WTTG
WTTG
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Washington, D.C. United States | |
|---|---|
| Branding | Fox 5 (general) Fox 5 News Now (newscasts) NewsEdge (6 and 11 p.m. newscasts) |
| Slogan | We Are Fox 5 (general) |
| Channels | Digital: 36 (UHF) (shared with WDCA) Virtual: 5 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels |
|
| Translators | W46BR-D (46 UHF) Moorefield, WV |
| Affiliations |
|
| Owner | Fox Television Stations, LLC |
| Founded | May 19, 1945 (as experimental station W3XWT)[1][2] |
| First air date | January 3, 1947 (1947-01-03) |
| Call letters' meaning | Thomas Toliver Goldsmith (chief engineer of founding company DuMont) |
| Sister station(s) | WDCA |
| Former channel number(s) |
|
| Former affiliations |
|
| Transmitter power | 1000 kW |
| Height | 227 m (745 ft) |
| Facility ID | 22207 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 38°57′22″N 77°4′58″W / 38.95611°N 77.08278°W / 38.95611; -77.08278Coordinates: 38°57′22″N 77°4′58″W / 38.95611°N 77.08278°W / 38.95611; -77.08278 38°57′49.9″N 77°6′17.2″W / 38.963861°N 77.104778°W / 38.963861; -77.104778 (application) |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: | Profile CDBS |
| Website | www.fox5dc.com |
WTTG, virtual channel 5 (UHF digital channel 36), is a Fox owned-and-operated television station licensed to the American capital city of Washington, District of Columbia. The station is owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of 21st Century Fox, and is part of a duopoly with MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated station WDCA (channel 20). The two stations share studios, offices and transmitter facilities on Wisconsin Avenue in the Friendship Heights neighborhood in the northwest quadrant of Washington.[3]
On cable, the station is available on Comcast Xfinity channel 25 in Washington, D.C. (cable channel 5 is occupied by an alternate feed of Mid-Atlantic Sports Network) and channel 5 in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs, and on Cox Communications, RCN and Verizon FiOS channel 5.
The station's signal is rebroadcast on a low-powered digital translator station, W46BR-D, in Moorefield, West Virginia[4] (which is owned by Valley TV Cooperative, Inc.).
Contents
1 History
1.1 Early years (1945–1958)
1.2 As an independent station (1958–1986)
1.3 Transition to Fox (1986–present)
2 Digital television
2.1 Digital channels
2.2 Analog-to-digital conversion
3 Programming
3.1 Sports programming
4 Criticism
5 News operation
5.1 On-air staff
5.1.1 Current on-air staff
5.1.2 Notable former on-air staff
6 References
7 External links
History[edit]
Early years (1945–1958)[edit]
The station traces its history to May 19, 1945, when television set and equipment manufacturer Allen B. DuMont founded W3XWT, the second experimental station in the nation's capital (after NBC's W3XNB, forerunner to WRC-TV). Later in 1945, DuMont Laboratories began a series of experimental coaxial cable hookups between W3XWT and its other television station, WABD (channel 5, later WNEW-TV and now WNYW) in New York City. These hookups were the beginning of the DuMont Television Network, the world's first licensed commercial television network. DuMont began regular network service in 1946. Almost a year later on January 3, 1947, W3XWT received a commercial license – the first in the nation's capital – as WTTG. The station was named for Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr.,[2] the DuMont Network's chief engineer and a close friend of Dr. DuMont.[1]
Like its New York City sister station, WTTG was far more successful than the network as a whole. In 1956, after DuMont shut down network operations, WTTG and WABD became independent stations and were spun off from DuMont Laboratories as the DuMont Broadcasting Corporation. It later changed its name to Metropolitan Broadcasting in order to distance itself from its former parent company.[1]
As an independent station (1958–1986)[edit]
In 1958, Washington investor John Kluge bought controlling interest in Metropolitan Broadcasting from Paramount Pictures and installed himself as its chairman. He changed the company's name to Metromedia in 1961. Goldsmith sat on Metromedia's board of directors for over a quarter-century.[2] Channel 5 gained a sister station on radio when Metromedia purchased WASH (97.1 FM)[5] in 1968. At first, WTTG ran on a low budget. However, in the late 1960s, it benefited from Metromedia's aggressiveness in acquiring top syndicated programming, giving it a significant leg up on WDCA, which signed on in 1966.
By the 1970s, WTTG was one of the leading independent stations in the country, running a broad lineup of cartoons, off-network sitcoms, first-run syndicated shows, older movies, local newscasts and locally produced programs. During this time period, and well into the early 1990s, WTTG was the flagship station for the Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team[1] as well as Big East Conference men's basketball.[6] Its main claim to fame was Panorama, an afternoon talk show hosted by Maury Povich[7] and John Willis.[8]
When cable television began in the 1970s, WTTG became a regional superstation. At one point, it appeared on every cable provider in Maryland and Virginia, as well as most of Delaware and in parts of West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania.[1]
Transition to Fox (1986–present)[edit]
WTTG's station logo from 1997 to 2006.
Metromedia owned the station until 1986 when Rupert Murdoch, after buying 20th Century Fox, purchased the Metromedia television stations to form the nucleus of the Fox network. WTTG became one of Fox's six original owned-and-operated stations when the network launched on October 9, 1986, all the while retaining consistently high ratings, a rarity for a Fox station at the time, and continuing to easily out-rate WDCA and new competitor WCQR (channel 50, now WDCW). Initially, its programming was similar to what it had run as a true independent station, since Fox only programmed for a few hours on weekends.
As channel 5 transitioned to an O&O and more independent stations signed on, it lost much of its cable audience. Though not distributed as widely as it once was, it is still available on several cable providers in Maryland and Virginia outside the D.C. metro area. For instance, it is still carried on cable in Charlottesville, Virginia, even though the city has had its own Fox affiliate, WAHU-CD, since 2005; both stations are carried on basic cable in the Charlottesville area. It also served as the default Fox affiliate for Salisbury, Maryland until the debut of new default Fox affiliate, "Fox21 Delmarva", a subchannel of WBOC-TV, on August 21, 2006.
During the 1990s, the station added more syndicated talk shows and reality shows. It continued to air afternoon cartoons from Fox Kids until the fall of 2001, when the block moved to WDCA (only to be reduced to just Saturdays nationwide in 2002); WTTG reacquired Fox children's programming from WDCA later on in 2003, under the banners of FoxBox and 4Kids TV. On October 29, 2001, Fox bought WDCA from Viacom's Paramount Stations Group, creating a duopoly with WTTG. The station continued to run top rated off-network sitcoms in the evenings.
From 1999 to 2006, WTTG utilized the "X-2 Package" for its theme music,[9] but switched to the "O&O Package" in 2006, which they still use today.[10]
Digital television[edit]
Digital channels[edit]
The station's digital channel is multiplexed:
Channel | Video | Aspect | PSIP Short Name | Programming[11] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.1 | 720p | 16:9 | WTTG-DT | Main WTTG programming / Fox |
| 5.2 | 480i | 4:3 | BUZZR | Buzzr |
| 5.3 | 16:9 | ME TV | Me-TV |
Analog-to-digital conversion[edit]
WTTG shut down its analog signal over VHF channel 5, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcast on its pre-transition UHF channel 36.[12] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 5.
On April 4, 2017, the FCC announced that sister station WDCA was a winner in the 2016-17 spectrum reallocation auction and in return receive $118,834,183 for the frequency.[13] WDCA was scheduled to stop broadcasting its own signal over channel 35 no later than January 23, 2018, and continue over-the-air coverage by sharing WTTG's channel 36. The channel-sharing arrangement required WDCA and WTTG to drop one or more of their combined five subchannels; WDCA obtained a three-month extension from the original off-air deadline in order to avoid doing so for as long as possible.[14] The deadline was later extended by 90 additional days, to July 22, 2018, which was the longest delay allowed by FCC rules; WDCA moved channels on July 18.[15]
Programming[edit]
WTTG clears the entire Fox schedule (including primetime, Saturday morning, sports programming, and Sunday news program Fox News Sunday). Syndicated programming currently on WTTG includes TMZ on TV, The Wendy Williams Show, Extra, Judge Judy and Modern Family, among others.
Sports programming[edit]
WTTG has been the primary station for the Washington Redskins since 1994, when Fox obtained the rights to air NFL games in which a team from the National Football Conference (which the Redskins are part of) played a road game. WTTG airs all Sunday afternoon Redskins games, unless the game is instead covered by the NFL's contract with CBS. This relationship is limited to network coverage of regular season and postseason games, since WRC-TV and NBC Sports Washington are the official broadcast partners for the team's ancillary programming. Prior to 1994, when the Fox network established its sports division, WTTG aired the Redskins' preseason games and training camp scrimmages during the majority of the 1980s into the early 1990s.
In addition, the station also airs Washington Nationals games when they are featured on Fox's Major League Baseball telecasts.
Criticism[edit]
In 2004, the inner operations of WTTG during the station's first years under News Corporation's ownership were scrutinized in Robert Greenwald's documentary Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism. The documentary, through a panel of former WTTG journalists and staffers, claimed that following Rupert Murdoch's acquisition, WTTG's news reporting became biased and sensationalist. The former WTTG employees claimed that they were ordered "from the top" to air an uncut tribute to Ronald Reagan from the 1988 Republican National Convention; they were told to run a piece that "rehashed the whole matter of [Senator Ted Kennedy's deadly car accident at] Chappaquiddick" which had "zero news value"; and there was an obsessive attitude over airing stories related to wedge issues such as race relations and AIDS.
WTTG attracted controversy over its chief investigative reporter Emily J. Miller, who aired segments critical of gun control without divulging her involvement in gun rights activism. As a result, WTTG added disclosures to Miller's segments informing viewers that she was "a proponent for Second Amendment rights." Miller had claimed that her pro-gun views resulted from being the victim of a home invasion, but Washington Post blogger Erik Wemple discovered that her account was largely fabricated.[16] Critics also highlighted missteps in Miller's reporting, including an incident where she confused the photographs of two black men and misidentified one of them as a convicted sex offender.[17] Miller left WTTG at the conclusion of her contract in March 2016.[18]
In May 2017, WTTG was criticized for its coverage of the murder of Seth Rich, and in particular for giving credence to unproven accusations that Rich leaked documents from the Democratic National Committee. This WTTG story proved to be inaccurate.[19] The story was picked up by WTTG's sister network, Fox News, a day after the story broke, and subsequently Fox retracted it.[20]
News operation[edit]
As of July 2018, WTTG broadcasts 66½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 11½ hours each weekday and 4½ hours each on Saturdays and Sundays. The Sunday morning news show Fox 5 News on the Hill airs in the final half hour of Fox 5 Morning News Sunday at 8:30 a.m.
On September 4, 2006, WTTG began simulcasting its weekday morning and nightly 10 p.m. newscasts on then-Baltimore sister station WUTB (now owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group partner company Deerfield Media), under the banner of My 24 News. Management at both stations cited the decision to simulcast as a by-product of cross-regional news interests and increasing overlap between the Baltimore and Washington media markets.[21] In October 2006, while WTTG aired Fox Sports' coverage of the 2006 Major League Baseball postseason, the first half-hour of the 10:00 p.m. newscast was broadcast by sister station WDCA under the title Fox 5 News at Ten: Special Edition; this also occurred in 2007, with the WDCA broadcast of the program being titled My 20 News at 10.
On July 2, 2007, WTTG discontinued its noon newscast and replaced it with an hour-long newscast at 11:00 a.m., titled Fox 5 News Midday. On September 10, 2007, the station reformatted its 6:00 p.m. newscast into an early evening edition of NewsEdge; the addition of NewsEdge at 6:00 p.m. was due in part to the success of its current 11:00 p.m. counterpart. On January 14, 2009, WTTG and WRC-TV entered into a Local News Service agreement in which the two stations pool video and share news helicopter footage.[22]
On January 30, 2009, starting with its 6:00 p.m. newscast, WTTG became the third television station in the Washington, D.C. market (behind CBS affiliate WUSA and ABC affiliate WJLA-TV) to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. On September 14, 2009, WTTG expanded its weekday morning newscast to five hours by adding another hour at 9:00 a.m.; in turn, its hour-long 11:00 a.m. midday newscast was discontinued. In early 2010, WTTG became the second station in the market (behind WUSA) to expand its weekday morning newscast to 4:30 a.m.
In late August 2013, WTTG began using the AFD #10 broadcast flag to present their newscasts in letterboxed widescreen for viewers watching on cable television through 4:3 television sets; with the move, it became the second station in the Washington, D.C. market (behind WUSA) to broadcast to utilize the AFD #10 flag.
On June 16, 2014, WTTG expanded its weekday morning newscasts with the addition of an hour-long block at 10:00 a.m.[23] This was followed on July 12 by the addition of a two-hour Saturday morning newscast from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. and the July 13 expansion of its existing Sunday morning newscast to two hours from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m.[23][24]
On June 5, 2017, WTTG added an additional half-hour to its late-night news block, titled The Final 5. This makes WTTG among the very few stations to extend their late newscast to midnight and one of three Fox affiliates (Kansas City's WDAF and Atlanta's WAGA-TV are the others) to air a two-hour late-night news block. On July 17 of the same year, WTTG began producing its primetime nightly newscasts for sister station WDCA titled Fox 5 News on the Plus (but are titled on-air as Fox 5 News at 8pm). The weeknight editions, which are run for a half-hour (8:00 to 8:30 p.m.), are anchored by the 10:00 p.m. team of Tony Perkins, Shawn Yancy and meteorologist Sue Palka, while the weekend editions are run for a full hour (8:00 to 9:00 p.m.).
On-air staff[edit]
Current on-air staff[edit]
Shawn Yancy[25]
- Tony Perkins
Notable former on-air staff[edit]
Brian Bolter - anchor (1999–2013)
Steve Buckhantz - sports anchor (1987–2001); now a Washington Wizards play-by-play commentator with NBC Sports Washington
Connie Chung - reporter (1970–71); was most recently with MSNBC until 2006
Jack Conaty - reporter (1986–87); was most recently at Chicago sister station WFLD until 2009
Dave Feldman - sports anchor (2000–12; now with NBC Sports Bay Area)
Michael Gargiulo - morning anchor (2000–06; now at WNBC/New York City)
Brett Haber - sports anchor/reporter (1997–2000; later with WUSA, now with the Tennis Channel)
Hillary Howard (Statter) - meteorologist (1990s–2000; now at WTOP-FM)
Gus Johnson - weekend sports anchor/reporter (1991–92; now a play-by-play commentator with Fox Sports)
Morris Jones - anchor/reporter (1983–2001; was most recently at NewsChannel 8 until his departure from that station on May 31, 2016)
Pat Mitchell - anchor/Panorama host (1977–79)
Holly Morris - weekday morning feature reporter
Maury Povich - anchor/reporter/Panorama host (1967–76 and 1983–86; now hosting the syndicated talk show Maury)
Amy Robach - anchor/reporter (1998–2003; now with ABC News)
Al Roker - weather anchor (1976–78; now with NBC News' Today)
Bob Schieffer - reporter (1969–77; now chief Washington, D.C. correspondent for CBS News and former host of Face the Nation from 1991 to 2015)
Bob Sellers - anchor (2006–08; now with WZTV/Nashville)
Sara Underwood - reporter; now at WFXT (WTTG's now-former sister station) in Boston
Tim White - morning anchor (1990–93); was previously at WKYC in Cleveland until 2008, now president of Lives and Legacies Films, Inc.
Brian Williams - anchor/reporter/Panorama host (1985–86; anchor/managing editor for NBC Nightly News from 2004 to 2015, now at MSNBC)
Brian Wilson - anchor/reporter (1996–2000); formerly with Fox News Channel, now with WMAL
References[edit]
^ abcde "Fox 5 / My 20". DCJobs.com. Retrieved 4 October 2018..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
^ abc Brennan, Patricia (14 May 1995). "WTTG Marks 50 Years". The Washington Post.
^ "Digital Signal Sources". The Washington Post. 2008-05-20.
^ "RabbitEars.Info". RabbitEars.Info. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
^ "More Sites Around Washington, DC, 2008". Tower Site of the Week. 12 February 2010.
^ Greene, David (14 March 2014). "'Requiem for The Big East' Honors Basketball Rivalries". NPR.
^ "Maury Povich Reminisces About Time at WTTG during Station's 70th Anniversary". Fox 5 DC. 4 January 2017.
^ Carmody, John (19 May 1987). "Channel 5 Cancels 'Panorama'". The Washington Post.
^ "News Music « News Music Now". Newsmusicnow.com. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
^ "OSI - Fox O&O News Theme". YouTube. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
^ "Digital TV Market Listing for WTTG". RabbitEars.Info. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
^ "DA-17-314A2.pdf" (PDF). FCC.gov. April 4, 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 14, 2017. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
^ "Modification of a Licensed Facility for DTV Application". Federal Communications Commission.
^ "STA Extension". FCC LMS.
^ Additional document casts doubt on 'home invasion' of local Fox reporter, Erik Wemple, The Washington Post, 3 March 2015
^ Virginia trainer claims Fox5 misidentified him as a sex offender, Erik Wemple, The Washington Post, 13 January 2016
^ Emily Miller is leaving Fox5, Erik Wemple, The Washington Post, 1 March 2016
^ "Seth Rich Murder: What we know and what we don't know", WTTG (May 17, 2017).
^ Phillps, Kristine and
Holley, Peter. "Fox News retracts controversial story on Seth Rich’s death and alleged WikiLeaks contact", Washington Post (May 23, 2017)
^ Farhi, Paul (August 11, 2006). "WTTG to Span Two Beltways With Washimore Newscast". The Washington Post.
^ "Fox And NBC To Share In DC". Retrieved 2009-01-14.
^ ab Calbaugh, Jeff (10 April 2014). "Fox 5 Ups the Morning News Ante". Washington Business Journal.
^ Fox Stations Beef Up Local News In 9 Markets, TVNewsCheck, June 25, 2014.
^ "DC news, weather, radar, traffic, sports and breaking news from WTTG-TV". Myfoxdc.com. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
External links[edit]
- Official website
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WTTG
- Query the FCC's TV station database for W46BR-D
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WTTG-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on W46BR-TV
WTTG Fox 5 at the Wayback Machine (archived January 15, 2006)
WTTG Fox 5 at the Wayback Machine (archived April 7, 2000)
Categories:
- Fox network affiliates
- Television stations in Washington, D.C.
- Fox Television Stations
- Buzzr affiliates
- MeTV affiliates
- Metromedia
- Television channels and stations established in 1947
- DuMont Television Network owned-and-operated stations
- ATSC-M/H stations
- 1947 establishments in Washington, D.C.
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