WPRI-TV
This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2019) |
kW | |
HAAT | 310.6 m (1,019 ft) |
---|---|
Transmitter coordinates | 41°52′14″N 71°17′43″W / 41.87056°N 71.29528°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website |
WPRI-TV (channel 12) is a television station in Providence, Rhode Island, United States, affiliated with CBS and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which provides certain services to dual Fox/CW affiliate WNAC-TV (channel 64) under a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Mission Broadcasting. The two stations share studios on Catamore Boulevard in East Providence, Rhode Island; WPRI-TV's transmitter is located on Pine Street in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.
History
WPRO-TV (1955–1967)
The station debuted on March 27, 1955, known as WPRO-TV (for Providence). It was Rhode Island's third television station and was owned and operated, along with WPRO radio (630 AM and 92.3 FM), by retailer Cherry & Webb. WPRO-TV was originally supposed to go on the air in 1953, but the station ran into several delays. It had originally planned to build a transmitter in Rehoboth, but legal disputes with town officials forced Cherry & Webb to find a site in Johnston, Rhode Island.
The station then planned to sign on in 1954, but
When WPRO-TV finally came on the air, ABC gave it right of first refusal for its more popular shows. Within less than a year, WNET had gone dark. This station continued to share ABC with WJAR until WTEV (channel 6, now WLNE-TV) signed-on in 1963.
Channel 12's studios were originally located on the top floor of 24 Mason Street in
Legendary Providence radio personality
WPRI (1967–present)
WPRO-TV was then sold to Poole Broadcasting (owners of
In 1989, Knight Ridder left the broadcasting business, selling WPRI and WTKR in Norfolk, Virginia, to Narragansett Television LP, a locally based firm. Narragansett Television sold WPRI to CBS in early 1995, making it a network owned-and-operated station (and one of the last such acquisitions prior to the Westinghouse Electric Corporation's purchase of the network). At midnight on September 10, 1995, WPRI reversed the 1977 swap with WLNE and officially rejoined CBS. It aired a vigorous promotion called "Survive the Switch" so television viewers in Providence would be prepared for this changeover.
In August 1995, Westinghouse bought CBS for approximately $6 billion. The merger was finalized on November 24. Westinghouse already owned
LIN TV era (2000–2014)
In 2000, Clear Channel was forced to sell WPRI as a condition of being allowed to buy additional radio stations in the Providence market.
On May 18, 2007, LIN TV announced that it was exploring strategic alternatives that could have resulted in the sale of the company. In October 2008, WPRI and sister station
LMA with WNAC-TV (1997–present)
Shortly after Clear Channel took over the station, WPRI entered in a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Fox affiliate WNAC (then owned by
When Sunrise bought WPRI from Clear Channel in early 2001, WNAC was sold to LIN TV due to FCC regulations forbidding common ownership of two of the four highest-rated stations in the same market. In this case, WNAC cannot be co-owned directly with WPRI. However, LIN TV was forced to put WNAC back on the market almost as soon as it closed on the station's purchase due to the ownership structures of Sunrise and LIN TV. Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst (forerunner to HM Capital Partners), a private-equity firm co-founded by Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars then-owner Tom Hicks, was the majority owner of LIN TV. At the same time, HMTF also controlled a large block of Sunrise stock. The FCC ruled that HMTF controlled enough Sunrise stock that the company could not own any stations in markets where LIN TV-owned a station as well.
Finally, in April 2002, LIN TV sold WNAC to Super Towers, Inc. (
Merger with Media General, then Nexstar (2014–present)
On March 21, 2014, LIN Media entered into an agreement to merge with Media General in a $1.6 billion deal. Because Media General already owned NBC affiliate WJAR and the two stations ranked as the two highest-rated stations in the Providence market in total day viewership, the companies were required to sell either WJAR or WPRI-TV to another station owner to comply with FCC ownership rules as well as planned changes to those rules regarding same-market television stations which would prohibit sharing agreements; the LMA involving WNAC would be included in the sale.[2][3][4] On August 20, 2014, Media General announced that it would keep WPRI and the LMA with WNAC and sell WJAR to Sinclair Broadcast Group, even though WJAR had higher ratings.[5][6] The merger was completed on December 19, 2014.[7]
On January 27, 2016, Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced plans to merge with Media General. The merger was completed on January 17, 2017.
WPRI-DT2
WPRI-DT2, branded on-air as MyRITV, is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated second
On October 22, 2010, WPRI began carrying
On October 1, 2009, WNAC-DT2 became the market's MyNetworkTV affiliate after the service was moved from the main WNAC feed.[10] Before this change, the main channel had aired the network in a secondary manner delaying weeknight prime time programming from 11:30 to 1:30 in the morning and Saturday prime time programming until early Sunday mornings from 12:30 to 2:30. In 2011, WNAC-DT2 televised local college basketball games on Wednesdays under the banner "Game Night".[11]
News operation
Traditionally, WPRI has been a solid, if usually distant, runner-up in the ratings to long-dominant WJAR. In the February and May 2010
Specifically, its broadcast weeknights at 11 p.m. has gained enormous popularity. As of the November 2010 sweeps period, this newscast on WPRI is the most watched in Rhode Island while WJAR continues its dominance in all other time periods.[12]
In September 1993, the station created a 30-minute 5 p.m. newscast, the first in the market. It was expanded to one hour in mid-1995.
In 1996, WPRI began producing the market's first nightly prime time newscast at 10 p.m. on WNAC, then titled Eyewitness News at 10 on Fox Providence. This was joined in April 1997 by a WJAR-produced show seen weeknights on WLWC entitled TV 28 News at 10. However, that was dropped in September when the WJAR LMA with WLWC ended. In 2004, an hour-long extension of WPRI's weekday morning show was added to WNAC at 7 a.m. branded as Eyewitness News This Morning on Fox Providence. It was eventually canceled, but was brought back early in 2009 as a lead-in to The Rhode Show.
WPRI and WNAC received an on-air overhaul introducing a new news set and updated graphics on March 17, 2008. LIN operated a shared Bell 206L3 Long Ranger helicopter with the registration N812TV branded as "News Chopper 12" until December 2008, which was shared with Connecticut sister station WTNH and had that station's imaging on the right, with WPRI's imaging on its left side.
On February 18, 2009, WNAC launched an hour-long lifestyle and entertainment magazine-type program called The Rhode Show that aired weekday mornings at 8 a.m. A new secondary set for the show was built with a fully functional kitchen. The show was previously hosted by the weekday morning news anchor teams— Vince DeMentri and Elizabeth Hopkins from February 2009 to March 2010, Patrick Little and Hopkins from March 2010 to November 2010, and Little and Danielle North from November 2010 to December 2011. A third alternating host for a period of one year was found annually through an open audition in a contest titled The Rhode Show Search for a Star. In 2008, Boston-area radio deejay Shawn Tempesta won the contest out of over 140 people. In 2009, Cranston comedian Ben Hague beat out over 100 other hopefuls. Bridgewater State University graduate Michaela Johnson of East Providence won the honor in 2010. During the week, The Rhode Show was streamed live on WNAC's website. The main channel re-aired the show weekday afternoons at 1 p.m. with WNAC-DT2 (MyRITV, now WPRI-DT2) doing the same at 4 p.m.
In December 2011, it was announced that on January 9, 2012, The Rhode Show would move to WPRI and would begin at 9 a.m. Michaela Johnson and former WPRO-FM personality Will Gilbert became permanent hosts of the show. Mary Larsen was selected as the third host in the 2011 Search for a Star contest. MyRITV continued to re-air the show at 2 p.m. on weekdays until 2013. In addition, Eyewitness News This Morning on Fox Providence was extended to fill the hour previously occupied by The Rhode Show. This newscast now airs between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m.[13]
WPRI operated a 24-hour local weather channel under the branding "Eyewitness News Pinpoint Weather Station", on Cox digital channel 125. It also aired on the second digital subchannels of WPRI and WNAC until 2007, but went cable-only due to children's programming restrictions (also known as E/I programming). It was then simulcast on weekends when the main channels of WPRI and WNAC signed off overnight. The weather channel was eliminated in 2010. Now during sign off hours on weekend overnights, a loop of the stations' Doppler radar is shown.
Along with its own
Eyewitness News has won the Massachusetts/Rhode Island Associated Press News Station of the Year award nine years in a row since 2004, its most recent coming in May 2012.[14]
WPRI and WNAC were the last stations in the market to upgrade their newscasts to high definition, though they were first to experiment with the format through promotional materials and debates during the election season in 2010. Set reconfiguration began on July 22, 2011. Newscasts in the interim aired from The Rhode Show studio. WJAR was the first in Rhode Island to have made the upgrade, on May 16, 2011, followed by WLNE on September 13, 2011. They debuted the new set and modified graphics on September 20, 2011, during their 5 p.m. newscast. On January 13, 2014, WPRI announced that it would be expanding its early evening news by launching a 6:30 p.m. newscast on WNAC on January 27.[15]
On August 31, 2020, WPRI dropped the Eyewitness News branding after 18 years; WPRI's newscasts are now branded as 12 News, while WNAC's newscasts are now branded as 12 News Now on Fox Providence.
WPRI's long-running weekend public affairs show, Newsmakers, debuted on September 17, 1978, and is still on the air. Its current hosts are Tim White and Ted Nesi.[16]
Notable former on-air staff
- Karen Adams – 5, 6 and 11 p.m. news anchor (1989–2010; now retired)
- Ernie Anastos – (news anchor, 1976–1978, later with various stations in New York City, was at WNYW)
- University of Maryland)
- Salty Brine – (concurrent with WPRO/630, deceased)
- Steve Cascione (meteorologist, 2002–2007, also formerly with WLNE-TV, now with the Rhode Island Department of Transportation)
- Walter Cryan – 6 and 11 p.m. news anchor, previously with WTEV-TV as "Wally" Cryan, (1965–2000; now retired)
- John Daly (later with New England Cable News)
- Vince DeMentri (news anchor, 1990–1992, 2009–2010 previously in New York City, last with WICS Springfield, Illinois)
- Mike Gorman (sports director, 1978–1985, now with NBC Sports Boston)
- Mark Haines (1976–1979; later with CNBC; now deceased)
- Kristine Johnson (news anchor/reporter, 1997–2006; now at WCBS-TV New York)
- Camille Kostek – Guest anchor for The Rhode Show in 2015
- WCVBBoston)
- Michelle Muscatello – meteorologist
- Deb Placey (sports anchor/reporter, now with MSG Network)
- Charles Rocket – (news anchor; later a cast member of Saturday Night Live, deceased)
- Bob Ryan (1971–1972; later at various stations in Washington, D.C.; now retired)
- Jack White (previously with the Cape Cod Times, deceased, father of current reporter Tim White)
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's signal is
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
12.1 | 1080i | 16:9 |
WPRI-HD | CBS |
12.2 | 720p | MYRI | MyNetworkTV | |
12.3 | 480i | TruCrim | True Crime Network | |
12.4 | Dabl | Dabl |
Analog-to-digital conversion
WPRI-TV received Federal Communications Commission (FCC) consent to discontinue regular programming on its analog signal, over
See also
- Channel 7 digital TV stations in the United States
- Channel 12 virtual TV stations in the United States
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WPRI-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ TV Station Mega Merger: Media General, LIN Set $1.6 Billion Deal from Variety (March 21, 2014)
- ^ Media General acquiring LIN Media for $1.6 billion, Los Angeles Times, March 21, 2014.
- ^ Media Gen/LIN To Sell/Swap In Five Markets, TVNewsCheck, March 21, 2014.
- ^ "Media General, LIN Sell Stations In 5 Markets". TVNewsCheck. August 20, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
- ^ McKinney, Mike (August 20, 2014). "Media General to sell Channel 10 WJAR to Sinclair Broadcast Group". The Providence Journal. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
- ^ Media General Completes Merger With LIN Media Archived December 19, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Press Release, Media General, Retrieved December 19, 2014
- ^ "WPRI 12/FOX Providence/myRITV to take ownership of The CW Providence". WPRI 12 Eyewitness News. September 25, 2017. Archived from the original on September 30, 2017. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
- ^ Malone, Michael (October 1, 2009). "WNAC Shifts MyNet to Digital Channel | Broadcasting & Cable". Broadcastingcable.com. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved June 26, 2014.
- ^ [1] Archived April 5, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "WJAR newcasts strong; WPRI gains slight edge in 11 p.m. slot - PBN.com - Providence Business News". www.pbn.com. Archived from the original on December 6, 2010.
- ^ "2012 to bring new Rhode Show co-hosts". FOXProvidence.com. Archived from the original on November 14, 2012. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
- ^ "WPRI named News Station of the Year". wpri.com. May 19, 2012. Archived from the original on May 21, 2012. Retrieved May 23, 2012.
- ^ McGowan, Dan (January 13, 2014). "Eyewitness News launching 6:30 p.m. news". WPRI.com. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
- ^ @TedNesi (September 17, 2020). "Big day for @TimWhiteRI and me: today is the 42nd anniversary of Newsmakers' premiere!The first episode ever aire…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Digital TV Market Listing for WPRI". rabbitears.info. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
- ^ Federal Communications Commission (February 13, 2009). "FCC Releases Lists of TV Stations' Responses to Requirements for Analog Termination on February 17, 2009" (PDF). DA 09-245. Retrieved February 13, 2009.
- ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.