Sticking with Boston 7, here’s how its successor, WNEV, launched on May 21, 1982, plus a closer look at the transition:
WNEV was the result of a legal challenge against WNAC and owners RKO General, who were accused of having illegally abused of corporate misconduct. Alongside the Boston licenses, stations in New York (WOR) and Los Angeles (KHJ) were also on target for closure, but these were sold in parts or fully (WOR to Cox Media Group and MCA/Universal Pictures, KHJ to Disney, becoming WWOR and KCAL), but a Supreme Court ruling dismissed these closures. However, WNAC was still in the process of closing, and the FCC had just tendered a construction permit to launch a new station on the frequency to the New England Television Corporation, a joint consortium of local interests led by grocery magnate David Mugar and Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
After settling out with RKO General, Mugar and Kraft took over all WNAC non-license property, including most staff, the CBS affiliation and all syndicated program contracts, allowing them to launch the new station in just under four months’ time. The new station became led by Winthrop “Win” Baker, who had last worked at Westinghouse Broadcasting and WBZ-TV, which imitated the programming style of rival WCVB, by producing a massive number of locally produced shows. News programming was led by Bill Applegate, who would later be known for his controversial stints at WBBM and WOIO, and, with the support of Mugar, pairing up veteran WCVB anchor Tom Ellis with PM Magazine Boston presenter Robin Young, forming a heavily promoted “dream team”.
Although the first days of the new station were heavily anticipated and promoted, they quickly fell back into the ratings cellar, leading to Mugar firing Baker and Applegate, and hiring another WBZ veteran, Sy Yanoff, who in turn hired former news director Jeff Rosser. Both fired many of the many “dream team” hires, the Ellis/Young pairing was disbanded after being mismatched, and the urgent NEWSEVEN presentation and “A New Day Dawning” was replaced by a increasingly spartan presentation which used chroma key backdrops; the station, although it had a period of momentum after hiring ATV anchor Dave Wright away from the Maritimes, failed to take the competition by storm until a takeover by Ed Ansin and Sunbeam Television, which brought the WSVN tabloid news model (albeit lighter, toned down and more focused on human interest content); although it was shocking in comparison with the other traditional formats of its rivals, and even generated resignations from high profile staff, it revived the laggard station and it is now generally in second place, behind WCVB, mainly in the evenings, but often it fights with WBZ and WFXT at other times as part of a three-way race for 2nd place in the ratings, particularly during sweeps.
