nbc affiliated television station in oklahoma city oklahoma kfor tv or rival nbc owned and operated station wtvj currently on channel 6 which previously operated as miami s cbs affiliate on channel 4 from 1949 to 1989 . 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 wfor tv miami fort lauderdale florida united states city miami florida branding cbs 4 general south florida s cbs 4 news newscasts slogan south florida s smart choice channels digital 22 uhf virtual 4 psip affiliations .1 cbs o & o .2 decades owner cbs corporation cbs television stations inc. founded april 1964 1 first air date september 20 1967 ; 49 years ago 1967 09 20 call letters meaning four sister station s wbfs tv wkis wpow wqam former callsigns wcix tv 1967 1995 former channel number s analog 6 vhf 1967 1995 4 vhf 1995 2009 former affiliations independent 1967 1986 fox 1986 1988 transmitter power 1 000 kw height 298 m 978 ft facility id 47902 transmitter coordinates 25 58 8.3 n 80 13 19.2 w 25.968972 n 80.222000 w 25.968972 ; 80.222000 coordinates 25 58 8.3 n 80 13 19.2 w 25.968972 n 80.222000 w 25.968972 ; 80.222000 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website miami.cbslocal.com wfor tv channel 4 is a cbs owned and operated television station located in miami florida united states . the station is owned by the cbs television stations subsidiary of cbs corporation as part of a duopoly with mynetworktv affiliate wbfs tv channel 33 . the two stations share studio and office facilities in doral florida near miami international airport ; wfor s transmitter is located in andover florida . contents 1 history 1.1 wcix channel 6 1.2 acquisition by cbs 1.3 move to channel 4 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 news operation 3.1 notable current on air staff 3.2 notable former on air staff 4 translators 5 references 6 external links history edit wcix channel 6 edit the station first signed on the air on september 20 1967 as wcix tv 2 broadcasting on vhf channel 6 . the station was originally owned by the locally based coral television corporation . general cinema corporation acquired controlling interest in coral television and wcix in august 1972 . 3 the channel 6 frequency was allocated to miami by the federal communications commission fcc in june 1957 as part of a minor reorganization nationwide of vhf channel assignments . 4 5 the channel was reallocated to the city of south miami when coral television was awarded a construction permit to build channel 6 in april 1964 . in february 1967 seven months before wcix went on the air coral television successfully convinced the fcc to move the community of license back to miami proper where the station could serve more viewers . wcix built a transmitter tower in homestead which was 40 miles 60 km southwest of miami farther south than the miami fort lauderdale market s other television stations . this arrangement was necessary to protect wptv on adjacent channel 5 in west palm beach and wdbo tv now wkmg tv and also on channel 6 in orlando . as a result miami s channel 6 only provided a grade b signal to fort lauderdale and was virtually unviewable in the northern portion of broward county . the station made up for this shortfall in its coverage area by signing on translator stations throughout broward county and in boca raton part of the west palm beach market ; wcix identified these translators broadcasting on uhf channels 33 61 and 69 in its station ids as late as the mid 1980s . the channel 33 translator was shut down in 1984 to allow future sister station wbfs tv to sign on and was then moved to channel 27 where it operated until the mid 1990s ; channel 69 became wyhs tv in 1988 . translators on channels 21 in pompano beach and 58 in central broward county were also used in later years . wcix tv was the first general entertainment independent station in the miami fort lauderdale market and the second in florida after wsun tv whose channel 38 allocation is now occupied by wtta in st. petersburg converted to an independent in 1965 . channel 6 ran the typical independent format of children s programs sitcoms movies and other local and syndicated programs . wcix was also one of the very few stations not owned by kaiser broadcasting to carry the lou gordon program from wkbd tv in detroit in the 1970s . it was also one of the first stations in the area to offer programming in both english and spanish to serve south florida s growing hispanic population . from the 1970s to the early 1980s wcix had widespread cable penetration throughout florida and was seen on cable systems as far north as tampa bay and orlando . outside the miami market wcix shared its cable channel space with another miami station wkid tv channel 51 now wscv which presented older movies and sitcoms after wcix left the air . the station was the only general entertainment independent in the market until 1976 when whft tv channel 45 was purchased by lesea broadcasting and switched a hybrid schedule of general entertainment and religious programs . in 1980 whft was sold to the trinity broadcasting network and switched to religious programming full time leaving wcix as the market s lone independent once again . however it would receive competition once again in 1982 when wdzl channel 39 now wsfl tv signed on . general cinema traded wcix tv to cincinnati based taft broadcasting in early 1983 in exchange for wgr tv now wgrz in buffalo new york and 70 million . 6 7 under taft wcix the station officially dropped the tv suffix from its call sign in 1984 8 continued to be the leading independent station in south florida ; the station moved from its original studios on brickell avenue in downtown miami to its current facility in doral then an unincorporated area now a separate city in 1985 . on october 6 1986 wcix became a charter affiliate of the newly launched fox broadcasting company and was one of a handful of vhf stations to affiliate with the network though the station was essentially still independent since fox offered only an hour of late night programming at the time consisting of the talk show the late show starring joan rivers and would only add two nights of primetime programming by the end of the station s tenure with the network . acquisition by cbs edit after losing a bid to purchase then cbs affiliate wtvj then on channel 4 from then owner kohlberg kravis roberts & co. cbs made a half hearted offer to buy wcix from taft in january 1987 . taft declined but a month later opted to sell all of its independent stations and fox affiliates including wcix to the tvx broadcast group . however tvx became mired in debt as a result of the purchase and began to sell off many of its medium and small market stations . although tvx originally planned to keep wcix the company eventually decided that the station would have to be divested . one of the primary factors in the decision to sell was that wcix was tvx s only vhf station whereas its sister stations were all broadcasting on the uhf band . kkr sold wtvj to nbc in september 1987 . however cbs affiliation contract with wtvj did not expire until december 31 1988 as did nbc s contract with wsvn channel 7 which had served as its miami affiliate since that station signed on in july 1956 . wsvn s owner sunbeam television was not willing to end channel 7 s affiliation with nbc one year early . nbc was thus forced to run wtvj as a cbs affiliate for over a year a situation that did not sit well with either nbc or cbs . wcix s first cbs era logo introduced in summer 1989 . with the defection of wtvj looming cbs made another offer to tvx to acquire wcix in the spring of 1988 . the two sides agreed to a final deal in august of that year . 9 in the interim channel 6 agreed to air cbs programs that wtvj chose to preempt . meanwhile wsvn fought to retain its relationship with nbc but later relented and approached cbs for an affiliation deal . cbs turned the offer down and went forward with its plans to purchase wcix despite its weak signal in broward county . the affiliation changeover officially occurred on january 1 1989 the entire cbs network schedule moved to wcix while nbc s full schedule of programs moved to wtvj . fox moved its programming over to wsvn although the station advertised itself as an independent upon the switch ; most of wcix s syndicated programming inventory a notable exception being star trek the next generation the rights to which are now owned by cbs went to wdzl . cbs formally finalized its purchase of wcix the next day . in the case of miami fort lauderdale it is one of two television markets in which the fox affiliation moved from one vhf station to another the other being honolulu hawaii if stations not operating as satellites are counted when fox affiliate khnl and nbc affiliate khon tv swapped affiliations on january 1 1996 and the only known instance of a longtime big three affiliate switching to fox prior to fox s 1994 affiliation agreement with new world communications and other affiliation transactions involving the network that resulted from the deal . despite a significant technical overhaul and upgraded programming wcix struggled as a cbs station due to its weak signal in fort lauderdale . even though wcix operated a translator in the area on uhf channel 27 cbs persuaded west palm beach s longtime abc affiliate wpec channel 12 to switch to cbs replacing uhf station wtvx which became an independent station and is now a cw affiliate in order to give the network a stronger signal in northern broward county . 10 wcix s transmission tower collapsed on august 24 1992 as a result of destructive winds caused by hurricane andrew forcing channel 6 off the air . within hours the station resumed broadcasts via its low power translator in fort lauderdale . wdzl began carrying wcix s newscasts the next day with the entire cbs schedule following a few days later . within a week wcix was back on the air using an emergency transmitter on a borrowed tower . in the wake of the devastation wcix s staff helped create neighbors helping neighbors a grass roots charitable organization which aimed to help people rebuild . the organization lives on as neighbors 4 neighbors which is still supported by the station . move to channel 4 edit main article 1994 united states broadcast tv realignment wcix moved to channel 4 on september 10 1995 becoming wfor tv . this logo was used from september 1995 to april 1999 . wfor cbs 4 logo used from april 1999 to july 29 2009 . wfor cbs 4 logo used from july 29 2009 to august 9 2010 . on july 14 1994 westinghouse broadcasting group w signed a long term affiliation deal with cbs part of which resulted in three westinghouse owned stations wbz tv in boston wjz tv in baltimore and kyw tv in philadelphia becoming cbs affiliates . 11 as a sidebar a subsequent deal between nbc and a new joint venture between group w and cbs was reached in november 1994 with cbs selling the channel