WTIC-TV
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| WTIC-TV | |
|---|---|
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| Hartford / New Haven, Connecticut | |
| Branding | FOX 61 (general) FOX 61 News (newscasts) |
| Slogan | Right team. All the time. |
| Channels | |
| Subchannels | 61.1 FOX |
| Owner | Tribune Company (Tribune Television Company) |
| First air date | September 17, 1984 |
| Call letters’ meaning | Travelers Insurance Company (original owner of WTIC-AM) |
| Sister station(s) | WTXX |
| Former channel number(s) | 61 (UHF analog, 1984-2009) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1984-1986) |
| Transmitter Power | 380 kW |
| Height | 506 m |
| Facility ID | 147 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | 41°42′13.1″N 72°49′54″W / 41.703639°N 72.83167°W |
| Website | fox61.com |
WTIC-TV is the FOX-affiliated television station for the state of Connecticut, except Fairfield County, that is licensed to Hartford. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 31 from a transmitter on Rattlesnake Mountain in Farmington. Owned by the Tribune Company, the station is sister to CW affiliate WTXX. The two stations share studios at Corporate Center in downtown Hartford. Syndicated programming on the station includes: Seinfeld, Two and a Half Men, Family Guy, and The Simpsons.
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[edit] History
A group led by Arnold Chase won a construction permit for channel 61 in September 1983. Chase originally planned to call his new station WETG-TV, in memory of Ella T. Grasso (the first woman in Connecticut to be elected governor) who died in 1981. However, those calls were requested by an independent station on channel 66 in Erie, Pennsylvania (now WFXP) which would not take to the air until 1986. The Erie station's owners refused to give up the calls. Grasso's son was part of Chase's group (which was financed by Chase's father, Hartford developer David Chase, then listed on the Forbes 400). Accusations were later made that Grasso was included solely due to the assistance his mother's name might provide in gaining government approvals and he eventually left the station under somewhat strained circumstances. With only a short time before the scheduled sign-on date, Chase obtained permission from his father's Arch Broadcasting, owner of WTIC radio (1080 AM and 96.5 FM) to use the historic WTIC-TV calls in Spring 1984. This callsign had last been used by what is now WFSB from 1957 to 1974.
The FCC had relaxed regulations governing the use of call letters on non-commonly owned stations early in 1984. In memory of Grasso, WTIC showed clips of Grasso at work at sign off while church bells played the Star Spangled Banner. A graphic at the end mentioned that the station was dedicated in Grasso's memory. WTIC finally began operation on September 17, 1984. Originally, it was a general entertainment independent station running cartoons, sitcoms, old movies, CBS shows pre-empted by WFSB, ABC shows pre-empted by WTNH, drama shows and sports in competition with WTXX. Arch eventually bought a controlling interest in WTIC station. In 1985-1986, the station invested in stronger programming and managed to become a charter FOX affiliate on October 6, 1986. However, by 1987, Arch and Chase encountered financial problems and WTIC nearly filed for bankruptcy. Many syndicators went unpaid and responded by pulling their programming from channel 61. Extensive litigation followed as the contracts that were standard in the industry at that time stated that if a single payment was missed, no more programs would be provided, but the station was still required to pay the full amount due under the contract. As the litigation progressed, the shows were replaced by low-budget barter programming.
Soon, however, the studios who owned the programming realized that cable was eroding their ability to sell programming to independent stations and that suing such stations was now inimical to their own interests. The cases soon settled on terms favorable to Chase and WTIC. Chase Broadcasting (owned by Arnold Chase's father's organization, Chase Enterprises) acquired WTIC in 1988. Although the barter programming continued, the station began to realize some sustained success in part due to the early success of the FOX network and shows like 21 Jump Street and Married...With Children. A milestone was reached in 1992 when WTIC began to regularly beat WTXX in the ratings. Chase sold all its stations to Renaissance Broadcasting, who owned WTXX, in 1992. To follow prevailing FCC regulations, Renaissance sold WTXX in March 1993 to a Roman Catholic non-profit group, Counterpoint Communications. Renaissance tried to negotiate a local marketing agreement (LMA) with WTXX's new owners in which it would buy its entire broadcast day. During negotiations, which lasted from the time the sale became final until July 1993, Renaissance agreed to have WTXX run The Disney Afternoon from 3 to 5 P.M. and some off network sitcoms from 5 to 7 P.M. weekdays free of charge as well as first run syndicated shows on weekends in this slot. Counterpoint wanted only a part-time arrangement while Renaissance wanted the entire broadcast day except for overnights and an hour during the day in which WTXX was to run Catholic shows. That July, after being unable to come to an agreement, WTXX entered into a part-time LMA with WVIT.
Renaissance began moving WTXX' shows to WTIC which created a strong lineup for channel 61. Some programming (such as older sitcoms), however, were returned to their syndicators and wound up first on WTWS (now WHPX) and then WTVU (now WCTX). The cartoons that did not move to WTIC were sold to WVIT and thus were moved back to WTXX where they aired daily from 6 to 9 in the morning (until 10 A.M. Saturdays and Sundays) and weekdays from 3 to 7 P.M. Ironically, the WTXX LMA with WVIT expanded to 18 hours a day three years later in 1996. WTIC was sold to the Tribune Company in 1997 as part of a group deal. One year later, it replaced WVIT as the LMA partner for WTXX (then a UPN affiliate, later WB, currently a The CW station). In 2001, Tribune bought WTXX outright. Both stations became sister properties of the Hartford Courant after Times Mirror merged with Tribune in 2000.
As time went on, WTIC began dropping cartoons, movies, and older sitcoms in favor of more talk and reality shows. The weekday cartoons ended at the end of 2001 when FOX ended its weekday kids' block.
Since the network entered sports programming in 1994, WTIC has had to deal with issues regarding Major League Baseball and National Football League coverage. Connecticut is split between the traditional home territories for Boston and New York City teams. The football issue is not typically as stark because the New York Giants and New England Patriots play in separate conferences, each with their own network television deals, so there is little overlap. However, it is often a source of frustration during baseball season. FOX picks both the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox for its baseball broadcast windows from time-to-time. MLB limits FOX to a single game and does not allow other channels to broadcast baseball in that window (from 3:30 to 7 P.M.). This creates serious anger among Connecticut baseball fans when WTIC must broadcast either the Yankees or the Red Sox as the usual cable channels (YES and NESN) are blacked out for the team not broadcast by FOX. WTIC generally shows each team as many times as possible.
This also had an effect on the Springfield / Holyoke, Massachusetts television market because the station had served as the area's default affiliate since that area did not have an affiliate of its own. This changed on March 31, 2008 when ABC affiliate WGGB-TV added FOX on its second digital subchannel. Beginning with the 2008 season to alleviate coverage issues, game broadcasts of the Yankees from WWOR-TV and the New York Mets from sister station WPIX will alternate between WTIC and WTXX. In Fall 2009, the two stations will move to the Hartford Courant facilities on Broad Street in downtown Hartford. [1]
[edit] News operation
In 1989, WTIC debuted its 10 o'clock newscast which was the second in the market after a short-lived attempt on WHCT-TV (now WUVN) in 1969. Notably, news anchor Pat Sheehan had been the anchor on that station. In 1998, when WTIC replaced WVIT as WTXX's LMA partner, the WVIT-produced 10 P.M. news was replaced with a simulcast of the first half-hour of channel 61's news program. On April 24, 2006, WTXX began to simulcast the full hour. That station does not have a separate news opening for the evening broadcast. Whenever FOX programming or sports delays the news on WTIC, it is still shown on WTXX but under the name of News at Ten. There is also a "News at Ten" logo in place of "FOX 61 News". During the February 2007 sweeps period, WTIC beat 11 P.M. leader WFSB with 100,000 viewers to that station's 98,000. It achieved this by showing reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond and Seinfeld while the big three stations broadcasted their 11 o'clock local news. As of the February 2008 ratings period, WTIC's evening newscast is the most watched 10 or 11 P.M. briadcast in the market. The station launched a weekday morning newscast on March 3.
The 7 o'clock hour competes with WCTX's morning news, which is produced by sister station WTNH and airs for one hour. Since launching the morning news, WTIC has entered into a weather department partnership with WTIC-AM 1080. The weather center now features meteorologists from the radio and television stations. Weather reports can also be heard on: WTIC-AM 1080, WTIC-FM 96.5, WRCH-FM 100.5, WZMX-FM 93.7, and WZBG-FM 97.3. On August 4, the weekday morning newscast was expanded and began airing from 4:30 to 9 in the morning. During the 8 o'clock hour, the format of the program includes several talk show segments focusing on entertainment, lifestyle, and health. Initially, this production was not simulcasted on WTXX but was added later. Starting on September 8, a weeknight 11 o'clock newscast was added. After constructing high definition studios at the facilities of the Hartford Courant in Summer 2009, WTIC will begin producing newscasts from that location in the Fall. It will be the second station in the market to air local news in HD. Also at that time, the station will launch weekday Noon and 6pm newscasts. [2] Along with FOX News, it is also a CNN affiliate. The station broadcasts the FOX 61 Sports Ticket at 10:45 on Saturday and Sunday nights (this does not air on WTXX). WTIC also produces a weekly public affairs show, The Real Story, which airs Sunday mornings at 8:30 with a repeat on WTXX at 11.
In July 2009, WTIC-TV news reporter Shelly Sindland filed both state and federal complaints alleging age and sex discrimination in the station's newsroom.[3][4] Media sites also raised questions about the way the case was covered by the Hartford Courant, which operated under the same management team as WTIC-TV. [5].
[edit] News team
Anchors
- Joy Lim Nakrin - weekday mornings and producer (4:30 to 6)
- weekday morning reporter (6 to 9)
- Logan Byrnes - weekday mornings (5 to 9)
- Sarah French - weekday mornings (6 to 9)
- Jeff Valin - weekday mornings (8 to 9)
- Rachel Lutzker - weekday mornings (8 to 9)
- Brent Hardin - weeknights at 10
- Erika Arias - weeknights at 10 and 11
- Rebecca Stewart - weekends at 10 and Sundays at 11
- reporter
WTIC Weather Center Meteorologists
- Garett Argianas (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief seen weeknights
- Joe Furey - weekday mornings and Director of New England Weather Service
- Rachel Frank - weekends and reporter
- Sam Samperi - fill-in and weekday morning producer
- Steve Chapron - producer
Sports (both seen on FOX 61 Sports Ticket)
- Rich Coppola - Director seen weeknights and Sundays
- Bob Rumbold - Saturday nights and reporter
Reporters
- Shelly Sindland - politics and host of The Real Story
- senior reporter
- Rick Hancock - "Rick's RSS" segment reporter
- Laurie Perez
- Nicole Jacobs
- Jennifer Lahmers
- John Charlton
- Jim Altman
- Sarah Cody
- Narmeen Choudhury
- Tom Lewis
[edit] Former staff
- Steve Berthiaume, sports anchor, has been with CNNSI, and SNY, currently with ESPN.
- Steve Brown, reporter, now Chicago bureau reporter, Fox News Channel.
- Mika Brzezinski, reporter, to WFSB, to WCBS, to CBS News, now anchor Morning Joe MSNBC.
- Beth Carroll, co-anchor, now host NH Outlook NHPTV Concord, NH.
- John Carroll, chief meteorologist (new meteorologist in Grand Junction, CO)
- Susan Christensen - main anchor for 13 years, retired to spend more time with her family
- Katishia Cosley, reporter, now freelance reporter at KTRK-TV Houston
- Jay Crawford co-host of ESPN2's First Take,and host 1st & Ten,ESPNews.
- Michael Friedmann, weekend meteorologist, laid off after 10 years due to a workforce reduction.
- Ted Greenberg, reporter/anchor, now reporter WCAU Philadelphia.
- Lynn Jolicouer, reporter, now reporter at WCVB Boston.
- Justin Kiefer, meteorologist, now meteorologist WMBB Panama City, FL.
- Doug Meehan, reporter, now reporter at Fox25 Boston.
- Tom Misczuk, award-winning reporter, deceased July 2004.
- Irene O'Connor, reporter/anchor, now AM co-anchor WFSB.
- Meg Oliver, reporter/anchor, now anchor CBS News Up to the Minute.
- Frank Recchia, reporter
- Carolee Salerno, reporter/weekend anchor, now reporter/anchor WTNH New Haven.
- Amelia Santaniello, weekend anchor/reporter, now evening co-anchor WCCO-TV Minneapolis.
- Pat Sheehan, co-anchor, now financial consultant.
- Jason Shoultz, reporter, now producer/reporter America's Heartland syndicated magazine.
- Andrew Stockey, sports anchor, now AM co-anchor WTAE Pittsburgh.
- Tony Terzi, sports anchor-reporter, now Sales Manager in facilities services industry and freelance ESPN Radio anchor.
- Paul Williams, meteorologist, now at WLBT Jackson, MS.
- Rob Williams, reporter, now AM co-anchor WXIX Cincinnati.
- Eric Zager - investigative reporter
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.fox61.com/pages/landing_news/?Tribune-To-Merge-TV-And-Newspaper-Operat=1&blockID=252966&feedID=341
- ^ http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/190904-Tribune_Merging_Hartford_TV_and_Paper_Operations.php
- ^ http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/media_matters/veteran_reporter_files_agedisc.php
- ^ http://www.ctemploymentlawblog.com/2009/07/articles/decisions-and-rulings/fox-61-reporter-discrimination-case-faq-analysis-and-whats-next-part-i/
- ^ http://thelaurelct.com/2009/07/09/hartford-media-managers-judgment-called-into-question/
[edit] External links
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