WTVG
kW | |
HAAT | 306.8 m (1,007 ft) |
---|---|
Transmitter coordinates | 41°41′0″N 83°24′49″W / 41.68333°N 83.41361°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | www |
WTVG (channel 13) is a television station in Toledo, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC and The CW. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains studios on Dorr Street (SR 246) in Toledo, and its transmitter is located on Stadium Road in Oregon, Ohio.
History
Early years
The station signed on the air on July 21, 1948, as WSPD-TV, owned by
). The studios were originally located at 136 Huron Street in downtown Toledo. It was Toledo's first television station, and the first television station in the Storer Broadcasting chain.Originally, the station carried programming from all four television networks: ABC, NBC, CBS and DuMont.[2] However, it was a primary NBC affiliate,[2] owing to its radio sisters' long affiliation with NBC radio. DuMont shut down in 1955, leaving WSPD-TV affiliated with just the big three networks.[2]
In 1958, however, CBS moved its affiliation to newly signed-on
Storer also owned WJBK-AM-FM-TV in Detroit and WJW-AM-FM-TV in Cleveland. Both WJBK-TV and WJW-TV were longstanding CBS affiliates. WSPD-TV provided city-grade coverage to most of Detroit's suburbs, while its grade B signal could be seen in Detroit and Cleveland. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) grandfathered this situation under its "one-to-a-market" rule in the 1970s. Storer sold off WSPD-FM, WJW-FM, and the Detroit radio stations (by then WDEE-AM-FM) in the early 1970s, WJW radio in 1977, and WSPD radio in 1979,[citation needed] but kept channel 13, and as a result of an FCC rule in place then that stated that TV and radio stations in the same market, but with differing owners having to have different callsigns, became WTVG on October 1 of that year.[2] By then the studio building on Huron Street had been outgrown and WTVG moved into its current studio building in southwest Toledo on Dorr Street. As with most Storer stations, the studio's facade has a Georgian mansion design, complete with columns.
The Storer stations were taken over by
As an ABC-owned station
In 1994,
Capital Cities/ABC completed its purchase of the stations on August 29, 1995;[7] however, WTVG's NBC affiliation contract did not run out until October. On October 28, 1995, ABC moved to WTVG, sending the NBC affiliation to WNWO-TV.[2]
In 1996, Capital Cities/ABC was acquired by
Because of its status as an O&O, WTVG aired the
SJL Broadcasting ownership
On November 3, 2010, Broadcasting & Cable magazine announced that SJL Broadcasting, now owned by the principal owners of Lilly Broadcasting, made an agreement with Disney to buy back WTVG and WJRT, amid speculation that Disney may sell off ABC. Both stations retained their affiliations with ABC.[10] SJL teamed up with a new private equity partner, Bain Capital, whose affiliated offshoot Sankaty Advisors provided the capital for the purchases (which amounted to $16.8 million on WTVG's end of the $30 million deal). WTVG began being owned by SJL Broadcasting again beginning April 1, 2011.[11] On April 12, 2011, the new management dismissed around 20 people from a pre-sale work force of approximately 100—all behind-the-scenes staff—from the station, despite promising earlier that they would make no staff cuts. Similar cuts occurred at WJRT, though cuts there also involved that station's veteran newscasters Bill Harris and Joel Feick.[12]
On January 13, 2011, WTVG filed an application to the FCC to increase its power from 14.6
Sale to Gray Television
On July 24, 2014, SJL announced that it would sell WTVG and WJRT again, this time to Gray Television, owner of Lansing, Michigan's NBC affiliate WILX-TV, for $128 million—a value higher than that of their original sale to ABC. Gray also announced its intent to add The CW to WTVG's digital subchannels.[15] The sale was completed on September 15.[16]
On September 1, 2014, WTVG added The CW to its second digital subchannel to replace Live Well Network, acquiring the affiliation and syndicated programming from the previous
On June 25, 2018, Gray announced its intent to acquire Raycom Media in order to merge their respective broadcasting assets (consisting of Raycom's 63 existing owned-and/or-operated television stations, and Gray's 93 television stations) under Gray's corporate umbrella, in a cash-and-stock merger transaction valued at $3.6 billion. As such, Gray was able to sell either WTVG or both WTOL and WUPW (separately as it would break the grandfathered LMA), since WTOL and WTVG rank among the four highest-rated stations in the Toledo market in total day viewership. It was later decided that Gray would sell WTOL and the SSA for WUPW, and keep WTVG.[19][20][21][22][23][24] On August 20, 2018, Gray announced that they would retain WTVG and sell WTOL and the SSA for WUPW to rival broadcaster Tegna Inc., along with sister station in Odessa, Texas, KWES-TV for $105 million.[25] The deal was completed on January 2, 2019.[26]
On July 14, 2021, Gray announced it would sell WJRT-TV to Allen Media Group as part of its larger acquisition of the broadcasting assets of Meredith Corporation. As Gray elected to keep rival station WNEM-TV in the Flint market, the sale separated WJRT-TV from WTVG after 30 years as sister stations.[27] The sale was completed on September 23.[28][29]
News operation
WTVG presently broadcasts 43 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with seven hours each weekday and four hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). The station also produces a local discussion program, Bridges, which airs Sundays from 11:30 a.m. to noon in high definition.
WTVG ended the show Coffee with the Fords on June 19, 2011. The show was hosted by former Toledo mayor Jack Ford and his wife Cynthia. Coffee with the Fords was shown between 12:30–1 p.m. on Sunday afternoons and was on the air for over four years.[30]
WTVG also airs two special Friday night sports programs, Football Friday showcasing games across northwest Ohio, during the high school football season and Basketball Friday showcasing girls' and boys' games across northwest Ohio during the high school basketball season.
WTVG utilizes the
WTVG operated a 350,000-watt Doppler weather Radar named "Live Doppler 13000 HD". It was discontinued in 2018.
In 2011, WTVG received six
In June 2011, news anchors at WTVG began using iPads to read news stories instead of paper. WTVG is the first television station in Toledo to use the technology. WTOL began using iPads in late September 2011.
On April 4, 2012, WTVG announced that longtime chief meteorologist Stan Stachak would retire from the station at the end of May 2012. Stan Stachak has been at WTVG for over 30 years and became the chief meteorologist for the station back in 1980. Chief meteorologist Stan Stachak has overseen many technological advances during his 30-plus year tenure including the addition of Toledo's only Doppler weather radar in 2003. Stan Stachak stepped down as being the chief on April 20, 2012. Stachak's final broadcast was during the 11 p.m. newscast on May 27, 2012.[32][33]
On September 13, 2021, WTVG premiered a 4 p.m. newscast.[34]
High definition newscasts
On April 13, 2010, WTVG became the last ABC-owned station (as well as the first station in the Toledo market) to have upgraded its news productions to
Notable former on-air staff
- Ryan Burr (now at Golf Channel)
- Rob Powers (later sports director at WABC-TV in New York City, now at WEWS-TV)[35]
Subchannels
The station's signal is
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
13.1 | 720p | 16:9 |
WTVG HD | ABC |
13.2 | CW 13 | The CW | ||
13.3 | 480i | MeTV | MeTV | |
13.4 | The365 | The365
| ||
13.5 | ION | Ion Television | ||
13.6 | DABL | Dabl | ||
13.7 | WXN | WeatherNation
| ||
13.8 | OUTLAW | Outlaw |
See also
- Circle 7 logo – WTVG's Circle 13 logo is a derivative of the Circle 7 logo
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WTVG". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "WTVG TV Channel 13 Toledo, OH". michiguide.com. Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
- ^ Mattern, Hal (June 30, 1994). "Eye say! Channel 5 called up to majors: Homeless CBS picks longtime independent". The Arizona Republic. pp. A1, A7. Archived from the original on June 30, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Pullen, Doug (September 2, 1994). "Channel 5 Adds Weathercaster; Channel 25 Focuses On Health". Flint Journal. Flint, Michigan. pp. C16, C25. Archived from the original on April 29, 2023. Retrieved April 29, 2023 – via GenealogyBank.
- ^ Zier, Julie A. (October 10, 1994). "ABC, CBS make market moves" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable. Vol. 124, no. 11. p. 96. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 31, 2023. Retrieved April 28, 2023 – via World Radio History.
- ^ "Notes: Scramble for affiliates". The Journal Times Spectrum Sunday. Racine, Wisconsin. October 16, 1994. p. 2. Archived from the original on April 29, 2023. Retrieved April 29, 2023.
- ^ a b "Capital Cities-ABC Completes Buy of Two TV Stations". Associated Press News. August 30, 1995. Archived from the original on January 1, 2019. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
- ^ "ABC News banks on digital, despite small audiences today". USA Today. AP. September 4, 2004. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
- ^ Malone, Michael (April 27, 2009). "ABC O&Os Launch Digital Network". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
- ^ Broadcasting & Cable: "EXCLUSIVE: Disney to Sell Two Stations", November 3, 2010.
- ^ "Blade Test". Beta.toledoblade.com. March 19, 2011. Archived from the original on June 4, 2012. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
- ^ The Blade: "Ch. 13's new owners cut 20-plus jobs", April 12, 2011.
- ^ "CDBS Print". Licensing.fcc.gov. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ a b "Gray Buys Stations in Flint, Toledo For $128M". TVNewsCheck. July 24, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
- ^ Gray Closes on Flint, Toledo Station Buys, TVNewsCheck, Retrieved September 15, 2014
- ^ "CW Network has a new home!". WTVG. August 25, 2014. Archived from the original on August 27, 2014. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
- ^ Baird, Kirk (August 29, 2014). "TV in the news Channels 24, 13 expanding newscasts; CW13 to replace WT05". The Toledo Blade. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
- ^ "GRAY AND RAYCOM TO COMBINE IN A $3.6 BILLION TRANSACTION". Raycom Media (Press release). June 25, 2018. Archived from the original on June 25, 2018. Retrieved July 3, 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.
- ^ Hayes, Dade (June 25, 2018). "Gray Acquiring Raycom For $3.65B, Forming No. 3 Local TV Group". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation.
- ^ "What the Raycom/Gray merger means for WTOL and you". WTOL. Raycom Media. June 25, 2018. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
- Toledo Blade. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
- ^ "TEGNA to Acquire the Leading Television Stations WTOL in Toledo, OH, and KWES in Odessa-Midland, TX". Tegna Inc. August 20, 2018. Retrieved August 20, 2018.
- ^ "TEGNA Completes Acquisition of Leading Stations WTOL in Toledo, OH and KWES in Midland-Odessa, TX". TEGNA. January 2, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
- ^ "Allen Media Group Pays $70M To Acquire Gray Television's WJRT, An ABC Affiliate In Michigan". MSN Entertainment. July 14, 2021. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
- ^ "Notification of Consummation", Licensing and Management System, Federal Communications Commission, September 28, 2021, Retrieved September 29, 2021.
- ^ "Allen Media Group Closes $70 Million Purchase of WJRT From Gray TV", Broadcasting & Cable, September 23, 2021, Retrieved September 23, 2021.
- ^ "Fords' TV show ends run". Toledo Blade. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
- ^ "Ch. 13 gets 6 Emmys; Ch. 11, 3". Toledo Blade. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
- ^ "13abc's Stan Stachak announces retirement - 13abc.com: Breaking News, Weather and Sports". Archived from the original on April 7, 2012. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
- ^ Gauthier, Andrew (April 4, 2012). "Longtime Toledo Meteorologist Stan Stachak Retiring, WTVG Announces His Successor | TVSpy". Mediabistro.com. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
- ^ "WTVG in Toledo Launches 4 PM News, Makes Anchor Moves".
- ^ "WABC-TV: Rob Powers Bio | WABC News Team | 7online.com". Archived from the original on May 21, 2011. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
- ^ Digital TV Market Listing for WTVG