WWLP

WWLP


Springfield/Holyoke, Massachusetts
United States
Branding 22 News
The CW Springfield (DT2)
Slogan Working For You
Dare to Defy (DT2)
Channels Digital: 11 (VHF)
Virtual: 22 (PSIP)
Subchannels 22.1 NBC in HD
22.2 The CW in HD
22.3 Ion Television in SD
Translators 28 WFXQ-CD (UHF)
Affiliations NBC (DT1)
The CW (via The CW Plus) (DT2)
Ion Television (DT3)
Owner Media General
(sale to Nexstar Broadcasting Group pending)
(WWLP Broadcasting, LLC)
First air date March 17, 1953 (1953-03-17)
Call letters' meaning William L. Putnam
(the station's founder and longtime owner)
Sister station(s) 32 WRLP-TV Greenfield (1957–1978)
14 WWOR-TV/WJZB-TV Worcester (1958–1969)
Former channel number(s) Analog:
61 (UHF, 1953–1955)
22 (UHF, 1955–2009)
Former affiliations DT2:
TheCoolTV (2010–2013)
Transmitter power 10 kW
Height 247 m
Facility ID 6868
Transmitter coordinates 42°5′4.8″N 72°42′13.3″W / 42.084667°N 72.703694°W / 42.084667; -72.703694
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website wwlp.com

WWLP is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts that is licensed to Springfield. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 11 from a transmitter on Provin Mountain in the Feeding Hills section of Agawam.

Owned by Media General, WWLP has studios at Broadcast Center in the Sandy Hill section of Chicopee at the northwest corner of the I-391/MA 116/Chicopee Street interchange. WWLP operates a full-time low-power digital repeater, WFXQ-CD channel 28, that has a transmitter at the top of the old Mount Tom Ski Area in Holyoke.

Due to the close proximity of the Springfield-Holyoke and Hartford-New Haven markets, many stations in Connecticut can be viewed in the Southern Pioneer Valley. Since WWLP's transmitter on Provin Mountain is not far from the state line, this can be picked up in northern areas of the state. WVIT, which serves as Connecticut's NBC affiliate except for Fairfield County, is currently the only Hartford/New Haven big three station offered on Comcast's basic tier. Charter customers have access to WVIT, but only with a digital set top box.

History

WWLP began broadcasting on March 17, 1953 one month before rival WGGB-TV (then known as WHYN-TV). The station aired an analog signal on UHF channel 61 and was an NBC affiliate from the start. At its sign-on, the channel had the distinction of being one of the first UHF television stations in the United States after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opened the UHF band as well as Massachusetts' oldest station outside of Boston. It was founded by William L. Putnam and his company, Springfield Television. WWLP's original studios were at the transmitter site on Provin Mountain in Feeding Hills.

It switched frequencies to UHF channel 22 on July 2, 1955. The previous analog allotment would remain unused until the second WTIC-TV signed-on from Hartford, Connecticut in 1984. From its beginnings, the Springfield/Holyoke market was designated as a "UHF island" because it was too close to Boston, Hartford/New Haven, and the Capital District of New York State for VHF analog service. As a result of technical limitations UHF stations faced in the 1950s, WWLP's signal was not viewable in much of the northern portion of the market (which at the time included Brattleboro, Vermont and Keene, New Hampshire). The station would sign-on two full-time satellites to solve that problem and extend its broadcasting radius (see below). From 1975 until 1979, the station aired nationally syndicated National Hockey League games from The NHL Network.

After three decades, Putnam retired from broadcasting in 1984 by selling his company and its three stations (WWLP, KSTU-TV, and WKEF) to Adams Communications. Adams ran into financial trouble and began breaking up the Springfield Television group in 1987 with the sale of KSTU to MWT Ltd. Adams sold WKEF to KT Communications in 1989 before selling WWLP to Brisette Broadcasting in 1991. However, Brisette himself ran into trouble and merged his group with Benedek Broadcasting at the end of 1995. Former owner LIN TV Corporation acquired WWLP in 2000 [1] by swapping KAKE-TV in Wichita, Kansas and WOWT-TV in Omaha, Nebraska to Benedek. This was a result of Chronicle Broadcasting, which owned the latter two, being liquidated. The sale could be seen as the ultimate undoing for Benedek which in 2002 declared bankruptcy and sold most of their stations (including WOWT and KAKE) to Gray Television.

In early 2000, the station's studios and offices moved to their current home in the Sandy Hill area of Chicopee. However, its transmitter remained in Feeding Hills. Shortly after the change, then-pending owner LIN TV constructed an addition at WWLP's new facilities which would serve as a master control hub for company-owned stations in the Northeast. At this location, room for future expansion was made in the event LIN TV expanded their Northeast properties. That eventually became the case with sister stations WTNH, WCTX, WPRI-TV (LIN TV flagship), and WNAC-TV having master control and some internal operations currently located at the Chicopee studios.

WWLP was well known for producing As Schools Match Wits, one of American television's earliest and longest-running high school quiz programs. The program first aired in October 1961. In September 2006, the show was canceled because of the costs associated with new FCC regulations requiring all over-the-air television programming in the United States to be closed-captioned for the deaf and hard of hearing. The show returned to the air in January 2007 but on the area's PBS affiliate WGBY-TV and based at Westfield State College.

On May 18, 2007, LIN TV announced that it was exploring strategic alternatives including the sale of the company. On March 21, 2014, Media General announced that it would purchase LIN Media and its stations, including WWLP and WFXQ-CD, in a $1.6 billion merger.[2] The merger was completed on December 19.[3]

On September 8, 2015, Media General announced that it would acquire the Meredith Corporation for $2.4 billion, with the combined group to be renamed Meredith Media General once the sale was finalized. Because Meredith already owns WGGB-TV, and the Springfield-Holyoke market does not have enough full-power television stations to legally allow a duopoly in any event (WGGB-TV and WWLP are the only full-power licenses assigned to the market), the companies would have been required to sell either WGGB-TV or WWLP to comply with FCC ownership rules as well as recent changes to those rules regarding same-market television stations that restrict sharing agreements had the sale gone through. Meredith-owned CBS affiliate WSHM-LD (channel 3) was the only one of the three stations affected by the merger that could legally be acquired by Meredith Media General, as FCC rules permit common ownership of full-power and low-power stations regardless of the number of stations within a single market.[4][5][6] On January 27, 2016, however, Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Media General, who subsequently abandoned its plans to purchase Meredith.[7]

Satellites

In 1957, WRLP-TV in Greenfield signed-on as the first full-time satellite of WWLP. This served the northern portion of the Pioneer Valley market, where WWLP's signal was marginal at best due to the area's rugged and mountainous terrain. From a transmitter on Gunn Mountain in Winchester, New Hampshire (one of the highest points in the region), WRLP could also be seen in Springfield as well, creating a strong combined signal with over fifty percent overlap. In 1958, Putnam purchased a defunct station in Worcester, WWOR-TV (no relation to the current New York City station with the same calls), and returned it to the air as a second full-time satellite of WWLP. Although it was relaying a Springfield-based station, WWOR was part of the Boston market. The channel was only broadcasting six hours a day in order to protect the interests of then-NBC affiliate WBZ-TV. WWOR later changed its calls to WJZB-TV and became an Independent while continuing to simulcast some programming from WWLP.

WRLP and WJZB eventually went off the air due to financial difficulties, with WJZB going dark in 1969 followed by WRLP in 1978. Almost immediately after WRLP left the air, its transmitter was shipped to Salt Lake City, Utah in order to launch KSTU, an independent sister station on UHF channel 20. That channel eventually became a Fox affiliate on analog VHF channel 13 operating under a different owner.

Digital television

Digital channels

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming [8]
22.1 1080i 16:9 WWLP-DT Main WWLP programming / NBC
22.2 720p WWLP-D1 The CW Springfield / The CW Plus
22.3 480i 4:3 WWLP-D2 Ion Television

WWLP-DT2

WWLP-DT2 originally signed on in 2007, airing a live feed of its weather radar, with no background audio. As a byproduct of an affiliation agreement between LIN TV and TheCoolTV to carry the music video network on LIN's stations, WWLP affiliated with the network on its second digital subchannel in 2010. The network was dropped on July 15, 2013, with the subchannel remaining dark for the next 20 months.

On December 23, 2014, as part of a long-term affiliation renewal with the network, Media General announced that WWLP and WFXQ-CD would affiliate their respective second digital subchannels with The CW, allowing the former cable-exclusive "WBQT" channel serving the market to have an over-the-air presence.[9] As a result, on April 1, 2015, the two station began carrying CW programming (via The CW Plus) on digital subchannel 22.2, under the brand "The CW Springfield". The subchannel is available on Comcast channel 16 and Charter channel 13 (both in standard definition) to viewers in Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties. Comcast began carrying the subchannel's high definition feed on digital channel 820 on April 1, 2015, with Charter adding the feed on digital channel 788 in mid-April 2015 (for viewers in Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties), making CW programming available in HD in the Pioneer Valley for the first time.[10][11][12]

WWLP-DT3

On November 5, 2015, WWLP soft-launched a standard definition feed of Ion Television's main signal over subchannel 22.3 as part of Media General's carriage agreement of the network in markets without a dedicated Ion affiliate. New London, Connecticut-based WHPX-TV has served as the market's nominal affiliate for years with some cable coverage, though over-the-air coverage of that station is generally poor in the Pioneer Valley and the national feed has mainly been offered by local providers who carry the network.

Analog-to-digital conversion

WWLP discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 22, on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (but was ordered by the FCC to continue transmitting emergency bulletins, local news broadcasts, and information on digital transition on its analog channel for an additional sixty days as part of the "nightlighting" service).[13] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 11,[14][15] using PSIP to display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 22.

Programming

Syndicated programming on the station includes: Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, Dr. Phil and Judge Judy. Unusually, Ellen is currently not carried by any station in the Pioneer Valley. This is despite the show's popularity and the Pioneer Valley market having one of the largest concentrations of an LGBTQ population in the country, and without Comcast, DirecTV and Dish Network holding any coverage of WVIT (the closest station in the market carrying it), means it is inaccessible in the majority of the area's television homes.

News operation

Ever since its sign-on, WWLP has consistently had the most watched newscasts in the Pioneer Valley. This has been achieved (most of the time) by beating rival ABC affiliate WGGB-TV in the local Nielsen ratings since both stations went on-the-air. There have been some brief periods when WGGB-TV was on top and there have also been extended times where the stations were basically neck-and-neck with WWLP having a slight edge. However, WWLP consistently outpaced WGGB-TV after the Sinclair Broadcast Group acquired that channel in 1998 with a sizable margin in this channel's favor for most shows.

While operating as full-time satellites of WWLP, WRLP and WWOR/WJZB simulcasted local news from this station. However, when WRLP converted to a separate Independent channel in 1974, its own newscasts were established tailored toward the Northern Pioneer Valley as well as Brattleboro and Keene.

After WGGB-TV recently became locally owned (bought by John J. Gormally who publishes the Business West magazine), there was a chance the ratings could change. However, as of the July 2008 sweeps period, WWLP continues its longtime dominance with WGGB-TV stabilizing to a strong second. Although low-powered CBS afifliate WSHM-LP established its own news department in October 2005, it initially did not compete on the same level as WWLP and WGGB-TV. However, its ratings grew substantially across the board during the May 2009 sweeps period to within decimal points of WGGB-TV in several key demographics.

In addition to their main studios, WWLP operates a Hampshire County Bureau on Main Street/MA 9/MA 10 in downtown Northampton as part of Thornes Market (location established in November 2010), and a Franklin County Bureau in Greenfield. NBC affiliate WHDH-TV in Boston shares its resources with WWLP for news coverage of Eastern Massachusetts. In turn, WWLP does the same for events from western areas of the state. Although it operates its own weather radar at the transmitter site on Provin Mountain, it is not seen on-air or online. During weather segments, the station does feature live NOAA National Weather Service radar data from several regional sites presented on-screen in a system known as "ESP: Live Doppler" (with "ESP" meaning Exclusive Storm Prediction). The station uses the "Tower V.4" news music package from 615 Music. Throughout the existence of NBC Weather Plus, WWLP never offered the service. All news anchors also serve as reporters.

On Saturday, January 8, 2012, WWLP became the second station in the Springfield/Holyoke market to broadcast local news in high definition. Rival station WGGB-TV was the first to broadcast in HD in September 2011.

Notable former on-air staff

References

  1. ↑ Staff, FCC Internet Services. "Application Search Details".
  2. ↑ "Media General buys LIN Media, owner of WWLP Channel 22 in Springfield". The Republican. Associated Press. March 21, 2014. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  3. ↑ Media General Completes Merger With LIN Media, Press Release, Media General, Retrieved 19 December 2014
  4. ↑ "Media General Acquiring Meredith For 2.4 Billion". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. September 8, 2015.
  5. ↑ Cynthia Littleton (September 8, 2015). "TV Station Mega Merger: Media General Sets $2.4 Billion Acquisition of Meredith Corp.". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
  6. ↑ Chris Lindahl (September 8, 2015). "Media General buying Meredith Corp.; companies own Springfield-area TV stations WWLP, WGGB, CBS 3, Fox 6". Daily Hampshire Gazette. Newspapers of New England. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
  7. ↑ Picker, Leslie (January 27, 2016). "Nexstar Clinches Deal to Acquire Media General". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  8. ↑ "RabbitEars.Info".
  9. ↑ "WWLP digital subchannel to become CW affiliate". WWLP. Media General. December 23, 2014.
  10. ↑ "The CW moving to a new home in WMass; station will air 22News at 10:00". WWLP. Media General. March 13, 2015.
  11. ↑ "The CW Springfield is now live on the air". WWLP. Media General. April 1, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Here's where to watch The CW Springfield on your television". WWLP. Media General. April 1, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Western Mass. TV stations join national switch to digital broadcasting, but not without challenges".
  14. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  15. ↑ CDBS Print

External links

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