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WNBC - News Operation

WNBC - News Operation: Encyclopedia II - WNBC - News Operation

For years WNBC has had strong ratings without resorting to sensationalism or forays into tabloid television unlike most of the other stations in the market. WNBC tends to be the news leader by breaking stories and having a no nonsense news product that informs and at times entertains. Prime examples of this are Live at Five and Today in New York, which provide a mix of news, features and interviews. Chuck Scarborough has been the station's main anchor since 1974, longer than anyone in New York television history except W ...

WNBC: Encyclopedia II - WNBC - News Operation

WNBC - News Operation

For years WNBC has had strong ratings without resorting to sensationalism or forays into tabloid television unlike most of the other stations in the market. WNBC tends to be the news leader by breaking stories and having a no nonsense news product that informs and at times entertains. Prime examples of this are Live at Five and Today in New York, which provide a mix of news, features and interviews.

Chuck Scarborough has been the station's main anchor since 1974, longer than anyone in New York television history except WABC-TV's Bill Beutel. Sometime in 2006, he will pass Beutel for the longest unbroken tenure behind a New York anchor desk. Since 1980, he has been teamed with Sue Simmons at 11 pm. The two have been together longer than any anchor team in New York history, and have had some of the highest ratings of any anchor team ever.

WNBC-TV was the first station in New York to successfully program news at 5 p.m. adding that block to its Sixth Hour show at 6 p.m. in 1974 and renaming all its local newscasts NewsCenter 4. The moniker remained until 1980, when the station's newscasts were renamed News 4 New York. The 5 o'clock slot was renamed Live at Five, and its mix of news and celebrity interviews made it the most successful local program in New York (landing the cast on the cover of New York magazine).

All newscasts are broadcast from NBC's Studio 6B at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in the Rockefeller Center complex. Their current graphics package was created by Emmy Award winner Randy Pyburn of Pyburn Films. Pyburn has produced several promos for the station and the Jane's New York specials hosted by reporter Jane Hanson.

Many WNBC newscasters have moved onto the NBC network—including Jim Hartz, Tom Snyder, Al Roker, Matt Lauer, Janice Huff and Chuck Scarborough. In the past, Roker, Lauer and Scarborough have worked on WNBC and the network at the same time while Huff does currently. WNBC sports anchors Marv Albert and Len Berman have done the same.

One popular monthly feature is Len Berman's "Spanning the World," a reel of odd and interesting sports highlights from the past month, including a recorded introduction and closing by Don Pardo. This segment also airs on NBC's The Today Show on a monthly basis.

For most of the time from 1980-2005, WNBC's weeknight anchor rotation had Simmons and another male anchor on Live at Five, Scarborough and another female anchor at 6, and Scarborough and Simmons together at 11. That changed in 2005 as Live at Five anchor Jim Rosenfeld jumped back to WCBS-TV, where he had once been noon and 5 pm anchor and took on the role as lead anchor for their 5 & 11 pm newscasts. Perri Peltz returned to WNBC to co-anchor Live at Five with Sue Simmons, making New York the one of the few cities that has two women anchors on the two leading 5 PM newscasts as Diana Williams and Sade Baderinwa anchor WABC's 5PM edtion of Eyewitness News.

The President & General Manager of WNBC is Frank Comerford.