WETM-TV

WETM-TV

Elmira/Corning, New York
Branding	WETM 18 (general) WETM 18 News WETM 2 (on DT2)
Slogan	Coverage You Can Count On
Channels	Digital: 18 (UHF) Virtual: 18 (PSIP)
Subchannels	18.1 NBC 18.2 Independent
Network	NBC
Owner	Nexstar Broadcasting Group (Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.)
First air date	September 10, 1956
Call letters' meaning	Elmira (city) and Times Mirror (former owner)
Sister station(s)	WSYR-TV, WWTI, WIVT, WBGH-CA, WROC-TV, WUTR, WFXV, WPNY-LP, WFFF-TV, WVNY
Former callsigns	WSYE-TV (1956-1980)
Former channel number(s)	18 (UHF analog, 1956-2009) 2 (VHF digital, 2004-2009)
Former affiliations	UPN (on DT2, 2004-2006)
Transmitter power	45 kW
Height	376 m
Class	DT
Facility ID	60653
Transmitter coordinates	42°6′22″N 76°52′17″W
Website	wetmtv.com

WETM-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Central and Western Twin Tiers of Southern Upstate New York and Northern Pennsylvania. Licensed to Elmira, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 18 from a transmitter on Coleman Avenue (at Hawley Hill) in Big Flats. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 3 and in high definition on digital channel 700. Owned by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group, WETM has studios on East Water Street in downtown Elmira. However, master control and some internal operations are based at centralcasting facilities within WSYR-TV's studios on Bridge Street in East Syracuse (a village of DeWitt). Syndicated programming on this station includes Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and The Dr. Oz Show among others.

History

The station signed-on September 10, 1956 as WSYE-TV. It was owned by Newhouse Communications as a semi-satellite of NBC affiliate WSYR-TV (now WSTM-TV) in Syracuse. It is Elmira's oldest surviving station behind WTVE which launched a few years earlier but went dark after Hurricane Hazel blew through the Elmira area in 1954 and took out its tower. Originating early on from WSYE's original studios on Hawley Hill was a ladies informational program called The Dana Near Show. In 1980, WSYE and WSYR owner Newhouse Communications sold the stations to the Times Mirror Company which changed the call letters to WSTM-TV and WETM-TV respectively.

Over the next several years, Times Mirror cut the last ties between the two and later sold this station to Smith Broadcasting in 1986. Under Smith's ownership, a reversal of the station's origins took place with the 1996 launch of a Class A semi-satellite in Binghamton, WBGH-CA. Set up in the wake of established NBC affiliate WICZ-TV defecting to Fox, WBGH eventually split-off except for simulcasting WETM's newscasts. This station became the first outlet in the market with an internet presence starting in 1998. In 2000, Smith Broadcasting entered into a management agreement with The Ackerley Group to operate WETM.

Clear Channel Communications inherited the management agreement when it purchased the assets of Ackerley in late-2001. In 2004, Smith Broadcasting sold WETM outright to Clear Channel after the death of Smith Broadcasting founder Robert Smith. On April 20, 2007, Clear Channel entered into an agreement to sell its entire television stations group to Providence Equity Partners. It became the first station in Elmira to broadcast a high definition feed in 2005 with the launch of a digital signal on VHF channel 2. WETM flash-cut its analog signal on UHF channel 18 to digital at 12:01 in the morning on June 12, 2009. This was preceded by the sign-off of its previous VHF digital signal.

Newport announced on July 19, 2012 that it would sell twelve of its television stations (including WETM) to the Nexstar Broadcasting Group. The sale was finalized on December 3, 2012. On July 26, the station was knocked off-the-air by widespread power outages caused by a confirmed tornado that struck downtown Elmira during the afternoon. By the next day around mid-morning, WETM had a feed restored to Time Warner Cable.

Digital television

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel	PSIP Short Name	Video	Aspect	Programming
18.1	WETM-DT	1080i	16:9	Main WETM-TV programming / NBC
18.2	WETM-2	480i	4:3	WETM-DT2

WETM-DT2 "WETM 2"

The station's secondary feed has its roots in W30AA, a translator of PBS WSKG-TV in Binghamton. That station closed down the translator in 2003 after concluding the expenses required to operate W30AA were not justified by its limited viewership base. WSKG subsequently sold the W30AA license to Clear Channel Communications (then-owner of WETM) which brought it back on-air in September 2004 as UPN affiliate WTTX-LP identified on-air as "UPN 30". With the September 2006 merger of UPN and The WB to form The CW, WTTX competed to become the area's affiliate. Ultimately, this went to cable-only WB 100+ station "WBE" which was operated by ABC affiliate WENY-TV.

WTTX was dealt another blow when WSKG launched full-time satellite WSKA on the channel 30 allotment forcing Clear Channel to shut down the low-powered station. WTTX's programming was moved to WETM-DT2 which became an Independent after The CW launched on September 18, 2006. WETM-DT2 won a New York State Broadcasters Association Award for its coverage of high school sports in 2006, 2008, and 2010. The station airs local sports such as Elmira Jackals hockey and New York Yankees baseball.

News operation

News open.

WETM has traditionally been a ratings stronghold in the Central Twin Tiers area. This is because the news department at rival WENY is quite small compared with WETM's news department. While serving as a semi-satellite of WSTM, WETM produced separate local newscasts seen on weeknights at 6 and 11 from its original Hawley Hill studios. There were also weekday morning news and weather cut-ins (airing at :25 and :55 past the hour) during Today from 7 until 9.

The 2004 launch of WETM-DT2/WTTX-LP introduced the area's first prime time broadcast at 10 which can be seen for thirty minutes on weeknights. WETM 18 News at 10 competes with a ten minute update (taped in advance) seen on Fox affiliate WYDC. Independent outlet WETM-DT2 simulcasts the entire weekday morning show as well as weeknight newscasts at 5 and 6 from the main feed. In 2007, WETM became one of four stations in Upstate New York to stream its weekday noon show live online (the others are WKBW-TV in Buffalo as well as sister outlets WHAM-TV in Rochester and WSYR in Syracuse).

On June 5, 2009, Newport Television announced there would be a consolidation of local news operations between WIVT and WBGH with WETM in Elmira. It was initially made public the company would shut down the Binghamton operation completely with WBNG-TV reporting all but two personnel and all production staff for the WIVT and WBGH news department were to be terminated. The Press & Sun-Bulletin in Binghamton later identified the two people remaining as news anchor Peter Quinn and News Director Jim Ehmke but also mentioned fifteen other members of the original 28 person staff, including non-news personnel, that would ultimately remain with the two stations. WIVT and WBGH continue to be locally operated from studios on Ingraham Hill Road south of Binghamton.

On June 28, 2009, WIVT and WBGH brought back a separate broadcast weeknights at 6 focusing on the Eastern Southern Tier. WETM produces this broadcast from a secondary set with photographers based at the Binghamton studios providing video for newscasts produced at WETM's facility. It replaced a simulcast of WETM's show at 6 seen on the Binghamton stations. Currently, WIVT simulcasts the second hour of this station's weekday morning show and its midday newscast at noon. WIVT and WBGH simulcast WETM's nightly newscast at 11 while the latter also simulcasts its early evening news on Sundays.

Newscast titles

• Channel 18 News (1980s-2000)
• 18 News (2000-2005)
• WETM 18 News (2005-present)

News music packages

• "WNDU 1986 News Theme"
• "News Station"
• "News Source"
• "The NBC Collection"

News team

Anchors

• Zach Wheeler - weekday mornings
• Chris Hush - weekday mornings and weekdays at noon (also "Move it Monday" segment producer)
• Jeff Stone - Chief Managing Editor seen weeknights at 5, 6, and 11 (also Twin Tiers Weekly host)
• Rebecca Solomon - weeknights at 6, 10, and 11
• Sam Smink - weekends and reporter

WETM 18 Storm Team Meteorologists

• Joe Pasquarelli (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief seen weekday mornings and weekdays at noon
• Tom Esterguard - weeknights
• Sean Bailey - weekends

Sports

• Alex Cawley - Director seen weeknights at 6, 10, and 11
• Mario Sacco - weekends
• Chuck Brame - WETM 18 Sports Blitz host and sports reporter

Reporters

• Marissa Perlman - fill-in anchor
• Erica Brecher
• Bobby Brooks
• Shannon Lins

Notable former staff

• Catherine Bosley - now at WOIO-TV
• Rod Denson
• Staci-Lyn Honda now at WSYR-TV
• Josh Mora - sports anchor (1994-1996); now working for Full Sail University
• Ken Rosato - now at WABC-TV
• Lauren Sivan - now at KTTV

External links

• WETM-TV
• WETM-TV mobile
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WETM-TV
• Query TV Fool's coverage map for WETM-DT
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WETM-TV