WEAR-TV
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| Pensacola/Fort Walton Beach, Florida- Mobile, Alabama |
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| City of license | Pensacola |
| Branding | WEAR ABC 3 (general) Channel 3 News |
| Slogan | First. LIVE. Local. |
| Channels | Digital: 17 (UHF) Virtual: 3 (PSIP) |
| Affiliations | ABC (primary since 1955; secondary 1954-1955) The Country Network (DT2) |
| Owner | Sinclair Broadcast Group (WEAR Licensee, LLC) |
| First air date | January 13, 1954 |
| Call letters' meaning | the words EAR or WEAR |
| Sister station(s) | WFGX |
| Former callsigns | WEAR (1954-1978) |
| Former channel number(s) | 3 (VHF analog, 1954-2009) |
| Former affiliations | CBS (1954-1955) The Tube (on DT2) |
| Transmitter power | 1,000 kW |
| Height | 579 m |
| Class | DT |
| Facility ID | 71363 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 30°36′45.4″N 87°38′41.6″W / 30.612611°N 87.644889°W |
| Website | weartv.com |
WEAR-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Florida Panhandle's Emerald Coast and Lower Alabama's Gulf Coast. Licensed to Pensacola, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 17 (or virtual channel 3.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter in unincorporated Baldwin County, Alabama east of Rosinton. The station can also be seen on Comcast, Mediacom, and Cox channel 3. There is a high definition feed provided on Comcast digital channel 231, Mediacom digital channel 803, and Cox digital channel 1003.
Owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, WEAR is sister to MyNetworkTV affiliate WFGX and the two outlets share studios on Mobile Highway/U.S. 90/SR 10A in unincorporated Escambia County, Florida (official address is Pensacola). Syndicated programming on this station includes Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Extra, and The Rachael Ray Show among others.
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[edit] Digital television
On WEAR-DT2, Mediacom digital channel 90, Cox digital channel 119, and Comcast digital channel 180 is The Country Network.
| Channel | Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | 720p | 16:9 | main WEAR programming/ABC (HD) |
| 3.2 | 480i | 4:3 | The Country Network (SD) |
[edit] History
The station started operations January 13, 1954 as WEAR almost a year after WALA-TV began. Airing an analog signal VHF channel 3, it was founded by Charles Smith and Mel Wheeler. Initially, the station was a primary CBS affiliate while sharing ABC with WALA. When WKRG-TV signed-on in 1955, WEAR became strictly an ABC affiliate. In 1959, it was was sold to Rollins Telecasting which in turn merged with Heritage Broadcasting to form Heritage Media in 1987. The station added the -TV suffix to its call sign on October 16, 1978.
In October 1997, WEAR and the other Heritage stations were sold to the Sinclair Broadcast Group just as the remainder of Heritage Media was merging with News Corporation (the parent company of Fox). This sale also protected former longtime NBC affiliate WALA as the market's Fox outlet otherwise WEAR would have been forced to switch its network affiliation to Fox. Sinclair prohibited its ABC affiliates, including WEAR, from airing a Nightline broadcast in 2004 because the company felt it was anti-war rhetoric against the invasion of Iraq. [1]
On June 12, 2009, WEAR left channel 3 and moved its signal to channel 17 when the analog to digital conversion was completed. [2] On its second digital subchannel, the station used to carry The Tube until early-2007 when it was replaced with a standard definition simulcast of their main channel which lasted until around 2010. Since 2011, The Country Network has occupied this subchannel moving from sister station WFGX. In late-2006, Sinclair entered into negotiations with Mediacom (the main cable provider for parts of the Florida side of the Mobile-Pensacola market (including Santa Rosa County, Florida and Pensacola Beach). The two companies could not reach agreement over retransmission fees. As a result, Mediacom pulled all of Sinclair's stations (including WEAR) from its systems on January 6, 2007.
The dispute ended on February 2 when the two sides reached an agreement that restored WEAR to Mediacom systems. Upon the expiration of the 2007 agreement on January 1, 2010, Mediacom was prepared to drop this station once again from its systems. Sinclair agreed to a temporary extension until January 8 so the Bowl Championship Series college football games could be viewed on Sinclair's ABC and Fox affiliates over Mediacom. Eventually, a one-year agreement was reached which would keep Sinclair stations on the cable television provider until 2011.
[edit] News operation
Since WEAR is principally headquartered in Pensacola, the station tends to focus more on the Florida side of the market as opposed to television outlets based in Mobile that predominantly feature coverage of Alabama. It does operate a bureau in the state on North McKenzie Street/SR 59 in Foley but rarely covers events in Mobile itself. In addition to its main studios, WALA operates a bureau on Executive Plaza Drive in Pensacola making the Fox outlet the only Mobile-based station to maintain a physical presence in Florida. In 1996, sister station WFGX began producing a nightly newscast at 6:30 and 9 called Emerald Coast News originating from studios on Beach Drive in Fort Walton Beach.
Each show aired for thirty minutes and the productions specifically focused on Okaloosa County, Florida helping to provide better coverage for WEAR. On December 11, 1998, Emerald Coast News was dropped from WFGX although the bureau currently remains in operation staffed with a reporter working for WEAR. This station was the market's first television station to upgrade to high definition newscasts on September 7, 2008. On October 18, 2010, WKRG became the second outlet in the market and the first Mobile-based station to launch local newscasts in HD. On September 12, 2011, WALA debuted an hour-long newscast weekdays at 4 offering the first competition to WEAR's also hour-long show seen at the same time.
[edit] Newscast titles
- The Gulf Coast Newsreel (1954–1961)
- The Gulf Coast Report (1961–1967)
- TV 3 News (1967–1974)
- Eyewitness News (1974-early 1980s)
- Gulf Coast News 3 (early 1980s)
- Channel 3 News (mid 1980s-present)
[edit] Station slogans
- "Clearly Yours" (early-1980s)
- "Your Clear Choice for News" (2000–2006)
- "First. LIVE. Local." (2006–present)
[edit] News team[3]
Anchors
- Mollye Barrows - weekdays at 4, and weeknights at 10 p.m.; also reporter
- Lena DeFloras - weekday mornings; also reporter
- Gary Finch - Gary Finch Outdoors host
- Will Kennedy - weekend evenings; also weeknight reporter
- Bree Sison - weekend mornings; also weeknight reporter
- Bob Solarski - weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
- Sue Straughn - weekdays at 11 a.m. and weeknights at 5 and 6 p.m.; also public affairs director and host of Straughn & Company
- Jared Willets - weekday mornings and weekdays at 11 a.m.; also "Healthsmart" segment producer
Channel 3 First Warning Weather
- Allen Strum (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weekdays at 4, and weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
- Jim Carmack - meteorologist; weekend evenings, also general assignment reporter
- Kathryn Daniel - meteorologist; weekend mornings, also general assignment reporter
- Christian Garman (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings and weekdays at 11 a.m., also entertainment reporter
Sports team (both seen on Prep Football Final)
- Dan Shugart - sports director; weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
- Steve Nissim - sports anchor; weekend evenings, also sports reporter
Reporters
- Jacqueline Hince - general assignment reporter
- Laura Hussey - Okaloosa County reporter
- Mark E. Hyman - Behind the Headlines host; also Sinclair Broadcast Group Vice President for Corporate Relations
- Jaimee Lee - general assignment reporter; also fill-in weather anchor
- Ken Mitchell - "Weigh In" segment producer
- Bill Pearson - general assignment reporter
- Anthony Pura - general assignment reporter
[edit] Notable former on-air staff
- Steve Berthiaume - weekend sports anchor (now with ESPN's SportsCenter)
- Mark Curtis - anchor/reporter (now at WLNE-TV in Providence, Rhode Island)
- Liz Swaine (began career at WEAR-TV; voted "Best Journalist in the Nation" while at KTBS-TV in Shreveport; candidate for mayor of Shreveport, 2006)
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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