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WFAA-TV ("WFAA 8") is the ABC television affiliate serving the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas DMA (6th largest nationwide). Its transmitter is located in Cedar Hill. The station is the flagship of Belo Corporation, which also owns the Dallas Morning News daily newspaper. WFAA-TV is currently the largest ABC affillate not to be owned and operated by ABC.
WFAA-TV also serves as one of four default ABC affiliates for the Sherman, Texas-Ada, Oklahoma market (along with KSWO-TV in Lawton, KTUL-TV in Tulsa and KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City) since that market currently lacks a ABC affiliate of its own, as the market's former ABC affiliate KTEN became an NBC affiliate in 1998. WFAA is carried as the "local" ABC affiliate to Dish Network subscribers within that market and the sole ABC affiliate carried by cable operators in several of the largest cities in the Sherman-Ada market including Sherman and Denison in Texas; as well as Ardmore, Durant and Hugo in Oklahoma.
History
WFAA signed on as DuMont affiliate KBTV on September 17, 1949. (Note: The callsign KBTV was used for years by Channel 9, the ABC (now NBC) affiliate in Denver, but now belongs to Channel 4, the Beaumont, Texas NBC station.) WFAA was the first TV station in Dallas and the second in the Metroplex behind WBAP-TV (now KXAS). The station became WFAA (after sister radio station WFAA-AM) on March 21, 1950, not long after the station was purchased by Belo in the midst of a FCC television license freeze from 1948 to 1952. It became a dual affiliate of ABC and NBC in its inception in 1949 before becoming a full ABC affiliate in 1957.
WFAA was the first station to break the news that President Kennedy was shot to death on November 22, 1963. The station conducted the first live television interview with Abraham Zapruder, who shot the famous Zapruder film, about an hour and a half after the President's death. WFAA and its live remote unit fed much coverage of the assassination and its aftermath to the ABC network over the next four days. The shocking and unexpected shooting of accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby in the basement of Dallas Police Headquarters, however, was not broadcast live (as on NBC) or on tape (as on CBS a minute later) by WFAA/ABC as their live truck was positioned elsewhere at the time. ABC was thus only able to show delayed newsreel footage of the historic event.
WFAA dominated the market ratings for local news from the mid 1970s until the late 1990s, with talent such as Tracy Rowlett, Iola Johnson, Bob Gooding, Judi Hanna, John Criswell, Chip Moody, John McCaa, Gloria Campos, Scott Sams, Verne Lundquist, Dale Hansen, and Troy Dungan. Former News Director turned Belo executive Marty Haag is credited for leading the station to ratings dominance and national prominence.
WFAA also does major outside work with cities and small "town hall" meetings through its Family First program. Family First first started back in 1993.
WFAA became the first TV station in the nation to broadcast a digital signal in February 1997 at 2:17 p.m. The station is one of the only ABC affiliates to broadcast HDTV in 1080i format; other ABC affiliates broadcast in 720p. The programming is broadcasted from their new Victory Park studios (NEWS 8 Daybreak, NEWS 8 Midday, NEWS 8 at Five, and also when a major event is being held at Victory Park).
News Ratings
NEWS 8 has been a long time leader in news for many years in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. In recent years, however, NEWS 8 began to slip at the 10 p.m. timeslot and also at the 6 a.m. timeslot. However NEWS 8, according to Nielsen Media Research as of May 2007, is at number one at 5 p.m., number one at 6 p.m., and number one at 10 p.m. newscasts. NEWS 8 did see a place jump from third to second place at the 6 a.m. newscast.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).
Logos
- WFAA 1975 Logo WFAA 1975 Logo
- WFAA 1984-1996 Logo WFAA 1984-1996 Logo
- WFAA 1996-2003 Spirt Logo WFAA 1996-2003 Spirt Logo
- WFAA 1996-Present Logo WFAA 1996-Present Logo
- WFAA 1996-Present Logo (variation) WFAA 1996-Present Logo (variation)
- WFAA Current Logo with website WFAA Current Logo with website
- WFAA Current Spirt Logo WFAA Current Spirt Logo
- WFAA Current Spirt Logo (variation) WFAA Current Spirt Logo (variation)
- WFAA.com Logo WFAA.com Logo
- WFAA/NEWS 8 Current 'HD' Logo WFAA/NEWS 8 Current 'HD' Logo
- WFAA Family First Logo WFAA Family First Logo
References
- Shannon, Mike (January, 2004). Dallas-Fort Worth TV Station History. The History of Dallas-Fort Worth Radio and Television.
External links
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