WLWT
FCC | |
Facility ID | 46979 |
---|---|
ERP | 880 kW |
HAAT | 309.2 m (1,014 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 39°7′27″N 84°31′18″W / 39.12417°N 84.52167°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | www |
WLWT (channel 5) is a
History
The Crosley/Avco years
WLWT was established by the
WLWT counts itself as the first television station outside the Eastern U.S. (other than network-owned stations) to become a primary NBC television affiliate, but originally carried programming from all the major television networks of the time: NBC,
In addition to WLWT and WLWC, Crosley also operated stations in nearby markets, WLWD (channel 2, now
The three WLW television stations in Ohio were NBC affiliates, and carried common programming along with WLWI in Indianapolis (an ABC affiliate). Most of these shows were produced at the WLWT studios on Crosley Square, and included The Ruth Lyons 50-50 Club (later hosted by Bob Braun after Lyons' retirement in 1967), the Paul Dixon Show and Midwestern Hayride; some of these programs were syndicated regionally to other stations outside of the Crosley group.
In 1957, WLWT became the first station in the Cincinnati market to begin color television broadcasts.[9] It later became the first station in the nation to broadcast entirely in color,[10] giving Cincinnati the nickname "Colortown U.S.A." by 1962.[5] For a period during the 1970s, the station's slogan was "5, The Originator", in reference to all of the local programming that was produced by the station.
The Crosley broadcast division took the name of its parent company in 1968, becoming Avco Broadcasting Corporation. In 1969, the FCC enacted its
Later years
In the mid-1970s, Avco decided to exit broadcasting and sold all of its stations to separate buyers. WLWT was the next to last to be sold, going to Multimedia, Inc. in March 1976.[11][12][13] As a result, the stations all lost their grandfathered protection, which led to an ownership conflict situation which Hearst-Argyle (predecessor to today's Hearst Television) would encounter two decades later (the FCC has since relaxed its adjacent-market ownership rules). All of the "WLW Network" TV stations except for flagship WLWT would change their call signs, leaving WLWT as the only one with any physical evidence that it was connected to WLW radio, a station that ironically would be a sister station to WLWT's rival WKRC-TV years later. Multimedia would later acquire Avco Program Sales and with it, the regional syndication rights to Braun's program, along with The Phil Donahue Show; the resulting subsidiary, Multimedia Entertainment, was initially based at WLWT.
In July 1995, the
Argyle merged with the broadcasting unit of the
WLWT briefly aired
In June 1999, WLWT moved its studios from Crosley Square to the
In June 2007, WLWT announced that it would partner with WLW (AM) to provide news and weather for the radio station. As a consequence, WLWT's news and weather updates were heard nationwide on WLW's XM Satellite Radio channel, at channel 173; the agreement with XM ended in the summer of 2008. WLWT and WLW shared news and weather operations for years while both were owned by Crosley Broadcasting, but eventual separate ownerships of the two stations (WLWT to Argyle, then Hearst Television; WLW to Clear Channel) led to WLW radio using the resources of WKRC-TV for several years until the renewed partnership with its former television sister. The modern WLW-WLWT partnership ended on March 31, 2010; WLWT currently provides news and weather to several Cincinnati radio stations.
The transmission tower seen at the beginning of the 1978–1982 CBS sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati actually belonged to WLWT—it was located at the WLWT transmitter at 2222 Chickasaw Street. That red and white tower stood side by side with WLWT's current strobed tower until 2005, when it was dismantled.[20]
On July 9, 2012, WLWT's parent company Hearst Television was involved in a dispute with
In 2014, the station aired a to overnight hours, with voting limited to the internet during the program's normal timeslot.
Programming
WLWT clears most of the NBC programming schedule. However, the station airs the network's Saturday lineup out of pattern. WLWT delays NBC's educational block, The More You Know, by one hour due to a 10 a.m. newscast. The station also airs the Saturday edition of NBC Nightly News on a half-hour tape delay at 7 p.m. due to an hour-long 6 p.m. newscast.
Sports coverage
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds baseball team, also owned by Crosley until 1961, broadcast its games over WLWT from 1947 through 1995. The station also fed the games to a network of stations that covered Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia, and Tennessee (and included some of its Crosley-owned sister stations). It continued originating Reds games long after most "Big Three" stations dropped local sports programming. The station also aired any nationally televised Reds games through NBC's MLB broadcast contract from its 1948 sign-on until 1989, including their back-to-back World Series titles in 1975 and 1976.
Waite Hoyt was the original play-by-play announcer on WLWT, in a simulcast with WLW Radio. George Bryson Sr. replaced him in 1956. When Ed Kennedy became the play-by-play announcer in 1961, he would remain for 11 seasons, working with Frank McCormick for eight seasons. Also calling games on WLWT were Ken Wilson, Charlie Jones, Bill Brown,
Citing economic reasons along with declining ratings and pressure from NBC, WLWT did not renew its contract following the 1995 season.[26]
WLWT returned to broadcasting Reds games in 2024, albeit only the Opening Day game, in a simulcast with Bally Sports Ohio.[27]
Cincinnati Bengals
In 1968, when the Cincinnati Bengals were enfranchised by the American Football League, channel 5 became the station of record for the team as Avco acquired broadcast rights to the team's preseason games, which were also distributed to Dayton, Columbus, and Indianapolis. WLWT would also carry most regular-season Bengals games through NBC's contracts with the AFL and the National Football League through the end of the 1997 season, when NBC lost its broadcast rights to the American Football Conference to CBS. In the present-day WLWT airs Bengals games when they are featured on NBC's Sunday Night Football as well as ESPN's Monday Night Football, a benefit of WLWT owner Hearst's 20 percent stake in the sports network. The station has aired the Bengals' appearances in Super Bowls XXIII and LVI.
News operation
WLWT presently broadcasts 42 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 6+1⁄2 hours each weekday, 4+1⁄2 hours on Saturdays and five hours on Sundays). As of February 2012[update], WLWT generally had the third-rated local newscasts in the Cincinnati market; however, it has been showing steady ratings growth in its newscasts in recent years. WLWT now places #1 or #2 in all newscasts in the key adult demographics. It was the number one rated newscast in the city for several years when Jerry Springer served as anchorperson.[28]
On April 20, 2013, WLWT became the fourth and final Cincinnati television station to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in
In the mid-2000s through the early 2010s, the station maintained a
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's signal is
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
5.1 | 1080i | 16:9 |
WLWT-HD | NBC |
5.2 | 480i | WLWT-ME | MeTV | |
5.4 | STORY | Story Television | ||
5.5 | GET TV | GET | ||
64.1 | 720p | 16:9 | WSTR | MyNetworkTV (WSTR-TV) |
NBC Weather Plus ceased network operations in late 2008;[32] however, WLWT continued to broadcast local weather programming as "News 5 Weather Plus" on its digital subchannel until June 30, 2011. The subchannel switched to MeTV on July 1, 2011.[33][34]
Analog-to-digital conversion
WLWT discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over
As part of the
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WLWT". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ Cooper, Bob (February 15, 2000). "Why don't US TV Sets have a Channel 1?". Official WTFDA Club Website. Worldwide TV-FM DX Association. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved February 1, 2009.
- ^ Thomas, David (2002). "Liberace, Springer Only Part of WLWT's History". WLWT.com. Hearst-Argyle Television. Archived from the original on May 24, 2011.
- ^ "Crosley Cincinnati TV Station Becomes WLWT" (PDF). Broadcasting. February 2, 1948. p. 58. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
- ^ Gannett Company. Retrieved January 31, 2009.
- ^ "Local Historic Landmarks". City of Cincinnati. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
- ^ Broadcasting - Telecasting, May 19, 1952, pg. 78. "TV coverage; RTMA predicts expansion." Archived March 9, 2013, at WebCite
- ^ Broadcasting - Telecasting, December 15, 1952, pg. 41. "Crosley is granted; FCC okays channel changes."
- ^ "WLW Radio & Television". Cincinnativiews. October 3, 2008. Retrieved January 31, 2009.
- ^ Horstman, Barry M. "John T. Murphy". Great Living Cincinnatians. Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber. Archived from the original on October 24, 2012. Retrieved October 12, 2013.
- ^ Hoffman, Steven (June 10, 1975). "Avco sells WLWT, WLW goes next". The Cincinnati Enquirer. Cincinnati, OH. Retrieved February 12, 2020.(subscription required)
- ^ "Liquidation of Avco group nears the end" Broadcasting, June 16, 1975, pp. 38-39. Accessed February 12, 2020. [1][2]
- ^ Hoffman, Steven (January 17, 1976). "WLWT transfer to Multimedia okayed". The Cincinnati Enquirer. Cincinnati, OH. p. A-8. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
- ^ "THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Expanding in TV, Gannett Agrees to Buy Multimedia". The New York Times. July 25, 1995.
- ^ "Gannett, Multimedia announce merger agreement" (Press release). Gannett Company. December 4, 1995. Archived from the original on January 7, 2013.
- ^ Jim Stafford (December 2, 1995). "Sale Due For KOCO in Merger". The Daily Oklahoman. Oklahoma Publishing Company. Retrieved October 18, 2017.
- ^ "Gannett Deal Yields Ownership Conflict". The Journal Record. The Journal Record Publishing Company. July 26, 1995. [dead link]
- ^ "Gannett license reapplication order". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
- ^ "WLWT to leave downtown". Cincinnati Business Courier. American City Business Journals. September 3, 1998. Retrieved January 31, 2009.
- ^ "A selection from a decade of visits to tower and studio sites in the Northeast and beyond".
- ^ Thielman, Sam (July 10, 2012). "Hearst and Time Warner Cable Part Ways Over Retrans". www.adweek.com.
- ^ Bachman, Katy (July 11, 2012). "Imported Signals in Retrans Fight Raise Regulatory Questions". www.adweek.com.
- ^ Orlando Sentinel: "WESH off Bright House; Pennsylvania station is substitute", July 10, 2012. Archived July 14, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Nexttv | Programming| Business | Multichannel Broadcasting + Cable | www.nexttv.com". NextTV. October 26, 2023.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original (PDF) on March 26, 2009. Retrieved April 12, 2008.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "EveryZing - YouTube.com: WLWTTV - WLWT-TV: 50 Years on 5 - Part 10". Archived from the original on October 7, 2008. Retrieved April 12, 2008.
- ^ Keel, Fletcher (March 25, 2024). "2024 Reds Opening Day vs. Nationals: How to watch". WLWT.com. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
- ISSN 0746-8210. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
A resident of Loveland, [Jerry] Springer is married with a 15-year-old daughter...
- ^ "Multimedia: WLWT debuts new HD set & newscast". Archived from the original on April 25, 2013. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
- ^ "What Do The Weather Lights Mean?". WLWT.com. Hearst Television. April 17, 2009. Archived from the original on March 10, 2012. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
- ^ "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info.
- ^ Greppi, Michele (October 7, 2008). "NBC Shutting Down Weather Plus". TelevisionWeek. Crain Communications. Archived from the original on November 19, 2008. Retrieved November 27, 2008.
- ^ "WLWT To Launch Me-TV". Archived from the original on April 6, 2012. Retrieved June 11, 2011.
- Gannett Company. Retrieved April 27, 2011.
- ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013.
- ^ "DTV Transition Status Report". Federal Communications Commission. January 2008.
- ^ "UPDATED List of Participants in the Analog Nightlight Program" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. June 12, 2009. Retrieved June 4, 2012.