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WNYW 5 is owned by Fox Broadcasting Company, situated in New York and the transmitter for it sits atop the Empire State Building. WWOR-TV is a sister affiliate also in the New York area. In a few eastern areas of the United States, where audience members cannot receive Fox broadcasting, the channel is available on satellite. DirecTV which broadcasts WNYW also provides coverage to Latin American countries. The history of WNYW 5 traces back to 1938, when Allen B. DuMont a television equipment manufacturer founded W2XVT, an experiment station. The station continued its broadcast even during the Second World War. Channel 5 received its commercial license soon thereafter. DuMont owned an experimental station, which later became known as DuMont Television Network and moved into a section of Manhattan. Channel 5 remains in this very section half a century later and the building later became known as Fox Television Center.
In the 1960s, the television station showed a range of children’s shows including The Sandy Becker Show, Romper Room, The Sonny Fox Show, which later became the Wonderama. Wonderama hosting duties were handed over to Bob McAllister. In 1966, the Herry Lewis – labor Day Telethon originated and was broadcast until 1986.
WNYW 5 was a strong independent station by the 1970s. Between the 1970s and 1980s, Channel 5 became a regional superstation featured in sections of the Northeast such as Upstate New York, southern New England and eastern Pennsylvania. In the summer of 1986, A Current Affair was first shown labeled under tabloid television. Maury Povish was the first anchor of the local program. Within months, A Current Affair began broadcasting on other Fox owned stations and the show remained in national syndication before it was cancelled in 1996.
During the attacks of September 11, 2001, the transmitter of several local television and radio stations failed. The WNYW transmitter was moved to the Empire State Building thereafter.
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