BUFFALO, N.Y. — WGRZ-TV is marking 70 years of broadcasting this week.
The station signed on as WGR-TV on August 14, 1954 from studios located at 184 Barton Street on Buffalo’s West Side.
On May 1, 1983, following an ownership change, WGR-TV added a "Z" to its call sign, thus becoming WGRZ-TV.
“Z” was chosen because of the letter's resemblance to the number 2.
In the summer of 2004, leading up to WGRZ’s 50th anniversary, daily vignettes were aired counting down what were, at the time, the top 50 stories in the station’s history.
It is important to note this list was produced in 2004 and thus several major events which have occurred since then (and which would certainly be included in any such list compiled today) do not appear in this one.
These would include, among others, the October surprise snowstorm in 2006, the crash of Flight 3407 in 2009, the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in 2020, the May 14 massacre of 2022, and the 2022 Christmas blizzard, just to name a few.
Nonetheless, we invite you to sit back and watch this list from a generation ago and see how many of these events you can identify without the assistance of any clues beyond pictures … and how many you recall unfolding at a time when when they all would have been “News 2 You.”
Watch previous episodes of News 2 You on our YouTube Channel.
Email Dave McKinley at Dave.McKinley@wgrz.com
Follow on X @davemckinley2