WGNO TV – channel 26, is an ABC-affiliated TV station, licensed to New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.

The station is part of CW affiliate WNOL-TV (channel 38). The two stations share studios at The Galleria on Galleria Drive in Metairie; WGNO’s transmitter is located on East Josephine Street in Chalmette.

On cable, the station is available on Cox Communications and AT&T U-verse channel 11.

Contact WGNO

Station Address
WGNO & WNOL
1 Galleria Blvd, Ste 850
Metairie, LA 70001

Phone Numbers
Main: (504) 525-3838
News: (504) 619-6363

Fax Numbers
Administrative: (504) 569-0952
Programming / Accounts Receivable: (504) 569-0908
Sales / Traffic: (504) 569-0951

Common E-mail Addresses:

WGNO News (use this address for news & press releases)
news@digital-stage.wgno.com

Good Morning New Orleans
goodmorningno@digital-stage.wgno.com

WGNO Programming & Administration (contact our news department if sending news & press releases)
WGNO-tv@nexstar.tv

WNOL Programming & Administration
wnoltv@nexstar.tv

Staff E-mail Addresses:
John Cruse, General Manager
jcruse@digital-stage.wgno.com

Rick Barber, WGNO & WNOL Chief Engineer
rbarber@digital-stage.wgno.com

Rocky Daigle, WGNO Sales Manager
rdaigle@digital-stage.wgno.com

Gary English, New Business Development Manager
genglish@digital-stage.wgno.com

Rick Erbach, News Director
rerbach@digital-stage.wgno.com

Jeff Funk, WGNO & WNOL Creative Services Director
jfunk@digital-stage.wgno.com

Jeff Hamburger, WGNO Assistant News Director
jahamburger@digital-stage.wgno.com

Scott Burke, WGNO Executive News Producer

sburke@digital-stage.wgno.com

Lee Stolf, WNOL Sales Manager
lstolf@digital-stage.wgno.com 

Rachel Hernandez, Executive Producer of Digital Content
rhernandez@digital-stage.wgno.com

WGNO History

WGNO-TV has come a long way since it first hit the airwaves on October 16, 1967.

Back then, the station was known as WWOM (which stood for Wonderful World of Movies) and was the first independent station in Louisiana. Back then, New Orleans area viewers enjoyed mostly old movies, cartoons, and a few syndicated programs when the station was broadcasting, which was only eight hours a day.

In 1971, a new owner changed the call letters to today’s WGNO. Then, in 1995, we switched our affiliation to the newly-created WB Television Network. The next year, we switched again when another local station dropped their affiliation with the ABC Television Network and we’ve been here ever since.

Some of our long-time viewers will remember the great original programming that WGNO created for our viewers: Tom Foote starred in “Tom Foote’s Video Clubhouse” and “News for Kids” between 1982 and 1987; from 1990 to 1995 WGNO was the home of “Real New Orleans” which was hosted by Ron Small, Jim Rumsfeld, Cary Alden, Mick Zatarain, Monique Detraz, and Ronnie Virgets in various combinations over the years, and showcased a behind-the-scenes look at life in the Crescent City; “NO It Alls” was a game show created in 1993 by Brandon Tartikoff (from NBC) and hosted by our own WGNO Sports Director Ed Daniels along with Isis Casanova and Tommy Tucker (the show became “Know It Alls” when it entered into national syndication in 1996).

We began our local news operation in March 1996 and have been committed to serving the New Orleans community ever since. We air local news each day starting with Good Morning New Orleans 4:30 – 7:00 AM, 11 AM Mid-day News, and evening news at 5pm, 6 pm, and 10 pm weeknights.

WGNO is the local leader in our commitment to highlighting the successes of area high school student athletes with our legendary Friday Night franchises.  Friday Night Football, Friday Night Sports, and Friday Night Fastball provides the community year round coverage of local high school sports.

NOLA Marketplace is our daily local business show that offers long form content marketing to our advertisers. Visit nolamarketplace.com for more information.

NOLA Music Playlist is our weekly program that highlights the musical culture of New Orleans and its tremendous talent. Visit our Music Page to see some of these segments.

For the past 28 years WGNO’s “Coats for Kids” program has donated nearly 80,000 coats to the needy children of New Orleans. We support coastal restoration through our partnership with the Oyster Festival and we reach into the community with live News on the Road events in areas such as Ponchatoula for the Strawberry Fest and Thibodaux with the annual Firemen’s Fair.

Hurricane Katrina History

When Hurricane Katrina hit in August of 2005, we had just moved out of our long-time home in the World Trade Center at the foot of Poydras Street to new digs in the New Orleans Centre (now known as Benson Tower). We relocated our staff to Baton Rouge for the worst of the storm, then returned to New Orleans to find our new home had taken some heavy damage.

For months afterward we broadcast our news programs on-location from around the city and eventually portable trailers set up next to the Superdome (our expert team of engineers replaced much of our destroyed equipment by shopping on eBay!), while our sales, traffic, & administration departments had to commute to offices in Covington.

We moved back into the World Trade Center for a short time, until we found a new spacious home in the Galleria Building in Metairie. On August 29, 2007, we began broadcasting in our brand new state-of-the-art facility; kind of fitting that it started on the second anniversary of the storm that made us homeless to begin with, huh?

Watch WGNO

To see what’s scheduled, visit our TV Listings Page.

Requesting copies of WGNO News broadcasts

Unfortunately, we are not able to provide DVD or VHS tape copies segments from any WGNO News broadcast. Metro Press Clips in Denham Springs, 225-791-8888, can help, for a fee. You will need to provide the date and time (5 p.m., 10 p.m., etc.) of the news program.

For commercial, paid licensing of news video content and archive searches (not private viewer requests), please send a detailed request to our commercial video licensing team.

WGNO Jobs

To see our current WGNO and WNOL job openings, please visit our Jobs Page.

Equal Opportunity Employer

WGNO, an equal opportunity employer, is dedicated to providing broad outreach regarding job vacancies. We seek the help of local organizations in referring qualified applicants. Organizations that wish to receive information about vacancies at the station should contact:

WGNO Human Resources
One Galleria Blvd., Ste. 850
Metairie, LA 70001

You can also e-mail Human Resources or fax us at (504) 569-0952

Advertise With WGNO & WNOL

To learn how WGNO can help with TV and digital marketing for your business, visit our Advertise With Us page.

To see our current contests, see our Contests Page.

For FCC File questions, contact the station’s Public File Manager: 504-569-0975 or E-mail.

For accessibility issues pertaining to the Online Public File, visit the FCC Website Help Page.

Public File Assistance

For assistance accessing the public file, contact:

Jeff Stortz
Phone: 504-569-0975
Email: wgnopublicfile@nexstar.tv

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