WCAU - News Operation

News Operation

News has been produced at WCAU from when it went on the air on in 1948. Charles Shaw, who had worked with Edward R. Murrow as a CBS correspondent in London during World War II, was the station's news director from 1948 until he left the station in the early 1960s. John Facenda, who later gained fame as the voice of NFL Films, was the station's main anchorman from shortly after it signed on until 1973. At the time he retired, he had been a main anchor longer than anyone in Philadelphia. He has since been passed by WPVI's Jim Gardner.

Soon after joining the station, Facenda sold the Bulletin on the idea of a local 11 pm newscast—the first in the country. It aired for the first time on September 8. In 1950, WCAU became the first station with a four-man news team. The 6 pm newscast was anchored by Facenda, with Philadelphia radio legend Phil Sheridan handling weather, Jack Whitaker on sports and Ed McMahon as announcer. In 1965, channel 10 introduced the "Big News" format from sister station KNXT (now KCBS-TV) in Los Angeles.

The station's news operation was the ratings leader in Philadelphia for most of the time from the late 1940s through the 1960s. In the 1960s KYW-TV's Eyewitness News passed it in the rating. The station then remained a strong second until the 1970s, when WPVI-TV's Action News bumped channel 10 down to third place. WCAU struggled through the late 1970s while most of its CBS sisters dominated the ratings, but has since recovered and has been a solid runner-up to longtime leader WPVI for over a quarter century. WCAU did manage to pass WPVI in the 5 pm time slot for a time in the early 1980s with its original "Live at 5," anchored by Larry Kane & Deborah Knapp (now at KENS-TV in San Antonio). In 2001, WCAU made national news when its 11 pm news (anchored by Larry Mendte and Renee Chenault-Fattah) knocked WPVI from the top slot for the first time in decades. Since 2003, WCAU has had to fend off a spirited challenge from a resurgent KYW-TV for second place in the Philadelphia ratings. Channel 3's resurgence was fueled in part by luring Mendte away from channel 10.

Shortly after CBS agreed to sell the station to NBC, WCAU dropped its longtime moniker of Channel 10 News in favor of NewsCenter 10. After the sale closed, NBC changed the newscast name to News 10. It became NBC 10 News in 2000.

WCAU used music based on "Channel 2 News", written for WBBM-TV in Chicago (the de facto official music for CBS' O&O stations) & variations on it from 1982 until the 11 PM newscast on September 9, 1995 hours before the flip to NBC. It used the original 1975 version from 1982–1987, a synthesized version written by a local composer during the 1987-88 season and the Palmer News Package from 1988 to 1995. KYW-TV has used variants on this theme in recent years.

On December 10, 2005 WCAU took over production of WPHL-TV (channel 17)'s half-hour 10 pm nightly newscast after that station canceled its in-house primetime newscast and laid off its entire news and production staff. This new newscast was called WB 17 News at 10 Powered by NBC 10. On July 25, 2006, the program was renamed My PHL 17 News Powered by NBC 10 to correspond with WPHL's upcoming switch to MyNetworkTV. This newscast competes with the 10PM newscasts on WTXF (channel 29, which is produced in-house) and WPSG (channel 57, which is produced by KYW-TV).

The station debuted an all-new website, NBCPhiladelphia.com, on October 23, 2008. NBC Local Media took the operation of its news sites back in-house, ending its contract with IBS] (Internet Broadcasting Systems). The original NBC10.com was removed and the URL now redirects to the new site.

WCAU upgraded its studios for high-definition television newscasts and began transmitting high definition newscasts on December 10, 2008 starting with its 4 pm newscast. WCAU advertised its switch to high definition newscasts with the slogan "We've saved the best for last." WCAU is the last station in the Philadelphia designated market area to do so.

On November 13, 2008, Fox Television Stations and NBC Local Media reached a deal to test a system that will allow Fox-owned stations and NBC-owned stations to pool their news resources ranging from shared video to any aerial video from a helicopter. WCAU and Fox owned-and-operated station WTXF were the first stations to undertake the plan as an effective way to deal with the difficulties in costs in news operations.

On September 12, 2011, WCAU began NBC 10 News Today at 4:30 a.m. It also launched a new midday newscast at 11 a.m., and The 10! Show switched to a half hour. On December 6, 2011, the station announced a partnership with public broadcasting stations WHYY-FM-TV as part of a larger effort by NBCUniversal to partner with nonprofit news organizations following its acquisition by Comcast.

On September 14, 2012, WCAU produced its last 10 p.m. newscast on WPHL-TV. WPVI-TV took over responsibility of the 10 p.m. news on September 15, 2012. Also, The 10! Show ended after 10 years on the air. On September 17, 2012, WCAU's midday newscast expanded to one hour.