WABC-TV

About WABC-TV

WABC-TV, channel 7, is the flagship owned-and-operated station of the ABC television network, licensed to New York City. Owned by the ABC Owned Television Stations division of The Walt Disney Company, it is widely regarded as the most-watched local television station in the United States. Branded as ABC 7 and Channel 7 Eyewitness News, the station has been a defining force in American local broadcasting since it signed on in 1948, pioneering the Eyewitness News format that reshaped television journalism and originating nationally syndicated programs including Live with Kelly and Mark. Its studios are at 7 Hudson Square in Lower Manhattan, co-located with ABC's corporate headquarters, and it transmits from atop the Empire State Building.

WJZ-TV: the founding years

The station signed on August 10, 1948, as WJZ-TV, the first of three television stations launched by ABC that year, alongside WENR-TV in Chicago and WXYZ-TV in Detroit. Its call letters came from its then-sister radio station, WJZ on 770 AM, now WABC. In its early years, WJZ-TV was programmed much like an independent station, since the ABC television network was still in its infancy; the ABC-owned stations aired some common programming, particularly after the 1949 fall season when the network's prime-time schedule began to expand. The station's original transmitter was at the Pierre Hotel on East 61st Street, and its original studios were on West 66th Street on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

The call letters were changed to WABC-TV on March 1, 1953, after ABC merged its operations with United Paramount Theatres, a company broken off from Paramount Pictures by decree of the federal government. The WJZ call sign was later reassigned to Westinghouse Broadcasting for its newly acquired television station in Baltimore in 1957, a station that coincidentally remained an ABC affiliate until 1995.

Eyewitness News: a revolution in local journalism

WABC-TV is best known in broadcasting circles for its version of the Eyewitness News format, which transformed local television news across America. Developed by news director Al Primo, who arrived at the station in 1968, the format emphasized reporters appearing live at the scene of stories, conversational anchor teams, and a faster, more urgent presentation than the staid newscasts of the era. The approach was an immediate ratings success in New York and was copied by stations nationwide, making Eyewitness News one of the most influential brands in the history of local television.

The Channel 7 Eyewitness News team became a New York institution, with generations of anchors, reporters, meteorologists, and sportscasters familiar to millions of viewers across the tri-state area. The station's newsroom has covered every major New York story of the modern era, from fiscal crises and blackouts to September 11, 2001, when its journalists reported from Lower Manhattan amid the attacks, and Superstorm Sandy in 2012. The Eyewitness News brand remains the station's news identity more than half a century after its introduction.

Live with Kelly and Mark

The station is also the originating home of the nationally syndicated morning talk show Live with Kelly and Mark. The program began in 1983 as a local morning show called The Morning Show, hosted by Regis Philbin and Cyndy Garvey, and produced from the same ground-floor studio at 7 Lincoln Square that housed Eyewitness News. Kathie Lee Johnson, who would marry Frank Gifford the following year, became Philbin's co-host in 1985. Buena Vista Television, now Disney-ABC Domestic Television, began syndicating the show nationally in 1988 as Live with Regis and Kathie Lee.

Kathie Lee Gifford left in 2000 and was succeeded by Kelly Ripa in 2001; after Philbin's departure, the show continued with co-hosts including Michael Strahan and Ryan Seacrest, and since 2023 Ripa has hosted alongside her husband Mark Consuelos. The franchise has been a daytime television staple for more than four decades, and its production at WABC-TV's Manhattan studios has made the station a center of national entertainment programming as well as local news.

Ownership: from ABC to Disney

WABC-TV has been owned by the ABC network since its founding, making it one of the longest continuously network-owned stations in American television. In 1986, Capital Cities Communications completed its acquisition of ABC, and in 1996 The Walt Disney Company acquired Capital Cities/ABC, bringing the flagship station under Disney ownership. The station operates as part of the ABC Owned Television Stations group, which includes the network's stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, Raleigh-Durham, and Fresno.

The news operation

Channel 7 Eyewitness News airs across morning, midday, evening, and late-night dayparts, with one of the largest local news staffs in the country. The newsroom covers the five boroughs of New York City, northern New Jersey, Long Island, the Hudson Valley, and southwestern Connecticut, a region of more than 20 million people and the nation's largest media market. Its reporting spans City Hall, Albany, and Trenton politics, Wall Street and the regional economy, public safety, transit, education, and the cultural life of the world's media capital. The station's investigative unit, 7 On Your Side, pursues consumer advocacy and accountability reporting.

Technical information

WABC-TV broadcasts on digital VHF channel 7, displayed to tuners on virtual channel 7, with an effective radiated power of 34 kilowatts and a tower height above average terrain of 405 meters, or about 1,329 feet. Its transmitter is located atop the Empire State Building in midtown Manhattan, one of the most famous broadcast sites in the world. The station's facility ID with the FCC is 1328. It broadcast on analog channel 7 from 1948 until the digital transition in 2009, using UHF channel 45 for its digital signal from 2001 to 2009 before returning to VHF.

Studios and facilities

WABC-TV maintains its studio facilities at 7 Hudson Square in Lower Manhattan, co-located with ABC's corporate headquarters. The move to Hudson Square consolidated the station's operations with the network's in a modern broadcast center. For decades before, the station's home was the landmark studio complex at 7 Lincoln Square on the Upper West Side, where Eyewitness News and the Live franchise were produced. In May 2007, a fire damaged the Lincoln Square studios, forcing the station to broadcast temporarily from alternate facilities before resuming normal operations from its main studios that June.

Ratings and market leadership

WABC-TV has long claimed the title of the most-watched local television station in the United States, a distinction supported by Nielsen ratings that have frequently placed its newscasts at the top of the nation's largest market. The station's dominance in New York local news has endured through multiple generations of anchors and competing formats, built on the Eyewitness News heritage and the powerful lead-ins of ABC network programming and top-rated syndicated shows. Its morning newscasts compete directly with the network morning shows, and its 11 p.m. newscast has been a late-night ratings powerhouse for decades.

Notable personalities

Generations of New York broadcasters have passed through channel 7's studios. The Eyewitness News anchor teams of the 1970s through the 1990s became local legends, and the station's alumni include network anchors, correspondents, and hosts who went on to national prominence. The Live franchise alone has been defined by some of daytime television's most durable partnerships, from Regis Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford to Kelly Ripa's long tenure. The station's weather and sports departments have likewise featured familiar faces who became part of the daily rhythm of New York life.

Digital presence and outlook

The station's digital home is abc7ny.com, one of the most-visited local news websites in the country, offering breaking news, live streaming newscasts, weather coverage, and the station's extensive video archive. Its mobile app and social media channels reach millions of followers across the tri-state area, with push alerts for breaking news and severe weather. As part of the ABC Owned Television Stations group, the station streams its newscasts on the group's digital platforms, serving cord-cutters alongside its over-the-air audience. After more than 75 years on the air, WABC-TV remains the flagship not only of the ABC network but of American local television itself.