WBGH-CA
Encyclopedia
WBGH-CA is the Class A
NBC
-affiliated television station
for New York
's Eastern Southern Tier
licensed to Binghamton
. It broadcasts a low-powered analog signal on UHF channel 20 from a transmitter at its studios on Ingraham Hill
Road. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable
channel 5 (hence the NBC 5 branding) and in high definition
on digital channel 700. Owned by Newport Television
, WBGH is sister to ABC
affiliate WIVT
and the two share studios.
However, master control and some internal operations are based at centralcasting
facilities within WSYR-TV
's studios on Bridge Street in East Syracuse
. Syndicated
programing on this channel includes: The Dr. Oz Show
, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
, The Doctors
, and Family Feud
. It can be seen in high definition over-the-air on WIVT's second digital subchannel
from the same transmitter at the studios. There is no separate website for this station.
channel 8 with the call sign W08DL. The sign-on occurred after the market
's long time NBC affiliate WICZ-TV
switched to Fox in wake of similar affiliation switches
in other parts of the country. W08DL was initially a semi-satellite of WETM in Elmira
owned by Smith Broadcasting
. In 1997, this station upgraded to low-powered status and changed its calls to WBGH-LP. As time went on, it largely separated from the WETM partial simulcast but continued to air that station's newscasts. In 1998, WBGH moved to UHF channel 20 to make way for WICZ's digital signal on channel 8.
In 2000, Smith Broadcasting sold the station (along with Watertown's ABC affiliate WWTI
) to the Ackerley Group
of Seattle, Washington
which also entered into a local marketing agreement
(LMA) to take over operations of WETM. With this sale, WBGH's last ties with WETM were severed as Ackerley already owned WIVT. WBGH moved its operations into WIVT's studios on Ingraham Hill south of Binghamton. Shortly after, it upgraded to Class A status and changed call letters to WBGH-CA. Ackerley was bought out by Clear Channel Communications
in 2002. On April 20, 2007, the company entered into an agreement to sell its entire television stations group to Providence Equity Partners
with the group deal closing on March 14, 2008.
It is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) as a low-powered Class A analog station and does not provide its own digital over-the-air transmission. However, WIVT's second digital subchannel carries WBGH in 1080i
high definition as of February 9, 2010. The official plan is to broadcast WBGH in high definition in the future with the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) roll-out plan for low-power digital stations. In the meantime, Newport decided to take its analog signal off-the-air to determine options for its future. However, it is unknown if this actually happened because television listings and its entry with the FCC continue to mention WBGH's analog channel.
Throughout its existence, WBGH has never had its own news operation. In the late-1990s as a semi-satellite of WETM, it simulcasted that station's local newscasts. After severing its ties with that station, WIVT's weeknight newscasts at 5:30 and 6 as well as an update at 11 were simulcasted on WBGH. On June 5, 2009, the two stations announced there would be consolidation of news operations with sister station WETM in Elmira. WBNG reported all but two people from the news staff and all production personnel for the news department would be terminated.
The Press & Sun-Bulletin
identified the two personnel remaining as news anchor Peter Quinn and News Director
Jim Ehmke but also said fifteen other members of the original 28 person staff, including non-news personnel, would remain based in Binghamton. The two stations continue to be locally operated from studios on Ingraham Hill Road. Currently, WIVT simulcasts WETM's newscasts on weekday mornings (second hour only), weekdays at noon, and weeknights at 11. On weekends, WETM's show at 11 is the only broadcast seen on WIVT. WBGH carries the Elmira station's early evening news at 6 on Sundays and late broadcast at 11 on both nights.
On June 28, WBGH and WIVT brought back a separate newscast weeknights at 6 focusing on Binghamton. WETM produces this broadcast from a secondary set at its studios on East Water Street in Downtown Elmira. It replaced a simulcast of WETM's show seen at that time on WIVT and WBGH. In the long run, having local broadcasts produced by a station in another market could hurt ratings of these two stations. An example of the phenomenon is in Utica
where WUTR
's arrangement to simulcast newscasts from WSYR in 2003 (after the former stopped producing its own local news) ended within a few months.
Anchors
Reporters
Class A television service
The class A television service is a system for regulating some low-power television stations in the United States. Class A stations are denoted by the broadcast callsign suffix "-CA" or "-CD" , although very many analog -CA stations have a digital companion channel that was assigned the -LD...
NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
-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 New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's Eastern Southern Tier
Southern Tier
The Southern Tier is a geographical term that refers to the counties of New York State west of the Catskill Mountains along the northern border of Pennsylvania. It is a loosely defined term that generally includes the counties that border Pennsylvania west of Delaware County inclusive...
licensed to Binghamton
Binghamton, New York
Binghamton is a city in the Southern Tier of New York in the United States. It is near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers...
. It broadcasts a low-powered analog signal on UHF channel 20 from a transmitter at its studios on Ingraham Hill
Ingraham Hill
Ingraham Hill is a hill in Binghamton, New York which contains the television and radio broadcast towers for the surrounding metropolitan area. The summit rises to an elevation of . These towers include TV stations WBNG, WICZ, WIVT, WSKG-TV and radio stations WNBF, WAAL, WWYL and many more. The...
Road. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
channel 5 (hence the NBC 5 branding) and in 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...
on digital channel 700. Owned by Newport Television
Newport Television
Newport Television, LLC is a television station holding company founded by Providence Equity Partners and Sandy DiPasquale in 2007 to acquire the television stations owned by Clear Channel Communications. In September 2007, Newport agreed to sell KFTY and KVOS-TV to LK Station Group LLC for $26.6...
, WBGH is sister to 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 WIVT
WIVT
WIVT is the ABC-affiliated television station for Upstate new York's Eastern Southern Tier licensed to Binghamton. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 34 from a transmitter at its studios on Ingraham Hill Road southwest of Downtown Binghamton. The station can also be seen...
and the two share studios.
However, master control and some internal operations are based at centralcasting
Centralcasting
In terrestrial radio and television broadcasting, centralcasting refers to the use of systems automation by which customised signals for broadcast by multiple individual stations may be created at one central facility.- :...
facilities within WSYR-TV
WSYR-TV
WSYR-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for Central New York State that is licensed to Syracuse. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 17 from a transmitter on Sevier Road in Pompey. The station can also be seen on Time Warner channel 9 and in high definition on...
's studios on Bridge Street in East Syracuse
East Syracuse, New York
East Syracuse is an incorporated village and a suburb of the City of Syracuse in eastern Onondaga County, New York. United States. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the village had a population of 3,178....
. 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...
programing on this channel includes: The Dr. Oz Show
The Dr. Oz Show
The Dr. Oz Show is an American syndicated television talk show, hosted by Dr. Mehmet Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon and teaching professor at Columbia University who became famous for his appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show from 2004 until 2009....
, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a television game show which offers large cash prizes for correctly answering a series of multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. The format is owned and licensed by Sony Pictures Television International. The maximum cash prize is one million pounds...
, The Doctors
The Doctors (2008 TV series)
The Doctors is an American syndicated talk show airing daily in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Ireland, Sweden and Finland. It debuted on September 8, 2008. The hour-long daytime program is produced by Phil McGraw and his son Jay McGraw and is distributed domestically and globally by CBS Television...
, and Family Feud
Family Feud
Family Feud is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. Two families compete against each other in a contest to name the most popular responses to a survey question posed to 100 people...
. It can be seen in high definition over-the-air on WIVT's 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...
from the same transmitter at the studios. There is no separate website for this station.
History
The station began broadcasting on September 10, 1995. It aired an analog signal on VHFVery high frequency
Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...
channel 8 with the call sign W08DL. The sign-on occurred after the market
Media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...
's long time NBC affiliate WICZ-TV
WICZ-TV
WICZ-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Upstate New York's Eastern Southern Tier. Licensed to Binghamton, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 8 from a transmitter. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 3 and in high definition on digital...
switched to Fox in wake of similar affiliation switches
Fox affiliate switches of 1994
The United States television network affiliate switches of 1994 were a series of events resulting from a multi-million dollar deal between Fox Broadcasting Company, known commonly as Fox, and New World Communications, an owner of several VHF television stations affiliated with major networks,...
in other parts of the country. W08DL was initially a semi-satellite of WETM in Elmira
Elmira, New York
Elmira is a city in Chemung County, New York, USA. It is the principal city of the 'Elmira, New York Metropolitan Statistical Area' which encompasses Chemung County, New York. The population was 29,200 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Chemung County.The City of Elmira is located in...
owned by Smith Broadcasting
Smith Media, LLC
Smith Media, LLC, successor to Smith Television, is a broadcasting group co-based in Los Angeles, California and St. Petersburg, Florida, that owns and operates seven television stations across the United States....
. In 1997, this station upgraded to low-powered status and changed its calls to WBGH-LP. As time went on, it largely separated from the WETM partial simulcast but continued to air that station's newscasts. In 1998, WBGH moved to UHF channel 20 to make way for WICZ's digital signal on channel 8.
In 2000, Smith Broadcasting sold the station (along with Watertown's ABC affiliate WWTI
WWTI
WWTI is the ABC-affiliated television station for Upstate New York's North Country. Licensed to Watertown, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 21 from a transmitter on Hayes Road in Copenhagen. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 5 and in high...
) to the Ackerley Group
Ackerley Group
The Ackerley Group was an American media company that owned several television stations that was taken over by Clear Channel Communications in 2001. Its chairman was Seattle-based businessman Barry Ackerley.-Stations list :...
of Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
which also entered into 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) to take over operations of WETM. With this sale, WBGH's last ties with WETM were severed as Ackerley already owned WIVT. WBGH moved its operations into WIVT's studios on Ingraham Hill south of Binghamton. Shortly after, it upgraded to Class A status and changed call letters to WBGH-CA. Ackerley was bought out by Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
in 2002. On April 20, 2007, the company entered into an agreement to sell its entire television stations group to Providence Equity Partners
Providence Equity Partners
Providence Equity Partners is a global private equity investment firm focused on media, entertainment, communications and information investments...
with the group deal closing on March 14, 2008.
It is licensed by 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) as a low-powered Class A analog station and does not provide its own digital over-the-air transmission. However, WIVT's second digital subchannel carries WBGH in 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...
high definition as of February 9, 2010. The official plan is to broadcast WBGH in high definition in the future with 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) roll-out plan for low-power digital stations. In the meantime, Newport decided to take its analog signal off-the-air to determine options for its future. However, it is unknown if this actually happened because television listings and its entry with the FCC continue to mention WBGH's analog channel.
News operation
The Press & Sun-Bulletin
Press & Sun-Bulletin
The Press & Sun-Bulletin is a daily newspaper serving the area around Binghamton, New York. It was formed by the 1985 merger of The Evening Press and The Sun-Bulletin. It is owned by the Gannett Company, who purchased The Binghamton Press in 1943 and The Sun-Bulletin in 1971.-External links:**...
identified the two personnel remaining as news anchor Peter Quinn and News Director
News Director
A news director is an individual at a broadcast station or network or a newspaper who is in charge of the news department. In local news, the news director is typically in charge of the entire news staff, including journalists, news presenters, photographers, copy writers, television producers,...
Jim Ehmke but also said fifteen other members of the original 28 person staff, including non-news personnel, would remain based in Binghamton. The two stations continue to be locally operated from studios on Ingraham Hill Road. Currently, WIVT simulcasts WETM's newscasts on weekday mornings (second hour only), weekdays at noon, and weeknights at 11. On weekends, WETM's show at 11 is the only broadcast seen on WIVT. WBGH carries the Elmira station's early evening news at 6 on Sundays and late broadcast at 11 on both nights.
On June 28, WBGH and WIVT brought back a separate newscast weeknights at 6 focusing on Binghamton. WETM produces this broadcast from a secondary set at its studios on East Water Street in Downtown Elmira. It replaced a simulcast of WETM's show seen at that time on WIVT and WBGH. In the long run, having local broadcasts produced by a station in another market could hurt ratings of these two stations. An example of the phenomenon is in Utica
Utica, New York
Utica is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 62,235 at the 2010 census, an increase of 2.6% from the 2000 census....
where WUTR
WUTR
WUTR is the ABC-affiliated television station for Central Upstate New York's Mohawk Valley. Licensed to Utica, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 30 from a transmitter at its studios on Smith Hill Road in Deerfield...
's arrangement to simulcast newscasts from WSYR in 2003 (after the former stopped producing its own local news) ended within a few months.
News team
+ denotes personnel not seen on WETMAnchors
- + Jim Ehmke - News DirectorNews DirectorA news director is an individual at a broadcast station or network or a newspaper who is in charge of the news department. In local news, the news director is typically in charge of the entire news staff, including journalists, news presenters, photographers, copy writers, television producers,...
seen weeknights - Sara Sultanik - weekend news and reporter (also producer)
- Tom Esterguard - weeknight meteorologist
- Nick Borelli - weekend meteorologist
- + Liana Bonavita - weeknight sports
- Mario Sacco - weekend sports
Reporters
- + Joe Stanley - "Joe Knows" segment producer
- + Peter Quinn - fill-in weeknight news anchor
- Brittni Smallwood
- Bobby Brooks
- Sam Smink
- Chris Hush