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.
Public File Assistance
Jeff Stortz
- Phone: 504-569-0975
- Email: WGNO-PublicFile@nexstar.tv (for FCC file requests only)
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
- News: 504-619-6332
Common Email Addresses:
- WGNO News: news@digital-staging.wgno.com
- Good Morning New Orleans: gmno@digital-staging.wgno.com
- WGNO Programming & Administration: wgno-tv@nexstar.tv
- WNOL Programming & Administration: wnol-tv@nexstar.tv
- For commercial, paid licensing of WGNO or WNOL news stories and archive (not for viewer requests): license@nexstar.tv
Staff Email Addresses:
- General Manager John Cruse: jcruse@digital-staging.wgno.com
- Chief Engineer Rick Barber: rbarber@digital-staging.wgno.com
- WGNO Sales Manager Rocky Daigle: rdaigle@digital-staging.wgno.com
- WNOL Sales Manager Lee Stolf: lstolf@digital-staging.wgno.com
- New Business Development Manager Gary English: genglish@digital-staging.wgno.com
- Creative Services Director Jeff Funk: jfunk@digital-staging.wgno.com
- News Director Rick Erbach: rerbach@digital-staging.wgno.com
- Assistant News Director Jeff Hamburger: jahamburger@digital-staging.wgno.com
- Executive News Producer Scott Burke: sburke@digital-staging.wgno.com
- Digital Content Manager Rachel Hernandez: rhernandez@digital-staging.wgno.com
WGNO’s History
WGNO-TV has come a long way since it first hit the airwaves on Oct. 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. 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 its 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 from 4:30 a.m. to 7 a.m., 11 a.m. mid-day news and evening news at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. 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 provide 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.
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 children in need in 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 that 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 and 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 Aug. 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 email.
For accessibility issues pertaining to the Online Public File, visit the FCC Website Help Page.
Stay up to date with the latest news, weather and sports by downloading the WGNO app on the Apple or Google Play stores and by subscribing to the WGNO newsletter.