WTHI-TV

WTHI-TV


Terre Haute, Indiana
United States
Branding WTHI 10 (general)
News 10 (newscasts)
MyFox10 (DT2)
Slogan Leading the Way
Channels Digital: 10 (VHF)
Virtual: 10 (PSIP)
Subchannels 10.1 CBS
10.2 Fox/MyNetworkTV
10.3 Ion Television
Affiliations CBS (Secondary through 1973)
Owner Media General
(sale to Heartland Media pending)
(Indiana Broadcasting, LLC)
First air date July 22, 1954 (1954-07-22)
Call letters' meaning Theatre Hulman, Inc.
or
Terre Haute, Indiana
Former channel number(s) Analog:
10 (VHF, 1954–2009)
Digital:
24 (UHF, until 2009)
Former affiliations All secondary:
NBC (1954–1965)
ABC (1954–1973)
DuMont (1954–1955)
UPN (1995–2006)
Transmitter power 27 kW
Height 293 m
Facility ID 70655
Transmitter coordinates 39°14′36″N 87°23′7″W / 39.24333°N 87.38528°W / 39.24333; -87.38528
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website wthitv.com

WTHI-TV, virtual and VHF digital channel 10, is a CBS-affiliated television station located in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States. The station is owned by Media General. WTHI maintains studio facilities located on 8th and Ohio Streets in downtown Terre Haute, and its transmitter is located along U.S. 41/U.S. 150 in unincorporated Sullivan County (south of Farmersburg); master control and some internal operations are housed at the studio facilities of sister station WISH-TV on North Meridian Street in northwestern Indianapolis. On cable, WTHI-TV is available on Time Warner Cable channel 12 in standard definition and in high definition on digital channel 712.

History

WTHI-TV first signed on the air on July 22, 1954. It was the first television station in the Terre Haute market. It was founded by local businessman and Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony Hulman, owner of radio station WTHI (1480 AM, now WPFR, and 99.9 FM). Channel 10 has been a CBS affiliate since its sign-on; however, it initially carried programming from NBC, ABC and the DuMont Television Network as well through secondary affiliations. WTHI-TV originally operated from a studio facility at 918 Ohio Street (at the intersection of South 9th ½ and Ohio Streets) in downtown Terre Haute, which also became occupied by WTHI-FM upon the television station's sign-on (the building was originally constructed in 1906 to house a garment factory).[1]

WTHI lost the DuMont affiliation when the network ceased operations in August 1956; NBC programming moved to the city's second television station, WTWO (channel 2), when it signed on the air in September 1965. The station exclusively aligned with CBS when the ABC affiliation moved to WIIL-TV (channel 38, now WAWV-TV), when it signed on in April 1973. Local programs airing on the station during its earlier history featured Jerry Van Dyke of Coach and My Mother the Car fame, and "Captain Jack" Hanes, whose most famous guest was eventual Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird.

WTHI logo used from 2006 to 2012.

WTHI became a charter affiliate of the United Paramount Network (UPN) when the network launched on January 16, 1995; it carried the network's programming during the overnight hours after CBS's late night programming. The Hulman family continued to own WTHI-TV until 1998, when they sold the station to Emmis Communications.[2] Emmis Communications announced the sale of its 16 television stations on May 15, 2005, in order to concentrate on its radio properties. Emmis sold WTHI-TV to the LIN TV Corporation in August 2005, placing it under common ownership with LIN's three other CBS affiliates in Indiana: WANE-TV in Fort Wayne, WLFI-TV in Lafayette), and at the time, WISH-TV in Indianapolis (the affiliation has since moved to WTTV in January 2015).

In October 2012, the station relocated its operations to a new facility located one block west of its original studios, at 800 Ohio Street in downtown Terre Haute;[3][4] the original studio building, which was also shared with former sister stations WWVR (105.5 FM) (which, along with WTHI-FM, remains owned by Emmis Communications), was demolished in December 2012 to accommodate parking for a new office building being constructed nearby.[3] The move completely separated WTHI-TV from WTHI-FM, which had moved into the new office building that August.[1][3]

On March 21, 2014, Media General announced that it would merge with LIN Media in a $1.6 billion deal.[5][6] The merger was completed on December 19.[7]

Shortly thereafter, after an aborted merger plan with Meredith Corporation, Media General announced on January 27, 2016 that it was being acquired by Nexstar Broadcasting Group with the new company named "Nexstar Media Group". As Nexstar already owns WTWO (and operates WAWV-TV) and since the Terre Haute market is too small to allow duopolies in any case, in order to comply with FCC ownership rules as well as planned changes to rules regarding same-market television stations which would prohibit future joint sales agreements, the company will be required to sell either WTWO or WTHI to another company.[8][9] On March 4, 2016, Nexstar declared its intention to keep WTWO/WAWV and sell WTHI to another company;[10] on June 13, 2016, it announced that WTHI and four other stations would be acquired by Heartland Media, through its USA Television MidAmerica Holdings joint venture with MSouth Equity Partners, for $115 million.[11]

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[12]
10.1 1080i 16:9 WTHI-TV Main WTHI-TV programming / CBS
10.2 720p WTHI-DT2 / Fox & MyNetworkTV
10.3 480i 4:3 Ion Television

WTHI digital subchannel 10.2 originally ran a live 24-hour feed of the station's "Storm Team 10 Fury Radar" system with audio provided by local NOAA Weather Radio station WXK72. On October 25, 2010, the station replaced the radar feed/NOAA audio simulcast with the music video network TheCoolTV as part of an agreement with LIN to carry the network across many of its stations.[13] However within days of the switch, the station received heavy viewer feedback pillorying the move, suggesting that the radar channel was appreciated; as a result on November 5, 2010, WTHI relaunched the "Fury" radar feed on a new third digital subchannel.[14][15]

On August 25, 2011, it was announced that WTHI had signed affiliation agreements with Fox and MyNetworkTV, which both began broadcasting on WTHI's second digital subchannel on September 1, 2011; WFXW (now WAWV-TV), which had been the market's original Fox affiliate since it switched to the network from ABC in January 1995, rejoined ABC on that date in concurrence with a dispute between management partner Nexstar Broadcasting Group and Fox as well as an affiliation renewal deal with ABC for the company's other affiliates of that network. WTHI-TV became the third LIN Media station to carry major network affiliations on both the main channel and a digital subchannel (LIN-owned NBC affiliate WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, Michigan and Fox affiliate WNAC-TV in Providence, Rhode Island, the latter of which is owned by Super Towers, Inc. and operated by LIN, both carry MyNetworkTV on a second digital subchannel).[16]

Branded as "MyFox 10", WTHI-DT2 carries Fox primetime programming from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time (7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Central on the Illinois side of the market), while MyNetworkTV programming airs on a three-hour tape delay from 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Eastern/10:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Central;[17] WTHI-DT2 became the Terre Haute market's first television outlet for the MyNetworkTV programming service, as it had previously been one of the few markets without a MyNetworkTV affiliate since the service's September 2006 launch. As a result of the dual affiliations, WTHI dropped TheCoolTV (one year before LIN terminated its agreements with the network for its other stations). On the same day that Fox and MyNetworkTV programming began airing on WTHI-DT2, the subchannel debuted a half-hour primetime newscast at 10:00 p.m. Eastern/9:00 p.m. Central[18][19][20] To preserve bandwidth for the "MyFox10" subchannel on 10.2, the live feed of "Storm Team 10 Fury Radar" was removed for the second time on August 31, 2011. On December 1, 2015, Ion Television was added on 10.3.

Analog-to-digital conversion

WTHI-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 10, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 24 to VHF channel 10 for post-transition operations.[21]

Programming

WTHI-TV clears the entire CBS network schedule; however, it airs the CBS Dream Team lineup in two blocks – with the first two hours airing on Saturday mornings (leading into the Saturday edition of CBS This Morning, which itself airs two hours later than most CBS stations that carry the broadcast) and the final hour airing on Sunday mornings. Syndicated programs broadcast by WTHI include The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Live! with Kelly and Michael, Entertainment Tonight, The Closer, and Inside Edition.

News operation

WTHI-TV presently broadcasts 19½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 3½ hours on weekdays, and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays); unlike most CBS affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone, the station's early evening newscast at 5:00 p.m. runs only for a half-hour, with the station opting to fill the 5:30 p.m. half-hour with syndicated programs (currently, the syndicated newsmagazine Inside Edition). In addition to its main studios, the station operates a Southern Bureau located at the studios of PBS member station WVUT (channel 22) on North 2nd Street and Rosedale Avenue in Vincennes.

Local news programming has been a presence on WTHI since the station's inception. The newscasts were branded during the late 1970s and early 1980s as NewsCenter 10. The title was changed to Action 10 News in 1985, and modified to Action 10 News WTHI in 2001. On September 18, 2006, the branding was changed to News 10, concurrent with the introduction of a new logo and graphics package.

WTHI-TV did not air an early evening newscast 5:00 p.m. until September 12, 2011, when WTHI debuted a half-hour newscast in the timeslot – replacing the daytime talk show Dr. Phil (which itself moved to NBC affiliate WTWO, after that station moved its hour-long 5:00 p.m. newscast to sister station WAWV-TV, after the former Fox affiliate switched to ABC on September 1).[22] Coinciding with the move to its new facility on Ohio Street on October 20, 2012, beginning with that night's 11:00 p.m. newscast, WTHI became the first commercial television station in the Terre Haute market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition.[23]

Notable former on-air staff

References

  1. 1 2 Foulkes, Arthur (March 20, 2011). "Downtown progress leading to razing of historic WTHI-TV and radio building". Tribune-Star. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
  2. ↑ Jerse, Dorothy (April 5, 2008). "LOOKING BACK: 1983-Terre Haute receives 13 mentions in new state promotional booklet". Tribune-Star. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 Foulkes, Arthur (March 16, 2011). "New three-story office building planned for downtown Terre Haute". Tribune-Star. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
  4. ↑ Foulkes, Arthur (March 20, 2011). "WTHI hopes to stay downtown, station official says". Tribune-Star. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Media General to buy WISH-TV parent in deal worth $1.6B". Indianapolis Business Journal. Associated Press. March 21, 2014. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  6. ↑ Sruthi Ramakrishnan (21 March 2014). "Media General to buy LIN Media for $1.6 billion". Reuters. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  7. ↑ Media General Completes Merger With LIN Media, Press Release, Media General, Retrieved 19 December, 2014
  8. ↑ "Nexstar-Media General: It's A Done Deal". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  9. ↑ "Nexstar Clinches Deal to Acquire Media General". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  10. ↑ http://www.tribstar.com/news/local_news/nexstar-media-general-merger-to-result-in-sale-of-wthi/article_d0144ede-e21a-11e5-9ef3-c71e100a0ca2.html
  11. ↑ "Prather Buys 5 TVs From Nexstar-Media Gen.". TVNewsCheck. June 13, 2016. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  12. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WTHI
  13. ↑ WTHI-TV puts The Cool TV on the air today, Jake's DTV Blog, October 25, 2010.
  14. ↑ The Northern Report: Live radar returns to WTHI on channel 10.3, Jake's DTV Blog, November 5, 2010.
  15. ↑ Radiothon exceeds goal with school fund-raiser, Evansville Courier & Press, November 11, 2010.
  16. ↑ WTHI Terre Haute Grabs Fox for Digital Channel, Broadcasting & Cable, August 25, 2011.
  17. ↑ My Fox Shows
  18. ↑ Fox Lines Up New Terre Haute Affiliate, TVNewsCheck, August 25, 2011.
  19. ↑ Newkirk, Jacob (Aug 25, 2011). "WTHI-TV picks up Fox affiliation in Terre Haute: "MyFox10" to debut Sept. 1". Jake's DTV Blog. Retrieved Aug 25, 2011.
  20. ↑ WTHI-TV to launch MyFox10
  21. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  22. ↑ WTHI-TV to debut News 10 First at 5pm
  23. ↑
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 http://www.wthitv.com/dpp/on_air/mark_allen/Famous-faces-that-have-called-918-Ohio-home#.UdJOBtgtUqI

External links

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