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WSVN
WSVN (channel 7) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, affiliated with Fox and ABC. It is the flagship station of locally based Sunbeam Television and has studios on the 79th Street Causeway in North Bay Village and a transmitter in Miami Gardens, Florida.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regards WSVN as having signed on for the first time on December 19, 1962, as WCKT under Sunbeam ownership. However, the station was the result of a long and contentious legal battle between Sunbeam and three other applicants for the channel 7 allocation in Miami. Biscayne Television Corporation, a three-way partnership including the publishers of the Miami News and Miami Herald signed on a previous WCKT on July 29, 1956, only to be stripped of its license due to ethics violations within the FCC and unethical behavior by its principals during the application process. Sunbeam purchased WCKT's assets and re-launched the station under a new license with uninterrupted service, while claiming the old WCKT's history as its own. The market's NBC affiliate since its inception, WCKT was renamed WSVN in 1983 and became an independent with Fox programming on January 1, 1989, after NBC's purchase of CBS affiliate WTVJ and CBS's purchase of Fox affiliate WCIX-TV initiated a major affiliation switch. With minimal advance preparation, WSVN relaunched their news department with an emphasis on tabloid journalism under Joel Cheatwood's direction, an unconventional decision initially pilloried by the local media but since been emulated and copied throughout the industry.
WSVN's newscasts have attracted national and international attention for aggressive and controversial content and have been credited as an inspiration for the launch of Fox News. One of the largest Fox affiliates not owned by the network, it was famously called "the future of television" by onetime Fox executive Lucie Salhany. Involved with Sunbeam from the company's beginnings until his death on July 26, 2020, chairman Edmund Ansin repeatedly refused offers to sell either WSVN or his Boston stations. On August 4, 2025, a subchannel of WSVN replaced WPLG as Miami's ABC affiliate.
Due to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) imposing a freeze on additional television licenses on September 30, 1948, the Miami market had only one television station in operation during that period: WTVJ, which signed on the air on March 21, 1949. In preparation for the freeze being lifted, WIOD radio and the Miami Daily News—jointly controlled by publisher James M. Cox—filed an application with the FCC for a new station on very high frequency (VHF) channel 7 on May 26, 1952. WIOD and the News proposed in the application to build a studio valued at $1.25 million (equivalent to $14.8 million in 2024) at WIOD's transmission towers on the 79th Street Causeway. The WIOD-News application was met with a competing application filed several weeks later by WQAM owner Miami Broadcasting Company, controlled by Miami Herald publisher John S. Knight. Faced with the possibility of protracted competitive hearings before the FCC lasting last two to three years, Cox and Knight withdrew their bids and filed a joint application as Biscayne Television Corporation, operating autonomously from either newspaper and with former NBC president Niles Trammell as its president. Trammell, who joined NBC in 1929 and parent RCA in 1923, was credited for developing much of the network's talent and organized Biscayne after convincing Cox and Knight to collaborate rather than compete. Biscayne would purchase WIOD from Cox, while Knight would divest WQAM to meet regulatory approval; Cox and Knight would each hold 42.5 percent of company stock, with Trammell holding the remaining 15 percent.
Despite this new joint venture, the application found itself as one of 12 competing applications for four channel allotments in the market: VHF channels 7 and 10 and ultra high frequency (UHF) channels 27 and 33. In particular, Biscayne Television faced three competing applications for channel 7, including one from two Davenport, Iowa, residents; Florida Sen. George Smathers warned of a possibility that Miami might not have another television station sign on before 1958 due to the number of competing applications. The number of applicants for a channel 7 license increased to five on December 16, 1953, after real estate developer Sidney Ansin filed one under the Sunbeam Television Corp. name. Ansin included a proposal for studios located in Miami's Allapattah neighborhood and encompassing his existing six-block Park-and-Shop City development dubbed "Television City", with sons Ronald and Edmund Ansin assisting. Originally a shoe maker from Massachusetts, Sidney relocated to Miami Beach, Florida, in 1941 and later sold land to Mitchell Wolfson for WTVJ's transmission tower after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rezoned it for broadcasting; this became the source for his interest in the medium. Sidney filed an application after consulting a friend in Washington, D.C., and included Ronald and Edmund—both Harvard University students—when they expressed interest.
After the Davenport-based group withdrew their bid, hearings were scheduled to begin on February 19, 1954, for the four remaining applicants—Biscayne, Sunbeam, East Coast Television Corporation, and South Florida Television Corporation—supervised by FCC examiner James D. Cunningham. All four applicants agreed to a timetable of informal conferences with Cunningham so as to reduce the amount of needed testimony to one-tenth of what normal applications called for. Biscayne was the first to complete their case in mid-May, with Cox and Knight extolling the accomplishments of both the News and Herald; Cox cited the News's coverage of Al Capone's 1929 move to Miami, while Knight referenced multiple awards given to the Herald for public service, with both newspapers being Pulitzer Prize recipients. East Coast was primarily represented by Lee Phillips, a former WTVJ employee, while South Florida Television president Jack C. Stein testified that his corporation consisted of Miami-based shareholders and was best able to represent the interests of Miamians. The last to present, Sidney Ansin stated on Sunbeam's behalf that he believed television "presented a wonderful future" and was described as the organization's "moving spirit". All four applicants completed their case summaries by mid-August. Cunningham delivered his recommendation for Biscayne Television on January 18, 1955; in response, Trammell announced the new station's planned affiliation with NBC while also saying, "while it would be improper to anticipate when the commission will confirm Mr. Cunningham's report, Biscayne hopes to be in operation as shortly thereafter as possible."
The FCC's broadcast bureau challenged Cunningham's recommendation of Biscayne due to Cox and Knight's ownership of the city's two daily newspapers, stating it undermined the commission's policy of encouraging diversity in mass media ownership and risked creating a competitive imbalance in the Miami market. The Dade County Central Labor Union (CLU), the American Federation of Labor (AFL), and American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) all filed protests with the FCC, with the CLU's protest citing both newspapers holding anti-labor policies, but these were dismissed. The FCC formally awarded the license to Biscayne on January 20, 1956, by a 5–2 vote among the commissioners. Losing applicants East Coast Television, South Florida Television, and Sunbeam filed appeals with the United States Court of Appeals in Washington and were joined by a separate joint appeal filed by Storer Broadcasting, owner of Fort Lauderdale–licensed WGBS-TV (channel 23), and Gerico Investment, owners of ABC affiliate WITV (channel 17). The Storer-Gerico appeal was filed to prevent WCKT's sign-on until the FCC agreed to a policy of allowing only VHF or UHF stations to be built in a given market but was dismissed. Biscayne revealed the WCKT call sign for their channel 7 license on March 10, 1956, standing for the Cox-Knight-Trammell partnership.
Confirming Trammell's intentions one year earlier, WCKT would sign on as the market's NBC affiliate, while WIOD was purchased by Biscayne, renamed WCKR and joined the NBC Radio Network. This resulted in the network terminating its existing affiliation with WGBS-TV, which was forced to convert into an independent. Groundbreaking for the new combined radio-television studios at the WCKR transmitter site took place on March 20, 1956; Trammell promised the facility would be completed by June. To prevent interference from WCKR's towers, $25,000 worth of copper sheeting (equivalent to $2,891,371 in 2024) was installed around the entire building, encasing it to create "a shield within a shield". The building was still partially unfinished when WCKT took to the air on July 29, 1956, with an open house to the general public set to take place by the fall. Promotion manager Bob Nashick had an idea for an extravagant opening ceremony including water-skiers and skydivers, saying, "I want to see the biggest traffic jam in history on the Causeway"; this was rejected by management. Writing for the Herald, Jack Anderson described the facility as "impressive" but noted the absence of a parking lot, saying, "it would help to have some Swiss mountain climbing experience to get into the building." Dedication of the building took place on November 10, 1956, with multiple dignitaries and politicians in attendance including Florida governor LeRoy Collins, Sen. George Smathers, FCC chairman George McConnaughey, and commissioner John C. Doerfer; WCKT and WCKR broadcast the dedication live.
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WSVN
WSVN (channel 7) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, affiliated with Fox and ABC. It is the flagship station of locally based Sunbeam Television and has studios on the 79th Street Causeway in North Bay Village and a transmitter in Miami Gardens, Florida.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regards WSVN as having signed on for the first time on December 19, 1962, as WCKT under Sunbeam ownership. However, the station was the result of a long and contentious legal battle between Sunbeam and three other applicants for the channel 7 allocation in Miami. Biscayne Television Corporation, a three-way partnership including the publishers of the Miami News and Miami Herald signed on a previous WCKT on July 29, 1956, only to be stripped of its license due to ethics violations within the FCC and unethical behavior by its principals during the application process. Sunbeam purchased WCKT's assets and re-launched the station under a new license with uninterrupted service, while claiming the old WCKT's history as its own. The market's NBC affiliate since its inception, WCKT was renamed WSVN in 1983 and became an independent with Fox programming on January 1, 1989, after NBC's purchase of CBS affiliate WTVJ and CBS's purchase of Fox affiliate WCIX-TV initiated a major affiliation switch. With minimal advance preparation, WSVN relaunched their news department with an emphasis on tabloid journalism under Joel Cheatwood's direction, an unconventional decision initially pilloried by the local media but since been emulated and copied throughout the industry.
WSVN's newscasts have attracted national and international attention for aggressive and controversial content and have been credited as an inspiration for the launch of Fox News. One of the largest Fox affiliates not owned by the network, it was famously called "the future of television" by onetime Fox executive Lucie Salhany. Involved with Sunbeam from the company's beginnings until his death on July 26, 2020, chairman Edmund Ansin repeatedly refused offers to sell either WSVN or his Boston stations. On August 4, 2025, a subchannel of WSVN replaced WPLG as Miami's ABC affiliate.
Due to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) imposing a freeze on additional television licenses on September 30, 1948, the Miami market had only one television station in operation during that period: WTVJ, which signed on the air on March 21, 1949. In preparation for the freeze being lifted, WIOD radio and the Miami Daily News—jointly controlled by publisher James M. Cox—filed an application with the FCC for a new station on very high frequency (VHF) channel 7 on May 26, 1952. WIOD and the News proposed in the application to build a studio valued at $1.25 million (equivalent to $14.8 million in 2024) at WIOD's transmission towers on the 79th Street Causeway. The WIOD-News application was met with a competing application filed several weeks later by WQAM owner Miami Broadcasting Company, controlled by Miami Herald publisher John S. Knight. Faced with the possibility of protracted competitive hearings before the FCC lasting last two to three years, Cox and Knight withdrew their bids and filed a joint application as Biscayne Television Corporation, operating autonomously from either newspaper and with former NBC president Niles Trammell as its president. Trammell, who joined NBC in 1929 and parent RCA in 1923, was credited for developing much of the network's talent and organized Biscayne after convincing Cox and Knight to collaborate rather than compete. Biscayne would purchase WIOD from Cox, while Knight would divest WQAM to meet regulatory approval; Cox and Knight would each hold 42.5 percent of company stock, with Trammell holding the remaining 15 percent.
Despite this new joint venture, the application found itself as one of 12 competing applications for four channel allotments in the market: VHF channels 7 and 10 and ultra high frequency (UHF) channels 27 and 33. In particular, Biscayne Television faced three competing applications for channel 7, including one from two Davenport, Iowa, residents; Florida Sen. George Smathers warned of a possibility that Miami might not have another television station sign on before 1958 due to the number of competing applications. The number of applicants for a channel 7 license increased to five on December 16, 1953, after real estate developer Sidney Ansin filed one under the Sunbeam Television Corp. name. Ansin included a proposal for studios located in Miami's Allapattah neighborhood and encompassing his existing six-block Park-and-Shop City development dubbed "Television City", with sons Ronald and Edmund Ansin assisting. Originally a shoe maker from Massachusetts, Sidney relocated to Miami Beach, Florida, in 1941 and later sold land to Mitchell Wolfson for WTVJ's transmission tower after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rezoned it for broadcasting; this became the source for his interest in the medium. Sidney filed an application after consulting a friend in Washington, D.C., and included Ronald and Edmund—both Harvard University students—when they expressed interest.
After the Davenport-based group withdrew their bid, hearings were scheduled to begin on February 19, 1954, for the four remaining applicants—Biscayne, Sunbeam, East Coast Television Corporation, and South Florida Television Corporation—supervised by FCC examiner James D. Cunningham. All four applicants agreed to a timetable of informal conferences with Cunningham so as to reduce the amount of needed testimony to one-tenth of what normal applications called for. Biscayne was the first to complete their case in mid-May, with Cox and Knight extolling the accomplishments of both the News and Herald; Cox cited the News's coverage of Al Capone's 1929 move to Miami, while Knight referenced multiple awards given to the Herald for public service, with both newspapers being Pulitzer Prize recipients. East Coast was primarily represented by Lee Phillips, a former WTVJ employee, while South Florida Television president Jack C. Stein testified that his corporation consisted of Miami-based shareholders and was best able to represent the interests of Miamians. The last to present, Sidney Ansin stated on Sunbeam's behalf that he believed television "presented a wonderful future" and was described as the organization's "moving spirit". All four applicants completed their case summaries by mid-August. Cunningham delivered his recommendation for Biscayne Television on January 18, 1955; in response, Trammell announced the new station's planned affiliation with NBC while also saying, "while it would be improper to anticipate when the commission will confirm Mr. Cunningham's report, Biscayne hopes to be in operation as shortly thereafter as possible."
The FCC's broadcast bureau challenged Cunningham's recommendation of Biscayne due to Cox and Knight's ownership of the city's two daily newspapers, stating it undermined the commission's policy of encouraging diversity in mass media ownership and risked creating a competitive imbalance in the Miami market. The Dade County Central Labor Union (CLU), the American Federation of Labor (AFL), and American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) all filed protests with the FCC, with the CLU's protest citing both newspapers holding anti-labor policies, but these were dismissed. The FCC formally awarded the license to Biscayne on January 20, 1956, by a 5–2 vote among the commissioners. Losing applicants East Coast Television, South Florida Television, and Sunbeam filed appeals with the United States Court of Appeals in Washington and were joined by a separate joint appeal filed by Storer Broadcasting, owner of Fort Lauderdale–licensed WGBS-TV (channel 23), and Gerico Investment, owners of ABC affiliate WITV (channel 17). The Storer-Gerico appeal was filed to prevent WCKT's sign-on until the FCC agreed to a policy of allowing only VHF or UHF stations to be built in a given market but was dismissed. Biscayne revealed the WCKT call sign for their channel 7 license on March 10, 1956, standing for the Cox-Knight-Trammell partnership.
Confirming Trammell's intentions one year earlier, WCKT would sign on as the market's NBC affiliate, while WIOD was purchased by Biscayne, renamed WCKR and joined the NBC Radio Network. This resulted in the network terminating its existing affiliation with WGBS-TV, which was forced to convert into an independent. Groundbreaking for the new combined radio-television studios at the WCKR transmitter site took place on March 20, 1956; Trammell promised the facility would be completed by June. To prevent interference from WCKR's towers, $25,000 worth of copper sheeting (equivalent to $2,891,371 in 2024) was installed around the entire building, encasing it to create "a shield within a shield". The building was still partially unfinished when WCKT took to the air on July 29, 1956, with an open house to the general public set to take place by the fall. Promotion manager Bob Nashick had an idea for an extravagant opening ceremony including water-skiers and skydivers, saying, "I want to see the biggest traffic jam in history on the Causeway"; this was rejected by management. Writing for the Herald, Jack Anderson described the facility as "impressive" but noted the absence of a parking lot, saying, "it would help to have some Swiss mountain climbing experience to get into the building." Dedication of the building took place on November 10, 1956, with multiple dignitaries and politicians in attendance including Florida governor LeRoy Collins, Sen. George Smathers, FCC chairman George McConnaughey, and commissioner John C. Doerfer; WCKT and WCKR broadcast the dedication live.
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