WBNG-TV

WBNG-TV

Binghamton, New York
Branding	WBNG 12 (general) Action News Binghamton CW 11 (on DT2)
Slogan	Your News Leader TV to Talk About (on DT2)
Channels	Digital: 7 (VHF) Virtual: 12 (PSIP)
Subchannels	12.1 CBS 12.2 The CW
Affiliations	CBS
Owner	Granite Broadcasting Corporation (WBNG License, Inc.)
First air date	December 1, 1949
Call letters' meaning	BiNGhamton
Former callsigns	WNBF-TV (1949-1973)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 12 (VHF, 1949-2009)
Former affiliations	DuMont (1949-1955) NBC (1949-1957) ABC (1949-1962) all secondary
Transmitter power	20.4 kW
Height	342 m
Facility ID	23337
Transmitter coordinates	42°3′31″N 75°57′6″W
Website	wbng.com

WBNG-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Eastern Southern Tier of Southern Upstate New York and Northern Pennsylvania. Licensed to Binghamton, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 7 (virtual channel 12.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter on Ingraham Hill Road southwest of downtown. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 2 and in high definition on digital channel 701. Owned by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation, WBNG has studios on Columbia Drive in Johnson City. Syndicated programming on the station includes Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition, Dr. Phil, and Rachael Ray among others. It serves as the default CBS affiliate for most of Otsego County in the Utica market.

Digital Television

Channel	Name	Video	Aspect	Programming
12.1	WBNG-DT	1080i	16:9	Main WBNG-TV programming / CBS
12.2		720p		Binghamton CW 11

History

The station launched on December 1, 1949 as WNBF-TV, originally owned by Clark Associates Inc. along with WNBF radio (1290 AM and 98.1 FM, now WHWK). At its launch, WNBF-TV carried programs from all four American television networks at the time (CBS, DuMont, NBC, and ABC). For many of its early years, WNBF-TV was the only TV station available to viewers in the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania market, as set owners pointed their roof-top antennas towards north towards Binghamton. The station subsequently lost its affiliations with DuMont in 1956 after the network's collapse, and the others when new UHF stations arrived in town: NBC to WINR-TV (channel 40, now WICZ-TV) in 1957 and ABC to WBJA-TV (channel 34, now WIVT) in 1962.

Philadelphia-based Triangle Publications, owner of various broadcasting and newspaper properties, purchased the WNBF stations in 1955. As part of Triangle's exit from broadcasting in 1972, WNBF-AM-FM-TV and sister stations in Altoona and Lancaster, both Pennsylvania, were sold to Gateway Communications. Gateway was a new broadcasting concern majority-owned by the publishers of the Bergen Record of Hackensack, New Jersey and headed by George Koehler, president of Triangle's broadcast division. As a condition of the purchase, Gateway sold the WNBF radio stations to Des Moines-based Stoner Broadcasting and retained channel 12, which was renamed to its current call sign, WBNG-TV.

In 2000, Gateway was purchased by SJL Broadcasting which reduced staff from 100 to 58 over five years to fit the aggressive SJL automation model. In 2002, WBNG's digital signal on VHF channel 7 signed-on. In April 2006, it was announced the Granite Broadcast Corporation made a deal to acquire the station from Television Station Group License Subsidiary, LLC (successor to SJL and a subsidiary of Alta Communications) for $45 million. The required money was funded by a new senior credit facility created after the previously announced sales of Detroit's WMYD and San Francisco's KBWB fell apart. Granite closed on its purchase of WBNG on July 26, 2006.

As part of the transaction, Les Vann (formerly President and General Manager of CBS affiliate WTVH in Syracuse) was promoted to Executive Vice President of the company's Central and Southern New York operations. His duties were regional in nature with responsibilities at both WBNG and WTVH. This station's digital signal began broadcasting network programming in high definition in late-January 2007. Beginning in September 2007, CW affiliate "WBXI" began to be simulcasted on a new second digital subchannel of WBNG and began using the WBNG-DT2 call letters in an official manner.

In December 2008, it was announced a deal was reached between Granite and Time Warner Cable to carry WBNG's high definition feed throughout the Binghamton region. This was the first time HD programming from CBS was available to customers in the Southern Tier of New York State without using an antenna. On January 19, 2009, the station went off-the-air for about thirty minutes around 11 p.m. due to a power failure.

Although the digital transition date was switched from February 19 to June 12, the station still ceased analog transmission and became digital-exclusive on the original date. On June 12, it left channel 12 and moved to channel 7 when the actual conversion was completed. Until April 25, 2009, WBNG served as the default CBS affiliate for the Elmira area. On that date, ABC affiliate WENY-TV signed-on a second digital subchannel offer access to CBS for the first time ever in the market.

News operation

News open.

For its entire existence on-the-air, WBNG has held the number one spot in Nielsen ratings by a wide margin. For the most part, WIVT has always been a non-factor in the local newscast race in Binghamton. The ABC outlet has spent most of its history as the third station in what was originally a two-station market (WIVT would not sign-on until November 1962). WIVT did not gain any benefit when the area's long-time NBC affiliate WICZ switched to Fox in April 1996. Since then, WICZ has maintained lower viewership than WBNG and is currently at a distant second place behind this CBS affiliate.

In order to increase its presence, WICZ added a thirty minute newscast weeknights at 6 on Memorial Day in 2009 joining a nightly prime time broadcast at 10. The latter program competes on weeknights with Action News at 10 on Binghamton CW 11 which can be seen on WBNG-DT2. In addition, the subchannel currently offers the nationally syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz on weekdays from 6 until 9 like other CW Plus outlets in the Eastern Time Zone.

On June 5, 2009, there was a noticeable increase in viewership on WBNG (and to a lesser extent on WICZ) after WIVT and WBGH-CA consolidated their news operation with WETM-TV in Elmira. This change left Binghgamton with only two outlets for local newscasts. WIVT and WBGH continued to be locally operated in Binghamton with separate engineers and advertising sales staff. Initially, WIVT and WBGH simulcasted all newscasts from WETM with hardly any coverage of the Eastern Southern Tier except during regional weather forecast segments and instances of severe weather.

A separate newscast specifically focusing on the Binghamton area was brought back to WIVT and WBGH on June 28, 2009. This program is taped in advance (featuring locally-based photojournalists) and aired weeknights at 6 and again at 11 with updated weather and sports cut-ins in the later show. Originally based from WETM's studios in Elmira, production of the news and sports segments eventually shifted back to the WIVT and WBGH facility with weather cut-ins from Elmira. Otherwise, the two outlets simulcast some local news from WETM in other time slots.

Newscast titles

• Your Esso Reporter (1949-1953)
• WNBF-TV News (1953-1957)
• Communications Centre 12 (1957-late 1960s)
• Action News (late 1960s-present)

News team

News anchors

• Haley Burton - weekdays 5-7 am and noon
• Brandi Bailey - weeknights at 5
• Dave Greber - weeknights at 5:30, 10, and 11 (also "Topic at 10" segment producer and multimedia journalist)
• Candace Chapman - News Director seen weeknights at 6
• Erika Mahoney - weekend evenings

WBNG StormTracker Weather Team

• Howard Manges (CBM Seal of Approval) - Chief meteorologist; weeknights (5, 5:30, 6, 10, and 11)
• Greg Pollak - meteorologist; weekdays (5-7 am and noon)
• Michelle Costanza - weekend meteorologist (Sat and Sun 6, 10, and 11) and news multimedia journalist

Sports

• Travis Eldridge - Lead Sports Anchor seen weeknights at 6, 10, and 11
• Gabe Osterhout - weekend evening sports and sports reporter (also "Academic All Star" and "Action Sports Spotlight" segments producer)

Multimedia journalists

• Erika Mahoney
• Brandi Bailey
• Haley Burton

Contributors

• Stacy Johnson - Money Talks News
• Denise Edmister - Pet of the Week
• Glen Wood - Friday Financial Tip
• Casey Krause - Home Gardener
• Jim Hoteling - Home Gardener
• Art Ginsburg - Mr. Food

External links

• Official website (Mobile)
• Official website for WBNG-DT2
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WBNG-TV