WIBW-TV
Encyclopedia
WIBW-TV is the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

-affiliated television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...

 for Topeka, Kansas
Topeka, Kansas
Topeka |Kansa]]: Tó Pee Kuh) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is situated along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...

. It broadcasts a digital signal on VHF channel 13 and its digital translator on UHF channel 44. Both operating frequencies are transmitted in Maple Hill
Maple Hill, Kansas
Maple Hill is a city in Wabaunsee County, Kansas, United States. The population was 469 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Topeka, Kansas Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...

. Owned by Gray Television
Gray Television
Gray Television, Inc. is a communications company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with administrative offices in Albany, Georgia.Established in 1946 by James H...

, the station has studios at Southwest Commerce Place next to the I-70
Interstate 70 in Kansas
In the U.S. state of Kansas, Interstate 70 contains the first segment to start being paved and to be completed in the Interstate Highway System. It extends from the Western border to the Eastern border covering and passing through several of the state's principal cities in the process.-Route...

/I-470
Interstate 470 (Kansas)
Interstate 470 is a loop highway that bypasses the downtown area of Topeka, Kansas . I-470 begins at I-70 in western Topeka and heads southeast, running concurrent with U.S. Route 75 . At the I-470 junction with I-335, the freeway becomes part of the Kansas Turnpike until I-470 reaches its...

/U.S. 40
U.S. Route 40
U.S. Route 40 is an east–west United States highway. As with most routes whose numbers end in a zero, U.S. 40 once traversed the entire United States. It is one of the original 1920s U.S. Highways, and its first termini were San Francisco, California, and Atlantic City, New Jersey...

/U.S. 75
U.S. Route 75
U.S. Route 75 is a north–south U.S. Highway. The highway's northern terminus is in Kittson County, Minnesota, at the Canadian border, where it continues as Manitoba Highway 75 on the other side of a closed border crossing. Its southern terminus is at Interstate 30 and Interstate 45 in Dallas,...

/KS 4
K-4 (Kansas highway)
K-4 is the longest designated state highway in Kansas traversing from north of Scott City at US-83 to US-59 near Nortonville in northeast Kansas. A segment of the highway in McPherson County overlaps Interstate 135, and a section in Topeka runs concurrent with Interstate 70.-Western Kansas:K-4...

 interchange. Syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...

 programming on WIBW includes: Wheel Of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune (U.S. game show)
Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin, which premiered in 1975. Contestants compete to solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a large wheel. The title refers to the show's giant carnival wheel that...

, Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...

, Swift Justice with Nancy Grace
Swift Justice With Nancy Grace
Swift Justice with Jackie Glass is a syndicated court program hosted by Judge Jackie Glass....

, and Let's Make a Deal
Let's Make a Deal
Let's Make a Deal is a television game show which originated in the United States and has since been produced in many countries throughout the world. The show is based around deals offered to members of the audience by the host. The traders usually have to weigh the possibility of an offer being...

.

It operates the area's MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...

 affiliate on its second
WIBW-DT2
WIBW-DT2 is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for Topeka, Kansas. The station is a second digital subchannel of CBS affiliate WIBW-TV that is owned by Gray Television. Over-the-air, it broadcasts a digital signal on VHF channel 13.2 from a transmitter in Maple Hill...

 digital subchannel. Known on-air as My Network Topeka, it can also be seen on Cox
Cox Communications
Cox Communications is a privately owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises providing digital cable television, telecommunications and wireless services in the United States...

 channel 11. Syndicated programming on WIBW-DT2 includes: Scrubs
Scrubs (TV series)
Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...

, America's Funniest Home Videos
America's Funniest Home Videos
America's Funniest Home Videos is an American reality television program on ABC in which viewers are able to send in humorous homemade videotapes. The most common videos usually feature slapstick physical comedy arising from incidents, accidents and mishaps...

, George Lopez
George Lopez (TV series)
"The George Lopez Show" redirects here. For the late-night program hosted by the same comedian, see Lopez Tonight.George Lopez is an American sitcom starring comedian George Lopez...

, and The People's Court
The People's Court
The People's Court is a US television court show in which small claims court cases are heard, though what is shown is actually a binding arbitration....

.

History

WIBW-TV, the second television station in Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

, debuted on November 15, 1953. It was originally owned by the family of the late Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 Arthur Capper
Arthur Capper
Arthur Capper was an American politician from Kansas. He was the 20th Governor of Kansas from 1915 to 1919 and a United States Senator from 1919 to 1949....

 along with the Topeka Daily Capital and WIBW-AM
WIBW (AM)
WIBW is a Topeka, Kansas, area news, talk, and sports radio station that airs such local programming such as On the Other Hand , Sports Sanity with Bruce Steinbrock, and SportsTalk with Mark Elliott. WIBW also carries national programs such as Glenn Beck, Mark Levin, and Kim Komando...

 580. The station carried programming from all four networks at the time but was a primary CBS affiliate. Although Topeka was originally part of the Kansas City
Kansas City Metropolitan Area
The Kansas City Metropolitan Area is a fifteen-county metropolitan area that is anchored by Kansas City, Missouri and is bisected by the border between the states of Missouri and Kansas. As of the 2010 Census, the metropolitan area has a population of 2,035,334. The metropolitan area is the...

 market
Media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...

, the Cappers persuaded the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...

 (FCC) to make Topeka its own market. While the city itself and its close-in suburbs receive the Kansas City stations very well, some parts of Northeastern Kansas get a marginal signal at best.

It was the only commercial station in town for fifteen years. This was largely because the only other VHF frequency in the Topeka area, channel 11, had been designated as noncommercial; that allocation eventually became KTWU
KTWU
KTWU, on digital channel 11, is a Public Broadcasting Service Public television station in Topeka, Kansas. The station is operated by Washburn University and provides public television service to eastern Kansas...

, which took to the air in 1965. However, area viewers did not have to worry about missing their favorite shows since the Kansas City stations all decently cover Topeka and started appearing on cable in the rest of the market in the 1960s. It lost DuMont
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...

 when that network shut down in 1955, lost NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 when KTSB (now KSNT
KSNT
KSNT is the NBC-affiliated television station for Topeka, Kansas. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 27 from a transmitter at its studios on Northwest 27th Street near the Kiro section of Topeka...

) signed-on in 1967, and lost ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 when KLDH (now KTKA) signed-on in 1983.

In 1957, Stauffer Publications (owner of Topeka's other newspaper the Topeka State Journal) bought Capper Publications. The two newspapers, which later merged as the Topeka Capital-Journal, and WIBW-AM-FM
WIBW-FM
WIBW-FM is a country music radio station in Topeka, Kansas. Until 2000, the station was located at 97.3 FM. The station was moved to make way for a new move-in station in Kansas City....

-TV remained the flagships of Stauffer Publications (later renamed Stauffer Communications
Stauffer Communications
Stauffer Communications was a corporation which until 1995 owned many media and other companies in Topeka, Kansas including the Topeka Capital-Journal and WIBW, WIBW-FM, and WIBW-TV....

) until 1995 when the company merged with Morris Communications
Morris Communications
Morris Communications of Augusta, Georgia is a privately held media company with diversified holdings that include newspaper and magazine publishing, outdoor advertising, radio broadcasting, book publishing and distribution, visitor publications and online services. Newspapers are the foundation...

 of Augusta, Georgia
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...

. As a condition of the sale, Morris had to sell Stauffer's television holdings. Most of the former Stauffer television holdings, including WIBW, were sold to Benedek Broadcasting
Benedek Broadcasting
Benedek Broadcasting is a former television broadcaster, who owned and operated 22 network-affiliated television stations throughout the United States, all affiliated with major television networks, serving mainly small and medium-size markets. The company was founded in the late 1970s by A...

 in 1996. In 2002, Benedek merged with this station's current owner, Gray Communications, now Gray Television. The radio stations are still owned by Morris today along with the Capital-Journal.

Beginning on September 18, 2006, its second digital subchannel signed-on with programming from MyNetworkTV (a network launched by Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

 parent News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...

) and a secondary affiliation with Colours TV
CoLours TV
Colours TV was a multicultural American TV network produced by the non-profit organization Black Star Communications. Programs focused on the cultural and educational issues of the Hispanic, Black, Asian, and Native American communities. Some examples of programming included video...

 which was eventually dropped. On February 16, 2009, WIBW moved back to its pre-analog allotment for their digital operations from UHF channel 44 to VHF channel 13. But since the transition, some viewers in the urban areas are having difficulty receiving their signal over-the-air on channel 13. The FCC granted WIBW a construction permit for a fill-in digital translator on their pre-transition channel 44. The translator serves the immediate part of the city and the nearby areas west of Topeka from the same transmitter as the main signal.

It is still the only commercial station in Topeka on the VHF band (Public Broadcasting System affiliate KTWU
KTWU
KTWU, on digital channel 11, is a Public Broadcasting Service Public television station in Topeka, Kansas. The station is operated by Washburn University and provides public television service to eastern Kansas...

 is on channel 11). It has dominated the market for as long has records have been kept. Currently, Wheel of Fortune airs on WIBW. Jeopardy!, on the other hand, airs on rival ABC affiliate KTKA. Topeka is one of the very few markets to carry Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune on separate stations. WIBW, along with co-owned Wichita
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...

 ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 affiliate KAKE-TV
KAKE-TV
KAKE, channel 10, is an ABC-affiliated television station based in Wichita, Kansas. The station is owned by Atlanta, Georgia-based Gray Television...

 and Cox Communications, were one of two partners in "Kansas Now 22", a cable channel that aired throughout Kansas. WIBW and KAKE would originate five minute segments of taped news every fifteen minutes then an additional three minute taped weather segment. The two stations had alternating time slots for both news and weather segments. Live news or weather bulletins from KAKE in Wichita would interrupt normal taped operations on the channel. This service ended on January 2, 2009. The channel was relaunched on January 28 2009 as "Kansas 22" with content originating from New Vision Television
New Vision Television
New Vision Television is a broadcast company based in Los Angeles, California. The company owns or manages 18 television stations in medium sized markets.-New Vision I:...

 stations KSNW
KSNW
KSNW, digital channel 45 , is a NBC affiliate television station based in Wichita, Kansas. It is owned by the New Vision Television group. KSNW is also the flagship station of the Kansas State Network , a chain of NBC affiliates serving the western three-fourths of the state. KSNW's transmitter is...

 and KSNT
KSNT
KSNT is the NBC-affiliated television station for Topeka, Kansas. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 27 from a transmitter at its studios on Northwest 27th Street near the Kiro section of Topeka...

 (both NBC affiliates).

WIBW is one of the few stations west of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

 whose call sign
Call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In North America they are used as names for broadcasting stations...

 begins with the letter "W". There are two explanations for this anomaly. One dates to WIBW-AM's roots as a station in Logansport, Indiana
Logansport, Indiana
Logansport is a city in and the county seat of Cass County, Indiana, United States. The population was 18,396 at the 2010 census. Logansport is located in northern Indiana, at the junction of the Wabash and Eel rivers, northeast of Lafayette.-History:...

. It moved to Topeka in 1927. The move was sponsored by Capper, who added a "W" to the initials of the Indiana station's owner, Indiana Broadcast Works. However, the "W/K" divide for call signs was not always the Mississippi River and Kansas was on the eastern side of the original call divide. Thus it was perfectly acceptable to have a "W" in Kansas.

News team

Anchors
  • Melissa Brunner - weeknights at 5, 6, and 10 p.m.
  • Ralph Hipp - weeknights at 4, 6, 9, and 10 p.m.
  • Chris Fisher - weekday mornings and noon (starting Oct. 17, 2011)
  • Amanda Lanum - weekday mornings and noon
  • Stephanie Ramos - weekends
  • Marques White - weekends


SkyWatch 13 Team
  • Jeremy Goodwin (AMS
    American Meteorological Society
    The American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, the American Meteorological Society has a membership...

     Certified Broadcast Meteorologist
    Certified Broadcast Meteorologist
    Certified Broadcast Meteorologist is a rating for meteorologists given by the American Meteorological Society.The Certified Broadcast Meteorologist program was established to raise the professional standard in broadcast meteorology and encourage a broader range of scientific understanding,...

     Seal of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6, 9 and 10 p.m.
  • Drew Switzer (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) - Meteorologist; weekday mornings and noon
  • Rob Peppers (AMS Seal of Approval) - Meteorologist; weekends


Sports Team
  • J.B. Bauersfeld - Sports Director; weeknights at 6, 9, and 10 p.m.
  • Matt Blanchette - Sports Anchor; weekends and sports reporter
  • Kinch O'Kelly - Sports reporter/anchor
  • Adam Runyan - Sports reporter


Reporters
  • Doug Brown - Chief Photographer
  • Rick Felsburg - photographer
  • Eric Ives - photographer
  • Suzie Gilbert (also fill-in-anchor)
  • Marques White


Former on-air staff

  • Dave Johnson
  • Gary Bender
    Gary Bender
    Gary Bender is a retired American sportscaster and 2008 inductee in to the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. He officially retired, April 13, 2011, from Fox Sports Arizona network after 18 years calling the NBA Phoenix Suns games.-Early career:...

  • Jim Hollis (also News Director)
  • John Holt (later at WDAF-TV
    WDAF-TV
    WDAF-TV, virtual channel 4.1, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Kansas City, Missouri-Kansas designated market area. The station is owned by Local TV LLC, the media arm of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners. Its studios and transmitter are located in the Signal Hill...

     in Kansas City, Missouri
    Kansas City, Missouri
    Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

    )
  • Mike Jerrick
    Mike Jerrick
    Michael Eugene Joseph Jerrick was the co-host with Juliet Huddy of the morning program The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, which began in January 2007. The last "live" episode of the show aired on June 12, 2009...

     (now at Fox News Channel
    Fox News Channel
    Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...

    )
  • Gordon Jump
    Gordon Jump
    Alexander Gordon Jump was an American actor best known as the clueless radio station manager Arthur "Big Guy" Carlson in the TV series WKRP in Cincinnati and the incompetent "Chief of Police Tinkler" in the sitcom Soap...

  • Bill Kurtis
    Bill Kurtis
    Bill Kurtis is an American television journalist, producer, narrator, and news anchor. He is also the current host of A&E crime and news documentary shows, including Investigative Reports, American Justice, and Cold Case Files...

  • Ron Paradis
  • Tom Parmley (also News Director)
  • Steve Physioc
  • Ann Rubenstein (later at NBC News
    NBC News
    NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...

    )
  • Devin Scillian
    Devin Scillian
    Devin Scillian is an American journalist and children's author. His thirteen books include the national bestseller A Is For America , Fibblestax , and Memoirs of a Goldfish . His most recent book is D Is For Down Under: An Australia Alphabet illustrated by Geoff Cook, published by Sleeping Bear...

     (now at WDIV in Detroit, Detroit and a children's author)
  • Gerry Wallace
  • Fred White (also broadcaster of Kansas City Royals
    Kansas City Royals
    The Kansas City Royals are a Major League Baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals are a member of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From 1973 to the present, the Royals have played in Kauffman Stadium...

    baseball games)

Station slogans

  • "The Spirit of Kansas on WIBW" (1985-1988)
  • "13, The Original!" (1988-1990?)
  • "Where Northeast Kansas Turns For News" (1996-2000)
  • "Where News Comes First" (2000-2005)
  • "Kansas' News Leader" (2005-present)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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