WABI-TV
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| WABI-TV | |
|---|---|
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| Bangor, Maine | |
| Branding | WABI-TV 5 TV 5 News |
| Slogan | Spirit of Maine |
| Channels | |
| Subchannels | 5.1 CBS 5.2 The CW |
| Translators | W61AO 61 Calais |
| Owner | Diversified Communications (Community Broadcasting Service) |
| First air date | January 25, 1953 |
| Call letters’ meaning | taken from former sister radio stations |
| Former channel number(s) | 5 (VHF analog, 1953-2009) |
| Former affiliations | NBC (sole affiliate, 1953-1955; secondary, 1955-1959) DuMont (secondary, 1953-1955) ABC (secondary, 1953-1965) |
| Transmitter Power | 363 kW |
| Height | 390.9 m |
| Facility ID | 17005 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | 44°42′11.6″N 69°4′45.1″W / 44.703222°N 69.079194°W |
| Website | wabi.tv |
WABI-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Bangor, Maine. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 19 from a transmitter on Peaked Mountain in Dixmont. It is the flagship station of Diversified Communications which under the leadership of the Hildreth family has owned the station since its inception. WABI's studios are located on Hildreth Street in West Bangor. Syndicated programming on the station includes: Two and a Half Men, King of the Hill, Oprah, and Ellen.
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[edit] Overview
WABI operates an analog repeater, W61AO channel 61, that is licensed Calais with a transmitter located in Meddbybemps. The tower is shared with W57AQ which is a repeater for NBC affiliate WLBZ. Until the mid-1990s, W61AO was used to feed cable systems across the border in the Canadian Maritimes. With the advent of CANCOM, WABI's cross-border carriage has declined. Today, it is not carried on any systems across the border. That includes those in St. Stephen, New Brunswick which is in W61AO's signal range. Most of Atlantic Canada's cable systems carry WBZ-TV from Boston for CBS programming. WABI operates the area's CW affiliate on its second digital subchannel. That station is part of The CW Plus and is known on-air as The CW of Eastern and Central Maine. WABI-DT2 is also offered on various cable providers including Time Warner and DirecTV satellite.
Dish Network does not currently offer WABI-DT2 although the system offers all other Bangor full power local stations. However, according to the station's website, Dish intends to add the station to its local line-up by September 2009. WABI carries the full slate of CBS programming except for CBS News Up to the Minute. It does not carry all of CBS' SEC college football games on the weekends. The games that are not shown appear on ION affiliate WBGR-LP. WABI does this because the games interfere with its 6 P.M. news and may run over 7 P.M. programming. The station often pre-empts CBS programming to air University of Maine sports. It usually re-schedules regular CBS prime time to air late night or the next morning. On its website, WABI offers free streaming video repeats of its newscasts. The station also offers pay-per-view streaming video of its local sports programming through an affiliated website.
[edit] Digital television
The station's digital signal is multiplexed.
| Channel | Name | Programming |
|---|---|---|
| 5.1 | WABI-DT | main WABI programming / CBS HD |
| 5.2 | WABI-DT2 | "The CW of Eastern and Central Maine" |
[edit] History
WABI was the first television station in Maine to go on-the-air when it began broadcasting on January 25, 1953. It was owned by former governor Horace Hildreth along with WABI radio (910 AM; now WAEI, and 97.1 FM; now WAEI-FM). The station was a primary NBC affiliate but maintained affiliations with all major television networks. In 1955, it switched its primary affiliation to CBS. NBC completely disappeared from WABI's schedule in 1959. The station carried some ABC programs until WEMT-TV (now WVII-TV) signed on in 1965. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.[1] The radio stations were spun off in the 1980s and are currently under the ownership of Blueberry Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced that they would cease broadcasting and merge. The newly combined network would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of its corporate parents, CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. On July 28, WABI announced that it was to create a new second digital subchannel to become an affiliate of The CW. On the station's website, an announcement said that Time Warner, which was in the process of taking over cable coverage in the Bangor area for bankrupt Adelphia, would have cable-only WB 100+ affiliate "WBAN" on its system. WBAN would then become a simulcast of WABI-DT2. This was part of a three year deal with WABI which also let the main channel be on the system as well. On September 18, The CW debuted on WBAN (now known officially as having the WABI-DT2 callsign) as part of The CW Plus service. On January 10, 2007, WABI introduced redesigned websites for itself and WABI-DT2. On June 12, 2009, they discontinued analog broadcasts on VHF channel 5 and commenced digital-only broadcasting. [2]
[edit] Newscasts
WABI has led the news ratings in Bangor for many years. One main reason for this long dominance is that it is the only station in the market with a full schedule of live, local news that originates from Bangor. WLBZ only airs live news on the weeknights at 5 and 6 o'clock otherwise simulcasting sister station WCSH in Portland. WVII only produces newscasts on the weeknights with the late broadcasts being taped. Another factor is WABI's status as the only locally owned-and-operated commercial station in town. A few of its personnel have remained at the station for more than 20 years which is somewhat unusual given that Bangor has always been a fairly small market. When WBAN became WABI-DT2 on September 18, 2006, WABI added local news and weather updates from the main channel during The Daily Buzz, a simulcast of its weekday Noon news, and a new weeknight 10 o'clock newscast (seen only on WABI-DT2). In January 2008, WABI began to air a recorded additional half-hour of its weekday morning newscast at 7 on WABI-DT2. This displaced the first half of the second hour of The Daily Buzz on that station. In addition to their main studios, WABI operates two news bureaus. The Central Maine Bureau is located on Main Street in Waterville. The Coastal Bureau is located on High Street in Ellsworth.
Anchors
- Wayne Harvey - weekday mornings
- Joy Hollowell - weekday mornings
- Jon Small - Assistant News Director seen weekdays at Noon
- Jim Morris - News Director seen weeknights at 5 and 5:30
- Catherine Pegram - weeknights at 5 and 5:30
- Sharon Pelletier - weeknights at 6
- TBA - weeknights at 10 and 11
- Amy Erickson - weekends
Meteorologists
- Todd Simcox - Chief seen weekday mornings and Noon
- Chris Ewing - weeknights
- Thursday and Friday at 10
- Greg Dutra - weekends and Monday through Wednesday at 10
Sports
- Tim Throckmorton - Director seen weeknights at 6, 10, and 11
- Keith Erickson - weekends and reporter
- live sports coverage anchor
Reporters
- Adrienne Bennett - Central Maine Bureau
- Sarah Komuniecki - photographer
- Kristen LaVerghetta
[edit] Station alumni
Anchors
- Alan Grover - weekday mornings
- Don Colson - News Director
- now retired
- Craig Colson - weeknights at 6, 10, and 11
- reporter
- Jeffrey Hope - reporter
- now at KTUU-TV
- Denise Keniston - anchor
- now president of the Maine Communication Network
- Felicia Knight - now Director of Communications for the National Endowment for the Arts
- Mindi Ramsey - reporter
- now at WNEP-TV
- Jim Sackett - reporter
- now at WPTV-TV
- Kim Vatis - now at WMAQ-TV
- Lanie Witt - reporter
- now at EMH
- Dan Elias - reporter
- now at WWLP
Meteorologists
- Steve Caporizzo - now at WTEN
- Mike Cejka - now at WIVB
- Jennifer Harcher - now at WOIO-TV
- Chris Lambert - now at WBBH-TV
- Maureen McCann - now at News 8 Austin
Reporters
- Catherine Cambra - formerely at WMBD-TV
- Jon Chrisos - now anchor at WEHT
- Jodi Hersey - now at Cumulus Radio
- James Hamill - now at WNEP-TV
- Ryan Hughes - now at WFTV
- Jennifer Kolbusz - formerly at KSHB-TV
- Jeanne Meserve - now at CNN
- Melissa Monti - formerly anchor at KRIS, WPBF-TV
- Diana Olick - now at CNBC
- Lisa Scott - fill-in anchor
- now at WIVB
- Cori Skall
- Susan Farley - Coastal Bureau
- Kelly Pearson
[edit] References
- ^ "Require Prime Evening Time for NTA Films", Boxoffice: 13, November 10, 1956, http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_111056-1
- ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
[edit] External links
- WABI-DT
- WABI-DT2 "The CW of Eastern and Central Maine"
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WABI-TV
- Query the FCC's TV station database for W61AO
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