WNEP-TV

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WNEP-TV
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre
Branding	Newswatch 16
Slogan	The News Station The Number One Source For News & Information
Channels	16 (UHF) analog, 49 (UHF) digital
Translators	7 WO7DC Allentown 14 W14CO Clarks Summit 26 W26CV Mansfield 61 W61AG Pottsville 40 W40BS Renovo 36 W36BE and 39 W39BE State College 66 W66AL Stroudsburg 10 W10CP and 69 W69CE Towanda 20 W20AD Willamsport
Affiliations	ABC
Owner	The New York Times Company (sale pending [1])
Founded	1953: WILK-TV 1954: WARM-TV Merged as WNEP-TV on January 1, 1956
Call letters meaning	W North East Pennsylvania
Former callsigns	WILK-TV(1953-56) and WARM-TV (1954-56)
Former affiliations	DuMont (1953-1956) [2]
Website	www.wnep.com

WNEP-TV, is an ABC affiliate station broadcasting on channel 16 to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania DMA. Its local newscasts have been the highest-rated in northeastern and central Pennsylvania. The station is licensed to Scranton and owned by The New York Times Company, and its main offices and studios are located in Moosic, just outside the Scranton city limits off of Davis St.[3]. Its digital broadcasts are on digital channel 49. Its transmitter is located on Penobscot Knob in Mountaintop, Pennsylvania.

Contents 1 History 2 Translators 3 Newscasts 3.1 Weekdays 3.2 Weekends 4 Local programming 4.1 History 4.2 Current locally-produced programs 5 Web site 6 Controversies 7 External links

[edit] History

There were originally two ABC affiliates in northeastern Pennsylvania. WILK-TV, channel 34 in Wilkes-Barre took to the air on September 16, 1953. It was followed by WARM-TV, channel 16 in Scranton in January 1954.

WILK-TV wanted to get a head start on the other local stations when it signed on in 1953, going on the air at 2 p.m., rather than the 3 p.m. air time the other stations had. The engineers got the signal ready by noon and decided to take a break. However, at lunch, they turned on the station to inspect their handywork, only to find the signal was dead. They rushed back and were able to establish the link by 1:50 p.m., ten minutes before sign-on.

Getting a signal from ABC headquarters in New York was a challenge in the early days with no access to satellites. For example, WILK set up a microwave tower in Effort, about 45 miles east of Wilkes-Barre. From here, the network signal was bounced to the Penobscot Knob transmitter site. Often, station engineers had to adjust the Effort hop to accept a signal from WFIL-TV in Philadelphia (now WPVI-TV) if they were unable to receive the New York feed.

WILK and WARM were both losing money, in large part because ABC was not on an equal footing with NBC and CBS (and wouldn't be until the 1970s). However, they stayed on the air because they were owned by well-respected local radio stations. Finally, in 1955, WILK and WARM agreed to merge, this coming after it was made clear that Scranton and Wilkes-Barre would be one market. The new station, WNEP-TV, went on-air on New Year's Day 1956. It operates under WILK's license, using WARM's old channel number. Along with the merger came a new owner, Transcontient Broadcasting of Buffalo, New York. WILK-TV's old channel number was then re-assigned to Binghamton, New York (interstingly, that station, under the call letters WIVT, is also an ABC affiliate). The merged station moved into WILK's old studios in downtown Wilkes-Barre, but was and still is licensed to Scranton. In 1962, it moved to a new studio near Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport.

WNEP-TV initially struggled to survive. However, the station took off in 1968 thanks in part to ABC's color programming and the station's new transmitter on Penobscot Knob. The new transmitter, the first million-watt signal in the market, increased WNEP's broadcast range to cover a large portion of Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania[4]. After bouncing back and forth in the ratings for most of the 1960s and 1970s, it surged to first in 1978 and has held the lead ever since.

Transcontinent merged with Taft Broadcasting in 1964. When Taft bought WIBF-TV in Philadelphia and changed the calls to WTAF-TV (it is now WTXF-TV) in 1969, it sought a waiver to keep both stations. WNEP's grade B signal reaches the Lehigh Valley, which is part of the Philadelphia market; WNEP has also operated a translator in Allentown for many years. The FCC normally did not allow one company to own two stations with overlapping coverage areas. While it initially granted the waiver, it reversed itself later in 1969 and forced Taft to sell WNEP. NEP Communications, an employee group, bought the station. The New York Times Company bought the station in 1985. It moved to its current studio in Moosic in 1989.

[edit] Translators

WNEP serves one of the largest coverage areas east of the Mississippi River. This area is very mountainous, meaning that some areas can't get a clear signal from channel 16. WNEP faces an additional problem because the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre market is a "UHF island" due to the fact that it is too close to Philadelphia and New York for VHF analog service. As a result, it operates the largest translator system of any station in Pennsylvania.

• Allentown: W07DC, channel 7 (in Philadelphia market)
• Clarks Summit: W14CO, channel 14
• Mansfield: W26CV, channel 26
• Pottsville: W61AG, channel 61
• Renovo: W40BS, channel 40
• State College: W36BE, channel 36 and W39BE, channel 39 (in Johnstown market)
• Stroudsburg: W66AL, channel 66
• Towanda: W10CP, channel 10 and W69CE, channel 69
• Willamsport: W20AD, channel 20

[edit] Newscasts

The station is best known for its local newscasts, which are among the highest-rated in the United States. The station runs its newscasts under the name "Newswatch 16". [5]

According to A.C. Nielsen data, WNEP reaches more viewers than the competition combined in almost all time periods. WNEP's on-air personalities are well-known in the area. Chief meteorologist Tom Clark is one of the region's best-known broadcasters. Marisa Burke, a native of nearby Danville has been with the station since 1984 and now co-anchors the 6 PM newscast with Mike Lewis.

WNEP-TV also runs Newswatch 16 Anytime, which is available to local cable television subscribers. WNEP produces a daily half hour 10 PM newscast for the local FOX affiliate, WOLF-TV. The station's weather casts are branded "Stormtracker 16". In 2003, Newswatch 16 installed a new set for its newscasts. The main news studio includes a main anchor desk and a secondary set. The station uses three robotic cameras during its newscasts.

WNEP-TV is the only media outlet in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre market to utilize a helicopter for news gathering purposes; it is live-broadcast capable.

[edit] Weekdays

• Newswatch 16 at 5 AM (5-5:30 AM)
• Newswatch 16 at 5:30 AM (5:30-6 AM)
• Newswatch 16 at 6 AM (6-6:30 AM)
• Newswatch 16 at 6:30 AM (6:30-7 AM)
• Newswatch 16 at Noon (12-12:30 PM)
• Newswatch 16 at 5 PM (5-5:30 PM)
• Newswatch 16 at 5:30 PM (5:30-6 PM)
• Newswatch 16 at 6 PM (6-6:30 PM)
• Newswatch 16 at 7 PM (7-7:30 PM)
• Newswatch 16 at 10 PM on FOX 56 / FOX 56 News at 10 (10-10:30 PM on WOLF-TV)
• Newswatch 16 at 11 PM (11-11:35 PM)

[edit] Weekends

• Newswatch 16 Saturday / Sunday Morning (5-8 AM)
• Newswatch 16 at 6 PM (6-6:30 PM)
• Newswatch 16 at 10 PM on FOX 56 / FOX 56 News at 10 (10-10:30 PM on WOLF-TV)
• Newswatch 16 at 11 PM (11-11:30 PM)

[edit] Local programming

[edit] History

Many of the programs aired on WNEP have been in-house productions rather than syndicated shows. The most popular of these was a children's program called The Land of Hatchy Milatchy. Another program, Uncle Ted's Ghoul School, once employed Bill O'Reilly as a writer; he was also a reporter at the station for a brief period during the mid-1970s. Also during the 1970s, WNEP produced two game shows, Bowling for Dollars and Dialing for Dollars. Unlike its newscasts, the game shows were absolute failures considering that they were pitted against other more successful national syndicated primetime games such as Family Feud and Match Game PM.

[edit] Current locally-produced programs

Today, WNEP produces two in-house programs: Pennsylvania Outdoor Life, a show about hunting and fishing in Pennsylvania, and Home & Backyard, a show about do-it-yourself home improvements, cooking and gardening.

The station also participates in several local charity events, including the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy telethon and Scranton's annual Santa Parade.

[edit] Web site

Then meteorologist Mark Sowers launched WNEP's Web site in 1995, making it the first commercial television station with a Web site in the state of Pennsylvania. In 2002, Sowers became the station's full-time Webmaster and oversaw the relaunch of its Web site, powered by television station Web site provider WorldNow. He still gives the forecast from time to time, whenever one of the meterologists are out on vacation. WNEP.com has quickly become one the region's most visited sites and features a wide selection of content:

• Local news
• Local sports
• Local weather, including current conditions, the Realtime Doppler Radar scan and "FutureRadar"
• Syndicated content such as recipes, personals and yellow pages
• Streaming video of the first block of the morning news, entire morning weather block and "cut-ins." The station will occasionally offer the first block of its other newscasts or specific segments when there is a story with high local interest.

In March 2005, WNEP.com hosted its first webcast session. An IRS spokesperson answered viewer questions, which were submitted via the Internet, for an hour. The segment was webcast live over the Internet, but was not available on the broadcast or cable television.

[edit] Controversies

In Fall 2005, on Newswatch 16 This Morning, during a jovial conversation about taking sick or personal days off, meteorologist Joe Snedeker jokingly suggested to morning anchor Kim Supon that if he were her boss he would make her choose between her career and motherhood. Supon was visibly upset by the comment, having just taken a day to care for her children, and walked off the set during the commercial break. When the newscast returned, recently hired reporter Ryan Leckey was in the anchor chair. The incident received national attention, including airing as a segment on MSNBC. In response to public outcry, Snedeker apologized on air during the next broadcast[6]. Coincidently, on November 17, 2006, Kim Supon left WNEP's morning broadcast to spend more time with her children.

[edit] External links

• WNEP Website
• WNEP Wireless
• WNEP-TV tribute page
• Photos of WNEP's set
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WNEP-TV
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W07DC
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W14CO
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W26CV
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W61AG
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W40BS
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W36BE
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W39BE
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W66AL
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W10CP
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W69CE
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W20AD

Broadcast television in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre market  (Nielsen DMA #53)
W07BV 7 / W19CI 19 (EWTN) - WNEP 16 (ABC) - WYOU 22 (CBS) - WBRE 28 (NBC) - WYLN 35 (A1) - WSWB 38 (The CW) - WVIA 44 (PBS) - WQMY 53 (MNTV) - WOLF 56 (Fox) - WQPX 64 (i)