WDTV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WDTV
city =
station_
station_slogan =
station_branding = 5 News
analog = 5 (VHF)
digital = 6 (VHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = CBS
The AccuWeather Channel (DT2)
network =
founded =
airdate = 1960
location = Weston/Clarksburg, West Virginia
callsign_meaning = reference to the previous calls of KDKA-TV
former_callsigns = WJPB-TV (1960-c.1964)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Withers Broadcasting Company
licensee =
sister_stations = WVFX
former_affiliations = Secondary:
ABC
effective_radiated_power = 100 kW (analog)
10 kW (digital)
HAAT = 268 m (analog)
248 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 70592
coordinates = coord|39|4|29|N|80|25|27.2|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.wdtv.com/ www.wdtv.com]

WDTV is a television station located in Bridgeport and Weston, West Virginia, United States and is owned by Withers Broadcasting. It is the CBS affiliate for the television Designated Market Area (DMA) of "Weston-Clarksburg, West Virginia". Also included in this DMA is Fairmont, West Virginia. Fairmont is technically the DMA's largest city, because Morgantown, though only 20 miles north of Fairmont and having the largest population of any city in the North-Central West Virginia geographic area, is part of the Pittsburgh DMA. Despite this technicality, the station is still able to sell commercials to Morgantown businesses. WDTV's studios are located in Bridgeport, West Virginia.

The station signed on the air as WJPB-TV on March 17, 1954. It was the first television station in the market and operated on UHF channel 35, licensed to Fairmont. As the only station in the market, it was able to carry programming from all four networks. The UHF signal was not nearly strong enough to reach the entire market, which is a very rugged dissected plateau. This, combined with the fact that UHF converters were very expensive, led the station to shut down on February 28, 1955.

On December 30, 1959, WJPB-TV was awarded a construction permit for VHF channel 5 in Weston, and signed on in June 1960. Around 1964 the station changed its call letters to WDTV. The WDTV callsign had previously been used by what is now KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh from 1949 to 1954 and was reportedly chosen "in honor" of that station, which had been a part of the DuMont Television Network.

Today the station is a primary CBS affiliate, just like KDKA-TV, which has since become a CBS O&O. The market is one of the few left in the country that doesn't have three stations because the intended third station, Parkersburg's WTAP-TV, did not have a signal strong enough to reach Clarksburg and Weston. [As mentioned below, there is a indeed a third station in the market, WVFX, a Fox affiliate which is also operated by Withers Broadcasting. There is also now an ATSC only ABC affiliate (WBOYDT2).]

It operates its digital signal on channel 6. One digital channel presents a simulcast of WDTV, while the other broadcasts "Accu-Weather" Forecasts. This channel used to broadcast UPN programming until September of 2006. To note, the new CW Network is seen and broadcast on a digital channel of cross-town FOX station WVFX.

Since the summer of 2005, WDTV's news department and commercial production went completely digital using ENG cameras with firewire harddisk technology. Using nine Apple Mac G5s, the video is edited directly from the removable HDD units and saved to a central Apple Mac XServe which is used to play the video during live news programs.

WDTV was also the first station in West Virginia (and quite possibly the east coast) to exchange audio and video files using high speed FTP servers, via MPEG2, MP3 and Quicktime compression formats.

Digital television

Analog-to-digital conversion

After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009 http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf] , WDTV will move its digital broadcasts back to its present analog channel number, 5. [http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101235345&formid=387&fac_num=70592 CDBS Print ] ] http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=616897] With WBOY-TV moving it's present digital signal back to channel 12, the Clarksburg/Fairmont/Morgantown market will be one of the few that none of its stations will need PSIP to air on a virtual channel.

Personalities

Anchors

*Scott Snider (First at 5 and 6 P.M.)
*Amanda Pavlik (5:30, 6, and 11 P.M.)
*Jeff Bowers (11 P.M.)
*Nate Smail (Daybreak and West Virginia Midday)
*Darrah Wilcox (Daybreak and West Virginia Midday)

Reporters

*Julia Pizzonia
*Steve Butera
*Katelyn Sykes
*Brad Bowden
*Danielle Krout
*Leslie Rubin
*Karilynn Galiotos

Weather

*Nathan Rohrbough - chief meteorologist
*Whitney Kent - morning weather anchor
*Alex Snyder - weekend meteorologist

ports

*Joe Brocato - sports director
*Sam Lordi - sports anchor/reporter

Former Personalities

Past Anchors

*Karen Hawkins
*Ken Selvaggi - Now at Raycom
*Anne Linaberger - Now at KDKA-TV
*Flora Posteraro - Now at WHTM
*Tim Irr - Now at WSAZ
*Bill Murray - Now at WSAZ
*Mary Ravasio - Now at MSN
*Mary Berecky- Now at KDKA-TV
*Tracy Carloss-Now at WEWS
*Craig Friedman -Now at WBNS
*Whitney Daniel -
*Alison Latos - Now at WTOV
*Christi Paul - Now at CNN Headline News
*Jodine Costanzo - Now at WPXI
*Kate Weidaw - Now at KXAN
*Susan Barnett - Now at KYW-TV
*Eva Mastromatteo - Now at WYOU
*Molly Line - Now at Fox News Channel
*Jeffery Schrock - Now at WBOY-TV
*Amy Lutz - Now at WCSC-TV
*Andrea Mock - Now at WLTX
*Jessica Ralston - Now at WSAZ
*Jake Glance - Now at WCHS-TV
*Janice Carpio - Now at WOAI-TV
*Sunshine Wiles (now Selena) - Now at WJHL-TV
*Nicole Ducouer - Now at WXII
*Ron Corning- Now at WNYW
*Jennifer Serda - Now at WRBL
*Ashley Swann (Wharton) - Now at WWBT
*Tom Schaad- Now at WAVY-TV
*Jeff Halliday- Now Assistant Professor at Longwood University col-end

Past Weather Anchors

*John Carlin - Now at WSLS
*Mark Loudin -Now at Ohio University
*Tony Mainolfi - Now at WESH
*Jason Cooper - Now at NCDC
*Brandon Butcher - Now at WSHM
*Jason Parrish - Now at WBOY
*James Canterbury - Now at WTOL
*Bob Metcalfe - Now at WROC-TV

Past Sports Anchors

*Dave Stingo - Now at WBOY
*Dan Potash - Now at Fox Sports Pittsburgh
*Sean Pragano - Now at Speed Channel
*Jason Knapp - Now at CSTV
*Brian Sinkoff- Now at WTEN
*Jeff Radcliffe- Now at KPTM
*Dave Weekley - Now at The Charleston Gazette
*Kurt Dusterberg - author of the non-fiction sports book "Journeymen: 24 Bittersweet Tales of Short Major League Sports Careers"
*Jeff Halliday - Now at Longwood University (Richmond, VA)

Past Reporters

*John Dahlia - Now at Global Science Technologies Fact|date=May 2007
*Maria Durant-Now at WSYX
*Matt Franzblau - Now at WCIA

*Monica Robbins - Now at WKYC
*Bo Koltnow- Now at WFMZ
*Ben Russell - Now at WHP-TVcol-end
*Beau Minnick - Now at WRAL-TV
*Cathy Byers - Now at The Lewis School & Clinic

News/Station Presentation

Newscast Titles

*"TV-5 News" (1965-1974)
*"Newsroom 5" (1974-1981)
*"NewsCentral 5" (1981-1985)
*"News 5 Alive" (1985-1994)
*"News 5" (1994-1998)
*"NewsChannel 5" (1998-2007)
*"5-News" (2008-present)

References

External links

* [http://www.wdtv.com/ Station Website of WDTV]
*TVQ|WDTV
*BIA|WDTV|TV|TV

ee also

DuMont Television Network