this article is about wabc which originally held the wjz tv call letters . for the television station in baltimore using that callsign since 1957 see wjz tv . wabc tv new york new york united states branding abc 7 or channel 7 general channel 7 eyewitness news newscasts slogan number one in new york channels digital 7 vhf virtual 7 psip affiliations .1 abc o & o .2 live well network .3 laff owner disney abc american broadcasting companies inc. founded april 1947 1 first air date august 10 1948 ; 68 years ago 1948 08 10 call letters meaning american broadcasting company sister station s wepn wepn fm former callsigns wjz tv 1948 1953 former channel number s analog 7 vhf 1948 2009 digital 45 uhf 1999 2009 transmitter power 34 kw height 405 metres 1 329 feet facility id 1328 transmitter coordinates 40 44 54.4 n 73 59 8.4 w 40.748444 n 73.985667 w 40.748444 ; 73.985667 coordinates 40 44 54.4 n 73 59 8.4 w 40.748444 n 73.985667 w 40.748444 ; 73.985667 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website abc7ny.com wabc tv channel 7 is the flagship station of the abc television network located in new york city . wabc tv is owned by the disney abc television group division of the walt disney company . the station s studios and offices are located near lincoln square on the upper west side of manhattan adjacent to abc s corporate headquarters ; its transmitter is atop the empire state building . wabc tv is best known in broadcasting circles for its version of the eyewitness news format and for its morning show syndicated nationally by corporate cousin disney abc domestic television . in the few areas of the eastern united states where an abc station isn t receivable over the air wabc is available on satellite via directv which also provides coverage of the station to latin american and caribbean countries and through major u.s. air carriers on livetv inflight entertainment system and dish network which carries the station as part of all american direct s distant network package . contents 1 history 2 cable and satellite carriage 2.1 disputes with cablevision and time warner cable 2.1.1 cablevision 2.1.2 time warner cable 3 digital television 3.1 digital channels 3.2 analog to digital conversion 4 programming 4.1 sports programming 5 news operation 5.1 beginning to 1999 5.2 2000 present 5.3 notable current on air staff 5.3.1 anchors 5.3.2 weather 5.3.3 sports 5.3.4 reporters 5.4 notable former on air staff 6 live with kelly 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit the station signed on august 10 1948 as wjz tv 2 the first of three television stations signed on by abc during that same year with wenr tv now wls tv in chicago and wxyz tv in detroit being the other two . channel 7 s call letters came from its then sister radio station wjz 770 am now wabc . in its early years wjz tv was programmed much like an independent station as the abc television network was still for the most part in its very early stages of development ; the abc owned stations did air some common programming during this period especially after the 1949 fall season when the network s prime time schedule began to expand . the station s original transmitter site was atop the pierre hotel at 2 east 61st street before moving to the empire state building a few years later . the station s original studios were located at 77 west 66th street with studios at 7 west 66th street . an underground tunnel linked abc studios at 7 west 66th street to the lobby of the hotel des artistes a block north on west 67th street . another studio inside the hotel des artistes was used for eyewitness news conference . the station s call letters were changed to wabc tv on march 1 1953 3 4 after abc merged its operations with united paramount theaters a firm which was broken off from former parent company paramount pictures by decree of the u.s. government . 5 the wjz tv callsign was later reassigned to westinghouse broadcasting the original owners of wjz radio in new york in 1957 for their newly acquired television station in baltimore a station that was by coincidence an abc affiliate until 1995 . as part of abc s expansion program initiated in 1977 abc built 7 lincoln square on the southeast corner of west 67th street and columbus avenue on a site of an abandoned moving and storage warehouse . at about the same time construction was started at 30 west 67th street on the site of a former parking lot . both buildings were completed in june 1979 and wabc tv moved its offices from 77 west 66th street to 7 lincoln square . on september 11 2001 the transmitter facilities of wabc tv as well as eight other local television stations and several radio stations were destroyed when two hijacked airplanes crashed into and destroyed the north and south towers of the world trade center . transmitter maintenance engineer donald difranco died in the attack . in the immediate aftermath the station fed its signal to then pbs member station now educational independent station wnye tv and then ain later uatv affiliate whse tv now unim s o & o wfut dt 6 before establishing temporary facilities at the armstrong tower in alpine new jersey . the station eventually established transmission facilities at the empire state building . on may 27 2007 wabc tv s studios suffered major damage as the result of a fire that knocked the station off the air shortly before the start of the 11 00 pm newscast . according to preliminary reports the fire may have been ignited by a spotlight coming into contact with a curtain inside the news studio ; the station s website later reported the cause as an electrical malfunction . the station s building was evacuated and the fire was brought under control though the studio was said to be badly damaged 7 having suffered smoke and water damage . 8 wabc tv resumed broadcasting at around 1 00 am on may 28 2007 initially carrying the network s 10 00 pm west coast feed of brothers & sisters followed by the full broadcast of world news now . due to the fire the station broadcast eyewitness news from a temporary set in the newsroom while live with regis and kelly whose set was also affected to moved to the set of who wants to be a millionaire . starting with the 5 00 pm newscast on june 20 2007 the station resumed the eyewitness news and live ... broadcasts from its main studios at columbus avenue and 66th street . in may 2013 wabc tv and philadelphia sister station wpvi tv became the first two abc owned stations to offer live web based streaming of programming to authenticated subscribers of participating cable and satellite television providers as provided through the relaunched watch abc mobile apps . 9 10 cable and satellite carriage edit disputes with cablevision and time warner cable edit wabc tv eyewitness news reporting in park row new york cablevision edit on march 7 2010 at 12 02 am wabc tv s signal was removed from cablevision s new york area systems including io digital cable after failing to reach terms on a new retransmission consent agreement ; the station was replaced by either a blank screen or a looping video containing a message from cablevision about the removal . to avoid interruption of programming the station urged cablevision subscribers in the station s viewing area totaling up to three million subscribers to switch to other services such as verizon fios and directv or simply view the station over the air through an over the air digital antenna and if necessary a digital converter box for older television sets . 11 12 wabc s sister station wpvi tv in philadelphia was also pulled from cablevision s new jersey systems in mercer ocean and monmouth counties . 13 later that same day at approximately 8 50 pm 20 minutes into abc s broadcast of the 82nd annual academy awards cablevision and abc reached a deal restoring wabc and wpvi s signals for cablevision subscribers after a nearly 21 hour blackout . 14 time warner cable edit in july 2010 abc s parent company disney announced that it was involved in a carriage dispute with time warner cable its first with that provider in 10 years . this dispute involved 4 abc owned and operated stations wabc tv and sister stations kabc tv in los angeles wtvd in durham north carolina and wtvg in toledo ohio which at that time wtvg was once an abc o & o disney channel and the espn networks . if a deal wasn t in place the affected stations and cable channels would ve been removed from time warner and bright house networks systems across the country . on september 2 2010 disney and time warner cable reached a long term agreement to keep the channels on time warner cable systems . 15 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 16 7.1 1080p 16 9 wabc dt main wabc tv programming abc 7.2 livwell live well network 7.3 480i 4 3 laff laff analog to digital conversion edit wabc tv discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over vhf channel 7 at 12 30 pm on june 12 2009 as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television . 17 the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 45 to vhf channel 7 . 18 19 wabc s digital signal was initially difficult to receive over the air in new york city . the station was requested by federal communications commission fcc to broadcast at a lower power ; wabc was among many stations which have found it necessary to increase power to restore coverage to the same level as its former analog signal . on june 29 2009 wabc filed an application with the fcc to increase power from 11.69 kw to 27 kw . 20 on january 31 2010 the fcc granted a special temporary authority sta for the station to increase power to 26.9 kw . 21 programming edit wabc has long presented events such as the national puerto rican day parade and the columbus day parade . in addition the station is also producing local programs such as viewpoint a weekly program that highlights the cultural and community efforts in new york long island and new jersey each of these regions rotate weekly here and now a program covering the latest issues trends and news stories impacting the local black community up close with diana williams a public affairs program on the latest issues with the newsmakers and tiempo a weekly program that focus on the issues affecting local hispanic citizens . wabc serves as the flagship station for live with kelly see below who wants to be a millionaire which is distributed by corporate sister disney abc domestic television and rachael ray . sports programming edit wabc tv serves as the local over the air broadcaster of monday night football games involving the new york giants and the new york jets airing simulcasts of the team s espn televised games wabc tv s corporate parent the the walt disney company holds 80 % majority ownership stake in espn and the abc owned television stations have right of first refusal for simulcasts of espn s nfl telecasts within a team s home market . because of this atypical for a network owned station outside of breaking news and severe weather coverage necessitating such situations the station has had to reschedule abc network programs pre empted by