WOWT-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WOWT-TV
city =
station_
station_slogan = Live. Local. Breaking News.
station_branding =
analog = 6 (VHF)
digital = 22 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = NBC
independent (DT2)
network =
founded =
airdate = August 29, 1949
location = Omaha, Nebraska
callsign_meaning = Woodmen Of The World (original owner of WOW radio) + Television
former_callsigns = WOW-TV (1949-1975)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Gray Television, Inc.
licensee = Gray Television Licensee, Inc.
sister_stations =
former_affiliations = Primary:
NBC (1949-1956)
CBS (1956-1986)
Secondary:
ABC (1949-1953, 1954-1957)
DuMont (1949-1952)
DT2:
UPN (2005-2006)
effective_radiated_power = 100 kW (analog)
1000 kW (digital)
HAAT = 418 m (analog)
398 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 65528
coordinates = coord|41|18|39|N|96|1|37.5|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.wowt.com/ www.wowt.com]

WOWT-TV, channel 6, is the NBC affiliate in Omaha, Nebraska. With its strong signal, it also serves the state capital 52 miles (84 km) away in Lincoln.

History

Channel 6 signed on the air on August 29 1949 as WOW-TV, the first television station in Nebraska and one of the oldest in the Upper Midwest. It also claims to be the first television station in four other Midwestern states (Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa. Johnny Carson's first television job was at the station where he had a daily show called the "The Squirrel's Nest" where he told jokes.

The station was operated by Radio Station WOW, Inc. alongside WOW radio (AM 590, now KXSP, and 92.3 FM, now KEZO) [ [http://members.aol.com/jeff99500/1949tv.html Commercial Television Stations of the U. S., 1949 ] ] The owners operated under a United States Supreme Court ruling which had forced the Woodmen of the World, who had founded WOW-AM in 1923, to divest itself of the radio stations because they threatened the Woodmen's tax-exempt status.

The station was originally an NBC affiliate, but carried a secondary affiliation with ABC until 1953, when KOLN-TV signed on from Lincoln as an ABC affiliate. However, in 1954, Lincoln was broken off from the Omaha market, and WOW-TV resumed sharing ABC programming with KMTV until 1957, when KETV signed on as an ABC affiliate.

Meredith Corporation bought WOW-AM-FM-TV in 1958. The station claims it was bought by former Secretary of the Navy Francis Matthews in 1954, but this is false; Matthews died two years earlier.

In 1956, after the radio stations dropped their longtime affiliation with NBC in favor of CBS, WOW-TV switched affiliations with KMTV and became Omaha's CBS television affiliate. When Meredith sold channel 6 to Chronicle Publishing Company of San Francisco in 1975, it changed its call letters to WOWT under special FCC approval. Channel 6 later rejoined NBC under a special agreement with KMTV in 1986. In 1999, Chronicle sold its media holdings and WOWT was sold to Benedek Broadcasting via LIN TV in a three-way deal for WWLP in Springfield, Massachusetts; three years later, Benedek Broadcasting was bought out by current owner Gray Television.

WOWT was the first station to broadcast locally in color, starting in the mid-1950s; it was the first station to provide live reports during its daily newscasts; it was the first of the three local stations to broadcasts three live daily newscasts, at 5, 6, and 10pm; and in 1993, WOWT was the first of all local stations to offer a web site.

In 1991, WOWT changed the name of its news division from "Action News 6" to its current moniker of "Channel 6 News". In 1995 Channel 6 began live simulcasts and taped replays of its daily newscasts on Omaha Cox Cable channel 1. The venture is known as "NEWS on ONE". That same year WOWT's sports division launched a weekly 30 minute sports news program titled "Channel 6 Sunday Sports Extra". It is the only program of its kind in Omaha, and it has been hosted since its inception by Sports Producer Ross Jernstrom.

WOWT was the most watched station for local news from 1996 until November, 2006 when rival KETV, a Hearst-Argyle station, overtook WOWT to become the ratings leader. In recent years, the two stations have been neck-and-neck for the top spot, with KMTV, operated by Journal Broadcast Group, lagging far behind in a distant third place.

The station's studios are located near 35th and Farnam streets, near downtown Omaha. Its transmitter tower is located on a "tower farm" near North 72nd and Crown Point.

Former employees of WOWT include "The Tonight Show" host Johnny Carson, who worked at WOW-TV in the early 1950s, and former ABC "Good Morning America" reporter Steve Bell, who worked for Channel 6 in the early and mid-1960s. He was the only local reporter to go to Dallas in November 1963 to cover the aftermath of the John F. Kennedy assassination. Bell left channel 6 in 1967 to join ABC News, where he stayed until 1986.

6₂O

on a digital subchannel of its own.

Programming

Programming on WOWT includes "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", "The Insider", "The Ellen DeGeneres Show", "Jeopardy!", and "Extra".

Newscasts

Daybreak (Weekdays)-5am to 7am & Midday @ 11:30am
* [http://www.wowt.com/station/bios/news/1644841.html Jim Siedlecki] -News
* [http://www.wowt.com/station/bios/news/1325256.html Malorie Maddox] -News
* [http://www.wowt.com/station/bios/weather/20088214.html Rusty Lord] -Weather

Channel 6 News Live at Four (Weekdays)
* [http://www.wowt.com/station/bios/news/34746.html Brian Mastre] -News

Channel 6 News at 5pm, 6pm, & 10pm (Weekdays)
* [http://www.wowt.com/station/bios/news/17216.html John Knicely] -News
* [http://www.wowt.com/station/bios/news/37761.html Tracy Madden] -News
* [http://www.wowt.com/station/bios/weather/17301.html Jim Flowers] -Weather
* [http://www.wowt.com/station/bios/sports/17286.html Dave Webber] -Sports

Weekend Daybreak (8am-9am)
* Bryan Latham -News
* [http://www.wowt.com/station/bios/news/2791611.html Rachel Pierce] -News
* [http://www.wowt.com/station/bios/weather/22814669.html Caitlin Roth] -Weather

Channel 6 News at 5pm & 10pm (Weekends)
* [http://www.wowt.com/station/bios/news/2534661.html Jaime McCutcheon] -News
* [http://www.wowt.com/station/bios/sports/37906.html John Chapman] -Sports
* [http://www.wowt.com/station/bios/weather/8252942.html Andrea Rich] -Weather

Notable Past Personalities

Johnny Carson (1950s; meteorologist/television host; became legendary longtime host of "The Tonight Show" on NBC)
Steve Bell (1960s; anchor/reporter; later became a reporter/correspondent for ABC News until his retirement in 1986)
Pat Persaud (1986-2005; lead anchor)
Gary Kerr (1960s-1999; anchor/reporter; lead anchor from 1971-1991, 5 p.m. co-anchor from 1992 until 1998)
Byron Wood (1970s-early 1990s; anchor/reporter; later an anchor with KPTM in the late 1990s)
John McCaa (1977-1983; anchor/reporter; now weekday co-anchor for WFAA in Dallas)
Dale Munson (1960s-1991; chief meteorologist/voice overs)
Brian Durst (1990s; chief meteorologist 1991-1992, later a meteorologist for The Weather Channel in the 1990s-early 2000s)
Paul Bouchereau (1988-1989, Meteorologist,later with KETV, now with Feed The Children in Oklahoma City)
Bryce Anderson (1980s-1990s; midday agricultural news/weather)
Colleen Williams (1978-1981; weekend anchor, now weekday co-anchor for KNBC in Los Angeles)
Scott Akin (Meteorologist 2000-2007) Now Freelance Meteorologist for WRTV in Indianapolis and WDRB in Louisville
Patrick Powell (Meteorologist 1996-2004) Now Chief Meteorologist for WLUK in Green Bay, WI
Courtny Gerrish (Morning Achor from 1996-2005) Now Afternoon Anchor for WTMJ in Milwaukee

External links

* [http://www.wowt.com/ WOWT Official site]
* [http://www.wowt.com/mntv 6₂O website]
*TVQ|WOWT
*TVQ|K58AE
*BIA|WOWT|TV|TV

References