WTVH

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WTVH
city =
station_
station_slogan = News that matters most.
station_branding = CBS 5
analog = 5 (VHF)
digital = 47 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = CBS
network =
founded =
airdate = December 1, 1948
location = Syracuse / Utica / Ithaca, New York
callsign_meaning = TeleVision
H (from its time as WHEN-TV)
former_callsigns = WHEN-TV (1948-1976)
former_channel_numbers = 8 (1948-1961)
owner = Granite Broadcasting Corporation
licensee = WTVH License, Inc.
sister_stations =
former_affiliations = All secondary:
NBC (1948-1950)
ABC (1948-1962)
DuMont (1948-1955) [http://www.ellwanger.tv/collect/tvg/eds/old/lo.html]
effective_radiated_power = 83.2 kW (analog)
500 kW (digital)
HAAT = 290 m (analog)
290.1 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 74151
coordinates = coord|42|57|19.3|N|76|6|33.3|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.wtvh.com/ www.wtvh.com]

WTVH is the CBS network affiliate in Syracuse, New York. It also serves the Utica/Rome area. Its transmitter is located in La Fayette, New York.

This station broadcasts on VHF channel 5 and in high definition on UHF channel 47 as authorized by the Federal Communications Commission, and is owned and operated by Granite Broadcasting Corporation.

History

WTVH debuted on December 1, 1948 as WHEN-TV on channel 8. It went on the air as Syracuse's first television station and the first station ever owned and operated by Meredith Corporation. Meredith had entered broadcasting only two years before after buying WAGE (620 AM) and changing the calls to WHEN. It has always been a CBS affiliate, though at first it also carried secondary affiliations with ABC and DuMont. When WSYR-TV (now WSTM-TV) signed on two months later, WHEN only had ABC as a secondary until WNYS-TV (later WIXT and now WSYR-TV) signed on in 1962. WHEN's affiliation with DuMont ended in 1956, when that network ceased operations. In July 1961, WHEN moved to channel 5, swapping channel locations with WROC-TV in Rochester.

In 1976, Meredith sold the WHEN stations to Park Communications, but kept WHEN-TV. It had to change the TV station's calls. It originally wanted the new call letters WTVF (for "TV F"ive, the station's on-air identity), but those went to the former WLAC-TV in Nashville, Tennessee At this point, Meredith chose WTVH as the new calls, the H being a link to its WHEN heritage.

In June 1993, Meredith announced the sale of WTVH and sister station KSEE-TV in Fresno, California to Granite Broadcasting with the sale closing on December 23 of that year. With that deal, WTVH became Granite's oldest television station, based on the date and time the station began its broadcasting operation. Granite would soon increase its northeast holdings with their purchase of WKBW-TV in Buffalo in 1995 purchased WBNG-TV in Binghamton in July 2006.

As part of the WBNG purchase, Les Vann (formerly President & General Manager) was promoted to Executive Vice President of Central & Southern NY Operations with regional responsibilities over both WBNG and WTVH. At the same time Matthew Rosenfeld was promoted to Vice President/Station Manager after holding the General Sales Manager position since 2004.

WTVH was featured in the film "Bruce Almighty" in 2003. WTVH is portrayed as the rival station of WKBW-TV in Buffalo, mainly because the common ownership of both stations made gaining rights to use both stations easier. It is also said that WKBW's real-life rival, WIVB-TV, refused to allow their branding to be used in the film, resulting in WTVH being substituted.

In April 2008, Matthew A. Rosenfeld was appointed to the position of President & General Manager of WTVH, and its Binghamton sister stations, WBNG-CBS12 and WBXI-CW11.

On December 22, 2006, Nancy Duffy, a General Assignment Reporter for WSYR-TV died. The reporter had been away from work since August. Throughout her career, Nancy led the way for women in journalism. She became the first woman police reporter in Central New York after joining the Syracuse Herald-Journal in 1966. She was Syracuse’s first TV female reporter when she moved to WHEN-TV (now WTVH-TV) in 1967. She became the first woman to join the Syracuse Press Club, and later served as its president. In 1970, Nancy served as press secretary at Syracuse City Hall. She returned to Channel 5 after a year, and moved to NewsChannel 9 as a reporter and morning anchor in 1977.

On April 6, 2008, Jean Daugherty died at age 84. Daugherty was known to many Baby Boomer children as The Play Lady on the station's locally produced children's program, "The Magic Toy Shop", from 1955 to 1982. She wrote more than 6,000 episodes of the program, which, when it ended its run, was the longest running local children's show in the country.

Utica Market

Since its inception, WHEN-TV/WTVH has also served as the CBS affiliate for the majority of the Utica television market (namely Herkimer and that market's portion of Oneida counties; Otsego County has WBNG as its default). In past years, WTVH was extremely protective of this status having barred WUTR from affiliating with CBS on at least one occasion. Under Granite's ownership, this status has not necessarily been taken advantage of in terms of advertising and targeting the station towards the Utica market as well.

Newscasts

Weekday

*CBS 5 News This Morning (5-7 AM)
*CBS 5 News at Noon (12:00-12:30 PM)
*CBS 5 News at 5:00 (5:00-5:30 PM)
*CBS 5 News at 5:30 (5:30-6:00 PM)
*CBS 5 News at 6:00 (6:00-6:30 PM)
*CBS 5 News at 11:00 (11:00-11:35 PM)

Morning Format

*CBS 5 News This Morning delivers five minutes of news, weather, and sports at the top and bottom of both hours of the show (5:00, 5:30, 6:00, 6:30 AM) called Five on 5.
*CBS 5 News This Morning doesn't use the traditional anchor desk. It is filmed using virtual studio.

Weekend

*CBS 5 News at 6:00 (6:00-6:30 PM)
*CBS 5 News at 11:00 (11:00-11:35 PM)

Logos

NFL controversy

In 1997, CBS gained the rights to the American Football Conference of the NFL. The league determined that portions of Yates County, New York, a fairly narrow county only a few miles wide at certain points, was both within 75 miles of Ralph Wilson Stadium, home of the Buffalo Bills, and in the Syracuse television market (it has bounced between the Syracuse and Rochester markets a couple of times). Therefore, WTVH is forced to black out Bills games if they do not sell out. With WTVH's control over the Utica market, unless the Bills are hosting an NFC team or the game is a Sunday or Monday night game, the game would be blacked out there as well.

This was not the case when NBC held the rights to AFC games; WSTM was allowed to broadcast Bills games even when they didn't sell out. However, the NFL and Bills apparently had not checked the regional television market boundaries for a number of years before the switch from NBC to CBS.

Games at the Rogers Centre would not be subject to blackout in Syracuse, as no part of the market is within 75 miles of Toronto, Ontario.

The CBS 5 Team

Anchors
* [http://www.wtvh.com/about/personalities/newsbios/8732582.html Donna Adamo] (5, 6, and 11 PM anchor)
* [http://www.wtvh.com/about/personalities/newsbios/8732737.html Michael Benny] (5:30 PM anchor)
* [http://www.wtvh.com/about/personalities/newsbios/8732622.html Keith Kobland] ("This Morning" 5-7 AM and Noon anchor)
* [http://www.wtvh.com/about/personalities/newsbios/8732452.html Chuck Plumpton] (Weekend 6 and 11 PM anchor and Weekday Reporter)Reporters
* [http://www.wtvh.com/about/personalities/newsbios/13774062.html Jon Dougherty] (General Assignment Reporter)
* [http://www.wtvh.com/about/personalities/newsbios/19081554.html Haley Hinds] (General Assignment Reporter)
* [http://www.wtvh.com/about/personalities/newsbios/25510799.html Angelique Piccolo] (General Assignment Reporter)
* [http://www.wtvh.com/about/personalities/newsbios/18881469.html Joe Roetz] (General Assignment Reporter)
* [http://www.wtvh.com/about/personalities/newsbios/28095179.html Catherine Hawley] (General Assignment Reporter)
* [http://www.wtvh.com/about/personalities/newsbios/30041769.html Megan Eaton] (General Assignment Reporter)

Weather
* [http://www.wtvh.com/about/personalities/weatherbios/8733667.html John DiPasquale] (Meteorologist; "This Morning" 5-7 AM and Noon)
* [http://www.wtvh.com/about/personalities/weatherbios/18881599.html John Gerard] (Weather Anchor; Weekend 6 and 11 and Weekday Reporter)
* [http://www.wtvh.com/about/personalities/weatherbios/8733692.html Tom Hauf] (Chief Meteorologist; 5, 5:30, 6, 11 PM)Sports
* [http://www.wtvh.com/about/personalities/sportsbios/8733227.html Rishi Barran] (Sports Reporter; Weekend 6 and 11 PM)
* [http://www.wtvh.com/about/personalities/sportsbios/8733202.html Kevin Maher] (Sports Director; 5, 5:30, 6, 11 PM)

Former Personalities

*Liz Ayers, now of WCNY-TV (1986-2006)
*Joe Bartosik, now of WeatherBug (2001-2005)
*Mark Cooper (?-?)
*Ron Curtis, deceased 2001 (1959-1999)
*Susan Davies, now of KOAA-TV
*Tracy Davidson, now of WCAU-TV (?-1996)
*Kristin Donnelly, now of WGRZ-TV (2004-2007)
*Thomas Esterguard, currently unemployed although he continues fill-in work as a meteorologist (2006-2008)
*John Eves, now owner of WXHC radio (?-?)
*John Fisher (?-?)
*Steve Flamisch, now of WRGB-TV (2006-2008)
*Maureen Green (1983-2007)
*Jamie Guirola, now of WKMG-TV (2002-2004)
*Bob Kirk works for Entercom radio stations in Rochester, NY doing morning newsbreaks
*Frank Kracher, left station due to TBI (2005-2007)
*Lyra Manning, now of WBTW-TV (?-?)
*Matt Mulcahy, now of WSTM-TV/WSTQ-LP (1997-2005)
*Janelle Reichert, now of KREM-TV (2005-2007)
*Larry Sparano, now of WICZ-TV (?-?)

Notable Alumni

*Al Roker, weather and feature reporter for NBC's "The Today Show", was weekend weatherman at the station from 1974-1976, while attending the State University of New York at Oswego.
*Mike Tirico, ESPN and ABC Sports play-by-play announcer; ESPN "Monday Night Football" play-by-play announcer starting in 2006. Was the sports director at WTVH in the late 1980s.
*David Muir, now of ABC News, anchored at the station in the mid-late 1990s.
*Steve Cyphers, reporter with ESPN, was Sports Director in the late 1980s.

External links

* [http://www.wtvh.com/ WTVH-TV CBS 5 Syracuse, NY]
*TVQ|WTVH
*BIA|WTVH|TV|TV