WTVG

:"For the former co-owned Newark, New Jersey television station that used the WTVG calls, see WFUT-TV."Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WTVG
city =
station_
station_slogan = Get Connected
station_branding = "13 ABC" (general)
"13 ABC Action News" (newscast)
analog = 13 (VHF)
digital = 19 (UHF)
other_chs =
subchannels = (see article)| founded = July 21, 1948
location = Toledo, Ohio
callsign_meaning = TeleVision Great Lakes
former_callsigns = WSPD-TV (1948–1979)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Disney/ABC
licensee = WTVG, Inc.
sister_stations =
former_affiliations = NBC (1970-1995) (was primary, 1948-1955; secondary, 1955-1970)
CBS (secondary 1948-1955, primary 1955-1958)
ABC (secondary, 1948-1958, primary 1958-1970)
DuMont (secondary, 1948-1955)
effective_radiated_power = 316 kW (analog)
795 kW (digital)
HAAT = 305.4 m (analog)
221.5 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 74150
coordinates = coord|41|41|1.8|N|83|24|46.3|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.13abc.com/ www.13abc.com]

WTVG, channel 13, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Toledo, Ohio. WTVG's studios and offices are located in Toledo, and its transmitter is located in Oregon, Ohio.

History

The station signed on the air on July 21, 1948 as WSPD-TV, owned by Storer Broadcasting along with WSPD radio (AM 1370 and FM 101.5, now WRVF). WSPD-TV was the first television station in the Storer Broadcasting chain. Originally, the station carried programming from all four television networks: NBC (primary affiliation 1948-1954, secondary from 1955-1969, and exclusive from 1970-1995), ABC, CBS and DuMont. With DuMont shutting down in 1955, the CBS affiliation moving to WTOL in 1958 (was a primary affiliate of CBS from 1955-58) and the ABC affiliation moving to WDHO (now WNWO-TV) in 1970 (which was primary from 1958-1970) , WSPD-TV became an exclusive NBC affiliate.

Storer also owned WJBK-AM-FM-TV in Detroit and WJW-AM-FM-TV in Cleveland. WSPD-TV's city-grade signal could be seen in the Detroit suburbs, while its grade B signal could be seen in Detroit and Cleveland. The FCC grandfathered this situation under its "one-to-a-market" rule in the 1970s. Storer sold off WSPD-FM in the early 70s and WSPD-AM in 1979, and channel 13 became WTVG.

The Storer stations were taken over by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) in 1985. As a result, WTVG lost its grandfathered protection and was not sold to Gillett Communications along with the other Storer stations in 1987. Instead, it was sold to a local employee/investor group called "Toledo Television, Inc." Toledo Television, in turn, was bought out by SJL Broadcast Management in 1991.

In 1994, New World Communications, the owner of most of WTVG's former sister stations, signed an affiliation deal with Fox Broadcasting Company, resulting in most of New World's stations switching affiliation to Fox. Among the stations due to switch was WJBK, Detroit's longtime CBS affiliate. To avoid being consigned to UHF in the 11th-largest market, CBS heavily wooed Detroit's longtime ABC affiliate, WXYZ-TV. WXYZ's owner, E.W. Scripps Company, then told ABC that unless it agreed to affiliate with Scripps-owned stations in four smaller markets, it would switch WXYZ to CBS. As a contingency, ABC approached SJL about buying WTVG and WJRT-TV in Flint, Michigan. Both stations' city-grade signals reached portions of the Detroit area, which would come in handy if ABC lost WXYZ to CBS. The deal closed on August 29, 1995. However, WTVG's affiliation contract didn't run out until November, and WJRT has already been an ABC affiliate, so ABC had to run WTVG as an NBC affiliate for two months while NBC looked for a new affiliate in the area. On November 5, 1995, WTVG began airing ABC programming, sending the NBC affiliation to WNWO-TV. In 1996, Capital Cities/ABC was acquired by Disney. As it turned out, ABC had agreed to the affiliation deal with Scripps as well, and WXYZ retained its ABC affiliation. To date, WTVG is the only network owned and operated station in Toledo.

Digital Channels

In 2009, WTVG will remain on channel 13 when the analog to digital conversion is complete.http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf]

I-Team

The I-Team is WTVG's investigative reporting unit. The I-Team also produces the "Restaurant Report Card" segment, which has been one of "Action News"'s most popular segments.

Restaurant Report Card

On Thursdays during the 6pm newscast, the Restaurant Report Card segment highlights the results of health inspections at Toledo-area restaurants. The segment also features restaurants that have done well in their inspections.

Ask the Expert

During the 12pm Newscast, local experts in different fields answer questions sent in by viewers on WTVG's website. One of 5 different experts is featured every day.

Weather & Traffic

13ABC has a team of five meteorologists:
*Stan Stachak: Chief Meteorologist/Weekday Evenings
*Jay Berschback: Mornings and Noon
*Kristin Emery: Weekend Mornings
*Blizzard Bill Spencer: Weekend Evenings
*Susan Ware: Fill-in Meteorologist

Resources
*13ABC owns and operates a 350,000 Watt Doppler Radar named Live Doppler 13000
*Systems from [http://www.baronservices.com/solutions/broadcast/display_solutions.php Baron Services] :
**VIPIR (Volumetric Imaging and Processing of Integrated Radar)
**FasTrac
**StormWarn
**Neighborhood IRIS (Internet Radar Imaging Server)Traffic
*Shown every 10 minutes along with weather in the mornings 5am-7amTime Saver Traffic Team:
*Andi McKay

ports

13ABC Action News SportsRob Powers and the Powers Pack
*Rob Powers: Weekday Evenings
*Joe Nugent: Weekend Evenings
*Dave Holmes: Weekend morningsFootball Friday-During Regular Season
*Showcases Northwest Ohio High school Football GamesBasketball Friday-During Regular Seasons
*Showcases Northwest Ohio Girls & Boys Basketball

The 13th Frame

Every year, WTVG holds a 35-week long bowling series called "The 13th Frame", hosted by Rob Powers, aired on Thursdays during the 11PM newscast. Players are given two balls, and win $1 for each pin knocked down. If the player gets 2 strikes, the player can go for a Turkey to win a $250 jackpot. During times when there have been losing streaks, the jackpot has been known to become progressive.

Personalities

13abc Action News Good Morning

* Jeff Smith
* Sashem Brey
* Jay Berschback
* Andi McKay

13abc Action News at Noon

* Jeff Smith
* Susan Ross-Wells
* Jay Berschback

13abc Action News at 5 (PM)

* Lee Conklin
* Diane Larson
* Stan Stachak

13abc Action News at 5:30 (PM)

* Rob Powers
* Susan Ross-Wells
* Stan Stachak

13abc Action News at 6, 11 (PM)

* Lee Conklin
* Diane Larson
* Stan Stachak
* Rob Powers

13abc Action News Saturday, Sunday Morning and Sunday Midday

* Efrem Graham
* Melissa Andrews
* Kristin Emery
* Dave Holmes

13abc Action News Weekend Evenings

* Bill Hormann
* Kristian Brown
* Bill Spencer
* Joe Nugent

Reporters

* Greg Bilazarian
* Tony Geftos
* Lissa Guyton
* Jennifer Jarrell
* Christine Long
* Sanaa Orra
* Zack Ottenstein
* Rebecca Regnier (People, Places, and Things)
* Christina Williams

Weather Team

* Jay Berschback
* Kristin Emery
* Bill Spencer
* Stan Stachak
* Susan Ware

Sports

* Rob Powers
* Dave Holmes
* Joe Nugent

Past Personalities

* Elisa Amigo (WJW-TV)
* Jala Anderson
* Gordon Boyd (WVLT-TV)
* Jeff Blanzy (WLS-TV)
* Sarah Bloomquist (WPVI-TV)
* Ryan Burr (ESPN)
* Anthony Cabrera (KVOA-TV)
* Jim Carey
* Dave Chudowsky (WKYC-TV)
* Ronnie Dahl (WJBK)
* Hakem Dermish (WRC-TV)
* Tim Gerber (KSAT-TV)
* Katrina Hancock (WDIV-TV)
* Steve Rudin (WJLA-TV)
* Jim Hill
* Erica Hurtt (Owens Illinois)
* Greg Jones (auto parts salesman)
* Jason Knowles (producer at WLS-TV)
* Sam Louie
* Jason Martinez (KFSN-TV)
* Jim Madaus (WWJ-TV)
* Sarah Oehler
* Theresa Pollick (Ohio Department of Transportation)
* Christa Quinn (WPSG-TV)
* Rebecca Regnier (People, Places, and Things segment only)
* Jim Rudes (retired)
* Adora Udoji (Court TV)
* Frank Venner (retired)
* Kelli Wiese (KYTX-TV)
* Diane Wilson (WTVD-TV)
* Kareen Wynter (CNN)

Trivia

*Kristan Brown is on maternity leave after giving birth to twin girls Laila and Lauren on April 22nd. She filed a story self-defense, even for pregnant women.

* Kristin Emery was recently hired by WTVG. She started June 1. She takes the places of Meteorologist Susan Ware, who went on maternity leave in February. Ware said that she wanted to work on a fill in basis. Earlier this year, Leslie LoBue from WJRT-TV in Flint helped fill in for Ware, then Jim Madaus from WXYZ-TV came in April.

* Alexis Means won an Ohio Associated Press award for best spot news coverage for "Gunmen in the School," a breaking news story in which a gunman was allegedly seen walking into a Toledo Public School.

* On June 21, 2006, Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan was under a moderate risk for severe weather. A massive complex of thunderstorms moved into Michigan and took a turn to the southeast. A tornado warning was later issued for Lucas County. During this, Jeff Smith was with his wife, Lisa, who had gone into labor at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center. Later that night, she gave birth to a boy — Dugan Jeffrey Smith. Efrem Graham and Sashem Brey have been filling in for Smith in the mornings, while Rebecca Regnier fills in at Noon.

*On January 15, 2007, Stan Stachak returned to Action News. He had been off for several weeks to have knee replacement surgery.

*WTVG utilizes the Sony PDW510 XDCAM Camcorder

*All Toledo stations (WTVG, WTOL, WNWO, and WUPW) use the Jeep Liberty as an ENG vehicle, due to the fact that they are made locally by Chrysler. WTVG also uses another Jeep-brand vehicle, the Jeep Commander.

*Melissa Andrews is expecting her first child, a girl, with her husband in early 2009.

ee also

*Circle 7 logo - WTVG's Circle 13 logo is a derivative of the Circle 7 logo

References

* [http://www.michiguide.com/dials/tv/wtvg.html Michigan's Radio & TV Broadcast Guide: WTVG]
* [http://www.thetvdirectors.com/pictures/thumbnails.php?album=38 TheTVDirectors.com]

External links

* [http://www.13abc.com/ WTVG homepage]
* [http://www.michiguide.com/dials/tv/wtvg.html Michiguide.com's listing for WTVG]
*TVQ|WTVG
*BIA|WTVG|TV|TV