WIVT

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WIVT
city =
station_
station_slogan =
station_branding = NewsChannel 34
analog = 34 (UHF)
digital = 4 (VHF)
34 (UHF) (Post 2009)

other_chs =
affiliations = ABC
NBC (future DT2)
network =
founded =
airdate = November of 1962
location = Binghamton, New York
callsign_meaning = based on WIXT
former_callsigns = WBJA-TV (1962-1978)
WMGC-TV (1978-1998)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Newport Television
licensee = Newport Television License, LLC
sister_stations = WBGH-CA
former_affiliations =
effective_radiated_power = 2,820 kW (analog)
1.5 kW (digital)(temporary)
345 kW (digital) (Post 2009)
HAAT = 283 m (analog)
263 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 11260
coordinates = coord|42|3|39.5|N|75|56|34.6|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.newschannel34.com/ newschannel34.com]

WIVT, channel 34, is the ABC-affiliated television station for Binghamton, New York. Its transmitter is located near Summit Hill. Owned by Newport Television, the station is sister to low-powered NBC affiliate WBGH-CA. The two stations share studios on Ingraham Hill Road near Summit Hill. Syndicated programming on WIVT includes: "Wheel of Fortune", "Jeopardy!", "Access Hollywood", and "Judge Judy".

History

Al Anscombe, former General Manager of WKBW-AM-TV in Buffalo, secured a construction permit for Binghamton's third television station in 1956. He named it WBJA-TV after his wife, Beth J. Anscombe. However, not long after Anscombe won the permit, two competing ABC affiliates in northeastern Pennsylvania--WILK-TV, channel 34 in Wilkes-Barre and WARM-TV, channel 16 in Scranton-- merged to form WNEP-TV. The newly merged station retained WILK-TV's license but used WARM-TV's old channel 16. Seeing a chance to use more signal at less cost, Anscombe sought and won a new construction permit for channel 34. The new station signed on in November of 1962 from studios near its transmitter on Ingraham Hill south of Binghamton. It has always been an ABC affiliate. Coincidentally, the northeast Pennsylvania-area station now known as WOLF-TV signed on in 1982 using channel 56.

WBJA was sold in the late-1970s and the call letters were changed to WMGC-TV with the station adopting the slogan "Magic 34". It dropped the "Magic 34" branding by the mid to late-1980s but kept the call letters until the Ackerley Group bought the station in 1997. At that time, the station adopted its current calls, WIVT. This was where a connection to WIXT (now WSYR-TV) came in as the new calls were based on the group's station in Syracuse, New York.

However, a few months later, Ackerley nearly lost its investment. On May 31, 1998, a tornado ripped through the station's Ingraham Hill studio and blew down its tower. Cross-town rival CBS affiliate WBNG-TV had live reports that night literally from the WIVT studio. WIVT had a feed restored to cable providers within days but was off the air for several months.

Ackerley merged with Clear Channel in 2001. On April 20, 2007, Clear Channel entered into an agreement to sell its entire television stations group to Newport Television, a broadcasting group established by Providence Equity Partners.

Newscasts

Immediately after taking control, the Ackerley Group significantly upgraded WIVT's news operation sharing resources with WIXT's well-respected news department. For almost 40 years, channel 34 was more or less a non-factor in the news race in Binghamton. It spent most of its history as the third station in what was essentially a two-station market and reaped virtually no benefit when longtime NBC affiliate WICZ switched to Fox in 1996. WIVT's weeknight newscasts at 5:30 and 6, as well as a short 11 o'clock update, are simulcasted on WBGH.

*Colleen Mccoy - weekday morning anchor and producer
*Steve Craig - weeknight 5:30 and 6 o'clock anchor
*Sofia Ojeda - weeknight 5:30 and 6 o'clock anchor
**reporter
*Peter Quinn - weeknight 11 o'clock anchor and reporter
*Samantha Hensell - weeknight meteorologist
**"Classroom of the Day" segment producer
*Ryan Coyle - weekday morning meteorologist
*Jan Carabeo - reporter and fill-in anchor

External links

* [http://www.newschannel34.com/ WIVT "NewsChannel 34"]
* [http://www.abc.com ABC]
*TVQ|WIVT