WFXT

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WFXT, channel 25, is an owned-and-operated station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in Boston, Massachusetts. This station covers the greater Boston area, with transmitter located in Needham and studios in Dedham. WFXT is one of six Boston television stations seen in Canada by subscribers of the Bell ExpressVu satellite service.

History

Channel 25 signed on as WXNE-TV (for "Christ (X) in New England") on October 10, 1977. The station was originally owned by the Christian Broadcasting Network. The early format consisted of older syndicated reruns which were deemed to be "family-friendly", as well as a healthy dose of religious programming such as CBN's own 700 Club and programs of many other televangelists. Religious programming ran for about six hours a day during the week and all day on Sundays. Secular programming consisted of westerns, old movies, family type drama shows, old film shorts, and classic TV shows. By 1980, the religious programming was cut back on Sundays to 6 to 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. to midnight, and about four to five hours a day during the week.

The station began adding more cartoons, made-for-TV movies, and off network sitcoms in the early 1980s. At the same time, the station rebranded itself "Boston 25", in the conversion to being a true independent. While the station was only on cable systems in the Greater Boston market, WXNE was a solid third among independent stations, behind the longer-established WSBK-TV and WLVI-TV, and sixth among commercial television stations.

In October 1986 WXNE became Boston's affiliate for the new Fox Broadcasting Company, a precursor to a sale of the station to Fox, which was finalized on January 19, 1987. Prior to the sale to Fox, WXNE did not air The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, Fox's inaugural program and a weeknight show which aired opposite Johnny Carson's Tonight Show on NBC. The outgoing CBN ownership believed that the program did not fit its strict content guidelines. Fox instead contracted Boston radio station WMRE (now WWZN) to carry the audio portion of the Late Show until its purchase of WXNE was completed. When it was, Fox renamed the station WFXT and made a few on-air changes. Besides adding the Late Show to the schedule, the 700 Club was demoted to a once-a-day airing, and the daily broadcast of a Roman Catholic Mass was moved to an earlier time slot. Fox programmed aggressively, purchasing popular off network sitcoms and syndicated fare. In April 1987, the Sunday evening religious programming block was ended when Fox launched their inaugural Sunday primetime schedule.

In purchasing channel 25, Fox was granted a temporary waiver of a Federal Communications Commission rule prohibiting common ownership of a television station and a newspaper in the same market. Fox's parent company, the News Corporation, also published the Boston Herald. In 1989, Fox placed WFXT in a trust, and in 1990 sold the station outright to the Boston Celtics, who would maintain the network affiliation while making WFXT the basketball team's flagship. The Celtics, however, did not have the financial means to compete as a broadcaster. By 1992, WFXT was on many more cable systems in areas of New England where Fox programming was not available. Locally, however, the station was a distant third behind WSBK and WLVI. For a while under the Celtics' watch, WFXT was in danger of losing its Fox affiliation.

News Corporation sold the Boston Herald in 1994, opening the door for its Fox subsidiary to purchase WFXT for a second time in mid-1995. Although the network was pushing for more news-intensive formats for its stations, channel 25 moved slowly in building its own news department. After outsourcing news programs from New England Cable News (see below), the station did not produce its own primetime 10:00 p.m. newscast until September 1996. During this time, WFXT was the second-to-last Fox owned-and-operated station left without any local news as well as the last such station running a morning kids block. WFXT was the television flagship of the Boston Red Sox for the baseball team's 2000 through 2002 seasons.

The station launched a new website based on the Fox Television Stations internet division's new My Fox interface as of May 23, 2006. It became standard on all Fox owned-and-operated station websites in the next few months. However, the new site did not become WFXT's official web address until July 12.

At one point, the station was "tentatively planning" to air News Corporation-owned and Fox sister network MyNetworkTV from 1 to 3 p.m. on the weekdays if the new network could not find an affiliate in the Boston market. On July 21, 2006, Derry, New Hampshire-based WZMY-TV was announced as Boston's affiliate of MyNetworkTV (which began operations on September 5). Although MyNetworkTV does not air on WFXT, the station has promoted programming for the network during its newscasts.

On October 12, Providence, Rhode Island's primary Fox and secondary MyNetworkTV affiliate WNAC-TV invoked the FCC’s network non-duplication rule. This resulted in Comcast blacking out Fox primetime and sports programming from WFXT on its cable systems in Bristol County, Massachusetts. This change did not affect the airing of channel 25's syndicated lineup or newscasts. Because WNAC is a secondary MyNetworkTV affiliate, programs from that network are shown.

Digital television

Channel	Programming
25.1 / 31.1	main WFXT/Fox programming

Post-analog shutdown

After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009, WFXT will continue digital broadcasts on its current pre-transition channel number, 31.

News operation

File:WFXT93.JPG

Heather Kahn anchoring the Fox 25 News at 10 out of NECN in 1993.

One of the few productive moves WFXT made under the Boston Celtics' ownership tenure was commissioning the regional cable channel New England Cable News to produce a 10 p.m. newscast which launched in early 1993. The original Fox 25 News at 10 was a half-hour newscast initially anchored by NECN's Heather Kahn with Tim Kelley on weather. Kahn lasted a year and a half in this role before transferring to ABC affiliate WCVB-TV. NECN's Lila Orbach replaced Kahn on the WFXT news (which NECN moved to WSBK in October 1995). After the station did not renew its contract with NECN, there was no local news on WFXT until the September 1996 launch of the in house-produced 10 p.m. broadcast. During the year-long hiatus of local news, WFXT relied on national Fox News updates that aired during the day. From that point, channel 25 established its news operation ever so gradually.

During 2002, WFXT briefly experimented with a 4:30 p.m. news anchored by Jodi Applegate. By the fall of that year, the program was moved to 5 p.m., and in 2003, it was expanded to an hour. The station added a morning newscast that same year as well.

WFXT began using new music, graphics, and Fox 25 logos (based on Fox News) in all newscasts on September 3, 2006. During the 10 p.m. newscast on October 9, 2007, co-anchors Maria Stephanos and Mark Ockerbloom announced that there would be an 11 o'clock newscast starting on November 5.

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WFXT's news open.

Today, channel 25 runs about 30 hours a week of local news. The station used to claim its 10 p.m. news was the top-rated late night newscast in the Boston market, but has been surpassed by WBZ-TV.

In addition to its main studios, WFXT operates a news bureau on Beacon Hill near the state house in downtown Boston. It serves as an interview location for Massachusetts lawmakers as well as a home base for weekday morning commentator Doug "V.B." Goudie and political editor Joe Battenfeld.

WFXT's newscasts were commonly seen in a fictional sense within the universe of David E. Kelley's Boston-set shows Ally McBeal, Boston Public, and The Practice. They were all produced by Fox's syndicated division Twentieth Television. This was despite The Practice airing on ABC. Boston Legal uses all fictional stations since it does not have a counterpart show airing on Fox, unlike the former shows.

News team

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The station's weeknight and Sunday evening anchors, Mark Ockerbloom and Maria Stephanos.

File:Wfxt weather 2008.png

Chief meteorologist Kevin Lemanowicz.

Anchors

• Gene Lavanchy - weekday mornings
• Kim Carrigan - weekday mornings
• Anqunette Jamison - weekday morning headline reader
• Mark Ockerbloom - Sunday Through Thursday at 5:00,5:30, 10:00, and 11:00 PM
• Maria Stephanos - Sunday Through Thursday at 5:00,5:30, 10:00, and 11:00 PM
• Frank Mallicoat - Friday and Saturday nights
  • Sunday mornings
  • reporter
• Shirley Chan - Friday and Saturday nights
  • reporter

Meteorologists

• Kevin Lemanowicz - chief seen on Sunday Through Thursday at 5:00,5:30, 10:00, and 11:00 PM
• Cindy Fitzgibbon - weekday mornings
• A.J. Burnett - weekends
  • fill-in
• Mark Dixon - fill-in
  • employed by WFSB
• Melissa Bell - fill-in

Sports

• Butch Stearns - director seen nightly
• Ryan Asselta - sports reporter
  • fill-in

Reporters

• Joe Battenfeld - political editor
• Doug "V.B." Goudie - weekday morning commentator
• Mike Beaudet - investigative reporter
• Bob Ward - fill-in anchor
  • "New England's Unsolved" segment producer
• Doug Meehan - weekday morning traffic and american idol reporter
• Keba Arnold
• Alison Bologna
• Ted Daniel
• Erin Hawksworth
• Martin Morenz
• Margie O'Brien
• Adam Pellerin
• Diana Rocco
• Debbi Rodman
• Sharman Sacchetti

Logos

• The first WXNE numeric logo in 1977 as seen at the beginning of CBN National News updates. The multi-colored "test pattern" lines were a part of the "25" identity for the first few years.
  The first WXNE numeric logo in 1977 as seen at the beginning of CBN National News updates. The multi-colored "test pattern" lines were a part of the "25" identity for the first few years.
• The second version of the WXNE logo featuring a "boxed" 25. Used until the next major image change, in 1983.
  The second version of the WXNE logo featuring a "boxed" 25. Used until the next major image change, in 1983.
• The "BOSTON 25" logo used from 1983 until January 1987. The station campaigns "You Should See Us Now" and "Everybody Turn 25" accompanied it at this time.
  The "BOSTON 25" logo used from 1983 until January 1987. The station campaigns "You Should See Us Now" and "Everybody Turn 25" accompanied it at this time.
• The station became a Murdoch-owned Fox affiliate in 1986, but with the sale complete in January 1987, this first generation WFXT logo debuted using the early Fox O&O concept.
  The station became a Murdoch-owned Fox affiliate in 1986, but with the sale complete in January 1987, this first generation WFXT logo debuted using the early Fox O&O concept.
• Fox 25's 1990-1993 logo during most of the Celtics ownership tenure. The green-colored block of the "25" portion was an obvious indication of the team's control. The Fritz Quadrata-type Fox lettering was carried over from the early network O&O design (thus making WFXT the last of the affiliates to dispense with it).
  Fox 25's 1990-1993 logo during most of the Celtics ownership tenure. The green-colored block of the "25" portion was an obvious indication of the team's control. The Fritz Quadrata-type Fox lettering was carried over from the early network O&O design (thus making WFXT the last of the affiliates to dispense with it).
• WFXT's 1997-2007 logo.
  WFXT's 1997-2007 logo.
• WFXT's current logo.
  WFXT's current logo.

External links

• WFXT "Fox 25"
• WFXT wireless
• Fox
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