Editing WPIX (section)

===As an independent station (1948–1995)===
The station first signed on the air on June 15, 1948; it was the fifth television station to sign on in New York City and was the market's second [[independent station]].<ref>[https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1948/1948-06-14-BC.pdf#page=27 "WPIX inaugural, TV station to have glittering debut."] ''[[Broadcasting - Telecasting]]'', June 14, 1948, pg. 27.</ref> It was also the second of three stations to launch in the New York market during 1948, debuting one month after [[Newark, New Jersey]]–based independent WATV (channel 13, now [[WNET]]) and two months before WJZ-TV (channel 7, now [[WABC-TV]]). WPIX's call letters come from "New York's Picture ("PIX") Newspaper" the [[Nameplate (publishing)|nameplate slogan]] of the ''[[New York Daily News]]'' its founding owner.<ref>{{cite news |title=News Video Is Now WPIX |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-news-video-is-now-wpix/173181558/ |access-date=May 26, 2025 |newspaper=Daily News |date=December 23, 1947 |location=New York City |page=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The ''Daily News''{{'}}s partial corporate parent was the Chicago-based [[Tribune Company]], publishers of the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''.

Until becoming owned outright by Tribune in 1991, WPIX operated separately from the company's other television and radio outlets (including [[WGN-TV]] in Chicago, which signed-on two months before WPIX in April 1948) through the ''News''-owned license holder, WPIX, Incorporated – which in 1963, purchased New York radio station, WBFM (101.9 FM) and soon changed that station's call letters to WPIX-FM. British businessman [[Robert Maxwell]] bought the ''Daily News'' in 1991. Tribune retained WPIX and WQCD; the radio station was sold to [[Emmis Communications]] in 1997 (it is now [[WFAN-FM]]). WPIX initially featured programming that was standard among independents: children's programs, [[feature film|movies]], syndicated [[rerun]]s of network programs, [[public affairs (broadcasting)|public affairs]] programming, [[religious broadcasting|religious programs]] and [[broadcasting of sports events|sports]] – specifically, the [[New York Yankees]], whose baseball games WPIX carried from [[1951 New York Yankees season|1951]] to [[1998 New York Yankees season|1998]].

To generations of New York children, channel 11 was also the home of memorable personalities. In 1955, original WPIX staffer and weather forecaster [[Joe Bolton (television personality)|Joe Bolton]], donned a policeman's uniform and became "Officer Joe", hosting several programs based around ''[[Little Rascals]]'', ''[[Three Stooges]]'', and later ''[[Popeye]]'' shorts. Another early WPIX personality, [[Jack McCarthy (television)|Jack McCarthy]], also hosted ''Popeye'' and ''[[The Dick Tracy Show|Dick Tracy]]'' [[animated cartoon|cartoons]] as "Captain Jack" in the early 1960s, though he was also the longtime host of channel 11's [[St. Patrick's Day]] parade coverage from 1949 to 1992. WPIX aired a local version of ''[[Bozo the Clown]]'' (with [[Bill Britten]] in the role) from 1959 to 1964; comic performers [[Chuck McCann]] and [[Allen Swift]] also hosted programs on WPIX during the mid-1960s before each moved to other entertainment work in [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]]. Jazz singer [[Joya Sherrill]] hosted a weekday children's show, ''Time for Joya'' (later known as ''[[Joya's Fun School]]''). Channel 11 produced the ''[[The Magic Garden (TV series)|Magic Garden]]'' series, which ran on the station from 1972 to 1984. Beginning in the late 1970s and continuing through spring 1982, the station aired "[[TV Powww#TV POWWW variants|TV PIXX]]", a television video game show played during commercial breaks of afternoon programs. Kids would call into the station for the chance to control a video game via telephone in hopes of winning prizes.

Another staple of WPIX's programming was its selection of movies; unlike many independent stations, WPIX's library went beyond the usual offerings from major studios and low-budget B-movies, to movies produced by [[Samuel Goldwyn]] and imports from Britain. The station also became famous to many area viewers for their various holiday broadcasts of films that became traditions at the station, such as the broadcast of the 1934 movie ''[[March of the Wooden Soldiers]]'' on Thanksgiving Day. This reputation for film programming (for much of the station's history, a movie ran at 8 p.m. every night in prime time; movies also made up much of the schedule on weekends) became so ingrained that the station frequently promoted itself as being "New York's Movie Station" during the late 1980s and 1990s.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 16, 2018 |title=WPIX at 70: The classic films of New York's Movie Station |url=https://pix11.com/news/wpix-at-70-the-classic-films-of-new-yorks-movie-station/ |access-date=August 3, 2022 |website=PIX11 |language=en-US}}</ref> Another notable programming stunt was ''Shocktober'', where for the entire month of October, various horror and thriller films were played; this occurred for several years in the early 1990s, and became a cult favorite among area viewers.<ref>{{Cite web |title="Shocktober" Memories – Cinema Crazed |date=October 31, 2014 |url=https://www.cinema-crazed.com/blog/2014/10/31/shocktober-memories/ |access-date=August 3, 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=October 3, 2018 |title=WPIX's SHOCKTOBER Marathon, from 1992! {{!}} Dinosaur Dracula! |url=https://dinosaurdracula.com/blog/wpix-shocktober-halloween-marathon/ |access-date=August 3, 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref>

From its early years through the 1960s, WPIX, like the other two major independents in New York, WOR-TV (channel 9, now [[WWOR-TV|WWOR]]) and WNEW-TV (channel 5, now [[WNYW]]), struggled to acquire other programming. In 1966, WPIX debuted ''[[The Yule Log]]'', which combines [[Christmas music]] with a film loop of logs burning inside a [[fireplace]]. Airing on Christmas Eve and/or Christmas morning initially until 1989, the film was made in 1966 and was shot at [[Gracie Mansion]], with the cooperation of then [[Mayor of New York City|Mayor]] [[John V. Lindsay]]. WPIX revived the ''Yule Log'' due to viewer demand in 2001, and has proven to be just as popular. Several of Tribune's other television stations (as well as [[WGN America]] and [[Antenna TV]]) have carried the WPIX version, complete with its audio soundtrack, on Christmas morning since the late 2000s, and is also streamed online on WPIX's website.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://pix11.com/2015/12/24/watch-the-wpix-yule-log-livestream-and-learn-about-its-history/ |title=Watch now: The WPIX Yule Log |website=Encyclopedia of Things |publisher=WPIX |date=December 24, 2015 |access-date=August 6, 2018}}</ref> Since 1977, Channel 11 has aired a live broadcast of Midnight Mass from [[St. Patrick's Cathedral (Manhattan)|St. Patrick's Cathedral]] every Christmas Eve.<ref>{{YouTube|id=VEyMN96lbhY|title=O Come, All Ye Faithful}}</ref><ref>{{YouTube|title=Midnight Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral 2017|id=m5MdHGSjlJ8}}</ref>

[[Image:wpix74.jpg|150px|thumb|WPIX's ''Circle 11'' logo, used from 1969 to 1976 and 1984 to 1995.]]
The station's "Circle 11" logo – predating the existence of the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] (which was not completed until 1973), which it closely resembled – was first unveiled in 1969 (an advertising billboard for WPIX with the "Circle 11" logo began appearing that year at [[Yankee Stadium (1923)|Yankee Stadium]]). By the mid-1970s, WPIX emerged as the second highest-rated independent station in the area, behind WNEW-TV. WPIX dropped the "Circle 11" when it rebranded as "11 Alive" in September 1976, though it continued to appear during station editorials until around 1982 (the "Alive" slogan was popularized by such stations as [[Atlanta]]'s [[WXIA-TV]], which itself has branded as "11 Alive" ever since that point, with the exception of a brief removal in 1995); the "Circle 11" logo returned as part of the "11 Alive" branding in 1984, before being restored full-time in the fall of 1986. Its relaunch featured a series of humorous promos in which a fictional station employee, "Henry Tillman", was searching for a "big idea" for something uniquely New York in nature to serve as the perfect WPIX symbol. The running gag in these ads was the fact that Tillman was constantly surrounded by – but never noticed – objects resembling a giant "11", most notably the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

[[Image:Wpix80.jpg|thumb|170px|right|The first ''11 Alive'' logo, which was used from 1976 to 1982.]]
In 1978, WPIX was uplinked to [[communications satellite|satellite]] and became a [[superstation]] that was distributed to cable providers throughout the U.S. (many providers carried WPIX's signal until the early 1990s, when most systems outside of the Northeastern United States began replacing WPIX with the superstation feed of WGN-TV,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-9267407.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924165250/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-9267407.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 24, 2015|title=WGN gains 2.2M subs; program appeal cited|work=[[Multichannel News]]|date=July 16, 1990|access-date=August 24, 2012}}</ref> though the station continues to be distributed through [[Dish Network]] domestically (which since it halted sales of the package to new subscribers in September 2013, is available only to [[grandfathered]] subscribers of its [[a la carte pay television|a la carte]] superstation tier) and on most cable and satellite providers throughout Canada). Two years later, WPIX began operating on a 24-hour programming schedule.

During the late 1980s, WPIX fell to sixth place in the ratings among New York's VHF stations, behind WNYW (which was now owned by [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]]) and a resurgent WWOR (then owned by [[MCA Inc.|MCA]]–[[Universal Pictures|Universal]]).{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}} After president Leavitt Pope stepped down as general manager (though he remained as president and CEO of WPIX), Michael Eigner was transferred from Los Angeles sister station [[KTLA]] to become WPIX's general manager in August 1989.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Imported From L.A. WPIX Names VP |last=Goldman|first=Kevin|date=July 8, 1989|work=Newsday|id = {{ProQuest|278166803}}}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Movin' On Up |last=MacMinn|first=Aleene|date=July 8, 1989|work=Los Angeles Times|id = {{ProQuest|280963178}}}}</ref>

Over the next few years the station engineered a slow turnaround that eventually resulted in WPIX becoming the leading independent station in the market. In 1994, the station became the exclusive home of the [[New York City Marathon]], carrying the event for the next five years. It was during the initial broadcast of that event that WPIX unveiled a stylized serifed "11" logo; the new numerical look eventually became the full-time logo, augmented with The WB's logo after the station affiliated with that network in 1995.

In mid-January 1994, the station began airing the ''[[Action Pack (television)|Action Pack]]'' programming block with the TV movie ''[[TekWar]]''. WPIX earned the biggest ratings of all the stations airing the program, with an 11.7/17 rating.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Benson|first1=Jim|title='Action' packs wallop, gives markets a boost|url=https://variety.com/1994/tv/news/action-packs-wallop-gives-markets-a-boost-117597/|access-date=June 9, 2017|work=Variety|date=January 20, 1994}}</ref>