WTVG

This is about the TV station in Toledo, Ohio for the former WTVG-TV in Newark, New Jersey see WFUT-DT.

WTVG

Toledo, Ohio
Branding	13 ABC (general) 13 ABC Action News (newscasts)
Slogan	Get Connected
Channels	Digital: 13 (VHF)
Subchannels	13.1 ABC 13.2 Live Well Network 13.3 WTVG Weather Now
Owner	SJL Broadcasting, Inc. (WTVG, Inc.)
Founded	July 21, 1948
Former callsigns	WSPD-TV (1948–1979)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 13 (1948-2009) Digital: 19 (1996-2009)
Former affiliations	Primary: NBC (1948-1955, 1969-1995) CBS (1955-1958) ABC (1958-1969) Secondary: CBS (1948-1955) NBC (1955-1969) ABC (1948-1958) DuMont (1948-1956)
Transmitter power	16.7 kW (digital)
Height	305.4 m (digital)
Facility ID	74150
Transmitter coordinates	41°41′0″N 83°24′49″W
Website	www.13abc.com/

WTVG, channel 13, is the ABC-affiliated television station for Northwest Ohio and licensed in Toledo, Ohio. WTVG's studios and offices are located in Toledo and its transmitter is located in Oregon, Ohio. It is owned by SJL Broadcasting. Syndicated programming on WTVG includes Live! with Kelly, Rachael Ray, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Entertainment Tonight, The Insider and Cash Explosion.

History

The station signed on the air on July 21, 1948 as WSPD-TV, owned by Storer Broadcasting along with WSPD radio (AM 1370 and FM 101.5, now WRVF). The studios were originally located at 136 Huron St. in downtown Toledo. It was Toledo's first television station, and the first television station in the Storer Broadcasting chain.

Originally, the station carried programming from all four television networks: NBC, ABC, CBS and DuMont. However, it was a primary NBC affiliate, owing to its radio sisters' long affiliation with NBC radio. In 1955, Storer changed its primary affiliation to CBS, as Storer and CBS had strong corporate ties. DuMont shut down in 1956, leaving WSPD-TV as a primary CBS affiliate with a secondary ABC affiliation.

In 1958, however, CBS moved its affiliation to newly signed-on WTOL-TV, owing to its long affiliation with WTOL radio. Conventional wisdom suggested that WSPD-TV would go back to NBC. Instead, channel 13 switched its primary affiliation to ABC, while sharing NBC with WTOL. This was very unusual for a two-station market; ABC would not be on par with CBS and NBC in terms of programming until the 1970s. This didn't pose a problem for Toledo viewers, however, as Detroit's WWJ-TV (now WDIV-TV) and WXYZ-TV provided a fairly decent signal to most of the market. WSPD-TV became an exclusive NBC affiliate in 1969 when Overmyer Broadcasting, then owner of then-independent WDHO-TV, channel 24 (now WNWO-TV), persuaded ABC to move its affiliation there.

Storer also owned WJBK-AM-FM-TV in Detroit and WJW-AM-FM-TV in Cleveland. Both WJBK-TV and WJW-TV were longstanding CBS affiliates. WSPD-TV provided city-grade coverage to most of Detroit's suburbs, while its grade B signal could be seen in Detroit and Cleveland. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) grandfathered this situation under its "one-to-a-market" rule in the 1970s. Storer sold off WSPD-FM in the early 1970s and WSPD-AM in 1979, and channel 13 became WTVG.

The Storer stations were taken over by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) in 1985. As a result, WTVG lost its grandfathered protection and was not sold to Gillett Communications along with the other Storer stations in 1987. Instead, it was sold to a local employee/investor group called "Toledo Television, Inc." Toledo Television, in turn was bought out by SJL Broadcast Management in 1991.

As an ABC-owned station

In 1994, New World Communications, the owner of most of WTVG's former sister stations, signed an affiliation deal with Fox Broadcasting Company, resulting in most of New World's stations switching affiliation to Fox, but some stayed with NBC (which later bought the New World stations that did not go to Fox). Among the stations due to switch was WJBK, Detroit's longtime CBS affiliate. To avoid being consigned to UHF in what was then the ninth-largest market, CBS heavily wooed Detroit's longtime ABC affiliate, WXYZ.

WXYZ's owner, E.W. Scripps Company, then told ABC that unless it agreed to affiliate with Scripps-owned stations in four smaller markets, it would switch WXYZ to CBS. As a contingency, ABC approached SJL about buying WTVG and WJRT-TV in Flint, Michigan. As mentioned above, WTVG provides grade B coverage of Detroit itself and city-grade coverage to most of Detroit's suburbs, which would have come in handy had WXYZ switched to CBS. The deal closed on August 29, 1995. However, WTVG's affiliation contract didn't run out until October, so ABC had to run WTVG as an NBC affiliate for two months while NBC looked for a new affiliate in the area. On October 28, 1995, WTVG rejoined ABC, sending the NBC affiliation to WNWO-TV. As it turned out, ABC agreed to the affiliation deal with Scripps as well, and WXYZ retained its ABC affiliation. ABC chose not to trade its newly acquired stations for former O&O WXYZ-TV (because of ABC's ownership of WJR-AM and two other FM stations in Detroit), and Scripps was looking to exit the radio business completely. In 1996, Capital Cities/ABC was acquired by Disney.

WTVG was one of only two ABC-Disney owned-and-operated stations (the other being KTRK-TV in Houston, Texas; WJRT aired it into the early 90's, but lost it to CBS affiliate WNEM by the time WJRT was acquired by ABC) which never aired The Oprah Winfrey Show since its debut on September 8, 1986. Oprah aired on WTOL for its entire run in Toledo (as did fellow CBS affiliate KHOU in Houston).

WTVG was the smallest station in the country that was an O&O of any major network, not counting semi-satellites (this includes WOGX in Ocala/Gainesville, Florida; which is a semi-satellite of WOFL in Orlando).

Sale back to SJL Broadcasting

On November 3, 2010, Broadcasting & Cable magazine announced that SJL Broadcasting, now owned by the principal owners of Lilly Broadcasting, made an agreement with Disney to buy back WTVG and WJRT, upon speculation that Disney may sell off ABC. Both stations are expected to retain their affiliations with ABC. SJL teamed up with a new private equity partner, Bain Capital, whose affiliated offshoot Sankaty Advisors provided the capital for the purchases (which amounted to $16.8 million on WTVG's end of the $30 million deal). WTVG began being owned by SJL Broadcasting again beginning April 1, 2011. On April 12, 2011, the new management dismissed around 20 people from a pre-sale work force of approximately 100 -- all behind-the-scenes staff -- from the station, despite promising earlier that they would make no staff cuts. Similar cuts occurred at WJRT, though cuts there also involved that station's veteran newscasters Bill Harris and Joel Feick.

For nearly five months after SJL took ownership of the stations, the web sites of both WTVG and WJRT remained in the format of other ABC-owned stations until late August when WorldNow took over operations of the sites.

Digital Television

Channel	Video	Aspect	Name	Programming
13.1	720p	16:9	WTVG HD	Main WTVG programming / ABC
13.2	480i	4:3 (16:9 letterbox)	WTVG 2	Live Well Network
13.3		4:3	WX Now	WTVG Weather Now

On June 12, 2009, at 12:32 AM, WTVG turned-off its analog signal forever. The station's digital signal relocated to channel 13 following the digital transition. Channel 13 DTV transmits at a lower power than it did on Channel 19 DTV, so in some locations, there has been a reduction in coverage. Many VHF stations are applying to the FCC for power increases to restore their coverage area after moving from UHF back to VHF.

On January 13, 2011, WTVG filed an application to the FCC to increase its power from 14.6 kW to 16.7 kW. The station granted a construction permit on the power increase on March 7.

Programming

High Definition Programming

WTVG currently broadcasts five of its syndicated programs in high definition. These programs are Live with Kelly, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Cash Explosion, Entertainment Tonight and The Insider

Ohio Lottery

On July 1, 2011, WTVG began to broadcast the nightly Ohio Lottery drawings, and broadcast the game show Cash Explosion on Saturday evenings. WTVG took over broadcasting the lottery drawings and game show from rival station WTOL.

News operation

WTVG airs over two hours of local news shows every Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The shows are each a half hour and talk about different types of topics. The shows include: Conklin and Company (11:00-11:30), Bridges (11:30-12:00), Roundtable (12:00-12:30) and Full Plate (12:30-1:00). All four shows are also broadcast in high definition.

WTVG ended the show Coffee with the Fords on June 19, 2011. The show was hosted by former Toledo mayor Jack Ford and his wife Cynthia. Coffee with the Fords was shown between 12:30-1:00 p.m. on Sunday mornings, and was on the air for over four years.

WTVG also airs two special Friday night sports programs, Football Friday showcasing High School football games across Northwest Ohio, during the High School football season and Basketball Friday showcasing girls and boys Basketball across Northwest Ohio during the High School basketball season.

WTVG utilizes the Sony PDW510 XDCAM Camcorder. All Toledo stations (WTVG, WTOL, WNWO, and WUPW) use the Jeep Liberty as an ENG vehicle, due to the fact that they are made locally by Chrysler. WTVG also uses another Jeep-brand vehicle, the Jeep Commander.

WTVG owns and operates a 350,000 Watt Doppler Radar named Live Doppler 13000 HD.

Alexis Means won an Ohio Associated Press award for best spot news coverage for "Gunmen in the School," a breaking news story in which a gunman was allegedly seen walking into a Toledo Public School.

In 2011, WTVG received 6 Emmys from the Lower Great Lakes chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. WTVG also received over 15 nominations for their news, a record for the station.

In June 2011, news anchors at WTVG began using iPads to read news stories instead of paper. WTVG is the first television station in Toledo to use the technology. WTOL began using iPads in late September 2011.

High Definition Newscasts

On April 13, 2010, WTVG became the last ABC-owned station (as well as the first station in the Toledo DMA) to have upgraded its news productions to 16:9 widescreen enhanced definition. On July 2, 2010, WTVG became the first news station in Toledo and the ninth ABC-owned station to broadcast its newscasts in high definition. The in-studio cameras are in 720p high definition, and field coverage is in 16:9 widescreen enhanced definition. WTVG began using new HD graphics on January 17, 2012. WTOL channel 11 began broadcasting their newscasts in high definition on April 21, 2011. WNWO began broadcasting newscasts in 16:9 enhanced definition widescreen on August 15, 2011.

Newscast titles

• Your Esso Reporter (1948-1959)
• Big City News (1959-1962)
• The Big News (1962-1965)
• City Camera News (1965-1969)
• The Venner-Ward Report (1969-1973)
• 13 Nightly News (1973-1979)
• 13 Strong News (1979-1984)
• 13 News (1984–1993)
• 24-Hour News 13 (1993-1995)
• 13 Action News (1995–2001)
• 13 ABC Action News (2001–present)

Station slogans

• 13 Strong (1979-1987)
• TV-13, The Winners!
• Your 24-Hour News Source (1989-1993)
• Where The Action Is (2001-2006)
• Get Connected (2010-present)

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

Action News team

Current on-air staff

(as of February 2012)

Anchors

• Sashem Brey - weekday mornings; also noon reporter
• Kristian Brown - weeknights at 5:30 p.m.; also weekday reporter
• Lee Conklin - weeknights at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.; also host of Conklin and Company
• Tony Geftos - weekend mornings; also weekday reporter
• Bill Hormann - weekend evenings; also weekday reporter
• Diane Larson - weeknights at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.
• Susan Ross-Wells - weekdays at noon and 5:30 p.m.
• Jeff Smith - weekday mornings and noon; also host of Roundtable
• Christina Williams - weekend mornings; also weekday reporter

Weather team

• Stan Stachak - (AMS Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m.
• Jay Berschback (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings and noon
• Kristin Emery (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - meteorologist; weekend mornings
• "Blizzard" Bill Spencer (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - senior meteorologist; weekend evenings

Sports team

• Dave Holmes - sports director; weeknights at 6 and 11 p.m.
• Joe Nugent - sports anchor; weekend evenings
• Steve Slivka - sports reporter; also sports anchor fill-in

Reporters

• Lissa Guyton - general assignment reporter
• Jenna Lento - general assignment reporter
• Christine Long - general assignment reporter
• Alexis Means - general assignment reporter
• Amy Montgomery - general assignment reporter
• Sanaa Orra - general assignment reporter
• Rebecca Regnier - "People, Places and Things" feature reporter; also host of Full Plate
• Ashley Roth - general assignment reporter
• Katie Rydzewski - morning traffic reporter

Notable past on-air staff

• Jerry Anderson (now at WTOL in Toledo)
• Melissa Andrews (now at WBGU-TV)
• Ryan Burr (now at ESPN)
• Frank Gilhooley (deceased; former Toledo Mud Hens announcer)
• Efrem Graham (now at CBN News)
• Neil Hartman (now at Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia)
• Theresa Pollick (now with the Ohio Department of Transportation)
• Rob Powers (now at WABC-TV in New York City)
• Randy Price (now at WCVB-TV in Boston)
• Michael Reghi (now at WKNR-AM; former Cleveland Cavaliers play-by-play announcer)

See also

• Circle 7 logo - WTVG's Circle 13 logo is a derivative of the Circle 7 logo

References

• Michigan's Radio & TV Broadcast Guide: WTVG
• TheTVDirectors.com
• [1]

External links

• WTVG website
• Michiguide.com's listing for WTVG
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WTVG
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WTVG-TV
• Program Information for WTVG at TitanTV.com