WFIE
kW | |
HAAT | 310 m (1,017 ft) |
---|---|
Transmitter coordinates | 37°53′14.2″N 87°31′7″W / 37.887278°N 87.51861°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | www |
WFIE (channel 14) is a television station in Evansville, Indiana, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Gray Television. The station's studios are located on Mount Auburn Road in Evansville, and its transmitter is located in the Wolf Hills section of Henderson, Kentucky.
History
WFIE was granted a
WFIE has always been an NBC affiliate, but originally carried secondary affiliations with ABC (shared with WEHT) and DuMont.[2] Both of those networks were dropped in August 1956 with the launch of WTVW (which took ABC) and the shutdown of DuMont. It is the only station in the market never to have changed its primary affiliation; as such, WFIE has the distinction of being the longest-tenured NBC affiliate in the state of Indiana. Also in 1956, WFIE became the area's first station to telecast color programming (by virtue of its NBC affiliation).
The Fine family sold the station to the George Norton family of
In October 1981, Orion merged with Cosmos Broadcasting Corporation, a subsidiary of insurance and broadcasting conglomerate
On February 1, 2006, Liberty Corporation merged with Raycom Media, with ownership remaining steady for over 12 years.
Sale to Gray Television
On June 25, 2018,
WFIE-DT2
WFIE-DT2 is the
History
As an NBC Weather Plus outlet
WFIE-DT2 was launched in fall 2005 as an affiliate of the NBC Weather Plus service, a 24-hour weather channel that provided regional and national weather information forecasts on a continuous basis, along with cut-ins of local weather forecasts from WFIE's weather forecasting team. WFIE's weather team provided the cut-ins for WFIE-DT2 during the entire existence of NBC Weather Plus. The channel's original branding was "First Alert Weather Now."
As "14Xtra"
In 2008, when the NBC Weather Plus was shut down and discontinued, it became a locally oriented weather channel until it was replaced by a local news-oriented format in the late quarter of 2008. It became an independent TV channel devoted to local news, weather, and sports in the Evansville media market. The channel was branded as 14Xtra. WFIE-DT2 also broadcast a prime time newscast weeknights at 9 p.m., which competed with CW affiliate WTVW's hour-long newscast.
MeTV affiliation
MeTV was first carried as a secondary affiliation of WTVW after that station lost their Fox network affiliation to
MeTV replaced the Movies! network on WFIE-DT3 (channel 14.3) for five days until it was replaced by a new movie network, Grit, a multicast network that specifically targets men in the 25–54 age group. To make room for the new Grit network, and in order for MeTV to remain available in the Evansville market, the full MeTV programming lineup was moved up to WFIE-DT2 at noon CT on October 28, 2014, after Grit made its Evansville debut on WFIE-DT3. After the switch, 14Xtra was no more.
Programming
WFIE-DT2 clears all of MeTV's programming since the subchannel switched to MeTV from a local news-formatted channel in 2014. Until 2016, the only other programming besides the full MeTV schedule was the syndicated
News operation
WFIE currently carries 32 hours of local newscasts per week (with six hours each weekday and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays); in addition, the station produces a half-hour weeknight-only newscast for its second digital subchannel, bringing the total amount to 34+1⁄2 hours per week. As a result of the merger of the news operations of WTVW and WEHT on December 1, 2011, WFIE and CBS affiliate WEVV-TV (channel 44) are now the only independent local news operations in the Evansville market.
In August 1977, the station became the first in Evansville to remotely broadcast local news, sports, and weather outside its studios. It was the second station in Indiana (first in Evansville) to build its own
On April 3, 2006, WFIE abandoned 615 Music's popular "News One" theme music in favor of "NBC Flagship" as part of "The NBC Collection" by Gari Communications. This marked the station's first theme change since 1996. In early-August 2006, it began branding its newscasts as 14 News dropping the NewsWatch 14 identity. In a further transition, the station rebranded the weather department under the "First Alert" label on September 22, 2006. This is a departure from the "Storm Team" brand used since the mid-1990s.
On April 16, 2007, WFIE introduced "Dual Doppler" to the market with the debut of a second weather radar in
On July 11, 2011, WFIE began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition during the station's 5 p.m. newscast, becoming the first station in the Evansville market to begin offering local newscasts in high definition. On September 12, 2011, WFIE debuted a 4 p.m. newscast that competes against the 4 p.m. show on ABC affiliate WEHT; Jackie Monroe served as anchor of the new late-afternoon newscast, which still airs on WFIE.[11]
WFIE maintains a "sister-station" relationship with a television station in the western Ukraine city of Ternopil.[citation needed]
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's signal is
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
14.1 | 1080i | 16:9 |
WFIE-DT | Main WFIE programming / NBC |
14.2 | 480i | MeTV | MeTV | |
14.3 | Circle | Circle
| ||
14.4 | Grit | Grit | ||
14.5 | Dabl | Dabl | ||
14.6 | TruCrim | True Crime Network | ||
14.7 | Defy | Defy TV |
Analog-to-digital conversion
WFIE discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WFIE". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ "The History of WFIE-TV". The Boneyard. Retrieved February 12, 2007.
- ^ ISBN 9781879688933.
- ^ "GRAY AND RAYCOM TO COMBINE IN A $3.6 BILLION TRANSACTION". Raycom Media (Press release). June 25, 2018.
- ^ Miller, Mark K. (June 25, 2018). "Gray To Buy Raycom For $3.6 Billion". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheckMedia. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
- ^ Eggerton, John (June 25, 2018). "Gray Buying Raycom for $3.6B". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media.
- ^ Hayes, Dade (June 25, 2018). "Gray Acquiring Raycom For $3.65B, Forming No. 3 Local TV Group". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation.
- ^ "FCC OK with Gray/Raycom Merger", Broadcasting & Cable, December 20, 2018, Retrieved December 20, 2018.
- ^ "Gray Completes Acquisition of Raycom Media and Related Transactions", Gray Television, January 2, 2019, Retrieved January 2, 2019.
- ^ "ACC Network Has Expanded National Reach" (PDF). Raycom Sports (via Press Release). July 1, 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 9, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
- ^ 14WFIE planning HD news launch on July 11, will add new 4PM newscast beginning Sept. 12, Jake's DTV Blog, June 28, 2011.
- ^ RabbitEars TV Query for WFIE
- ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved March 24, 2012.