WLNE-TV
Encyclopedia
WLNE-TV is the ABC
-affiliated television station
for Rhode Island
and the South Coast
of Massachusetts
. It is licensed to New Bedford, Massachusetts
, but is headquartered in and operates from studios at 10 Orms Street in downtown Providence, Rhode Island
. It is one of two major Rhode Island
stations (the other being CW affiliate WLWC
) licensed to the Massachusetts side of the market
. WLNE broadcasts a high definition
digital signal on UHF channel 49 from a transmitter in Rehoboth, Massachusetts
,
WLNE is owned by Bronxville, New York
-based Citadel Communications
, who acquired the station in 2011 as a result of the bankruptcy of its previous owners, Global Broadcasting
. Citadel Commuications is unrelated to former radio giant Citadel Broadcasting
, which owned several stations in the Providence market, including 630 WPRO-AM
.
channel 6 from a transmitter in Tiverton.
ABC had a curious history in Rhode Island prior to WTEV's sign-on. In the earliest years of television in Providence, all three networks were shoehorned on primary NBC affiliate WJAR-TV (channel 10), at that time the market's only TV station. WNET launched on channel 16 in 1953 as an ABC affiliate. However, it was forced off the air in 1956 due to the difficulties faced by UHF startups at the time. Since television manufacturers weren't required to include UHF tuning capability on TV sets, viewers needed an expensive converter (or an all-channel set, the latter being very rare at the time) to watch WNET, and the picture was marginal at best even with one. For the seven years prior to channel 6's sign-on, WJAR and CBS affiliate WPRO-TV (channel 12, now WPRI-TV
) aired ABC programming, sometimes pre-empting their primary network but usually airing ABC shows on a delayed basis in off-hours. However, much of Rhode Island could get the full ABC schedule from Boston
stations—WHDH-TV
(channel 5, frequency now occupied by WCVB-TV
) prior to January 1, 1961, and WNAC-TV (channel 7, now WHDH) from 1961 to 1963.
Even though Providence was big enough to support three full network affiliates, it soon became apparent that channel 16 would not be resurrected in the near future. The owners of the future WTEV thus decided to seek a license for channel 6 in New Bedford, since it was the only available VHF allocation in the region, albeit on the Massachusetts side of the market.
New Bedford and Bristol County
are part of the Rhode Island market due to Rhode Island's small geographic size, even though the rest of southern Massachusetts is in the Boston market. This was merely a technicality until satellite television, but is a point of irritation to some Massachusetts subscribers of services such as DirecTV
and Dish Network
who are unable to receive Massachusetts news and sports from Boston stations. The Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) allows network affiliates to prevent satellite subscribers from receiving network stations from outside the station's designated market. Bristol County is the only part of Massachusetts associated with Rhode Island for television purposes. Neither Bristol County television station actually operates in Massachusetts.
WTEV was founded by a group that was 55-percent owned by the E. Anthony and Sons, publisher of the New Bedford Standard-Times and owner of WNBH radio (1340 AM
and 98.1 FM, now WCTK
); the remaining 45 percent was held by New England Television, the holder of the license for the old WNET. In 1966, shortly after E. Anthony and Sons sold the Standard-Times and WNBH, WTEV was purchased by Steinman Stations of Lancaster, Pennsylvania
. WTEV moderately preempted ABC shows, in most every case a low-rated program. This didn't pose as much of a problem as it may seem, since most viewers could still get the full schedule from Boston's WNAC until 1972, and on WCVB afterward. During afternoon hours, WTEV ran a blend of cartoons and classic sitcoms. Late nights were devoted to movies.
Television, which had just purchased WPRI, cut an affiliation deal that switched two of the three television stations it owned at the time to ABC. At the time, ABC was aggressively pursuing strong NBC and CBS affiliates to switch, and succeeded in persuading some longtime NBC and CBS stations to switch (as an example, KSTP-TV
in Minneapolis-St. Paul and WSB-TV
in Atlanta, both longtime NBC affiliates, switched to ABC during that period).
In 1979, the Steinmans sold WTEV and their flagship station, WGAL-TV
in Lancaster, to Pulitzer Publishing
. This sale reunited them with KOAT-TV
in Albuquerque, New Mexico
, which had been sold to Pulitzer in 1969. Pulitzer changed channel 6's call letters to the present-day WLNE in 1980. The WTEV
call sign is now used on a CBS affiliate in Jacksonville
, Florida
. Under Pulitzer, the station acquired studio space inside the Charles Orms Building in downtown Providence, their current location. With studios in both Providence and New Bedford, WLNE began a unique practice with its newscasts at the time, using the Action News
branding
and a main anchor team of Magee Hickey
and Chris Conanglia. For the weeknight newscasts, the anchors were split between the two studios. This format ended in 1981. By this time, most of the station's main operations were moved to the Providence location. The original New Bedford facility was used as a news bureau
, secondary studio, and sales office through the late 1980s.
Beginning in 1980, WLNE ran an afternoon movie from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. By 1982, the station was also running a movie weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. These movies were run under the Dialing For Dollars
promotion and were hosted by the late George Allen for a decade. WLNE also continued to preempt moderate amounts of programming, particularly the offerings from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. (to accommodate the morning movie), at noon, and late night programming. Throughout much of the 1980s, WLNE was known for running two movies a day.
In 1983, Pulitzer sold WLNE to Freedom Communications
. This sale was necessary because Pulitzer had acquired WFBC-TV (now WYFF
) in Greenville, South Carolina
and WXII-TV
in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
that same year, leaving the company one VHF station over the FCC's ownership limit of the time; as fate would have it, the remaining Pulitzer stations would be sold in 1999 to what is today Hearst Television, whose flagship is WCVB. By the fall of 1988, WLNE was only running an afternoon movie weekdays and began clearing CBS' 10:00 a.m. hour. In the fall of 1989, WLNE dropped CBS' Guiding Light
, moving the movie to 3:00 p.m. and adding more syndicated programming in the 5:00 p.m. hour; by mid-1990, the afternoon movie was dropped in favor of additional syndicated programming. In the fall of 1990, WLNE dropped the CBS Saturday morning cartoons in favor of several movies in that time slot. In 1991, Guiding Light was reinstated. By 1993, the Saturday morning movies were replaced with educational children's programs and infomercials.
Early in the afternoon of May 4, 2005, WLNE's analog transmitter was knocked off the air due to a faulty section of transmission line on the tower. The transmitter had been running at 80% power due to another unrelated technical problem that occurred approximately two weeks earlier. Although Dish Network
satellite
and some cable
systems continued to receive broadcasts through fiber optic connections, over-the-air
and DirecTV satellite subscribers were left without a local ABC affiliate (DirecTV gets its signal via antenna). Some cable providers made special temporary arrangements to carry Boston ABC station WCVB during this outage. The WLNE transmitter was operational again late Thursday evening after 32 hours off the air.
reported that WLNE was put up for sale. The key reason for the decision was the lack of a second station for Freedom to operate in the market that would improve synergies for the Providence operation. On March 12, 2007, Freedom announced it was selling WLNE to Global Broadcasting, a Delaware corporation
headed by Robinson Ewert and Kevin O'Brien. The FCC granted approval of this sale in mid-September and ownership was officially transferred on October 9. Freedom continued to operate WLNE's website until November 30, 2007 when it was revamped by Broadcast Interactive Media. In April 2010, abc6.com was updated by WorldNow.
, Rachael Ray
, Entertainment Tonight
, The Insider
, and Inside Edition
from CBS Television Distribution
. However, in mid-2009, the station was unable to reach a carriage agreement with the syndicator, successor to King World Productions
and Paramount Domestic Television
. At that time, the station was carrying Dr. Phil, Entertainment Tonight, and Inside Edition. As a result of the situation, the shows were dropped on June 5 and quickly moved to WNAC-TV
(channel 64, and the legal successor to the former WNET). Temporarily put in their place were Cristina's Court, Family Court with Judge Penny
, a 7 o'clock newscast, and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
. On June 16, CBS filed a lawsuit against Global Broadcasting for failing to fully pay license fees for the shows and a breach of contract
. The syndicator sought $5 million from the company.
On June 23, NewsBlues reported that Global Broadcasting co-owner Robinson Ewert had left the company amidst the dispute with CBS. He was replaced by Rob Holtzer, general sales manager at Sunrise Sports and Entertainment, owner of the NHL's
Florida Panthers
and the BankAtlantic Center
in Sunrise, Florida
. He is also a former national sales manager at the YES Network
in New York. Holtzer's official title at Global was vice president and director of sales.
Global Broadcasting filed for receivership
(Rhode Island's equivalent to bankruptcy
) on July 29, 2010 due to declining advertising revenues. Providence attorney Matthew McGowan was appointed receiver. A month later, the station was put up for sale for the second time in four years. According to The Providence Journal, several groups had expressed interest in purchasing the station and a deal was projected to be reached by the end of the year. On December 13, 2010, rumors surfaced that A.H. Belo Corp. would buy WLNE and merge its operations with those of the The Providence Journal
despite the fact that the company was formed from the split of non-broadcasting operations from Belo Corporation. Belo itself was considered a likelier candidate due to the strength of its operations in other regions, and its operation of regional news channels much like WLNE's own NewsChannel 5.
On February 10, 2011, Citadel Communications of Bronxville, New York was chosen as the stalking horse bid
in the sale of the station with a bid of $4 millon. Five other groups (including one led by former Providence mayor Joseph Paolino) were also interested in purchasing the station and had until March 18 to submit competing bids prior to auction. On March 17, ABC notified potential buyers that WLNE's affiliation with the network beyond March 31, 2011 is not assured, which Global Broadcasting CEO Kevin O'Brien said could depress the final price WLNE is sold for at auction. Some observers feared that this could prompt one or more of the six companies believed to be bidding for WLNE to withdraw from bidding for the station, which may even force it off the air if no sale is made.
(LMA) with McGowan and Global under the name Global Communications LLC. until the sale was approved by the FCC, at which point Citadel would assume full ownership. On April 5, WLNE revealed programming changes made in light of the sale, which included the returns of CBS Television Distribution shows The Insider and Inside Edition. On April 25, veteran sales manager Chris Tzianabos was named vice president and general manager of WLNE, replacing Steve Doerr. Global CEO Kevin O'Brien tried to appeal the sale in court, arguing that attorney McGowan did not try hard enough to achieve a higher sale price for the station. However, he did not succeed in his efforts, and on June 1, it was announced that the FCC had approved the license transfer, therefore finalizing the acquisition.
In September 2011, as had been promised by Citadel upon its acquisition of the station, WLNE-TV began broadcasting newscasts and syndicated programming in full high-definition. The station additionally debuted a new logo and website design, similar to that of other Citadel stations, but incorporating its previous stylized 6.
. The station's analog audio was aired at a frequency of 87.76 MHz FM
. Both frequencies were +10 kHz shift from the center channel 6 frequency to prevent interference with stations in Albany, New York
, Portland, Maine
, and Philadelphia who were also on channel 6. WLNE's analog audio could be picked up on the lower end of the dial on most FM radios at 87.7 MHz. WLNE regularly mentioned this additional way of coverage. This was true of all analog channel 6 stations in the United States
. After February 17, 2009, channel 6 audio on WLNE was no longer available on the radio. (It was still available on most other full-powered channel 6 stations in the United States through June 12.)
WLNE-TV shut off its analog transmitter on February 17, it offered a nightlighting
service on its analog signal for 60 days following the shutdown. The station aired a looping DTV education program as well as all of its newscasts. Due to this service being broadcast on analog channel 6, audio was still available on 87.7 FM. When this period ended, the station remained on its pre-transition channel 49 using PSIP to display its virtual channel as 6.
.
The longest-running program on channel 6 is TV Mass from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River
, which began in 1963. Produced by WLNE, the show was originally aired at 8:00 AM. TV Mass is currently aired at 11:00 AM as it has been since 2004. It is normally taped at the chapel of Bishop Stang High School
in Dartmouth, Massachusetts
. Easter
Mass
and Christmas
Mass are normally taped at St. Mary's Cathedral in Fall River, Massachusetts
.
Prior to its host's retirement, the longest running program on WLNE was The Truman Taylor Show. The Sunday morning public affairs program debuted very early in 1963. Numerous politicians appeared on the show, including two U.S. presidents
. In late-2005, Taylor taped his final show. He is now a featured op-ed columnist for The Providence Journal.
In early-2006, ABC6 News On the Record replaced Truman Taylor, with Jim Hummel hosting the program until his departure from the station in July 2008. Following his departure, On the Record was temporarily taken off-the-air and replaced with infomercials. The show returned in October 2008 with weeknight anchor John DeLuca and Chief Political Analyst Buddy Cianci
as hosts. Cianci became a solo host in 2011 and the program's title was officially changed to On the Record with Buddy Cianci. The program currently airs on Saturday and Sunday mornings at 7:00 AM.
WLNE has been the market home of the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon
since 1993. As WTEV, it was one of the first affiliates of the "Love Network" when it was formed in 1968. Local cutaways had been broadcast from the Warwick Mall
for years. In 2007, the telethon relocated to the Providence Marriott
hotel in downtown which is on the same street as WLNE's studios. Once again, the location was changed in 2008 to the Twin River Casino in Lincoln
. This is where the current pledge record was established. In total, $755,705 in local donations was raised. The 2009 telethon returned to Twin River and was simulcast on sister station
NewsChannel 5 and WALE radio
(990 AM). $731,573 in local donations was raised that year.
WLNE became the first station in Rhode Island to broadcast a local program in high-definition when it aired Bristol's 4th of July Parade in 2008 live with production facilities provided by Comcast
. It was hosted by John DeLuca, Allison Alexander, Fred Campagna, and Paul Mueller of WLNE and Todd Newton
of Comcast. In 2009, the station won an Emmy Award for its pre-parade special, Reflections of the Fourth: Celebrating Bristol, from the Boston/New England
chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
. The 2009 parade was also broadcast in high-definition, with production facilities provided by CSP Mobile Productions. The parade was also simulcast on NewsChannel 5 and streamed live
on abc6.com, the site's first offering of a live video web stream. The station had been the official television home of the parade from 2006-2010.
, it is the first and only 24-hour local news channel in the state. It provides non-stop news 24-hours a day seven days a week mainly consisting of rebroadcasts of news that airs on WLNE. The station can only be found on Cox Cable channel 5 in Rhode Island. NewsChannel 5 also provides live, continuing coverage of breaking news and other events. When severe weather strikes, the WLNE weather team provides accurate and up to the minute forecasts.
Prior to Citadel Communications' acquisition of WLNE, there were three live newscasts that aired exclusively on NewsChannel 5. From its launch, a weekend morning newscast was seen exclusively on the station. As of May 2011, this newscast is also broadcast on the main channel. On September 29, 2008, WLNE began offering an extra hour of local news on weekday mornings at 7. An extended hour of Good Morning Providence was one of two 7 o'clock local newscasts in the market, the other being an extended hour of WPRI's Eyewitness News This Morning on WNAC-TV
. This newscast is no longer broadcast as of May 2011. WLNE occasionally aired a 10 o'clock newscast during major news events or when sports programming pre-empted the 10 o'clock news on competitor WNAC. As of May 2011, this newscast no longer airs.
For a brief period in September 2009, an audio feed of NewsChannel 5 was broadcast on radio station WALE in various timeslots; this included a start-to-finish simulcast of the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon.
Since Global Broadcasting's purchase, several significant changes had been made to the news department. This included changes in overall image and a remodeled news set. ABC6 News in the Morning was expanded to two hours and renamed Good Morning Providence, which was changed to ABC6 News This Morning in September 2011 by current owner Citadel Communications. There had also been a significant increase in hard news coverage and the number of daily newscasts. Because of these changes, ratings had briefly increased and for a time, ABC6 News promoted itself as "New England's Fastest Growing News." The ratings surge did not last for long. However, on March 29, 2011 WLNE scored its first late news victory in years, finishing number one at 11 PM following the series premier of network medical drama
Body of Proof
, which was filmed entirely in Rhode Island for its first season.
On October 24, 2007, WLNE announced that infamous former Providence mayor and WPRO personality Vincent "Buddy" Cianci
would join the station as Chief Political Analyst and contributing editor starting on November 1. Cianci was a political analyst at WLNE in the late-1980s. He also moderates a daily segment on ABC6 News. It was previously entitled Your Attention Please and was co-moderated in-studio by former Chief Reporter Jim Hummel. Following Hummel's departure from the station in July 2008, it was changed to Buddy TV, and weeknight anchor John DeLuca became co-moderator. The segment aired live during the former ABC6 News First At Four, with Cianci originating from the East Providence
studios of WPRO, where the segment was simulcast during his weekday show that airs from 2PM to 6PM. With the change in station ownership in May 2011, the segment name was changed again and is now entitled The World According to Buddy and is taped in-studio with Cianci appearing solo.
On December 17, the station announced it would launch ABC6 News First At Four, the market
's first-ever 4 o'clock news on January 14, 2008. Described as a "hard newscast" and not morning-show style fluff, First At Four gave WLNE a head start in coverage of weather and politics. This newscast aired for just over three years and competed head to head with Oprah
that aired on WJAR. First At Four last aired in April 2011 prior to the transfer of station ownership. In May 2009, WLNE launched a 10 o'clock newscast on Sunday mornings. Previously, it had only produced weekend morning newscasts for NewsChannel 5. It was the only Providence station with a local news broadcast airing at that time. In May 2011, the new owners moved the newscast to 7:30 and added Saturday morning broadcasts in addition to Sunday mornings. In June 2009, the station launched the market's first (since the 1980s) 7 o'clock newscast on weeknights, filling the spot vacated by Entertainment Tonight, which was taken off the schedule due to the station's dispute with CBS Television Distribution. As of March 2011, this newscast was replaced with infomercials, with the newscast airing only in the event they could not sell the time slot on any given day. In a highly-publicized incident, one of the first products advertised in this time slot was a specially-designed bra. Per the station's sale to Citadel, this newscast was officially replaced with syndicated programming the following month.
On April 5, 2011, WLNE announced a new programming lineup that included the addition of a 5 PM newscast on April 25. On May 17, veteran anchor Karen Meyers was named co-anchor of the station's weeknight newscasts, replacing Allison Alexander. WLNE began using Frank Gari's
Eyewitness News music package
in June, which all of Citadel's ABC affiliates use. On September 13, WLNE became the second station in the market to broadcast news in high-definition, behind WJAR and just a week ahead of WPRI/WNAC. Along with the transition came a new graphics package, similar to those used on the newscasts of other Citadel stations. Also, all reporters in the field work as multimedia journalists that shoot, edit, and report their stories.
In weather segments, WLNE uses live regional radar from the National Weather Service
local office in Taunton, Massachusetts
, along with high-resolution satellite. The system is presented on-air as Stormtracker. There is also a weather radar at the station's old analog transmitter site in Tiverton but it is unknown if this is in operation. It is the only Citadel station to not use the ESP: Live (Exclusive Storm Prediction) branding.
WLNE won the Massachusetts/Rhode Island Associated Press
News Station of the Year award four years in a row from 1997 to 2000 and again in 2002. The station also won a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Investigative Reporting two consecutive years. Former reporter Tom Langford won the award in 2006 and former Chief Reporter Jim Hummel received it in 2007. In 2010, former investigative reporter Parker Gavigan won the Massachusetts/Rhode Island Associated Press Broadcast Award for Investigative Reporting for "Dream Makers," and morning/noon anchor Doreen Scanlon won the AP Award for Best Hard News Feature for "Made in Rhode Island: Kettlebells."
Due to its coverage area overlapping with Boston
's ABC affiliate WCVB, the two stations share resources for coverage of southeastern Massachusetts
. Along with ABC News
, WLNE is also a CNN
affiliate.
Stormtracker Weather Team
Sports team
Reporters
Contributors
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...
-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 Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
and the South Coast
South Coast (Massachusetts)
The South Coast of Massachusetts is the region of southeastern Massachusetts consisting of southern Bristol and Plymouth counties bordering Buzzards Bay, and includes the cities of Fall River, New Bedford, the southeastern tip of East Taunton and nearby towns...
of Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. It is licensed to New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about east of Fall River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 95,072, making it the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts...
, but is headquartered in and operates from studios at 10 Orms Street in downtown Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
. It is one of two major Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
stations (the other being CW affiliate WLWC
WLWC
WLWC is the CW-affiliated television station licensed to New Bedford but which operates out of Providence and acts largely as a Rhode Island station despite its licensing. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 22 from a transmitter in the Ashley Heights section of East...
) licensed to the Massachusetts side of 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...
. WLNE 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 49 from a transmitter in Rehoboth, Massachusetts
Rehoboth, Massachusetts
Rehoboth is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 10,172 at the 2000 census.-History:It was incorporated in 1643 making it one of the earliest Massachusetts towns to be incorporated. The Rehoboth Carpenter Family is among the founding families...
,
WLNE is owned by Bronxville, New York
Bronxville, New York
Bronxville is an affluent village within the town of Eastchester, New York, in the United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located approximately north of midtown Manhattan in southern Westchester County. At the 2010 census, Bronxville had a population of 6,323...
-based Citadel Communications
Citadel Communications
Citadel Communications Ltd. is a Bronxville, NY-based private broadcasting company that operates 5 full-power television stations and 1 low-power station...
, who acquired the station in 2011 as a result of the bankruptcy of its previous owners, Global Broadcasting
Global Broadcasting
Global Broadcasting LLC. was a private broadcasting company in the United States. Global was a Delaware corporation based in San Francisco, California and Providence, Rhode Island and was founded by Kevin O'Brien and Robinson Ewert. Founded in early 2007, Global owned WLNE-TV, the ABC affiliate in...
. Citadel Commuications is unrelated to former radio giant Citadel Broadcasting
Citadel Broadcasting
Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the country...
, which owned several stations in the Providence market, including 630 WPRO-AM
WPRO (AM)
WPRO is a radio station located in Providence, Rhode Island. The station is owned by Cumulus Media, and airs a talk format. WPRO's studio and transmitter are located in East Providence, at the Salty Brine Broadcast Center, named after WPRO's longtime morning host...
.
History
The station began broadcasting on January 1, 1963 as WTEV from studios on 430 County Street in New Bedford. It operated 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 6 from a transmitter in Tiverton.
ABC had a curious history in Rhode Island prior to WTEV's sign-on. In the earliest years of television in Providence, all three networks were shoehorned on primary NBC affiliate WJAR-TV (channel 10), at that time the market's only TV station. WNET launched on channel 16 in 1953 as an ABC affiliate. However, it was forced off the air in 1956 due to the difficulties faced by UHF startups at the time. Since television manufacturers weren't required to include UHF tuning capability on TV sets, viewers needed an expensive converter (or an all-channel set, the latter being very rare at the time) to watch WNET, and the picture was marginal at best even with one. For the seven years prior to channel 6's sign-on, WJAR and CBS affiliate WPRO-TV (channel 12, now WPRI-TV
WPRI-TV
WPRI-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for the state of Rhode Island and Bristol County, Massachusetts that is licensed to Providence. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 13 from a transmitter on Homestead Avenue in Rehoboth, Massachusetts...
) aired ABC programming, sometimes pre-empting their primary network but usually airing ABC shows on a delayed basis in off-hours. However, much of Rhode Island could get the full ABC schedule from Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
stations—WHDH-TV
WHDH-TV (defunct)
WHDH-TV was the callsign of the first station to use channel 5 in Boston. The station ceased operations March 18, 1972, after the station lost its license. The channel, but not the license, was taken over by WCVB-TV the following morning: March 19, 1972. It is of no relation to either WCVB or...
(channel 5, frequency now occupied by WCVB-TV
WCVB-TV
WCVB-TV, channel 5, is a television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, owned by Hearst Television and affiliated with the ABC Television Network. WCVB-TV's studios and transmitter are co-located in Needham, Massachusetts. WCVB is also one of six Boston television stations seen in Canada by...
) prior to January 1, 1961, and WNAC-TV (channel 7, now WHDH) from 1961 to 1963.
Even though Providence was big enough to support three full network affiliates, it soon became apparent that channel 16 would not be resurrected in the near future. The owners of the future WTEV thus decided to seek a license for channel 6 in New Bedford, since it was the only available VHF allocation in the region, albeit on the Massachusetts side of the market.
New Bedford and Bristol County
Bristol County, Massachusetts
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 534,678 people, 205,411 households, and 140,706 families residing in the county. The population density was 962 people per square mile . There were 216,918 housing units at an average density of 390 per square mile...
are part of the Rhode Island market due to Rhode Island's small geographic size, even though the rest of southern Massachusetts is in the Boston market. This was merely a technicality until satellite television, but is a point of irritation to some Massachusetts subscribers of services such as DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
and Dish Network
Dish Network
Dish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...
who are unable to receive Massachusetts news and sports from Boston stations. 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) allows network affiliates to prevent satellite subscribers from receiving network stations from outside the station's designated market. Bristol County is the only part of Massachusetts associated with Rhode Island for television purposes. Neither Bristol County television station actually operates in Massachusetts.
WTEV was founded by a group that was 55-percent owned by the E. Anthony and Sons, publisher of the New Bedford Standard-Times and owner of WNBH radio (1340 AM
WNBH
WNBH is one of the oldest broadcast radio stations in America , dating back to 1921. At one time WNBH had its studios at the New Bedford Hotel where it derived its callsign. In 1948 WNBH added FM service with WNBH-FM on 98.1 megahertz /Channel 251...
and 98.1 FM, now WCTK
WCTK
WCTK is a country music formatted radio station serving Southern New England, with studios in Providence, Rhode Island, and transmitter in New Bedford, Massachusetts.History=...
); the remaining 45 percent was held by New England Television, the holder of the license for the old WNET. In 1966, shortly after E. Anthony and Sons sold the Standard-Times and WNBH, WTEV was purchased by Steinman Stations of Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...
. WTEV moderately preempted ABC shows, in most every case a low-rated program. This didn't pose as much of a problem as it may seem, since most viewers could still get the full schedule from Boston's WNAC until 1972, and on WCVB afterward. During afternoon hours, WTEV ran a blend of cartoons and classic sitcoms. Late nights were devoted to movies.
Switch to CBS
In 1977, WTEV swapped affiliations with WPRI and became a CBS affiliate after Knight RidderKnight Ridder
Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by The McClatchy Company on June 27, 2006, it was the second-largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspapers sold.- History :The corporate ancestors of...
Television, which had just purchased WPRI, cut an affiliation deal that switched two of the three television stations it owned at the time to ABC. At the time, ABC was aggressively pursuing strong NBC and CBS affiliates to switch, and succeeded in persuading some longtime NBC and CBS stations to switch (as an example, KSTP-TV
KSTP-TV
KSTP-TV, channel 5, is the ABC affiliate for the Twin Cities. Its transmitter is located at the Shoreview Telefarm. It is the flagship station of Hubbard Broadcasting, which also owns several other broadcasting properties across the United States....
in Minneapolis-St. Paul and WSB-TV
WSB-TV
WSB-TV, virtual channel 2.1 , is the ABC affiliate in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship television station of Cox Enterprises and its Cox Media Group subsidiary...
in Atlanta, both longtime NBC affiliates, switched to ABC during that period).
In 1979, the Steinmans sold WTEV and their flagship station, WGAL-TV
WGAL
WGAL is the NBC-affiliated television station for South Central Pennsylvania that is licensed to Lancaster. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 8 from a transmitter near U.S. 30 north of Hallam. The transmitter site and tower is also where WGAL's radio partner, WROZ "101.3...
in Lancaster, to Pulitzer Publishing
Pulitzer, Inc.
Founded by Joseph Pulitzer , Pulitzer Inc., owned 14 daily newspapers across the United States, and one weekly chain. Its papers included the St...
. This sale reunited them with KOAT-TV
KOAT-TV
KOAT-TV, channel 7, is an ABC network affiliated television station serving Albuquerque, New Mexico. Its transmitter is located on Sandia Crest, northeast of Albuquerque. Syndicated programming on KOAT includes: Entertainment Tonight, Ellen, The Dr...
in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
, which had been sold to Pulitzer in 1969. Pulitzer changed channel 6's call letters to the present-day WLNE in 1980. The WTEV
WTEV-TV
WTEV-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Florida's First Coast licensed to Jacksonville. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 19 from a transmitter on Hogan Road in the city's Southside section. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 6 and in high...
call sign is now used on a CBS affiliate in Jacksonville
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. Under Pulitzer, the station acquired studio space inside the Charles Orms Building in downtown Providence, their current location. With studios in both Providence and New Bedford, WLNE began a unique practice with its newscasts at the time, using the Action News
Action News
Action News is a local television newscast format in the United States. It was conceived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at WFIL-TV by then-news director Mel Kampmann in 1970 as a response to the "Eyewitness News" format used on rival station KYW-TV...
branding
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
and a main anchor team of Magee Hickey
Magee Hickey
Magee Hickey is a reporter for WPIX in New York City.Hickey attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart, an elite, all-girls school in Manhattan, before graduating from Brown University in 1977....
and Chris Conanglia. For the weeknight newscasts, the anchors were split between the two studios. This format ended in 1981. By this time, most of the station's main operations were moved to the Providence location. The original New Bedford facility was used as a news bureau
News bureau
A News bureau is an office for gathering or distributing news. Similar terms are used for specialized bureaus, often to indicate geographic location or scope of coverage: a ‘Tokyo bureau’ refers to a given news operation's office in Tokyo; foreign bureau is a generic term for a news office set up...
, secondary studio, and sales office through the late 1980s.
Beginning in 1980, WLNE ran an afternoon movie from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. By 1982, the station was also running a movie weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. These movies were run under the Dialing For Dollars
Dialing for Dollars
Dialing for Dollars was a franchised format local television program in the United States and Canada, popular in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.-Format:...
promotion and were hosted by the late George Allen for a decade. WLNE also continued to preempt moderate amounts of programming, particularly the offerings from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. (to accommodate the morning movie), at noon, and late night programming. Throughout much of the 1980s, WLNE was known for running two movies a day.
In 1983, Pulitzer sold WLNE to Freedom Communications
Freedom Communications
Freedom Communications, Inc. is a media conglomerate in the United States. It owns approximately 100 daily and weekly newspapers in the US, with a combined daily circulation of nearly one million subscribers, and also operates over seventy local news websites...
. This sale was necessary because Pulitzer had acquired WFBC-TV (now WYFF
WYFF
WYFF is the NBC-affiliate television station based in Greenville, South Carolina. It serves a media market which includes Greenville/Spartanburg and Anderson in South Carolina and Asheville/Hendersonville, North Carolina. The market covers large portions of western North Carolina and upstate South...
) in Greenville, South Carolina
Greenville, South Carolina
-Law and government:The city of Greenville adopted the Council-Manager form of municipal government in 1976.-History:The area was part of the Cherokee Nation's protected grounds after the Treaty of 1763, which ended the French and Indian War. No White man was allowed to enter, though some families...
and WXII-TV
WXII-TV
WXII-TV is the NBC television station licensed for the Greensboro–High Point–Winston-Salem, North Carolina designated market area with Parts of SWVA. It is licensed to Winston-Salem and is currently owned by the Hearst Corporation. Its transmitter is located on Sauratown Mountain in...
in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Winston-Salem is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina, with a 2010 population of 229,617. Winston-Salem is the county seat and largest city of Forsyth County and the fourth-largest city in the state. Winston-Salem is the second largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region and is home to...
that same year, leaving the company one VHF station over the FCC's ownership limit of the time; as fate would have it, the remaining Pulitzer stations would be sold in 1999 to what is today Hearst Television, whose flagship is WCVB. By the fall of 1988, WLNE was only running an afternoon movie weekdays and began clearing CBS' 10:00 a.m. hour. In the fall of 1989, WLNE dropped CBS' Guiding Light
Guiding Light
Guiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
, moving the movie to 3:00 p.m. and adding more syndicated programming in the 5:00 p.m. hour; by mid-1990, the afternoon movie was dropped in favor of additional syndicated programming. In the fall of 1990, WLNE dropped the CBS Saturday morning cartoons in favor of several movies in that time slot. In 1991, Guiding Light was reinstated. By 1993, the Saturday morning movies were replaced with educational children's programs and infomercials.
Return to ABC
Then-ABC affiliate WPRI was sold to CBS in the spring of 1995, making it a CBS owned and operated station (and one of the last such acquisitions prior to the Westinghouse Electric Corporation's purchase of the network). As a result, at midnight on September 10, 1995, WPRI reversed the 1977 swap with WLNE and officially rejoined CBS. WLNE then became an ABC affiliate again, and soon afterward began calling itself "ABC6". As an ABC affiliate, WLNE runs virtually the entire ABC schedule of programming, with the Saturday morning infomercials replaced with ABC's Saturday morning cartoons.Early in the afternoon of May 4, 2005, WLNE's analog transmitter was knocked off the air due to a faulty section of transmission line on the tower. The transmitter had been running at 80% power due to another unrelated technical problem that occurred approximately two weeks earlier. Although Dish Network
Dish Network
Dish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...
satellite
Satellite television
Satellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...
and some cable
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
systems continued to receive broadcasts through fiber optic connections, over-the-air
Terrestrial television
Terrestrial television is a mode of television broadcasting which does not involve satellite transmission or cables — typically using radio waves through transmitting and receiving antennas or television antenna aerials...
and DirecTV satellite subscribers were left without a local ABC affiliate (DirecTV gets its signal via antenna). Some cable providers made special temporary arrangements to carry Boston ABC station WCVB during this outage. The WLNE transmitter was operational again late Thursday evening after 32 hours off the air.
Sale to Global Broadcasting
In August 2006, The Providence JournalThe Providence Journal
The Providence Journal, nicknamed the ProJo, is a daily newspaper serving the metropolitan area of Providence, Rhode Island and is the largest newspaper in Rhode Island. The newspaper, first published in 1829 and the oldest continuously-published daily newspaper in the United States, was purchased...
reported that WLNE was put up for sale. The key reason for the decision was the lack of a second station for Freedom to operate in the market that would improve synergies for the Providence operation. On March 12, 2007, Freedom announced it was selling WLNE to Global Broadcasting, a Delaware corporation
Delaware corporation
The Delaware General Corporation Law is the statute governing corporate law in the state of Delaware. Delaware is well known as a corporate haven. Over 50% of U.S...
headed by Robinson Ewert and Kevin O'Brien. The FCC granted approval of this sale in mid-September and ownership was officially transferred on October 9. Freedom continued to operate WLNE's website until November 30, 2007 when it was revamped by Broadcast Interactive Media. In April 2010, abc6.com was updated by WorldNow.
Financial struggles, bankruptcy
For many years, WLNE carried the syndicated shows Dr. PhilDr. Phil (TV series)
Dr. Phil is a reality/talk television show hosted by Phil McGraw. After McGraw's success with his segments on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil debuted on September 16, 2002...
, Rachael Ray
Rachael Ray (TV series)
Rachael Ray, also known as The Rachael Ray Show, is a talk show starring Rachael Ray that debuted in syndication in the United States and Canada on September 18, 2006....
, Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...
, 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...
, and Inside Edition
Inside Edition
Inside Edition is a thirty-minute American television syndicated news program, first aired on CBS on October 9, 1988. It was originally similar to the programs Hard Copy and A Current Affair, but now more closely resembles a condensed version of breakfast television, exclusively with pre-recorded...
from CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution is a global television distribution company, formed from the merger of CBS Corporation's two domestic television distribution arms CBS Paramount Domestic Television and King World Productions, including its home entertainment arm CBS Home Entertainment...
. However, in mid-2009, the station was unable to reach a carriage agreement with the syndicator, successor to King World Productions
King World Productions
King World Productions, Inc. was a production company and a syndicator of television programming in the United States until its eventual 2007 incorporation into CBS Television Distribution...
and Paramount Domestic Television
Paramount Domestic Television
Paramount Domestic Television was the television distribution arm of American television production company Paramount Television, once the TV arm of Paramount Pictures...
. At that time, the station was carrying Dr. Phil, Entertainment Tonight, and Inside Edition. As a result of the situation, the shows were dropped on June 5 and quickly moved to WNAC-TV
WNAC-TV
WNAC-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for the state of Rhode Island and Bristol County, Massachusetts licensed to Providence. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 12 from a transmitter on Homestead Avenue in Rehoboth, Massachusetts...
(channel 64, and the legal successor to the former WNET). Temporarily put in their place were Cristina's Court, Family Court with Judge Penny
Family Court With Judge Penny
Family Court with Judge Penny is a syndicated judicial show hosted by former judge and lawyer Penny Brown Reynolds. The half-hour program premiered September 8, 2008. It is produced by 44 Blue Productions and distributed by Program Partners in the United States and Canada and being shown on Pick TV...
, a 7 o'clock newscast, and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (US game show)
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is an American television quiz show which offers a maximum prize of $1,000,000 for correctly answering 14 consecutive multiple-choice questions of random difficulty. Until 2010, the format required contestants to correctly answer 15 consecutive questions of increasing...
. On June 16, CBS filed a lawsuit against Global Broadcasting for failing to fully pay license fees for the shows and a breach of contract
Breach of contract
Breach of contract is a legal cause of action in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other party's performance....
. The syndicator sought $5 million from the company.
On June 23, NewsBlues reported that Global Broadcasting co-owner Robinson Ewert had left the company amidst the dispute with CBS. He was replaced by Rob Holtzer, general sales manager at Sunrise Sports and Entertainment, owner of the NHL's
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
Florida Panthers
Florida Panthers
The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in Sunrise, Florida, in the Miami metropolitan area. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . They play their games at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise and are the...
and the BankAtlantic Center
BankAtlantic Center
The BankAtlantic Center is an indoor arena located in Sunrise, Florida, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and adjacent to the popular Sawgrass Mills Mall.The arena features 70 suites & 2,623 club seats.The arena is directly accessible from the Sawgrass Expressway...
in Sunrise, Florida
Sunrise, Florida
-Overview:Sunrise is a city in southwestern Broward County, Florida, United States. It was incorporated in 1961 by Norman Johnson – a developer whose World Famous Upside-Down House attracted buyers to what was then a remote area...
. He is also a former national sales manager at the YES Network
YES Network
The Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network is a New York City-based, regional cable television channel; it broadcasts a variety of sports events, with an emphasis on New York Yankees baseball games, and New Jersey Nets basketball games. YES made its debut on March 19, 2002...
in New York. Holtzer's official title at Global was vice president and director of sales.
Global Broadcasting filed for receivership
Receivership
In law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...
(Rhode Island's equivalent to bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
) on July 29, 2010 due to declining advertising revenues. Providence attorney Matthew McGowan was appointed receiver. A month later, the station was put up for sale for the second time in four years. According to The Providence Journal, several groups had expressed interest in purchasing the station and a deal was projected to be reached by the end of the year. On December 13, 2010, rumors surfaced that A.H. Belo Corp. would buy WLNE and merge its operations with those of the The Providence Journal
The Providence Journal
The Providence Journal, nicknamed the ProJo, is a daily newspaper serving the metropolitan area of Providence, Rhode Island and is the largest newspaper in Rhode Island. The newspaper, first published in 1829 and the oldest continuously-published daily newspaper in the United States, was purchased...
despite the fact that the company was formed from the split of non-broadcasting operations from Belo Corporation. Belo itself was considered a likelier candidate due to the strength of its operations in other regions, and its operation of regional news channels much like WLNE's own NewsChannel 5.
On February 10, 2011, Citadel Communications of Bronxville, New York was chosen as the stalking horse bid
Stalking horse offer
A stalking horse offer, agreement, or bid is an attempt by a debtor to test the market in advance of an auction. The intent is to maximize the value of its assets as part of a bankruptcy court-approved auction process.- Procedure :...
in the sale of the station with a bid of $4 millon. Five other groups (including one led by former Providence mayor Joseph Paolino) were also interested in purchasing the station and had until March 18 to submit competing bids prior to auction. On March 17, ABC notified potential buyers that WLNE's affiliation with the network beyond March 31, 2011 is not assured, which Global Broadcasting CEO Kevin O'Brien said could depress the final price WLNE is sold for at auction. Some observers feared that this could prompt one or more of the six companies believed to be bidding for WLNE to withdraw from bidding for the station, which may even force it off the air if no sale is made.
Sale to Citadel Communications
On March 22, Citadel Communications was approved as the new owner of WLNE by receiver Matthew McGowan. The company met the approval of ABC, and took over station operation on May 1 under a local marketing agreementLocal 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) with McGowan and Global under the name Global Communications LLC. until the sale was approved by the FCC, at which point Citadel would assume full ownership. On April 5, WLNE revealed programming changes made in light of the sale, which included the returns of CBS Television Distribution shows The Insider and Inside Edition. On April 25, veteran sales manager Chris Tzianabos was named vice president and general manager of WLNE, replacing Steve Doerr. Global CEO Kevin O'Brien tried to appeal the sale in court, arguing that attorney McGowan did not try hard enough to achieve a higher sale price for the station. However, he did not succeed in his efforts, and on June 1, it was announced that the FCC had approved the license transfer, therefore finalizing the acquisition.
In September 2011, as had been promised by Citadel upon its acquisition of the station, WLNE-TV began broadcasting newscasts and syndicated programming in full high-definition. The station additionally debuted a new logo and website design, similar to that of other Citadel stations, but incorporating its previous stylized 6.
Digital television
The station's analog video broadcast at a frequency of 83.26 MHz AMAM broadcasting
AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation. AM was the first method of impressing sound on a radio signal and is still widely used today. Commercial and public AM broadcasting is carried out in the medium wave band world wide, and on long wave and short wave...
. The station's analog audio was aired at a frequency of 87.76 MHz FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
. Both frequencies were +10 kHz shift from the center channel 6 frequency to prevent interference with stations in Albany, New York
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
, Portland, Maine
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
, and Philadelphia who were also on channel 6. WLNE's analog audio could be picked up on the lower end of the dial on most FM radios at 87.7 MHz. WLNE regularly mentioned this additional way of coverage. This was true of all analog channel 6 stations in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. After February 17, 2009, channel 6 audio on WLNE was no longer available on the radio. (It was still available on most other full-powered channel 6 stations in the United States through June 12.)
WLNE-TV shut off its analog transmitter on February 17, it offered a nightlighting
Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act
The Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act, or SAFER Act, is a U.S. law to require the Federal Communications Commission to allow the continuation of full-power analog TV transmissions in 2009 for 30 more days, for the purpose of broadcasting public service announcements regarding the...
service on its analog signal for 60 days following the shutdown. The station aired a looping DTV education program as well as all of its newscasts. Due to this service being broadcast on analog channel 6, audio was still available on 87.7 FM. When this period ended, the station remained on its pre-transition channel 49 using PSIP to display its virtual channel as 6.
Programming
Syndicated programming on WLNE includes The Insider, Inside Edition, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and The 700 ClubThe 700 Club
The 700 Club is the flagship news talk show of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing in syndication throughout the United States and Canada. In production since 1966, it is currently hosted by Pat Robertson, Terry Meeuwsen, Kristi Watts, and Gordon P. Robertson, two of whom will host on any...
.
The longest-running program on channel 6 is TV Mass from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River
Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the New England region of the United States. It is led by the prelature of a bishop administering the diocese from the mother church St...
, which began in 1963. Produced by WLNE, the show was originally aired at 8:00 AM. TV Mass is currently aired at 11:00 AM as it has been since 2004. It is normally taped at the chapel of Bishop Stang High School
Bishop Stang High School
Mission Statement: Bishop Stang High School is a private Catholic secondary school located in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, in the New England region of the United States. It was the first diocesan secondary school in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River, which includes most of Southeastern...
in Dartmouth, Massachusetts
Dartmouth, Massachusetts
Dartmouth is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States established in 1664. The population was 30,665 at the 2000 census. It is the location of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth....
. Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
and Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
Mass are normally taped at St. Mary's Cathedral in Fall River, Massachusetts
Fall River, Massachusetts
Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is located about south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and west of New Bedford and south of Taunton. The city's population was 88,857 during the 2010 census, making it the tenth largest city in...
.
Prior to its host's retirement, the longest running program on WLNE was The Truman Taylor Show. The Sunday morning public affairs program debuted very early in 1963. Numerous politicians appeared on the show, including two U.S. presidents
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
. In late-2005, Taylor taped his final show. He is now a featured op-ed columnist for The Providence Journal.
In early-2006, ABC6 News On the Record replaced Truman Taylor, with Jim Hummel hosting the program until his departure from the station in July 2008. Following his departure, On the Record was temporarily taken off-the-air and replaced with infomercials. The show returned in October 2008 with weeknight anchor John DeLuca and Chief Political Analyst Buddy Cianci
Vincent Cianci
Vincent Albert "Buddy" Cianci, Jr. served as the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, from 1975 to 1984 and again from 1991 to 2002...
as hosts. Cianci became a solo host in 2011 and the program's title was officially changed to On the Record with Buddy Cianci. The program currently airs on Saturday and Sunday mornings at 7:00 AM.
WLNE has been the market home of the 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...
since 1993. As WTEV, it was one of the first affiliates of the "Love Network" when it was formed in 1968. Local cutaways had been broadcast from the Warwick Mall
Warwick Mall
Warwick Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Warwick, Rhode Island, on the north side of Interstate 295 near the junction with Interstate 95. Composed of more than of retail space, it features more than 80 stores and a food court...
for years. In 2007, the telethon relocated to the Providence Marriott
Marriott International
Marriott International, Inc. is a worldwide operator and franchisor of a broad portfolio of hotels and related lodging facilities. Founded by J. Willard Marriott, the company is now led by son J.W. Marriott, Jr...
hotel in downtown which is on the same street as WLNE's studios. Once again, the location was changed in 2008 to the Twin River Casino in Lincoln
Lincoln, Rhode Island
Lincoln is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 21,105 at the 2010 census. Lincoln is located in northeastern Rhode Island, north of Providence....
. This is where the current pledge record was established. In total, $755,705 in local donations was raised. The 2009 telethon returned to Twin River and was simulcast on sister station
Sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio and/or television stations operated by the same ownership....
NewsChannel 5 and WALE radio
WALE
WALE is a radio station licensed to the community of Greenville, Rhode Island, and serving the Providence, Rhode Island, area. The station is owned by Cumbre Communications Corp. The station is currently silent.-WLKW:...
(990 AM). $731,573 in local donations was raised that year.
WLNE became the first station in Rhode Island to broadcast a local program in high-definition when it aired Bristol's 4th of July Parade in 2008 live with production facilities provided by 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...
. It was hosted by John DeLuca, Allison Alexander, Fred Campagna, and Paul Mueller of WLNE and Todd Newton
Todd Newton
Todd Newton is an entertainment personality and a three-time game show host.Newton has hosted Hollywood Showdown and Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck, both on Game Show Network; and Coming Attractions on E!, as well as occasional episodes of Wild On... He is known for occasionally wearing a...
of Comcast. In 2009, the station won an Emmy Award for its pre-parade special, Reflections of the Fourth: Celebrating Bristol, from the Boston/New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
chapter of 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....
. The 2009 parade was also broadcast in high-definition, with production facilities provided by CSP Mobile Productions. The parade was also simulcast on NewsChannel 5 and streamed live
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
on abc6.com, the site's first offering of a live video web stream. The station had been the official television home of the parade from 2006-2010.
NewsChannel 5
NewsChannel 5, formerly known as the Rhode Island News Channel (RINC) began broadcasting on November 30, 1998. Operated by WLNE and Cox CommunicationsCox Communications
Cox Communications is a privately owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises providing digital cable television, telecommunications and wireless services in the United States...
, it is the first and only 24-hour local news channel in the state. It provides non-stop news 24-hours a day seven days a week mainly consisting of rebroadcasts of news that airs on WLNE. The station can only be found on Cox Cable channel 5 in Rhode Island. NewsChannel 5 also provides live, continuing coverage of breaking news and other events. When severe weather strikes, the WLNE weather team provides accurate and up to the minute forecasts.
Prior to Citadel Communications' acquisition of WLNE, there were three live newscasts that aired exclusively on NewsChannel 5. From its launch, a weekend morning newscast was seen exclusively on the station. As of May 2011, this newscast is also broadcast on the main channel. On September 29, 2008, WLNE began offering an extra hour of local news on weekday mornings at 7. An extended hour of Good Morning Providence was one of two 7 o'clock local newscasts in the market, the other being an extended hour of WPRI's Eyewitness News This Morning on WNAC-TV
WNAC-TV
WNAC-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for the state of Rhode Island and Bristol County, Massachusetts licensed to Providence. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 12 from a transmitter on Homestead Avenue in Rehoboth, Massachusetts...
. This newscast is no longer broadcast as of May 2011. WLNE occasionally aired a 10 o'clock newscast during major news events or when sports programming pre-empted the 10 o'clock news on competitor WNAC. As of May 2011, this newscast no longer airs.
For a brief period in September 2009, an audio feed of NewsChannel 5 was broadcast on radio station WALE in various timeslots; this included a start-to-finish simulcast of the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon.
News operation
For most of its history, WLNE has placed a distant third in the market, behind WJAR and WPRI. The station has been known for numerous turnovers in format, talent, and management over the years for the purpose of increasing its newscast ratings, all to little or no avail. During the last years of Freedom's ownership, most news reports originated taped or live from the station's newsroom. There were few live reports done out in the field. For all broadcasts, there was only one anchor and all on-air personalities served as reporters. There were simple graphics used along with a consistent news music package.Since Global Broadcasting's purchase, several significant changes had been made to the news department. This included changes in overall image and a remodeled news set. ABC6 News in the Morning was expanded to two hours and renamed Good Morning Providence, which was changed to ABC6 News This Morning in September 2011 by current owner Citadel Communications. There had also been a significant increase in hard news coverage and the number of daily newscasts. Because of these changes, ratings had briefly increased and for a time, ABC6 News promoted itself as "New England's Fastest Growing News." The ratings surge did not last for long. However, on March 29, 2011 WLNE scored its first late news victory in years, finishing number one at 11 PM following the series premier of network medical drama
Medical drama
A medical drama is a television program, in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment.In the United States, most medical episodes are one hour long and, more often than not, are set in a hospital. Most current medical Dramatic programming go beyond the...
Body of Proof
Body of Proof
Body of Proof is an American medical drama television series created by Chris Murphey and produced by ABC Studios. Starring Dana Delany as medical examiner Dr. Megan Hunt, the series premiered on March 29, 2011 on ABC....
, which was filmed entirely in Rhode Island for its first season.
On October 24, 2007, WLNE announced that infamous former Providence mayor and WPRO personality Vincent "Buddy" Cianci
Vincent Cianci
Vincent Albert "Buddy" Cianci, Jr. served as the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, from 1975 to 1984 and again from 1991 to 2002...
would join the station as Chief Political Analyst and contributing editor starting on November 1. Cianci was a political analyst at WLNE in the late-1980s. He also moderates a daily segment on ABC6 News. It was previously entitled Your Attention Please and was co-moderated in-studio by former Chief Reporter Jim Hummel. Following Hummel's departure from the station in July 2008, it was changed to Buddy TV, and weeknight anchor John DeLuca became co-moderator. The segment aired live during the former ABC6 News First At Four, with Cianci originating from the East Providence
East Providence
East Providence is the name of two places in the United States:* East Providence Township, Pennsylvania* East Providence, Rhode Island...
studios of WPRO, where the segment was simulcast during his weekday show that airs from 2PM to 6PM. With the change in station ownership in May 2011, the segment name was changed again and is now entitled The World According to Buddy and is taped in-studio with Cianci appearing solo.
On December 17, the station announced it would launch ABC6 News First At Four, 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 first-ever 4 o'clock news on January 14, 2008. Described as a "hard newscast" and not morning-show style fluff, First At Four gave WLNE a head start in coverage of weather and politics. This newscast aired for just over three years and competed head to head with Oprah
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
that aired on WJAR. First At Four last aired in April 2011 prior to the transfer of station ownership. In May 2009, WLNE launched a 10 o'clock newscast on Sunday mornings. Previously, it had only produced weekend morning newscasts for NewsChannel 5. It was the only Providence station with a local news broadcast airing at that time. In May 2011, the new owners moved the newscast to 7:30 and added Saturday morning broadcasts in addition to Sunday mornings. In June 2009, the station launched the market's first (since the 1980s) 7 o'clock newscast on weeknights, filling the spot vacated by Entertainment Tonight, which was taken off the schedule due to the station's dispute with CBS Television Distribution. As of March 2011, this newscast was replaced with infomercials, with the newscast airing only in the event they could not sell the time slot on any given day. In a highly-publicized incident, one of the first products advertised in this time slot was a specially-designed bra. Per the station's sale to Citadel, this newscast was officially replaced with syndicated programming the following month.
On April 5, 2011, WLNE announced a new programming lineup that included the addition of a 5 PM newscast on April 25. On May 17, veteran anchor Karen Meyers was named co-anchor of the station's weeknight newscasts, replacing Allison Alexander. WLNE began using Frank Gari's
Frank Gari
Frank Gari is a popular singer and songwriter from the late 1950s and early 1960s. His best known songs as a performer are "Utopia" , "Lullaby of Love" and "Princess" , all of which hit the U.S. Top 40 in 1961. He co-wrote with Roger McGuinn the song Beach Ball for Bobby Darin...
Eyewitness News music package
Television news music
Television news music is used by television stations to brand their news operations. Each television station uses an identifiable news theme; some themes are used by multiple stations while others are composed specifically for a certain station....
in June, which all of Citadel's ABC affiliates use. On September 13, WLNE became the second station in the market to broadcast news in high-definition, behind WJAR and just a week ahead of WPRI/WNAC. Along with the transition came a new graphics package, similar to those used on the newscasts of other Citadel stations. Also, all reporters in the field work as multimedia journalists that shoot, edit, and report their stories.
In weather segments, WLNE uses live regional radar from the National Weather Service
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service , once known as the Weather Bureau, is one of the six scientific agencies that make up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States government...
local office in Taunton, Massachusetts
Taunton, Massachusetts
Taunton is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the seat of Bristol County and the hub of the Greater Taunton Area. The city is located south of Boston, east of Providence, north of Fall River and west of Plymouth. The City of Taunton is situated on the Taunton River...
, along with high-resolution satellite. The system is presented on-air as Stormtracker. There is also a weather radar at the station's old analog transmitter site in Tiverton but it is unknown if this is in operation. It is the only Citadel station to not use the ESP: Live (Exclusive Storm Prediction) branding.
WLNE won the Massachusetts/Rhode Island Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
News Station of the Year award four years in a row from 1997 to 2000 and again in 2002. The station also won a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Investigative Reporting two consecutive years. Former reporter Tom Langford won the award in 2006 and former Chief Reporter Jim Hummel received it in 2007. In 2010, former investigative reporter Parker Gavigan won the Massachusetts/Rhode Island Associated Press Broadcast Award for Investigative Reporting for "Dream Makers," and morning/noon anchor Doreen Scanlon won the AP Award for Best Hard News Feature for "Made in Rhode Island: Kettlebells."
Due to its coverage area overlapping with Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
's ABC affiliate WCVB, the two stations share resources for coverage of southeastern Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. Along with ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
, WLNE is also a CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
affiliate.
Newscast titles
- WTEV News (1963–1973)
- Newscope 6 (1973–1980)
- Action News (1980–1981)
- Channel 6 News (1981–1983)
- WLNE News (1983–1987)
- WLNE 6 News (1987–1990)
- 6 News (1990–1995)
- ABC 6 News (1995–present)
Station slogans
- 6 Country is Your Country and 6 Country is You (mid-late 1970s)
- We Love New England at WLNE (early-mid 1980s)
- We've Got the Touch, WLNE (1983–1984, localized version of CBS ad campaign)
- Share the Spirit on WLNE (1986–1987, localized version of CBS ad campaign)
- Share the Experience (early 1990s)
- We're Looking Out for You (1999-2001)
- See It Tonight or Hear About It Tomorrow (2001-2002)
- Your Nonstop News Source (2002–2004)
- New England's Fastest Growing News (2008-2009)
- Fast. Accurate. Reliable. (2008–2009)
- Honest. Fair. Everywhere. (2010–2011)
News team
Anchors- Mark CurtisMark Curtis (broadcaster)Mark Corrigan Curtis is a well-known American TV journalist, author and political analyst. In January 2009, Curtis published his first book; a first-person account of the historic 2008 Presidential campaign. “Age of Obama: A Reporter’s Journey with Clinton, McCain and Obama in the Making of the...
- weekday mornings; also chief political reporter - Doreen Scanlon - weekday mornings and noon
- John DeLuca - weeknights at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.
- Karen Meyers - weeknights at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.
- Shannon O'Brien - weekend mornings; also multimedia journalist
- Liz Tufts - weekend evenings; also multimedia journalist
Stormtracker Weather Team
- Fred Campagna (Certified Broadcast MeteorologistCertified Broadcast MeteorologistCertified Broadcast Meteorologist is a rating for meteorologists given by the American Meteorological Society.The Certified Broadcast Meteorologist program was established to raise the professional standard in broadcast meteorology and encourage a broader range of scientific understanding,...
) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6 and 11 p.m. - Steve CascioneSteve CascioneSteve Cascione was born in Providence, Rhode Island on November 12, 1954. After graduating from Classical High School in Providence, Cascione attended the University of Rhode Island where he graduated in 1977 with a BA degree in Geography and Meteorology. Cascione attended MIT, where he took...
(AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings and noon - Chelsea Priest - meteorologist; weekend evenings; also multimedia journalist
- Matt Lagor - meteorologist; weekend mornings
Sports team
- Ken Bell - sports director; weeknights at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.
- Courtney Fallon - sports anchor; weekend evenings, also weeknight sports reporter
Reporters
- John Carpilio - weekday morning traffic reporter
- Alexandra Cowley - multimedia journalist
- John Guice - multimedia journalist
- Andrea Medeiros - multimedia journalist
- Abbey Niezgoda - multimedia journalist
Contributors
- Vincent "Buddy" Cianci - chief political analyst; also host of On the Record with Buddy Cianci
- Dr. E.J. Finocchio (RISPCA) - Pick of the Litter segment (Tuesdays at Noon)