WISE-TV
Encyclopedia
WISE-TV is the NBC
-affiliated television station
for Northeastern Indiana
licensed to Fort Wayne
. It broadcasts a high definition
digital signal on UHF channel 18 (or virtual channel
33.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter at its studios on Butler Road in Northwest Fort Wayne. The station can also be seen on Frontier FiOS channel 4 and Comcast
channel 13. There is a high definition feed offered on Frontier FiOS digital channel 504 and Comcast digital channel 1013. Owned by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation
, WISE-TV operates ABC
affiliate WPTA
(owned by the Malara Broadcast Group
) through a local marketing agreement
(LMA) and the two outlets share studios. Syndicated
programming on this station includes Anderson
, Dr. Phil
, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
, and Swift Justice With Nancy Grace
among others.
affiliate on a second
digital subchannel
. Known on-air as My Fox Fort Wayne, this can also be seen on Frontier FiOS channel 9, Mediacom
channel 62, and Comcast digital channel 252. There is a high definition feed provided on Frontier digital channel 509 and Comcast digital channel 1018. Syndicated programming on WISE-DT2 includes The New Adventures of Old Christine
, George Lopez
, Frasier
, The Nate Berkus Show
, and The Wendy Williams Show
along with others. It claims to use the "EISE" call sign for "official identification purposes," although the legal callsign for the station remains WISE-TV.
Current programming seen on WISE-DT3 remains unclear. With the addition of Fox to WISE-DT2, it was upgraded to a 720p
high definition feed. In order to preserve the bandwidth allowing two HD digital channels, it was announced WISE-DT3 (featuring national NBC Plus and local "The VIPIR
Channel" weather forecasts) would be combined with WPTA's third digital subchannel. It is unknown if the two services will be merged in anyway or one will be dropped since WPTA-DT3 has been offering a 24-hour local weather channel known as "Indiana's NewsCenter Now".
and FM 97.3). Veteran Indiana sportscaster Hilliard Gates
was the first person seen on the new television station. On September 30, 1971, the radio stations were sold. Their call letters became WMEE-AM and WMEF-FM respectively. Today, the FM station has the calls WMEE
. The AM station went through a variety of call signs including WQHK, WHWD, and WONO. It went back to the original WKJG on November 3, 2003 and is currently Fort Wayne's ESPN Radio
affiliate.
For a time in the 1970s, WKJG-TV was owned by Tony Hulman
along with WTHI-TV
in Terre Haute
. When Hulman died in 1977, WKJG was bought by Joseph R. Cloutier a longtime executive with Hulman's company. After Cloutier's death, the station was bought by a trust fund called the Corporation for General Trade. Cloutier's son Joseph A. Cloutier became the majority share holder with 51%. That company continued to own WKJG until it was sold in 2003. Through all these changes in ownership, Gates remained General Manager until 1990 doubling for most of that time as a sportscaster. John Siemer a newscaster and announcer at the station was known at that time as "Engineer John" who introduced cartoons.
On January 13, 2003, the Corporation for General Trade was sold for $
20 million to New Vision Television
. The station changed its call letters to WISE-TV on May 26 to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. WISE-DT went on-the-air in 2003 on UHF channel 19 becoming the first commercial digital channel in Fort Wayne. A new transmitter with a stronger signal and new high definition options was installed on the tower. The station was sold again in March 2005 to the Granite Broadcasting Corporation for $44.2 million. Since the company already owned WPTA, it divested the channel to the Malara Broadcasting Group for $45.3 million. A local marketing agreement was established that called for Granite to provide operation services to WPTA as well as for Malara's other new station, KDLH
in Duluth, Minnesota
.
Malara files its Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports jointly with Granite which has led to allegations that Granite uses Malara as a shell corporation to evade Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) rules on duopolies
. The FCC does not allow common ownership of two of the four largest stations in a single market
. Additionally, Fort Wayne has only six full-power stations which are too few to allow duopolies in any case. After emerging from bankruptcy in Summer 2007, Granite stock was taken over by privately owned hedge fund
Silver Point Capital of Greenwich, Connecticut
. Silver Point Capital now controls Granite broadcasting according to a Buffalo, New York
news article printed on September 16, 2007. According to the same article, Granite will be sold to other parties and many of its stations have been laying-off employees or cutting salaries up to 20%.
On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN
announced that the networks would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined service would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of corporate parents CBS
(the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros.
unit of Time Warner
. On February 22, News Corporation
announced that it would start up another new network called MyNetworkTV. This new service, which would be sister to Fox, would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming Independent. It was also created to compete against The CW.
CBS affiliate WANE-TV
aired UPN on a second digital subchannel
. The Fort Wayne affiliate of The WB was cable-only "WBFW" (provided through The WB 100+
) and co-owned with WPTA by the Malara Broadcast Group. It was announced in March 2006 that "WBFW" would affiliate with The CW via The CW Plus
(a similar operation to The WB 100+). WPTA decided to create a new second digital subchannel to simulcast "WBFW" and offer access to CW programming for over-the-air viewers. On September 18, The CW debuted on that station which began using the WPTA-DT2 calls officially. On September 5, 2006, WISE-TV moved NBC Weather Plus from its second digital subchannel to WISE-DT3 in order for it to become the area's affiliate of MyNetworkTV.
On December 1, 2008, NBC Weather Plus
was shut down and WISE-DT3 (known on-air as "Indiana's NewsCenter Weather Plus") reverted to a 24-hour local news and weather channel called "INCnow". Carrying local and state news, weather radar, and sports headlines, the channel allowed Indiana's NewsCenter
to air breaking news without disrupting regular network programming. It had been possible after the national service folded that WISE-DT3's function would be assumed by the preexisting "Pinpoint VIPIR
HD Channel" on WPTA-DT3. This featured rotating weather maps with audio from the National Weather Service
.
On December 3, 2008, it was announced that viewers in Grant County, Indiana
would no longer be able to view WISE-TV on Bright House Networks
in Marion
, Gas City
, and Jonesboro
after December 31, 2008. The station shut down its analog signal on February 17, 2009. Its existing digital signal on UHF channel 19 was moved to a post-transition digital channel (18). Through the use of PSIP
, digital television receivers display WISE-TV's virtual channel
as 33.
On July 25, 2011 Nexstar Broadcasting
(owners of WFFT-TV
) filed an antitrust lawsuit against Granite Broadcasting, claiming the company is trying to monopolize ad sales through its shared services agreement with WPTA (owned by Malara Broadcasting) and the five network affiliations that will be shared between WPTA and WISE (WPTA already carries ABC and CW programming, while WISE will add Fox programming to its MyNetworkTV-affiliated digital subchannel on August 1, 2011 (WFFT lost the Fox affiliation due to a dispute between Fox/News Corporation
and Nexstar over reverse compensation payments during negotiations to renew WFFT's affiliation agreement with Fox), as well as the NBC affiliation on its primary channel). Nexstar is seeking a judgment that would force either WPTA-TV or WISE-TV to give up at least one of the three Big Four affiliations it currently has.
After being taken over by Granite, WISE-TV's news department was promptly folded and combined with WPTA. The company fired those who worked at WISE-TV with the exception of lead anchor Linda Jackson who was integrated into the WPTA operation. This station began airing a weeknight newscast at 7 which was the first and, at the time, the only one in the state of Indiana. On September 11, 2006, this was replaced with an extra episode of Dr. Phil
due to low ratings. In November 2005, after several months of using the "Alive" news brand on both stations, WPTA debuted a new set in the basement of its studios formerly used to tape public-affairs programs such as Impact. With it came a new branding for the newscasts, Indiana's NewsCenter
.
When WPTA took over production of news on WISE-TV, there was initially a significant decrease in ratings. WANE-TV was the market's news leader for several years after that according to Nielsen Media Research
since it was the only other local news operation in the area. This was most easily attributed to continued viewer resentment towards WPTA and Granite for the elimination of WISE-TV's news department and arguably its identity and history. However, WPTA management said the changes were part of a longer-term plan that would need up to five years to take hold with viewers. Part of the plan to win back viewers included new technology such as text messaging, an improved website with more online video, and upgrading weather equipment to a VIPIR
system.
Eventually, the changes started to take hold and ratings began to drastically improve. In the November 2007 sweeps period, WPTA and WANE-TV were nearly neck-and-neck in the Fort Wayne television news ratings race with WANE-TV continuing to show a slight lead. Starting July 24, 2006, WISE-TV began airing a weeknight prime time newscast at 10 for a half-hour on its NBC Weather Plus subchannel. With the September 2006 change to MyNetworkTV on WISE-DT2 and the addition of The CW on WPTA's second digital subchannel, the show (known as Indiana
's NewsCenter Prime News) became part of those channel's schedules through a simulcast. On May 18, 2009, WISE-TV and WPTA became the first two stations in Fort Wayne to air local newscasts in 16:9
enhanced definition widescreen
. Although not truly high definition, the aspect ratio
matches those of HD television screens.
Currently, WISE-TV co-produces newscasts with WPTA that are essentially the same in terms of coverage and format. Simulcasted shows on both stations include weekday mornings (except for first half hour at 5 a.m. on WPTA), weeknights at 6, and weekends. WPTA airs separate weekday noon as well as weeknight 5, 5:30, and 11 o'clock news. This channel does not air broadcasts weeknights at 5 and 5:30 unlike most NBC affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone
. Weekend simulcasts can be pre-empted on one channel due to network obligations. WISE-DT2
offers rebroadcasts of the entire weekday morning show at 7, midday noon news at 1, and weeknight 6 o'clock newscast at 6:30. WISE-TV and WPTA operate a weather radar
known as "Pinpoint VIPIR HD" at the studios.
Pinpoint VIPIR HD Weather (all have the AMS
Seal of Approval)
Sports team
Multimedia journalists
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...
-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 Northeastern Indiana
Northern Indiana
Northern Indiana is the region of Indiana including 26 counties bordering parts of Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio. The area is generally sub-classified into other regions. The northwest is economically and culturally intertwined with Chicago, and is considered part of the Chicago metropolitan area...
licensed to Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in the US state of Indiana and the county seat of Allen County. The population was 253,691 at the 2010 Census making it the 74th largest city in the United States and the second largest in Indiana...
. It broadcasts a high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
digital signal on UHF channel 18 (or virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
33.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter at its studios on Butler Road in Northwest Fort Wayne. The station can also be seen on Frontier FiOS channel 4 and Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
channel 13. There is a high definition feed offered on Frontier FiOS digital channel 504 and Comcast digital channel 1013. Owned by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation
Granite Broadcasting Corporation
Granite Broadcasting Corporation, founded by W. Don Cornwell and Stuart Beck in 1988 , is a broadcasting holding company which owns or operates 14 television stations in the United States, largely centered in the midwest with a cluster in New York state...
, WISE-TV operates 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 WPTA
WPTA
WPTA is the ABC-affiliated television station for Northeastern Indiana licensed to Fort Wayne. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 24 from a transmitter at its studios on Butler Road. The station can also be seen on Comcast and Frontier FiOS channel 7...
(owned by the Malara Broadcast Group
Malara Broadcast Group
Malara Broadcast Group of Sarasota, Florida, a Delaware corporation, also known as Malara Broadcasting, is a broadcasting holding company. Malara Broadcasting was founded in 2004 by Tony Malara, former president of affiliate relations for CBS...
) through a local marketing agreement
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
(LMA) and the two outlets share studios. 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 this station includes Anderson
Anderson (TV series)
Anderson is an American first-run syndicated talk show that is hosted by CNN anchorman Anderson Cooper, who also serves as co-producer in his first foray into daytime talk television. The show debuted on September 12, 2011, and is distributed by Warner Bros...
, Dr. Phil
Dr. Phil (TV series)
Dr. Phil is a reality/talk television show hosted by Phil McGraw. After McGraw's success with his segments on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil debuted on September 16, 2002...
, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (US game show)
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is an American television quiz show which offers a maximum prize of $1,000,000 for correctly answering 14 consecutive multiple-choice questions of random difficulty. Until 2010, the format required contestants to correctly answer 15 consecutive questions of increasing...
, and 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....
among others.
Digital programming
It operates the area's primary Fox and secondary MyNetworkTVMyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
affiliate on a second
WISE-DT2
WISE-DT2 is the primary Fox and secondary MyNetworkTV television station for Northeastern Indiana. It is a second digital subchannel of NBC affiliate WISE-TV owned by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation...
digital subchannel
Digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...
. Known on-air as My Fox Fort Wayne, this can also be seen on Frontier FiOS channel 9, Mediacom
Mediacom
Mediacom is a cable television and communications provider in the United States. Founded in July 1995, it serves primarily smaller markets in the Midwest and Southern United States. Formerly a publicly traded firm, it went private in a $600.0 million transaction in March 2011 and is, as of 2011,...
channel 62, and Comcast digital channel 252. There is a high definition feed provided on Frontier digital channel 509 and Comcast digital channel 1018. Syndicated programming on WISE-DT2 includes The New Adventures of Old Christine
The New Adventures of Old Christine
The New Adventures of Old Christine is an American comedy series starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus which ran for five seasons on CBS from March 13, 2006, to May 12, 2010...
, 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...
, Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
, The Nate Berkus Show
The Nate Berkus Show
The Nate Berkus Show, commonly referred to as The Nate Show, is a syndicated talk show hosted by interior designer Nate Berkus, which premiered on September 13, 2010....
, and The Wendy Williams Show
The Wendy Williams Show
The Wendy Williams Show is a syndicated talk show hosted by Wendy Williams that premiered on July 14, 2008, as six-week sneak peek, in Detroit, Dallas, Los Angeles, and New York City. The test run was picked up for a full season that began its run on July 13, 2009 in over 70% of the country in...
along with others. It claims to use the "EISE" call sign for "official identification purposes," although the legal callsign for the station remains WISE-TV.
Current programming seen on WISE-DT3 remains unclear. With the addition of Fox to WISE-DT2, it was upgraded to a 720p
720p
720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan...
high definition feed. In order to preserve the bandwidth allowing two HD digital channels, it was announced WISE-DT3 (featuring national NBC Plus and local "The VIPIR
VIPIR
Volumetric Imaging and Processing of Integrated Radar, known by the acronym VIPIR, is a type of post-processing program applied to traditional radar systems and is distributed by Baron Weather Solutions...
Channel" weather forecasts) would be combined with WPTA's third digital subchannel. It is unknown if the two services will be merged in anyway or one will be dropped since WPTA-DT3 has been offering a 24-hour local weather channel known as "Indiana's NewsCenter Now".
| Channels | Name | Video | Aspect Aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,... |
Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33.1 | WISE-HD | 1080i 1080i 1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels... |
16:9 16:9 16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ... |
Main WISE-TV programming / NBC |
| 33.2 | WISE-DT2 | 720p 720p 720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan... |
"My Fox Fort Wayne" |
History
The station was founded on November 21, 1953 as WKJG-TV and aired an analog signal on UHF channel 33. It was the first television station in Fort Wayne and affiliated with NBC. The station was owned by William Kunkle, publisher of The Journal Gazette, along with WKJG radio (AM 1380WKJG
WKJG is a radio station located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The station, owned by Federated Media, is Fort Wayne's ESPN Radio affiliate.-History:...
and FM 97.3). Veteran Indiana sportscaster Hilliard Gates
Hilliard Gates
Hilliard Gates was an American sportscaster who was widely regarded as the founding father of Indiana broadcasting and the leading sportscaster in Indiana for decades.-Early days:...
was the first person seen on the new television station. On September 30, 1971, the radio stations were sold. Their call letters became WMEE-AM and WMEF-FM respectively. Today, the FM station has the calls WMEE
WMEE
WMEE is a radio station broadcasting a Hot Adult Contemporary format. The station serves the Fort Wayne, Indiana area. The station is currently owned by Federated Media.-History:...
. The AM station went through a variety of call signs including WQHK, WHWD, and WONO. It went back to the original WKJG on November 3, 2003 and is currently Fort Wayne's ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio is an American sports radio network. It was launched on January 1, 1992 under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN." ESPN Radio is located at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut...
affiliate.
For a time in the 1970s, WKJG-TV was owned by Tony Hulman
Tony Hulman
Anton "Tony" Hulman, Jr. was a businessman from Terre Haute, Indiana who rescued the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1945 and made the Indianapolis 500 popular....
along with WTHI-TV
WTHI-TV
WTHI-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station in Terre Haute, Indiana. Owned by LIN TV Corporation, it operates on VHF digital channel 10. Its transmitter is located in Farmersburg, Indiana...
in Terre Haute
Terre Haute, Indiana
Terre Haute is a city and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, near the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a population of 170,943. The city is the county seat of Vigo County and...
. When Hulman died in 1977, WKJG was bought by Joseph R. Cloutier a longtime executive with Hulman's company. After Cloutier's death, the station was bought by a trust fund called the Corporation for General Trade. Cloutier's son Joseph A. Cloutier became the majority share holder with 51%. That company continued to own WKJG until it was sold in 2003. Through all these changes in ownership, Gates remained General Manager until 1990 doubling for most of that time as a sportscaster. John Siemer a newscaster and announcer at the station was known at that time as "Engineer John" who introduced cartoons.
On January 13, 2003, the Corporation for General Trade was sold for $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
20 million to 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:...
. The station changed its call letters to WISE-TV on May 26 to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. WISE-DT went on-the-air in 2003 on UHF channel 19 becoming the first commercial digital channel in Fort Wayne. A new transmitter with a stronger signal and new high definition options was installed on the tower. The station was sold again in March 2005 to the Granite Broadcasting Corporation for $44.2 million. Since the company already owned WPTA, it divested the channel to the Malara Broadcasting Group for $45.3 million. A local marketing agreement was established that called for Granite to provide operation services to WPTA as well as for Malara's other new station, KDLH
KDLH
KDLH is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Iron Range area of Northeastern Minnesota that is licensed to Duluth. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 33 from a transmitter west of downtown in Hilltop Park. Owned by the Malara Broadcast Group, the station is...
in Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...
.
Malara files its Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports jointly with Granite which has led to allegations that Granite uses Malara as a shell corporation to evade 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) rules on duopolies
Duopoly (broadcasting)
In United States broadcast television and radio, duopoly is a term used to describe a single company which owns two or more stations in the same city or community....
. The FCC does not allow common ownership of two of the four largest stations in a single 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...
. Additionally, Fort Wayne has only six full-power stations which are too few to allow duopolies in any case. After emerging from bankruptcy in Summer 2007, Granite stock was taken over by privately owned hedge fund
Hedge fund
A hedge fund is a private pool of capital actively managed by an investment adviser. Hedge funds are only open for investment to a limited number of accredited or qualified investors who meet criteria set by regulators. These investors can be institutions, such as pension funds, university...
Silver Point Capital of Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...
. Silver Point Capital now controls Granite broadcasting according to a Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
news article printed on September 16, 2007. According to the same article, Granite will be sold to other parties and many of its stations have been laying-off employees or cutting salaries up to 20%.
On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
announced that the networks would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined service would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of corporate parents 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...
(the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
unit of Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
. On February 22, 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...
announced that it would start up another new network called MyNetworkTV. This new service, which would be sister to Fox, would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming Independent. It was also created to compete against The CW.
CBS affiliate WANE-TV
WANE-TV
WANE-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Northern Indiana licensed to Fort Wayne. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 31 from a transmitter at studios on West State Boulevard in Northwest Fort Wayne/Tower Heights section of the city. The station can also be...
aired UPN on a second digital subchannel
Digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...
. The Fort Wayne affiliate of The WB was cable-only "WBFW" (provided through The WB 100+
The WB 100+ Station Group
The WB 100+ Station Group was a group of primarily non-broadcast local cable television outlets for The WB Television Network, for markets below the top 100 television media markets in the United States. Dayparts with no WB programming were programmed by the network...
) and co-owned with WPTA by the Malara Broadcast Group. It was announced in March 2006 that "WBFW" would affiliate with The CW via The CW Plus
The CW Plus
The CW Plus is a group of primarily digital sub-channels, analog, and non-broadcast cable television outlets for the CW Television Network, for markets below the top 99 television media markets in the United States....
(a similar operation to The WB 100+). WPTA decided to create a new second digital subchannel to simulcast "WBFW" and offer access to CW programming for over-the-air viewers. On September 18, The CW debuted on that station which began using the WPTA-DT2 calls officially. On September 5, 2006, WISE-TV moved NBC Weather Plus from its second digital subchannel to WISE-DT3 in order for it to become the area's affiliate of MyNetworkTV.
On December 1, 2008, NBC Weather Plus
NBC Weather Plus
NBC Weather Plus was a 24-hour, commercially sponsored, weather-oriented broadcast/cable television network jointly owned by NBC Universal and the local affiliates of the NBC network. It debuted on November 15, 2004 and shut down on December 31, 2008...
was shut down and WISE-DT3 (known on-air as "Indiana's NewsCenter Weather Plus") reverted to a 24-hour local news and weather channel called "INCnow". Carrying local and state news, weather radar, and sports headlines, the channel allowed Indiana's NewsCenter
Indiana's NewsCenter
Indiana's NewsCenter is the collective brand name of the television and news operations in Fort Wayne, Indiana owned and/or managed by Granite Broadcasting Corporation and Malara Broadcast Group under a local marketing agreement....
to air breaking news without disrupting regular network programming. It had been possible after the national service folded that WISE-DT3's function would be assumed by the preexisting "Pinpoint VIPIR
VIPIR
Volumetric Imaging and Processing of Integrated Radar, known by the acronym VIPIR, is a type of post-processing program applied to traditional radar systems and is distributed by Baron Weather Solutions...
HD Channel" on WPTA-DT3. This featured rotating weather maps with audio from the National Weather Service
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service , once known as the Weather Bureau, is one of the six scientific agencies that make up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States government...
.
On December 3, 2008, it was announced that viewers in Grant County, Indiana
Grant County, Indiana
Grant County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 70,061. The county seat is Marion. Important paleontological discoveries dating from the Pliocene epoch have been made at Pipe Creek Sinkhole in Grant County.-Geography:According to the 2010...
would no longer be able to view WISE-TV on Bright House Networks
Bright House Networks
Bright House Networks is a cable television company, the seventh largest cable operator and the sixth largest traditional multiple system operator in the United States owned by Advance/Newhouse, headquartered in Syracuse, New York...
in Marion
Marion, Indiana
Marion is a city in Grant County, Indiana, United States. The population was 29,948 as of the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Grant County...
, Gas City
Gas City, Indiana
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 5,940 people, 2,393 households, and 1,643 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,599.2 people per square mile . There were 2,497 housing units at an average density of 672.3 per square mile...
, and Jonesboro
Jonesboro, Indiana
Jonesboro is a city in Grant County, Indiana, United States, located along the Mississinewa River opposite Gas City. The population was 1,887 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Jonesboro is located at ....
after December 31, 2008. The station shut down its analog signal on February 17, 2009. Its existing digital signal on UHF channel 19 was moved to a post-transition digital channel (18). Through the use of PSIP
Program and System Information Protocol
The Program and System Information Protocol is the protocol used in the ATSC digital television system for carrying metadata about each channel in the broadcast MPEG transport stream of a TV station and for publishing information about television programs so that viewers can select what to watch...
, digital television receivers display WISE-TV's virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
as 33.
On July 25, 2011 Nexstar Broadcasting
Nexstar Broadcasting Group
Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc., is an entity of broadcast television stations headquartered in Irving, Texas. The company consists of 50 television stations across the U.S., ranging from market sizes 9 to 201 . 43 of the stations are broadcasting at full power, with the other 4 broadcasting at...
(owners of WFFT-TV
WFFT-TV
WFFT-TV is an Independent station for Northeastern Indiana licensed to Fort Wayne. From the network's launch on October 9th, 1986 to July 31, 2011, WFFT was the Fox-affiliated television station for Fort Wayne. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 36 from a transmitter at...
) filed an antitrust lawsuit against Granite Broadcasting, claiming the company is trying to monopolize ad sales through its shared services agreement with WPTA (owned by Malara Broadcasting) and the five network affiliations that will be shared between WPTA and WISE (WPTA already carries ABC and CW programming, while WISE will add Fox programming to its MyNetworkTV-affiliated digital subchannel on August 1, 2011 (WFFT lost the Fox affiliation due to a dispute between Fox/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 Nexstar over reverse compensation payments during negotiations to renew WFFT's affiliation agreement with Fox), as well as the NBC affiliation on its primary channel). Nexstar is seeking a judgment that would force either WPTA-TV or WISE-TV to give up at least one of the three Big Four affiliations it currently has.
News operation
Dr. Phil (TV series)
Dr. Phil is a reality/talk television show hosted by Phil McGraw. After McGraw's success with his segments on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil debuted on September 16, 2002...
due to low ratings. In November 2005, after several months of using the "Alive" news brand on both stations, WPTA debuted a new set in the basement of its studios formerly used to tape public-affairs programs such as Impact. With it came a new branding for the newscasts, Indiana's NewsCenter
Indiana's NewsCenter
Indiana's NewsCenter is the collective brand name of the television and news operations in Fort Wayne, Indiana owned and/or managed by Granite Broadcasting Corporation and Malara Broadcast Group under a local marketing agreement....
.
When WPTA took over production of news on WISE-TV, there was initially a significant decrease in ratings. WANE-TV was the market's news leader for several years after that according to Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
since it was the only other local news operation in the area. This was most easily attributed to continued viewer resentment towards WPTA and Granite for the elimination of WISE-TV's news department and arguably its identity and history. However, WPTA management said the changes were part of a longer-term plan that would need up to five years to take hold with viewers. Part of the plan to win back viewers included new technology such as text messaging, an improved website with more online video, and upgrading weather equipment to a VIPIR
VIPIR
Volumetric Imaging and Processing of Integrated Radar, known by the acronym VIPIR, is a type of post-processing program applied to traditional radar systems and is distributed by Baron Weather Solutions...
system.
Eventually, the changes started to take hold and ratings began to drastically improve. In the November 2007 sweeps period, WPTA and WANE-TV were nearly neck-and-neck in the Fort Wayne television news ratings race with WANE-TV continuing to show a slight lead. Starting July 24, 2006, WISE-TV began airing a weeknight prime time newscast at 10 for a half-hour on its NBC Weather Plus subchannel. With the September 2006 change to MyNetworkTV on WISE-DT2 and the addition of The CW on WPTA's second digital subchannel, the show (known as Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
's NewsCenter Prime News) became part of those channel's schedules through a simulcast. On May 18, 2009, WISE-TV and WPTA became the first two stations in Fort Wayne to air local newscasts in 16:9
16:9
16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...
enhanced definition widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
. Although not truly high definition, the aspect ratio
Aspect ratio
The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,...
matches those of HD television screens.
Currently, WISE-TV co-produces newscasts with WPTA that are essentially the same in terms of coverage and format. Simulcasted shows on both stations include weekday mornings (except for first half hour at 5 a.m. on WPTA), weeknights at 6, and weekends. WPTA airs separate weekday noon as well as weeknight 5, 5:30, and 11 o'clock news. This channel does not air broadcasts weeknights at 5 and 5:30 unlike most NBC affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
. Weekend simulcasts can be pre-empted on one channel due to network obligations. WISE-DT2
WISE-DT2
WISE-DT2 is the primary Fox and secondary MyNetworkTV television station for Northeastern Indiana. It is a second digital subchannel of NBC affiliate WISE-TV owned by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation...
offers rebroadcasts of the entire weekday morning show at 7, midday noon news at 1, and weeknight 6 o'clock newscast at 6:30. WISE-TV and WPTA operate a weather radar
Weather radar
Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, estimate its type . Modern weather radars are mostly pulse-Doppler radars, capable of detecting the motion of rain droplets in addition to the...
known as "Pinpoint VIPIR HD" at the studios.
Newscast titles
- The Marlboro News Report (1953–1957)
- The Tri-State Report (1957–1962)
- Channel 33 News (1962–1970)
- WKJG News (1970-1973)
- WKJG-TV 33 News (1973-1974)
- NewsCenter 33 (1974–1989)
- 33 News (1989–1997)
- NBC 33 News (1997–2004)
- WISE 33 News (2004–2005)
- 21 Alive News on WISE 33 (2005)
- Indiana's NewsCenter (2005–present)
Station slogans
- "Where News Comes First" (2003–2005)
- "A Network of Indiana's NewsCenter" (2005–2010)
- "24/7 News Source" (2010-present)
News team
Anchors- Mary Collins - weekday mornings
- Ryan Elijah - weekday mornings; also Impact host and "In Your Corner" segment producer
- Melissa Long - weeknights at 6 p.m.
- Linda Jackson - weeknights at 10 and 11 p.m.; also "Angels Among Us" segments producer
- Eric Olson - weekend evenings; also "Your Country" segment producer
Pinpoint VIPIR HD Weather (all have the 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...
Seal of Approval)
- Curtis Smith - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 6, 10 and 11 p.m.
- Chris Daniels - meteorologist; weekday mornings
- Jason Meyers - meteorologist; weekend evenings, also "Weather & Your Health" segment producer
Sports team
- Dean Pantazi - sports directorSports DirectorA sports director is an individual at a television or radio station who is in charge of the sports department. In local news, the sports director is typically the station's primary sportscaster, and often anchors the primetime newscasts on weekdays. They are in charge of sports programming and...
; weeknights at 6, 10 and 11 p.m. - Tommy Schoegler - sports anchor; weekend evenings, also sports reporter and More of The Score co-host
- Kyle Binder - sports anchor; fill-in, also sports reporter
- Kent Hormann - sports anchor; fill-in
- Scott Zeigler - More of The Score co-host
Multimedia journalists
- Jennifer Blomquist - "Golden Apple" segment producer
- Jeff Bowman - weekday morning reporter
- Eric Clabaugh
- John Davis
- Art Ginsburg - "Mr. FoodMr. FoodArt Ginsburg, commonly known as Mr. Food, is a television chef and best selling author of cookbooks who emphasizes simple recipes. He is the originator of "quick & easy cooking" who, for the past 30+ years, has paved the way for TV food personalities who have followed. With his enthusiastic style,...
" segment producer - Dave Leval - based at WMYD in Detroit
- Richard Marchbanks - INsight host
- Tracy Warner - political reporter
- Jeff Neumeyer
- Corrine Rose
- Matt Resnik
- Megan Trent
Notable former staff
- Dick FloreaDick FloreaDick Florea was a longtime news personality with television station WKJG-TV in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He graduated with a degree in industrial management from Purdue University in January 1959. After working at WMRI Radio and WTAF-TV, both in Marion, Indiana, Florea joined the WKJG-TV news...
- News Director, anchor, and Editor's Desk host 1970s-1980s (retired in 2001 after 35 years) - Greg Shoup - Chief Meteorologist 1989-2004 (Now a morning meteorologist at WANE TV) -Sports Anchor 1965-1991