WTIC-TV

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WTIC-TV
Hartford-New Haven, Connecticut
Branding	FOX 61
Slogan	Connecticut's Prime News
Channels	61 (UHF) analog, 31 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	FOX
Owner	Tribune
Founded	September 17, 1984
Call letters meaning	"Travellers Insurance Corporation" (former owners of former sister AM station); calls inherited from WFSB
Former affiliations	Independent (1984-87) CBS & ABC (last two secondary as independent)
Website	www.fox61.com

WTIC-TV "FOX 61" is the FOX affiliate for the state of Connecticut, including the Hartford and New Haven areas. It is owned by Tribune Broadcasting along with sister station WTXX. Its transmitter is located in Farmington, Connecticut.

WTIC is also the FOX affiliate for the Springfield, MA television market by default, as that market does not have an affiliate of its own. However with the recent addition of a new channel, WFXQ-CA, this may change.

Contents 1 History 2 Logos 3 Newscast 3.1 Weekdays 3.2 Weekends 4 Current Employees 5 Notable Employees 6 External links

[edit] History

A group led by Arnold Chase won a construction permit for channel 61 in September, 1983. Chase originally planned to call his new station WETG-TV, in memory of Ella T. Grasso, the first woman in Connecticut to be elected governor, who died in 1981. However, the regulations for the use of non-commonly owned stations were relaxed by the F.C.C. during 1984, and permission was obtained from the 1080 Corporation for Channel 61 to use WTIC-TV. The WTIC-TV calls had last been used by what is now WFSB from 1957 to 1974. In memory of Grasso, WTIC showed clips of Grasso at work at sign off, while church bells played the Star Spangled Banner. A graphic at the end mentioned that WTIC-TV was dedicated in Grasso's memory. [1]

WTIC-TV began operation on September 17, 1984. Originally, it was a general entertainment independent station running cartoons, sitcoms, old movies, CBS shows pre-empted by WFSB, ABC shows pre-empted by WTNH, drama shows and sports, in competition with WTXX. Arch eventually bought full control of the station.

By 1985-1986, the station was investing in stronger programming and managed to become a charter Fox affiliate in 1986. However, by 1987, Arch and Chase encountered financial problems and nearly filed for bankruptcy. Many syndicators went unpaid and responded by yanking their shows off the air. The shows were replaced by low-budget barter programming.

Chase Broadcasting acquired WTIC-TV in 1988. The barter programming continued, but a few stronger syndicated shows began to appear during key time periods. The growing popularity of Fox was also helpful to its ratings. By 1991, the station began to tie WTXX in the ratings, surpassing channel 20 the next year.

Chase sold all its stations to Renaissance Broadcasting (who owned WTXX) in 1992. To follow FCC regulations at that time, Renissance sold WTXX in March 1993 to a Roman Catholic non profit group, Counterpoint Communications. Renaissance tried to negotiate a local marketing agreement with WTXX' new owners, in which it would buy WTXX' entire broadcast day. From the time the sale became final until July of 1993 Renaissance allowed WTXX to run Disney Afternoon from 3 to 5 p.m. and some off network sitcoms from 5 to 7 p.m. weekdays free of charge as well as first run syndicated shows on weekends in this slot. However, Counterpoint balked, wanting a part-time arrangement. That July WTXX enetered into a part-time LMA with WVIT. Renaissance began moving WTXX' shows to WTIC-TV, effectively creating a very strong lineup for channel 61. Some programming such as older sitcoms, however, returned to syndicators and wound up on WTVU (now WCTX). The cartoons that did not move to WTIC were actually sold to WVIT and moved back to WTXX which they aired daily from 6 to 9 a.m. (until 10 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays) and weekdays from 3 to 7 p.m.

WTIC-TV was sold to the Tribune Company in 1997 as part of a group deal. At that point, the station took over management of WTXX (then a UPN affiliate, later WB, currently a The CW station). In 1998 WTIC-TV, replaced WVIT as WTXX's LMA partner, and the WVIT-produced newscast at 10 PM was replaced with a simulcast of the first half-hour of channel 61's news program, FOX 61 News at 10. As of April 24, 2006, WTXX simulcasts the full WTIC newscast. WTXX does not have a separate newscast opening for WTIC's newscast. Whenever FOX programming or sports delays the newscast on WTIC, it is still shown on WTXX at 10 PM, but under the name of News at Ten. In 2001, Tribune bought WTXX outright.

As time went on WTIC began dropping cartoons, movies, and older sitcoms in favor of more talk and reality shows. The weekday cartoons ended at the end of 2001 when Fox ended its weekday kids' block.

Since Fox entered sports programming in 1994, WTIC has had to deal with issues regarding Major League Baseball and National Football League coverage. Connecticut is split between the home territories of MLB's New York Yankees, New York Mets and Boston Red Sox, as well as the NFL's New York Giants and New England Patriots. The football issue is not typically as stark because the Giants and Patriots play in separate conferences, each with their own network TV deals, so there is little overlap. However, Fox picks both the Yankees and Red Sox for its baseball broadcast windows from time-to-time. MLB limits Fox to a single game, and does not allow other channels to broadcast baseball in that window (from 1 pm to 4 pm Eastern). This creates serious anger among Connecticut baseball fans when WTIC must broadcast either the Yankees or the Red Sox, as the usual cable channels (YES & NESN) are blacked out for the team not broadcast by Fox. This anger is intensified by fans in the Springfield market when the station picks the Yankees over the Red Sox given fan loyalties, as well when a a Red Sox game is aired in areas of northern New Haven county with strong Yankee loyalties where the local cable systems do not carry WNYW. On August 12, 2006, WTIC aired the Yankees game and WTXX aired the Red Sox game.

[edit] Logos

WTIC logo from June 1997 to September 2006.

WTIC logo since September 18, 2006.

[edit] Newscast

All WTIC newscasts are simulcasted on sister station WTXX. In addition to its Hartford studios, the station operates a New Haven "Shoreline Bureau" in the newsroom of local newspaper the New Haven Advocate.

[edit] Weekdays

• FOX 61 News at 10 (10-11 PM)

[edit] Weekends

• FOX 61 News at 10 Weekend (10-10:30 PM)
• Beyond the Headlines (8:30-9 AM Sundays)
  • airs on WTXX at 11 AM
• FOX 61 Sports Ticket (10:30-11 PM Sundays)

[edit] Current Employees

• Brent Hardin - weeknight co-anchor
• Susan Christensen - weeknight co-anchor
• John Carroll - chief meteorologist seen weeknights
• Rich Coppola - sports director seen weeknights
• Rebecca Stewart - weekend co-anchor
• Tom Benemann - weekend co-anchor and reporter
• Michael Friedmann - weekend meteorologist
• Bob Rumbold - sports anchor and reporter and host of "FOX 61 Sports Ticket"
• Jim Altman - reporter
• John Charlton reporter
• Katishia Cosley - reporter
• Amy Lundy - sports reporter
• Laurie Perez - reporter
• Shelly Sindland - senior reporter and political correspondent and host of "Beyond the Headlines"
• Eric Zager - reporter

[edit] Notable Employees

Jay Crawford has been the co-host of ESPN2's Cold Pizza since it started in October of 2003.

[edit] External links

• WTIC Website
• WTXX Website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WTIC-TV