Diemazz

For the defunct television station in Wilmington, Delaware, see WVUE (Delaware).

WVUE
New Orleans, Louisiana
Branding	Fox 8
Slogan	Your Weather Authority Your Local News Channel
Channels	Analog: OFF AIR Digital: 8 (VHF)
Subchannels	8.1 WVUE / Fox HD 8.2 Fox 8 Newschannel
Network	Fox
Owner	Louisiana Media Company, LLC
First air date	September 1, 1953
Call letters’ meaning	VUE, pronounced "view"
Former callsigns	WJMR-TV (1953-1965)
Former channel number(s)	61 (1953-1958) 20 (1958-1959) 13 (1959-1964) 12 (1964-1970)
Former affiliations	CBS (1953-1957) ABC (1953-1995, secondary until 1957)
Transmitter Power	14.6 kW (digital)
Height	302 m (digital)
Facility ID	4149
Transmitter Coordinates	29°57′15.8″N 89°56′58.5″W / 29.954389, -89.949583
Website	www.fox8tv.net

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 broadcasting on September 1, 1953 as WJMR-TV, the second TV station in New Orleans (behind WDSU-TV) and the third in Louisiana (behind WDSU and 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, WWL 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 and returned to channel 12 in 1964 due to interference with WLOX in Biloxi, Mississippi, which also broadcasts on channel 13. Screen Gems bought the station in 1965 and changed the call letters to WVUE. In 1970, it swapped dial positions with the city's PBS station, WYES-TV, 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.

WVUE logo in 1974

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the station would consistently rank as a distant third place in the ratings behind WWL-TV and WDSU-TV, even as ABC topped the national ratings for a time in the mid-1970s. One of the primary reasons for WVUE's third-place position was the station's heavy pre-emtions of network programs. For example, during most on the 1970s, WVUE pre-empted portions of ABC's daytime soap opera schedule and aired westerns, cartoons and off-network sitcoms in their place. Additionally, WVUE preempted many of the network's Saturday morning cartoons as well as American Bandstand. WVUE also preempted ABC's late night programming, which prior to the debut of Nightline consisted of movies and reruns of primetime shows. Viewers in the New Orleans area who wanted to see most of ABC's programming in full could turn their sets to the network's other affiliates in surrounding markets: WRBT (now WVLA) and later WBRZ from Baton Rouge, west of New Orleans, or to WLOX from Biloxi, to the east.

The Oklahoma City-based Gaylord Broadcasting Company bought WVUE in 1977. Under the new ownership, WVUE reinstated ABC's full daytime drama lineup to it's schedule in the fall of 1978. On May 31, 1982, WVUE became the latest New Orleans affiliate to launch a 5 PM newscast, with Live At Five.

In spite of ownership changes and programming modifications, WVUE was still unable to improve their place in the ratings. When Gaylord Broadcasting began a gradual paring-down its station group in 1987, WVUE was sold to Burnham Broadcasting. It continued to under-perform into the 1990s.

In early 1994, after the Fox Broadcasting Company 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 and 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 and the company would be called "Savoy Fox". (However, in 1995, Fox opted not to have voting stock in the company, although it would still hold an interest.)

The transaction was compleated in the summer of 1995. On January 1, 1996, WVUE became the area's new Fox affiliate. The ABC affiliation in New Orleans went to WGNO, which had been an affiliate of the WB Television Network. WNOL-TV, which had been the market's original Fox affiliate, took the WB affiliation. Unlike the New World Communications-owned stations which joined the network at around the same time, the Savoy stations, including WVUE, carried Fox's children's programming during weekdays. Despite becoming a Fox affiliate, WVUE still did not have a weekday morning newscast throughout the 1990s. Fox's ratings increased slightly from when it was on WNOL, but WVUE's news ratings still stayed well behind WWL-TV and WDSU. Savoy 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 in 1999.

Finally, in 2002, WVUE added a weekday morning newscast. In recent years, WVUE acquired stronger shows on its lineup, including acquiring the New Orleans rights to Wheel of Fortune and 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).

Throughout the 2000's, WVUE's news ratings slowly increased until mid-decade when they had reached the number two position in local news ratings behind WWL-TV at 5:00 p.m. They have retained the number two ranking through 2008. The station is ranked third in morning news and first among three stations that air news at 9:00 p.m. WVUE is the only station that airs news at 5:30 p.m. and does not broadcast a local newscast at 6:00 p.m.

On April 29, 2007, WVUE became the first TV station in New Orleans to broadcast a newscast in high definition.

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 and television stations nationwide and 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.[1][2] Ownership of WVUE became evident when a fleur-de-lis emblem was superimposed in the "O" of the "Fox 8" logo after modifications were made.

Hurricane Katrina

WVUE's Jefferson Davis Parkway studio, March 2007

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.[3] Weekend Meteorologist Jeff Baskin went to Portland, Oregon's KOIN-TV. Reporter Summer Jackson went to Chicago to work at 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 and weather center were completed. Before then, a temporary news set and 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 on VHF 8, is multiplexed:

Digital channels

On December 15th, WVUE became the first New Orleans television station to cease its analog broadcast. On December 22nd 2008, WVUE moved its digital broadcasts to its former analog channel number, 8.^[1] This made WVUE the second station in the market after Telemundo affiliate KGLA-DT (which was launched without an analog signal) to become a digital-only station prior to the analog television shutdown scheduled for February 17, 2009.

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, South and Coastal Mississippi 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.

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
• 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
• Kim Vaughn Fill-in as needed
• Nicrondra Norwood (AMS Seal of Approval) 9pm weekends and Friday's at 5:00 pm and 9:00 pm

Sports

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

Former On-Air Staff

• Al Duckworth - weekend weather anchor (mid-1980s; died in 2001)
• Steve Alexander - weekend anchor (now at WKRG-TV as a reporter)
• Richard Anderson - weeknight anchor (currently heads own communications company)
• Ken Aucoin (later at WIS-TV in Columbia, South Carolina; retired, now co-author of the "Weather & Kids" series^[2])
• 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)
• Jim Marsh
• Jim Bergamo Now at KVUE-ABC24
• 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
• Patrick Evans
• 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)
• Natalie Angel
• 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)
• Michael Herrera - meteorologist; also did voiceovers for WVUE (now at WWL-TV)
• Jon Huffman - reporter (now Morning News Anchor 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 - now a NFL Sideline Reporter For Sunday Afternoon Football
• 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 Now at WBRZ

References

External links

• WVUE Website
• Mod Squad Pictures (includes ident slide for WVUE)
• Bob Breck.com - official website of the WVUE meteorologist.
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WVUE
• WVUE Alumni

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