Editing NoSirGifts Newscast Mandate

The '''NoSirGifts Newscast Mandate''', is a mandate used by [[NoSirGifts Fantasy Television Stations]] on the company's owned-and-operated fantasy television stations (O&Os) with regards to a universal style and look in addition to mostly female anchors and staff. 

Under the Mandate, stations that are affiliated with the big three television networks are known as ABC/CBS/NBC, then the channel number of that particular station (e.g. flagship station [[WTOR-FTV]], which is allocated on virtual channel 41, brands as "CBS 41") while its post-1986 outlets, especially its Fox stations only incorporate the Fox logo in the branding (e.g. [[WHAR-FTV]], which is allocated on digital and virtual channel 13, brands as "13 WHAR Fox" while [[KXXX-FTV|KXXX]], which is allocated on digital and virtual channel 8, brands as "KXXX 8" with the Fox logo incorporated) while stations that are affiliated with The CW only incorporate the CW logo (e.g. [[WFAN-FTV|WFAN]], which is allocated on digital and virtual channel 11, brands as "WFAN 11" incorporating the CW logo) in the branding while stations affiliated with MyNetworkTV generally keeping the network's logo color and style scheme (e.g. [[WXOK-FTV]], which is allocated on digital and virtual channel 18, brands as "Cincy 18").  This is the same practice as many other O&O groups across the United States. 

Under the Newscast Mandate, the main weeknight newscasts have two women anchor the main weeknight newscasts at 5, 6, and 11 p.m. Eastern and Pacific (4, 5, and 10 p.m. Central and Mountain) for NoSirGifts-owned ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates in addition to NoSirGifts-owned Fox, CW, MyNetworkTV, and independent stations for its 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific (9 p.m. Central and Mountain) newscasts. The newscast branding are also similar for NoSirGifts-owned duopolies brand as "Action News" with the location name (e.g. flagship duopoly WTOR/[[WXXC-FTV|WXXC]] brands its newscast as "Action News Fort Wayne").

Sometimes, the NoSirGifts-owned station's weeknight newscasts pair two women (typically a woman and transgender woman), a female chief meteorologist, and a female sports director (most likely to begin phasing out the the traditional male-female anchor team, male chief meterologist and sports director still in use today). 
==Development==
===Beginnings===

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The CBS Mandate was first introduced in 1997 when Westinghouse Electric Corporation renamed itself CBS Corporation. It decided to implement similar branding on the company's three flagship stations: WCBS-TV in New York City, KCBS-TV in Los Angeles, and WBBM-TV in Chicago. Since all three stations are positioned on channel 2, they were referred to as "CBS2" in every single reference to the station except when the FCC mandates use of the call signs, which otherwise are absent altogether from the logo. The three stations, however, did not share identical graphics and music, or even the same logo.
Initially, only those three stations were mandated for this change, but after Viacom acquired CBS in 2000, this began to spread. From 2002 to early 2004, many of the other CBS O&Os began to implement such changes, with most of them literally changing overnight, some changing in association with CBS' coverage of Super Bowl XXXV in February 2001, or Super Bowl XXXVIII in February 2004. KYW-TV in Philadelphia, which adopted the "CBS3" moniker in January 2003, was one of the few that gave viewers notice prior to the changes. KOVR in Sacramento, which CBS acquired in 2005 from Sinclair Broadcast Group, is the most recent station to undergo these changes, as it was rebranded as "CBS13" later that year. KEYE in Austin was still branded simply as "K-EYE" even after being sold by Granite Broadcasting in 1999 to CBS Corporation until 2005 when it was rebranded as "CBS42".
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===Action News Format===
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The light-blue and white color scheme made its debut on WBBM in 2002, with the arrival of new general manager Joe Ahern. Under Ahern, the station also returned to using its previous news theme, by Frank Gari. WCBS then adopted a color scheme with a darker shade of blue in 2003, and began using John Hegner's News in Focus as its news theme. (News in Focus was later absorbed into Gari's Enforcer.) The color scheme then spread to several other O&Os. By this time KCBS had introduced a new logo with a blue and yellow color scheme, a color scheme which was carried over from its new sister station, KCAL (which Viacom had acquired in 2002; KCAL's GM, Donald Corsini, also took over as KCBS' GM). This color scheme can also be found on KCNC in Denver. In addition, many O&Os use the Helvetica font as part of their branding.
CBS has gotten mixed results from the changeovers, as stations either struggled with this scheme (such as WBZ-TV in Boston) or have become more successful (such as KYW-TV and WBBM-TV)). The most common names used are "CBS2" and "CBS4", which are used in a combined eight markets and possibly nine depending on what KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh ends up doing, as viewers in the Pittsburgh market have protested over such possible changes. KDKA did end up "meeting halfway" in May 2003 when it adopted a CBS Mandate-style logo, but with the KDKA name still being used instead of "CBS2". KCNC-TV, which had been branded as "News 4 Colorado" since 1988, adopting ex-sister station WNBC's "News 4 New York" logo in 1993 (with "Colorado" substituting for "New York" and the CBS eye substituting for the NBC peacock beginning in 1995), began integrating the CBS eye into the logo, but the station switched to nearly full compliance with the CBS Mandate in September 2003 with new graphics, a new set, and the use of the "Newstime" theme by 615 Music (which is based on the signature of "Decade 90" used by KCAL, although Newstime was commissioned by KCBS; at the time the theme was called "Viacom News Package I"). However, they still referred to their newscasts as "News 4" for two years after the switch.
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==Variations and non-compliance==
===ABC/CBS/NBC===
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Some NoSirGifts-owned duopolies, however, use other graphics and music packages despite following the "CBS/channel number" branding. For example:
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* The graphics packages on KTVT (CBS11) in Fort Worth/Dallas and KEYE-TV (CBS42) in Austin prominently feature a Lone Star motif.
* KPIX-TV (CBS5) in San Francisco continues to use a variant of the Group W font from the Westinghouse days on its logo, as does WJZ-TV in Baltimore (which currently does not follow the Mandate).
* WFOR-TV (CBS4) in Miami, Florida also uses a different font for its logo and Century Gothic for their graphics. It also uses an orange and teal color scheme in reference to the Miami Dolphins, of which WFOR is the "home" station.


WWJ-TV in Detroit formerly omitted their channel number in favor of the city by calling the station "CBS Detroit", similar to the practice of former UPN O&Os. This may have been due to the perceived embarrassing nature of having a "Big Four" network owned station in a major American market(Detroit is the 11th largest market in the nation) residing on UHF channel 62, the highest of any CBS affiliate or O&O. The CBS Detroit branding was ditched in 2008 and is now branded by its call letters.

Currently, the following CBS-owned stations do not follow the full Mandate: Pittsburgh's KDKA-TV (which stopped just short of the "CBS2" branding), Baltimore's WJZ-TV, and Minneapolis-St. Paul's WCCO-TV (the latter two of which have not adopted any form of the Mandate ). Additionally, on November 20, 2006, WBZ-TV announced that it would cease to follow the Mandate and return to using its call letters on-air, with general manager Ed Piette stating that "Employee feedback and comprehensive market research made it clear ... combining the well respected, local identity of WBZ-TV with the strength of CBS ... is an important step in the station's growth." In February 2007, WBZ officially joined KUTV, WCCO and WJZ in not following any form of the CBS Mandate by rebranding as simply "WBZ". In January 2008, WWJ-TV also abandoned the CBS Mandate by rebranding as "WWJTV", removing the network reference and continuing to leave out their analog channel number, in an attempt to help localize the station.

While it was owned by CBS, Salt Lake City's KUTV called itself "2News" and thus did not follow the Mandate. That station, along with KEYE, were sold to the Four Points Media Group in January 2008.

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===Fox/CW/MyNetworkTV===
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UPN/CW
Once most of the CBS O&O stations started to follow the Mandate, some of the UPN O&Os began to go by a slightly different version of this as well. UPN's version had the station known as UPN, then the location name, and usually with a red and white color scheme, with an accent of yellow.
A reason for the location in the name instead of a channel number was from those stations generally being in the higher channel range (UHF Channels 40-70), thus alleviating confusion due to much lower channel number assignments on cable and satellite systems, and the perceived low appeal of a high channel number (such as the case of Atlanta's WUPA, which broadcasts on Channel 69, the highest UHF channel allotment possible under current FCC guidelines).
The UPN version of the Mandate began in fall 2003, when WNPA in Pittsburgh (now WPCW), KDKA's sister station, changed names from "UPN19" to "UPN Pittsburgh". This was originally done to avoid confusion, as WNPA was carried on different channels on various cable systems in the area. There was also possible confusion in the northwestern area of WNPA's viewing area with Cleveland's CBS affiliate WOIO-TV, which is also on channel 19.
Eventually, many of the UPN stations in the same situation as WNPA -and even not so- ended up adopting this naming scheme. However, this regressed in later years (mostly due to UPN stations in non-duopoly markets being sold off), and by August 2006 only WPCW, KBCW (44) in San Francisco, WUPA (69) in Atlanta, WKBD (50) in Detroit, and WUPL (54) in New Orleans went by this scheme.
KBCW did show a "44" number in a UPN slanted circle next to the UPN Bay Area logo, with its 'cable 12' Comcast Bay Area system assignment below both logos.
Of note, KSTW in Seattle did not use the Mandate (having previously going by the on-air brand UPN11; it is currently CW11, and has since added its callsign to its branding) due to being a VHF station with a channel number easier to market and that fits in with most cable/satellite system assignments.
Most of the UPN stations following the mandate have since changed to reflect the network's merger with The WB, creating the new CW Network (the only exceptions being WKBD, which became CW50, and WUPL, which affiliated with MyNetworkTV instead and was later sold off). Except for reflecting The CW instead of UPN, the CW version of the Mandate is fundamentally identical to the earlier UPN version. However, by 2009, only WPSG and WPCW continue to follow the CW Mandate. (WPSG calls itself "The CW Philly" but its logo reads "CW Philly 57" as a throwback to the station's original branding as an independent station.) The other stations that had employed the UPN/CW Mandate have since reverted to using their over-the-air channel numbers (and, in the case of KBCW and WUPA, their cable channel positions) in their branding.
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===Independent stations===
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In addition, CBS' independent station in Los Angeles, KCAL-TV (Channel 9) also follows the Mandate. The station uses the same newsroom, graphics package and branding as KCBS. It also uses a logo similar to KCBS's, with a silver disc imprinted with the KCAL call letters taking the place where the CBS eyemark would be in the KCBS CBS2 logo.
CBS's other two independent stations (WSBK-TV in Boston and KTXA in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas) and MyNetworkTV station WBFS in Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Florida do not currently follow this mandate.
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==Stations with the Mandate==
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Here is a list of the stations with the Mandate for both CBS and CW, in addition to KCAL.
CBS
*WCBS-TV New York City: "CBS2 New York"
*KCBS-TV Los Angeles: "CBS2 Los Angeles"
*WBBM-TV Chicago: "CBS2 Chicago"
*KYW-TV Philadelphia: "CBS3"
*KPIX-TV San Francisco: "CBS5 Bay Area"
*KTVT Dallas-Fort Worth: "CBS11"
*WFOR-TV Miami: "CBS4 News"
*KCNC-TV Denver: "CBS4 Denver"
*KOVR Sacramento: "CBS13"
CW
*WPSG Philadelphia: "The CW Philly (57)"
*WPCW Pittsburgh: "Pittsburgh CW "
*WKBD Detroit: "CW 50"
*KSTW Seattle: "CW 11"
*WTOG Tampa: "CW 44"
*KBCW San Francisco: "The CW, 44/Cable 12"
*KMAX Sacramento: "CW 31"
*WGNT Norfolk: "CW 27"
*WUPA Atlanta: "CW 69"
Additionally, WWHO in Chillicothe, Ohio and WNDY-TV in Indianapolis were respectively known as "UPN Columbus" and "UPN Indiana" while they were owned by Viacom/CBS.
Independent
*KCAL Los Angeles: "K-CAL 9"
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-===Newscasts===
+===Action News Format===
-The two-woman anchor format made its debut on WXXC in 2006 shortly after NoSirGifts bought WXXC from Mississinewa Community Schools, and launch a full-scale in-house news department on February 3, 2007 with a news schedule typically for a small market Fox affiliate; local news programming on the station weekdays from 5:00 to 9:00&nbsp;a.m., 11:00&nbsp;a.m. to 12:00&nbsp;p.m., 4:00&nbsp;p.m. to 5:00&nbsp;p.m., and nightly from 10:00 to 11:30&nbsp;p.m. The nightly 10:00&nbsp;p.m. newscast became the second newscast in the 10:00 timeslot to be offered by a commercial television station in the Fort Wayne market (after then-Fox affiliate WFTW's addition of its own late evening newscast in that slot when it switched from CBS to Fox in February 2004). WXXC did not have shows that could lead into its newscasts, so consistent viewership and ratings were difficult to maintain and a 9:00&nbsp;p.m. newscast was added (and was later canceled in 2010 and has since been reinstated).
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+The light-blue and white color scheme made its debut on WBBM in 2002, with the arrival of new general manager Joe Ahern. Under Ahern, the station also returned to using its previous news theme, by Frank Gari. WCBS then adopted a color scheme with a darker shade of blue in 2003, and began using John Hegner's News in Focus as its news theme. (News in Focus was later absorbed into Gari's Enforcer.) The color scheme then spread to several other O&Os. By this time KCBS had introduced a new logo with a blue and yellow color scheme, a color scheme which was carried over from its new sister station, KCAL (which Viacom had acquired in 2002; KCAL's GM, Donald Corsini, also took over as KCBS' GM). This color scheme can also be found on KCNC in Denver. In addition, many O&Os use the Helvetica font as part of their branding.
-WXXC then adopted the two woman anchor format for its 4 and 10 pm newscasts with Alexandra Moffitt and Season Atkins at the helm of ''INNCD News at 4'' and ''INNCD News at 10'' with Alicia Williams as the chief meteorologist, and Ava Zinn delivering commentary yet there was no sports department until merging with WTOR shortly after NoSirGifts acquired WTOR. WXXC eventually became the fourth station under NoSirGifts ownership after then-Milwaukee Fox affiliate [[WXWI-FTV|WXWI]] (now an ABC affiliate), Denver Fox affiliate [[KDNC-FTV|KDNC]], and Tampa CBS affiliate [[WWCF-FTV|WWCF]].
-Under then-[[wikipedia:news director|news director]] [[Ava Zinn]], WXXC became well known in Northeast Indiana, and throughout the nation, for its emphasis on double standard stories and sensationalistic reporting – summarized in the phrase, "News Directors/Producers Have a Choice, Viewers Don't."<ref>{{cite news|title=News Show To Get WXXC's Familiar Tabloid Touch|accessdate=6 January 2016|date=9 February 2007}}</ref> Although this embrace of [[wikipedia:tabloid television|tabloid television]] was criticized due to the two-woman anchor format, it rejuvenated a station that had languished for eight years. Within a few years, with anchors Alexandra Moffitt and Season Atkins at the at the helm, WTOR/WXXC became the market's highest-rated station from sign-on to sign-off, a rank it overtook from ABC affiliate WMRI (now an ABC O&O) in May 2014 and has held it ever since.
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-Under Ahern, the station also returned to using its previous news theme, by Frank Gari. WCBS then adopted a color scheme with a darker shade of blue in 2003, and began using John Hegner's News in Focus as its news theme. (News in Focus was later absorbed into Gari's Enforcer.) The color scheme then spread to several other O&Os. By this time KCBS had introduced a new logo with a blue and yellow color scheme, a color scheme which was carried over from its new sister station, KCAL (which Viacom had acquired in 2002; KCAL's GM, Donald Corsini, also took over as KCBS' GM). This color scheme can also be found on KCNC in Denver. In addition, many O&Os use the Helvetica font as part of their branding.
-WXXC's success also influenced how newscasts on other NoSirGifts-owned stations and duopolies would look in later years; the station's decision to pair two women on all weekday newscasts would eventually serve as the template for the programming formats of NoSirGifts-owned duopolies that known as ''Action News'' as a result of NoSirGifts acquiring stations since 2008 and certain news-producing duopolies that are not affiliated with Fox, NBC, CBS or ABC. Other NoSirGifts-owned duopolies and stations have taken cues from WXXC's set .
- The overall format was successful enough in Fort Wayne that by the end of 2008, Ava Zinn overhauled NoSirGifts' three Fox affiliates in Indiana at the time&ndash;[[WIFX-FTV|WIFX Indianapolis]], [[WXSB-FTV|WXSB South Bend]], and WLIN Lafayette (WIFX and WXSB have since switched to CBS)&ndash;and two NBC affiliates&ndash;WVTH Terre Haute and WNEI Evansville for its newscasts; as in Fort Wayne, the two woman main anchor format in Lafayette helped WLIN become one of Fox's strongest affiliates in the country and the same format for WVTH and WNEI rise from a perennial third place into a contender for first in the news ratings (against the more respective traditional WTHL and WEAI). WIFX, WXSB, WLIN, WVTH, and WNEI uses many visual cues taken from WXXC including the use of flashy graphics, pairing two women (or a transwoman and a female co-anchor in later years) on all newscasts; in recent years though, NoSirGifts had been pushing for news directors and station managers to add male and transmale staff to the all female and transfemale staff.
-At that time of the merger, WXXC added WTOR main anchor Bob Imperial, weekend morning meteorologist Neal Melllingham (now at WHOO), sports director Phil Sorensen (will be retiring in December 2016), and reporters Ken Watts and [[Hillary Matthewson|Harold Matthewson]] (now Hillary Matthewson) were added to WXXC's mostly female and transfemale news team after merging with WTOR.
 CBS has gotten mixed results from the changeovers, as stations either struggled with this scheme (such as WBZ-TV in Boston) or have become more successful (such as KYW-TV and WBBM-TV)). The most common names used are "CBS2" and "CBS4", which are used in a combined eight markets and possibly nine depending on what KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh ends up doing, as viewers in the Pittsburgh market have protested over such possible changes. KDKA did end up "meeting halfway" in May 2003 when it adopted a CBS Mandate-style logo, but with the KDKA name still being used instead of "CBS2". KCNC-TV, which had been branded as "News 4 Colorado" since 1988, adopting ex-sister station WNBC's "News 4 New York" logo in 1993 (with "Colorado" substituting for "New York" and the CBS eye substituting for the NBC peacock beginning in 1995), began integrating the CBS eye into the logo, but the station switched to nearly full compliance with the CBS Mandate in September 2003 with new graphics, a new set, and the use of the "Newstime" theme by 615 Music (which is based on the signature of "Decade 90" used by KCAL, although Newstime was commissioned by KCBS; at the time the theme was called "Viacom News Package I"). However, they still referred to their newscasts as "News 4" for two years after the switch.
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 ==Variations and non-compliance==
 ===ABC/CBS/NBC===