WANE-TV
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| Fort Wayne, Indiana | |
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| Branding | WANE-TV 15 (general) NewsChannel 15 |
| Slogan | Coverage You Can Count On |
| Channels | Digital: 31 (UHF) Virtual: 15 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 15.1 CBS 15.2 Antenna TV |
| Owner | LIN TV Corporation (Indiana Broadcasting, LLC) |
| First air date | September 26, 1954 |
| Call letters' meaning | Fort WAyNE |
| Sister station(s) | WISH-TV, WNDY-TV, WLFI-TV, WOOD-TV, WOTV, WXSP-CD, WTHI-TV |
| Former callsigns | WINT-TV (1954-1956) WANE (1956-1979) |
| Former channel number(s) | 15 (UHF analog, 1954-2009) |
| Former affiliations | UPN, TheCoolTV (on DT2) |
| Transmitter power | 1,000 kW |
| Height | 232 m |
| Class | DT |
| Facility ID | 39270 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°5′38.3″N 85°10′48.8″W / 41.093972°N 85.180222°W |
| Website | wane.com |
WANE-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Northern Indiana licensed to Fort Wayne. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 31 (virtual channel 15.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter at studios on West State Boulevard in Northwest Fort Wayne/Tower Heights section of the city. The station can also be seen on Comcast and Frontier FiOS channel 2. There is a high definition feed offered on Comcast digital channel 233 and Frontier FiOS digital channel 502. Syndicated programming on WANE includes The Dr. Oz Show, The Rachael Ray Show, Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, Inside Edition, and Judge Judy among others.
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[edit] Digital programming
WANE's digital signal on UHF 31 is multiplexed.
On WANE-DT2, Comcast digital channel 244, and Frontier FiOS digital channel 462 was TheCoolTV until September 1st, 2011. On December 26, 2011, Antenna TV will begin airing on WANE-DT2.[1]
On WANE-DT3 is a 24-hour local weather service which is currently not offered on any digital cable systems. Programming consists of a live sweep of "Live Doppler 15 FURY", current forecast conditions, and severe weather updates when warranted.
| Channel | Video | Aspect | Name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WANE-HD | Main WANE-TV programming / CBS |
| 15.2 | 480i | 4:3 | WANE-SD | Antenna TV |
| 15.3 | 480i | 4:3 | WANE-WX | 24-hour local weather |
[edit] History
The station signed-on September 26, 1954 as WINT-TV and aired an analog signal on UHF channel 15 from a transmitter in Auburn. It was Fort Wayne's second television station to launch but was technically licensed to Angola and had studios in Waterloo. The station's original owner took advantage of peculiarities in Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules to direct the signal to Fort Wayne. Although the city was big enough to support three full network affiliates, the FCC had originally allocated one station WKJG-TV (now WISE-TV) on UHF channel 33 to the city.
This circumstance attracted the attention of Congress and led to changes in how broadcast licenses were assigned. The Indiana Broadcasting Company, owner of WISH-TV in Indianapolis, bought WINT in 1956. The new owners changed the call letters to WANE and moved the station's entire operation to Fort Wayne. The analog transmitter remained at its rural Auburn location until 1957. Indiana Broadcasting became known as the Corinthian Broadcasting Company in 1957.
During the late-1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. [2] Corinthian was purchased by Dun & Bradstreet in 1970 who in turn sold the station to the Belo Corporation in 1983. However, WANE left Belo two stations over the FCC ownership limit at the time, so the company sold this station and WISH to the LIN TV Corporation. It added the -TV suffix to its call sign on April 25, 1979. From September 1990 until September 1999, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune aired on NBC affiliate WISE-TV. In 1999, WANE-TV bought the usage rights of those shows from that station.
On September 15, 2008, WANE announced LIN TV and Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks had not been able to reach an agreement for carriage of this station on those cable providers. LIN TV was seeking compensation for carriage as other cable networks receive. The company reached agreements with all television service providers in the Fort Wayne area except Time Warner and Bright House. The current agreement with those providers expired October 2, 2008. At 12:35 in the morning on October 3, LIN TV-owned stations were removed from Time Warner and Bright House. it would not be until October 29 when WANE-TV was restored to Time Warner Cable in Northwest Ohio. However, it did not reappear on Bright House Networks systems in Grant County, Indiana. [3]
After the launch of UPN on January 16, 1995, WFFT (then a Fox affiliate) picked up a secondary affiliation with the fledgling network and aired programming such as Star Trek: Voyager, Dilbert, and Nowhere Man. However, WANE-TV eventually picked up the affiliation full-time as some point after launching a new second digital subchannel. WANE-DT2 also featured newscast repeats from the main channel and Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne basketball games. In 2006, UPN was dropped after the network merged with The WB (seen locally on WPTA-operated cable-only outlet "WBFW") to form The CW. On December 2, 2011, WANE-TV had announced that it had signed an affiliation agreement with Antenna TV starting on December 26, which will air on its currently-vacant second subchannel, 15.2[4].
[edit] News operation
After being taken over by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation, WISE-TV's news department was promptly folded and combined with ABC affiliate WPTA. There was initially a significant decrease in ratings and WANE-TV was the market's leader for several years after according to Nielsen Media Research since it was the only other local news operation in the area. This was most easily attributed to continued viewer resentment towards WPTA and Granite for the elimination of WISE-TV's news department and arguably its identity and history. However, WPTA management said the changes were part of a longer-term plan that would need up to five years to take hold with viewers.
Eventually, those changes started to take hold and ratings began to drastically improve. In the November 2007 sweeps period, WANE-TV and WPTA were nearly neck-and-neck in Fort Wayne with this station continuing to show a slight lead. Meteorologist Greg Shoup was quickly hired by WANE-TV and became the weekday morning and noon meteorologist on this station. On May 18, 2009, WPTA and WISE-TV became the first two outlets in Fort Wayne to upgrade newscasts to 16:9 enhanced definition widescreen. Although not truly high definition, the aspect ratio matches those of HD television screens.
Broadcasts on WANE-TV remain in pillarboxed 4:3 standard definition and it is unknown when there would be an upgrade completed. Currently, WPTA and WISE-TV co-produces local news that are essentially the same in terms of coverage and format. WANE-TV's news department has won several awards including the Jack R. Howard Award in 1998 for reporting on drug abuse, the Peabody Award in 1999 for reporting on organ donation, and the Edward R. Murrow Award in 2003 for flooding and sports coverage. Unlike most CBS affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone, WANE-TV does not air local news on weeknights at 5:30 but does offer the area's only weekend morning show. It operates a Doppler weather radar known as "Live Doppler 15 FURY" at its facility.
[edit] Newscast titles
- Action News (early-1980s)
- News 15 (1980s-1992)
- NewsChannel 15 (1992–present)
[edit] Station slogans
- "We Know Fort Wayne" (1992–1997)
- "Coverage You Can Count On" (1997–present)
[edit] News team
Anchors
- Drew Blair - weekend mornings; also weeknight reporter
- Terra Brantley - weekday mornings and noon
- Heather Herron - weeknights at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.
- Pat Hoffmann - weekday mornings and noon
- Alyssa Ivanson - weekend evenings; also health reporter
- Mark Mellinger - weeknights at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.; also Focus 15 host
Live Doppler 15 FURY Storm Team
- Johnathon Conder - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.
- Greg Shoup (AMS Seal of Approval) - weekday mornings and noon
- Nicholas Ferreri - weekend mornings
- Lee Ann Okuly - weekend evenings
Sports team
- Glenn Marini - sports director; weeknights at 6 and 11 p.m., also Inside The Zone host
- Ross Kinsey - sports anchor; weekend evenings
Reporters
- Elizabeth Fields - videojournalist
- Tina Harris - weekday morning traffic reporter
- Rod Hissong - weekday over night videojournalist; also photojournalist and fill-in sports anchor
- LaMar Holliday - videojournalist
- Megan Reust - videojournalist
- Randy Spieth - videojournalist
- Adam Widener - videojournalist
[edit] References
- ^ "Antenna TV coming to WANE-DT 15.2 on December 26". http://www.wane.com/dpp/entertainment/antenna-tv-coming-december-26. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
- ^ "Require Prime Evening Time for NTA Films", Boxoffice: 13, November 10, 1956, http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_111056-1
- ^ WISH-TV and WNDY returns (but not WANE) to Bright House Marion Chronicle-Tribune
- ^ http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20111202/BLOGS01/111209882
[edit] External links
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