WSVN

WSVN

Miami / Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Branding	WSVN 7 (general) 7 News (newscasts)
Slogan	The News Station
Channels	Digital: 7 (VHF) Virtual: 7 (PSIP)
Translators	WKIZ-LP 49 Key West, FL
Affiliations	Fox
Owner	Sunbeam Television (Sunbeam Television Corporation)
First air date	July 29, 1956
Call letters' meaning	channel SeVeN
Former callsigns	WCKT (1956-1983)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 7 (VHF, 1956-2009) Digital: 8 (VHF, 2000-2009)
Former affiliations	NBC (1956-1988)
Transmitter power	158 kW
Height	307.1 m
Facility ID	63840
Transmitter coordinates	25°57′49.9″N 80°12′43.6″W / 25.963861°N 80.212111°W / 25.963861; -80.212111
Website	wsvn.com

WSVN, channel 7, is a television station located in Miami, Florida, USA. WSVN is owned by Sunbeam Television, and is an affiliate of the Fox Broadcasting Company. The station has its studio facilities located in North Bay Village and transmitter based in north Miami-Dade County.

WSVN operates a Key West repeater, WKIZ-LP, on channel 49. WKIZ's calls are a play on the Florida Keys since the translator serves Key West.

Digital television

Digital channels

Channel	Video	Aspect	Programming
7.1	720p	16:9	Main WSVN programming / FOX
7.2	480i	4:3	Estrella TV

On June 12, 2009, WSVN remained on channel 7 when the analog to digital conversion was completed.^[1] The station was one of four VHF digital stations granted a power increase later that month after stations experienced signal problems on VHF that did not occur with UHF.^[2]

While WSVN includes Estrella TV as part of the lineup, the station pre-empts one of their talk shows, Jose Luis Sin Censura, due to inappropriate and offending language and content, after receiving complaints from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.^[3]

History

The station began broadcasting on July 29, 1956. It had the call letters WCKT and was a NBC affiliate owned by Biscayne Television Corporation. The station was a partnership of the Cox and Knight publishing families who owned Miami's two major newspapers: the Miami News and Miami Herald, respectively. The same partnership also owned WCKR radio (610 AM, now WIOD) and WCKR-FM (97.3, now WFLC). Before WCKT signed on, NBC had been carried on WFTL-TV (channel 23) in Fort Lauderdale (later known as WGBS-TV after it had been acquired by Storer Broadcasting) along with some DuMont programming. However, WFTL struggled because television sets were not required to have UHF tuning capability. When the Cox/Knight partnership won a construction permit and license for channel 7, NBC quickly agreed to move its affiliation to that channel since WCKR had long been the NBC Radio affiliate in Miami. Channel 23 became an independent station and eventually went dark, and later came back to the air in 1967 as WAJA-TV, eventually becoming Univision-owned WLTV.

WCKT and Biscayne Television lose license

WCKT logo in 1966 as seen on its tenth anniversary special.

In 1962, the Cox/Knight partnership was stripped of both of its broadcast licenses because it violated Federal Communications Commission (FCC) licensing rules and because of ethics violations. In hearings that began back in June 1960, it was found that some of the principals of Biscayne Television, as well as some of James M. Cox's personal friends, had made improper contact with FCC commissioner Richard Mack in order to influence the award of the construction permit and licenses. Biscayne was competing for the license with East Coast Television and South Florida TV. Mack had also been found guilty of taking payoffs and was forced to resign by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, as well as the rest of the FCC commissioners.

Biscayne Television originally planned to appeal its license revocation but was advised that it would be turned down due to the gravity of the situation. Mack had also been found guilty of taking payoffs in the licensing process of another Miami station, WPST-TV (channel 10, now WPLG), to the broadcasting subsidiary of National Airlines. WPST had its license revoked and Biscayne then opted to put WCKT on the market. The owners of WPST were forced to sell the station only after they had to cease broadcasting.

Shortly afterward a new company called Sunbeam Television Corporation bought the station for $3.4 million and assumed ownership on December 19, 1962. Upon the change in ownership, Sunbeam retained the WCKT call letters and claimed the Cox/Knight station's history as its own. Sunbeam Television was a partnership between Sydney Ansin, a Miami Beach-based real estate developer, and his son Edmund ("Ed") Ansin. The younger Ansin succeeded his father as president of Sunbeam Television in 1971. On June 7, 1983, the station's call letters were changed to the current WSVN, after those call letters were purchased from a PBS station in Norton, Virginia. The station has used its own version of the circle 7 logo since the mid-1970s.

Sunbeam Television ownership

As an NBC station, WCKT/WSVN aired a newscast in place of whatever NBC aired weekdays at Noon. It also, at some times of the year, preempted shows during the 10 or 11 a.m. hour (but ran at least one of these hours) and preempted an occasional primetime show. While NBC was traditionally far less tolerant of pre-emptions than the other networks, it did not mind this at first provided that NBC was able to contact alternate independent stations in the Miami area to air whatever programs that WSVN did not air. In addition, NBC programs that WSVN didn't air were cleared by WPTV (channel 5) in West Palm Beach. WPTV's signal provides city-grade coverage of Fort Lauderdale and was available on nearly every cable system in the area. However, in the early 1980s, WPTV fell off a few Miami cable systems to make room for new channels. Largely due to those preemptions, WCKT/WSVN was one of NBC's weaker affiliates. Though the independent stations NBC contacted continued to air programs not shown on WSVN, NBC preferred that their whole schedule aired on one station and eventually concluded that they needed to own their own outlet in the growing Miami/Ft. Lauderdale market.

Network affiliation switch

NBC got its chance in the late 1980s when CBS affiliate WTVJ (then on channel 4, now on channel 6), Florida's oldest television station, went on the market. NBC's corporate parent General Electric purchased that station in 1987, but WTVJ's affiliation contract with CBS did not run out until the end of 1988. CBS was willing to let WTVJ out of its affiliation contract a year early. Conversely, Ed Ansin was not interested in letting NBC out of its pact with WSVN, which also expired at the same time; Ansin even made an unsuccessful petition to the Federal Communications Commission to stop NBC's purchase of WTVJ.^[4] He wanted channel 7 to air NBC's strong fall 1988 lineup, which included the Major League Baseball World Series and the Summer Olympics. As a result, NBC was forced to run WTVJ as a CBS affiliate for more than a year, with all of the NBC shows preempted by WSVN airing to WTVJ (a situation that did not sit well with either network). When Ansin made an offer to take the CBS affiliation, CBS turned the offer down.^[5] Instead, CBS bought Miami's original Fox affiliate, WCIX (channel 6, now WFOR-TV on channel 4), even though that station had an inadequate signal in Broward County. In May 1988, Ed Ansin filed an antitrust lawsuit against NBC, CBS and General Electric, a week after he had claimed that CBS backed out of negotiations to affiliate with WSVN.^[6]

Finally, on January 1, 1989, South Florida's first network affiliation switch occurred, with NBC moving to WTVJ full-time and WSVN receiving the Fox affiliation, which had previously been carried by WCIX. WSVN had far less programming to pre-empt as a result, as Fox only programmed weekends at the time; thus, WSVN originally considered themselves an independent station and before the network's expansion into weeknights in the early 1990s, had aired a film in primetime every weeknight at 8 p.m. The station also took on a news-intensive format after the affiliation switch, expanding its newscasts to eight hours on weekdays. WSVN's affiliation with Fox could also be seen as a major coup for the fledgling network, as WSVN had been the area's longtime NBC affiliate and Fox was pleased to gain affiliation with a station which had been with a "Big Three" network for years. The combination of WSVN not following a similar pattern to other Fox affiliates at the time and WCIX becoming a "Big Three" affiliate also led then-struggling independent WDZL (channel 39, now CW affiliate WSFL-TV) to rise to prominence, as WDZL picked up many shows once on WCIX.

Fox affiliation

WSVN archive betacam newstape at the Florida Moving Image Archive.

Instead of buying a lot of off-network sitcoms and running cartoons, WSVN opted to move to a news-intensive format and poured most of its resources into its news department.^[7] Because of this, the station had a higher local newscast output than the rest of Fox's stations did at the time of the switch; when WSVN became a Fox affiliate, only a small number of Fox stations ran local news, which were limited to late primetime slots (as of 2010, only about one-quarter of Fox's affiliates carry newscasts in either the midday, 4, 5 or 6 p.m. time periods, in addition to morning and/or primetime newscasts). It began to air a lot of first-run syndicated talk shows, court shows, off-network dramas, and eight hours of news a day; in its early years with the Fox network, local news on WSVN ran on weekdays from 6 to 9 a.m., 12 to 1 p.m., 5 to 7 p.m., and 10 to 11 p.m.

It also ran some cartoons on weekends as well; it originally aired Fox Kids programming in 1990, but by 1993 it moved to WDZL. WBFS-TV (channel 33) aired the 4Kids TV block until the block ended on December 28, 2008. In 1994, when New World Communications switched most of its stations' to Fox, the programming on them was very similar in format to WSVN except that their news format may have aimed at an older audience than WSVN. Also, many stations owned by New World passed on Fox Kids just as WSVN.

As a Fox affiliate, the station is branded "WSVN 7", rather than "Fox 7" under Fox's station standardization rule (Boston sister station WHDH does brand itself with its network name as "7 NBC", though NBC is not as strict with branding as Fox). However, Fox News Channel refers to the station as "Fox 7" when carrying WSVN's coverage of news from South Florida during breaking news emergencies. Also until a revamp of the website in late 2009, the Fox logo occasionally appeared in a rolling marquee on the top left hand corner of the website.

WSVN today

WSVN's 2001-2009 news open.

WSVN tends to run a lot of lower budget first run syndicated shows that other stations pass on. Fox supplies the station with a primetime lineup and plenty of weekend sports. Even though other stations outbid WSVN for the best programming, the station has far higher ratings than WSFL and WBFS and often beats the other network affiliates in ratings, considering Fox's growing ratings, especially when Fox finished the 2007/2008 season as the #1 network in the nation for the first time in its 22-year history. In May 2006, WSVN was the market's highest-rated English-language station from sign-on to sign-off.^[8] WFOR has since surpassed WSVN as the number one English-language station in Miami, though WSVN has been a solid runner up and has tied with WPLG. Today, the station has expanded its news programming and added other local programs such as Deco Drive.

News operation

WSVN's 10 p.m. news logo.

WSVN's HD Newsroom studio.

When the station gained the Fox affiliation, it became the second Fox affiliate to have a weekday morning newscast and was the first with weeknight 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts.

The station currently has an 11 p.m. newscast, in addition to its 10 p.m. newscast. The 11 p.m. newscast began in 1995 as a 15-minute O.J. Simpson murder case wrap-up, and did not expand to weekend evenings until September 26, 2009,^[9] (an 11 p.m. newscast previously existed before the 1989 switch to Fox). A half-hour 4 p.m. newscast was added to the schedule on September 11, 2006,^[10] which later expanded to an hour in 2007. On July 11, 2010 WSVN expanded its Saturday and Sunday 6 p.m. newscasts to one hour with the addition of half-hour newscasts at 6:30 p.m.^[11]

WSVN broadcasts 63 hours of local news each week, the most of any local television station in the United States, and the second most of any local television station in North America (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada independent station CHCH-TV broadcasts a total of 69 hours per week). The station currently airs 10½ hours of news on weekdays (5-10 a.m., noon-1 p.m., 4-7 p.m., 10-11:30 p.m.), and typically about four hours on weekends, not counting entertainment programming or breaking news coverage; unlike other news-intensive Fox stations, WSVN carries weekend evening newscasts at 5, 6 and 6:30 p.m. on both Saturdays and Sundays (others either air early evening weekend newscasts at different times on Saturdays and Sundays (i.e., Saturdays at 6 and Sundays at 5 p.m.), air them either at only 5 or 6 p.m. on both nights or do not carry early evening weekend newscasts at all); however as is standard with Fox stations that carry early evening weekend newscasts, WSVN's weekend 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts are subject to preemption and/or delay due to network sports coverage.

The station's weather radar is called "Storm Tracker 7". All newscasts, including entertainment show Deco Drive, can be viewed live on WSVN's website. On January 11, 2009, starting with their 5 p.m. newscast, WSVN became the second station in Miami (behind WTVJ) to broadcast its local newscasts in high definition. With the switch to HD came a new updated newsplex that premiered on December 29, 2008 and new HD graphics. On August 22, 2011, WSVN expanded Today in Florida, with the addition of a fifth hour from 9-10 a.m.; this increased WSVN's weekly news output to 63 hours a week, surpassing KRON-TV in San Francisco as the station with the highest local news output in the United States, and the second highest news output of any North American television station.^[12]

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

• WCKT-TV News (1956–1962)
• The World Today / The World Tonight (1962–1973; later used by WTVJ)
• TV-7 News (1973–1975, presented on air simply as News)
• Channel 7 News (1975–1980 and 1988–1993; presented on air as 7 News, which is currently used)
• NewsCenter 7 (1980–1988)^[13]
• Today in Florida (morning newscast, 1988–present;^[14] WTVJ previously used similar title, Today in South Florida for its morning newscast until 2011, based on WSVN's former and WTVJ's current morning lead-in, Today)
• 7 News (1993–present)^[15]

Station slogans

• Bringing It Home to You (1975–1979; slogan which jingle was the base for The News Image, music package used by WSVN from 1979 to 1984)
• The Team to Watch (1982–1984; news slogan)
• WSVN, the New Channel 7 (1983; provisional slogan to promote its new call sign)
• The Hometown Station (1984–1988; one version included a promo sung by Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine)
• South Florida's News Station (1988–1998)^[16]
• The News Station (1998–present)

News team^[17]

Current anchors

• Blake Burman - weekends at 5, 6, 6:30, 10 and 11 p.m.
• Christine Cruz - weekday mornings Today in Florida (5-10 a.m.) and noon
• Diana Diaz - weekday mornings Today in Florida (5-10 a.m.) and noon; also health reporter
• Richard Lemus - weekday mornings Today in Florida (5-10 a.m.); also health reporter
• Lynn Martinez - weekdays at 4 and 4:30, and weeknights at 5:30 and 6:30 p.m.
• Mike Marza - weekdays at 4 and 4:30, and weeknights at 5:30 and 6:30 p.m.
• Belkys Nerey - weeknights at 5, 6, 10 and 11 p.m.
• Robbin Simmons - weekends at 5, 6, 6:30, 10 and 11 p.m.
• LuAnne Sorrell - Saturday mornings Today in Florida
• Craig Stevens - weeknights at 5, 6, 10 and 11 p.m.

7 Weather

• Phil Ferro (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weekdays at 4 and 4:30, and weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6, 6:30, 10 and 11 p.m.
• Brent Cameron (NWA Member) - meteorologist; weekends at 5, 6, 6:30, 10 and 11 p.m., also weeknight fill-in
• Julie Durda (AMS Seal of Approval; NWA Member) - meteorologist; weekday mornings Today in Florida (5-10 a.m.) and noon
• Vivian Gonzalez (AMS Seal of Approval; NWA Member) - meteorologist; Saturday mornings Today in Florida

Sports team (entire team is seen on Sunday Sports Xtra)

• Steve Shapiro - sports director; weeknights at 6, 6:30, 10 and 11 p.m.
• Mike DiPasquale - sports anchor; weekends at 6, 10 and 11 p.m.; also sports reporter
• Donovan Campbell - sports reporter

Traffic

• Stephen J. Grey - weekday mornings Today in Florida (5-10 a.m.); also "7 Skyforce" photographer
• Laura Lane - weekday mornings Today in Florida (5-10 a.m.)
• Tony Mareano - weekdays at 4 and 4:30 p.m.

Reporters

• Blake Burman - general assignment reporter
• Carmel Cafiero - investigative reporter
• Dianne Fernandez - general assignment reporter
• Howard Finkelstein - legal analyst
• Patrick Fraser - investigative and political reporter
• Don Guevara - general assignment reporter
• Derek Hayward - general assignment reporter
• Andre Hepkins - general assignment reporter
• Richard Jordan - general assignment reporter
• Jeff Lennox - general assignment reporter
• Nicole Linsalata - general assignment reporter
• Rosh Lowe - general assignment reporter
• René Marsh - general assignment reporter
• Vanessa Medina - general assignment reporter
• Ralph Rayburn - "7 Skyforce" photographer

Deco Drive

• Louis Aguirre - co-host; also entertainment reporter
• Lynn Martinez - co-host
• Ellie Rodriguez - Deco Drive and entertainment reporter
• Shireen Sandoval - Deco Drive and entertainment reporter

Station alumni

• Jessica Aguirre (now at KNTV in San Francisco)
• Brian Andrews - weekend anchor/reporter (now at RCN TV in Bogota, Colombia)
• Barbara Beck - morning anchor (later at KTLA in Los Angeles)
• Ann Bishop - script writer (moved to WPLG and became a legendary anchor, died November 14, 1997)
• Penny Daniels (retired)
• Donna Hanover (ex-wife of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani)
• Jackie Johnson - now at KCBS-TV in Los Angeles
• Clennon King - reporter (later at WTLV-TV in Jacksonville, a freelance field producer at NBC News and ABC News, now a fundraiser in Vermont)
• Bill Kamal - chief meteorologist (arrested in internet sex sting in 2004 for arranging a sexual encounter with a minor; released in 2008)^[18]
• Alycia Lane (later at KYW-TV in Philadelphia, now morning anchor with KNBC-TV in Los Angeles)
• Rick Leventhal (now at Fox News Channel)
• Elita Loresca (now at KNBC in Los Angeles)
• Robin Meade (now at HLN)
• Charles Perez (later at WABC-TV in New York City, then at WPLG; retired)
• Jillian Warry (Reynolds) (now at KTTV and Fox NFL Sunday)
• Shaun Robinson (now weekend anchor/correspondent for syndicated entertainment newsmagazine Access Hollywood)
• Ducis Rodgers - sports anchor (left for WCBS-TV in New York, now at ESPNews)
• Rick Sanchez (later at MSNBC and then CNN; was fired from CNN in 2010 for anti-Semitic remarks)
• Shepard Smith (now at Fox News Channel)
• Linda Stouffer - now at CNN Headline News (went by Cinnamon Stouffer during her stint at WSVN)
• Michelle Tuzee (now anchor at KABC-TV in Los Angeles)
• Lee Webb - sports anchor (late 1970s, now news anchor for The 700 Club)

Other notes

• WSVN's newscasts were featured in at least two movies, The Mean Season (1985) and Flight of the Navigator (1986). The opening sequence of Flight of the Navigator, with the dogs catching Frisbees, was filmed in a grass field alongside WSVN's studios.

References

1. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
2. ^ Eggerton, John (2009-06-29). "Boise Station Gets Power Boost". Broadcasting & Cable. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/307121-Boise_Station_Gets_Power_Boost.php?rssid=20068&q=digital+tv. Retrieved 2009-07-01. 
3. ^ GLAAD: "AT&T, Time Warner Cable and Two Affiliates Drop ‘José Luis Sin Censura’/AT&T, Time Warner Cable y Dos Estaciones de TV Retiran a ‘José Luis Sin Censura’", June 2, 2011.
4. ^ Channel 7 Fights Sale Of Rival TV Station's Owner, Wants Channel 4 Deal Stopped, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, March 11, 1987.
5. ^ CBS Snubs WTVJ, Network Affiliation Flap Is Setting Precedents, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, June 19, 1988.
6. ^ WSVN Owner Files Suit Against Networks, Firm, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, May 7, 1988.
7. ^ Emphasis On News A Bold Move For Ch. 7, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, September 13, 1988.
8. ^ 2006 May Sweeps: Miami/Fort Lauderdale..
9. ^ "WSVN-TV Announces More News at the News Station". WSVN.com. September 23, 2009. http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/MI132150/. Retrieved September 23, 2009. 
10. ^ Bandell, Brian (September 4, 2006). "More news is good news for WSVN Channel 7". http://southflorida.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2006/09/04/story4.html. 
11. ^ WSVN Adding More Weekend News, TVNewsCheck.com, June 21, 2010. Accessed October 19, 2010.
12. ^ WSVN Miami Expands Morning News Block, TVNewsCheck, August 9, 2011.
13. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ljtms_fdzI
14. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC7QAq9TxX4
15. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Wc21Fdq0I
16. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trK5KWqPQ_M
17. ^ WSVN-TV News Team
18. ^ Ex-weatherman imprisoned for soliciting boy released, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, December 12, 2008.

External links

• WSVN website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WSVN
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WKIZ-LP