WVUE

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WVUE
city =
station_
station_slogan = Your Weather Authority
station_branding = Fox 8
analog = 8 (VHF)
digital = 29 (UHF)
other_chs =
subchannels = (see article)
affiliations = FOX
founded =
airdate = September 1, 1953
location = New Orleans, Louisiana
callsign_meaning = VUE, pronounced "view"
former_callsigns = WJMR-TV (1953-1965)
former_channel_numbers = 61 (1953-1958)
20 (1958-1959)
13 (1959-1964)
12 (1964-1970)
owner = Louisiana Media Company
licensee =
sister_stations =
former_affiliations = CBS (1953-1957)
ABC (1953-1995, secondary until 1957)
effective_radiated_power = 316 kW (analog)
660 kW (digital)
HAAT = 302 m (analog)
274 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 4149
coordinates = coord|29|57|15.8|N|89|56|58.5|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.fox8tv.net/ www.fox8tv.net]
:"WVUE was also the callsign for Channel 12 in Wilmington, Delaware in the late 1950s. Please see WVUE (Delaware) for details."

WVUE, channel 8, is a TV station in New Orleans, Louisiana, affiliated with the Fox Broadcasting Company. WVUE is owned by Louisiana Media Company, with studios in the Gert Town section of New Orleans and transmitter in Chalmette, Louisiana.

History

WVUE began on September 1, 1953 as WJMR-TV, the second TV station in New Orleans (behind WDSU-TV) & the third in Louisiana (behind WDSU & WAFB in Baton Rouge). Originally broadcasting on channel 61, it then moved to channel 20 in 1958. It was originally a CBS affiliate with a secondary ABC affiliation. When WWL-TV signed on in 1957, it took over the CBS affiliation because of WWL radio's longtime affiliation with CBS radio. WJMR was left with ABC.

The station moved to channel 13 in 1959 & returned to channel 12 in 1964 due to interference with WLOX in Biloxi, also on channel 13. Screen Gems bought the station in 1965 & changed the call letters to WVUE. In 1970, it swapped dial positions with the city's PBS station, WYES and moved to its current location on channel 8.

As for the channels 61 and 20 allocations respectively, they are now occupied by television stations WLPN-LP and WHNO in that order.

Throughout the 1970s & 1980s, the station would consistently rank as a distant third place in the ratings behind WWL-TV & WDSU-TV, even as ABC topped the national ratings for a time in the mid-70s. One unusual thing about WVUE was that they preempted a large amount of weekday daytime programming from ABC. They only ran "All My Children" from 1970-1975 & dropped it that year. They also did not run "Ryan's Hope", "One Life to Live" or "General Hospital" either through most of the 1970s. In place of these soaps the station ran westerns as well as cartoons & off-network sitcoms. They did, however run "Edge Of Night" @ some point during the mid 1970's. Additionally, WVUE preempted nearly half the Saturday morning cartoons from ABC as well as the Sunday Morning cartoon reruns from ABC; in fact, WVUE even blocked out "American Bandstand" on ABC in favor of the Urban equivalent to "Bandstand", "Soul Train". Like most affiliates, WVUE also preempted ABC late night movies & drama shows. One reason this was not a big problem was because WLOX Channel 13, located in Gulfport was only 60 miles away & had a grade B Signal in New Orleans & a grade A signal east & north of the city. WLOX carried nearly all of ABC's programming. Additionally, WVLA Channel 33 located 80 miles west in Baton Rouge brought in a grade B signal to the west & north-west of New Orleans. They preempted some ABC programs, but ran virtually all the major shows preempted from WVUE. In 1976 ABC moved in Baton Rouge to Channel 2 WBRZ & that station even had a grade B signal in New Orleans & a Grade A signal to the west. Both these stations were on most of the cable systems in the area. Gaylord Broadcasting bought WVUE in 1977. Finally, in the fall of 1978, WVUE reinstated "All My Children" to the lineup. At the same time, WVUE also added "One Life to Live" & "General Hospital" to the lineup. Still they continued to preempt moderate amounts of ABC programming over the years. On Monday, May 31, 1982, WVUE-TV became the latest New Orleans affiliate to launch a 5 PM newscast, with "Live At Five".

In spite of ownership changes & programming modifications, WVUE was still unable to improve their place in the ratings. Many think this was because of WWL-TV's & WDSU's dominance in programming & local news. Others think many viewers watched neighboring ABC affiliates for network programming due to perceived preemptions. The station was then sold to Burnham Broadcasting in 1987. It continued to under-perform into the 1990s.

In late 1994, after FOX won television rights to the National Football Conference of the National Football League, it arranged to have Savoy Pictures purchase WVUE and Burnham's three other stations--WALA-TV in Mobile, Alabama; WLUK-TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin & KHON-TV in Honolulu, Hawaii. As part of the deal, the stations would all convert to FOX affiliates. FOX would own a minority voting stock in these stations & the company would be called "Savoy FOX" or SF. (However, in 1995, FOX opted not to have voting stock in the company, although it would still hold an interest.)

The transaction went ahead in the summer of 1995. On January 1, 1996, WVUE became the area's new FOX affiliate. (WNOL, which had been the market's FOX affiliate, took the WB affiliation; the ABC affiliation went to WGNO). Unlike the former New World FOX stations & like sister SF stations, WVUE took the Fox Kids Network. These shows initially ran from 1-4 PM weekdays & weekends in pattern. Eventually, the FOX Kids programs moved to the 6-9 AM slot on weekdays. Despite becoming a FOX affiliate, WVUE still did not have a weekday morning newscast throughout the 1990s. FOX's ratings increased slightly from being on WNOL, but WVUE's ratings still stayed well behind WWL-TV & WDSU. Savvoy sold the station (along with the other three former Burnham stations) in 1997 to Silver King/USA Broadcasting. Emmis Communications became the owner of these stations by 1999.

Finally, in 2002, WVUE added a weekday AM newscast. In recent years, WVUE acquired stronger shows on its lineup. It acquired the local rights to Wheel of Fortune & Jeopardy! as part of a group deal with Emmis' Fox stations group -- a rarity for a FOX station (prior to airing on channel 8, they aired for about two decades on WWL-TV).

In 2005, Emmis declared its intention to sell its TV stations.

On April 29, 2007, WVUE became the first TV station in New Orleans to broadcast a newscast in high definition. WVUE has an around the clock re-broadcast of FOX 8 News on digital sub-channel 8₂.

On May 5, 2008 it was announced that Emmis Communications had agreed to sell the station to Louisiana Media Company, a new media group founded by New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson. Benson stated that he plans for the new company to acquire several radio & television stations nationwide & to be involved in movie production. The FCC approved the sale on July 14, 2008. Louisiana Media Company took possession of the station on July 18, 2008. [http://www.fox8live.com/www/NewsItem.aspx?NewsID=4536] [http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/media/emmis-completes-sale-wvue-tv-new-orleans-louisiana-media-company/]

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina struck Greater New Orleans at the end of August 2005. WVUE's operations were temporarily moved to then-sister station WALA's studios in Mobile, Alabama. WVUE's studio on Jefferson Davis Parkway is located in a low-lying part of the city that was badly flooded due to the Katrina levee failures. It was so badly damaged that Emmis has told some of the on-air staff that they were free to seek work elsewhere without penalty.

Soon, WVUE's morning meteorologist Crystal Wicker went to Indianapolis' WRTV, where she began work October 3. [http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050919/COLUMNISTS04/509190430/1006/NEWS01] Weekend Meteorologist Jeff Baskin went to Portland, Oregon's KOIN. Reporter Summer Jackson went to Chicago to work @ CLTV while reporter Kerry Cavanaugh took a job at WBAL-TV in Baltimore, Maryland.

Following the storm, WVUE presented a rotating 15-minute newscast streaming on its website coming from WALA. It has since restored its full-length newscasts.

In mid-June 2006, construction of the station's permanent news set & weather center were completed. Before then, a temporary news set & newsroom were set up in the station's production room. Station manager Vanessa Oubre said remodeling/reconstruction of the rest of the building should have be completed by November 2006.

The hurricane may also have had an effect on Emmis' sale of WVUE. Emmis Communications put the station on the market several months before Katrina hit. It took until May 2008 to find a buyer.

Digital Television

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

In 2009, WVUE will remain on channel 8 when the analog to digital conversion is complete.http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf]

After New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson's Louisiana Media Company took over WVUE from Emmis, WVUE-DT was finally added to Cox Communications in New Orleans, and on Charter Communications on the Northshore and Tri-Parish area in August (Cox) and September (Charter) 2008. Both Charter and Cox carry WVUE-DT on channel 708. WVUE-DT can also be found on other cable systems in Southeast Louisiana as well.

FOX 8 Newschannel, which is carried on digital 8.2 can also be found on Cox channel 115 and Charter channel 108. FOX 8 Newschannel carries the most recent newscast on a rotation, as well as the new sports program, FOX 8 Sports Daily at 6pm daily and repeats at 8pm and 10pm.

News/Station Presentation

Newscast Titles

*"WJMR-TV News" (1956-1965)
*"The Evening News" (1965-1970, 6 PM newscast)
*"Alec Gifford News" (1970-1976, 6 & 10 PM newscasts)
*"24 Hours" (1965-1976, 10 PM newscast)
*"NewsScene 8" (1976-1984)
*"Live At Five" (1982-1984?, 5 PM newscast)
*"News 8 New Orleans" (1984-1987)
*"News 8" (1987-1995)
*"FOX News Eight" (1995-1998)
*"FOX8 News" (1998-present)

tation Slogans

*"There's More on NewsScene 8" (late 1970s)
*"Your Neighborhood Station" (mid 1980s)
*"The Station that's Making Good Things Happen" (late 1980s)
*"The One to Watch" (Early 1990s)
*"Your Weather Authority" (2005-present)

Notable Personalities

Current On-Air Staff

Anchors
*Jonathan Carter - weekday mornings
*Kim Holden - weekday mornings
*Nancy Parker - 5 and 9pm weekday evenings
*John Snell - 5 and 9pm weekday evenings
*Jennifer Van Vrancken - 9pm weekends

Reporters
*Blaire Arvin
*Val Bracy
*Allison Braxton
*Sherrley Brown
*Patrick Evans - currently on leave while serving in Iraq [http://talktopatrick.blogspot.com/]
*Sandra Gonzalez
*Rob Masson
*Natasha Robin
*Elizabeth Willis
*Sabrina Wilson

Meteorologists
*Bob Breck (AMS Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; 5 and 9pm weekday evenings/Monday Through Thursday's
*Chris Franklin (AMS Seal of Approval) - weekday mornings
*Nicrondra Norwood (AMS Seal of Approval) 9pm weekends and Friday's at 5:00 pm and 9:00 pm
*Kim Vaughn - fill-in

Sports
*Eric Richey - sports director; 5 and 9pm weekday evenings
*Rob Ennis - 9pm weekends
*Sean Fazenda - reporter/fill-in sports anchor

Former On-Air Staff

*Al Duckworth - weekend weather anchor (mid-1980s; died in 2001)
*Richard Anderson - weeknight anchor (currently heads own communications company)
*Ken Aucoin (later at WIS-TV in Columbia, South Carolina; retired)
*Chip Barrere - meteorologist
*Darrelle Green (now at WRDQ in Orlando)
*Eric Clemons
*Jeff Baskin - weekend meteorologist (now fill-in meteorlogist at WFOR-TV in Miami)
*Warren Bell (now on New Orleans radio and teaches at Xavier University of Louisiana)
*Lionel Bienvenu - sports (now at KMGH-TV in Denver, Colorado)
*Howard Bernstein (now at WUSA Washington, D.C.)
*Karen Boudrie
*Kerry Cavanaugh (now at WBAL-TV in Baltimore, Maryland)
*Fernel Chatman
*Joe Cioffi (now at WNBC-TV New York City as a fill-in meteorologist)
*Robin Cohen
*Damon Darensburg (now at WGNO)
*Sam DePino - built newsroom from four people to ample staff as executive news producer-writer-reporter-anchor (1964-1967), first "Action Reporter" (1967-1968; also freelanced for ABC News and hired full time in 1968, retired in Illinois)
*Bernard "Buddy" Diliberto - sports director/anchor (1966-1980; later worked for WDSU, died in 2005)
*Margaret Dubuisson - anchor/reporter (1980s-1996; now host of local infomercials)
*Dionne Floyd (Anglin) - reporter (now at KDFW in Dallas/Fort Worth)
*Keith Esparros - (now at KNBC in Los Angeles)
*Lynn Faris
*Jim Gallagher - reporter (1983-2000)
*Lynn Gansar (Zatarain) - anchor/reporter (1980?-1983; later at WDSU-TV)
*Joe Giardina - investigative reporter (1985-1992; now Gulf Coast region general manager for Lindmark Outdoor Advertising)
*Alec Gifford - anchor/reporter (1967-1980; retired)
*Janet Gross - notable for her humorous "Gross Stuff" spots (late 1990s; married to WDSU's Heath Allen)
*Mike Herrera - meteorologist; also did voiceovers for WVUE (now at WWL-TV)
*Jon Huffman - reporter (now at WGNO)
*Ron Hunter - anchor/reporter (1981-1985; retired to Las Vegas in 1998; died June 23, 2008 at age 70) [1]
*George Jones
*Lori Kilgore
*Mel Leavitt - reporter, )also worked at WDSU, WGNO and WYES; died in August 1997)
*Mike Longman - arrested for child pornography in 2000 and sentenced to four years in prison, was put on a leave of absence by the station shortly after arrest)
*Ed Martin
*Johnny Miller - "Johnny's Follies" feature reporter
*Linda Mintz - "Miss Linda" on WVUE's version of "Romper Room"
*Charles Mollineaux - reporter (now at WAGA-TV in Atlanta, Georgia)
*Arthel Neville - reporter (former host of syndicated entertainment news show Extra; now at KSWB-TV in San Diego)
*Adam Norris (now at WGNO)
*Vanessa Oubre - station manager (now at WAFF in Huntsville, Alabama)
*Monica Pierre - (now at WWL-AM-FM)
*Larry Regan
*Norman Robinson - anchor/reporter (now at WDSU)
*Nash Roberts - meteorologist (1973-1978; succeeded by Bob Breck, later at WWL-TV, now retired)
*Steve Rosanovich
*Nancy Russo
*Laura Shelton (now at CBS News)
*Ken Strahorn - sports
*Ron Swoboda - sports anchor (now at Cox Sports Television)
*Leslie Sykes - now at KABC-TV in Los Angeles)
*Joe Trahan - sports (now at WFAA-TV in Dallas/Fort Worth)
*Nischelle Turner - reporter (now at KTTV in Los Angeles)
*Ron Turner
*Gary V Straub - anchor/reporter (1965; died 2007)
*Crystal Wicker - meteorologist (2003-2005; now at WRTV in Indianapolis)
*Al Wester
*Louis de la Foret (a.k.a. Lou Forrest)
*Ross Yockey
* Kristen Eargal

Former Show's on WVUE
* The A-Team
* America Bandstand
* Benson
* Cops
* Diff'renmt Strokes
* Family Feud
* Entertainment Tonight
* Fall Guy
* Family Ties
* Gearldo
* Judge Judy
* Jenny Jones
* Hard Copy
* Inside Edition
* The Odd Couple
* The Rookies
* Happy Day's
* Dating Game
* Newlywed Game
* Edge of Night
* Loving
* All My Children
* One Life To Live
* General Hospital
* The Flintstones
* Mike Douglas
* 20,000 Pyrmind
* 25,000 Pyrmind
* Here's Lucy
* Sally Jessy Raphael
* Good Morning America
* ABC World News Tonight
* 20/20
* M*A*S*H
* Maude
* Nightline
* The Nanny
* World News Now
* The Rush Limbugh The Televison Show
* Married With Children
* Mad About You
* Sanford And Son
* The Home Show
* The 700 Club

References

External links

* [http://www.fox8tv.net/ WVUE Website]
* [http://www.chezgrae.com/modsquad/pics.html "Mod Squad" Pictures "(includes ident slide for WVUE)"]
* [http://www.bobbreck.com/ Bob Breck.com] - official website of the WVUE meteorologist.
*
* [http://home.att.net/~wd0giv/employeeweb.html WVUE Alumni]