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WBAY-TV
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Branding	WBAY-TV 2 (general) Action 2 News (news)
Slogan	Coverage You Can Count On
Channels	Analog: 2 (VHF) Digital: 23 (UHF)
Affiliations	ABC Retro Television Network (DT3)
Owner	Young Broadcasting
Founded	March 17, 1953
Call letters meaning	W Green BAY
Former affiliations	CBS (1953-1992) DuMont (1953-1956)[1]
Website	www.wbay.com/

WBAY-TV "TV-2" is the ABC television affiliate in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It broadcasts on VHF channel 2 (analog) and UHF channel 23 (digital). It signed on the air on March 17, 1953 as the second television station in Wisconsin, after WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee. It is currently owned by Young Broadcasting. Its transmitter is located in Ledgeview, Wisconsin.

Contents 1 History 2 Telethon 3 Sunday Mass 4 Station Logo History 5 News team 6 External links

The station was originally owned by the Norbertine Order of Priests, whose abbey is in nearby De Pere. The priests run St. Norbert College in De Pere and already operated radio stations in Green Bay and Appleton. After carrying multiple networks in its early years, the station became a primary CBS affiliate, and benefited from that network's coverage of National Football League games, primarily of the Green Bay Packers. Packers games drew up to a 90 percent share of the audience during the 1960s success of teams coached by Vince Lombardi, and the station carried "The Vince Lombardi Show." The station also originated the team's exhibition game coverage from the 1960s to 2002 with some exceptions. Main anchor Bill Jartz has been Lambeau Field's PA system announcer since the start of the 2005-2006 season. The station aired Monday Night Football Packer games originating from ESPN during the 2006 season.

In the mid-1970s, WBAY-TV was sold to Nationwide Communications, Inc., which operated the station until 1997, when it was sold to Young Broadcasting.

CBS purchased the assets of Midwest Television in that same year to acquire their long-time strong Twin Cities affiliate WCCO-TV/AM; Midwest also owned Channel 2's longtime competitor, then-ABC affiliate WFRV/WJMN (Channel 5/3). CBS considered WBAY a strong affiliate, trying to sell WFRV/WJMN after closing the deal with Midwest. FCC rules were relaxed at the time to allow one entity to own more stations, so the network decided to keep the two stations and affiliate WFRV/WJMN with their own network in 1992, giving Channel 2 affiliation with ABC. In 2007, CBS sold WFRV/WJMN to Liberty Media.

WBAY insisted that the change take place on or near the anniversary of their sign-on date, March 17. Since that date fell on a Tuesday in 1992, WFRV and WBAY swapped networks on Sunday, March 15, with "TV-2" joining ABC.

In addition to airing ABC, WBAY also carries Stormcenter 2 24/7, a local equivalent of ABC's O&O AccuWeather subchannels, or NBC's Weather Plus service, over their 2-2 digital subchannel. This channel is also carried by area cable systems over digital cable. The subchannel is also used for local long-form news coverage, such as carrying full coverage of the Steven Avery murder trial in Chilton. Three hours of E/I compliant programming a week (required on digital subchannels by the FCC at the start of 2007) airs on this subchannel weekdays during the station's 5pm newscast and during the station's 8am Saturday morning newscast to provide continuous weather coverage on the station despite the regulations.

The station also pre-empts the first hour of the ABC lineup on Tuesday evenings (Cavemen and Carpoolers) during the football season to carry Tuesday Night Touchback, which was formerly known as Monday Night Countdown before it was moved in 2007 because of Dancing with the Stars. The ABC sitcoms air early Wednesday morning after Jimmy Kimmel Live.

In October 2007, the station added a DT3 subchannel for Equity Broadcasting's Retro Television Network, which features classic sitcoms and dramas, as part of a test of three Young Broadcasting stations of the service [2].

The station also sponsors the yearly "WBAY Boating Show" and the "WBAY RV and Camping Show", both held in the winter months at the Brown County Arena/Shopko Hall, along with a Boy Scout door-to-door food drive ("Scouting for Food") in the fall.

WBAY-TV holds the record for the longest running telethon on the same channel, airing the Cerebral Palsy Telethon, which has broadcast on the station since 1954. The telethon originally aired for 22 hours from Saturday 8pm-Sunday 6pm, but currently breaks between 12 midnight and 6am, as the station signs off in the overnights during weekends. Past hosts of the telethon have included Raymond Burr, Dennis James (who would later host the United Cerebal Palsy national telethon), and Tom Wopat. Currently the telethon is a local-only effort, using local broadcasters and people to host the marathon program, and the funds raised benefit the local organization, Cerebral Palsy, Inc. Before the sale of the WBAY stations by the Norbertine Fathers, the telethon was simulcast over WBAY-AM (later WGEE, now WTAQ) and WBAY-FM (now WIXX).

WBAY's Cerebal Palsy telethon both pre-dated and succeeded the national telethon for United Cerebal Palsy, which ran on numerous stations nationwide from the mid-1970s to the late-1990s.

The station continues to air a Sunday Mass on Sunday mornings, as it has since signing on under the ownership of the Norbertine Fathers. After the sale of the station from them however, the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay pays WBAY-TV to have the program produced from funds that currently come out of that Diocese's "Bishop Appeals" account.

The first generation of the 'Circle 2' logo, used from 1986-March 1992. This logo remained in use with the ABC affilation in some uses (such as print advertising) during the second generation of the 'Circle 2'

Second generation of the 'Circle 2', used from March 1992-March 2003

Third and current generation of the 'Circle 2' logo with a solid red background, used since March 2003

Anchors/Reporters

• Bill Jartz, evening anchor
• Cami Rapson, evening anchor
• Kevin Rompa, morning and noon anchor
• Kathryn Bracho, morning anchor/health reporter
• Jeff Alexander, 4pm anchor/reporter
• Sarah Thomsen, 4pm anchor/reporter
• Elizabeth Ries, weekend anchor/reporter
• Jenn Karlman, weekend morning anchor/reporter
• Adam Aaro, reporter
• Natalie Arnold, reporter
• Kristin Byrne, reporter
• Chris Duffy, reporter
• Emily Matesic, reporter
• Matt Smith, reporter
• Jason Zimmerman, reporter

StormCenter 2

• George Graphos, evening
• Brad Spakowitz, weekend evening
• Justin Zollitsch, morning
• Steve Beylon, weekend morning

Action 2 Sports

• Chris Roth
• John Gillespie
• Michelle Tuckner

Past Personalities

• Chuck Ramsay (retired)
• Mary Smits
• Tom Zalaski (now at WFRV)
• Doug Higgins (now at WLUK)
• Lorene Wagner
• Judy Markee (now at WWMT)
• Paul Daniel
• Michelle Tuzee (now at KABC)
• Hazel Sanchez (now at WCBS)

• WBAY.com Homepage
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WBAY-TV

v • d • e Young Broadcasting
ABC Affiliates: WATE · WBAY¹ · WKRN · WRIC · WTEN¹ / WCDC CBS Affiliates: KELO / KCLO / KDLO / KPLO · KLFY · WLNS MyNetworkTV Affiliate: KRON¹ NBC Affiliate: KWQC Local Weather Channels: WBAY Stormcenter 2 24/7  · KWQC 24-7 Weather Channel ¹ - Broadcasts Retro Television Network on a digital subchannel Key People: Adam Young and Vincent Young Website: www.youngbroadcasting.com

v • d • e Broadcast television in the Green Bay / Appleton / Fox Cities market  (Nielsen DMA #70)
Local television stations	WBAY 2 (ABC, Local WX on DT-2, RTN on DT-3) - WFRV 5 (CBS) - WLUK 11 (FOX) - WIWB 14 (The CW) - W17CF (TBN) - WGBA 26 (NBC) - W30BU 30 (3ABN) - WACY 32 (MNTV) - W36DH 36 (TBN) - WPNE 38 (PBS/WPT) - W49CB 49 (TBN) - WWAZ 68 (FamilyNet)
Regional cable television channels (Availibility varies by localtion)	FSN Wisconsin - FSN Detroit - Time Warner Sports
See also	Broadcast television stations in Milwaukee, Wausau, Marquette, Northern Michigan and Madison

v • d • e ABC Network Affiliates in the state of Wisconsin
WBAY 2 (Green Bay) - WAOW 9/WYOW 34 (Wausau/Eagle River) - WISN 12 (Milwaukee) - WQOW 18/WXOW 19 (Eau Claire/La Crosse) - WKOW 27 (Madison) - W63AR* (Ladysmith) *W63AR is a repeater of KSTP-TV, St. Paul, Minnesota.
See also: CBS, CW, Fox, MNTV, NBC, PBS and Other stations in Wisconsin

v • d • e Other Television Stations in the state of Wisconsin
Spanish Language Stations	WBWT-LP 38 (Azteca América, Milwaukee)  · WYTU-LP 63 (Telemundo, Milwaukee)
ION Television Stations	WTPX-DT 46 (Antigo/Wausau)  · WPXE 55 (Kenosha/Milwaukee)
TBN Stations & Translators	W17CF 17 (Oshkosh/Menasha/Neenah)  · K32GF 32 (Rhinelander)  · W36DH 36 (Waupaca)  · W38CT 38 (Madison) W44BF 44 (La Crosse)  · W49CB 49 (Green Bay)  · WWRS 52 (Mayville/Milwaukee)  · W65EE 65 (Janesville/Beloit)
FamilyNet Affiliates	WBIJ 4 (Crandon)  · WVCY 30 (Milwaukee)  · WWAZ 68 (Fond du Lac)
Three Angels Station	W23BW 23, (Madison)
Other Stations	WMKE-CA 7 (A1, Milwaukee)  · W16BS 16 (Silent, Sheboygan)  · WMLW-CA 41 (IND, Milwaukee)  · WJJA 49 (S@H/JTV, Racine)
See also ABC, CBS, CW, Fox, MNTV, NBC and PBS stations in Wisconsin