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 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message wcbs tv new york new york united states branding cbs 2 general cbs 2 news newscasts slogan expect more channels digital 33 uhf virtual 2 psip translators 22 uhf plainview affiliations .1 cbs o & o .2 decades owner cbs corporation cbs broadcasting inc. founded july 21 1931 as experimental station w2xab first air date july 1 1941 ; 75 years ago 1941 07 01 call letters meaning w columbia broadcasting system former legal name of cbs sister station s wbmp wcbs wcbs fm wfan wfan fm wins wlny tv wnew fm former callsigns wcbw 1941 1946 former channel number s analog 2 vhf 1939 2009 digital 56 uhf until 2009 transmitter power 349 kw height 397 m 1 302 ft facility id 9610 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 newyork.cbslocal.com wcbs tv channel 2 is the flagship station of the cbs television network located in new york city . wcbs tv is owned by the cbs television stations division of cbs corporation and operates as part of a television duopoly with riverhead long island licensed independent station wlny tv channel 55 . wcbs tv s studios are located within the cbs broadcast center and its transmitter is based at the empire state building both in midtown manhattan . in the few areas of the eastern united states where a cbs station is not receivable over the air wcbs 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 and dish network which carries the station as part of all american direct s distant network package . contents 1 history 1.1 early years 1.2 later years 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 3.1 sports programming 4 news operation 4.1 history 4.2 1996 massacre and format changes 4.3 from news 2 to cbs2 news 2000 present 4.4 partnership with the weather channel ; ratings improvement 4.4.1 personnel change 4.4.2 improvement in ratings new set 4.4.3 wcbs tv today 4.5 notable current on air staff 4.6 notable former on air staff 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit early years edit this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . january 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message wcbs tv s history dates back to cbs opening of experimental station w2xab on july 21 1931 using the mechanical television system that had been more or less perfected in the late 1920s . its first broadcast featured new york mayor jimmy walker kate smith and george gershwin . the station had the first regular seven day broadcasting schedule in american television broadcasting 28 hours a week . among its early programming included the television ghost 1931 1933 helen haynes 1931 1932 and piano lessons 1931 1932 . announcer director bill schudt was the station s only paid employee ; all other staff were volunteers . w2xab pioneered program development including small scale dramatic acts monologues pantomime and the use of projection slides to simulate sets . engineer bill lodge devised the first synchronized sound wave for a television station in 1932 enabling w2xab to broadcast picture and sound on a single shortwave channel instead of the two previously needed . on november 8 1932 w2xab broadcast the first television coverage of presidential election returns . the station suspended operations on february 20 1933 as monochrome television transmission standards were in flux and in the process of changing from a mechanical to an all electronic system . w2xab returned with an all electronic system in 1939 from a new studio complex in grand central station and a transmitter atop the chrysler building broadcasting on channel 2 . 1 w2xab transmitted the first color broadcast in the united states on august 28 1940 . 2 on june 24 1941 w2xab received a commercial construction permit and program authorization as wcbw . the station went on the air at 2 30 p.m. on july 1 one hour after rival wnbt channel 1 formerly w2xbs and now wnbc making it the second authorized fully commercial television station in the united states . the federal communications commission fcc issued permits to cbs and nbc at the same time and intended wnbt and wcbw to sign on simultaneously on july 1 so no one station could claim to be the first . wcbw s initial broadcast was the first local newscast aired on a commercial station in the country . its assigned frequency was 60 66 mhz now known as channel 3 but then referred to as channel 2 in the 1940 46 alignment of the vhf band . citation needed program schedules were irregular through the summer and early fall of 1941 . regular daily operations began on october 29 and wcbw received a full license to cover its construction permit and commercial program authorization on march 10 1942 . after the war the fcc re allocated the television and fm bands . wcbw closed down its operation on the old channel 2 at the end of february 1946 the 60 66 mhz band had been re allocated to wptz in philadelphia as channel 3 in order to move to a new channel 2 at 54 60 mhz . it quickly began operation on the new frequency where it remained from the spring of 1946 until the end of analog full power television service in the late spring of 2009 . the call letters were changed to wcbs tv on november 1 1946 after the fcc allowed television stations owned by radio stations in the same city to use the same call letters as the radio station with the suffix tv it is the only station in the cbs owned television station to have been built from the ground up by the network . citation needed later years edit this section needs expansion with more information on the station from the 1950s to the present day . you can help by adding to it . february 2011 on february 26 1951 wcbs tv became the first station to broadcast a regularly scheduled feature film series the late show . on august 11 1951 wcbs tv broadcast the first baseball game on color television between the brooklyn dodgers and boston braves from ebbets field . as were all color programs at the time it was transmitted via a field sequential color system developed by cbs . signals transmitted this way could not be seen on existing black and white sets . the cbs color system was scrapped after the fcc embraced the alternative rca all electronic dot sequential system which was fully compatible with the existing monochrome television standard late in 1953 . however cbs telecast few programs in color either locally or on the network until the mid 1960s when color receivers began to grow in popularity . citation needed variant used by the station from 2013 to 2016 ; the logo was used from 1997 to 2016 . in may 1997 the station adopted the cbs 2 branding along with sister stations kcbs tv in los angeles and wbbm tv in chicago while retaining a unique and distinctive logo . the practice of cbs owned stations placing the network identity ahead of their local identity would end up being known as the viacom mandate later the cbs mandate . wcbs tv was the only major new york city television station to remain on the air during the september 11 attacks that destroyed the world trade center in 2001 . unlike its competitors channel 2 had long maintained a full powered backup transmitter at the empire state building after moving its main transmitter to the north tower of the world trade center in 1975 . the station s coverage of the attacks was also simulcast nationally on viacom which owned cbs at the time cable network vh1 that day . in the immediate aftermath of the attacks wcbs tv was briefly the only full coverage over the air television service operating in new york city although the station lent transmission time to other stations who had lost their transmitters until they found suitable backup equipment and locations . the backup transmitter had been put into operation once before when the world trade center bombing of february 26 1993 knocked most of the area s stations off the air for a week . on december 12 2011 cbs television stations announced its intent to purchase riverhead long island licensed wlny tv channel 55 later announced for a purchase price of 55 million creating a duopoly with wcbs tv . 3 the company announced that it would add additional on air staff and expand wlny s local news programming at the time that station had only an 11 p.m. newscast . the fcc approved the sale on january 31 2012 and cbs took control of the station on march 30 . wlny suspended its own news operations the previous day 4 and began airing wcbs tv produced newscasts on july 2 2012 . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 5 2.1 1080i 16 9 wcbs tv main wcbs tv programming cbs 2.2 480i 4 3 cbsny decades digital subchannel 2.2 branded as cbs new york plus was launched in november 2011 as a 24 hour news channel drawing upon the resources of wcbs tv wcbs radio 880 am wins 1010 am and wfan am fm 660 am and 101.9 fm . the plus service was eventually planned to be rolled out to cbs other owned and operated stations but only wcbs and kyw tv in philadelphia added plus channel services . 6 decades was launched on subchannel 2.2 in january 2015 . analog to digital conversion edit wcbs tv discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over vhf channel 2 at 2 p.m. on june 12 2009 as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television with a sign off . 7 the station went off the air until 3 p.m. in preparations for its nightlight service . 8 the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 56 which was among the high band uhf channels 52 69 that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition to uhf channel 33 9 using psip to display wcbs tv s virtual channel as 2 on digital television receivers . since the station qualified for the nightlight clause in the dtv delay act 10 wcbs kept its analog signal on for one month to provide public service announcements starting on 3 p.m. on june 12 and permanently shutting it down during the early morning hours of july 13 2009 ; this possibly made it the last full power ntsc broadcast television station in the united states to discontinue analog transmissions . 10 wcbs tv currently has a construction permit for a digital fill in translator on channel 22 in plainview long island which will serve portions of eastern and central long island where wcbs tv s signal is affected by the presence of wfsb a cbs affiliate in hartford connecticut which also broadcasts on channel 33 . 11 on october 21 2014 cbs and weigel broadcasting announced the launch of a new digital subchannel service called decades scheduled to launch on all cbs owned