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Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
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Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
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Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.
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Katherine Johnson’s mathematical calculations helped guide some of America’s most important early space missions while she confronted the racial and gender barriers faced by Black women in twentieth-century America.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
WFTV (channel 9) is a television station in Orlando, Florida, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Cox Media Group alongside WRDQ (channel 27), an independent station. The two stations share studios on East South Street (SR 15) in downtown Orlando; WFTV's primary transmitter is located near Bithlo, Florida. Channel 9 began broadcasting as WLOF-TV on February 1, 1958, after a four-year application process; it brought full three-network broadcasting to Central Florida. The call sign changed to WFTV in 1963. It was originally granted to the Mid-Florida Television Corporation, owned by the Brechner family and other investors. However, the same year the station went on the air, it was discovered as part of investigations into corruption at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that an Orlando attorney had made unethical ex parte contact on behalf of Mid-Florida to FCC commissioner Richard A. Mack. The resulting investigation triggered more than two decades of proceedings that swung between the FCC, a federal court of appeals, and the Supreme Court. A wide range of issues came under discussion, including what Mid-Florida knew about the ex parte contact; what preference should be given to minority ownership of broadcast stations; and the character of a lawyer who was partially paralyzed in a murder-suicide and indicted on gambling charges in the same week. Under a court order, Mid-Florida ceded operational control of WFTV in 1969 to Channel Nine of Orlando, Inc., a consortium of the five companies vying for the full-time broadcast license. After enduring a fatal collapse of its tower in 1973 and returning to full power in 1975, WFTV rode the rising fortunes of the ABC network in the late 1970s to become the top-rated station in Central Florida. The five companies agreed to a settlement, approved in 1981, that gave all of them varying shares of the station and ended what was then the longest proceeding in FCC history, filling 55 volumes. Many of their 67 shareholders became millionaires when SFN Companies purchased WFTV in 1984 as part of its expansion into the broadcasting industry. SFN made a $60 million profit within a year by selling the station to Cox in 1985. Cox moved the station to newer, larger studios at its present site in 1990. Although it has faced renewed ratings competition since 2000, WFTV continues to lead ratings in the Orlando–Daytona Beach market.
WFTV (channel 38) was the first television station in Duluth, Minnesota, United States.
The Women in Film and Television UK or WFTV Awards are presented in an annual award programme hosted by Women in Film and Television (UK) to the most talented women in UK film, TV and digital media.
WRBW (channel 65), branded as Fox Orlando Plus, is a television station in Orlando, Florida, United States. It is programmed primarily as an independent station, but maintains a secondary affiliation with MyNetworkTV. WRBW is owned by Fox Television Stations alongside WOFL (channel 35) and the two stations share studios on Skyline Drive in Lake Mary; WRBW's transmitter is located in Bithlo, Florida. Channel 65 in Orlando spent nearly twelve years in hearings and multiple protracted legal battles. After four groups sought the permit, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) awarded the station to Rainbow Broadcasting, headed by Cuban immigrant Joseph Rey, in 1984. Metro Broadcasting, another applicant, challenged the FCC's comparative hearing criteria, which included a preference for minority and female ownership of broadcast stations. At a time when affirmative action restrictions were under new scrutiny, Metro's challenge lingered at the FCC and the courts for years and was not finally adjudicated until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the commission in Metro Broadcasting, Inc. v. FCC in 1990. That decision granted Rey the construction permit for WRBW, but he soon became enmeshed in a years-long tower site space dispute with WKCF, the new station's most direct potential competitor. At one point, tower site management had to override WKCF management, who were not willing to reduce power to let WRBW's antenna be safely attached to the tower. WRBW went on the air on June 6, 1994. It operated as an independent station for less than a year before affiliating with the startup UPN in January 1995. The station added a local newscast produced by WFTV and, after being purchased by United Television in 1999, Orlando Magic basketball games to its lineup. Fox acquired WRBW in its 2001 purchase of United Television and traded for WOFL to create a duopoly. The station affiliated with MyNetworkTV in 2006 when UPN folded; in 2019, WRBW was rebranded as Fox 35 Plus, an extension of WOFL with a dedicated 8 p.m. local newscast.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Joe Louis.