WUHF
Encyclopedia
WUHF is the Fox
-affiliated television station
for Rochester, New York
. It broadcasts a high definition
digital signal on UHF
channel 28 (hence the call letters) from a transmitter on Pinnacle Hill on the border between Rochester and Brighton
. The station can also be seen on Time Warner
channel 7 and in high definition on digital channel 1007. Owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group
, WUHF is operated through a shared services
agreement (SSA) by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group
as sister to CBS
affiliate WROC-TV
. The two share studios on Humboldt Street near the Culver-Winton-Main section of Rochester. Syndicated programming on this station includes: Seinfeld
, Two and a Half Men
, The People's Court
, and Judge Judy
.
. It is not currently offered on Time Warner Cable
but may be added at some point.
produced and hosted All Night Live, a program aired live from midnight to 7 in the morning Fridays and Saturdays.
Bram's show was a showcase for regional bands including Personal Effects, Cousin Al and the Relatives, and The Degrads
. On October 6, 1986, WUHF became a charter affiliate of Fox for Rochester and was known on-air as "Fox 31". Most of the religious shows were gone by then. In 1989, Act III Broadcasting
bought the station. In a group deal, Abry would become the owner in 1994.
By 1996, it was controlled by Sinclair and was eventually sold to that company. In the 1990s, classic sitcoms, movies, and drama shows made way for talk, reality, and court shows. Cartoons ended the station's weekday airings at the end of 2001 when Fox closed its weekday kids block nationwide. In 2000, the station became known on-air as "Fox Rochester" although it adopted a "Fox 31" logo in 2003. Its digital signal signed on-the-air in 2004 under a special temporary authority from the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC). In 2006, WUHF added The Tube digital music video channel on a new second digital subchannel. This continued until the service went out of business in 2007.
In August 2005, the Sinclair Broadcast Group entered into a shared services agreement with Nexstar. Sinclair agreed to be the subordinate entity allowing Nexstar to control programming for WUHF. The station then moved from its studios on East Avenue in Rochester to WROC's facilities. Sinclair and Fox recently finalized a six-year affiliation contract extension for Sinclair's nineteen Fox affiliates including WUHF. This station's affiliation contract now expires in March 2012. On February 17, 2009 like most Sinclair stations, the station's analog programming left channel 31 and was replaced by a "nightlight" loop that ran until March 3. WUHF continues to operate its digital signal on channel 28.
started carrying WUHF via the Cancom communications satellite in out-of-market
areas where Fox was not otherwise available. However, it had been carried on cable in Belleville, Ontario
and other communities on the north shore of Lake Ontario
since the 1980s. It is carried by both Eastlink
and Aliant TV in the province of Nova Scotia
. The station is also carried in the Thousand Islands
region of the North Country
in the town of Hammond
(via Citizens Cable TV) as well as in the provinces of Manitoba
and Newfoundland and Labrador
. WUHF has been carried on satellite systems since 2001 and it is currently the only Rochester-based television station seen in Canada on the Shaw Direct satellite provider.
CF Cable
in Western Montreal
suburbs used to carry the station in 1995 but replaced it with sister station WUTV
from Buffalo
the following year. That station was carried on Vidéotron
for cable systems outside the West Island
. It was also the first Fox station carried on Montreal
cable. However, the northern suburbs of that city (particularly St. Jerome
) still carry the station even though in Mont Tremblant, WFFF-TV
along with other Burlington, Vermont
/Plattsburgh, New York stations are seen there instead. Sinclair was re-negotiating for carriage of WUHF on the local Time Warner system in Rochester. The previous agreement expired on December 31, 2010. An updated retransmission agreement was reached in February 2011. Had this not happened, WUHF could have pulled its signal from Time Warner.
format which consisted of national and international news as well as weather and sports segments produced at Sinclair's headquarters on Beaver Dam Road in Hunt Valley, Maryland
. The local news operation at WUHF was significantly sized down as a result. It also aired "The Point", a one-minute conservative political commentary, that was also controversial and a requirement of all Sinclair-owned stations with newscasts until the series was discontinued in December 2006.
After becoming operated by Nexstar, the News Central format was abandoned and broadcasts on WUHF ceased. Two anchors, a producer, and a photographer were added to WROC's news staff. The remainder of its personnel was laid off in this move. On September 1, 2005, a nightly half hour prime time show (known as Fox First at 10) produced by WROC began airing on this station. It airs from a secondary set from that station's facilities. Eventually, this expanded to 45 minutes followed by a fifteen minute sports highlight program known as Sports Extra.
Reporters
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
-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 Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
. 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
Ultra high frequency
Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...
channel 28 (hence the call letters) from a transmitter on Pinnacle Hill on the border between Rochester and Brighton
Brighton, Monroe County, New York
Brighton is a town in Monroe County, New York, USA. The population was 36,609 at the 2010 census.-History:The Town of Brighton, located on the southeast border of the city of Rochester, was originally settled approximately 1790, and formally established in 1814—earning it recognition as one...
. The station can also be seen on Time Warner
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
channel 7 and in high definition on digital channel 1007. Owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group
The Sinclair Broadcast Group is an American telecommunications company that operates the largest number of local television stations in the United States. Headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, it owns a total of 57 stations across the country in 35 primarily small and medium markets, many of...
, WUHF is operated through a shared services
Shared services
Shared services refers to the provision of a service by one part of an organization or group where that service had previously been found in more than one part of the organization or group. Thus the funding and resourcing of the service is shared and the providing department effectively becomes an...
agreement (SSA) 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...
as sister to 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 WROC-TV
WROC-TV
WROC-TV, virtual channel 8, is a CBS affiliate based in Rochester, New York, USA, owned and operated by Nexstar Broadcasting Group. WROC-TV operates Fox affiliate WUHF through a shared services agreement. The two share studios on Humboldt Street in Rochester...
. The two share studios on Humboldt Street near the Culver-Winton-Main section of Rochester. Syndicated programming on this station includes: Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
, 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...
, The People's Court
The People's Court
The People's Court is a US television court show in which small claims court cases are heard, though what is shown is actually a binding arbitration....
, and Judge Judy
Judge Judy
Judge Judy is an American court show featuring former family court judge Judith Sheindlin arbitrating over small claims cases in small claims court...
.
Digital programming
On WUHF-DT2 is TheCoolTVTheCoolTV
THECOOLTV is a United States over-the-air digital subchannel launched in March 2009. The network's current program schedule consists of an all-music video lineup that can be customized to meet an affiliate's preference, along with the three hours per week of E/I programming as required by the...
. It is not currently offered on Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
but may be added at some point.
| Subchannel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 31.1 | Main WUHF programming / FOX |
| 31.2 | TheCoolTV |
History
It began operations in January 1980 as a general entertainment Independent running cartoons, sitcoms (classic and recent), movies, drama shows, and religious shows. The station was owned by Malrite and the General Manager was Jerry Carr who was the former "The Weather Outside" personality. In 1983, former underground cartoonist Brian BramBrian bram
Brian Bram, born May 9, 1955 in Chicago and raised in Deerfield, Illinois, played a minor role in the underground comix movement with his contributions to American Splendor, the comic book series written and published by Harvey Pekar and, in 2003, made into an award-winning motion picture starring...
produced and hosted All Night Live, a program aired live from midnight to 7 in the morning Fridays and Saturdays.
Bram's show was a showcase for regional bands including Personal Effects, Cousin Al and the Relatives, and The Degrads
The Silly Pillows
The Silly Pillows are an American indie pop band formed by Jonathan Caws-Elwitt. They began as a home-recorded duo of Jonathan and his wife Hilary, sharing tapes through the cassette underground. In the 1990s the band evolved into a studio-recorded full lineup, which dissolved in 2000...
. On October 6, 1986, WUHF became a charter affiliate of Fox for Rochester and was known on-air as "Fox 31". Most of the religious shows were gone by then. In 1989, Act III Broadcasting
Act III Broadcasting
Act III Broadcasting was a company that owned several television stations that started as independents, and later became Fox affiliates. The stations were located in medium-sized markets, and the company existed from the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s, eventually to be sold to Abry in 1994...
bought the station. In a group deal, Abry would become the owner in 1994.
By 1996, it was controlled by Sinclair and was eventually sold to that company. In the 1990s, classic sitcoms, movies, and drama shows made way for talk, reality, and court shows. Cartoons ended the station's weekday airings at the end of 2001 when Fox closed its weekday kids block nationwide. In 2000, the station became known on-air as "Fox Rochester" although it adopted a "Fox 31" logo in 2003. Its digital signal signed on-the-air in 2004 under a special temporary authority from 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). In 2006, WUHF added The Tube digital music video channel on a new second digital subchannel. This continued until the service went out of business in 2007.
In August 2005, the Sinclair Broadcast Group entered into a shared services agreement with Nexstar. Sinclair agreed to be the subordinate entity allowing Nexstar to control programming for WUHF. The station then moved from its studios on East Avenue in Rochester to WROC's facilities. Sinclair and Fox recently finalized a six-year affiliation contract extension for Sinclair's nineteen Fox affiliates including WUHF. This station's affiliation contract now expires in March 2012. On February 17, 2009 like most Sinclair stations, the station's analog programming left channel 31 and was replaced by a "nightlight" loop that ran until March 3. WUHF continues to operate its digital signal on channel 28.
Cable carriage
In 1994, several cable systems in CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
started carrying WUHF via the Cancom communications satellite in out-of-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...
areas where Fox was not otherwise available. However, it had been carried on cable in Belleville, Ontario
Belleville, Ontario
Belleville is a city located at the mouth of the Moira River on the Bay of Quinte in Southern Ontario, Canada, in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. It is the seat of Hastings County, but is politically independent of it. and the centre of the Bay of Quinte Region...
and other communities on the north shore of Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south by the American state of New York. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot language, ontarío means...
since the 1980s. It is carried by both Eastlink
EastLink (company)
EastLink is a Canadian cable television and telecommunications company. In 1970, EastLink was established in Amherst, Nova Scotia, when it was issued one of the first cable licences granted by the CRTC...
and Aliant TV in the province of Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
. The station is also carried in the Thousand Islands
Thousand Islands
The Thousand Islands is the name of an archipelago of islands that straddle the Canada-U.S. border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. They stretch for about downstream from Kingston, Ontario. The Canadian islands are in the province of Ontario, the...
region of the North Country
North Country, New York
The North Country is a region of the U.S. state of New York that encompasses the state's extreme northern frontier, bordering Lake Ontario on the west, the Saint Lawrence River and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec on the north and northwest, and Lake Champlain and Vermont on the east...
in the town of Hammond
Hammond (town), New York
Hammond is a town in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. The population was 1,207 at the 2000 census. The name is derived from early land owner Abijah Hammond.The Town of Hammond is in the northwest corner of St. Lawrence County...
(via Citizens Cable TV) as well as in the provinces of Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
and Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
. WUHF has been carried on satellite systems since 2001 and it is currently the only Rochester-based television station seen in Canada on the Shaw Direct satellite provider.
CF Cable
CF Cable
CF Cable was a Canadian cable company, which served parts of Montreal, Laval and western suburbs on the Island of Montreal. The company was owned by CFCF, a television station in Montreal....
in Western Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
suburbs used to carry the station in 1995 but replaced it with sister station WUTV
WUTV
WUTV, virtual channel 29, is the Fox-affiliated television station in Buffalo, New York. It broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 14. The station is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, in a duopoly with the area's MyNetworkTV affiliate WNYO-TV...
from Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
the following year. That station was carried on Vidéotron
Vidéotron
Vidéotron GP is a Canadian integrated telecommunications company active in cable television, interactive multimedia development, video on demand, cable telephony, wireless communication and Internet access services. Currently, the company primarily serves Quebec, as well as the francophone...
for cable systems outside the West Island
West Island
The West Island is the unofficial name given to the western cities and boroughs of the Island of Montreal, in Quebec, Canada...
. It was also the first Fox station carried on Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
cable. However, the northern suburbs of that city (particularly St. Jerome
Saint-Jérôme, Quebec
Saint-Jérôme is a town in Quebec, Canada, near Mirabel, about northwest of Montreal along Autoroute des Laurentides. The town is a gateway to the Laurentian Mountains and its resorts....
) still carry the station even though in Mont Tremblant, WFFF-TV
WFFF-TV
WFFF-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Vermont's Champlain Valley and Upstate New York's North Country. Licensed to Burlington, Vermont, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 43 from a transmitter on Vermont's highest peak, Mount Mansfield...
along with other Burlington, Vermont
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....
/Plattsburgh, New York stations are seen there instead. Sinclair was re-negotiating for carriage of WUHF on the local Time Warner system in Rochester. The previous agreement expired on December 31, 2010. An updated retransmission agreement was reached in February 2011. Had this not happened, WUHF could have pulled its signal from Time Warner.
Newscasts
In 1997, WUHF established its own news department and aired a nightly prime time newscast (known as The Ten O'Clock News) along with a Sunday night sports highlight show. In 2003, the operation was converted to Sinclair's controversial News CentralNews Central
News Central was a primetime newscast on Sinclair television stations in the United States, mixing locally produced news with nationally produced news and an opinion segment from Sinclair's Hunt Valley, Maryland studios...
format which consisted of national and international news as well as weather and sports segments produced at Sinclair's headquarters on Beaver Dam Road in Hunt Valley, Maryland
Hunt Valley, Maryland
Hunt Valley is an affluent unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. It lies just north of the city of Baltimore, along Highway 145 off Interstate 83. Loch Raven Reservoir...
. The local news operation at WUHF was significantly sized down as a result. It also aired "The Point", a one-minute conservative political commentary, that was also controversial and a requirement of all Sinclair-owned stations with newscasts until the series was discontinued in December 2006.
After becoming operated by Nexstar, the News Central format was abandoned and broadcasts on WUHF ceased. Two anchors, a producer, and a photographer were added to WROC's news staff. The remainder of its personnel was laid off in this move. On September 1, 2005, a nightly half hour prime time show (known as Fox First at 10) produced by WROC began airing on this station. It airs from a secondary set from that station's facilities. Eventually, this expanded to 45 minutes followed by a fifteen minute sports highlight program known as Sports Extra.
News team
Anchors- Kevin Doran - Managing EditorManaging editorA managing editor is a senior member of a publication's management team.In the United States, a managing editor oversees and coordinates the publication's editorial activities...
and weeknight news - Tina Shiveley - weekend news and reporter
- Scott Hetsko (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...
and NWANational Weather AssociationThe National Weather Association is an American professional association with a mission to support and promote excellence in operational meteorology and related activities...
Seals of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist seen weeknights - Stacey Pensgen - weekend meteorologist
- John Kucko - 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...
seen weeknights - Thad Brown - weekend sports and sports reporter (also "Athlete of the Week" segment producer)
Reporters
- Cory Hepola - sports and "Cory Stories" segment producer
- Scott Pitoniak - sports contributor
- Amanda Ciavarri
- Caroline Tucker
- Cierra Putman
- Alex Hinckley
- Mark Gruba
- Matt Molloy
- Deanna King
- Katrina Irwin ("Go Green" segment producer)