WFFT-TV
Encyclopedia
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 its studios on Hillegas Road. The station can also be seen on Frontier FiOS channel 5 and Comcast
channel 12. There is a high definition signal offered on Frontier FiOS digital channel 505 and Comcast digital channel 1012. Owned by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group
, syndicated
programming on WFFT includes: Family Guy
, Two and a Half Men
, How I Met Your Mother
, and The Office.
WFFT-DT went on-the-air on UHF channel 36 in 2003 following WFWA
-DT and WISE
-DT. The station was re-branded as "Fox Fort Wayne" on January 1, 2008 to reflect its various channel positions on cable. Until December 2007, it aired only a standard definition digital signal at an effective radiated power
of 980 watt
s limiting reception to within miles of the station. It now broadcasts in 720p
. In May 2009, it went full power on its digital signal. WFFT shut down analog transmissions at 6:01 p.m. on June 12, 2009. However through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display its virtual channel
as 55.
suffered through what has come to be known as the "Blizzard of 78
". The station did not sign-off during this period as it normally would instead keeping viewers informed of the situation to the degree that it could given its limited resources. It would end up staying on-the-air all night Friday and Saturdays on a regular basis during a time when other Fort Wayne stations would sign-off for the night around 2 a.m. The program aired overnight was called Nite Owl Theatre. The theme song to was the beginning of "I've Been Searching So Long" by Chicago
.
In later years, late night Fridays featured classic horror movies such as: Frankenstein
, Dracula
, The Wolfman, The Mole People, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers hosted by a character called "The Shroud" on Nightmare Theatre. The station provided a much-needed alternative to viewers in the Fort Wayne area (particularly younger viewers) with its array of cartoons, movies and old sitcoms. This was especially important for those who did not have cable and could not see regional or national superstations such as WTTV
from Indianapolis
or WGN-TV
from Chicago, Illinois.
Many shows on WFFT during its early days had not been seen in Northeastern Indiana
since the original airing on their respective networks. The station featured: Little Rascals
, Superman
, Batman
, Battlestar Galactica
, Star Trek
, Night Gallery
, The Wild Wild West
, McHale's Navy
and other classics. For a time, the station carried ABC
shows that WPTA
turned down. Usually, ABC programming WFFT carried were part of the "ABC Late Night" block. During this time, WPTA was able to broadcast Baretta
, Charlie's Angels
, Starsky & Hutch and other shows weeknights at 10:30 or 11:30 depending on the time of the year. One year, the channel carried Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve
.
At one time, WFFT was voted the number one Independent station in the United States
which was especially remarkable since Fort Wayne was one of the smallest market
s in the country at the time with an Independent station. At various times during the day, the channel carried CNN Headline News. It also provided some coverage of local events such as the Three Rivers Festival
. The station was the official Fort Wayne outlet for Chicago Cubs
baseball. It also is remembered for its Happy's Place
and Froggy's Pad children's programs in the 1980s and 1990s. Happy's Place was known for its two hour block of Fox Kids
children's programing that initially aired from 3 to 5 p.m. During programming breaks, "Happy the Hobo" would emcee children's activities from the WFFT studios. Also on the broadcast were characters such as "Froggy", "Chester T. Fox", and "Lawn Boy". Froggy's Pad was a morning show spun-off from Happy's Place that featured the raspy-voiced frog puppet presenting animated shows.
WFFT joined Fox at the network's launch on October 6, 1986 and was known as "Super 55 Fox" for many years. In the late-1990s amidst the station's shift away from programming locally-produced at its studios, the Happy's Place program was retooled. Segments were taped on location (and sometimes even in transit) and featured area attractions such as the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo
. This format did not last long and the show was canceled. After this point, WFFT's programming apart from the Fox schedule has been centered around syndicated fare including daytime talk shows, court shows, and reruns of sitcoms such as My Wife & Kids and According to Jim
. After the launch of UPN
on January 16, 1995, WFFT picked up a secondary affiliation with the fledgling network airing programs such as Star Trek: Voyager
, Dilbert, and Nowhere Man
. However, CBS
affiliate WANE-TV
eventually picked up the affiliation full-time for its new second digital subchannel
by the mid-2000s.
Fox announced on June 20, 2011 that it would end its affiliation with WFFT and sister station KSFX-TV in Springfield, Missouri
; its Fort Wayne affiliation will move to MyNetworkTV
affiliate WISE-DT2
on August 1. Nexstar had earlier lost the Fox affiliation for WTVW
in Evansville, Indiana
following a dispute with the network over retransmission consent
fees. WFFT (along with WXIN
in Indianapolis) had been the longest tenured Fox affiliates in Indiana (Nexstar would later evict Fox from another Indiana station, WFXW in Terre Haute
, in favor of switching the station's affiliation back to ABC
, the network it was affiliated with until 1995). The last Fox program to air on WFFT was a repeat of American Dad on July 31, 2011. All Fox programming moved to WISE-DT2 when that program ended.
On July 25, 2011 Nexstar 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-TV (WPTA already carries ABC and CW programming, while WISE-TV already carries NBC on its primary channel and will add Fox programming to its MyNetworkTV-affiliated digital subchannel on August 1, 2011.) 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.
WFFT reverted to independent status on August 1, 2011, which makes Fort Wayne one of the only television markets in the United States with all three historical broadcast networks (ABC, CBS
and NBC
) with primary affiliations, and all three current post-1986 networks (Fox, The CW and the MyNetworkTV
program service) carried as digital multicast channels in a market with four commercial full-power stations. As an indepdendent, the station's primetime schedule will consist of the entertainment newsmagazines Extra
and The Insider
, followed by Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
(which will be replaced with The Big Bang Theory
in September) on weeknights, along with a two-hour "Saturday Crimetime" block of police procedural series on Saturday evenings, and family movies on Sunday evenings.
On April 6, 2009, the station launched a second news operation and prime-time broadcast known as Fox Fort Wayne News First at 10 (now WFFT News First at 10 as of late June 2011). It was the last Fox affiliate in Indiana to launch a news operation, but the only local affiliate in the country to launch a new newscast in 2009. Airing for 35 minutes on weeknights, the show competes with Indiana's NewsCenter
Prime News at 10 simulcasted on CW affiliate WPTA-DT2 and MyNetworkTV
affiliate WISE-DT2
. As with the 1980 production, personnel serve as multi-platform journalists shooting and editing their own stories. There was no sports department until the newscast's expansion following the loss of the Fox affiliation. WFFT's current newscast was nominated for an Emmy award
for "Best Evening Newscast" from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
-Lower Great Lakes
Chapter. No other station in Fort Wayne received the nomination.
When the station became an independent station on August 1, 2011, WFFT expanded the 10 p.m. newscast to one hour; the newscast expanded to Saturday and Sunday evenings as of October 1, 2011 (also running for one hour), and the station began broadcasting their news in high definition
the previous Thursday, becoming the first station in the Fort Wayne market to do so. In addition, the station will also debut a weekly sports wrap-up show, titled The Locker Room, airing Sundays after the 10 p.m. newscast.
Weather team
Videojournalists
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...
. From the network's launch on October 9th, 1986 to July 31, 2011, WFFT was the Fox-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 Fort Wayne. 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 36 from a transmitter at its studios on Hillegas Road. The station can also be seen on Frontier FiOS channel 5 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 12. There is a high definition signal offered on Frontier FiOS digital channel 505 and Comcast digital channel 1012. Owned by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group
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...
, 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 WFFT includes: Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
, Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...
, How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...
, and The Office.
Digital television
| Virtual channel |
Physical channel |
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,... |
Name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55.1 | 36.1 | 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... |
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 ... |
WFFT-DT | Main WFFT-TV programming HD |
WFFT-DT went on-the-air on UHF channel 36 in 2003 following WFWA
WFWA
WFWA is a Public television station in Fort Wayne, Indiana, broadcasting locally on channel 39 as a Public Broadcasting Service member station. Bruce Haines is the current president and general manager of WFWA.-History:...
-DT and WISE
WISE-TV
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 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...
-DT. The station was re-branded as "Fox Fort Wayne" on January 1, 2008 to reflect its various channel positions on cable. Until December 2007, it aired only a standard definition digital signal at an effective radiated power
Effective radiated power
In radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or equivalent radiated power is a standardized theoretical measurement of radio frequency energy using the SI unit watts, and is determined by subtracting system losses and adding system gains...
of 980 watt
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
s limiting reception to within miles of the station. It now broadcasts in 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...
. In May 2009, it went full power on its digital signal. WFFT shut down analog transmissions at 6:01 p.m. on June 12, 2009. However through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display its 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 55.
History
The station signed-on as an independent station on December 21, 1977 airing an analog signal on UHF channel 55. A month after in January 1978, the Midwestern United StatesMidwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
suffered through what has come to be known as the "Blizzard of 78
Great Blizzard of 1978
The Great Blizzard of 1978 was a historic blizzard which struck the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes from January 25–27, 1978. The 28.28 inches barometric pressure measurement recorded in Cleveland, Ohio was the lowest non-tropical atmospheric pressure ever recorded in the mainland United States...
". The station did not sign-off during this period as it normally would instead keeping viewers informed of the situation to the degree that it could given its limited resources. It would end up staying on-the-air all night Friday and Saturdays on a regular basis during a time when other Fort Wayne stations would sign-off for the night around 2 a.m. The program aired overnight was called Nite Owl Theatre. The theme song to was the beginning of "I've Been Searching So Long" by Chicago
Chicago (band)
Chicago is an American rock band formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois. The self-described "rock and roll band with horns" began as a politically charged, sometimes experimental, rock band and later moved to a predominantly softer sound, becoming famous for producing a number of hit ballads. They had...
.
In later years, late night Fridays featured classic horror movies such as: Frankenstein
Frankenstein (1931 film)
Frankenstein is a 1931 Pre-Code Horror Monster film from Universal Pictures directed by James Whale and adapted from the play by Peggy Webling which in turn is based on the novel of the same name by Mary Shelley. The film stars Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles and Boris Karloff, and features...
, Dracula
Dracula (1958 film)
Dracula, also known as Horror of Dracula in the United States, is a 1958 British horror film. It is the first in the series of Hammer Horror films inspired by the Bram Stoker novel Dracula. It was directed by Terence Fisher, and stars Peter Cushing, Michael Gough, Carol Marsh, Melissa Stribling and...
, The Wolfman, The Mole People, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers hosted by a character called "The Shroud" on Nightmare Theatre. The station provided a much-needed alternative to viewers in the Fort Wayne area (particularly younger viewers) with its array of cartoons, movies and old sitcoms. This was especially important for those who did not have cable and could not see regional or national superstations such as WTTV
WTTV
WTTV is a CW-affiliated television station licensed to Bloomington, Indiana, serving the Indianapolis television market. WTTV is owned by the Tribune Company, and is one-half of a duopoly with WXIN , the market's Fox affiliate. The two stations share a studio at 6910 Network Place on the northwest...
from Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
or WGN-TV
WGN-TV
WGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
from Chicago, Illinois.
Many shows on WFFT during its early days had not been seen in Northeastern 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...
since the original airing on their respective networks. The station featured: Little Rascals
Our Gang
Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively...
, Superman
Superman: The Animated Series
Superman: The Animated Series is an American animated television series starring DC Comics' flagship character, Superman. The series was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and aired on The WB from September 6, 1996 to February 12, 2000. Warner Bros...
, Batman
Batman: The Animated Series
Batman: The Animated Series is an American animated series based on the DC Comics character Batman. The series featured an ensemble cast of many voice-actors including Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Arleen Sorkin, and Loren Lester. The series won four Emmy Awards and was nominated...
, Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction television series, created by Glen A. Larson. It starred Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict and ran for one season in 1978–79. After cancellation, its story was continued in 1980 as Galactica 1980 with Adama, Lieutenant Boomer and...
, Star Trek
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
, Night Gallery
Night Gallery
Night Gallery is an American anthology series that aired on NBC from 1970 to 1973, featuring stories of horror and the macabre. Rod Serling, who had gained fame from an earlier series, The Twilight Zone, served both as the on-air host of Night Gallery and as a major contributor of scripts, although...
, The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on CBS for four seasons from September 17, 1965 to April 4, 1969....
, McHale's Navy
McHale's Navy
McHale's Navy is an American television sitcom series which ran for 138 half-hour episodes from October 11,1962, to August 31, 1966, on the ABC network. The series was filmed in black and white and originated in a one-hour drama called Seven Against the Sea, broadcast on April 3, 1962...
and other classics. For a time, the station carried 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...
shows that 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...
turned down. Usually, ABC programming WFFT carried were part of the "ABC Late Night" block. During this time, WPTA was able to broadcast Baretta
Baretta
Baretta is an American detective television series which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1978. The show was a milder version of a successful 1973–74 ABC series, Toma, starring Tony Musante as chameleon-like, real-life New Jersey police officer David Toma...
, Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...
, Starsky & Hutch and other shows weeknights at 10:30 or 11:30 depending on the time of the year. One year, the channel carried Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve
Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve
Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest is a television program that airs every New Year's Eve on ABC. It has been hosted by Dick Clark since its first airing on Sunday, December 31, 1972. Ryan Seacrest has been the program's co-host since the December 31, 2005 telecast...
.
At one time, WFFT was voted the number one Independent station in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
which was especially remarkable since Fort Wayne was one of the smallest 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 in the country at the time with an Independent station. At various times during the day, the channel carried CNN Headline News. It also provided some coverage of local events such as the Three Rivers Festival
Three Rivers Festival
The Three Rivers Festival is an annual festival held in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The festival's run spans nine days in mid-July, always starting on the first Saturday after Independence Day. It is a celebration of the heritage of Fort Wayne, established during the French and Indian War at the...
. The station was the official Fort Wayne outlet for Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
baseball. It also is remembered for its Happy's Place
Happy's Place
Happy's Place was an afternoon children's television program that aired on WFFT-TV Super 55 Fox in Fort Wayne, Indiana in the 1980s and 1990s.-Background:...
and Froggy's Pad children's programs in the 1980s and 1990s. Happy's Place was known for its two hour block of Fox Kids
Fox Kids
Fox Kids was the Fox Broadcasting Company's American children's programming division and brand name from September 8, 1990 until September 7, 2002. It was owned by Fox Television Entertainment airing programming on Monday–Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.Depending on the show, the...
children's programing that initially aired from 3 to 5 p.m. During programming breaks, "Happy the Hobo" would emcee children's activities from the WFFT studios. Also on the broadcast were characters such as "Froggy", "Chester T. Fox", and "Lawn Boy". Froggy's Pad was a morning show spun-off from Happy's Place that featured the raspy-voiced frog puppet presenting animated shows.
WFFT joined Fox at the network's launch on October 6, 1986 and was known as "Super 55 Fox" for many years. In the late-1990s amidst the station's shift away from programming locally-produced at its studios, the Happy's Place program was retooled. Segments were taped on location (and sometimes even in transit) and featured area attractions such as the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo
Fort Wayne Children's Zoo
The Fort Wayne Children's Zoo is located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States. Since opening in 1965, the 1,500 animal zoo has been located on in Fort Wayne's Franke Park...
. This format did not last long and the show was canceled. After this point, WFFT's programming apart from the Fox schedule has been centered around syndicated fare including daytime talk shows, court shows, and reruns of sitcoms such as My Wife & Kids and According to Jim
According to Jim
According to Jim is an American sitcom television series starring Jim Belushi in the title role as a suburban father of three children. It originally ran on ABC from October 3, 2001 to June 2, 2009.-Synopsis:Jim is an abrasive but lovable suburban father...
. After the launch of 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...
on January 16, 1995, WFFT picked up a secondary affiliation with the fledgling network airing programs such as Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. Set in the 24th century from the year 2371 through 2378, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while...
, Dilbert, and Nowhere Man
Nowhere Man (TV series)
Nowhere Man is an American television series that aired from 1995 to 1996 starring Bruce Greenwood. Created by Lawrence Hertzog, the series aired Monday nights on UPN. Despite critical acclaim, including TV Guides label of "The season's coolest hit," the show was cancelled after only one...
. However, 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...
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...
eventually picked up the affiliation full-time for its new 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...
by the mid-2000s.
Springfield, Missouri
Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. According to the 2010 census data, the population was 159,498, an increase of 5.2% since the 2000 census. The Springfield Metropolitan Area, population 436,712, includes the counties of...
; its Fort Wayne affiliation will move to MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
affiliate 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...
on August 1. Nexstar had earlier lost the Fox affiliation for WTVW
WTVW
Banam sold WTVW to Petracom Broadcasting in 1995. A 20-percent equity stake in Petracom was purchased by Fox soon afterward, eventually leading to a three-way affiliation swap in which WTVW ended its 39-year ABC affiliation and joined Fox on December 3, 1995, with ABC moving to former CBS...
in Evansville, Indiana
Evansville, Indiana
Evansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the...
following a dispute with the network over retransmission consent
Retransmission consent
Retransmission consent is an option granted to US television stations as part of the law that granted such stations the option to elect must-carry rights. Under retransmission consent, a full-power US television station may elect to negotiate with a cable system operator for carriage of its...
fees. WFFT (along with WXIN
WXIN (TV)
WXIN, channel 59, is the Fox affiliated television station in Indianapolis, Indiana. The station broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 45, using its former analog channel 59 as its virtual channel via PSIP...
in Indianapolis) had been the longest tenured Fox affiliates in Indiana (Nexstar would later evict Fox from another Indiana station, WFXW 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...
, in favor of switching the station's affiliation back 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...
, the network it was affiliated with until 1995). The last Fox program to air on WFFT was a repeat of American Dad on July 31, 2011. All Fox programming moved to WISE-DT2 when that program ended.
On July 25, 2011 Nexstar 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-TV (WPTA already carries ABC and CW programming, while WISE-TV already carries NBC on its primary channel and will add Fox programming to its MyNetworkTV-affiliated digital subchannel on August 1, 2011.) 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.
WFFT reverted to independent status on August 1, 2011, which makes Fort Wayne one of the only television markets in the United States with all three historical broadcast networks (ABC, 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...
and 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...
) with primary affiliations, and all three current post-1986 networks (Fox, The CW and the MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
program service) carried as digital multicast channels in a market with four commercial full-power stations. As an indepdendent, the station's primetime schedule will consist of the entertainment newsmagazines Extra
Extra (TV series)
Extra is an American entertainment television news program covering events and celebrities which debuted on September 5, 1994 in syndication. It is produced at Victory Studios in Glendale, California by Telepictures Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television Distribution...
and The Insider
The Insider (TV series)
The Insider is an American tabloid television news program covering events and celebrities. It debuted on September 13, 2004 as a spinoff of Entertainment Tonight and started as a popular segment that took viewers "behind closed doors" and gave them "inside" information...
, followed by Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...
(which will be replaced with The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom serve as executive producers on the show, along with Steven Molaro. All three also serve as head writers...
in September) on weeknights, along with a two-hour "Saturday Crimetime" block of police procedural series on Saturday evenings, and family movies on Sunday evenings.
News operation
For most of the station's history, WFFT did not have a regular newscast. For a year in 1980, it did operate a news department and air a half-hour primetime news program known as The 10 O’Clock Report; this was established during a time of heavy competition from other newscasts. As an independent, WFFT did not have network shows that could lead into its newscast, so consistent viewership and ratings were difficult to maintain. The news team consisted of only five people and personnel would shoot and edit their own video. After that broadcast's cancellation, WFFT delivered news bulletins in primetime for almost two decades.On April 6, 2009, the station launched a second news operation and prime-time broadcast known as Fox Fort Wayne News First at 10 (now WFFT News First at 10 as of late June 2011). It was the last Fox affiliate in Indiana to launch a news operation, but the only local affiliate in the country to launch a new newscast in 2009. Airing for 35 minutes on weeknights, the show competes with 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....
Prime News at 10 simulcasted on CW affiliate WPTA-DT2 and MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
affiliate 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...
. As with the 1980 production, personnel serve as multi-platform journalists shooting and editing their own stories. There was no sports department until the newscast's expansion following the loss of the Fox affiliation. WFFT's current newscast was nominated for an Emmy award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for "Best Evening Newscast" from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences or NATAS was created in 1955 to advance the arts and sciences of television. Headquartered in New York, NATAS's membership is national and the organization has local chapters around the country....
-Lower Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
Chapter. No other station in Fort Wayne received the nomination.
When the station became an independent station on August 1, 2011, WFFT expanded the 10 p.m. newscast to one hour; the newscast expanded to Saturday and Sunday evenings as of October 1, 2011 (also running for one hour), and the station began broadcasting their news 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...
the previous Thursday, becoming the first station in the Fort Wayne market to do so. In addition, the station will also debut a weekly sports wrap-up show, titled The Locker Room, airing Sundays after the 10 p.m. newscast.
Newscast titles
- The 10 O’Clock Report (1980–1981)
- Fox Fort Wayne News First at 10 (2009–May 2011)
- WFFT News First at 10 (May 2011–July 2011)
- WFFT Local News First at 10 (August 2011-present)
News team
Anchors- Jim Blue - 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,...
; weeknights at 10 p.m. - Kristin Mazur - news anchor; weekends at 10 p.m., also weeknight video journalist
- Randy Ziemnik - 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 10 p.m.
Weather team
- Kennie Berg (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 meteorologist; weeknights at 10 p.m. - Andrew Logsdon - meteorologist; weekends at 10 p.m.
Videojournalists
- Robert Bumsted - video journalist
- Sherrell Hubbard - video journalist
- Courtney King - sports video journalist
- Marchelle McConnell - video journalist