television station . for the nyc radio station formerly called wpix fm see wfan fm . not to be confused with wpxi or kpix . 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 . january 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message wpix new york new york united states branding pix 11 general pix 11 news newscasts pronounced as picks the cw pix 11 during promos for cw network shows slogan new york since 1948 channels digital 11 vhf virtual 11 psip affiliations .1 the cw .2 antenna tv .3 this tv owner tribune broadcasting wpix llc founded april 1947 1 first air date june 15 1948 ; 68 years ago 1948 06 15 call letters meaning new york s picture pix newspaper after nameplate slogan of the daily news its founding owner former channel number s analog 11 vhf 1948 2009 digital 33 uhf 1999 2002 2004 2009 12 vhf 2002 2004 former affiliations independent 1948 1995 the wb 1995 2006 transmitter power 7.5 kw height 405 m 1 329 ft facility id 73881 transmitter coordinates 40 44 54 n 73 59 10 w 40.74833 n 73.98611 w 40.74833 ; 73.98611 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website pix11.com wpix channel 11 is a television station located in new york city . owned and operated by the tribune company wpix is an affiliate of the cw television network . the station s studios and offices are located in midtown manhattan and its transmitter is based at the empire state building . wpix is also available as a regional superstation via satellite and cable in the united states and canada . contents 1 history 1.1 as an independent station 1.2 wb affiliation 1.3 cw affiliation 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 4.1 notable current on air staff 4.2 notable former on air staff 5 sports programming 6 public affairs and special events 7 references 8 external links history edit as an independent station edit an early wpix test pattern 1949 1976 . the station first signed on the air on june 15 1948 ; it was the fifth television station to sign on in new york city and was the market s second independent station . 2 it was also the second of three stations to launch in the new york market during 1948 debuting one month after newark based independent watv channel 13 now pbs member station wnet and two months before abc owned wjz tv channel 7 now wabc tv . like its longtime chicago sister station wgn tv which first signed on two months before in april 1948 wpix s call letters come from the slogan of the newspaper that founded the station in this case the tribune owned new york daily news whose tagline was new york s picture newspaper . since 1948 wpix s studios and offices have been located in the daily news building at second avenue and east 42nd street alternatively called 11 wpix plaza in midtown manhattan . in its earliest years wpix maintained a secondary studio called studio five at 110 central park south where programs shot in front of a studio audience were produced . wpix plaza southwest corner of 2nd avenue and 42nd street . until becoming owned by tribune outright in 1991 wpix operated separately from the company s other television and radio outlets through the news owned license holder wpix incorporated which in 1963 purchased new york radio station wbfm 101.9 fm now wfan fm and soon changed that station s call letters to wpix fm which then became wqcd in 1988 . british businessman robert maxwell bought the daily news in 1991 . tribune retained wpix and wqcd ; the radio station was sold to emmis communications in 1997 . wpix initially featured programming that was standard among independents children s programs movies syndicated reruns of network programs public affairs programming religious programs and sports specifically the new york yankees whose baseball games wpix carried from 1951 to 1998 . to generations of new york children channel 11 was also the home of memorable personalities . in 1955 original wpix staffer and weather forecaster joe bolton donned a policeman s uniform and became officer joe hosting several programs based around little rascals three stooges and later popeye shorts . another early wpix personality jack mccarthy also hosted popeye and dick tracy cartoons as captain jack in the early 1960s though he was also the longtime host of channel 11 s st. patrick s day parade coverage from 1949 to 1992 . wpix aired a local version of bozo the clown with bill britten in the role from 1959 to 1964 ; comic performers chuck mccann and allen swift also hosted programs on wpix during the mid 1960s before each moved to other entertainment work in hollywood . jazz singer joya sherrill hosted a weekday children s show time for joya later known as joya s fun school . channel 11 produced the magic garden series which ran on the station from 1972 to 1984 . in the late 1970s and 1980s pix games including basketball and tic tac toe were played during commercial breaks of afternoon programs in which kids would call into the station for the chance to play for prizes . wpix s circle 11 logo used from 1969 to 1976 and 1984 to 1994 . from its early years through the 1960s wpix like the other two major independents in new york wor tv channel 9 now wwor tv and wnew tv channel 5 now wnyw struggled to acquire other programming . in 1966 wpix debuted the yule log which combines christmas music with a film loop of logs burning inside a fireplace . airing on christmas eve and or christmas morning initially until 1989 the film was made in 1966 and was shot at the gracie mansion with the cooperation of then mayor john v. lindsay . wpix revived the yule log due to viewer demand in 2001 and has proven to be just as popular . several of tribune s other television stations as well as wgn america and antenna tv have carried the wpix version complete with its audio soundtrack on christmas morning since the late 2000s . channel 11 also airs a live broadcast of midnight mass from st. patrick s cathedral every christmas eve . the station s famous circle 11 logo predating the existence of the world trade center which it closely resembled was first unveiled in 1969 an advertising billboard for wpix with the circle 11 logo began appearing that year at yankee stadium . by the mid 1970s wpix emerged as the second highest rated independent station in the area behind wnew tv . wpix dropped the circle 11 when it rebranded as 11 alive in september 1976 though it continued to appear during station editorials until around 1982 the alive slogan was popularized by such stations as atlanta s wxia tv which itself has branded as 11 alive ever since that point with the exception of a brief removal in 1995 ; the circle 11 logo returned as part of the 11 alive branding in 1984 before becoming used full time in the fall of 1986 . its relaunch featured a series of humorous promos in which a fictional station employee henry tillman was searching for a big idea for something uniquely new york in nature to serve as the perfect wpix symbol . the running gag in these ads was the fact that tillman was constantly surrounded by but never noticed objects resembling a giant 11 most notably the twin towers of the world trade center . the first 11 alive logo which was used from 1976 to 1982 . a slightly modified version of the logo is also used for its 11.2 subchannel where the .2 was added next to the 11 . in 1978 wpix was uplinked to satellite and became a superstation that was distributed to cable providers throughout the u.s. many providers carried wpix s signal until the early 1990s when most systems outside of the northeastern united states began replacing wpix with the superstation feed of wgn tv 3 though the station continues to be distributed through dish network domestically which since it halted sales of the package to new subscribers in september 2013 is available only to grandfathered subscribers of its a la carte superstation tier and on most cable and satellite providers throughout canada . two years later wpix began operating on a 24 hour programming schedule . during the late 1980s wpix fell to sixth place in the ratings among new york s vhf stations behind wnyw which was now owned by fox and a resurgent wwor then owned by mca universal . citation needed after president leavitt pope stepped down as general manager though he remained as president and ceo of wpix michael eigner was transferred from los angeles sister station ktla to become wpix s general manager ; in 1989 the station engineered a slow turnaround that eventually resulted in wpix becoming the leading independent station in the market . in 1994 the station became the exclusive home of the new york city marathon carrying the event for the next five years . it was during the initial broadcast of that event that wpix unveiled a stylized 11 logo ; the new numerical look eventually became the full time logo augmented with the wb s logo after the station affiliated with that network in 1995 . wb affiliation edit wpix s original wb 11 logo used from 1995 to 1999 . a variant used from 1999 to 2006 had the the box removed from the wb logo . on november 2 1993 the warner bros. television division of time warner and the tribune company announced the formation of the wb television network . due to the company s ownership interest in the network initially a 12.5 % stake before expanding to 22 % tribune signed the majority of its independent stations to serve as the wb s charter affiliates resulting in wpix becoming a network affiliate for the first time upon its january 11 1995 debut . 4 5 wpix could have been considered the wb s flagship station even though wgn tv is actually the flagship station of tribune broadcasting however this is a designation in name only . the station was verbally branded as the wb channel 11 simply adding the wb name to the channel 11 branding in use since 1986 until it was simplified to wb11 in 1997 . initially wpix s programming remained unchanged as the wb had broadcast only primetime shows on wednesday nights at its launch . like with other wb affiliated stations during the network s first four years wpix ran feature films and select first run scripted series prior to its 10 00 p.m. newscast on nights when the wb did not offer network programs . wb network and syndicated daytime programs such as maury and jerry springer became more prominent on channel 11 s schedule starting in 1996 at the expense of most of its local interest programming outside of news . movies were limited to saturday evenings and weekend afternoons by september 1999 when the wb completed its prime time expansion at which time the network ran its programming on sunday through friday nights . screencap of the frozen wpix image from september 11 2001 . on september 11 2001 the transmitter facilities of wpix and several other new york city area television and radio stations were destroyed when two hijacked boeing 767 airplanes crashed into the world trade center ; both of the complex s main towers collapsed due to fires caused by the impact . wpix lead engineer steve jacobson was among those who were killed