WNYW "FOX5" is the flagship TV station of the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is located in New York City and serves the New York Tri-state Area. It was formed in the late 1930s by Allen B. DuMont. In 1944, the station recieved its commercial license as WABD (after Dumont's initials) and became the flagship of the DuMont Television Network. In 1956, after DuMont ceased programming, it was sold to Metromedia and renamed WNEW-TV after WNEW-AM, which Metromedia also owned. In 1986, Rupert Murdoch, after buying 20th Century Fox, purchased the Metromedia television stations, including WNEW. Fox changed the call letters to WNYW. However, the station has never used these calls on-air.
The station is home to one of America's longest-running primetime local newscast. The 10 O'Clock News (now FOX5 News at 10) debuted on the station on March 13, 1967 as New York's first 10pm newscast. For many years, the broadcast has begun with an announcer asking, "It's 10pm--do you know where your children are?" Other TV stations in the country also adopted this practice.
The station is also known for starting the trend of stations using their network and channel number (or cable channel number) as their on-air name. After Fox bought the station, it began calling itself "Fox Television Channel 5 New York." Soon after the Fox network premiered, it began calling itself "Fox Channel 5" and later shortened that to the current "Fox5."
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