WXIA-TV Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===News operation=== WXIA presently broadcasts 33 hours, 25 minutes of locally produced newscasts each week (with 5 hours, 35 minutes each weekday, {{frac|3|1|2}} hours on Saturdays and two hours on Sundays). It also produces a half-hour prime time newscast at 10 p.m. for sister station WATL, which competes with the longer-running hour-long 10 p.m. newscast on Fox-owned WAGA-TV. The station's [[Pulse-Doppler radar|Doppler]] [[weather radar]] site is located west of Atlanta in far southern [[Cobb County]], south-southwest of [[Mableton]], on the south side of [[Interstate 20 in Georgia|Interstate 20]] not far west of [[Six Flags Over Georgia]].{{fact|date=August 2023}} The station began calling its newscasts ''News Watch'' in 1963 and began broadcasting news in color for the first time on March 20, 1967. From the early 1970s onward, channel 11's newscasts waged a spirited battle with WAGA for second place behind long-dominant WSB-TV. When WAGA switched to Fox in 1994, WXIA surged to become a solid [[runner-up]], usually finishing well ahead of perennial third-place finisher [[WGCL-TV]]; however, by May 2009, WXIA's ratings had been surpassed by WGCL at noon and 11 p.m. The morning news program ''Today in Atlanta'' had experienced a 40% ratings drop, leaving them a very distant third behind the local morning shows on WSB and WAGA, and sometimes fourth behind WGCL.{{fact|date=August 2023}} WXIA formerly had a partnership with [[The Weather Channel]] to use their weather forecasters and provide local [[weather forecast]]s (incidentally, [[NBCUniversal]]βwhich owns NBC through parent company [[Comcast]], Atlanta's primary cable television providerβheld a majority ownership stake in The Weather Channel until 2018). WXIA became the first Atlanta station to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in [[High-definition television|high definition]] on February 2, 2006. As part of the conversion to HD, a new HD-ready news set from Production Design Group, Ltd. was built and the station began using a new graphics package from Giant Octopus.{{fact|date=August 2023}} In February 2010, WXIA began a nightly news segment, "Bull Fighters", which consists of eight reporters/anchors; the segment is usually provided by former WAGA sports reporter [[Jeff Hullinger]]. On April 28, 2010, a new 4:30 a.m. newscast called ''Wake Up with Chesley'' debuted, featuring meteorologist Chesley McNeil and travel producer Matt Holmes; in addition to news updates throughout the show, McNeil primarily gives weather updates while Holmes gives travel delays and information. On January 29, 2013, on the noon broadcast, WXIA debuted the new Gannett standardized graphics and music ("This is Home" by [[Gari Media Group]]); their renovated studio debuted on February 12, 2013.{{fact|date=August 2023}} On January 29, 2015, WXIA announced that the 5 p.m. newscast would return for the first time since 2003, when ''Dr. Phil'' took over that time slot; that show moved to the 3 p.m. timeslot.<ref>{{cite web|title=11Alive takes over 5:00 time slot|url=http://www.11alive.com/story/about-us/2015/01/30/11alive-takes-over-500-time-slot/22593525/|website=WXIA|publisher=11Alive Staff, WXIA|access-date=February 11, 2015}}</ref> However, the new newscast came at the cost of ending its noon and 7 p.m. newscasts, which were replaced by an extension of ''Atlanta & Company'' and ''Wheel of Fortune'', respectively (the latter reversing its 2007 move from WXIA to WATL). These changes went into effect on March 2, 2015.<ref>{{cite web|title=WXIA Adds 5PM Newscast, Drops Noon and 7PM Programs|url=http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/wxia-adds-5pm-newscast-drops-noon-and-7pm-programs/140201|website=TVSpy|publisher=Aneya Fernando|access-date=February 11, 2015}}</ref> Between July 31 and August 28, 2017, WXIA underwent a significant relaunch of its news department, mirroring a similar move that was made by Tampa Bay sister station [[WTSP]] in April of that same year. The station renamed its morning and late-night newscasts as ''Morning Rush ATL'' and ''The Late Feed,'' respectively. Shiba Russell, who came over from NBC O&O station [[WNBC]] the previous year, became the solo anchor of ''Morning Rush ATL'', while Vinnie Politan became the anchor of ''The Late Feed''.{{fact|date=August 2023}} In March 2020, WXIA relaunched its noon newscast; however, it was meant to be temporary due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic in Georgia (U.S. state)|COVID-19 pandemic]].{{fact|date=August 2023}} In June 2021, WXIA re-titled its morning and late-night newscasts once again; the former is now titled ''11 Alive Morning News'' and the latter, which had been renamed from ''The Late Feed'' to ''Up Late'' following Vinnie Politan's departure from the station in November 2018, returned to the previous ''11 Alive News at 11'' title.{{fact|date=August 2023}} ====Notable former on-air staff==== *[[Roz Abrams]] β anchor/reporter (1972β1980, last seen at [[WCBS-TV]] in [[New York City]]) *[[Renee Chenault-Fattah]] β anchor/reporter (1989β1991, last at [[WCAU]] in [[Philadelphia]]) *[[Jim Huber]] β weekend sports anchor (1970sβ84, later with [[CNN]] and [[Turner Sports]]) *[[Jeff Hullinger]] β co-anchor and sports director (2010β2023, now at [[Georgia Public Broadcasting|GPB]]) *[[Walt Maciborski]] β anchor/reporter (now at [[KEYE-TV]] in Austin) *[[Steve McCoy]] β ''Noonday'' co-host (1990β1992; formerly on [[WSTR-FM|Star 94]] and [[WSB-FM|B 98.5FM]]) *[[Steen Miles]] β reporter; formerly [[MARTA]] spokesperson and former Georgia legislator *[[Demarco Morgan]] β anchor/reporter (2012β2015, now at [[ABC News]]) *[[Stone Phillips]] β reporter (1978β1979, formerly of ''[[Dateline NBC]]'') *[[Vinnie Politan]] β ''The Late Feed'' anchor (August 28, 2017 β November 2, 2018, now with [[Court TV]]) <ref>{{cite news |last1=Ho |first1=Rodney |title=Exclusive: Vinnie Politan leaving 11Alive after four-plus years |url=https://www.ajc.com/blog/radiotvtalk/exclusive-vinnie-politan-leaving-11alive-after-four-plus-years/RhVaTFUsZx35TOcV0rUCjN/ |access-date=March 22, 2019 |newspaper=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |date=October 31, 2019}}</ref> *[[Del Rodgers]] β sports anchor/reporter (1986β1997, now at [[KCRA-TV]] and [[KQCA-TV]] in [[Sacramento]]) *[[Steve Somers]] β sports anchor/reporter (1976β1978, now at [[WFAN (AM)|WFAN]] in New York) *[[Tom Sullivan (radio and television personality)|Tom Sullivan]] β ''Atlanta & Company'' co-host (2007β2009) *[[Harmon Wages]] β sports anchor/reporter (1979β1984) *[[Monica Woods]] β morning and noon meteorologist (1999β2001, now at [[KXTV]] in Sacramento) Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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