WEEK-TV
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| Peoria/Bloomington, Illinois | |
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| Branding | WEEK News 25 |
| Slogan | Your Home Team |
| Channels | Digital: 25 (UHF) Virtual: 25 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 25.1 NBC 25.2 AccuWeather |
| Owner | Granite Broadcasting Corporation (WEEK-TV) |
| First air date | February 1, 1953 |
| Sister station(s) | WAOE, WHOI |
| Former callsigns | WEEK (1953-1979) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 43 (UHF, 1953–1964) 25 (UHF, 1964–2009) Digital: 57 (UHF, 2003–2009) |
| Former affiliations | NBC Weather Plus (on DT2) |
| Transmitter power | 246 kW |
| Height | 211.6 m |
| Class | DT |
| Facility ID | 24801 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 40°37′46.3″N 89°32′52.5″W / 40.629528°N 89.547917°W |
| Website | centralillinoisnewscenter.com |
WEEK-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for West-Central Illinois licensed to Peoria. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 25 from a transmitter at studios on Springfield Road in East Peoria. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 10 and in high definition on digital channel 906. Owned by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation, WEEK-TV operates ABC/CW affiliate WHOI (owned by Barrington Broadcasting) through joint sales and shared services agreements.
It also operates MyNetworkTV affiliate WAOE (owned by Four Seasons Broadcasting) through another joint sales agreement. Both stations share facilities with WEEK-TV along with some internal operations of the Quad Cities' low-powered MyNetworkTV affiliate WBQD-LP (owned by Four Seasons Broadcasting as well). Syndicated programming on the station includes Inside Edition, Dr. Phil, and The Rachael Ray Show.
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[edit] Digital programming
On WEEK-DT2, Comcast digital channel 431, and live streaming video on its website is The Local AccuWeather Channel.
| Channel | Name | Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25.1 | WEEK-HD | 1080i | 16:9 | Main WEEK-TV programming / NBC |
| 25.2 | WEEK-WX | 480i | 4:3 | "WEEK-TV Weather First" |
[edit] History
The station signed-on February 1, 1953 as WEEK. It aired an analog signal on UHF channel 43 and was an NBC affiliate from the start. It was owned-and-operated by Oklahoma City-based West Central Broadcasting Company along with WEEK-AM 1350 (now WOAM). West Central was the broadcasting arm of the Oklahoma Publishing Company. Edward K. Gaylord was President and the chairman of the board was United States Senator Robert S. Kerr (a former governor of Oklahoma and half of Kerr-McGee). The original Chief Engineer of WEEK-TV-AM was Wayne Lovely who supervised the construction of the stations' technical facilities and equipment installation in 1953 (he would remain employed by WEEK-TV until 1974).
On November 7, 1957, WEEQ-TV in La Salle launched as a satellite of WEEK-TV in order to rebroadcast its signal.[1][2] The UHF channel 35 allocation was most recently used for TBN affiliate WWTO-TV which now broadcasts in digital on VHF channel 10 but retains 35 as its virtual channel. WEEK-TV would move its analog signal to UHF channel 25 sometime around 1964.[2] The channel 43 allocation was later moved from Peoria to Bloomington and used by the second incarnation of WBLN beginning in 1982 (this is now Fox affiliate WYZZ-TV).[2] In 1966, West Central sold WEEK-TV and WEEQ-TV to Kansas City Southern Industries which also acquired KRCG in Jefferson City, Missouri around the same time. The new owner eventually shut down WEEQ-TV sometime in the early-1970s. WEEK would add the -TV suffix to its call sign on August 28, 1979.
In 1985, Kansas City Southern Industries sold both of its stations to Price Communications. On October 31, 1988, WEEK-TV and fellow NBC affiliate KBJR-TV in Superior, Wisconsin became the two founding stations of current owner Granite Broadcasting. In 1997, WEEK-TV bought the broadcasting license for 98.5 in Eureka, gave it the call sign WEEK-FM, and nickname "Oldies 98.5". Granite Broadcasting divested itself of the radio station, which is now WPIA, in 1999. It has been digital-only since February 17, 2009.[3] On that date, the station remained on channel 25 when the analog to digital conversion was completed. The "WEEK-TV" calls were transferred from the now-defunct analog channel 25 to the new digital channel 25 and the "WEEK-DT" call sign from the pre-transition digital channel 57 was permanently discontinued.
On March 2 of the same year, this station took over the operations of WHOI through joint sales and shared services agreements. It resulted in that station closing its studios on North Stewart Street in Creve Coeur and moving into WEEK-TV's East Peoria facilities.[4] As a result of the consolidation, all five of Peoria's full-powered commercial television stations are now operated by two entities. A possible reason for the move to combine WHOI's operations with WEEK-TV was the former's traditional third-place ranking in local viewership ratings (behind WEEK-TV and CBS affiliate WMBD-TV) during sweeps periods. Granite-owned CBS affiliate WTVH in Syracuse, New York also saw its operations merged with Barrington-owned NBC affiliate WSTM-TV and low-powered CW affiliate WSTQ-LP on the very same day. In this case, however, WSTM is the senior partner in the operational arrangement.[5]
[edit] News operation
On June 5, 2006, WEEK-TV began airing a weeknight prime time newscast on WAOE through a news share agreement. Known on-air as News 25 at 9 on My 59, the show can be seen for thirty minutes. The broadcast competes with another half-hour production seen at the same time on WYZZ which is produced by WMBD. There is also a simulcast of WEEK-TV's weekday morning show on WAOE. Seen from 5 until 7, this is known as News 25 Express on My 59.
Throughout the 1980s and early-1990s, WHOI aired a nightly newscast at 5:30 resulting in a delay of ABC World News Tonight until 6 on weeknights unlike other ABC affiliates in the Central Time Zone. On weekends, ABC World News Tonight would be seen it its normal time slot at 5 followed by WHOI's local newscast. The practice offered viewers with a local broadcast seven nights a week at a consistent time while other stations aired national news or other programming.
Before WHOI merged its news department with WEEK-TV in 2009, it was airing a two-hour weekday morning broadcast. There were also weeknight newscasts seen at 5, 6, and 10. On weekends, news was aired on Saturdays at 6 and 10 as well as Sundays at 5:30 and 10. After consolidation, WHOI let go most of its production and newscast personnel but added four on-air personalities to WEEK-TV's news team which can still be seen today. It dropped weeknight shows at 5 and 6 while adding a new broadcast at 5:30. This resulted in ABC World News Tonight being moved to a tape-delay at 6 for a second time in the station's history. WHOI still airs a separate weekday morning program (from 5 until 7) and a weeknight newscast at 10. These productions air from a new secondary set at WEEK-TV's studios.
On weekends, the two stations simulcast broadcasts at 6 and 10 on Saturdays as well as Sundays at 10. Although WEEK-TV does not offer early evening local news on Sunday, WHOI does at 5:30. With the simulcasts, however, there can be delays or pre-emptions on one outlet due to network obligations. On September 13, 2010, WHOI added a lifestyle and entertainment program known as Good Company. This airs from another new set exclusive to the show in a magazine-type format. At some point in time after WEEK-TV and WHOI combined operations, the two outlets became the first news department in the market to upgrade broadcasts to 16:9 enhanced definition widescreen. Although not truly high definition, the shows match the aspect ratio of HD television screens.
[edit] Newscast titles
- Your Esso Reporter (1953-1957)
- WEEK-TV News (1957-1969)
- Eyewitness News (1969-1977)
- News 25 (1977-present)
[edit] Station slogans
- "The News People" (late-1970s)
- "Now More Than Ever" (early 1980s-1983)
- "Say Hello" (1983-1990; during period station used Frank Gari's "Hello News")
- "Illinois' #1 News Channel" (1990-1994)
- "Central Illinois' NewsChannel" (1994-1996)
- "Your Home Team" (1996-present)
[edit] News team
Anchors
- Garry Moore - weekday mornings, weekdays at 11:30 a.m. and weekdays at noon news (also producer)
- Sandy Gallant (AMS Seal of Approval) - news and meteorologist seen weekday mornings, weekdays at 11:30 a.m. and weekdays at noon
- Gina Morss - weeknight news at 5 and 6
- Tom McIntyre - weeknight news at 6, 9 and 10
- Denise Jackson - weekend news and reporter
- Chuck Collins (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist seen weeknights
- Ashley McNamee - weekend meteorologist and news reporter
- Marshanna Hester - weeknight news at 5:30, 9 and 10
Sports
- Lee Hall - Director seen weeknights at 6, 9 and 10 (also Prep Rally and Sports Final host)
- Marc Strauss - weekends
- Josh Simon - sports and news photographer
- Jim Mattson - Prep Rally and Sports Final host
Reporters
- Anna Yee - multimedia journalist also fill-in news and weather anchor
- Joy Miller - "Ask Doctor Joy" segment producer
- Nick Perreault
- Maggie Vespa
[edit] References
- ^ November 7, 1957 on BrainyHistory
- ^ a b c Quick, Doug. "Other Television History" on personal website.
- ^ FCC list of full-service US TV stations, February 16, 2009
- ^ Tarter, Steve (March 2, 2009). "Owners of WEEK taking over WHOI operations". Peoria Journal Star. http://www.pjstar.com/business/x1959832349/Owners-of-WEEK-TV-taking-over-operations-of-WHOI-TV. Retrieved March 2, 2009.
- ^ http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/03/the_staff_of_wtvh_laid.html
[edit] External links
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