WCVB history

1973 -- First known as "Good Morning!," the "Good Day!" show was produced by WCVB-TV and was later seen in syndication on 71 stations throughout the country.

1979 -- WCVB is the first station in the country to produce a weekly half-hour sitcom, "Park Street Under." The program is said to be a precursor of "Cheers."

1981 -- Metromedia, Inc., buys the station for $220 million, the most ever paid for a television station until that point.

1984 -- WCVB is the first station in the eastern United States to use a mobile satellite van for newsgathering.

1985 -- "The Hearst Corp." buys the station for $450 million, setting a new record for the most ever paid for a television station.

In 1986, Metromedia sold its television stations to the News Corporation (then-owners of the 20th Century Fox film studio), which later used Metromedia's group of independent stations to launch the Fox network on October 9.

1989 -- WCVB is the first local station to produce an "ABC Afterschool Special," "The Cheats."

Good Day! lasted until 1991.

1995 -- WCVB launches Boston's first major television station media Web site.

1996 -- WCVB is the first local station to report more than 1 million page views to its Web site in a single week.

1998 -- WCVB Digital (WCVB-DT), New England's first digital (HD) channel, goes on the air.

1999 -- WCVB becomes the first station in the country to equip an operational ENG truck with COFDM microwave technology that allows live video while in motion.

2001 -- WCVB is the first local commercial station to earn a National Prime-Time Emmy nomination for its live production, "Pops Goes the Fourth."

2002 -- WCVB built the first local TV weather radar tower in order to provide real-time Doppler radar reports during newscasts.

2004 -- WCVB is the first local station to provide Spanish-captions on local programming -- including newscasts, "Chronicle" and specials.