WCPO-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WCPO| city =
station_
station_slogan = On Your Side
Always On
station_branding = Channel 9 (general)
9 News (newscasts)
analog = 9 (VHF)
digital = 10 (VHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = ABC
network =
founded =
airdate = July 26, 1949
location = Cincinnati, Ohio
callsign_meaning = Cincinnati POst
former_callsigns =
former_channel_numbers = 7 (1949–1952)
owner = The E.W. Scripps Company
licensee = Scripps Howard Broadcasting Company
sister_stations =
former_affiliations = Primary:
ABC (1949-1961)
CBS (1961-1996)
Secondary:
DuMont (1949-1955)
effective_radiated_power = 316 kW (analog)
16.3 kW (digital)
HAAT = 305 m (analog)
272 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 59438
coordinates = coord|39|7|30.6|N|84|29|56.2|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.wcpo.com/ www.wcpo.com]

WCPO-TV, channel 9, is a broadcast television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, affiliated with the ABC network. It broadcasts on analog channel 9 and digital channel 10. WCPO's studio is located in the Mount Adams neighborhood of Cincinnati, just outside of Eden Park. Its transmitter is located along Symmes Street, just south of East McMillan Street, in Cincinnati. The station is currently the flagship station of The E. W. Scripps Company, which had previously owned the now-defunct "Cincinnati Post" (which ceased publication at the end of 2007).

History

The station first signed on the air on July 26, 1949 as Cincinnati's third television station. It was dual ABC and DuMont affiliate. The call letters came from the Post, who also owned WCPO-AM. Originally on channel 7, it moved to channel 9 in 1952. With DuMont's demise in 1956, WCPO was left with just ABC until it swapped affiliations with WKRC-TV in 1961, becoming a CBS affiliate.

In 1994, Scripps and ABC announced a long-term affiliation deal, which called for four Scripps-owned stations switching to ABC. WCPO was included in the deal, which ABC agreed to as a condition of keeping its affiliation on Scripps' two biggest stations, WXYZ-TV in Detroit and WEWS in Cleveland. Both of those stations had been heavily wooed by CBS, which was about to lose its longtime Detroit and Cleveland affiliates to Fox. However, while three other Scripps-owned stations included in the same deal switched to ABC in December 1994 and January of 1995, Scripps had to maintain CBS affiliation on WCPO for an additional one and a half years because WKRC's affiliation contract with ABC did not run out until June of 1996. That month, the two stations finally reversed the 1961 affiliation swap, with WCPO rejoining ABC and WKRC reuniting with CBS.

In recent years, WCPO and WKRC have been battling each other for first place in the local television viewership ratings, while NBC affiliate WLWT has been lagging behind in third or fourth place.

All Scripps-Howard ABC affiliates, including WCPO, preempted "Saving Private Ryan" in 2004.

WCPO produced "The Uncle Al Show", a children's show that ran from the early 1950s to the mid-1980s. Beginning in the early 60s, WCPO was the undisputed leader in local newscasts, led by anchor and news director Al Schottelkotte, and remained Cincinnati's news leader for over 20 years.

Hostage situation

On the early morning of October 15, 1980, WCPO and most of its news staff became part of a major news story when a terrorist seized control of WCPO's newsroom.cite news|url=http://old.wcpo.com/news/2005/local/10/14/hostage.html|title=October 15, 1980: Gunman Takes Control Of WCPO-TV|author=Tom McKee|first=Tom|last=McKee|work=WCPO.com|publisher=Scripps Howard Broadcasting Company|date=2005-10-14|accessdate=2007-09-29]

James Hoskins, a radical, held reporter Elaine Green and her cameraman at gunpoint in the parking lot of WCPO's studios. Then after barging his way into the newsroom, took seven more hostages. An admitted terrorist, Hoskins stated in a videotaped interview with Green that he had, among other things, murdered his girlfriend before arriving at the studios. After voicing his displeasure with local government, Hoskins ended by saying that he would let his hostages go, but only after they helped him to barricade himself in their newsroom in anticipation of a bloody shootout with police. Green and the others pleaded with Hoskins to get help, but to no avail.

WCPO's news staff ran special newscasts from the parking lot most of that morning. True to his word, Hoskins eventually let all the hostages go, and the standoff ended later that morning when Hoskins shot himself dead while on the phone with SWAT negotiators.

Green was awarded a Peabody Award for her handling of this situation. She later married anchor and then-news director Al Schottelkotte. The two remained married until his death in 1996.

Digital television

The digital signal of WCPO is multiplexed:

WCPO-DT

"WCPO-DT broadcasts on digital channel 10."

Analog-to-digital conversion

After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009 http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf] , WCPO-TV will remain on its current pre-transition channel number, 10 [http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101237513&formid=387&fac_num=59438 CDBS Print ] ] using PSIP to display WCPO-TV's virtual channel as 9.

Weather

WCPO's forecasters are chief meteorologist, Steve Raleigh and meteorologists Larry Handley, Steve Norris and Cyndee O'Quinn. Cincinnati has always been a battleground for weather coverage, especially since the Montgomery / Blue Ash tornado of 1999. WCPO bills their radar as Ultimate Doppler 9, VIPIR 9, and TrueView. Their main radar in Batavia is one of the fastest radars in the nation, with an update usually every ten seconds.

On July 1, 2003, WCPO began to operate a second Doppler weather radar out of the Clermont County Airport in Batavia. In combination with the radar located at WCPO's transmission tower site, both radars were named Ultimate Doppler Radar. The new radar operates at a height of 100 ft. with its base 834 ft. above sea level. Currently, only the Batavia radar is used, even when attenuation at the site leaves a radius around the radar blank. The old radar at the transmission site is no longer used.

In July 2007, WCPO showed its new capability of placing actual satellite images (such as those from Google Earth) on the ground rather than just the green topo map. This helps the meteorologists at the station by showing them exactly where it's raining in relation to streets, buildings, ballfields, etc.

The TrueView system allows for local and nationwide radar sweeps. During local sweeps, National Weather Service NEXRAD radars in Wilmington, Ohio, Indianapolis, Indiana, and Louisville, Kentucky are used. The VIPIR 9 technology also utilizes the NEXRAD radars and Ultimate Doppler 9 to create its 3D images.

HD Newscast

WCPO launched its high-definition newscast on Sunday, August 19, 2007 at 6:00 PM ET. Improvements around the station include upgraded weather graphics that match WHIO-TV's upgrade (see above), new panel displays on set (to replace rear-projection CRT monitors on set and old plasma displays with obvious burn-in) and Scripps purchasing JVC HDPro equipment for WCPO.cite press release|url=http://pro.jvc.com/pro/pr/2007/releases/scripps.html|title=Scripps Speeds Conversion to HD News with Adoption of JVC ProHD|publisher=JVC|date=2007-06-04|accessdate=2007-09-29] Currently the studio cameras are HD, while live field reports are SD widescreen. WCPO broadcasts local news in 720p HDTV, which is the same HD format as ABC programming.

Newscasts

Weekdays

*Good Morning Tri-State 4:55-7 AMBernard Watson, Kathrine Nero, Larry Handley (weather), Denise Johnson (traffic), Lance Barry (Breaking News Center anchor)
*9 News @ Noon: 12-1 PMTanya O'Rourke, Larry Handley (weather)
*9 News @ 5: 5-5:30 PMClyde Gray, Carol Williams, Steve Raleigh (weather)
*9 News @ 5:30: 5:30-6 PMBrendan Keefe, Tanya O'Rourke, Steve Raleigh (weather), Dennis Janson (sports)
*9 News @ 6: 6-6:30 PMClyde Gray, Carol Williams, Steve Raleigh (weather), Dennis Janson (sports)
*9 News @ 11: 11-11:35 PMClyde Gray, Carol Williams, Steve Raleigh (weather), Dennis Janson (sports)

Weekends

*Good Morning Tri-State 8-9 AMJenell Walton, Cyndee O'Quinn (weather)
*9 News @ Noon: 12-12:30 PMJenell Walton, Cyndee O'Quinn (weather)
*9 News @ 6: 6-6:30 PMJulie O'Neill, Steve Norris (weather), John Popovich (sports)
*9 News @ 11: 11-11:35 PMJulie O'Neill, Steve Norris (weather), John Popovich (sports)
*Sports of All Sorts: 11:35 PM-12:30 AMJohn PopovichCincinnati's longest running sports show

2007 Controversy

On March 7, 2007 at 5:45 AM, AM anchor David Rose was pulled off the air for slurring his words. He was let go 3 weeks later. [ [http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/tv/2007/03/whats-up-with-david-rose_19.asp Television: What's Up With David Rose? ] ]

WCPO News Staff

*Clyde Gray
*Carol Williams
*Steve Raleigh
*Dennis Jansen
*Kathrine Nero
*Larry Handley
*Julie O'Neill
*Denise Johnson
*Jenell Walton
*Tanya O'Rourke
*Steve Norris
*Cyndee O'Quinn
*Robert Hocks
*Mike Mattingly
*John Popovich
*Lance Barry
*Richard Chiles
*Lynn Giroud
*Shannon Kettler
*Hagit Limor
*John Matarese
*Tom McKee
*Bill Price
*Deb Silverman
*Jay Warren
*Mona Morrow
*Laura Hornsby
*Ian Preuth
*Richard Jones
*Lisa Feldhaus
*Peter Kasprzycki
*Lechelle Burke
*Neil Relyea
*Greg Ruschman, Jr.
*Michael Benken
*Richard Blake
*Glenn Brockman
*Wayne Chaney
*Roger Fletcher
*John Heheman
*Greg Hill
*Steve Hinton
*Rob Hoffman
*Greg Ireland
*Leon Jones
*Howard Martin III
*Joe Martinelli
*Mike Morris
*Vivian Paul
*Thomas Powers
*Greg Reams
*Kristi Schalk
*Dave Schwarberg
*Mike Strotman
*Kim Sullivan
*Dan Tackett
*Tom Talley
*Brian Van Dolah
*Steve Wilson
*Marilyn Huffman
*Matt Luken
*Casi Mueller
*Phyllis Parker
*Kim Speagle
*Michael Benedic
*Eric Clajus
*Phil Drechsler
*Sean Dunster
*Ron Fischer
*Kelli Fulk (Editor)
*Jason Garrison
*Jeremy Glover
*Terry Helmer (Chief Photographer)
*Gary Hughes
*Tom Jordan (Editor)
*Phillip Lee
*Dave Marlo
*Anthony Mirones
*Greg Singleton
*Mark Slaughter
*Dwayne Slavey
*Tyson Thorp
*Scott Wegener
*Bill Fee- President & General Manager
*Jana Soete
*Robyn Tyndall
*Kevin Delaney
*Stephanie Edmunds
*Jeannine Gallenstein
*Sheri Hammel
*Doug Lillibridge
*Suzanne Murray
*Carole Rawlins
*Mark Sickmiller
*Tasha Thomas
*Mary Tignor
*Jennifer Moore
*Jacqueline Howard

Notable alumni

*Robert D. (Bob) Gordon - Vice President & General Manager
*Pete Delkus – chief meteorologist from 1996 to 2005, now chief meteorologist at WFAA-TV in Dallas
*Deb Haas – married to WEBN's Eddie Fingers
*Al Schottelkotte – anchor and news director (deceased)
*Al "Uncle Al" Lewis - First art director for WCPO, and host of The Uncle Al Show for 35 years.
*Walt Maher - News Anchor/Sportscaster
*Jack Moran - Sports Director & former Cincinnati Reds announcer (deceased)
*Tod Hunter - Staff Announcer ("Eeee-leven O'Clock, Al Schottelkotte News Time...") & weatherman
*Nick Clooney - Host "The Nick Clooney Show"
*Len Mink - Singer/Host "The Len Mink Show". Now an evangelist/worship leader for meetings held by televangelist Kenneth Copeland
* Wirt Cain - Nick Clooney Show announcer & host of "The Early 9 Movie" & game show "What Would You Say?"
*John Wade - Singer/Host "The John Wade Show" & "A John Wade Christmas Special". Now lives in Sedona Arizona
*Michael Flannery – reporter for "9 On Your Kids Side" segment
*Bruce Johnson - Reporter. Now weekend anchor and reporter for WUSA (TV) 9News in Washington DC
*Janette Smith Noon & 5PM Anchor from 1995-1998 went to anchor mornings at WFAA-TV in Dallas,Texas now seen hosting a Home Improvement show on the DIY Network and on specials for HGTV about Habitat for Humanity
*Randy Little – on air for 20 years until WCPO dropped his contractcite news|url=http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/tv/2007/02/ch-9-in-randy-little-out-at-b105.asp|title=Ch 9 in & Randy Little out at B105|author=John Kiesewetter|first=John|last=Kiesewetter|work=Cincinnati.com|date=2007-02-02|accessdate=2007-09-29]
*Denise Dory
*Kathy Smith
*Paula Faris
*Stacy Case – now a correspondent for CBS Newscite news|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2002/07/15/daily40.html|title=Channel 9's Case to take job at CBS|work=Cincinnati Business Courier|publisher=American City Business Journals|date=2002-07-17|accessdate=2007-09-29]
*Bill Hemmer – now an anchor at Fox News
*Brian Patrick – weatherman/anchor
*Bob Alan (weather)
*Betsy Ross
*Sid Keitz - Retired Newscast Director for The Al Schottelkotte News ("Directed by Sid Keitz. You've watched it on Channel 9, the station where news is first")
*Hasker Nelson - Public Service Director & creator/host of "Black Memo"

External links

* [http://www.wcpo.com/ WCPO.com]
* [http://www.scripps.com/broadcast/broadcast-wcpo.html WCPO, Ch. 9] (from Scripps)
*TVQ|WCPO-TV
*BIA|WCPO|TV|TV

References