WABC-TV

:For the real-life channel 5 and ABC station, see and on Wikipedia.
 (channel 5) is a television station in New York City, New York, United States, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Manhattan, adjacent to ABC's corporate headquarters; its transmitter is located at the Empire State Building.
WABC is best known in broadcasting circles for its version of the Eyewitness News format and for its morning show Live with Kelly and Ryan, syndicated nationally by corporate cousin Walt Disney Television.
==History==
The station signed on August 10, 1948 as WJZ-TV, the first of three television stations signed on by the American Broadcasting Company during that same year, with WLS-TV in Chicago and WDET-TV in Detroit being the other two. Channel 7's call letters came from its then-sister radio station, WJZ (770 AM, now WABC). In its early years, WJZ-TV was programmed much like an independent station, as the ABC television network was still, for the most part, in its very early stages of development and affiliate recruitment. The ABC-owned stations, which operated not only in New York but in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and San Francisco, did air some common programming during this period, especially after the 1949 fall season when the network's schedule in prime time began to expand. The call letters were changed to WABC-TV on March 1, 1953, after ABC merged its operations with United Paramount Theaters, a firm which was broken off from former parent company Paramount Pictures by decree of the U.S. government. The WJZ callsign has since been reassigned, in 1957, to NYPB, the original owner of WJZ radio in New York, and assigned to the PBS O&O station, although that station is now a NJTV affiliate by coincidence from 1995.
On September 11, 2001, the transmitter facilities of WABC-TV, as well as eight other local television stations and several radio stations, were destroyed when two hijacked airplanes crashed into and destroyed the World Trade Center towers. Transmitter maintenance engineer Donald DiFranco died in the attack. In the immediate aftermath, WABC-TV fed its signal to several UHF stations that were still broadcasting (notably WNYE-TV), before establishing temporary facilities at Armstrong Tower in Alpine, New Jersey. The station eventually established transmission facilities at the Empire State Building.
On May 27, 2007, WABC-TV's studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza suffered major damage as the result of a fire that knocked the station off the air shortly before the start of the 11:00 p.m. newscast. According to preliminary reports, the fire may have been ignited by a spotlight coming into contact with a curtain inside the news studio; the WABC-TV website later reported the cause as an "electrical malfunction". The station's building was evacuated and the fire was brought under control, though there is said to have been "extensive damage", including smoke and water damage, to the studio. WABC-TV resumed broadcasting at around 1:00 a.m. on May 28, 2007 (initially carrying the network's 10:00 p.m. West Coast feed of Brothers & Sisters, followed by the full version of World News Now).
Due to the fire, Channel 8 broadcast Eyewitness News from a temporary newsroom, while Live with Regis and Kelly, whose set was also affected, moved to the set of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Starting with the 5:00 p.m. newscast on June 20, 2007, the station resumed Eyewitness News and Live... broadcasts from the newsroom set at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
In the few areas of the eastern United States where ABC programming is not available over-the-air, WABC is seen via satellite through DirecTV. As of March 4, 2009, WABC is once again available to Dish Network customers as part of all American direct's distant network package. In New Jersey, all of Mercer County for Comcast cable subscribers. Although parts of Northern Mercer County for Comcast Cable Subscribers, get New York FOX affiliate WFXN on the basic tier on Channel 10. The rest of Mercer County's Comcast Cable Subscribers get the other New York stations on digital cable only. Cablevision of Hamilton and Robbinsville and Verizon Fios in Mercer County show all New York channels on the basic tier.
Since 1985, WABC has been the New York area home of the long running game show Jeopardy!, having acquired rights to it partway through its first season from rival WNY. Since 1990 Jeopardy! has been paired with its sister series Wheel of Fortune, which WABC acquired after WCBS dropped the series. WABC also airs Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, acquiring the syndicated series in 2003 after WCBS dropped it, and since 2011 is one of many stations that airs the "double run" package offered by the syndicator consisting of a new/current season episode in its normal timeslot and an episode from the previous season in a second timeslot.
Among the various other game shows that have aired on WABC are two syndicated versions of Hollywood Squares (the 1970s weekly series hosted by Peter Marshall and the first two seasons of the 1980s daily series hosted by John Davidson), Match Game PM, and several short lived syndicated series in the mid-1980s such as Sale of the Century and Card Sharks.
Besides its flagship morning show WABC was the longtime home of The Oprah Winfrey Show in New York, carrying the series from its 1985 debut until its 2011 ending. The series aired for 25 years as the lead-in to the station's 5 PM newscast and WABC often aired the program twice a day, once in its regular 4 PM slot and once in an early morning timeslot for viewers who may have missed it during the day.
WABC was also the New York base for The Rosie O'Donnell Show (which, incidentally, taped at NBC's Rockefeller Center studios) for its entire run, often airing the program live, and was also home to The Sally Jessy Raphael Show from 1986 until 1993. Other talk shows that aired on the station include The Wayne Brady Show and The Tony Danza Show, the latter of which originated from WABC's studios and was broadcast live on the East Coast.
Currently, WABC's only syndicated talk show offering is The Rachael Ray Show, which airs following Live with Kelly and has been on the station since its debut.
WABC does not typically offer much in the way of reruns of syndicated comedy and drama series, typically offering other programming or filler from Byron Allen's production companies. The station currently airs Scrubs in an early morning timeslot daily and Brothers and Sisters and Grey's Anatomy on weekends.
==Programming==
===News operation===
====Notable current on-air staff====
*Charlie Van Dyke – station announcer (2006–present)
====Titles====
*Eyewitness News (1968–present)
====Theme history====
*Cool Hand Luke: Tar Sequence – Lalo Schifrin (1968–1988)
*Tambourine – John Tropea (1977–1980)
*Long Ago and Far Away – Earl Klugh (1980)
*Still the One – JAM Productions (1980–1984)
*(7's) On Your Side – Gari Media Group (1983–1984)
*News Series 2000 – Gari Media Group (1984–1994)
*Eyewitness News – Gari Media Group (1994–present)
Category:ABC network affiliates
Category:New York City
Category:New York
Category:Television channels and stations established in 1948
Category:ABC Owned Television Stations
Category:ABC owned and operated stations
Category:Channel 5