WPBN-TV
Encyclopedia
WPBN-TV is the NBC
-affiliated television station
for the Northern Lower
and Eastern Upper
Peninsulas of Michigan
that is licensed to Traverse City
. It broadcasts a high definition
digital signal on UHF channel 47 (virtual channel 7) from a transmitter east of Kalkaska
. There is also a low-powered digital fill-in translator on UHF channel 50 from a transmitter south of Harrietta
in the Manistee National Forest. Owned by Barrington Broadcasting
, the station operates ABC
affiliate WGTU
and its full-time satellite WGTQ (owned by Tucker Broadcasting of Traverse City) through a shared services agreement
(SSA). The two share studios on M-72
just west of Traverse City.
, this station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 35 (virtual channel 4) from a transmitter on U.S. 23 east of the city. It reaches as far as Petoskey
, Cedarville, Indian River
, and Brevort. Unlike the previous analog signal, it does not cover Sault Sainte Marie and the Eastern Upper Peninsula. To make up for this shortfall in coverage, WPBN is carried on the digital subcarriers of WGTU and Sault Sainte Marie satellite WGTQ.
Together, the two stations are known on-air as TV 7&4 and serve the largest television market
east of the Mississippi River
: 23 counties in the Northern Lower Peninsula, three counties in the Eastern Upper Peninsula, and portions of Northern Ontario
including Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
. However, WTOM has not been available in Canada
on cable since the early-2000s when Shaw Communications
replaced it with Detroit's WDIV. WTOM also serves as the default NBC affiliate for Alpena
as that area does not have an affiliate of its own.
-AM 1400 (now 580). Company president Les Biederman had signed on WTCM, Northern Michigan
's oldest radio station, in 1940. Over the next decade, he bought or signed-on several other AM
stations throughout the area. These were known as the Paul Bunyan Network with WTCM as the flagship station. Since channel 7 covered much of the territory covered by the radio stations, Biederman decided not to call his new station WTCM-TV (for Traverse City, Michigan) but rather WPBN-TV (for Paul Bunyan Network).
In the 1950s, the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) ruled that the eastern half of the Upper Peninsula was part of the Traverse City/Cadillac market. At the time, the only television station in that area had been private CBC Television
affiliate CJIC-TV
. Since WPBN was already operating at the maximum power allowed, Biederman signed-on WTOM-TV in Cheboygan on May 16, 1959 bringing American
television to the Eastern Upper Peninsula for the first time. Since then, the two stations have been known collectively as 7&4.
Until 1971, it shared ABC
programming with CBS
affiliates WWTV/WWUP
. WPBN aired ABC's sports programming on the weekends while WWTV aired some of the network's game shows and soap operas. In 1971, WGTU signed-on and took the ABC affiliation. In 1980, Midwest Broadcasting wanted to expand its broadcast operations in Northern Michigan. However, the FCC told the family that they could do so only if they sold some stations to stay under ownership limits. One of the stations sold off was WPBN/WTOM (which count as one station for ratings and regulatory purposes) to U.S. Tobacco.
From 1999 to 2005, it was owned by Raycom Media
. In late-2005, following that company's purchase of The Liberty Corporation, Raycom announced that WPBN would be sold along with another NBC affiliate in the Upper Peninsula, WLUC-TV
in Marquette
. The sale was necessary to help meet FCC restrictions on station ownership. On March 27, 2006, Raycom announced that Barrington Broadcasting would acquire twelve Raycom stations including this channel. The FCC approved the deal in June 2006 and the finalization took place on August 12. At that point, the station joined WLUC, Saginaw
's NBC affiliate WEYI-TV
and (to a degree) Toledo, Ohio
's NBC affiliate WNWO-TV
as part of Barrington's family of stations in and around Michigan.
On September 19, 2007 an application was filed to the FCC by Max Media
to sell WGTU, its full-time satellite WGTQ, and CW cable station to Tucker Broadcasting for $10 million. After approval, that company entered into a shared services agreement with Barrington . According to the FCC filing, WPBN would sell advertising time and provides other programming for Tucker's stations. After this station renovated its studios over the summer, the two stations consolidated operations into the expanded facilities. WPBN and WGTU began to share a website as well. For the digital transition on June 12, 2009, WPBN filed a petition with the FCC move its Traverse City digital signal on UHF channel 50 to the analog tower in Harrietta to maintain coverage in that area. It then signed-on a new digital signal on UHF channel 47 from WGTU's tower in Kalkaska.
Unlike WPBN, WTOM-DT on UHF channel 35 did not initially offer NBC programming in full high definition. Instead, the signal was transmitted in an unconverted format. A true high definition signal for that station was included once WTOM shut down its analog signal on the transition date. Its new digital signal covers a fraction of the area once served by the VHF analog signal due to the rather low-powered 78 kW digital signal on UHF. To make up for this shortfall in coverage, standard definition feeds of WPBN and WTOM were added to the digital subcarriers of WGTU and WGTQ respectively.
For most of the last half-century, WPBN has been second in the news ratings in the market behind WWTV according to Nielsen Media Research
. Early on, the Biedermans devoted significant resources to WPBN's news operation utilizing the resources of the co-owned radio stations. This continues today, resulting in a higher-quality product than conventional wisdom would suggest for a station in the 116th market. In terms of coverage, WPBN has traditionally had more of a Traverse City focus compared with WWTV who has facilities southeast of Cadillac.
Station alumni include Christa Quinn and the immortal "Deputy" Don Melvoin who first hosted the Deputy Don kids show in the 1950s. After a stint in Hollywood that included roles on The Twilight Zone
and a movie filmed on Mackinac Island
called Somewhere in Time, Melvoin came back to WPBN to host Deputy Don Rides Again and the horror flick Count Zappula. Don Melvoin died in 2002. In addition to its main studios, there is a bureau in Gaylord
on West Main Street. In the past, the station had also maintained newsrooms in Petoskey and Cadillac. The latter was closed in November 2008 after a reporter based there was laid-off.
On September 10, 2007, it began airing a midday broadcast weekdays at 11 after Today In January 2009, the station laid-off nine employees and canceled the weekday midday show. expanded to four hours. After WGTU consolidated its operations with WPBN, it became possible full newscasts would return to WGTU for the first time since 1984. On September 13, 2010, WPBN began producing a weeknight newscast at 6:30 on WGTU, UpNorthLive Tonight. It originates from a secondary set at WPBN's studios, and features local news and weather but also goes into detail covering community events and various businesses. There is no sports report given in this broadcast. The only other newscast on the station is a 10-minute weeknight update at 11. Lori Puckett, WGTU's original only on-air personality who continues anchoring the weeknight update, appeared on WPBN in the local segments of the 2008 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon
.
As of October 17, 2011, this station airs its newscasts in 16x9
standard definition widescreen.
7&4 News Storm Team Meteorologists
- weekends and news reporter
Sports (both seen on Hometown Highlights)
Reporters
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 the Northern Lower
Lower Peninsula of Michigan
The Lower Peninsula of Michigan is the southern of the two major landmasses of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is surrounded by water on all sides except its southern border, which it shares with Ohio and Indiana. Geographically, the Lower Peninsula has a recognizable shape that many people...
and Eastern Upper
Upper Peninsula of Michigan
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the northern of the two major land masses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan. It is commonly referred to as the Upper Peninsula, the U.P., or Upper Michigan. It is also known as the land "above the Bridge" linking the two peninsulas. The peninsula is bounded...
Peninsulas of Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
that is licensed to Traverse City
Traverse City, Michigan
Traverse City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population was 14,674 at the 2010 census, with 143,372 in the Traverse...
. 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 47 (virtual channel 7) from a transmitter east of Kalkaska
Kalkaska, Michigan
Kalkaska is a village in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the village population was 2,226. It is the county seat of Kalkaska County.-Geography:...
. There is also a low-powered digital fill-in translator on UHF channel 50 from a transmitter south of Harrietta
Harrietta, Michigan
Harrietta is a village in Wexford County of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the village population was 169. The village is on the boundary between Slagle Township on the west and Boon Township on the east, with about half of the village in each.-Village Infrastructure:Although...
in the Manistee National Forest. Owned by Barrington Broadcasting
Barrington Broadcasting
Barrington Broadcasting Company, LLC , headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois is an entity wholly focused on broadcast television. The company's assets mainly consist of television stations in middle and small sized markets...
, the station 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 WGTU
WGTU
WGTU is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Northern Lower and Eastern Upper Peninsulas of Michigan that is licensed to Traverse City. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 29 from a transmitter east of Kalkaska. Like other network affiliates in this vast rural...
and its full-time satellite WGTQ (owned by Tucker Broadcasting of Traverse City) through a shared services agreement
Shared services
Shared services refers to the provision of a service by one part of an organization or group where that service had previously been found in more than one part of the organization or group. Thus the funding and resourcing of the service is shared and the providing department effectively becomes an...
(SSA). The two share studios on M-72
M-72 (Michigan highway)
M-72 is a state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan, running from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan across the northern part of the Lower Peninsula. The highway connects M-22 in Empire with US Highway 23 in Harrisville. It is one of only three Michigan state trunklines that cross the Lower...
just west of Traverse City.
Overview
Like other network affiliates in this vast and rural area, it operates a full-time satellite, WTOM-TV. Licensed to CheboyganCheboygan, Michigan
Cheboygan is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 5,295. It is the county seat of Cheboygan County....
, this station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 35 (virtual channel 4) from a transmitter on U.S. 23 east of the city. It reaches as far as Petoskey
Petoskey, Michigan
Petoskey is a city and coastal resort community in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 6,080. It is the county seat of Emmet County....
, Cedarville, Indian River
Indian River, Michigan
Indian River is an unincorporated community in Cheboygan County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a census-designated place for statistical purposes and is not legally recognized as a municipality. The population was 2,008 at the 2000 census....
, and Brevort. Unlike the previous analog signal, it does not cover Sault Sainte Marie and the Eastern Upper Peninsula. To make up for this shortfall in coverage, WPBN is carried on the digital subcarriers of WGTU and Sault Sainte Marie satellite WGTQ.
Together, the two stations are known on-air as TV 7&4 and serve the largest television 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...
east 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...
: 23 counties in the Northern Lower Peninsula, three counties in the Eastern Upper Peninsula, and portions of Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario is a region of the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron , the French River and Lake Nipissing. The region has a land area of 802,000 km2 and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it contains only about 6% of the population...
including Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Sault Ste. Marie is a city on the St. Marys River in Algoma District, Ontario, Canada. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay, with a population of 74,948. The community was founded as a French religious mission: Sault either means "jump" or "rapids" in...
. However, WTOM has not been available in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
on cable since the early-2000s when Shaw Communications
Shaw Communications
Shaw Communications is Canada's largest telecommunications company that provides telephone, Canada's fastest Internet and television services as well as broadcasting and soon Wifi. Shaw is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta...
replaced it with Detroit's WDIV. WTOM also serves as the default NBC affiliate for Alpena
Alpena, Michigan
Alpena is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Alpena County. It is considered to be part of Northern Michigan. The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary is located in the city. The population was 10,483 at the 2010 census...
as that area does not have an affiliate of its own.
History
WPBN-TV began broadcasting on February 13, 1954 airing an analog signal on VHF channel 7. It was owned by the Biederman family and their company, Midwest Broadcasting, along with WTCMWTCM (AM)
WTCM is an AM radio station broadcasting in Traverse City, Michigan, operating on 580 kHz. The two stations are owned by Midwestern Broadcasting, which started WTCM-AM in 1940...
-AM 1400 (now 580). Company president Les Biederman had signed on WTCM, Northern Michigan
Northern Michigan
Northern Michigan, also known as Northern Lower Michigan , is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan...
's oldest radio station, in 1940. Over the next decade, he bought or signed-on several other AM
Amplitude modulation
Amplitude modulation is a technique used in electronic communication, most commonly for transmitting information via a radio carrier wave. AM works by varying the strength of the transmitted signal in relation to the information being sent...
stations throughout the area. These were known as the Paul Bunyan Network with WTCM as the flagship station. Since channel 7 covered much of the territory covered by the radio stations, Biederman decided not to call his new station WTCM-TV (for Traverse City, Michigan) but rather WPBN-TV (for Paul Bunyan Network).
In the 1950s, 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) ruled that the eastern half of the Upper Peninsula was part of the Traverse City/Cadillac market. At the time, the only television station in that area had been private CBC Television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
affiliate CJIC-TV
CJIC-TV
CJIC-TV was a television station in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. In operation from 1955 to 2002 as a private affiliate of CBC Television, it now operates only a repeater of the network's flagship station in Toronto, CBLT.-History:...
. Since WPBN was already operating at the maximum power allowed, Biederman signed-on WTOM-TV in Cheboygan on May 16, 1959 bringing American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television to the Eastern Upper Peninsula for the first time. Since then, the two stations have been known collectively as 7&4.
Until 1971, it shared 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...
programming with 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...
affiliates WWTV/WWUP
WWTV
WWTV is the CBS-affiliated television station for the northern Lower and eastern Upper Peninsulas of Michigan. Licensed to Cadillac, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 9 from a transmitter at its studios on 130th Avenue, northeast of Tustin, in Osceola County. At 1,631...
. WPBN aired ABC's sports programming on the weekends while WWTV aired some of the network's game shows and soap operas. In 1971, WGTU signed-on and took the ABC affiliation. In 1980, Midwest Broadcasting wanted to expand its broadcast operations in Northern Michigan. However, the FCC told the family that they could do so only if they sold some stations to stay under ownership limits. One of the stations sold off was WPBN/WTOM (which count as one station for ratings and regulatory purposes) to U.S. Tobacco.
From 1999 to 2005, it was owned by Raycom Media
Raycom Media
- History :Although Raycom Media dates its birth to 1996, the core of the company was formed in 1992 when Atlanta native Bert Ellis formed Ellis Communications. He eventually controlled 13 television stations and two radio stations....
. In late-2005, following that company's purchase of The Liberty Corporation, Raycom announced that WPBN would be sold along with another NBC affiliate in the Upper Peninsula, WLUC-TV
WLUC-TV
WLUC-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Michigan's Central Upper Peninsula licensed to Marquette. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 35 from a transmitter on South Helen Lake Road southeast of Republic in rural Marquette County. The station can also be seen...
in Marquette
Marquette, Michigan
Marquette is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Marquette County. The population was 21,355 at the 2010 census, making it the most populated city of the Upper Peninsula. Marquette is a major port on Lake Superior, primarily for shipping iron ore and is the home of Northern...
. The sale was necessary to help meet FCC restrictions on station ownership. On March 27, 2006, Raycom announced that Barrington Broadcasting would acquire twelve Raycom stations including this channel. The FCC approved the deal in June 2006 and the finalization took place on August 12. At that point, the station joined WLUC, Saginaw
Saginaw, Michigan
Saginaw is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw was once a thriving lumber town and manufacturing center. Saginaw and Saginaw County lie in the Flint/Tri-Cities region of Michigan...
's NBC affiliate WEYI-TV
WEYI-TV
WEYI-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Flint/Tri-Cities market that is licensed to Saginaw. The station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 30 from a 193 kilowatt, high transmitter at its studios on West Willard Road in Vienna Township along the Genesee and...
and (to a degree) Toledo, Ohio
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
's NBC affiliate WNWO-TV
WNWO-TV
WNWO-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station in Northwest Ohio that is licensed to Toledo. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 49 from a transmitter northeast of Oregon. Owned by Barrington Broadcasting, the station has studios on South Byrne Road...
as part of Barrington's family of stations in and around Michigan.
On September 19, 2007 an application was filed to the FCC by Max Media
Max Media
Max Media is a company that owns radio and television stations throughout the United States. It is based out of Virginia Beach, Virginia.-History:Max Media was founded in 2001...
to sell WGTU, its full-time satellite WGTQ, and CW cable station to Tucker Broadcasting for $10 million. After approval, that company entered into a shared services agreement with Barrington . According to the FCC filing, WPBN would sell advertising time and provides other programming for Tucker's stations. After this station renovated its studios over the summer, the two stations consolidated operations into the expanded facilities. WPBN and WGTU began to share a website as well. For the digital transition on June 12, 2009, WPBN filed a petition with the FCC move its Traverse City digital signal on UHF channel 50 to the analog tower in Harrietta to maintain coverage in that area. It then signed-on a new digital signal on UHF channel 47 from WGTU's tower in Kalkaska.
Unlike WPBN, WTOM-DT on UHF channel 35 did not initially offer NBC programming in full high definition. Instead, the signal was transmitted in an unconverted format. A true high definition signal for that station was included once WTOM shut down its analog signal on the transition date. Its new digital signal covers a fraction of the area once served by the VHF analog signal due to the rather low-powered 78 kW digital signal on UHF. To make up for this shortfall in coverage, standard definition feeds of WPBN and WTOM were added to the digital subcarriers of WGTU and WGTQ respectively.
News operation
When WTOM first began broadcasting, it had a separate news department based at its studios on U.S. 23 east of Cheboygan. However, this operation was closed down and the channel eventually became a full-time satellite of WPBN.For most of the last half-century, WPBN has been second in the news ratings in the market behind WWTV 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...
. Early on, the Biedermans devoted significant resources to WPBN's news operation utilizing the resources of the co-owned radio stations. This continues today, resulting in a higher-quality product than conventional wisdom would suggest for a station in the 116th market. In terms of coverage, WPBN has traditionally had more of a Traverse City focus compared with WWTV who has facilities southeast of Cadillac.
Station alumni include Christa Quinn and the immortal "Deputy" Don Melvoin who first hosted the Deputy Don kids show in the 1950s. After a stint in Hollywood that included roles on The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
and a movie filmed on Mackinac Island
Mackinac Island
Mackinac Island is an island and resort area covering in land area, part of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located in Lake Huron, at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac, between the state's Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The island was home to a Native American settlement before European...
called Somewhere in Time, Melvoin came back to WPBN to host Deputy Don Rides Again and the horror flick Count Zappula. Don Melvoin died in 2002. In addition to its main studios, there is a bureau in Gaylord
Gaylord, Michigan
Gaylord is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 3,681. It is the county seat of Otsego County. The city is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gaylord; it is by far the smallest settlement serving as the location of an active Roman...
on West Main Street. In the past, the station had also maintained newsrooms in Petoskey and Cadillac. The latter was closed in November 2008 after a reporter based there was laid-off.
On September 10, 2007, it began airing a midday broadcast weekdays at 11 after Today In January 2009, the station laid-off nine employees and canceled the weekday midday show. expanded to four hours. After WGTU consolidated its operations with WPBN, it became possible full newscasts would return to WGTU for the first time since 1984. On September 13, 2010, WPBN began producing a weeknight newscast at 6:30 on WGTU, UpNorthLive Tonight. It originates from a secondary set at WPBN's studios, and features local news and weather but also goes into detail covering community events and various businesses. There is no sports report given in this broadcast. The only other newscast on the station is a 10-minute weeknight update at 11. Lori Puckett, WGTU's original only on-air personality who continues anchoring the weeknight update, appeared on WPBN in the local segments of the 2008 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon
Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon
The MDA Labor Day Telethon is an annual telethon in the United States to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association . The first MDA telethon was during the Thanksgiving Day weekend of 1952 and titled Party for MDA. It has been held annually since 1966...
.
As of October 17, 2011, this station airs its newscasts in 16x9
Aspect ratio (image)
The aspect ratio of an image is the ratio of the width of the image to its height, expressed as two numbers separated by a colon. That is, for an x:y aspect ratio, no matter how big or small the image is, if the width is divided into x units of equal length and the height is measured using this...
standard definition widescreen.
Newscast titles
- Newswatch 7&4 (1980s-early 1990s)
- NewsChannel 7&4 (early 1990s-1999)
- 7&4 News (1999-present)
Station slogans
- "Your Only 24-Hour Local News and Weather Source" (1990-1999)
- "Coverage You Can Count On" (1999-2008)
- "Fair. Accurate. Honest." (2008-present)
News team
Anchors- Melissa Smith - weekday mornings and "Matters of the Heart" segment producer
- Marc Schollett - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6, and 11
- Diana Fairbanks - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6, and 11
- "Buddy Check" segments producer
- Erika Erickson - weeknights at 6:30 (on WGTU)
- Brody O'Connell - weekends
7&4 News Storm Team Meteorologists
- Mark Watkins (AMSAmerican Meteorological SocietyThe 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) - Chief seen weeknights - Joe Charlevoix - weekday mornings
- Christina Burkhart
- weekends and news reporter
Sports (both seen on Hometown Highlights)
- Giacomo Accardo - weeknights at 6 and 11
- sports reporter
- Harrison Beeby - sports reporter and news producer
Reporters
- Doug Luciani - "Chamber Connection" segment producer
- Doug Stanton - "Writer's Minute" segment producer
- Jamie Kramer - weeknights at 6:30 (on WGTU)
- Bob Rhodes - Chief Photojournalist
- Kate Fox - multimedia journalist
- Andrew Keller - Gaylord Bureau
- Brody O'Connell
- Lauren Amstutz