WZVN-TV
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| WZVN-TV | |
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| Naples-Fort Myers-Port Charlotte, Florida | |
| City of license | Naples |
| Branding | ABC 7 ABC 7 News |
| Slogan | Start Here |
| Channels | |
| Affiliations | 7.1 ABC HD 7.2 ABC SD |
| Owner | Montclair Communications, Inc. (operated under LMA by Waterman Broadcasting Corporation) |
| First air date | August 21, 1974 |
| Call letters’ meaning | We're ZeVeN = "seven" (the "Z" sounds like "S") |
| Sister station(s) | WBBH-TV |
| Former callsigns | WEVU (1974-1995) |
| Former channel number(s) | 26 (UHF analog, 1974-2009) |
| Transmitter Power | 1,000 kW |
| Height | 453.9 m |
| Facility ID | 19183 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | 26°49′31″N 81°45′54.3″W / 26.82528°N 81.765083°W |
| Website | www.abc-7.com/ |
WZVN-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for Southwest Florida that is licensed to Naples. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 41 from a transmitter north of Fort Myers Shores near the Lee and Charlotte County line. Although the station no longer airs an over-the-air analog signal, it can be seen on Comcast cable channel 7 and in high definition on digital channel 231. Owned by Montclaire Communications, WZVN is operated by Waterman Broadcasting Corporation under a local marketing agreement (LMA). This makes it a sister station to NBC affiliate WBBH-TV. The two stations share studios on Central Avenue in Fort Myers. Syndicated programming on the station includes: Entertainment Tonight, Extra, Dr. Phil, and TMZ. WZVN is one of two major Fort Myers-based stations licensed to Naples (the other one being CW affiliate WXCW).
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[edit] History
WZVN began broadcasting on August 21, 1974 with the call letters WEVU. Its aired an analog signal on UHF channel 26 from a transmitter northeast of Bonita Springs near the Collier and Lee County line. This location put a stronger signal into Naples and southern Collier County. The station was owned by Caloosa Television. In 1976, the Home News Company purchased channel 26. WEVU began its partnership with WBBH in 1994 through a local marketing agreement according to a USA Today article on media consolidation. It became owned by Montclair Communications but was now a junior partner in the LMA.
Without this arrangement, WEVU would have had to shut down its news department. The station's call letters became WZVN on October 16, 1995. The previous calls currently reside on a Class A station. In 1995, WZVN began identifying itself on-air by its cable channel and started using a variant of the common circle 7 logo. This station's version has the ABC logo attached to the bottom left corner boxed in by a black rectangle. Unlike the more common varieties, as used by WABC-TV in New York City, the "seven" numeral is curved differently. Both of WZVN and WBBH's digital signals went on-the-air on October 31, 2002. As a result, the two became the first two stations in the market to make such a launch. On February 17, 2009, WZVN shut down its analog signal and became digital exclusive.
[edit] News operation
In 1994, when WZVN and WBBH begin their partnership, reporters would appear on either station. The combined forces of the two were billed as the Eyewitness News Network. However, each station used its own primary personalities, news set, and on-air style. Today this continues with Darrel Adams as current News Director for both stations. Although the two have separate on-air identities, it is not unusual for news personnel to share video since WZVN has a smaller news department than WBBH. There are no regular sports segments seen on this station. With its city of license being Naples and its previous analog transmitter location farther south than other stations, WZVN has a slight focus on Collier County. WBBH tends to cover more news from Charlotte County. That station is the primary competitor with CBS affiliate WINK-TV which has been and continues to be the market leader. Compared with WBBH, this station's newscasts tend to air in a fast-paced format with on-air promotions referring to the airing of more news in 30 minutes. There are also fewer live shots done out in the field. WZVN's best known former personality is Harry Horn who was also a veteran of WBBH and WINK-TV.
He anchored weeknights on this station for 15 years until his retirement in 2004. Horn lost his battle with ALS in August 2005. On August 14, 2006, WZVN rebranded its evening newscasts as Gulfshore News and added a nightly 10 o'clock newscast on MyNetworkTV affiliate "WNFM" know as ABC 7 Gulfshore News at 10 on My TV 8. However, it only ran for nine months as a result of Comcast's frequent technical difficulties (the cable company operates the station). This hindered the show's ratings and as a result, WZVN canceled the production on May 25, 2007. This move was also in response to the popularity of WINK-TV's nightly 10 o'clock news on WXCW. Back on November 8, 2006, re-branding of WZVN's newscasts continued with Good Morning Southwest Florida becoming Good Morning Gulfshore. On April 9, 2007, WZVN pulled the Gulfshore News label from its newscasts and now refers to them as ABC 7 News. During major hurricanes, recently Charley and Wilma, the news teams of WZVN and WBBH join together to put on 24-hour coverage. There is a simulcast on both stations and a common live video stream on their websites. During previous years, WBBH's anchor desk was used along with both station's weather centers. As of the 2007 season, WZVN's high definition set will be used in the event of a hurricane as it provides the best protection against damaging winds.
Commercial breaks are dropped for several hours preceding and following landfall. On July 12, 2007, WZVN began broadcasting its news in wide-screen 16x9 standard definition. The station branded it as "enhanced digital definition" which is not the same as full high definition. On October 20, competitor WINK-TV became the first Southwest Florida station to broadcast local news in full high definition. In early-February 2008 following the lead of WZVN, WBBH upgraded to enhanced digital definition local broadcasts. On July 19, the two stations started broadcasting their local newscasts in full high definition becoming the second and third stations respectively in Fort Myers to do so (WZVN upgraded five hours after WBBH). Unlike most ABC affiliates, this station does not air news at Noon or at 5 P.M. during the week. However, it aired a 10 o'clock edition of it morning news until October 26, 2008. On that date, several changes occurred at both stations. WZVN dropped the first hour of its weekday morning news as well as the 10 A.M. broadcast. WBBH also debuted a new 11 A.M. newscast while keeping its Noon broadcast. In addition to their main studios, WZVN and WBBH share a Collier County Bureau on Tamiami Trail North in Naples. The two stations own and share a Baron weather radar. It is located at their studios and is known on WZVN as "ABC 7 Precision VIPIR". There website is now basically a hybrid of NBC-2.COM, the only differences are the colors,logos and it has the ABC NEWS Portal, other than that most stories link to NBC2's website.
[edit] News team
Anchors
- Eric Weisfeld - weekday mornings
- Len Jennings - weeknights
- Stacey Deffenbaugh - weeknights
- Kelly Imrick - weekends and reporter
ABC 7 Precision Weather Team
- Jim Reif (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief seen weeknights and Waterman Broadcasting Director of Meteorology
- John Patrick (NWA and AMS Seals of Approval) - weekday mornings and heard on WGUF-FM 98.9, WWGR-FM 101.9, and WSGL-FM 104.7
- Chris Lambert (Certified Broadcast Meteorologist) - weekends
Reporters
- Katie LaGrone - consumer and investigative
- Stephanie Tsoflias
[edit] Station alumni
- Nancy Alvarez - former weekday morning and 10 A.M. anchor (now at WBBH-TV)
- consumer and investigative reporter
- Mike Baldyga
- Gordon Barnes - Chief Meteorologist
- Ibby Carothers - meteorologist
- David Carro - producer
- Jim Clarke - weekend meteorologist and fill-in
- Paul Conrad - weather forecaster
- Michelle Cunningham - former meteorologist
- Tim Drawbridge - former weekend meteorologist (2002-2003)
- now at WNYT
- Meghan Danahey - former weekend meteorologist (now at WFAA-TV)
- Wayne Farris - anchored for a few months after leaving WCKT in 1984
- Shelby Goldman - sports
- Julian Gonzalez - sports
- Sharon Gregory - former evening anchor (now at sister station WVIR-TV)
- Harry Horn - anchor
- Phil Jean - sports
- Emily Norman - anchor
- Kent Overmeyer - Sports Director
- Meredith Putney - anchor
- Erik Salna - Chief Meteorologist (now freelance fill-in for WINK-TV)
- Bay Scroggins - anchor (now at KSTP-TV)
- Heather Turco - anchor (now at WBBH)
- Patrick Taney - weekday morning anchor (now 5:30 P.M. anchor at WKBW-TV)
- Gary Widom - reporter
- Kristen Nastasia - now at WSPA-TV)
- Max Turnier - now at WINK-TV
- Scott Dobroski - weekday mornings
- Catherine Bergerson - weekends and reporter
- Susie Hassan - now at WBBH)
- Noah Pransky - now at WTSP)
- Curtis Jay
- Bonnie Kenny
- Scott Madus
- Joshua Landon
[edit] External links
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