WSBT-TV

WSBT-TV

South Bend, Indiana
Branding	WSBT (general) WSBT News (newscasts)
Slogan	Your Local News Leader
Channels	Digital: 22 (UHF)
Subchannels	22.1 CBS 22.2 SBT2 22.3 Stormtracker WX
Affiliations	CBS
Owner	Schurz Communications, Inc. (WSBT, Inc.)
First air date	December 21, 1952
Call letters' meaning	South Bend Tribune
Sister station(s)	WSBT (AM), WNSN
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 34 (1952-1957?) 22 (1957?-2009) Digital: 30 (-2009)
Former affiliations	NBC/ABC/DuMont (1952-1954, all secondary) UPN (DT2, 2003-2006)
Transmitter power	266 kW
Height	332.6 m
Facility ID	73983
Transmitter coordinates	41°37′0″N 86°13′1″W
Website	www.wsbt.com

WSBT-TV, channel 22 is a television station in South Bend, Indiana. WSBT is the flagship television station of Schurz Communications, and is an affiliate of the CBS television network. It's studios are located in Mishawaka. Its transmitter is located in South Bend.

History

Early broadcasting

WSBT-TV first signed on on December 21, 1952 as another media outlet of the South Bend Tribune. It was the first UHF station in the country to produce a live telecast, which was five minutes of news. It was also the first on UHF to telecast a high school basketball tournament, which came from John Adams High School. In 1953, WSBT-TV had several sports related firsts. In the fall of that year, WSBT became the first TV station in the United States to present a closed-circuit telecast of a college football practice. This allowed Notre Dame coach Frank Leahy to direct the practice, as he was hospitalized at the time. WSBT-TV was also the first station in Indiana to broadcast in color, starting in 1954 in new studios designed by architect William Pereira. The station unveiled its new facility in Mishawaka on November 16, 2008, beginning with WSBT News at 10 on SBT2. With the relocation, WSBT became the first station in South Bend to produce and broadcast its local programming in high definition. The TV station joined the radio stations which began broadcasting from the new facility a few weeks earlier. The former WSBT studio building is now home to the area's PBS member station WNIT (channel 34).

Although WSBT has been the earliest UHF television station to have broadcast continuously, it has switched channels once during the analog era. Originally broadcast on channel 34, it moved to channel 22 around 1958. It is also one of the very few stations to have had the same call letters, owner and primary network affiliation throughout its history as well as the only commercial television station in South Bend to remain owned by a locally-based company. And when the Federal Communications Commission tightened its cross-ownership regulations in the 1970s, the combination of the Tribune and the WSBT radio and television stations was among the few such combinations that were grandfathered under those rules—a situation that remains in effect to this day.

UPN Michiana/SBT2

In 2003, WSBT launched UPN Michiana on digital channel 22.2. UPN Michiana became an independent in Fall 2006 when UPN programming merged into the new CW network. At that point, "UPN Michiana" became "SBT2". One of SBT2's new offerings include a weekday 10pm newscast, which began September 5, 2006.

WSBT Stormtracker Channel

The station also has an automatic looping weather station which airs over digital channel 22.3 and is also aired over Comcast systems in the area; Comcast also is the exclusive sponsor of the channel.

Attempted purchase of Weigel stations

On August 4, 2008, WSBT announced plans to purchase Weigel Broadcasting's three stations in the market, ABC affiliate WBND-LP, CW affiliate WCWW-LP, and My Network TV affiliate WMYS-LP. Since the three stations are all low-power, they are not counted under FCC ownership rules. Alongside WSBT-DT's existing three channels, the purchase would have given Schurz Communications a total of six channels in the market, including two "Big Four" network affiliates. However, in the absence of action by the FCC, the deal was called off in August 2009.

High definition newscasts

On Sunday, November 16, 2008, WSBT became the first station in South Bend to broadcast local news in high definition. With the switch to HD, WSBT moved from its old studios after 53 years in South Bend, to a new all-digital, state-of-the-art facility in Mishawaka. The move also came with a brand new studio, weather center and graphics.

News staff

Current

Anchors/reporters

• Kristin Bien - reporter
• Chad Damp - reporter
• Debra Daniel - anchor; weeknights at 5:30, 10 and 11 p.m. (also health reporter)
• Diane Daniels - freelance reporter/anchor weekend evenings
• Ed Ernstes - reporter
• Clifton French - reporter
• Dustin Grove - anchor/reporter; weeknights at 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m.
• Kirk Mason - anchor/reporter; weekday mornings and noon
• John Paul - reporter
• Cindy Ward - anchor; weeknights at 5 and 6 p.m.

Weather

• Paul Emmick - (AMS member)- chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6, 10 and 11 p.m.
• Erik Larson - (AMS member) - meteorologist; Saturday mornings and weekend evenings
• Cari Peugeot (AMS member) - meteorologist; weekday mornings and noon
• Abby Weppler - meteorologist; weeknights at 5 and 5:30 p.m. (also on WNSN radio weekday mornings)

Sports

• Pete Byrne - sports director; weeknights at 6, 10 and 11 p.m.
• David McCoy - sports reporter; weekend evenings

Notable former staff

• Rick Mecklenburg, Chief Meteorologist · Nov 1996 to Jul 2011
• Luke Choate, anchor (now retired)
• Jim Pinkerton (news), anchor (now works for the state of Indiana)
• Steve Baron, meteorologist, (now Vice President of Interactive Content at Local TV)
• Deborah Domine, anchor (now an Elkhart County judge)
• Bill Foster, Weekend Anchor, General Assignment Reporter
• Angela Ingram, reporter, (Now reporter at WKRC-TV)
• Cheryl Jackson, reporter, (Now freelance correspondent at CNN Chicago)
• Mike Collins, anchor (retired November 30, 2007; maintains a weblog on the station's website)
• Todd Connor, anchor (now anchor for WRTV)
• Charlie Adams, sports
• Jon Shaner, meteorologist (Now morning meteorologist at WXMI)
• Eric Knecht, producer (Now Sports Director at KSN-TV in Joplin, MO
• Vanessa Medina, reporter (Now reporter at WSVN-TV)
• Paul Silvestri, meteorologist
• Samuel King, reporter, (Now at NY1)
• Sam Scaman, Chief meteorologist (1989–1998)
• Bruce Saunders, meteorologist
• Kate Sullivan, reporter (Now anchor at WBBM-TV)
• Mike May, puppeteer "Popeye Theater"

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

• The Early Report/The Late Report
• 22 Eyewitness News (1978–1983)
• WSBT Eyewitness News (1983–1994)
• WSBT News 22 (1994–2007)
• WSBT News (2007–present)

Station slogans

• Channel 22, Go for It! (1970s)
• Channel 22, Catch The Brightest Stars! (1975–1976; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
• Channel 22, You're Looking Good! (1980–1981; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
• Your Hometown Station (1990–1994)
• Michiana's News Channel/Live, Local, Latebreaking (1994–1997)
• Together, Making a Difference (1997–2007)
• Your Local News Leader (2007–present)

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

See also

• WSBT (AM)

External links

• Official website
• SBT2 website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WSBT
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WSBT-TV