WPRI-TV

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WPRI-TV
Providence, Rhode Island / New Bedford, Massachusetts
Branding	WPRI 12 / Eyewitness News
Slogan	Coverage You can Count On
Channels	12 (VHF) analog, 13 (VHF) digital
Affiliations	CBS (1955-77 & since 1995)
Owner	LIN TV
Founded	March 27, 1955
Call letters meaning	W Providence, Rhode Island
Former callsigns	WPRO-TV (1955-67)
Former affiliations	ABC (secondary, 1955-63; full-time, 1977-95)
Website	www.wpri.com

WPRI-TV is the CBS television affiliate for Providence, Rhode Island and New Bedford, Massachusetts. It broadcasts its analog signal on VHF channel 12, and its digital signal on VHF channel 13. Its studios are in East Providence, while its transmitters are in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.

The station is owned by LIN TV, and is the flagship of the company. It is also sister station to WNAC-TV channel 64 (Fox Providence), and WPRI produces the daily 10 p.m. newscast for WNAC. The newscasts on WPRI and WNAC are known as Eyewitness News. WPRI shares its website with WNAC and WNAC is housed within WPRI's East Providence studios.

WPRI offers a 24-hour weather channel called Eyewitness News Pinpoint Weather Station on sister station WNAC-TV's DT2 subchannel and Cox Communications digital cable channel 106. [1] The weather channel is also offered on WPRI's DT2 subchannel. [2] Overnight on the weekends, when the main channels of WPRI and WNAC sign off, they simulcast the 24-hour weather channel.

As the Providence and Boston television markets overlap in coverage, WPRI shares its resources with Boston's CBS affiliate, WBZ-TV, in news coverage of Southeastern Massachusetts.

Contents 1 History 2 LMA with WNAC 3 Station Nightclub Fire 4 Logos 5 Newscasts 5.1 Weekdays 5.2 Saturday 5.3 Sunday 5.4 Anchors 5.5 Pinpoint Weather Team 5.6 Sports 5.7 Reporters 6 External links

[edit] History

WPRI debuted on March 27, 1955, as WPRO-TV (whose calls simply stood for PROvidence). It was Rhode Island's third television station. It was first owned and operated by retailer Cherry & Webb, who also owned WPRO-AM/FM radio.The station was originally supposed to go on the air in 1954, but ran into several delays. It originally planned to build its transmitter in Rehoboth, but legal disputes with town officials forced Cherry & Webb to find a site in Johnston, Rhode Island. However, Hurricane Carol destroyed the Johnston transmitter. The legal disputes in Rehoboth were finally settled in late 1954, and WPRO got the go-ahead to begin construction there.

Originally, studios were on the top floor of 24 Mason Street in downtown Providence, but in the early 1970's, WPRI moved to its current home in East Providence.

Although it was a CBS affiliate, it also carried several ABC shows as well. ABC had an affiliate in Rhode Island, WNET-TV (channel 16, which had signed on two years before WPRO), but ABC allowed WPRO to air some of its higher-rated programs. Within a year, WNET had gone dark.

Legendary Providence radio personality Salty Brine had a daily children's show on WPRO-TV. News personalities included Mort Blender and Walter Cryan, while the beloved Hank Bouchard did a multitude of on-air duties, from announcing to hosting programs to doing the weather report.

The WPRO stations were sold to Capital Cities Communications in 1959. WPRO-TV was sold to Poole Broadcasting, owners of WJRT-TV in Flint, Michigan, on June 16, 1967. The call letters were changed to the present-day WPRI-TV after Poole acquired the station; the new calls were chosen because Poole realized that PRI could stand for "Providence, Rhode Island, and that the rights to the WPRO call letters would remain with the radio side. Poole retained ownership until 1977, when it and the other Poole stations (WJRT and WTEN Albany, New York) were sold to Knight-Ridder Broadcasting. WPRI changed affiliations from CBS to ABC after this sale, as a result of a corporate affiliation deal between ABC and Knight-Ridder. In 1989, Knight-Ridder sold WPRI and WTKR in Norfolk, Virginia to Narragansett Television LP, a locally based firm.

Narragansett Television LP sold WPRI to CBS in 1995, making it a CBS owned and operated station. WPRI officially rejoined CBS after an 18-year hiatus at midnight on September 10, 1995. WPRI aired a vigorous promotion called "Survive the Switch," so television viewers in Providence would be prepared for this changeover. WLNE, once the area's CBS station, regained the ABC affiliation.

In November 1995, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, owner of WBZ-TV in Boston, bought CBS for approximately $6 billion; the merger was finalized in early 1996. WPRI's city-grade signal decently covers most of the Boston area. Due to FCC regulations at the time prohibiting common ownership of stations with overlapping city-grade signal coverage, CBS could not keep both stations. It opted to keep WBZ and sell WPRI to Clear Channel Communications in June-July of 1996, just 9 months after its purchase. Shortly after Clear Channel took over the station, WPRI entered in a local marketing agreement with FOX affiliate WNAC, then owned by Argyle Television.

In 2000, Clear Channel was forced to sell WPRI as a result of radio market concentration concerns. Sunrise Television bought WPRI in early 2001 for $50 million. Sunrise merged with LIN in May 2002, as a result WPRI became the flagship station of LIN, although sister station WAVY-TV was the very first station owned by LIN.

[edit] LMA with WNAC

Shortly after Clear Channel's acquisition of WPRI, Argyle Television, then owner of FOX affiliate WNAC, entered into a local marketing agreement (LMA) with WPRI. On September 28, 1997, WNAC-TV moved its operations into WPRI's studios in East Providence. Ironically, channel 64 holds the license for WNET-TV, the station that went off the air in 1956 largely due to the presence of WPRI.

In late 1997, Argyle merged with Hearst Broadcasting, owners of WCVB in Boston. Due to FCC regulations barring common ownership of television stations with overlapping city-grade coverage in effect at the time, WNAC and Hearst's WDTN in Dayton, Ohio were swapped to Sunrise Television. When Sunrise bought WPRI from Clear Channel in early 2001, WNAC was sold to LIN. FCC regulations forbid common ownership of two of the four highest-rated stations in the same market.

When Sunrise merged with LIN, WNAC's license was transferred to an employee/investor group called "WNAC, LLC" (although LIN continues to operate WNAC today under an LMA).

[edit] Station Nightclub Fire

WPRI was heavily involved in the coverage and aftermath of the Station nightclub fire in 2003. Station photographer Brian Butler was inside the Station nightclub taping a story when the pyrotechnics behind the band Great White lit soundproof foam within the nightclub on fire.

The tape became crucial evidence in the case, and WPRI reporter Jeff Derderian, who owned the nightclub with his brother, became a defendant accused of manslaughter.

[edit] Logos

WPRO logo used in promotional materials in the 1950s.	WPRI logo through the 1970s till 1985.	WPRI logo used from the 1990s to 2000. The CBS "logo" was added in 1995.	WPRI logo used from the 2000 to 2002.
Current WPRI logo used since 2002.

[edit] Newscasts

Although WPRI has its own radar, "Live Pinpoint Doppler 12" located in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, the station also uses live NOAA NWS radar data from several regional sites.

[edit] Weekdays

• Eyewitness News This Morning - 5:00-7:00 a.m.
• Eyewitness News at Noon - 12:00-12:30 p.m.
• Eyewitness News Live at 5 - 5:00-5:30 p.m.
• Eyewitness News Live at 5:30 - 5:30-6:00 p.m.
• Eyewitness News Live at 6 - 6:00-6:30 p.m.
• Eyewitness News First on FOX Providence - 10:00-10:45 p.m. (on sister station WNAC-TV)
• Eyewitness News at 11 - 11-11:35 p.m.

[edit] Saturday

• Eyewitness News This Morning Weekend - 6:00-8:00 a.m.
• Eyewitness News Live at 6 - 6:00-6:30 p.m.
• Eyewitness News First on FOX Providence - 10:00-10:35 p.m. (on sister station WNAC-TV)
• Eyewitness News at 11 - 11-11:35 p.m.

[edit] Sunday

• Newsmakers (public affairs) - 6:30-7:00 a.m. (also airs on sister station WNAC-TV Sundays 10-10:30 AM)
• Eyewitness News This Morning Weekend - 7:00-9:00 a.m.
• Eyewitness News at 6:30 - 6:30-7:00 p.m.
• Eyewitness News First on FOX Providence - 10:00-10:35 p.m. (on sister station WNAC-TV)
• Eyewitness News at 11 - 11-11:30 p.m.
• Sports Wrap - 11:30-11:45 p.m.

[edit] Anchors

• Karen Adams - weekday co-anchor, 5 PM, 6 PM, and 11 PM
• Steve Aveson - weekday co-anchor, 5 PM, 6 PM, and 11 PM (also 10 PM on Fox Providence)
• Erin Kennedy - weekday co-anchor, 5:30 PM (also 10 PM on Fox Providence) / weekend anchor at 6 PM, 10 PM, and 11 PM
• Walt Buteau - reporter/ weekday co-anchor 5:30 PM
• Pamela Watts - reporter/ weekday co-anchor Eyewitness News This Morning and Noon
• Mike Montecalvo - reporter/ weekday co-anchor Eyewitness News This Morning and Noon
• Mark Zinni - reporter/ weekend morning anchor

[edit] Pinpoint Weather Team

• Tony Petrarca - chief meteorologist, (Weekdays) 5PM, 5:30PM, 6PM, and 11 PM (also 10 PM on Fox Providence)
• Steve Cascione - Eyewitness News This Morning and Noon
• T.J. Del Santo - (Weekends) 6 PM and 11 PM (also 10 PM on Fox Providence)
• Michelle Muscatello - weekend mornings/ reporter

[edit] Sports

• Patrick Little - sports director/ weekday sports anchor/ host Sports Wrap
• Robb Garofalo - weekend sports anchor/ reporter
• Pete Lucas - sports reporter/ fill-in sports anchor
• JP Smollins - sports photographer/ sports reporter

[edit] Reporters

• Audrey Desrosiers
• Sean Daly
• Susan Hogan (Consumer Reporter)
• Joan Moran
• John Mone
• Dennis Protsko (News Chopper 12 Reporter)
• Al Nall
• Jarrod Holbrook
• Jodi Fournier

[edit] External links

• WPRI/WNAC TV
• WPRI/WNAC Wireless
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WPRI-TV