WSVN

'WSVN' is the FOX-affiliated television station for South Florida. Licensed to Miami, the station broadcasts an analog signal on VHF channel 7. Licensed to Miami - Fort Lauderdale, WSVN broadcasts a digital signal on VHF channel 8. The station's transmitter is located in Miramar and has studios located on 79th Street Causeway in Miami. WSVN is owned by Sunbeam Television who also owns WHDH-TV and WLVI-TV in Boston. WSVN and WHDH share video, news stories, and reporters when covering each other's news.
WSVN operates a Key West repeater: 'WKIZ-LP' channel 49.

Contents

History

WCKT and Biscayne Television Lose License

Sunbeam Television Ownership

Network Affiliation Switch

FOX Affiliation

WSVN Today

Newscasts

News Team

Station Alumni

Administration

External Links

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 The Miami Herald. The same partnership also owned WCKR-AM 610 (now WIOD). Before WCKT signed on, NBC had been carried on WFTL-TV 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 and eventually went dark.

WCKT and Biscayne Television Lose License

In 1962, the Cox / Knight partnership was stripped of both of its broadcast licenses due to violations of FCC licensing rules as well as ethics violations. In hearings that began back in June of 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) to the broadcasting subsidiary of National Airlines. Biscayne then opted to put WCKT on the market. Shortly afterward a new company called Sunbeam Television Corporation bought the station for $3.4 million and assumed ownership on December 19, 1962. Although the FCC granted a brand-new license, Sunbeam retained the WCKT calls. Thus, it has always considered the Biscayne period part of its own history, unlike WPLG.
Sunbeam Television was a partnership between Edmund N. "Ed" Ansin and his father Sydney. The younger Ansin gained control of Sunbeam Television upon Sydney's death in 1983. He formally assumed control on June 7 of that year and changed the calls to the current 'WSVN'. The WSVN calls were previously used by PBS member station WSBN in Norton, Virginia.

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 AM hour (but ran at least one of these hours) and preempted an occasional primetime show. While NBC has traditionally been far less tolerant of pre-emptions than the other networks, it did not mind this at first provided that any programs pre-empted by channel 7 aired on WPTV 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. NBC disliked the fact that much of its programming was getting preempted in the growing Miami market and eventually concluded it needed to have an owned and operated station there.

Network Affiliation Switch

NBC got its chance in the late-1980s when CBS affiliate WTVJ, Florida's oldest television station, went on the market. NBC won a bidding war for WTVJ in 1987. WTVJ's affiliation contract with CBS did not run out until the end of 1988, but CBS was willing to let WTVJ out of its affiliation contract a year early. However, Ansin was not willing to let NBC out of its affiliation contract with WSVN, which also ran out at the end of 1988. He wanted to air NBC's strong 1988 lineup, including baseball and the 1988 Summer Olympics. As a result, NBC was forced to run WTVJ as a CBS affiliate for more than a year but all of the NBC shows preempted by WSVN moved to WTVJ. This situation did not sit well with either network. When Ansin made an offer to take the CBS affiliation, CBS turned the offer down almost out of hand. Instead, it bought Miami's original FOX affiliate, WCIX, even though it had an inadequate signal in Broward County.
Finally, on New Year's Day of 1989, NBC formally moved to WTVJ and WSVN quickly snapped up the FOX affiliation from WCIX (now WFOR-TV). WSVN had far fewer programming to pre-empt as a result, as FOX only programmed a few hours each day. WSVN's affiliation with FOX could also be seen as a major coup, as WSVN had been the area's longtime NBC affiliate and FOX was pleased to move its affiliation to a station which had been with a "Big 3" network for years.

FOX Affiliation

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. It began to air a lot of first run syndicated talk shows, court shows, off-network dramas, and 8 hours of news a day. It did run some cartoons on weekends as well. It originally aired FOX Kids programming in 1990 but by 1993 it moved to WDZL (now WSFL-TV). WBFS-TV now airs the current 4Kids TV block which replaced FOX Kids.
WSVN was the second FOX affiliate to have a weekday morning newscast and was the first with weeknight 5 and 6 PM newscasts. Led by News Director Joel Cheatwood, it adopted a format based on the philosophy "if it bleeds, it leads". WSVN's newscasts soon became heavy on crime stories and flashy graphics. When Ansin bought WHDH-TV in Boston, Cheatwood moved there and adopted a considerably watered-down version of WSVN's format. The WSVN model would influence what most FOX affiliates would look like in years to come. 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 New World stations passed on Fox Kids just like WSVN.
As a FOX affiliate, WSVN is still very aggressive with its news coverage with its "if it bleeds, it leads" philosophy. Despite its reputation as a tabloid station, its newscasts consistently garner high reviews from some media critics. Nonetheless, it continues to attract high ratings. It even has a weeknight 11 PM newscast (which began in 1995 as a 15 minute O.J. Simpson murder case wrap-up newscast) in addition to its 10 PM one.
Shows on WSVN include ''Live with Regis and Kelly'', ''Inside Edition'', and ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'', to name a few.

WSVN Today

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. In May of 2006, WSVN was the market's highest-rated English-language station from sign-on to sign-off. [1] WPLG has since surpassed WSVN as the number one English-language station in Miami, though WSVN has remained a strong second. Including Spanish-language stations though, WLTV, the Univision affiliate, remains the highest in ranks.

Newscasts

WSVN's main nightly news programs at 5, 6, 10, and 11 PM are anchored by Craig Stevens and Belkys Nerey. The station's reporters of various ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientations displays the diversity of the South Florida community.
The station's weather radar is called "Storm Tracker 7". All newscasts, including "Deco Drive", can also be seen on WSVN's website via live streaming video.
WSVN is often criticized for its sensationalzed news reports. In 1994, for instance, nine Florida hotels (all owned or operated by Continental Companies) censored the station from their internal televisions due to WSVN's sensationalized coverage of murders around the greater Miami area. The Continental Companies reasoned that such yellow-journalistic practices would likely hinder the hotels' touristic revenue.

News Team

'Anchors'

★ Richard Lemus - weekday mornings

★ Diana Diaz - weekday mornings

★ Christine Cruz - weekday mornings from 5:30 to 9 AM and at Noon

★ Tom Haynes - weekdays at 4, 4:30, 5:30, and 6:30 PM

★ Lynn Martinez - weekdays at 4, 4:30, 5:30, and 6:30 PM (also at 7:30 PM for "Deco Drive")

★ Craig Stevens - weeknights at 5, 6, 10, and 11 PM (also two daily webcasts)

★ Belkys Nerey - weeknights at 5, 6, 10, and 11 PM

★ Louis Aguirre - weeknights at 7:30 PM on "Deco Drive"

★ Reed Cowan - Saturday mornings

★ Charles Billi - weekend evenings

★ Robbin Simmons - weekend evenings (also reporter)
'Meteorologists'

★ Phil Ferro (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief seen weeknights

★ Elita Loresca - weekday mornings and noon

★ Vivian Gonzalez - Saturday mornings

★ Brent Cameron - weekend evenings
'Sports' (entire team is seen on "Sunday Sports Xtra")

★ Steve Shapiro - weeknights at 6, 6:30, 10, and 11

★ Mike DiPasquale - weekends evenings

★ Donovan Campbell - sports reporter
'Reporters'

★ Carmel Cafiero - investigative reporter for "Carmel on the Case" segment

★ Howard Finkelstein - weekly legal analyst for "Help Me Howard" segment

★ Patrick Fraser - general assignment reporter (also reporter for "Help Me Howard" segment)

★ Ellie Rodriguez - reporter for "Deco Drive"

★ Joel Brown

★ Dianne Fernandez

★ Don Guevara

★ Derek Hayward

★ J.P. Hervis

★ Dave Kartunen

★ Nicole Linsalata

★ Rosh Lowe

★ Vanessa Medina

★ Vanessa Ruiz

★ LuAnne Sorrell

★ Tiffani Tucker

Station Alumni

★ Shepard Smith - now at FOX News

★ Rick Sanchez - now at CNN

★ Robin Meade - now at CNN Headline News

★ Jackie Johnson - now at KCBS-TV

★ Jillian Reynolds - now at KTTV and FOX NFL Sunday

★ Shaun Robinson - now at Access Hollywood

★ Linda Stouffer - now at CNN Headline News

★ Bill Kamal - former Chief Meterologist (found guilty for soliciting sex to a minor)

★ Mike Tobin - now FOX News Correspondent based in Israel

★ Chris Dunn - now Chief Meteorologist at KDVR

★ Michelle Tuzee - now anchor at KABC-TV

★ Donna Hanover - one of Rudy Giuliani's ex wives

★ Steve Rondinaro - anchor (now at WWAY)

★ Wayne Chandler - meteorologist and host of "Sunday Funnies"

★ Sally Fitz - anchor

★ Ann Bishop - script writer (moved to WPLG and became a legendary anchor)

★ Jim Berry - sports anchor (now at WFOR-TV)

★ Bob Soper - meteorologist (now retired)

★ Denise White - now at WTVT

★ Rick Chambers - now with KCAL

★ Lisa Baldwin - now at KPRC-TV

★ Sharron Melton - now at KTRK-TV

Administration

★ Enrique Zanabria - Night Team Producer

★ Desta Kifle - Night Team Producer

★ Tony Pith - Night Team Editor

★ Steven Cejas - website Executive Producer

★ Hans Morgenstern - website producer

★ Monique Mattiace - website writer

★ Sandra Remilien - website writer

★ Maria Pineda - Personnel / Benefits Coordinator

★ Cyndi Feinstein - Local Sales Manager

★ Greg Leach - National Sales Manager

★ Erica Milgram - Director of Research and Internet Sales

★ Denise Reitmann - Traffic Manager
'Account Executives'

★ Kim Witker

★ Debbie Castellano

★ Jeff Gorwitz

★ Judy Matalon

★ Lauren Levitus

★ John Spavento

★ Mark Whelan

External Links

★ Station Website

★ FOX Website

★

★