WBAY-TV: Difference between revisions
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*Emily Matesic, reporter |
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*Matt Smith, reporter |
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Revision as of 23:55, 12 May 2009
{{Infobox broadcast}} may refer to:
- Template:Infobox broadcasting network
- Template:Infobox television channel
- Template:Infobox television station
If an internal transclusion led you here, you may wish to change it to point directly to the intended page.
{{Template disambiguation}} should never be transcluded in the main namespace.
WBAY-TV, channel 2, is the ABC television affiliate in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It broadcasts on VHF channel 2 (analog) and UHF channel 23 (digital). It signed on the air on March 17, 1953 as the second television station in Wisconsin, after WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee. It is currently owned by Young Broadcasting. Its transmitter is located in Ledgeview, Wisconsin.
History
The station was originally owned by the Norbertine Order of Priests, whose abbey is in nearby De Pere. The priests run St. Norbert College in De Pere and already operated radio stations in Green Bay and Appleton. After carrying multiple networks in its early years, the station became a primary CBS affiliate, and benefited from that network's coverage of National Football League games, primarily of the Green Bay Packers. Packers games drew up to a 90 percent share of the audience during the 1960s success of teams coached by Vince Lombardi, and the station carried "The Vince Lombardi Show." The station also originated the team's exhibition game coverage from the 1960s to 2002 with some exceptions. Main anchor Bill Jartz has been Lambeau Field's PA system announcer since the start of the 2005-2006 season. The station has continued to air Monday Night Football Packer games originating from ESPN since the 2006 season.
In the mid-1970s, WBAY-TV was sold to Nationwide Communications, Inc., which operated the station until 1993, when it was sold to Young Broadcasting.
CBS purchased the assets of Midwest Television in that same year to acquire their long-time strong Twin Cities affiliate WCCO-TV/AM; Midwest also owned Channel 2's longtime competitor, then-ABC affiliate WFRV/WJMN (Channel 5/3). CBS considered WBAY a strong affiliate, trying to sell WFRV/WJMN after closing the deal with Midwest. FCC rules were relaxed at the time to allow one entity to own more stations, so the network decided to keep the two stations and affiliate WFRV/WJMN with their own network in 1992, giving Channel 2 affiliation with ABC. In 2007, CBS sold WFRV/WJMN to Liberty Media.
WBAY insisted that the change take place on or near the anniversary of their sign-on date, March 17. Since that date fell on a Tuesday in 1992, WFRV and WBAY swapped networks on Sunday, March 15, with "TV-2" joining ABC.
The station also pre-empts the first hour (7 to 8PM CST) of the ABC lineup on Tuesday evenings during the football season to carry Tuesday Night Touchback, which was formerly known as Monday Night Countdown before it was moved in 2007 because of Dancing with the Stars and the departure from ABC of Monday Night Football. ABC's Tuesday night 7 to 8PM hour airs early Wednesday morning after Jimmy Kimmel Live during the football season.
The station's headquarters in downtown Green Bay was built in 1924 as a former Knights of Columbus clubhouse and later was turned into a private Roman Catholic high school during the Great Depression when the Norbertines took over the building. The former gymnasium/auditorium is now called the WBAY Auditorium and is used as the studio for the station's Cerebral Palsy telethon. During the early years of WBAY, it served as the main studio until 1954 when an addition was built behind the main building. The auditorium has also been used for local theatrical productions. The station's newsroom is in the basement of the building in an area that originally held a swimming pool and bowling alley. The WBAY building also served as the home of the WBAY radio stations (now WTAQ and WIXX), which were later purchased by Midwest Communications in the late 1970's, but remained in the building until Midwest build a new facility for them in 2007 and a news-weather sharing agreement maintained for many years was discontinued in favor of WLUK.
The station also sponsors the yearly "WBAY Boating Show" and the "WBAY RV and Camping Show", both held in the winter months at the Brown County Arena/Shopko Hall, along with a Boy Scout door-to-door food drive ("Scouting for Food") in the fall.
Digital subchannels
WBAY utilizes their digital channel 23 for multicasting purposes, with WBAY's primary signal being carried on 2-1 in ABC's 720p resolution. The station currently only transmits the ABC schedule and ESPN HD broadcasts of Monday Night Football in high definition.
Stormcenter 2 24/7 (2-2)
WBAY carries a local weather channel called Stormcenter 2 24/7, which is a local equivalent of ABC's O&O AccuWeather subchannels, or NBC's Weather Plus service, over their 2-2 digital subchannel, and also over the digital cable systems of Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications, and Comcast of Manitowoc. Like the digital weather channels of other Young stations, the channel is produced in-house with no outside assistance, and is fully automated using the station's weather computers. The loop usually consists of a weather forecast from one of the station's meteorologists, followed by current conditions, radar, travel weather, an outdoors forecast and almanac data such as temperature averages, sunrise and sunset times and the local pollen count, followed by a loop of WBAY's skycam network (Green Bay, Appleton, Oshkosh and Manitowoc). Seasonal conditions such as snow depth, foliage, boat & beach weather and such also appear in the loop within their respective seasons. Local conditions provided by WeatherBug for several cities appear on the right side of the screen, while the five-day forecast and a weather ticker appear on the bottom; during severe weather, a severe weather message ticker and warning map take up the ticker and five-day space, as shown to the left. Currently only weather, limited advertising (for weather partner Cellcom and other advertisers) and station promotions (customized for each season) air during commercial breaks.
The subchannel is also used for local long-form news coverage, such as carrying full coverage of the Steven Avery murder trial in Chilton in 2006. Six episodes of Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures, an E/I-compliant program (required on digital subchannels by the FCC at the start of 2007) air on Stormcenter 2 24/7 weekdays full-screen during the station's 5pm newscast and during the station's 8am Saturday morning newscast to provide continuous weather coverage on the station despite the regulations. The "24/7" title was formerly a misnomer due to WBAY continuing to go off-the-air for 3 1/2 hours on early Saturday and Sunday mornings, but since February 2008 the subchannel also streams online through the station's website 24/7, even during E/I programming and off-the-air periods.
RTN 2-3
In January 2008, the station launched a DT3 subchannel for Equity Broadcasting's Retro Television Network called RTN 2-3, which features classic sitcoms and dramas customized to avoid any conflicts with other Green Bay stations already carrying some RTN shows. 2-3's E/I programming airs in one three hour block on Saturday mornings, and operations for the station (including voiceovers and transmission to WBAY) are maintained by RTN, including local commercials and promotions (although currently due to RTN's distribution conflicts, the station is running the national RTN feed and leaving a 24/7 station identification on-screen at all times). The subchannel is also carried by the same systems as Stormcenter 2 24/7 [1].
Digital transition
On June 12, 2009, WBAY-TV will leave channel 2 and move to channel 23 when the analog to digital conversion is complete.[1]
Telethon
WBAY-TV holds the record for the longest running telethon on the same channel, airing the Cerebral Palsy Telethon, which has broadcast on the station since 1954. The telethon originally aired for 22 hours from Saturday 8pm-Sunday 6pm, but currently breaks between 12 midnight and 6am, as the station signs off in the overnights during weekends. Past hosts of the telethon have included Raymond Burr, Dennis James (who would later host the United Cerebal Palsy national telethon), and Tom Wopat. Currently the telethon is a local-only effort, using local broadcasters and people to host the marathon program, and the funds raised benefit the local organization, Cerebral Palsy, Inc. Before the sale of the WBAY stations by the Norbertine Fathers, the telethon was simulcast over WBAY AM (later WGEE, now WTAQ) and WBAY-FM (now WIXX).
WBAY's Cerebal Palsy telethon both pre-dated and succeeded the national telethon for United Cerebal Palsy, which ran on numerous stations nationwide from the mid-1970s to the late-1990s.
Sunday Mass
The station continues to air a Sunday Mass on Sunday mornings, as it has since signing on under the ownership of the Norbertine Fathers. After the sale of the station from them however, the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay pays WBAY-TV to have the program produced from funds that currently come out of that Diocese's "Bishop Appeals" account.
Station Logo History
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The first generation of the 'Circle 2' logo, used from 1986-March 1992. This logo remained in use with the ABC affilation in some uses (such as print advertising) during the second generation of the 'Circle 2'
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Second generation of the 'Circle 2', used since March 1992
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Third and current generation of the 'Circle 2' logo with a solid red background, used since March 2003
News team
Anchors/Reporters
- Bill Jartz, evening anchor
- Cami Rapson, evening anchor
- Kevin Rompa, morning and noon anchor
- Kathryn Bracho, morning anchor/health reporter
- Jeff Alexander, 4pm anchor/reporter
- Sarah Thomsen, 4pm anchor/reporter
- Jenn Karlman, weekend morning anchor/reporter
- Marcie Kobriger, weekend anchor/reporter
- Natalie Arnold, Fox River Valley reporter
- Kristin Byrne, reporter
- Sara Kronenberg, reporter
- Emily Matesic, reporter
- Matt Smith, reporter
- Jason Zimmerman, reporter
StormCenter 2
- George Graphos, evening
- Brad Spakowitz, weekend evening
- Justin Zollitsch, morning
- Steve Beylon, weekend morning
Action 2 Sports
- Chris Roth
- John Gillespie
- Michelle Tuckner
Past Personalities
- Chuck Ramsay (retired)
- Mary Smits
- Tom Zalaski (now at WFRV)
- Tim Hunt
- Doug Higgins (now at WLUK)
- Jerry Burke (retired)
- Lorene Wagner (later worked for WTMJ-TV, then WSYX)
- Judy Markee (now at WWMT)
- Paul Daniel
- Michelle Tuzee (now at KABC)
- Hazel Sanchez (now at WCBS)
- Sula Kim (now at WVEC)
- Lisa Manna (now at WTMJ)
- Mick Trevey (now at WTMJ)
- Adam Aaro, reporter
- Jenny Marland, reporter
- Orion Samuelson (1950s, now at WGN)
- Larry Wentz (now at KCAU-TV in Sioux City, Iowa)
- Ben Tracy (now correspondent for the CBS Evening News)
- Gary Horcher (now at KIRO-TV in Seattle, WA)