states branding wwl tv channel 4 general channel 4 s eyewitness news newscasts slogan the spirit of louisiana primary general always on secondary general louisiana s news leader newscasts channels digital 36 uhf virtual 4 psip subchannels 4.1 cbs 4.2 justice network 4.3 decades affiliations cbs justice network dt2 decades dt3 owner tegna inc. wwl tv inc. first air date september 7 1957 ; 59 years ago 1957 09 07 call letters meaning world wide loyola after loyola university new orleans founder and former owner sister station s wupl tv & wbxn cd former channel number s analog 4 vhf 1957 2009 former affiliations secondary nta film network 1957 1961 transmitter power 957.8 kw height 311 m facility id 74192 transmitter coordinates 29 54 22.9 n 90 2 22.1 w 29.906361 n 90.039472 w 29.906361 ; 90.039472 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.wwltv.com wwl tv virtual channel 4 uhf digital channel 36 is a cbs affiliated television station located in new orleans louisiana united states . the station is owned by tegna inc. as part of a duopoly with mynetworktv affiliate wupl tv channel 54 . the two stations share studio and office facilities located on rampart street in the historic french quarter district ; wwl tv s transmitter is located at 4 cooper road in gretna . on cable the station is available on cox communications channel 3 in standard definition and digital channel 1003 in high definition . wwl serves as the primary cbs station for the gulf coast region of mississippi and formerly served as the default cbs affiliate for the area until abc affiliate wlox in biloxi launched a cbs affiliated digital subchannel in 2012 after 25 years where wwl tv serves there when whlt cbs 22 signed on in 1987 . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 belo ownership 1.3 hurricane katrina 1.3.1 post katrina 1.4 hurricane gustav 1.5 sale to the gannett company and gannett tegna split 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 references 6 external links history edit early history edit the station first signed on the air on september 7 1957 ; by coincidence it was the fourth television station to sign on in the new orleans market behind wdsu tv channel 6 which signed on in december 1948 wjmr tv channel 61 now wvue dt on channel 8 which signed on in november 1953 and wyes tv channel 8 now on channel 12 which signed on in april 1957 six months before wwl tv s launch . it was originally owned by loyola university new orleans which also owned radio station wwl 870 am . wwl tv has been an affiliate of the cbs television network since its inception as wwl radio had been an affiliate of the cbs radio network since 1935 . channel 4 competed head to head with nbc affiliate wdsu for first place during the 1960s and 1970s . however after edgar b. stern jr. sold wdsu to south carolina based cosmos broadcasting in 1972 it began deemphasizing local features in favor of its highly regarded newscasts . by comparison wwl as the only locally owned station heavily stressed its local roots . by the early 1980s wwl had emerged as the market s ratings leader . in 1988 wwl and cox cable the major cable provider serving areas of greater new orleans located south of lake pontchartrain entered into a joint venture to form a cable only news channel called newswatch 15 named after the cable slot on cox where the channel is carried which debuted on october 20 1989 . newswatch 15 was one of the first regional cable news channels in the united states at the time . the channel airs rebroadcasts and live simulcasts of local newscasts seen on wwl along with breaking news coverage that does not necessarily warrant extended coverage on channel 4 . in 1989 loyola sold its media properties to different owners . wwl radio and its fm sister station wlmg 101.5 were purchased by keymarket communications while wwl tv s employees formed a group called rampart broadcasting named after the road rampart street where the station s studio facility is located led by general manager j. michael early and longtime news director and station editorialist phil johnson and bought the station . it was the first and thus far only time that an employee investor group acquired a u.s. television station chek tv in victoria british columbia canada was similarly acquired by an employee led group in 2009 which narrowly avoided the station s shutdown . wwl building on rampart street . in 1990 wwl tv began running one of the most successful station image campaigns in the united states with the debut of its spirit of louisiana promotions . the one minute spots focus on the region s musical and cultural heritage and also showcase life in southeastern louisiana . many of the ads aired as part of the campaign which continues to this day feature well known area musicians and singers . 4 belo ownership edit the station s local ownership came to an end in 1994 when the station was bought by the dallas based belo corporation . that year channel 4 s status as the unofficial home station of the new orleans saints came to an end after cbs lost the broadcast rights to the national football conference television package to fox in december 1993 . 1 wwl tv had aired most of the saints games since 1970 when cbs assumed rights to the nfc upon the merger of the american football league and the national football league ; after cbs lost the nfc broadcast rights the saints telecasts moved to fox affiliate wnol tv channel 38 before moving again to wvue tv channel 8 upon that station s switch from abc to fox in january 1996 . today wwl tv only carries select games televised by cbs primarily those in which the saints play host to an afc opponent at the mercedes benz superdome although new nfl cross flexing procedures allow for road games or nfc home games to be carried by cbs . the station also aired the saints victory in super bowl xliv . in 2005 viacom which owned upn station wupl tv channel 54 now a mynetworktv affiliate at the time through its paramount stations group subsidiary had made an offer to acquire wwl tv which would have created a duopoly with wupl and turned channel 4 into a cbs owned and operated station viacom owned cbs from its 1999 merger with the network which ironically traces the former company s history back to its existence as a syndicator of cbs programming until december 2005 when shared parent national amusements decided to split viacom and cbs into two separate companies . however after belo rejected viacom s purchase offer for wwl viacom instead reached a deal to sell wupl to belo in july of that year for 14.5 million . the deal was slated to close by the end of 2005 but was placed on hold when hurricane katrina devastated the greater new orleans area in late august . as a result on february 9 2006 cbs filed a breach of contract lawsuit against the belo corporation over the failure to finalize the sale of wupl to belo . 2 3 the litigation was later settled on february 26 2007 with belo announcing that it would complete its purchase of wupl . 4 5 the deal had already received federal communications commission approval and was finalized on february 26 2007 ; belo moved wupl s operations into wwl s rampart street studio facility in mid april 2007 . hurricane katrina edit two days prior to hurricane katrina s landfall wwl tv began 24 hour continuous coverage of the storm on august 27 2005 from its rampart street facility . 6 following a meeting between chief meteorologist carl arredondo and then news director sandy breland on enacting a plan to evacuate station staff at 10 45 p.m. on august 28 6 the station moved its operations to the manship school of mass communications at louisiana state university in baton rouge which had agreed the year prior to allow wwl to use the journalism school as a backup facility in the event that a major hurricane forced the station to evacuate from new orleans . 6 20 employees were evacuated to the lsu campus 20 more were moved to the transmitter site in gretna and an additional 28 staffers remained at the rampart street facility those staffers eventually evacuated to the hyatt regency hotel as conditions worsened . lsu students and staff helped produce the telecast with wwl tv staff in a bare bones fashion . the station briefly returned to its rampart street studios in new orleans on august 29 at 4 00 p.m. flooding forced the station to again move operations back to the lsu campus in baton rouge as well as a foyer used as a makeshift studio at the gretna transmitter site which did not sustain significant damage as the facility built in 2000 was constructed to withstand 140 miles per hour 230 km h with the transmitter building positioned 15 feet above ground on concrete ; the transmitter site was evacuated on august 30 due to looting concerns . 6 wwl was the only new orleans station that was able to provide coverage of the storm and its aftermath uninterrupted as it relayed its signal via fiber optic relay and used a satellite truck loaned to the station by houston sister khou tv to provide live field reports and helicopters loaned from khou and dallas sister station wfaa . 6 due to overcrowding with wwl and other belo station staffers at the manship school building on september 1 the station moved operations again this time to the studios of louisiana public broadcasting station wlpb tv in baton rouge . 6 this provided wwl with a much larger facility and expanded its audience to include lpb s statewide network ; the station s coverage was also carried by many pbs stations in louisiana and mississippi as well as by khou and wfaa . 6 wwl s operations returned to new orleans about six weeks later . wwl tv s extensive coverage of hurricane katrina earned the station its sixth peabody award in early april 2006 7 as well as a dupont columbia award in 2007 ; 8 it was also recounted in an episode of the weather channel documentary series storm stories . post katrina edit after hurricane katrina some of the station s most visible talent including weekend anchor reporter josh mcelveen and reporter stephanie riegel left channel 4 to pursue other opportunities . 10 00 p.m. anchor karen swensen also left wwl to work at boston based regional news channel new england cable news ; meteorologists david bernard and john gumm also left the station bernard was already scheduled to leave the station before the storm struck . following the storm wwl tv brought back a station editorial segment . modeled after the editorials presented for many years until the 1990s by longtime news director and station manager phil johnson editorials seen in the present day which air during the station s 6 00 p.m. newscast on tuesday nights are read via script by wwl tv political analyst clancy dubos who discusses current political issues related to the post katrina redevelopment of new orleans . in 2004 wwl tv and belo announced plans to construct a new multimillion dollar broadcasting facility for the station and wupl at 700 loyola avenue in downtown new orleans . the complex to have been named the j. michael early broadcast center after the station s former general manager was originally scheduled to be completed in late 2007 or early 2008 . groundbreaking