from NBC to Fox in 1989, the station adopted a news-intensive format unlike any independent station or Fox affiliate prior, a scheduling choice initially ridiculed in local media but which quickly attracted industry attention and saw ratings success. This model was copied by stations owned by New World Communications and SF Broadcasting that switched to Fox in
1390-498: A concern that WHDH has standing to redress," and that "absent any actionable harm attributable to Comcast, it is simply an indurate consequence of doing business in a competitive and unsentimental marketplace." WHDH intended to appeal the dismissal, and filed a notice of appeal on June 14, 2016; in a statement, Ansin said that the station believed "the judge got it all wrong, so we are reviewing our options for an appeal." On August 16, 2016, Ansin announced that he would no longer pursue
1529-531: A cue from CNN); the resulting set/newsroom hybrid was, like at WSVN, dubbed the Newsplex . It continues, and has been gradually updated over the years to reflect the graphical and technological updates done by the station. Chris Clausen was replaced by Scott Chapin, who was the announcer for WSVN since 1988; he continued to announce for both stations until January 2, 2011, when he was replaced by Paul Turner. Chapin returned to WHDH on December 29, 2014, three years after he
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#17328688742511668-402: A deficit, prompting cutbacks on in-house programming as well as in the television station's news department; the most notable effect being the elimination of WHDH-TV's 5 p.m. newscast for two years beginning in 1991. With channel 7's news ratings in third place, minimal help from CBS (which had been in a ratings slump since the end of the 1987–88 television season) and declining profits, Mugar
1807-539: A distinct class of station because their lack of network affiliation led to unique strategies in program content, scheduling, and promotion, as well as different economics compared to major network affiliates. The Big Three networks in the United States — ABC , CBS , and NBC — traditionally provided a substantial number of program hours per day to their affiliates, whereas later network startups— Fox , UPN , and The WB (the latter two were succeeded by The CW and, to
1946-458: A faster-paced format, increased use of graphics and visuals, and more on-the-scene reporting. It even adopted WSVN's version of the Circle 7 logo . While critics were concerned that WHDH would lose even more viewers if it were to adopt WSVN's format entirely, WHDH quickly rebounded to become the number one newscast in Boston for a period. In 1994, WBZ-TV's owner, Westinghouse Broadcasting entered into
2085-541: A full-service variety format, while others are devoted primarily to classic television (such as MeTV ) and/or films, or carry mainly niche programming. Many stations that are affiliated with the larger post-1980s networks still behave much like independents, as they program far more hours a day than a station affiliated with one of the Big Three networks. This is especially the case with MyNetworkTV, whose efforts to offer first-run programming were largely unsuccessful. By 2009,
2224-958: A groupwide affiliation deal with CBS, which resulted in three Group W stations that were affiliated with networks other than CBS—NBC affiliates WBZ-TV, and KYW-TV in Philadelphia , and ABC affiliate WJZ-TV in Baltimore —switching to the network. Fox, already associated with Sunbeam through its affiliation with WSVN, considered an affiliation deal with WHDH (even before the Group W announcement, channel 7 had reportedly been considering dropping CBS for Fox); however, on August 2, 1994, WHDH-TV announced that it had agreed to affiliate with NBC instead of Fox, in part citing NBC's stronger news and sports programming. Fox ultimately chose to acquire its existing affiliate, WFXT (channel 25). WHDH became Boston's NBC affiliate on January 2, 1995, replacing WBZ-TV (which had been with
2363-465: A highly financed promotional campaign employing the refrain "Feel Good About That"), and more positive reviews of the station's newscasts following the appointment of Willis as lead anchor, WNEV still failed to take the competition by storm. In the spring of 1986, Yanoff and Rosser announced that they would try a second lead anchor team for the weeknight 11 p.m. newscasts in the fall. They planned to keep Ellis and Willis on at 6 p.m., while giving
2502-472: A lesser extent, MyNetworkTV )—provided substantially fewer shows to their affiliates. Through the early 1990s, Fox affiliates were often considered independents. The term independent station most often is used to refer to stations with general entertainment formats. Historically, these stations specialized in children's programming, syndicated reruns or first-run shows, and sports coverage. Some independent stations, mostly those once having been affiliated with
2641-464: A longtime anchor at WAGA-TV in Atlanta , joined Kim Carrigan at 5 p.m., 6 p.m., and 11 p.m. Marshall, who had been a CNN anchor, was originally unclear as to what her role with 7 News would be, but ultimately became Margie Reedy's replacement at Noon and the 5 p.m. hour, beside Lester Strong. These two anchoring teams remained in place for the next three years. Gerry Grant departed from
2780-653: A major network affiliation. However, in a broader sense, there are independent stations that focus on a specific genre of television programming. For instance, religious independent stations buy and schedule, or produce locally, evangelism and study programs, and ethnic independent stations purchase or produce programs in specific languages or catering to specific communities. During the 1950s and 1960s, independent stations filled their broadcast hours with movies, sports, cartoons, filmed travelogues , and some locally produced television programs, including in some instances newscasts and children's programs. Independents that were on
2919-922: A major network, produce substantial amounts of news and public affairs programming. The model for these stations was WSVN in Miami , an NBC affiliate that switched to Fox in January 1989 and dramatically expanded its news output. Further affiliation changes and news expansions from the 1990s onward have produced a number of additional stations, such as KTVK in Phoenix (an ABC affiliate until 1995); WJXT in Jacksonville, Florida (a CBS affiliate until 2002); and WHDH in Boston (an NBC affiliate until 2017), as well as stations such as WGN-TV in Chicago and KUSI-TV in San Diego that never held
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#17328688742513058-412: A move that ultimately led to his exit from the station altogether in early December 1986. In August 1987, numerous changes occurred when R.D. Sahl, who had been WNEV's noon anchor on weekdays, joined Kate Sullivan as her new partner on weeknights (Sahl had filled in for Wright on numerous occasions during 1986 and 1987, and heavily in the summer of 1987 when Wright was recovering from a heart attack ). At
3197-475: A national correspondent. She signed off from WHDH shortly after Christmas and began at NBC on January 1, 1994. R.D. Sahl was then sole anchor of the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts, with fill-in anchors from other station positions joining him periodically. In January 1994, the station reinstated a weekday morning newscast, which NETV had cut a few years earlier due to the financial constraints. Sunbeam hired two new anchors, Kim Khazei and Gerry Grant, to helm
3336-748: A network of regional news bureaus known as the New England News Exchange , in which WNEV consulted with other stations (such as WCSH-TV in Portland , WLBZ-TV in Bangor , WFSB in Hartford , WLNE-TV in Providence and WMUR-TV in Manchester ) and print media throughout the region to create a high-powered electronic news gathering organization. Despite a continued massive influx of capital and marketing (including
3475-756: A network programming style as much as possible; but in turn, Fox only carried a late-night talk show at its launch in October 1986, and beginning in April 1987, offered one night of prime time programming a week (on Sundays). The network only programmed two hours of prime time programming each night (and, beginning in the 1990s, some children's programming through Fox Kids ), but gradually expanded its prime time lineup to all seven nights until January 1993. Fox's owned-and-operated stations left INTV in March 1992. The lack of programming in other dayparts forced most Fox affiliates to maintain
3614-468: A new set which incorporated glass panels. The theme ("7 News", composed by Chris Crane, who has made various news themes that have been used by WSVN since 1991) was also quite different, made up of dissonant, droning synth chords. The music evolved in later years, incorporating the NBC chimes , as well as a more orchestral sound. The set was also steadily integrated into the newsroom, much like WSVN's had been (taking
3753-419: A powerful effort at an entertaining and informative program, and praise from critics, Look was a ratings failure; for its second year, the show was cut back to an hour and renamed New England Afternoon before being dropped. WNEV continued to produce talk programs, first with Morning/Live (1984–1987), a half-hour weekday morning talk show hosted by Susan Sikora, and later with the similarly structured Talk of
3892-447: A result of the various network launches that have occurred since the 1986 launch of Fox, true independent stations have become a rarity. The smallest stations, which in the past would have been forced to adopt a locally originated independent program schedule, now have other options – 24-hour-a-day networks that require no local or syndicated programming for the station to carry; some of these networks, such as AMG TV or America One , follow
4031-593: A rotation of male co-anchors, including Lester Strong, Gerry Grant, and Jonathan Hall; however, promotions for these newscasts during this time featured Carrigan as sole anchor. Margie Reedy, meanwhile, remained on the noon and 5 p.m. newscasts until her departure that December. Both Sahl and Reedy would join NECN soon afterward, where (save for Sahl's short-lived stint at KCAL-TV in Los Angeles) they would remain for several years afterward. When WHDH switched to NBC in January 1995,
4170-551: A schedule dominated by shows held over from and an affiliate body primarily made up of stations previously aligned with its two predecessors. Some of the newly independent stations subsequently found a new network home through MyNetworkTV , itself created out of the prospect that the UPN affiliates of corporate sister Fox Television Stations would become independents due to The CW choosing to affiliate with CBS Television Stations and Tribune Broadcasting stations in overlapping markets. As
4309-537: A simulcast of the 10 p.m. newscast that WHDH began producing for WLVI in order to better compete with Fox affiliate WFXT. The network quickly dismissed any move of Leno to any time slot other than 10 p.m., stating that WHDH's plan was a "flagrant" violation of the station's contract with the network and that it would consider moving the NBC affiliation to another Boston area station, either by creating an owned-and-operated station through an "existing broadcast license" in
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4448-495: A standalone basis have become quite rare in the United States and, in turn, independents that are senior partners in duopolies are fairly uncommon. With the proliferation of duopolies and local marketing agreements since that point, most independent stations are operated alongside a major network affiliate (more commonly, one of either ABC, NBC, CBS or Fox), which may share syndicated programming with and/or produce newscasts in non-competitive timeslots for its unaffiliated sister. This
4587-477: A very different program format from their predecessors. While sitcom reruns are still popular, expanded newscasts and other syndicated programs such as talk shows; courtroom shows; reruns of recent scripted comedy and drama series; and no-cost public domain programming are common. Another type of content being added to many independent station lineups in recent years has been brokered programming , including infomercials , home shopping and televangelist programs ;
4726-418: A week from August 31, 1987, to March 6, 1994. Motivated to cultivate an identity to the station that would indirectly help its last-place news ratings, WNEV acquired the lottery from WBZ-TV, which had announced late in 1986 that it would no longer show the games. The arrival of the lottery games was promoted heavily, and went hand-in-hand with the station's on-air image change that fall; the new dotted-7 logo that
4865-602: A week in large numbers; the following week, channel 7 crumbled back to a distant third. WNEV's news department underwent more shakeups, both in talent and identity, due to ongoing sagging ratings. WNEV's inaugural station manager, Winthrop "Win" Baker, and his news director Bill Applegate were both fired in May 1983. Replacing Baker was former WBZ-TV programming head Sy Yanoff, whom Mugar had the utmost confidence in given his track record at channel 4 (both Ellis and Young had worked for Yanoff at separate times, years earlier, at channel 4; this
5004-541: Is an American television journalist best known for his work at NBC News . He retired in 2014, having covered, among other events, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. During his career, Taibbi also worked at CBS News. He is the recipient of an Emmy Award and a four-time recipient of the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award . Taibbi was born Loren Ames Denny to a Filipino - Hawaiian mother, Camila Salinas, in Hawaii, about 1949. At
5143-1039: Is because in most markets, independents tend to have lower viewership than that of a network affiliate, and usually fall within part of the FCC's duopoly criteria (which allows a company to own two stations in the same market if one is not among the four highest-rated at the time of an ownership transaction). 5.4 MyNetworkTV August 16, 1969 (2nd incarnation) July 5, 1976 (current incarnation) April 1, 1971 (2nd incarnation) 68.2 ABC November 1, 1964 (current incarnation) 23.2 ABC 19.2 MeTV/MyNetworkTV 19.2 Independent 55.2 MeTV 7.2 The CW June 1994 (current incarnation) April 30, 1997 (current incarnation) (now WGPX-TV) (now WMYA-TV) (now KSIX-TV) 13.2 Independent 13.3 CBS 13.2 Independent 13.3 Telemundo (now KHII-TV) (now KCVH-LD 6 ) (now KYAZ) 4.2/29.2 Independent (now WNDY-TV) (now WJAX-TV) 30.2 MyNetworkTV/MeTV 30.4 Telemundo 47.4 MyNetworkTV Mike Taibbi Michael G. Taibbi (born c. 1949 )
5282-562: The Boston Business Journal that channel 7 was still pursuing the appeal, saying that "[t]hey have to prepare to be a non-affiliate and have a plan for doing that even though we continue to believe that Comcast did not honor its obligations to us," while conceding that it was unlikely that a court would force NBC to remain on WHDH. On November 1, 2016, NBCUniversal announced that it planned to simulcast NBC Boston on both WNEU's second digital subchannel and on WBTS-LD (now WYCN-LD ),
5421-622: The Central New Jersey Home News while going to Rutgers University. In 1971, Taibbi got the opportunity to be a guest panelist on Firing Line where he, William F. Buckley Jr. and two others interviewed William Kunstler . This landed him a job as investigative reporter at the Boston station WCVB-TV . In 1977 he was London correspondent for ABC News for six months, before returning to Boston, now working for rival station WNAC-TV as reporter and co-anchor. Taibbi worked for WNEV-TV until 1983 when he left to study law at
5560-630: The Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular yearly with Bloomberg Television , returning the event to local television after a one-year absence. It also broadcast A Boston Pops Salute to Our Heroes , which was produced in lieu of the 2020 edition of the event due to its cancellation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic . WNEV/WHDH had exclusive rights to Lottery Live , broadcasting the Massachusetts State Lottery games six nights
5699-722: The Eastern and Pacific time zones, and 9:00 p.m. in the Central and Mountain time zones. Network stations aired their late newscasts an hour later. From the late 1970s through the mid-1980s, independent stations in several U.S. cities, particularly those that had yet to receive a cable franchise, carried a form of a network affiliation through subscription television networks (such as ON TV , Spectrum and SelecTV ); these services – which were formatted very similarly to their pay cable counterparts – ran sports, uncut and commercial-free movies (both mainstream and pornographic , broadcasts of
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5838-486: The Live at Five format at ATV (where he had hosted it from 1982 to 1986), brought the concept to WNEV, which had him and Williams walking around a special newsroom set sans an anchor desk as they presented stories. Featured reporters were seated at assignment desks on the set, as they contributed to the fray and chatted with Wright and Williams. The format soared in the ratings, a true accomplishment long labored by NETV. Ultimately,
5977-508: The Massachusetts State Lottery drawings which were moving to WNEV late that summer. The campaign was primarily launched as a continued attempt to bolster the station's third-place news ratings, and to promote its news-sharing partnership with other TV and radio stations, The New England News Exchange. Throughout the 1980s, WNEV-TV frequently partnered with WHDH radio (850 AM, now WEEI ) for public events such as Project Bread and
6116-507: The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear RKO's appeal, leaving the firm with no further recourse but to accept the Commission's decision and surrender WNAC-TV's license. RKO then sold the station's non-license physical assets, including its studio on Bulfinch Place and transmitter/tower site in suburban Newton, to NETV. RKO General formally surrendered the WNAC-TV license at midnight on May 21, 1982;
6255-674: The University of Chicago Law School . In 1984, Taibbi was hired by WNBC-TV in New York City . He moved on to WCBS-TV in the autumn on 1987. While at WCBS-TV, Taibbi investigated the later discredited Tawana Brawley rape allegations. In 1989, with Anna Sims-Phillips, Taibbi co-wrote Unholy Alliances: Working the Tawana Brawley Story, which explored the Brawley story. In 1997, Taibbi joined NBC News to work on Dateline NBC . In
6394-502: The WHDH-TV tower in Newton, Massachusetts . From 1982 to 1995, WHDH was Boston's CBS affiliate, inheriting the affiliation from its predecessor on channel 7, WNAC-TV . On January 2, 1995, WHDH switched to NBC , after CBS moved to WBZ-TV (channel 4) by virtue of a group-wide affiliation deal with its owner, Westinghouse Broadcasting (CBS and Westinghouse merged that November, making WBZ-TV
6533-555: The 11 p.m. slot to weekend anchor/reporter Kate Sullivan and Dave Wright, an incoming newsman hired away from ATV in the Canadian Maritimes . However, when Rosser had a meeting with Willis for what was supposed to be her contract renewal, he was told by her that instead, she would be leaving to become a professor of journalism at Northeastern University . Willis and Rosser publicly announced her resignation in July, and Willis assured
6672-615: The 1986 buyout and falling advertising revenues left Mugar strapped for cash. On April 22, 1993, David Mugar entered into an agreement to sell WHDH to Miami -based Sunbeam Television , a company led by Worcester native Edmund Ansin . The purchase was completed in late July. Shortly afterward, Ansin brought in news director Joel Cheatwood from his Miami flagship station WSVN . Cheatwood had become infamous in Miami for his changes to WSVN's news operation, which focused on visually intensive, fast-paced newscasts with heavy emphasis on tabloid journalism , particularly covering crime (WSVN—which
6811-507: The Boston license and the licenses for KHJ-TV (now KCAL-TV ) in Los Angeles and WOR-TV in New York City (now WWOR-TV in Secaucus, New Jersey ). The FCC had previously conditioned renewal of the latter two stations' licenses on WNAC-TV's renewal. An appeals court partially reversed the ruling, finding that RKO's dishonesty alone merited having the WNAC-TV license removed. However, it held that
6950-523: The FCC had overreached in tying the other two license renewals to WNAC-TV's renewal, and ordered new hearings. Though RKO continued to appeal the decision, in late February 1982 the FCC granted the New England Television Corporation (NETV, a merger of two of the original rivals to the station's license controlled by Boston grocery magnate David Mugar ) a construction permit to build a new station on channel 7. Two months later in April,
7089-484: The Federal Communications Commission did not allow infomercials to be broadcast on American television until 1984, but since then, it has proven to be a lucrative, if somewhat polarizing with viewers, way to fill airtime. During the 1990s when infomercials gained popularity, many stations began broadcasting 24 hours a day rather than signing off at night. By filling the overnight hours with infomercials,
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#17328688742517228-491: The NBC affiliate in Providence, Rhode Island , for news coverage of southeastern Massachusetts. WWLP , the NBC affiliate in Springfield , shares its resources with WHDH for news coverage of western areas of the state. WNAC-TV had spent the better part of its history as the lowest-rated major-network affiliate in Boston, and one of the weakest large-market CBS affiliates in the country. When New England Television began operating
7367-714: The Patriots' Super Bowl XLIX victory in 2015 and their Super Bowl XLVI appearance in 2012). Also, WHDH aired selected Red Sox games from 1990 to 1993 as a CBS station via that network's MLB over-the-air broadcast contract, and again through NBC's limited rights to MLB's postseason from 1995 to 2000 . WNEV/WHDH has also aired Boston Celtics games, first via CBS' broadcast contract with the NBA from 1982 to 1990 (continuing what WNAC-TV had aired since 1973; their NBA Finals victories in 1984 and 1986 were aired on WNEV), and again through NBC from 1995 to 2002 . From 2006 to 2016 ,
7506-585: The Rich and Famous , Star Search , Independent Network News and Star Trek: The Next Generation (as well as canceled network series revived for first-run syndication such as Fame , Too Close for Comfort , Charles in Charge , It's a Living and Baywatch ), and made-for-television movies and miniseries like Sadat . This trend primarily benefited independent stations. Independents scheduled these first-run programs during prime time and on weekends. In
7645-515: The Town (1988), hosted by Matt Lauer . Nancy Merrill, former host of WBZ-TV's People Are Talking , headlined two talk shows on WNEV, the weekend late night entry Merrill at Midnight (1986–87) and the weekday morning program Nancy Merrill (1987–88). NETV also made it an immediate purpose to further diversify the station's workforce, both on-air and behind the scenes. Within WNEV's first couple of years, there
7784-470: The Town . Two more WNEV/WHDH alumni would then hit the big time: reporter Miles O'Brien , a 1987 arrival to the station, left to join CNN in 1989. Edye Tarbox, now E.D. Hill , who was an anchor/reporter at WHDH from 1990 to 1992, later worked at Fox News Channel from 1999 to 2008. Tom Ellis, who had been dethroned of the male lead anchor position at the station in 1986, came full circle when Inside Edition Extra ,
7923-706: The TrafficTracker truck during the 2004 Democratic National Convention , which was held in Boston. With traffic reporter Marshall Hook behind the wheel of one of the station's live vehicles, WHDH became the only station in the market to produce live traffic reports from the road. The station continues to use the TrafficTracker during snowstorms, including the December 13, 2007, storm that resulted in paralyzing commutes that, in some cases, exceeded seven hours. The station maintains NBC-era resource coverage agreements with other regional stations. WHDH shares its resources with WJAR ,
8062-633: The United Paramount Network ( UPN ). The WB, UPN and their affiliates used a very similar programming model to that initially used by Fox and its stations during their first four years of existence (although neither network would expand their prime time lineups to all seven nights); the launch of those networks resulted in PTEN's demise in 1997, as most stations that became affiliates of UPN and The WB (whose respective founding parents, Chris-Craft Industries and Time Warner , jointly owned PTEN) either dropped
8201-604: The United States by the mid-1980s, in markets of varying sizes, up from fewer than 100 in 1980. They could buy new shows without cash using barter syndication . Many stations belonged to the Association of Independent Television Stations (INTV), a group similar to the National Association of Broadcasters , and which lobbied the FCC on behalf of independents. In the 1980s, television syndicators began offering original, first-run series such as Solid Gold , Lifestyles of
8340-1023: The United States during the 1960s and 1970s, independent stations from large and mid-sized markets were imported by these systems via wire or microwave relay to smaller media markets , which often only had stations that were affiliated with the Big Three television networks ( ABC , NBC and CBS); these independents became the first " superstations ," which were distributed on a statewide or regional basis. In December 1976, Ted Turner decided to uplink his struggling Atlanta , Georgia station WTCG to satellite for national distribution. Soon, other companies decided to copy Turner's idea and applied for satellite uplinks to distribute other stations; WGN-TV in Chicago, KTVU in Oakland -San Francisco, and WPIX and WOR-TV in New York City would begin to be distributed nationally during
8479-778: The United States, many independent stations were commonly owned. Companies that operated three or more independents included: In 1986 several independent outlets, led by the Metromedia stations, formed the Fox Broadcasting Company , the first major venture at a fourth U.S. broadcast television network since the DuMont Television Network shut down in August 1956 (which resulted in some of its affiliates, including those owned by Metromedia, becoming independents). Fox made efforts, slowly at first, to have its affiliates emulate
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#17328688742518618-419: The United States; some mid-sized markets would not regain a general entertainment independent until the early 2000s, through sign-ons of unaffiliated stations and disaffiliations by existing stations from other commercial and noncommercial networks. In 2001, Univision Communications purchased several English language independents in larger markets (which mostly operated as Home Shopping Network affiliates until
8757-557: The Walk For Hunger, as well as for other initiatives. NETV would eventually purchase WHDH on August 7, 1989. In January 1990, Mugar announced that on March 12 of that year, WNEV would change its call letters to WHDH-TV, in order to correspond with its sister radio operation. The WHDH-TV call sign was previously used by the original occupant of channel 5, under the ownership of the Boston Herald-Traveler , from 1957 to 1972. It
8896-414: The admission that General Tire had committed financial fraud over illegal political contributions and bribes —as part of a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission . However, in the FCC hearings, RKO General had withheld evidence of General Tire's misconduct, and had also failed to disclose evidence of accounting errors on its own part. In light of RKO's dishonesty, the FCC stripped RKO of
9035-412: The aforementioned conflicts surrounding The Jay Leno Show . On October 1, 2015, The Boston Globe reported that NBC had considered moving the affiliation to NECN, a cable channel, rather than to an over-the-air channel, although the company declined to comment. On December 15, 2015, New England One reported, citing internal sources, that NBCUniversal had declined to renew its affiliation with WHDH, and
9174-500: The age of seven or eight he was adopted by Salvatore and Gaetana Taibbi (whose surname is of Sicilian and Lebanese origin). Thereafter, he took the name Mike Taibbi, and was raised in Malverne, New York , a Long Island suburb of New York City . After high school, Taibbi attended Rutgers University . He graduated in 1971 with degrees in journalism and sociology . Taibbi attended the University of Chicago Law School . Taibbi worked for
9313-432: The air during this period would sign-on at times later than that of stations affiliated with a television network, some not doing so until the early or mid-afternoon hours. Another source of programming became available to independent stations by the mid-1960s: reruns of network programs which, after completing their initial runs, were sold into syndication . As cable television franchises began to be incorporated around
9452-426: The appeal against NBC, arguing that it was unlikely that the appeal would be resolved in his favor. Consequentially, the station officially announced a planned expansion of its news programming, including an expanded morning newscast and a prime time block of news spanning from 9 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., and that the 8 p.m. hour would be filled by syndicated programming. However, station lawyer Michael Gass told
9591-403: The broadcast, titled 7 News Morning Edition . Originally airing from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., the newscast expanded by an additional two hours to 9 a.m. when WHDH dropped the low-rated CBS This Morning in late February. At the same time, Sunbeam restored the 5 p.m. newscast cut by NETV. During this time, Sahl became quite vocal of his displeasure with the new tabloid format, and it
9730-399: The conditions which Comcast agreed to upon its purchase of NBC Universal. Sunbeam argued that because WNEU's over-the-air signal radius covers four million fewer residents than WHDH, over-the-air viewers in these areas would have to purchase pay television service in order to maintain access to NBC programming—which would benefit Comcast's cable business. Sunbeam also asserted that moving NBC to
9869-451: The default "dotted 7" logo and a more colorful version, a light theme ( Advantage by Frank Gari , originally commissioned for WFSB in Hartford, Connecticut ), and announcer Chris Clausen; WHDH's new look was far different, incorporating dark blue, red, black, and silver. The "dotted 7" logo was succeeded by WSVN's version of the "circle 7" logo. The graphics initially used a "diagonal stripe" theme, soon after these graphics were replaced with
10008-456: The early evening, and movies during prime time and late night hours. In some areas, independent stations carried network programs that were not aired by a local affiliate. In larger markets such as New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles, independent stations benefited from a ruling by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that barred network-affiliated stations within the top 50 television markets from airing network-originated programs in
10147-445: The finalists were narrowed down to 16. The winner was Lynn-Andrea Waugh, familiarly known as "Andi", a 29-year-old red-haired model who had no prior on-air experience. Despite being well received by viewers due to her effervescent personality and striking good looks, Ms. Waugh never completely overcame her noticeable nervousness after taking to the air. Waugh abandoned her hosting spot upon the expiration of her contract in August 1988. She
10286-465: The former WTMU-LP purchased by NBC the previous September. Initially, NBC also leased a subchannel of WMFP to help provide full-market coverage. This agreement ended in 2018 when NBC purchased Nashua, New Hampshire -licensed WYCN-CD (now WBTS-CD ), to channel share with full-power PBS member station WGBX-TV , which transmits from Needham . WHDH's affiliation formally ended at 3 a.m. ET on January 1, 2017. The final NBC program aired on channel 7
10425-599: The host of the station's weekday afternoon talk/lifestyle program, New England Afternoon (which replaced the ill-fated two-hour magazine show Look , canceled after its first season). His successor on the weekend newscast was Paula Zahn , since a newswoman of many television networks, who co-anchored with Lester Strong from 1983 to 1985. Rehema Ellis , who joined the station in 1985 as a general assignment reporter, eventually left to become an NBC News national correspondent in 1994. From May to November 1988, future Today host Matt Lauer hosted WNEV's mid-morning talk show Talk of
10564-673: The hour preceding prime time. This legislation, known as the Prime Time Access Rule , was in effect from 1971 to 1995, and as a result independents faced less competition for syndicated reruns. Some stations in larger markets (such as WGN-TV in Chicago; KTLA , KCOP-TV and KHJ-TV in Los Angeles; KWGN-TV in Denver ; and (W)WOR-TV, WPIX and WNEW-TV in New York City) ventured into local news broadcasts, usually airing at 10:00 p.m. in
10703-527: The late 1970s and early 1980s (in the case of KTVU, it would revert to being a regional superstation by the early part of the latter decade). By the start of the 1970s, independent stations typically aired children's programming in the morning and afternoon hours, and movies and other adult-oriented shows (some stations aired paid religious programs ) during the midday hours. They counterprogrammed local network-affiliated stations' news programs with syndicated reruns – usually sitcoms and hour-long dramas – in
10842-457: The late 1990s) from USA Broadcasting to form the nuclei of the upstart Spanish language network Telefutura (now UniMás ), which launched in January 2002. Several stations affiliated with The WB and UPN became independent again when the respective parent companies of those networks (Time Warner and CBS Corporation ) decided to shut them down to form The CW , which launched in September 2006 with
10981-486: The latter often created legal issues that were eventually largely cleared up due to an FCC regulation that legally allowed the broadcast of programs featuring content that would otherwise be deemed indecent when broadcast "in the clear" if the encrypted signal was not visible or audible to nonsubscribers), and on some services, television specials. Independents usually ran the services during the evening and overnight hours in lieu of running movies and other programs acquired off
11120-542: The market owned by NBC or by seeking inquiries from other stations in the market to acquire the affiliation. WHDH began removing all references to the proposed 10 p.m. newscast from its website the next day, and on April 13, 2009, the station announced that it had decided to comply and air The Jay Leno Show instead. The fears of possible ratings issues with the prime time talk show as the lead-in for its late newscast would become well-realized, as viewership for WHDH's 11 p.m. news plunged to third place (a 20% drop from
11259-559: The mid-1990s , and to other news-producing Fox and minor network affiliates, and independent stations, by the 2000s. In September 1993, many independents began carrying the Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN), an ad-hoc programming service that emulated a network model, which featured drama series and made-for-TV movies intended for first-run syndication. In January 1995, many remaining independents, including those that carried PTEN, joined upstart networks The WB and
11398-599: The morning newscast in February 1995 to join the reporting staff of Entertainment Tonight ; he was replaced that April by Alison Gilman. Former WBZ-TV anchor Randy Price, who had joined WHDH in 1996, first as a freelance reporter and then as a weekday morning anchor (taking over from the departing Gilman in February 1997), replaced Marler at 5 p.m., 6 p.m., and 11 p.m. in August 1998. Independent station In North American and Japanese television, independent stations with general entertainment formats emerged as
11537-461: The morning newscast was scaled back to the traditional 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. timeslot in order to accommodate Today ; a few months later, it was renamed from 7 News Morning Edition to the current Today in New England . Later in January, as a result of a package deal WHDH had signed the previous fall, the station saw the arrival of husband-and-wife anchors John Marler and Cathy Marshall. Marler,
11676-428: The network for 46 years). The final CBS program to air on channel 7 was the made-for-TV movie A Father for Charlie at 9 p.m. Eastern Time on January 1, 1995. During its time with NBC, channel 7 cleared the network's entire programming schedule (an exception was the network's early morning newscast at the time of the switch, NBC News at Sunrise , which ended on September 6, 1999; its successor, Early Today ,
11815-541: The network had abandoned its first-run programming efforts and became a "programming service", with its programming now focused upon off-network reruns of drama series. After this transition, many of MyNetworkTV's affiliates began to downplay their affiliation with the network and move the block to alternate timeslots (such as late-night); network owner Fox Television Stations rebranded most of its MyNetworkTV stations as offshoots of their parent Fox stations (such as " Fox 11 Plus" for KCOP-TV ) Current independents follow
11954-417: The news department would allow her more time to focus on these specials, as well as the availability to be an all-purpose station personality. During that summer, as Young geared up to vacate her anchor position, Yanoff and Rosser named four possible successors, including KNXT reporter Terry Murphy (later of Hard Copy fame) and WNEV's own reporter Diane Willis, who had been among the station's new hires
12093-435: The news program's producers started feuding, and Wright, who felt caught in the middle, resigned from WNEV in May 1988. Just prior to Wright's departure, Jeff Rosser had left the station at the close of his contract, and arriving in his place was former WCVB news director Jim Thistle. By September 1988, the Live at Five format was dropped (as it remained the intellectual property of ATV), and the 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. block
12232-518: The number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the fourth-highest newscast output of any broadcast television station in the entire United States, behind Los Angeles CW affiliate KTLA (channel 5), which broadcasts 94 hours, 20 minutes of local newscasts per week; Indianapolis CW affiliate WISH-TV (channel 8), which broadcasts 76 hours of locally produced newscasts and programs each week; and Phoenix independent KTVK (channel 3), which broadcasts 74 hours of local newscasts per week. In addition,
12371-413: The over-the-air subscription services had shuttered operations by the end of the 1980s. Until the late 1970s, independent stations were usually limited to the larger American television markets, due to several factors. Most smaller markets did not have a large enough population to support four commercial stations. Even in markets that were large enough to support a fourth station, the only available license
12510-451: The previous year) during the November 2009 sweeps period. Other 'first-to-last' drops among NBC affiliates' newscasts in the 11 p.m. slot and overall affiliate pressure forced the network on January 10, 2010, to pull Leno from 10 p.m. starting after the 2010 Winter Olympics and move him back to The Tonight Show in a controversial shake-up of its late night schedule . Although
12649-456: The previous year. Willis was selected for the position in early September, and began anchoring with Tom Ellis that same month. Young, meanwhile, went on to host her prime time specials and events until 1987. In the spring of 1984, NETV moved its on-air news look away from the changes made only two years prior, taking away the anchoring desk from the newsroom and utilizing a backdrop allowing chroma keys and CGI graphics to be placed. WNEV also began
12788-719: The primary station for the New England Patriots in 1995, as the Patriots played in the American Football Conference of the NFL , which had a deal with NBC for the network to air AFC games (thus Boston was not as important a market for Fox in regard to getting a VHF affiliate). When the AFC package moved to CBS in 1998, this role was reclaimed by WBZ-TV. From 2006 to 2016 , the station aired Patriots games when they were featured on NBC Sunday Night Football (the station aired
12927-441: The program featured an equal mix of entertainment and educational content, along with musical acts and celebrity interviews. The series began as a 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. programming alternative against WBZ and WCVB's morning newscasts, before moving to 7 a.m. in September 1989. On March 24, 1990, after only six months at its new time slot, the station cut the series back to once-a-week Saturday broadcasts only, before canceling
13066-483: The purposes of advertising sales. Initial reports suggested that if WHDH were to lose NBC programming, Sunbeam would move the CW affiliation currently held by WLVI to channel 7. However, Ansin subsequently stated that WHDH would be operated as a news-intensive independent station if the NBC affiliation was lost; additionally, WLVI's own affiliation with The CW (a ten-year agreement made in 2006 with then-owner Tribune Broadcasting)
13205-516: The radio station had dropped the WHDH callsign in 1994, channel 7 retained the "-TV" suffix in its call letters until July 8, 2010. It was reported on August 31, 2015, that NBC Owned Television Stations was considering the possibility of purchasing WHDH; NBCUniversal already had a strong presence in the market through its ownership of New England Cable News (NECN), CSN New England , and Telemundo station WNEU (channel 60), while WHDH's NBC affiliation
13344-463: The same programming model as independent stations during non-prime time slots, and during its early years, on nights without prime time programming from the network. Fox coerced most of its affiliates to air prime time newscasts (there were some holdouts as late as 2013, while many others opted to run outsourced local newscasts from a competing network affiliate) as well as news programming in other dayparts common with other major network affiliates. When
13483-399: The same time, WNEV became the first Boston station to launch a 5 p.m. newscast, which was anchored by Dave Wright and Diana Williams . The Live at Five hour of the news was a cross between the informality of WBZ's competing Live on 4 and WNEV's regular newscasts, without the lifestyle and specialty features seen on Live on 4 . However, there was a unique twist. Wright, who had created
13622-438: The seriousness of Ellis, was offered new avenues at WNEV by Yanoff so that the station could boast a more balanced, serious lead anchor team. Although she had stated in the spring of 1983 that she was at the anchor desk for the long haul, Young made a move with Yanoff and Mugar that July which granted her airtime on WNEV for prime time specials produced through her private production company, Young Visions. Young decided that leaving
13761-546: The service or moved its lineup out of prime time when those networks launched. Other stations banded together to become charter outlets of the Pax TV (now Ion Television ) network in August 1998, although some of the stations that aligned with Pax had earlier affiliated with its predecessor, the Infomall TV Network (inTV), two years before. The launches of these networks drastically reduced the number of independent stations in
13900-529: The show outright in 1991. In mid-August 1987, WNEV overhauled its on-air image. The station dropped its "SE7EN" identity in favor of a new logo, which consisted of the number "7" made up of seven white dots inside of a blue circle. The logo was introduced as a part of the new station-wide campaign, "We're All on the Same Team", in which the seven dots represented the heads of team members. The dots also had dual usage, as lottery balls, in promotions for Lottery Live ,
14039-491: The shows back-to-back at 4 p.m.). Ellis also appeared following his former WNEV colleague, Bill O'Reilly, who had been anchoring Inside Edition since 1989. The scheduling only lasted a year, as Inside Edition Extra was canceled at the end of the 1992–93 season. This program has no relation to the current Extra , a Warner Bros. -produced entertainment magazine that premiered in the fall of 1994, and has aired on WHDH since 1999. There were abrupt changes when Sunbeam bought
14178-583: The specialty game of the evening (e.g., Mass Ca$ h ) originally aired during the CBS prime time lineup at 9:50 p.m. (retaining the airtime the specialty games had on WBZ). From 1991 until the end of channel 7's lottery contract in 1994, the specialty games were moved down to a 7:58 p.m. airtime, following the closing credits of Jeopardy! . Weekend lottery hosts during the channel 7 era included Linda Ward, Linda Frantangela (both prior to 1993) and Jill Stark (1993–94), who all substituted on weekdays as well when Hayes
14317-430: The staff that her decision to leave WNEV was isolated from her soon-to-be decreased air time. Ellis, on the other hand, was unhappy about his reduction, feeling that he was no longer being considered the station's principal anchor. Yanoff and Rosser attempted to come to agreeable terms with Ellis, with two proposed plans—to either pair him with Kate Sullivan or Dave Wright, or to find him another replacement female anchor. It
14456-403: The start was to allocate programming hours to innovative, in-house productions, in much the same way that Boston Broadcasters did when it launched WCVB-TV on channel 5 ten years earlier. Notable productions that premiered early on were Look (1982–1984), which began as a two-hour (4 p.m. to 6 p.m.) late afternoon talk and lifestyle show that led into WNEV's 6 p.m. newscast. Despite
14595-640: The station also aired Boston Bruins games via the NHL on NBC , including their victory in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals . Between 1992 and 2016, WHDH aired a total of twelve Olympic Games ; the first two events in 1992 and 1994 were aired while the station was affiliated with CBS, with the remaining ten games airing while the station was affiliated with NBC (WBZ-TV aired its last Olympic broadcast in 1998 ). WHDH presently broadcasts 73½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week, with 12 hours each weekday, 6½ hours on Saturdays, and seven hours on Sundays. In regards to
14734-514: The station for $ 200 million; however, he said that he would not consider any offers worth less than $ 500 million, and that any sale of WHDH would also include WLVI. Ansin said that NBC was "trying to steal our station," and confirmed that the network was threatening to shift its programming to WNEU, but that he still predicted that WHDH would retain its NBC affiliation. Ansin believed that NBCUniversal's main motivation for these moves were to create further synergies with WNEU and New England Cable News for
14873-463: The station in 1993. New station owner Ed Ansin brought Joel Cheatwood, the creator of WSVN's fast-paced news format, to Boston. Cheatwood introduced a considerably watered-down version of the WSVN format. However, it was still shocking by Boston standards. Prior to the debut of the new format and 7 News identity that November, Ansin and Cheatwood began changing anchor lineups: in mid October 1993, Margie Reedy
15012-622: The station produces Urban Update , a discussion program focusing on issues affecting the area's Black community , and Honda Sports Xtra , a weekly half-hour sports highlight program. The station operates a Bell LongRanger 206L news helicopter entitled "Sky 7". The station's weather radar is presented on-air as "Storm Scan Doppler" with a signal coming from the radar at the National Weather Service local forecast office in Taunton . The station, in partnership with MetroNetworks, launched
15151-401: The station signed off as WNAC-TV for the final time about an hour later. NETV took over channel 7 nearly five hours later under a new license, signing on the new WNEV-TV at 5:55 a.m. ET that morning (however, the present WHDH does claim WNAC's previous history as its own; a similar situation exists locally with the present-day WCVB and the original WHDH). Behind the imaging theme "There's
15290-439: The station to renew the lottery contract for another three years in 1990. After the sale to Sunbeam in 1993, WHDH's contract with the lottery was not renewed, despite continued success on the station. Lottery rights were subsequently picked up by WCVB, which began airing the nightly drawings on March 7, 1994. The Lottery Live format moved to its third consecutive station, with Dawn Hayes being retained as host by WCVB. WHDH became
15429-544: The station would be able to generate extra revenue where they had previously been off the air. Home shopping programs (mainly simulcasts of cable services that also have over-the-air distribution such as QVC and the Home Shopping Network) or syndicated programs fill overnight time periods on stations that do not run infomercials during that day part. Since the FCC revised its media ownership rules to permit station duopolies in August 1999, independents that operate on
15568-480: The station, it embarked on a massive attempt to bring channel 7 out of the ratings basement. David Mugar and company soon announced the infamous "dream team" of newscasters, headed by Tom Ellis and Robin Young . Ellis had previously maintained WBZ-TV's dominance in the news market, and then helped WCVB reach #1 in the ratings during his tenure there from 1978 to 1982. Young, on the other hand, had no hard news experience but
15707-605: The syndication market by the station, although a few eventually began to carry these services for most of the broadcast day. The services required the use of decoder boxes to access the service's programming (some of which were fairly easy to unencrypt due to the transmission methods stations used to scramble the signal during the service's broadcast hours); some required the payment of an additional one-time fee to receive events and adult films. As cities added cable franchises, thus allowing people to subscribe to conventional premium television networks like HBO and Showtime , nearly all of
15846-420: The termination of his WHDH contract. Sahl made his final appearance on 7 News in early August. Carrigan, who was quickly gaining a following, then continued on alone for several weeks at a time for the next four months. This made her the first female newscaster in Boston to anchor alone in the key 5 p.m., 6 p.m., and 11 p.m. time periods. At times during the fall of 1994, Carrigan would be joined by
15985-534: Was New Year's Eve with Carson Daly , which began on December 31, 2016, at 11:30 p.m. As a CBS affiliate, the station preempted programming in moderation, in favor of more locally produced shows. From 1989 to 1990, the station delayed the first hour of CBS This Morning in favor of the children's show Ready To Go . In February 1994, CBS This Morning was dropped and picked up by WABU (channel 68, now WBPX-TV ). WHDH then began airing an expanded local morning newscast. On July 4 , 2018, WHDH began to simulcast
16124-514: Was Mugar's plan to create, once again, a second major television/radio duopoly, primarily in news, to compete with the long-standing combo of WBZ radio and WBZ-TV . Boston Mayor Ray Flynn declared March 12, 1990, as "WHDH Day" in Boston, celebrating the joining of the radio and television stations. On that day, personalities from WHDH-TV spoke as guests on WHDH radio. The dual operation, which began with much fanfare and leverage, proved to be too costly for Mugar and company. NETV gradually slid into
16263-479: Was a major factor in him taking the job). Yanoff quickly brought former WBZ-TV news director Jeff Rosser to the same post at channel 7, with a five-year contract. Over the summer, the two fired quite a few of the 1982 "dream team" hires, in an effort to strengthen and better utilize the talents that worked. The largest issue they faced was the public perception that Young and Ellis were a mismatched anchor team. Young, whose informal presence began to contrast severely with
16402-453: Was absent. WNEV/WHDH also aired prime time game show specials produced by the Massachusetts State Lottery, usually a few times a year, that were broadcast either from the station's studios at 7 Bulfinch Place or at other public venues across Boston. The lottery commission saw tremendous growth during this period, increasing its sales to record highs, promoting further advertising and expanding its game roster ( Mass Ca$ h , which launched in 1991,
16541-498: Was added to the already successful lineup of The Numbers Game and specialty games Megabuck$ and Mass Millions ). Channel 7's nightly broadcasts of Lottery Live and the periodic sweepstakes specials were integral in fielding this success for the lottery; this, combined with Lottery Live pulling in high ratings as a part of the Wheel of Fortune / Jeopardy! hour, which ranked first place in 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. prime access, caused
16680-536: Was adopted during that time had a dual meaning, in that the dots were to represent lottery balls. A contest was held by WNEV in August 1987, just under a month before the games moved to the station, to scout for their own lottery host ( Tom Bergeron , who hosted Lottery Live on WBZ-TV, did not continue in the role because he remained at that station in other capacities). The auditions were held in front of an audience of 200 at Boston's Westin Hotel at Copley Place , in which
16819-431: Was an NBC affiliate from its 1956 sign-on until it joined Fox in 1989—adopted the format developed by Cheatwood in order to buoy viewership for its newscasts, which like WHDH, had languished in third place for several years). Cheatwood planned to perform similar changes at WHDH. Cheatwood ultimately adopted a considerably watered-down version of WSVN's format (see below), but still retained many of WSVN's features, including
16958-492: Was an increase of news reporters and anchors of color joining the station (notably including anchor Lester Strong and reporter Amalia Barreda). The commitment to diversity extended itself to a series of new public affairs shows that each targeted a specific ethnic group: Urban Update (with an African-American focus and which still continues to air on WHDH), Revista Hispana , Asian Focus and Jewish Perspective . Other public affairs and newsmagazines launched by WNEV included
17097-401: Was approved by the FCC in late November of that year, creating Boston's second television duopoly (the other one being WBZ-TV and WSBK-TV , channel 38). WLVI moved its operations from its Dorchester studios to WHDH's facilities in downtown Boston. On April 2, 2009, WHDH announced that it would not air The Jay Leno Show , when it debuted on NBC in September 2009, electing to replace it with
17236-666: Was beginning the process of building an English-language news operation at WNEU for its assumption of the affiliation. It also reported that WHDH meteorologist Pete Bouchard, who had left the station around the same time, had been poached by NBC for WNEU. Following the report, Paul Magnes, WHDH's vice president and general manager, told the Boston Herald that the station still expected the NBC affiliation to be renewed. Sunbeam owner Ed Ansin subsequently confirmed to The Boston Globe that NBC had informed him in September 2015, that channel 7's affiliation would not be renewed, and offered to buy
17375-462: Was carried by WHDH for the remainder of its NBC affiliation). Between 1996 and 1997, WHDH produced a mid-morning weekday newsmagazine for the NBC network called Real Life . After the switch to NBC, WHDH became one of the few stations in the country to have had a primary affiliation with all of the Big Three networks . On September 14, 2006, Tribune Broadcasting sold CW affiliate WLVI-TV (channel 56) to Sunbeam Television for $ 117.3 million. The sale
17514-419: Was cited by The Boston Globe as being the most technologically advanced out of all three network stations in the market. There was considerable reporting on the high salaries (a total of roughly $ 1 million a year) the new station was offering Ellis and Young. On the night of Ellis and Young's debut, September 13, 1982, WNEV beat WCVB and WBZ in the evening news ratings. The curiosity of Boston viewers only lasted
17653-472: Was clear that he was looking for a way out of his contract as well. Cheatwood soon hired Kim Carrigan, a transplant from Des Moines, Iowa , who first appeared as female lead anchor alongside Sahl in April 1994. Sunbeam was confident that Carrigan, the 31-year-old newcomer, and the 46-year-old Sahl, by now a trusted Boston news veteran, would be the lasting lead anchor team for them, but in late July 1994, Sahl met with his legal counsel and came to an agreement over
17792-478: Was evaluating options for over-the-air carriage of the new outlet. Prior to the announcement, Ansin told The Boston Globe that he was considering challenging the planned move of NBC from WHDH, arguing that the proposed move would be in violation of conditions imposed by the FCC upon Comcast 's acquisition of NBC Universal , as the company agreed to maintain the over-the-air availability of NBC, and not use its cable holdings to influence affiliation deals. His position
17931-502: Was eventually prompted to sell the WHDH stations. The radio station was sold to Atlantic Ventures in 1992. By 1991, the relationship between majority owner David Mugar and minority owner Robert Kraft had become strained. Kraft, who is the current owner of the New England Patriots , exercised an option that forced Mugar to purchase his shares for an estimated $ 25 million. This, along with the nearly $ 100 million debt he held from
18070-503: Was moved from the main evening newscasts to the Noon and 5:30 p.m. newscasts. Rehema Ellis was promoted to female lead anchor (at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.) with R.D. Sahl. However, many of the crew's doubts about the new, impending tabloid style were realized once the format switch was off and running. More changes were in store concerning the look of the newscasts. Compared to the previous look of WHDH, which used soft, varied colors, both
18209-464: Was on a UHF channel allocation. During the analog television era, the reception quality of UHF stations was not nearly as good as stations on the VHF band, especially in areas with rugged terrain (the reverse is true in the present day with the transmission of digital signals) or in markets that cover large geographic areas. Since independent stations had to buy an additional 16 hours of programming per day –
18348-403: Was purported that WNEV was even in discussions with by-then-former NBC anchor Linda Ellerbee for her to become Ellis' co-anchor. The anchor replacement and Wright-Ellis pairing ideas were ultimately nixed (by the 1980s, the idea of two men anchoring together was passe), with Sullivan and Wright taking over both the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts in September. Ellis was demoted to reporter,
18487-414: Was replaced with Dawn Hayes, who had been the runner-up in the lottery host competition. Hayes, who was equally as appealing but with a polished, confident on-air presence, began her long run as host during this era. During Lottery Live ' s entire run on channel 7, the daily Numbers Game drawing aired at 7:52 p.m. (following the conclusion of the "Double Jeopardy!" round of Jeopardy! ), while
18626-492: Was replaced. A similar format was adopted by KJRH-TV in Tulsa, Oklahoma between 1994 and 1997. Most of the station's prominent newscasters wanted nothing to do with Cheatwood (who had a reputation as a pioneer in tabloid television ). Ellis was one of the first to leave WHDH in response to Ansin's changes. Only two months into her promotion to lead anchor, Ellis declared herself a free agent, quickly accepting an offer at NBC News as
18765-594: Was restructured as a more conventional newscast, anchored by Williams and Lester Strong. After Williams departed for WABC-TV in 1990 (where she remains to this day), Strong anchored with new arrival Edye Tarbox in the 5 p.m. hour. Besides the locally prominent journalists who attempted to leverage WNEV's news, a few future national talents had brief stints at the station in the 1980s. Bill O'Reilly , long before his national exposure on Inside Edition and Fox News Channel 's The O'Reilly Factor , co-anchored NEWSE7EN Weekend in 1982–83. Soon after, O'Reilly also became
18904-569: Was set to expire at the end of 2016. Meredith Corporation and Nexstar Broadcasting Group were also reportedly interested in purchasing the station. NBCUniversal and Sunbeam denied these rumors. Sunbeam's Executive Vice President and former WHDH general manager Chris Wayland, stated that the company "fully [expects]" that it would renew WHDH's affiliation. The Boston Globe noted a history of hostility between NBC and Sunbeam, including its objection to NBC's late-1980s purchase of WTVJ in Miami to displace its own WSVN (which later defected to Fox), and
19043-583: Was supported by Senator Edward Markey ; a representative of Markey stated that as a "long-time supporter of universal service and free, over-the-air local broadcasting," he planned to "closely scrutinize the impacts any deal could have on viewers in Massachusetts." On March 10, 2016, Sunbeam Television sued Comcast in the District Court for the District of Massachusetts , citing violations of antitrust law and
19182-601: Was up for renewal in August 2016, and there was a possibility that CBS (who, along with Time Warner , at the time had co-ownership of The CW) could transfer the CW affiliation to WSBK-TV (then-affiliated with MyNetworkTV ) if WLVI was unable to renew. On January 7, 2016, Valari Staab, president of NBC Owned Television Stations, confirmed that NBC would cease its affiliation with WHDH effective January 1, 2017, and that it would launch its owned-and-operated NBC outlet NBC Boston that day. Staab did not outright say whether NBC programming would be carried by WNEU, but that NBCUniversal
19321-402: Was well-known to Boston viewers as former co-host of Evening Magazine . The new partnership, as well as the completely restructured news department as a whole, received heavy promotion in the months leading to the official launch of the finalized WNEV news product (accompanied by a launch image campaign, "There's A New Day Dawning"). The newsroom facility, built feverishly over the summer of 1982,
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