boston see whdh tv defunct . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . february 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message wcvb tv boston massachusetts united states branding wcvb channel 5 general wcvb newscenter 5 newscasts slogan boston s news leader channels digital 20 uhf virtual 5 psip affiliations .1 abc .2 metv owner hearst television wcvb hearst television inc. first air date march 19 1972 ; 44 years ago 1972 03 19 call letters meaning channel v five in roman numerals former analog and current psip channel in boston sister station s wmur tv former channel number s analog 5 vhf 1972 2009 transmitter power 625 kw height 390 m facility id 65684 transmitter coordinates 42 18 37 n 71 14 14 w 42.31028 n 71.23722 w 42.31028 ; 71.23722 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.wcvb.com wcvb tv channel 5 is an abc affiliated television station located in boston massachusetts united states . it is the flagship television station of hearst television a wholly owned subsidiary of the hearst corporation . wcvb tv maintains studio and transmitter facilities located separately in needham massachusetts . nearby manchester new hampshire is considered part of the boston media market ; wmur tv channel 9 that city s abc affiliate is also owned by hearst . wcvb is also one of six boston television stations that are carried by satellite provider bell tv and fiber optic television provider bell fibe tv in canada . since 2010 some midday and weekend late newscasts along with world news now are overlaid with local paid programming on those providers . contents 1 history 1.1 prior history of channel 5 in boston 1.2 wcvb station history 2 logo 3 local programming 3.1 lottery 3.2 sports 4 digital television 4.1 digital channels 4.2 analog to digital conversion 5 community outreach 6 news operation 6.1 notable current on air staff 6.2 notable former on air staff 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit prior history of channel 5 in boston edit main article whdh tv defunct the channel 5 allocation in boston was first occupied by whdh tv which signed on the air on november 26 1957 . the station was owned by the boston herald traveler corporation along with whdh radio 850 am now occupied by weei ; and 94.5 fm now wjmn . it was originally an abc affiliate but switched to cbs in 1961 . 1 2 however almost as soon as it signed on the federal communications commission began investigating allegations of impropriety in the granting of the television station s construction permit . this touched off a struggle that lasted 15 years . as a result whdh tv never had a license renewal period lasting more than six months at a time most television licenses at the time lasted for three years . in 1969 a local group boston broadcasters won a construction permit to build a new station on channel 5 under the callsign of wcvb tv after promising to air more local programming than any other station in the united states at the time . citation needed it was also critical of the combination of the herald traveler and whdh am fm tv . herald traveler corporation fought the decision in court but lost in 1972 and boston broadcasters was awarded a full license . the local group was led by acoustic expert leo beranek . 3 wcvb station history edit whdh tv signed off for the last time on march 18 1972 and was replaced by the new wcvb tv early the next morning . however the herald traveler refused to hand over its facilities to the new channel 5 forcing the station to rent tower space for its transmitter from wbz tv channel 4 ; during the final months of its operation whdh tv was court ordered to sign off daily at 1 00 a.m. so that wcvb tv could test its equipment . wcvb used an old international harvester dealership in needham to serve as its studio facility which the station continues to operate from to this day . although wcvb operates under a different license it claims the history of the former whdh tv as its own . it also inherited all of whdh tv s personnel including anchorman jack hynes and sportscaster don gillis . cbs was not pleased with the prospect of being subjected to numerous preemptions of its programs in the nation s fifth largest market especially since channel 5 under the whdh license had been its second largest affiliate and largest on the east coast . it refused to have anything to do with wcvb and moved its programming back to wnac tv channel 7 later wnev tv and now the current whdh tv which had been boston s original cbs affiliate from 1948 to 1960 . more or less by default wcvb signed up with abc . making good on its promise wcvb aired more local programming than any other television station in the nation throughout the 1970s and 1980s . one of its local programs good day which first premiered in 1973 as good morning broke ground by taking its entire production on the road and broadcasting from locations outside of the boston area and around the world . good day along with the morning exchange on cleveland s wews tv served as a basis for the format of abc s good morning america . during the 1970s wcvb tv was the first television station in southern new england to run a 24 hour program schedule . the station ran a programming block from 1 00 to 5 00 a.m. branded as 5 all night which featured a library of older black and white movies and a few recent syndicated programs . during station breaks announcer george fennel who never made an on camera appearance during the block would make live announcements and read fan mail from the viewing audience as various 5 all night logo backdrops were displayed on screen . his actual first on air portrait was displayed as part of a donation pledge drive for the jerry lewis mda labor day telethon . the portrait had been covered from view and as the tally had reached a certain amount a piece of the portrait would be revealed to the viewers until it was completely uncovered revealing what fennel looked like . another staple of 5 all night was simon s sanctorum a program similar to elvira s movie macabre that showcased old black and white horror movies ; it was hosted by a character named simon portrayed by gary newton who often referred to his viewing audience as to being moths lured to a flame and dearly devoted . simon s costume consisted of an old top hat and fluorescent green facial makeup with black circles painted around each eye and gloves that had the fingers cut out of them . to add to an extra eerie effect a fluorescent black light was used to enhance the makeup effect on simon s face and eyes . his eyes actually glowed by the use of fluorescent paint on a pair of special contact lenses . due to its commitment to local programming the station was quick to preempt programs including lower rated abc primetime shows . most of the time these programs were picked up by independent stations such as wqtv channel 68 now wbpx tv or worcester based whll channel 27 now wuni . since the mid 1990s wcvb has carried abc s entire programming schedule although it occasionally preempts network programming in favor of locally produced specials and movies . notable examples are the annual mda labor day telethon before the program s 2013 move to abc and the 2004 preemption of saving private ryan one of several abc stations that preempted the film out of concern over the graphic war battle scenes and profanity that were left intact in the uncut abc telecast and fear of resulting fcc fines for another movie far and away . 4 boston broadcasters sold wcvb to metromedia in 1982 for 220 million the costliest sale ever made for a local station at the time . 5 in 1986 metromedia sold its television stations to the news corporation then owners of the 20th century fox film studio which later used metromedia s group of independent stations to launch the fox network . 6 7 channel 5 was included in the original deal but was subsequently spun off to the hearst corporation which had purchased fellow abc affiliate kmbc tv in kansas city missouri from metromedia in 1982 . 8 that station was sold to allow metromedia to acquire wcvb to comply with fcc rules in effect at the time that limited the number of vhf stations owned by a single company to only five and it is believed that metromedia gave hearst a right of first refusal offer if wcvb ever went up for sale again . 9 fox would get its own station in boston in 1987 when it bought wxne tv channel 25 from the christian broadcasting network and renamed it wfxt 10 fox subsequently sold wfxt to the boston celtics in 1990 before repurchasing the station in 1995 . they sold it once more to cox in 2014 . on september 8 1987 wcvb became the boston home of the oprah winfrey show having outbid wbz tv which aired the show at 9 a.m. during its first season for the long term local syndication rights . for 24 years oprah served as the lead in to wcvb s evening newscasts first for the 6 p.m. edition of newscenter 5 from 1987 to 1994 then moving to 4 p.m. on september 5 1994 upon the debut of the station s hour long 5 p.m. newscast . in both time periods oprah always held first place among the program s competitors and consistently kept wcvb s neighboring newscasts at number one . winfrey s decision to end her daytime talk show in may 2011 resulted in many stations scrambling to replace it with equally strong programming . the ellen degeneres show which wcvb had aired at 9 a.m. since 2005 was chosen to replace oprah in the 4 p.m. slot moving there on august 22 2011 ; it was replaced in the 9 a.m. timeslot by live with kelly and michael which moved to the station after a 23 year run on whdh . 11 oprah meanwhile moved to weekday mornings at 1 05 for the remaining weeks of its run . on january 11 2016 wcvb moved the meredith vieira show from 3 00 p.m. to 1 07 a.m. where it will remain until it goes off the air later this year . on the same day the ellen degeneres show moved to 3 p.m. and inside edition was moved to the 4 p.m. slot from the 7 p.m. slot it had held since september 1994 . this then freed up 4 30 and 7 p.m. for two new newscasts . 12 the 4 30 newscast is stated to be a fast paced rundown of the day s news while the 7 00 newscast covers longer length stories of special interest . logo edit in the early 1970s graphic design firm wyman & canaan developed a new stylized 5 logo which features an arrow curving upward rendered in negative space within the 5 . 13 having debuted when wcvb first began operations in 1972 this logo surpassed the wbz s group w font logo which that station used from 1963 to 1996 as the longest used numeric logo in new england television history in 2003 . wcvb s logo was similar to the letter g in wgn s 2003 logo . local programming edit wcvb currently produces the following