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WLWT
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| WLWT | |
|---|---|
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| Cincinnati, Ohio | |
| Branding | News5 |
| Slogan | Where The News Comes First |
| Channels | Analog: 5 (VHF) Digital: 35 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | NBC
NBC Weather Plus (DT2) |
| Owner | Hearst-Argyle Television (Ohio/Oklahoma Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc.) |
| Founded | February 9, 1948 |
| Call letters meaning | World's Largest Wireless Television (former sister to radio station) |
| Former channel number(s) | 1 (1946–1948) 4 (1948–1952) |
| Former affiliations | CBS, ABC & DuMont (Secondary 1948-1949) |
| Website | WLWT.com |
WLWT, also known as News 5, is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, broadcasting locally on VHF channel 5 as an NBC affiliate. The station is owned by Hearst-Argyle Television.
Despite often having been the highest-rated news station in the Cincinnati area in the past, WLWT had been lagging behind rivals WKRC and WCPO-TV in recent years. As of 2006, however, the station has been seeing a turnaround in the ratings. Several former and current members of WLWT's news staff have been associated with politics, including Jerry Springer, Charlie Luken, Tom Atkins, J.D. Hayworth and Courtis Fuller.
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WLWT was established by the Crosley Broadcasting Corporation, owners of WLW radio, one of America's most powerful radio stations. After airing experimentally from 1946 as W8XCT (channel 1) [1][2], the station began commercial broadcasts on February 9, 1948. It originally carried programming from NBC, ABC, CBS and DuMont, but became solely an NBC affiliate in 1949 after WKRC-TV and WCPO-TV signed on respectively. For many years, the station's IDs and advertising used a hyphen in its callsign ("WLW-T"), but that was dropped after Avco, which had purchased WLW radio and WLWT, sold off WLW(AM) in the 1960s. The hypenated "T" referred to Television as did WLW-D for Dayton, WLW-I for Indianapolis, WLW-C for Columbus and WLW-A for Atlanta, Georgia, which made up the tri-state's only interconnected network. "WLW Television" boasted a million dollars worth of talent resulting in such programs as "The Ruth Lyons 50-50 Club" (later hosted by Bob Braun after Lyons' retirement in 1967), "The Paul Dixon Show", and "Midwestern Hayride ." WLWT was the originator of these programs when its studios were located in the former Elks Building(re-christened "Crosley Square") in downtown Cincinnati when the station first took to the air. For a period during the 1970s, the station's slogan was, "5, The Originator" in reference to all of the local programming that was and had been produced by the station.
A young talent in 1950 was inspired by the Ruth Lyons television show and left his parents' vocation -- the ministry -- to enter the new field of TV broadcasting. Hiring young talent like Rod Serling, Mel Dibble -- or Mel Martin as he was known in TV, became a popular morning talk show host. A lot of what he did established the morning talk show format still employed today. Although he started on WCPO, he quickly switched to WLW-TV at a time when the station was making television history on a regular basis. Cincinnati was actually the "Hollywood" of TV in the early years. Two of his shows were Hi-Life Hilarities and Breakfast Party, and he also appeared for a week on NBC's Today Show with Dave Garroway. Coney Island, a popular amusement park at the time, even had a Mel Martin Day in his honor.
But his religious roots called him home again when in 1953, he went to the Taft Auditorium to hear the Rev. Billy Graham. He had a genuine "conversion" experience and re-entered the ministry, working for a time for the Graham crusade organization. He preached for years in various small towns, and traveled the world. In 1966, as Cincinnati's delegate to the World Congress on Evangelism in West Berlin, and sneaked into East Berlin to preach in secret basement churches. In 1977, he became pastor of Mariemont Community Church and served until his retirement in 1983. He died after a battle with cancer in 2002.
"He is an underacknowledged, yet integral part of WLW's history," his niece Barbara Moran recalled. "His show 'Breakfast Party' established a model for morning shows that followed. And one of his staffers was a young guy named Rod Serling, who later went on to create The Twilight Zone."
The station was sold to Multimedia Broadcasting in 1976. Gannett bought the Multimedia group in 1995. Since Gannett already owned the Cincinnati Enquirer, the company swapped WLWT and Oklahoma City's KOCO-TV to Argyle Television for Buffalo's WGRZ-TV and Western Michigan's WZZM-TV, a transaction which was finalized in January 1997. Argyle merged with the broadcasting unit of the Hearst Corporation (creating Hearst-Argyle Television) in August 1997, forcing the newly-merged company to sell off then-Hearst-owned WDTN in Dayton, Ohio due to FCC rules in effect at the time forbidding common ownership of television stations with overlapping city-grade coverage (ironically, both stations were once owned by Crosley; under Crosley and its successor Avco, they were grandfathered).
It is the only Cincinnati station (other than independents joining a television network) never to change its affiliation.
In June 2007, WLWT announced that they would partner with WLW radio to provide news and weather for that station. WLWT provided news and weather for the station for years when they were both Crosley stations, but eventual separate ownerships of the two stations led to WLW radio using WKRC-TV for news and weather resources. As a consequence, WLWT's news and weather will also be heard nationwide on WLW's XM Satellite Radio channel, at channel 173.
WLWT's team of meteorologists consist of Chief Meteorologist Derek Beasley (AMS/CBM), meteorologist John Bateman (AMS), meteorologist Eric Green (AMS), and meteorologist Randi Rico. WLWT bills their radar as the Power Of 5 Radar Network. WLWT states that all five radars from Fort Wayne, IN, Indianapolis, IN, Louisville, KY, Cincinnati, OH, and Wilmington, OH, are live when all but the Cincinnati radar are NEXRAD Doppler radars from the National Weather Service. They use Baron Services Doppler radar software to power their weathercasts.
WLWT also has historically had a high rate of chief meteorologist turnover - it has had six chief meteorologists in the past ten years: Tom Burse, Dave Fraser, Angelique Frame, Byron Webre, Jim O’Brien and Derek Beasley. WLWT Also has the only AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist (new seal) in Cincinnati.
WLWT airs NBC Weather Plus on digital channel 5.2.
News 5 is WLWT's news operation. The team is led by Sandra Ali, Sheree Paolello and Derek Beasley as Chief Meteorologist. It is popular in Cincinnati for its Target 5 investigations.
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- The transmission tower seen at the beginning of CBS's popular sitcom, WKRP in Cincinnati, actually belonged to WLWT — it was located at the now-former WLWT transmitter on 2222 Chickasaw Street. [3]
- WLWT sponsors an annual race in the Automobile Racing Club of America, a stock car racing series similar to NASCAR, at Kentucky Speedway. The station simulcasts the live coverage from the Speed Channel.
- WLWT is the only Cincinnati station to remain with its primary affiliation (NBC) since sign on,
- WLWT's branding used to be "Eyewitness News 5" until 2004. In the 1970s the news was called, Action 5 News and for a brief period, "The" News.
- Jerry Springer (anchor, now host of his own talk show and host of "America's Got Talent")
- Norma Rashid
- Felicia Ferguson
- Charlie Luken
- Tom Burse Chief Meteorologist SNN6 Sarasota
- Jim O'Brien (Chief Meteorologist from 2004-2007, Now Morning Meteorologist at WXIN in Indianapolis)
- Kristen Cornett (weather 2001-2006) then worked with NBC Weather Plus, now weekend weather at KMOV, St. Louis
- Peter Grant (anchor til late 1960s)
- Toria Tolley (reporter 1980s, went to CNN 1990)
- Ann Reskin (midday news anchor 1980s;)
- Frank Pierce (weather, 1960-1972)
- Tony Sands (chief meteorologist, mid 1950's-mid 1980s)
- Ken Torrey (meteorologist, 1972-1978)
- Steve Horstmeyer (meteorologist 1977-1989, went to WKRC-TV)
- Mel "Martin" Dibble (1914-2002) Established morning show format; worked with Rod Serling
- Steve Physioc (Sports, early 80's)
- Solomon Wilcots (Sports, 1990's)
- J. D. Hayworth (Sports, 1986-1987,[4] went to KTSP-TV (now KSAZ-TV), Phoenix, then Congress; currently talk show host at KFYI, Phoenix.)
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WDTN 2 (Dayton) - WKYC 3 (Cleveland) - WCMH 4 (Columbus) - WLWT 5 (Cincinnati) - WTOV 9 (Steubenville) - WHIZ 18 (Zanesville) - WFMJ 21 (Youngstown) - WNWO 24 (Toledo) - WLIO 35 (Lima) |
| See also: ABC, CBS, Fox, PBS, MyNetworkTV, CW and Other stations in Ohio |
