For more than 65 years, WOWT has been evolving as rapidly and dynamically as Omaha itself. The station, with its sweeping view of downtown, has never moved from its original location at 35th and Farnam. Our team of news professionals has always been on the cutting edge of rapidly changing technology as it morphed from analog film and tape to digital technology, from black and white to color, and most recently, to the crystal clarity of high definition television.
Today, WOWT brings news to Heartland viewers on a variety of platforms: WOWT.com, our mobile website, mobile apps, via social media, and on our digital channel, 6.2. Our equipment has changed over the decades, by not our commitment to bringing viewers live, local, breaking news.
When WOWT hit the airwaves on August 29, 1949, it was the first television station in Nebraska. Many viewers had never seen television and were as mesmerized by the test pattern as they were with the five hours of daily programming, including “Martha’s Kitchen” and “Kukla, Fran, and Olie.”
Viewers of WOWT were first to receive a televised night baseball game (1947), top movies via “Million Dollar Movies” (1954), color broadcasts of network television (1953), live “Action Cam” electronic news gathering by acquiring a microwave truck (1976), 24-hour programming (1982), and news broadcast in stereo (1985). In 2009, the station converted to 100 percent digital broadcasting after offering both analog and digital signals since 2001.