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WHAM-TV, channel 13, is the ABC network and The CW network television affiliate in Rochester, New York. It broadcasts its analog signal on VHF channel 13, and its digital signal on UHF channel 59. (When full-power U.S. television stations end analog broadcasting in 2009 WHAM-TV must abandon channel 59, which will then be outside the UHF TV band, and begin sending digital signals on channel 13 exclusively.) It is currently owned by Newport Television, LLC. Its transmitter is located on Pinnacle Hill in Brighton, New York.

WHAM is the only station in Rochester that has never changed its affiliation.

CW-WHAM

CW-WHAM is the branding of a digital television station operating out of Rochester, New York. The station, owned by Newport Television, carries programming from The CW Television Network. The station is seen on the DT2 subchannel of Rochester's ABC affiliate WHAM-TV, as well as on channel 16 on most basic cable systems in the Rochester area and a digital/HDTV feed on channel 1016 for digital subscribers.

Digital television

Digital channels
Virtual
Channel 		Physical
RF Channel 		Video Aspect Programming
13.1 59 720p 16:9 Main WHAM-TV programming / ABC HD
13.2 59 480i 4:3 The CW

WHAM-TV will broadcast exclusively in digital sometime after March 2009; the final date yet to be determined.[1]

WHAM-TV will leave digital channel 59 and move to channel 13 when the analog to digital conversion is complete.[2]

History

The station signed on air at exactly 4:00pm on September 15, 1962, under the call sign WOKR (for "We're OK, Rochester").

In March 1970, WOKR was sold to Flower City Television Corp. In 1977, Flower City was sold to Post Corporation, a media conglomerate based in Wisconsin. George N. Gillett Jr. purchased the station from Post Corporation in August 1984 transferring it into Gillett Holdings, Inc. Hughes Broadcasting Partners (Paul Hughes and Veronis, Suhler & Associates) purchased the station in June 1991. Guy Gannett Communications acquired WOKR in April 1995. The Ackerley Group acquired the station from Guy Gannett Communications (who sold most of their stations to Sinclair Broadcast Group, which already owned WUHF Fox31 in Rochester, and at the time duopolies were illegal) in 1998, with the acquisition closing in April 1999. The station came under common ownership with Rochester's WHAM radio in June 2002 after Ackerley Group merged with Clear Channel, WHAM radio's owner. Speculation immediately started about whether WOKR would take on the WHAM-TV calls, which had last been used on Rochester television by what is now WROC-TV from 1949 to 1956.

On January 10, 2005 at 1:42 am, channel 13 signed off the air for the last time as WOKR and returned to the air at 4:59 am that same day as WHAM-TV.

WHAM has led the news ratings in Rochester for many years, and lead anchor Don Alhart has been at the station since 1966, as well as longtime local anchors Ginny Ryan and Doug Emblidge.

For many years WOKR-TV was one of 3 Rochester area stations offered on Cable in the Ottawa/Gatineau and Eastern Ontario regions. The Rochester area stations were replaced with Detroit stations in September 2003 when the microwave relay system that provided these signals was discontinued. Until January 2009, WHAM (formerly WOKR) was also the ABC affiliate carried in several Central Ontario communities such as Belleville, Cobourg and Lindsay. Buffalo ABC affiliate WKBW replaced WHAM in these communities.

On November 13 2006, WHAM-TV took over control of what was then Rochester's CW (now CW-WHAM), the cable-only CW affiliate previously operated by the Rochester division of Time Warner Cable. As a result, the station is now being simulcast on a subchannel of WHAM-DT.

On January 15, 2007, WHAM-TV began producing a four-hour, 5-9 AM morning newscast for CW-WHAM. WHAM itself simulcasts the first two hours of that newscast.

Portions of WHAM-TV's programming, including the noon newscast, are streamed on the Internet as of 2007.

On April 20, 2007, Clear Channel entered into an agreement to sell its entire television stations group to Newport Television, a broadcasting holding company established by the private equity firm Providence Equity Partners.[3] WHAM radio was not part of the sale to Providence Equity; nevertheless, the WHAM-TV callsign has been retained for the foreseeable future.

CW-WHAM History

The station was originally launched in 2000 as WRWB, a cable-only affiliate of The WB provided by Time Warner Cable. This lasted until September 17, 2006, when that network closed as part of The CW's formation. WRWB's CW affiliation was officially announced on March 7, 2006. [1] Time Warner owns The CW along with CBS Corporation. With the switch, the station's on-air identity changed from Rochester's WB16 to Rochester's CW (with a TV16 logo used to denote its cable channel) and the WRWB calls were laid aside.

On November 13, 2006, WHAM-TV took over Rochester's CW from Time Warner Cable, renamed the station CW-WHAM and added a new digital feed on WHAM's 13.2 subchannel. The station also moved its operations to the WHAM-TV facilities on West Henrietta Road. However, the station continues to air on Time Warner Cable's Channels 16 & 301 and in HD on Channel 1016.

On November 16, 2006, not long after it took over CW-WHAM, Clear Channel announced its intention to sell off all of its television stations, including CW-WHAM's parent station WHAM-TV, after the company was bought by private equity firms.

On January 15, 2007, WHAM-TV began producing a four-hour, 5-9 AM morning newscast for CW-WHAM. WHAM itself simulcasts the first two hours of that newscast.

On April 20, 2007, Clear Channel entered into an agreement to sell its entire television stations group to Providence Equity Partners.[2] WHAM's operation of CW-WHAM is expected to remain unchanged after the sale is finalized. Soon after the announcement, the station began to refer to itself as "CW 16" or "CW Rochester", as opposed to "CW-WHAM".

On September 8, 2007, CW-WHAM begun airing Next Era Wrestling's Superstars of Wrestling, a popular wrestling program filmed and produced locally for the Rochester audience. The show was canceled after 8 episodes.

News/Station Presentation

Newscast Titles

  • WOKR-TV News (1962-1964)
  • Channel 13 Newscope (1964-1969)
  • Channel 13 News (1969-1976)
  • Eyewitness News (1976-1982)
  • NewsCenter 13 (1982-1989)
  • NewsSource 13 (1989-2005)
  • 13 WHAM News (2005-present)

Station Slogans

  • 13 Country (1970s)
  • Keep Your Eye on Eyewitness News (late 1970s-1982)
  • NewsSource 13: Rochester's #1 Choice for News (early 1990s)
  • Where the News Comes First (mid-late 1990s)
  • Coverage You Can Count On (late 1990s-2005)
  • Your Breaking News & Weather Authority (2005-present)

News Music Packages

  • WOKR News
  • Home Country
  • Move Closer To Your World
  • Morning Break
  • Hello News
  • The Great News Package
  • Advantage

News team

Anchors

13 WHAM News @ 11

13 WHAM News @ 6

13 WHAM News @ 5

  • Doug Emblidge
  • Ginny Ryan
  • Glenn Johnson - Chief meteorologist
  • Mike Catalana - Sports Director

13 WHAM News Midday

  • Norma Holland
  • Mark McLean - Meteorologist

13 WHAM News This Morning

  • Doug Emblidge
  • Norma Holland
  • Holly Maynard
  • Evan Dawson
  • Marty Snyder - Meteorologist

13 WHAM News Weekend

  • Rachel Barnhart
  • Edward Moody
  • Mark McLean - Weather
  • Chuck Wade - Sports

Reporters

  • Rachel Barnhart
  • Liz Bonis - Health reporter
  • Sean Carroll
  • Jane Flasch
  • Susan Harf - Life Strategist
  • Ana Liss
  • Liz Medhin
  • Edward Moody
  • Elizabeth Schubert
  • Patrice Walsh

Weather

  • Glenn Johnson - Chief meteorologist
  • Mark McLean - Noon & Weekends
  • Marty Snyder - Mornings
  • Howard Manges
  • Stacey Pensgen

Sports

  • Mike Catalana - Sports Director
  • Chuck Wade - Weekend Sports Anchor/Reporter
  • Gene Battaglia - Fill-in Sports Anchor
  • Jason Fiume- Sports Reporter/Producer

Past personalities

  • David Aldrich - (2001-2005) (morning and noon meteorologist) now at WTXF-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Susan Ashline - (former reporter) now newspaper columnist for the Democrat & Chronicle and editor of www.Rochester.MomsLikeMe.com [1]
  • Rich Becker - (1996-99) (sports anchor) now sports director at WXXA-TV in Albany, New York
  • Pat Billone - (former meteorologist)
  • LaSalle Blanks - (1994-1997)(former Reports and anchor) now anchor at WVEC-TV in Hampton Roads, Virginia
  • Mike Brookins - (former meteorologist) now weekend meteorologist at WSTM-TV in Syracuse, New York
  • Traci Buch - (former sports anchor and reporter) now Marketing Manager for Reynolds Plantation Golf Community at Lake Oconee, Georgia.
  • Dick Burt - (news anchor 1962-1987) Retired in 1987 after 25 years of service to Channel 13, and died of a heart attack in 2001[4]
  • Jonathan Carlson - (reporter)- now a reporter/anchor at WSPA-TV in South Carolina
  • Jerry Carr - (original announcer and local game and children's show host) now station manager at WXEL-TV in West Palm Beach, Florida[5]
  • Mike Cidoni - (entertainment reporter 1988-2005) - is now the senior entertainment producer for Associated Press Television News in Los Angeles
  • Kyle Clark - (Former Reports and anchor)now with KUSA-TV in Denver, Colorado
  • Tor Constantino - (former reporter 1995-98) now works in corporate communications at a biotech company called MedImmune near Washington,DC
  • Tricia Cruz - (former Morning Reports) now Reporter WIVB-TV in Buffalo NY
  • Keith Eichner - (meteorologist) now fill-in meteorologist at WGRZ-TV in Buffalo, New York
  • Kathy Kriz - Special Projects Reporter
  • Darren Mark - (former Morning Reports) now at KSHB-TV Kansas City, Missouri
  • Jen Markham - (former Health Reporter) now weeknight anchor at YNN Buffalo in Buffalo, New York
  • Richard McCollough - (meteorologist) founder of McCollough's Award Winning (28 national awards including 7 Telly Awards) Mirusmedia Productions; now meteorologist at WSPA-TV in the Greenville/Asheville/Spartanburg market.
  • Wanda Miller - (former anchor) now professor at Rochester Institute of Technology
  • Kristen Miranda - (former anchor) now at WBTV Charlotte, North Carolina
  • Stan Munro - (former Morning Reports) is now engaged in creating art with toothpicks. Created Toothpick City sculpture.
  • Bill Peterson - (1982-2001) (chief meteorologist) Retired in 2001 for health reasons, and died of lung and heart disease on August 5, 2006[6]
  • Jim Redmond - (consumer reporter) now working at Excellus Blue Cross, Rochester New York
  • Gavin Reynolds - (former Reports) now studying law at Fordham University
  • Peter Robbins - (former Reports and anchor) now at West Palm Beach, Florida
  • Chalonda Roberts
  • Kevin Roche - Weekends
  • Brian Rooney - (1981-1985) (former reporter) now at ABC News. He is the son of CBS-TV commentator Andy Rooney.
  • Renee Starzyk - (1996-2000) now at CBS news Atlanta
  • Brian Washington - (former Reports and anchor) left for WSPA-TV in the border area of North Carolina and South Carolina
  • Christine Webb - (Former Health reporter) now with Central Florida News 13 in Orlando, Florida
  • Al White - (consumer reporter); retired after 16 years' service as investigative reporter for WWOR-TV New York; died May 9, 2006 of a heart attack

References

  • Fybush, Scott. "And Now...The CW?". NorthEast Radio Watch. fybush.com. Retrieved 2006-02-20. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |publishaccessyear= ignored (help)
  • Fybush, Scott. "Dominoes Tumble on Philly FM Dial". NorthEast Radio Watch. fybush.com. Retrieved 2006-08-17. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |publishaccessyear= ignored (help)

References

  1. ^ http://www.13wham.com/content/news/political/story/We-ll-Keep-the-Light-on-for-You/zeilTuc_TUKYY1uP_l0kIw.cspx
  2. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
  3. ^ "Clear Channel Agrees to Sell Television Station Group to Providence Equity Partners" (Press release). Clear Channel Communications. 2007-04-20. Retrieved 2007-04-20. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "Northeast Radio Watch, May 21, 2001". Scott Fybush. 2001-05-21. Retrieved 2007-04-06.
  5. ^ "Northeast Radio Watch, January 10, 2005". Scott Fybush. 2005-01-10. Retrieved 2007-04-06.
  6. ^ "Celebrating the Life of Bill Peterson". WHAM-TV. 2006-11-22. Retrieved 2007-01-14.

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