WFIE
Encyclopedia
WFIE is the NBC
-afifliated television station
for the Tri-State area of Southwestern Indiana
, Northwestern Kentucky
and Southeastern Illinois
that's licensed to Evansville, Indiana
. It broadcasts a high definition
digital signal on UHF channel 46 (mapping to virtual channel
14 via PSIP) from a transmitter in the Wolf Hills section of Henderson, Kentucky
. Owned by Raycom Media
, the station has studios on Mount Auburn Road in Evansville. Syndicated
programming on WFIE includes: Wheel of Fortune
, Oprah
, Dr. Phil
The Dr. Oz Show
, and The World's Funniest Moments
.
digital channel 436 is a 24-hour local news and weather channel known as "14xtra". On weeknights, this also airs repeats of Oprah, Dr. Phil, and The Dr. Oz Show from the main channel. To satisfy the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) educational programming requirement, the channel airs shows targeted toward the age group on Sunday mornings. On WFIE-DT3, WOW! digital channel 112, and Insight digital channel 194 is This TV
.
WFIE's digital signal on UHF 46 is multiplexed:
WFIE was the first station to be based in Evansville, while WEHT's studios, then as now, were located across the Ohio River
in Henderson, Kentucky
, though it is licensed to Evansville.
WFIE was originally a primary NBC outlet with secondary ABC
(shared with WEHT) and DuMont
affiliations. Both of those networks were dropped in August 1956 with the launch of WTVW
(which took ABC) and the shutdown of DuMont. This left WFIE as a full-time NBC affiliate. It is the only station in the market to have never changed its primary affiliation. Also in 1956, WFIE became the area's first station to telecast color programming (by virtue of its NBC affiliation).
The Fine family sold the station to the George Norton family of Louisville, Kentucky
(owners of fellow NBC affiliate WAVE-TV) in 1956. The Nortons' broadcasting holdings would eventually become known as Orion Broadcasting. With FCC approval, it moved to channel 14 in August 1961. It was the first station in Evansville to telecast live and local color programs beginning on March 10, 1966.
In October 1981, Orion merged with Cosmos Broadcasting Corporation, a subsidiary of insurance and broadcasting conglomerate Liberty Corporation. WFIE became the first television station in the market to broadcast in stereo
in September 1985. Liberty bowed out of the insurance business in 2000 bringing WFIE directly under the company banner. In May 2002, the station began broadcasting digitally
on channel 46.
On February 1, 2006, the Liberty Corporation merged with Raycom Media. In November 2006, WFIE added The Tube
(a 24-hour music video channel similar to the early years of MTV
) on digital channel 14.3 in accordance with many Raycom Media stations. In Summer 2007, The Tube shut down from the lack of advertiser support and this station ceased programming on 14.3 for the time. WFIE, along with many Raycom Media stations, added This TV to 14.3 on February 4, 2009.
affiliate WEVV-TV has not carried local newscasts since it shut down its news department in 2001).
In August 1977, the station became first in Evansville to remotely broadcast local news, sports, and weather outside its studios. It was the second station in Indiana (first in Evansville) to build its own Doppler weather radar system (located adjacent to the studios) in February 1988. In Fall 2005, it launched a 24-hour local weather channel on digital channel 14.2. Known as "First Alert Weather Now", it was part of NBC Weather Plus
and featured continuous weather and news information, with local and national forecasts, as well as metro Evansville and regional traffic updates. With the shutdown of the national service in 2008, WFIE-DT2 remained as a local weather channel.
On April 3, 2006, WFIE abandoned 615 Music
's popular "News One" theme music in favor of "NBC Flagship" as part of "The NBC Collection" by Gari Communications. This marked the station's first theme change since 1996. In early-August 2006, it began branding its newscasts as "14 News" dropping the "NewsWatch 14" identity. In a further transition, the station rebranded the weather department under the "First Alert" label on September 22, 2006. This is a departure from the "Storm Team" brand used since the mid-1990s.
On April 16, 2007, WFIE introduced "Dual Doppler" to the market with the debut of a second weather radar in Owensboro, Kentucky
atop the Owensboro Medical Health System Hospital
main building on East Parrish Avenue (KY 54). In addition to its main studios, the station operates Western Kentucky Newsrooms in Owensboro and Madisonville. It is the only channel in the area to have a weekday morning show that begins at 4:30. WFIE-DT2 also airs a prime time newscast weeknights at 9 p.m., which competes with an hour-long show on independent station WTVW.
On July 11, 2011, WFIE began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition during the station's 5 p.m. newscast, becoming the first station in the Evansville market to begin offering local newscasts in high definition. On September 12, 2011, WFIE debuted a 4 p.m. newscast that competes against the 4 p.m. newscast on ABC affiliate WEHT
; Jackie Monroe (currently the anchor of the station's 10 p.m. newscast and the 9 p.m. newscast seen on digital channel 14.2) serves as anchor of the new late-afternoon newscast.
14 News First Alert Weather
Sports team (also seen on Touchdown Live!)
Reporters
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
-afifliated television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
for the Tri-State area of Southwestern Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, Northwestern Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
and Southeastern Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
that's licensed to Evansville, Indiana
Evansville, Indiana
Evansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the...
. It broadcasts a high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
digital signal on UHF channel 46 (mapping to virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
14 via PSIP) from a transmitter in the Wolf Hills section of Henderson, Kentucky
Henderson, Kentucky
Henderson is a city in Henderson County, Kentucky, United States, along the Ohio River in the western part of the state. The population was 27,952 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Evansville Metropolitan Area often referred to as "Kentuckiana", although "Tri-State Area" or "Tri-State" are more...
. Owned by Raycom Media
Raycom Media
- History :Although Raycom Media dates its birth to 1996, the core of the company was formed in 1992 when Atlanta native Bert Ellis formed Ellis Communications. He eventually controlled 13 television stations and two radio stations....
, the station has studios on Mount Auburn Road in Evansville. Syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
programming on WFIE includes: Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune (U.S. game show)
Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin, which premiered in 1975. Contestants compete to solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a large wheel. The title refers to the show's giant carnival wheel that...
, Oprah
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
, Dr. Phil
Dr. Phil (TV series)
Dr. Phil is a reality/talk television show hosted by Phil McGraw. After McGraw's success with his segments on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil debuted on September 16, 2002...
The Dr. Oz Show
The Dr. Oz Show
The Dr. Oz Show is an American syndicated television talk show, hosted by Dr. Mehmet Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon and teaching professor at Columbia University who became famous for his appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show from 2004 until 2009....
, and The World's Funniest Moments
The World's Funniest Moments
The World's Funniest Moments is a myNetworkTV reality television series from the 2008-2009 season, produced by Associated Television International and hosted by Arsenio Hall. Taped in front of a live audience, the show features humorous video clips taken from the Internet and submitted by viewers...
.
Digital programming
On WFIE-DT2, WOW! digital channel 104, and InsightInsight Communications
Insight Communications is the 13th largest multiple system operator in the United States with approximately 692,000 customers in the three contiguous states of Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio...
digital channel 436 is a 24-hour local news and weather channel known as "14xtra". On weeknights, this also airs repeats of Oprah, Dr. Phil, and The Dr. Oz Show from the main channel. To satisfy the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) educational programming requirement, the channel airs shows targeted toward the age group on Sunday mornings. On WFIE-DT3, WOW! digital channel 112, and Insight digital channel 194 is This TV
This TV
This TV is a United States general entertainment television network, with a large emphasis in its programming on movies....
.
WFIE's digital signal on UHF 46 is multiplexed:
| Channel | Video Display resolution The display resolution of a digital television or display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is controlled by all different factors in cathode ray tube , flat panel or projection... |
Aspect Aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,... |
Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14.1 | 1080i 1080i 1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels... |
16:9 16:9 16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ... |
Main WFIE programming / NBC |
| 14.2 | 480i 480i 480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC... |
4:3 | "14xtra" |
| 14.3 | This TV |
History
WFIE was granted a construction permit on June 10, 1953, and began broadcasting on November 15, 1953 on analog UHF channel 62. The station, Indiana's sixth, was originally co-owned by Jesse, Isadore, and Oscar Fine.WFIE was the first station to be based in Evansville, while WEHT's studios, then as now, were located across the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
in Henderson, Kentucky
Henderson, Kentucky
Henderson is a city in Henderson County, Kentucky, United States, along the Ohio River in the western part of the state. The population was 27,952 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Evansville Metropolitan Area often referred to as "Kentuckiana", although "Tri-State Area" or "Tri-State" are more...
, though it is licensed to Evansville.
WFIE was originally a primary NBC outlet with secondary ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
(shared with WEHT) and DuMont
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
affiliations. Both of those networks were dropped in August 1956 with the launch of WTVW
WTVW
Banam sold WTVW to Petracom Broadcasting in 1995. A 20-percent equity stake in Petracom was purchased by Fox soon afterward, eventually leading to a three-way affiliation swap in which WTVW ended its 39-year ABC affiliation and joined Fox on December 3, 1995, with ABC moving to former CBS...
(which took ABC) and the shutdown of DuMont. This left WFIE as a full-time NBC affiliate. It is the only station in the market to have never changed its primary affiliation. Also in 1956, WFIE became the area's first station to telecast color programming (by virtue of its NBC affiliation).
The Fine family sold the station to the George Norton family of Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
(owners of fellow NBC affiliate WAVE-TV) in 1956. The Nortons' broadcasting holdings would eventually become known as Orion Broadcasting. With FCC approval, it moved to channel 14 in August 1961. It was the first station in Evansville to telecast live and local color programs beginning on March 10, 1966.
In October 1981, Orion merged with Cosmos Broadcasting Corporation, a subsidiary of insurance and broadcasting conglomerate Liberty Corporation. WFIE became the first television station in the market to broadcast in stereo
STEREO
STEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth...
in September 1985. Liberty bowed out of the insurance business in 2000 bringing WFIE directly under the company banner. In May 2002, the station began broadcasting digitally
ATSC
ATSC standards are a set of standards developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee for digital television transmission over terrestrial, cable, and satellite networks....
on channel 46.
On February 1, 2006, the Liberty Corporation merged with Raycom Media. In November 2006, WFIE added The Tube
The Tube (TV channel)
The Tube Music Network was a music video network carried on free-to-air satellite television, select digital television subchannels and digital cable systems. The network's president and founder was Les Garland, a veteran of MTV and VH1. The Tube was a wholly owned subsidiary of The Tube Media Corp...
(a 24-hour music video channel similar to the early years of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
) on digital channel 14.3 in accordance with many Raycom Media stations. In Summer 2007, The Tube shut down from the lack of advertiser support and this station ceased programming on 14.3 for the time. WFIE, along with many Raycom Media stations, added This TV to 14.3 on February 4, 2009.
News operation
The station currently carries 32 hours of local newscasts per week (with six hours on weekdays, and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays); in addition, the station produces a half-hour weeknight-only newscast for its second digital subchannel, bringing the total amount to 34½ hours per week. As a result of the merger of the news operations of WTVW and WEHT on December 1, 2011, WFIE is now the only independent local television news operation in the Evansville market (CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
affiliate WEVV-TV has not carried local newscasts since it shut down its news department in 2001).
In August 1977, the station became first in Evansville to remotely broadcast local news, sports, and weather outside its studios. It was the second station in Indiana (first in Evansville) to build its own Doppler weather radar system (located adjacent to the studios) in February 1988. In Fall 2005, it launched a 24-hour local weather channel on digital channel 14.2. Known as "First Alert Weather Now", it was part of NBC Weather Plus
NBC Weather Plus
NBC Weather Plus was a 24-hour, commercially sponsored, weather-oriented broadcast/cable television network jointly owned by NBC Universal and the local affiliates of the NBC network. It debuted on November 15, 2004 and shut down on December 31, 2008...
and featured continuous weather and news information, with local and national forecasts, as well as metro Evansville and regional traffic updates. With the shutdown of the national service in 2008, WFIE-DT2 remained as a local weather channel.
On April 3, 2006, WFIE abandoned 615 Music
615 Music
615 Music is a broadcast production music company based in Nashville, Tennessee. 615 Music composes television news music packages and custom image campaigns for many television networks around the world. 615 Music also operates out of Los Angeles...
's popular "News One" theme music in favor of "NBC Flagship" as part of "The NBC Collection" by Gari Communications. This marked the station's first theme change since 1996. In early-August 2006, it began branding its newscasts as "14 News" dropping the "NewsWatch 14" identity. In a further transition, the station rebranded the weather department under the "First Alert" label on September 22, 2006. This is a departure from the "Storm Team" brand used since the mid-1990s.
On April 16, 2007, WFIE introduced "Dual Doppler" to the market with the debut of a second weather radar in Owensboro, Kentucky
Owensboro, Kentucky
Owensboro is the fourth largest city by population in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is the county seat of Daviess County. It is located on U.S. Route 60 about southeast of Evansville, Indiana, and is the principal city of the Owensboro, Kentucky, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's...
atop the Owensboro Medical Health System Hospital
Owensboro Medical Health System Hospital
Owensboro Medical Health System is a 427 bed medical facility in Owensboro, Kentucky. Prior to the mid 1990s, it was known as "Owensboro Daviess County Hospital" until it merged with the nearby and much smaller Mercy Hospital. The hospital was renamed "Owensboro Mercy Health System" for the next...
main building on East Parrish Avenue (KY 54). In addition to its main studios, the station operates Western Kentucky Newsrooms in Owensboro and Madisonville. It is the only channel in the area to have a weekday morning show that begins at 4:30. WFIE-DT2 also airs a prime time newscast weeknights at 9 p.m., which competes with an hour-long show on independent station WTVW.
On July 11, 2011, WFIE began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition during the station's 5 p.m. newscast, becoming the first station in the Evansville market to begin offering local newscasts in high definition. On September 12, 2011, WFIE debuted a 4 p.m. newscast that competes against the 4 p.m. newscast on ABC affiliate WEHT
WEHT
WEHT is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Tri-State area of Southwestern Indiana, Northwestern Kentucky and Southeastern Illinois; it is owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group under a shared services agreement with independent station WTVW...
; Jackie Monroe (currently the anchor of the station's 10 p.m. newscast and the 9 p.m. newscast seen on digital channel 14.2) serves as anchor of the new late-afternoon newscast.
Newscast titles
- The Tri-State News Report (1953–1958)
- The Marlboro News (1958–1961)
- The Runyan/Etzel Report a.k.a. Channel 14 News (1961–1971)
- Newslens (1971–1978)
- NewsWatch (1978–1994)
- NewsWatch 14 (1994–2006)
- 14 News (2006–present)
Station slogans
- "(This is) 14 Country" (1971–1981)
- "14 Country, Proud As A Peacock!" (1979–1981; localized version of NBC network advertising campaign)
- "14 Country, Our Pride Is Showing" (1981–1982; localized version of NBC network advertising campaign)
- "We're Channel 14, Just Watch Us Now" (1982–1983, localized version of NBC ad campaign)
- "14 Country, Be There" (1983–1984, localized versions of NBC ad campaign)
- "14 Country, Let's All Be There!" (1984–1986, localized versions of NBC ad campaign)
- "Come Home to Channel 14" (1986–1987, localized versions of NBC ad campaign)
- "Come on Home to Channel 14" (1987–1988, localized versions of NBC ad campaign)
- "14 Country's the 1-4 All!" (1987–present; used during period station used Frank Gari's "The One For/4 All", general slogan)
- "Come Home To The Best, Only on Channel 14!" (1988–1990, localized versions of NBC ad campaign)
- "WFIE, The Place To Be!" (1990–1992, localized versions of NBC ad campaign)
- "The Tri-State's News Leader" (1991–2006, primary slogan)
- "It's a Whole New Channel 14" (1992–1993, localized versions of NBC ad campaign)
- "The Stars Are Back on 14 Country" (1993–1994, localized versions of NBC ad campaign)
- "Live. Local. Latebreaking." (1994–1999, secondary slogan)
- "The Tri-State's News & Weather Leader" (2006–present, news slogan)
- "14 Country, More Colorful." (2010–present; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
News team
Anchors- Brandon Bartlett - weekend evenings; also weeknight reporter
- Mike Blake - Midday with Mike host
- David James - managing editor; weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
- Dan Katz - weekday mornings and 11 a.m. (alternates with Beth Sweeney at 11 a.m.)
- Ann Komis - weeknights at 5 and 6 p.m.
- Jackie Monroe - weekdays at 4, and weeknights at 9 (on 14Xtra) and 10 p.m.
- Beth Sweeney - weekday mornings and 11 a.m. (alternates with Dan Katz at 11 a.m.)
- Araceli Thiele - weekend evenings; also weeknight reporter
14 News First Alert Weather
- Jeff Lyons (AMSAmerican Meteorological SocietyThe American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, the American Meteorological Society has a membership...
and NWANational Weather AssociationThe National Weather Association is an American professional association with a mission to support and promote excellence in operational meteorology and related activities...
Seals of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weekdays at 4, and weeknights at 5, 6, 9 (on 14Xtra) and 10 p.m. - Byron Douglas (NWA Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings and 11 a.m.
- Chad Sewich (NWA Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekend evenings, also general assignment reporter
Sports team (also seen on Touchdown Live!)
- Mark Lericos - sports director; weeknights at 6, 9 (on 14Xtra) and 10 p.m.
- Bo McFall - sports anchor; weekend evenings
Reporters
- Jasmin Embers - Western Kentucky newsroom reporter
- Laura Forbes - weekday morning reporter
- Brett Hoffland - general assignment reporter
- Dave Kirk - Owensboro correspondent
- Laura McNutt - general assignment reporter
- Erin Meyer - general assignment reporter
- Emily Mieure - 'Just In' correspondent
- Nicole Niziolek - general assignment reporter
- Lorilyn Prestidge - general assignment reporter
- Kendra Whittle - general assignment reporter