WVIT
kW | |
HAAT | 450 m (1,476 ft) |
---|---|
Transmitter coordinates | 41°42′2″N 72°49′55″W / 41.70056°N 72.83194°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | www |
WVIT (channel 30) is a
History
Early years
WVIT signed on for the first time on February 13, 1953, as WKNB-TV, owned by the New Britain Broadcasting Company along with WKNB radio (840 AM, now WRYM).[3] The calls stood for Kensington–New Britain. It is Connecticut's second-oldest television station and the first on the UHF band.[4] It has been an NBC affiliate for nearly all of its history. However, during its first two and a half years, it carried CBS programming as one of two affiliates in Connecticut,[5] along with WNHC-TV (now WTNH) in New Haven. At the time, Hartford and New Haven were recognized by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as separate television markets; the commission would merge them into one market in 1954.
In January 1955, NBC announced it would purchase the WKNB stations for just over $600,000.[6] Though the network was acquiring both radio and television outlets, the key to the deal was channel 30–as one of the first UHF stations to be owned by a major network, the FCC encouraged the networks to expand their owned-and-operated holdings to include outlets in the new band to help ensure its viability. Indeed, NBC made plans to boost channel 30's signal to cover the entire market.
WKNB-TV began carrying the full NBC programming schedule in October 1955. The FCC approved the sale to NBC in December 1956, nearly two years after it was first announced.[7] The network then renamed channel 30 WNBC (for New Britain, Connecticut) in January 1957.[8][9][10] In its first stint as an NBC-owned station, channel 30 failed to gain much headway in the ratings, largely because television manufacturers were not required to include UHF tuning capability until 1964. Viewers had to buy an expensive converter to watch WNBC, and even with one the picture was barely viewable. In addition, plans to relocate the station's tower and to boost transmission power never moved forward.
In September 1957, the Hartford-based
In 1966, WHNB-TV became, once again, one of two NBC affiliates in Connecticut; the network signed with
Viacom and NBC ownership
In the summer of 1977, Plains Television announced it would sell WHNB-TV to
Viacom purchased
On December 4, 2017, NBCUniversal announced that it would buy
Programming
On June 16, 2017, WVIT announced that it would not air that week's edition of Otherwise, the station clears the entire NBC lineup.
News operation
This section needs expansion with: early history of WVIT's news operation. You can help by adding to it. (November 2020) |
On June 13, 2016, WVIT became the second station in Connecticut to debut a 4 p.m. newscast.[36] On the same day, WVIT began using Artworks' new "Look N" standardized graphics that were first adopted by sister station WNBC, while its music changed to 615 Music's "The Tower", which was first adopted in 2000 by sister stations WMAQ-TV and KNBC.
On June 7, 2021, WVIT debuted its 7 p.m. newscast, becoming the first and only station in Connecticut to have a prime time newscast.
Notable former on-air staff
- Chris Berman (now sportscaster for ESPN since 1979)
- Van Hackett
- Brian Kilmeade (now political commentator for Fox News)
- Rob Marciano (now senior meteorologist for ABC News)
- Natalie Morales (later with NBC News, now with the CBS Daytime talk show The Talk)
- Rob Morrison
- Beasley Reece (formerly with KYW-TV in Philadelphia from 1998 to 2015)
- Brian Shactman (now with CNBC)
- Chris Wragge (now with WCBS-TV)
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's signal is
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
30.1 | 1080i | 16:9 |
WVIT-HD | Main WVIT programming / NBC |
30.2 | 480i | COZI-TV | Cozi TV | |
30.3 | NBCLX | NBC LX Home | ||
30.4 | OXYGEN | Oxygen |
Digital subchannel 30.2 carried
Analog-to-digital conversion
WVIT shut down its analog signal, over
Spectrum auction repack
On August 2, 2019, WVIT was moved from channel 35 to channel 31.
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WVIT". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ "New TV grantees prepare plans" (PDF). Broadcasting – Telecasting. February 23, 1953. p. 62. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
- ^ Gross, Julian. "UHF is television too." Broadcasting – Telecasting, July 6, 1953, pp. 84, 86, 88, 90. Accessed January 5, 2019. [3][4][5][6]
- ^ "WKNB-TV signs; CBS-TV affiliation announced" (PDF). Broadcasting – Telecasting. January 5, 1953. p. 75. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
- ^ "Power plays take shape in television networking" (PDF). Broadcasting – Telecasting. January 10, 1955. p. 27. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
- ^ "NBC gets green light on New Britain buy" (PDF). Broadcasting – Telecasting. December 17, 1956. p. 81. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
- ^ "NBC rechristens WKNB-TV to WNBC(TV) West Hartford" (PDF). Broadcasting – Telecasting. January 14, 1957. p. 100. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
- ^ "WNBC (TV) advertisement" (PDF). Broadcasting – Telecasting. January 14, 1957. p. 77. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
- ^ "For the record–Station authorizations, applications–Existing TV stations–Call letters assigned" (PDF). Broadcasting – Telecasting. January 21, 1957. p. 108. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
- ^ "NBC sells WNBC (TV) to Scheftel group." Broadcasting, June 29, 1959, pp. 73–74. Accessed December 30, 2018. [7][8]
- ^ "Changing Hands." Broadcasting, September 28, 1959, pp. 98–100. Accessed December 30, 2018. [9][10]
- ^ "Conn. sale protest dismissed by FCC." Broadcasting, November 30, 1959, pp. 70–71. Accessed December 30, 2018. [11][12]
- ^ "WRCA to be WNBC?" (PDF). Broadcasting. April 4, 1960. p. 88. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
- ^ "For the record–Station authorizations, applications–Existing TV stations–Call letters assigned" (PDF). Broadcasting. May 9, 1960. p. 100. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
- ^ "WATR-TV joining NBC-TV" (PDF). Broadcasting. July 25, 1966. p. 66. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
- ^ W79AI
- ^ W59AA New Haven
- ^ "Viacom gets into station ownership" (PDF). Broadcasting. June 20, 1977. p. 28. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
- ^ "For the Record–Call letters–Grants–Existing TVs" (PDF). Broadcasting. August 7, 1978. p. 67. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
- ^ "WVIT/Katz Television Continental advertisement" (PDF). Broadcasting. June 12, 1978. p. 12. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
- ^ "WVIT/Katz Television Continental advertisement" (PDF). Broadcasting. December 24, 1979. p. 2. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
- ^ "WATR-TV decides to go it alone" (PDF). Broadcasting. February 22, 1982. p. 72. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
- ^ Lender, Jon (June 11, 1993). "WVIT Leases Time on WTXX as WTIC Protests". Hartford Courant. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
- ^ Foisie, Geoffrey, and Christopher Stern. "Viacom, Paramount say 'I do.'" Broadcasting and Cable, September 20, 1993, pp. 14–16. Accessed January 5, 2019. [13][14][15]
- ^ Foisie, Geoffrey. "At long last: Viacom Paramount." Broadcasting and Cable, February 21, 1994, pp. 7, 10, 14. Accessed January 5, 2019. [16][17][18]
- ^ Flint, Joe (December 18, 1995). "Viacom Group Merged Under Par's Cassara". Variety. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
- ^ Zier, Julie A., and Steve McClellan. "Minority-led group eyes Viacom stations." Broadcasting and Cable, November 7, 1994, pp. 6. Accessed January 5, 2019. [19]
- ^ McClellan, Steve (August 4, 1997). "NBC, Paramount swap stations" (PDF). Broadcasting and Cable. p. 12. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
- ^ Keveney, Bill. "Managers, reporter fired in WVIT-TV shakeup". Hartford Courant. Retrieved November 24, 2018.
- ^ Miller, Mark K. (December 4, 2017). "NBCU Adding ZGS Stations To Telemundo". TVNewsCheck. Archived from the original on December 6, 2017. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
- ^ "FCC Broadcast Television Spectrum Incentive Auction Auction 1001 Winning Bids" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. April 4, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
- ^ "NBCU Completes ZGS Stations Buy". TVNewsCheck. February 1, 2018. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
- ^ Otterson, Joe (June 16, 2017). "Connecticut NBC Station Will Not Air Megyn Kelly's Alex Jones Interview". Variety. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
- ^ Chris Ariens (June 16, 2017). "NBC Connecticut NBC Station Won't Air Megyn Kelly Interview with Alex Jones". TVNewser. AdWeek. Retrieved June 17, 2017.
- ^ "4 NBC Stations to Launch Afternoon Newscast". January 4, 2016.
- ^ RabbitEars TV Query for WVIT
- ^ List of Digital Full-Power Stations