WPTA
Encyclopedia
WPTA is the ABC
-affiliated television station
for Northeastern Indiana
licensed to Fort Wayne
. It broadcasts a high definition
digital signal on UHF channel 24 (or virtual channel
21.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter at its studios on Butler Road. The station can also be seen on Comcast
and Frontier FiOS channel 7. There is a high definition feed offered on Frontier FiOS digital channel 506 and Comcast digital channel 1007. Owned by Malara Broadcasting, WPTA is operated through a local marketing agreement
(LMA) by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation
. This makes it sister to NBC
affiliate WISE-TV
and the two share studios. Syndicated
programming on this station includes: The Ellen DeGeneres Show
, Entertainment Tonight
, The Doctors
, and Everybody Hates Chris
.
.
whose company owned Bloomington
's WTTV
and several other Indiana
broadcast stations. It was the third station to launch in Fort Wayne and immediately took all ABC programming from NBC affiliate WKJG-TV (now WISE-TV
) and CBS
affiliate WANE-TV
. Under Federal Communication Commission (FCC) rules at that time, the market
was deemed too small for three full-power stations so Tarzian's application listed WPTA's city of license
as the tiny hamlet of Roanoke
. This town is just across the Allen
and Huntington
county line approximately fourteen miles to the southwest of its studios and transmitter on Butler Road in Fort Wayne. It was possible because the FCC had by this time allowed a station to have its main studio in a different location from its city of license.
WPTA identified itself as "Roanoke/Fort Wayne" on-air until the license was officially transferred to Fort Wayne sometime in the 1970s. In addition to ABC programming, it also originally aired seven and a half hours of local, live programming per week. In 1957, the station showed a spin-off of American Bandstand
called Teen Dance and afternoon kids show Popeye and the Rascals. In 1964, a 2226 square feet (206.8 m²) addition to its studios was added to accommodate an expanding sales staff. On April 4, 1973
, the station was sold to Combined Communications for $
3.6 million. Under new management, WPTA purchased new cameras and a more modern switcher. On June 7, 1979
, Combined merged with Gannett
.
On May 12, 1983, that company sold WPTA (along with WLKY in Louisville, Kentucky
) to Pulitzer
Publishing for an undisclosed amount. The station was sold again to the Granite Broadcasting Corporation on September 25, 1989
for $22.15 million. In late-1998 alongside the launch of The WB 100+
and its cable-only affiliates, WPTA began managing and promoting "WBFW". Since its was cable-exclusive, the channel used the calls in a fictional manner.
In 2005, after Granite bought NBC affiliate WISE-TV, it sold WPTA to the Malara Broadcast Group for $45.3 million. A local marketing agreement was established that called for Granite to provide operation services to WPTA as well as for Malara's other new station KDLH
in Duluth, Minnesota
. Although WISE-TV is nominally the senior partner in this LMA, the stations' combined operation is based at WPTA's studios and the bulk of the news staff came from WPTA (see below). The company jointly files its Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports with Granite which lead to allegations that the company uses Malara as a shell corporation to evade FCC rules on duopolies
.
The FCC does not allow common ownership of two of the four largest stations in a single market. Additionally, Fort Wayne has only six full-power stations which is too few to allow duopolies in any case. After emerging from bankruptcy in Summer 2007, Granite stock was taken over by Silver Point Capital of Greenwich, Connecticut
which is a privately owned hedge fund
. Silver Point Capital now controls Granite according to a Buffalo, New York
news article printed September 16, 2007. According to the same article, Granite will be sold to other parties and many of its stations have been laying-off employees or cutting salaries up to twenty percent.
On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN
announced the networks would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined service would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of corporate parents CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros.
unit of Time Warner
. On February 22, News Corporation
announced that it would start up another new network called MyNetworkTV
as sister network to Fox. It would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming independent. It was also created to compete against The CW.
WANE-TV offered UPN on a second digital subchannel
. An announcement in March said "WBFW" would affiliate with The CW via The CW Plus
(a similar operation to The WB 100+). WPTA decided to create a new second digital subchannel to simulcast "WBFW" and offer access to CW programming for over-the-air viewers. Meanwhile on September 5, WISE-TV moved NBC Weather Plus
from its second digital subchannel in order for it to become the area's affiliate of MyNetworkTV. Weather Plus then began airing on WISE-DT3. On September 18, The CW debuted on "WBFW" which officially began using the WPTA-DT2.
On September 28, 2007, WPTA unveiled a 3D
version of its current logo to commemorate the station's 50th anniversary but did not fully switch to it until August 4, 2008
. On January 10, 2009, it went online with a new digital master control center which will service WPTA, WISE, and Granite's other Midwestern
stations. After the station shut down its analog signal, it remained on its pre-transition digital channel (24). Through the use of PSIP
, digital television receivers display WPTA's virtual channel
as 21.
On July 25, 2011 Nexstar Broadcasting
(owners of WFFT-TV
) filed an antitrust lawsuit against Granite Broadcasting, claiming the company is trying to monopolize ad sales through its shared services agreement with WPTA (owned by Malara Broadcasting) and the five network affiliations that will be shared between WPTA and WISE-TV (WPTA already carries ABC and CW programming, while WISE-TV will add Fox programming to its MyNetworkTV-affiliated digital subchannel on August 1, 2011 (WFFT lost the Fox affiliation due to a dispute between Fox/News Corporation
and Nexstar over reverse compensation payments during negotiations to renew WFFT's affiliation agreement with Fox), as well as the NBC affiliation on its primary channel). Nexstar is seeking a judgment that would force either WPTA-TV or WISE-TV to give up at least one of the three Big Four affiliations it currently has.
Under Combined Communications ownership, WPTA significantly invested in local newscast production. During that time, Wes Sims and Harry Gallagher were co-anchors with meteorologist Bill Eisenhood and sports anchor Tom Campbell. In July 1978
, WPTA constructed a new news set. Also, newscasts that had been in the Eyewitness News
format were replaced with the current "Alive" (as "21 Alive") format that remains to this day. WXIA in Atlanta is another former Combined station that currently includes "Alive" in its name. In Summer 1984, the station received its first live truck to assist in news production.
After being taken over by Granite, WISE-TV's news department was promptly folded and combined with WPTA. The company fired those who worked at WISE-TV with the exception of lead anchor Linda Jackson who was integrated into the WPTA operation. That station began airing a weeknight newscast at 7 which was the first and, at the time, only one in the state of Indiana. On September 11, 2006, this was replaced with an extra episode of Dr. Phil
due to low ratings. In November 2005, after several months of using the "Alive" news brand on both stations, WPTA debuted a new set in the basement of its studios formerly used to tape public-affairs programs such as Impact. With it came a new branding for the newscasts, Indiana's NewsCenter.
When WPTA took over production of news on WISE-TV, there was initially a significant decrease in ratings. WANE-TV was the market's news leader for several years after that according to Nielsen Media Research
since it was the only other local news operation in the area. This was most easily attributed to continued viewer resentment towards WPTA and Granite for the elimination of WISE-TV's news department and arguably its identity and history. However, WPTA management said the changes were part of a longer-term plan that would need up to five years to take hold with viewers. Part of the plan to win back viewers included new technology such as text messaging, an improved website with more online video, and upgrading weather equipment to a VIPIR
system.
Eventually, the changes started to take hold and ratings began to drastically improve. In the November 2007 sweeps period, WPTA and WANE-TV were nearly neck-and-neck in the Fort Wayne television news ratings race with WANE-TV continuing to show a slight lead. Starting July 24, 2006, WISE-TV began airing a weeknight prime time newscast at 10 for a half-hour on its NBC Weather Plus subchannel. With the September 2006 change to MyNetworkTV on WISE-DT2 and the addition of The CW on WPTA's second digital subchannel, the show (known as Indiana
's NewsCenter Prime News) became part of those channel's schedules through a simulcast. On May 18, 2009, WPTA and WISE-TV became the first two stations in Fort Wayne to air local newscasts in 16:9
enhanced definition widescreen
. Although not truly high definition, the aspect ratio
matches those of HD television screens.
In September 2009, Granite began producing a pre-recorded weeknight prime time newscast at 10 on sister station MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYD
in Detroit
. The broadcast features news anchor Melissa Long, Chief Meteorologist Curtis Smith, and Sports Director Dean Pantazi. There are locally-based Detroit reporters, who contribute stories to the show, as well as multimedia journalist Dave Leval who also appears on WPTA and WISE-TV. The news share agreement was established after the Butler Road facilities became a master control hub for Granite's Midwestern stations and WMYD's loss of broadcast rights to Detroit Pistons
games. Previously, that station had been airing another pre-taped weeknight prime time newscast at 10 produced by the Independent News Network
in Davenport, Iowa
.
Currently, WPTA co-produces newscasts with WISE-TV that are essentially the same in terms of coverage and format. Simulcasted shows on both stations include weekday mornings (except for first half hour at 5 a.m. on WPTA), weeknights at 6, and weekends. This station airs separate weekday noon as well as weeknight 5, 5:30, and 11 o'clock news. WISE-TV does not air broadcasts weeknights at 5 and 5:30 unlike most NBC affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone
. Weekend simulcasts can be pre-empted on one channel due to network obligations. WISE-DT2
offers rebroadcasts of the entire weekday morning show at 7, midday noon news at 1, and weeknight 6 o'clock newscast at 6:30. Like all CW Plus affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone, WPTA-DT2 airs the nationally syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz
on weekdays from 6 until 9. WPTA and WISE-TV do not currently use their own on-site weather radar
as WANE-TV does, instead using NEXRAD
data with VIPIR
processing under the name Pinpoint VIPIR HD; one advertisement featured Smith explaining that the live radar at WPTA -- which had been in use since the late 1990s -- was so far outpaced by the VIPIR system that they "unplugged it."
Anchors
Pinpoint VIPIR HD Weather (all have the AMS
Seal of Approval)
Sports team (all seen on The Score and Sound Off)
Multimedia journalists
Contributors
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...
-affiliated 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 Northeastern Indiana
Northern Indiana
Northern Indiana is the region of Indiana including 26 counties bordering parts of Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio. The area is generally sub-classified into other regions. The northwest is economically and culturally intertwined with Chicago, and is considered part of the Chicago metropolitan area...
licensed to Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in the US state of Indiana and the county seat of Allen County. The population was 253,691 at the 2010 Census making it the 74th largest city in the United States and the second largest in Indiana...
. 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 24 (or 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....
21.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter at its studios on Butler Road. The station can also be seen on Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
and Frontier FiOS channel 7. There is a high definition feed offered on Frontier FiOS digital channel 506 and Comcast digital channel 1007. Owned by Malara Broadcasting, WPTA is operated through a local marketing agreement
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
(LMA) by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation
Granite Broadcasting Corporation
Granite Broadcasting Corporation, founded by W. Don Cornwell and Stuart Beck in 1988 , is a broadcasting holding company which owns or operates 14 television stations in the United States, largely centered in the midwest with a cluster in New York state...
. This makes it sister to NBC
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...
affiliate WISE-TV
WISE-TV
WISE-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Northeastern Indiana licensed to Fort Wayne. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 18 from a transmitter at its studios on Butler Road in Northwest Fort Wayne. The station can also be seen on Frontier FiOS channel 4 and...
and the two share studios. 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 this station includes: The Ellen DeGeneres Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show, often shortened to Ellen, is an American television talk show hosted by comedian/actress Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it is produced by Telepictures and airs in syndication, including stations owned by NBC Universal. For its first five seasons, the show...
, Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...
, The Doctors
The Doctors (2008 TV series)
The Doctors is an American syndicated talk show airing daily in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Ireland, Sweden and Finland. It debuted on September 8, 2008. The hour-long daytime program is produced by Phil McGraw and his son Jay McGraw and is distributed domestically and globally by CBS Television...
, and Everybody Hates Chris
Everybody Hates Chris
Everybody Hates Chris is an African American television period sitcom inspired by the teenage experiences of comedian Chris Rock , while growing up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York . The show is set from 1982 to 1987; however, Rock himself was a teenager during years...
.
Digital programming
On WPTA-DT2, Frontier FiOS channel 7, and Comcast channel 19 is the area's CW affiliate. Known on-air as Fort Wayne CW, all programming is provided by The CW PlusThe CW Plus
The CW Plus is a group of primarily digital sub-channels, analog, and non-broadcast cable television outlets for the CW Television Network, for markets below the top 99 television media markets in the United States....
.
| Channel | Video | 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,... |
Name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21.1 | 720p 720p 720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan... |
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 ... |
WPTA-HD | Main WPTA programming / ABC |
| 21.2 | 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 | WPTA-CW | "Fort Wayne CW" |
| 21.3 | 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 ... |
WPTA-WX | "Pinpoint Vipir HD" |
History
The station began broadcasting on September 28, 1957 and aired an analog signal on UHF channel 21. Founded by Sarkes TarzianSarkes Tarzian
Sarkes Tarzian was an Armenian-born US engineer, inventor, and broadcaster. In 1907, he and his family immigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. He attended the University of Pennsylvania and received an undergraduate degree in 1924 and a graduate degree in 1927...
whose company owned Bloomington
Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 80,405 at the 2010 census....
's WTTV
WTTV
WTTV is a CW-affiliated television station licensed to Bloomington, Indiana, serving the Indianapolis television market. WTTV is owned by the Tribune Company, and is one-half of a duopoly with WXIN , the market's Fox affiliate. The two stations share a studio at 6910 Network Place on the northwest...
and several other 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...
broadcast stations. It was the third station to launch in Fort Wayne and immediately took all ABC programming from NBC affiliate WKJG-TV (now WISE-TV
WISE-TV
WISE-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Northeastern Indiana licensed to Fort Wayne. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 18 from a transmitter at its studios on Butler Road in Northwest Fort Wayne. The station can also be seen on Frontier FiOS channel 4 and...
) and CBS
CBS
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 WANE-TV
WANE-TV
WANE-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Northern Indiana licensed to Fort Wayne. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 31 from a transmitter at studios on West State Boulevard in Northwest Fort Wayne/Tower Heights section of the city. The station can also be...
. Under Federal Communication Commission (FCC) rules at that time, the market
Media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...
was deemed too small for three full-power stations so Tarzian's application listed WPTA's city of license
City of license
A city of license or community of license, in American and Canadian broadcasting, is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator....
as the tiny hamlet of Roanoke
Roanoke, Indiana
Roanoke is a town in Jackson Township, Huntington County, Indiana, United States. The population was 1,722 at the 2010 census. Roanoke is governed by a town council. Town offices include the clerk treasurer, utilities department, police department, and volunteer fire department. The town has a...
. This town is just across the Allen
Allen County, Indiana
As of the census of 2000, there were 331,849 people, 128,745 households, and 86,259 families residing in the county. The population density was 505 people per square mile . There were 138,905 housing units at an average density of 211 per square mile...
and Huntington
Huntington County, Indiana
Huntington County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. The county seat and lone city is Huntington. According to Census 2010, the population was 37,124.-Geography:...
county line approximately fourteen miles to the southwest of its studios and transmitter on Butler Road in Fort Wayne. It was possible because the FCC had by this time allowed a station to have its main studio in a different location from its city of license.
WPTA identified itself as "Roanoke/Fort Wayne" on-air until the license was officially transferred to Fort Wayne sometime in the 1970s. In addition to ABC programming, it also originally aired seven and a half hours of local, live programming per week. In 1957, the station showed a spin-off of American Bandstand
American Bandstand
American Bandstand is an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer...
called Teen Dance and afternoon kids show Popeye and the Rascals. In 1964, a 2226 square feet (206.8 m²) addition to its studios was added to accommodate an expanding sales staff. On April 4, 1973
1973 in television
The year 1973 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1973.-Events:*January 4 – The record breaking, long-running comedy series in the UK and the world "Last of the Summer Wine" starts as a 30-minute pilot on BBC1's Comedy Playhouse show....
, the station was sold to Combined Communications for $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
3.6 million. Under new management, WPTA purchased new cameras and a more modern switcher. On June 7, 1979
1979 in television
The year 1979 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1979.For the American TV schedule, see: 1979-80 American network television schedule.-Events:...
, Combined merged with Gannett
Gannett Company
Gannett Company, Inc. is a publicly-traded media holding company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States, near McLean. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. Its assets include the national newspaper USA Today and the weekly USA Weekend...
.
On May 12, 1983, that company sold WPTA (along with WLKY in 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...
) to Pulitzer
Pulitzer
Pulitzer may refer to:* Pulitzer Prize, an annual U.S. journalism, literary, and music award* Pulitzer, Inc., a U.S. newspaper chain* Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a non-profit organization for journalists- People :...
Publishing for an undisclosed amount. The station was sold again to the Granite Broadcasting Corporation on September 25, 1989
1989 in television
For the American TV schedule, see: 1989–90 United States network television schedule.The year 1989 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1989.-Events:-Debuts:-1950s:...
for $22.15 million. In late-1998 alongside the launch of The WB 100+
The WB 100+ Station Group
The WB 100+ Station Group was a group of primarily non-broadcast local cable television outlets for The WB Television Network, for markets below the top 100 television media markets in the United States. Dayparts with no WB programming were programmed by the network...
and its cable-only affiliates, WPTA began managing and promoting "WBFW". Since its was cable-exclusive, the channel used the calls in a fictional manner.
In 2005, after Granite bought NBC affiliate WISE-TV, it sold WPTA to the Malara Broadcast Group for $45.3 million. A local marketing agreement was established that called for Granite to provide operation services to WPTA as well as for Malara's other new station KDLH
KDLH
KDLH is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Iron Range area of Northeastern Minnesota that is licensed to Duluth. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 33 from a transmitter west of downtown in Hilltop Park. Owned by the Malara Broadcast Group, the station is...
in Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...
. Although WISE-TV is nominally the senior partner in this LMA, the stations' combined operation is based at WPTA's studios and the bulk of the news staff came from WPTA (see below). The company jointly files its Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports with Granite which lead to allegations that the company uses Malara as a shell corporation to evade FCC rules on duopolies
Duopoly (broadcasting)
In United States broadcast television and radio, duopoly is a term used to describe a single company which owns two or more stations in the same city or community....
.
The FCC does not allow common ownership of two of the four largest stations in a single market. Additionally, Fort Wayne has only six full-power stations which is too few to allow duopolies in any case. After emerging from bankruptcy in Summer 2007, Granite stock was taken over by Silver Point Capital of Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...
which is a privately owned hedge fund
Hedge fund
A hedge fund is a private pool of capital actively managed by an investment adviser. Hedge funds are only open for investment to a limited number of accredited or qualified investors who meet criteria set by regulators. These investors can be institutions, such as pension funds, university...
. Silver Point Capital now controls Granite according to a Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
news article printed September 16, 2007. According to the same article, Granite will be sold to other parties and many of its stations have been laying-off employees or cutting salaries up to twenty percent.
On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
announced the networks would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined service would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of corporate parents CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
unit of Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
. On February 22, News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
announced that it would start up another new network called MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
as sister network to Fox. It would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming independent. It was also created to compete against The CW.
WANE-TV offered UPN on a second digital subchannel
Digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...
. An announcement in March said "WBFW" would affiliate with The CW via The CW Plus
The CW Plus
The CW Plus is a group of primarily digital sub-channels, analog, and non-broadcast cable television outlets for the CW Television Network, for markets below the top 99 television media markets in the United States....
(a similar operation to The WB 100+). WPTA decided to create a new second digital subchannel to simulcast "WBFW" and offer access to CW programming for over-the-air viewers. Meanwhile on September 5, WISE-TV moved 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...
from its second digital subchannel in order for it to become the area's affiliate of MyNetworkTV. Weather Plus then began airing on WISE-DT3. On September 18, The CW debuted on "WBFW" which officially began using the WPTA-DT2.
On September 28, 2007, WPTA unveiled a 3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
version of its current logo to commemorate the station's 50th anniversary but did not fully switch to it until August 4, 2008
2008 in television
The following is a list of events affecting American television in 2008. Events listed include television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and new channel launches.-January:-February:-March:-April:-May:-June:-July:-August:...
. On January 10, 2009, it went online with a new digital master control center which will service WPTA, WISE, and Granite's other Midwestern
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
stations. After the station shut down its analog signal, it remained on its pre-transition digital channel (24). Through the use of PSIP
Program and System Information Protocol
The Program and System Information Protocol is the protocol used in the ATSC digital television system for carrying metadata about each channel in the broadcast MPEG transport stream of a TV station and for publishing information about television programs so that viewers can select what to watch...
, digital television receivers display WPTA's 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....
as 21.
On July 25, 2011 Nexstar Broadcasting
Nexstar Broadcasting Group
Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc., is an entity of broadcast television stations headquartered in Irving, Texas. The company consists of 50 television stations across the U.S., ranging from market sizes 9 to 201 . 43 of the stations are broadcasting at full power, with the other 4 broadcasting at...
(owners of WFFT-TV
WFFT-TV
WFFT-TV is an Independent station for Northeastern Indiana licensed to Fort Wayne. From the network's launch on October 9th, 1986 to July 31, 2011, WFFT was the Fox-affiliated television station for Fort Wayne. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 36 from a transmitter at...
) filed an antitrust lawsuit against Granite Broadcasting, claiming the company is trying to monopolize ad sales through its shared services agreement with WPTA (owned by Malara Broadcasting) and the five network affiliations that will be shared between WPTA and WISE-TV (WPTA already carries ABC and CW programming, while WISE-TV will add Fox programming to its MyNetworkTV-affiliated digital subchannel on August 1, 2011 (WFFT lost the Fox affiliation due to a dispute between Fox/News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
and Nexstar over reverse compensation payments during negotiations to renew WFFT's affiliation agreement with Fox), as well as the NBC affiliation on its primary channel). Nexstar is seeking a judgment that would force either WPTA-TV or WISE-TV to give up at least one of the three Big Four affiliations it currently has.
News operation
1978 in television
The year 1978 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1978.For the American TV schedule, see: 1978-79 American network television schedule.-Events:...
, WPTA constructed a new news set. Also, newscasts that had been in the Eyewitness News
Eyewitness News
Eyewitness News is a style of news broadcasting used by local television stations in different markets across the United States. It refers to a particular style of television newscast with an emphasis on visual elements and action video...
format were replaced with the current "Alive" (as "21 Alive") format that remains to this day. WXIA in Atlanta is another former Combined station that currently includes "Alive" in its name. In Summer 1984, the station received its first live truck to assist in news production.
After being taken over by Granite, WISE-TV's news department was promptly folded and combined with WPTA. The company fired those who worked at WISE-TV with the exception of lead anchor Linda Jackson who was integrated into the WPTA operation. That station began airing a weeknight newscast at 7 which was the first and, at the time, only one in the state of Indiana. On September 11, 2006, this was replaced with an extra episode of 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...
due to low ratings. In November 2005, after several months of using the "Alive" news brand on both stations, WPTA debuted a new set in the basement of its studios formerly used to tape public-affairs programs such as Impact. With it came a new branding for the newscasts, Indiana's NewsCenter.
When WPTA took over production of news on WISE-TV, there was initially a significant decrease in ratings. WANE-TV was the market's news leader for several years after that according to Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
since it was the only other local news operation in the area. This was most easily attributed to continued viewer resentment towards WPTA and Granite for the elimination of WISE-TV's news department and arguably its identity and history. However, WPTA management said the changes were part of a longer-term plan that would need up to five years to take hold with viewers. Part of the plan to win back viewers included new technology such as text messaging, an improved website with more online video, and upgrading weather equipment to a VIPIR
VIPIR
Volumetric Imaging and Processing of Integrated Radar, known by the acronym VIPIR, is a type of post-processing program applied to traditional radar systems and is distributed by Baron Weather Solutions...
system.
Eventually, the changes started to take hold and ratings began to drastically improve. In the November 2007 sweeps period, WPTA and WANE-TV were nearly neck-and-neck in the Fort Wayne television news ratings race with WANE-TV continuing to show a slight lead. Starting July 24, 2006, WISE-TV began airing a weeknight prime time newscast at 10 for a half-hour on its NBC Weather Plus subchannel. With the September 2006 change to MyNetworkTV on WISE-DT2 and the addition of The CW on WPTA's second digital subchannel, the show (known as 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...
's NewsCenter Prime News) became part of those channel's schedules through a simulcast. On May 18, 2009, WPTA and WISE-TV became the first two stations in Fort Wayne to air local newscasts in 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 ...
enhanced definition widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
. Although not truly high definition, the aspect ratio
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,...
matches those of HD television screens.
In September 2009, Granite began producing a pre-recorded weeknight prime time newscast at 10 on sister station MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYD
WMYD
WMYD is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for Southeast Michigan licensed to Detroit. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 21 from a transmitter on Eight Mile Road in Oak Park along the Oakland and Wayne County line. The station can also be seen on Comcast...
in Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
. The broadcast features news anchor Melissa Long, Chief Meteorologist Curtis Smith, and Sports Director Dean Pantazi. There are locally-based Detroit reporters, who contribute stories to the show, as well as multimedia journalist Dave Leval who also appears on WPTA and WISE-TV. The news share agreement was established after the Butler Road facilities became a master control hub for Granite's Midwestern stations and WMYD's loss of broadcast rights to Detroit Pistons
Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons are a franchise of the National Basketball Association based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The team's home arena is The Palace of Auburn Hills. It was originally founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana as the Fort Wayne Pistons as a member of the National Basketball League in 1941, where...
games. Previously, that station had been airing another pre-taped weeknight prime time newscast at 10 produced by the Independent News Network
Independent News Network
For the consortium of non-profit investigative news organizations, see .The Independent News Network, also known as INN, is a television news service based in Davenport, Iowa. It syndicates "localized" news programs for television stations across the country with little budget for news...
in Davenport, Iowa
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836 by Antoine LeClaire and was named for his friend, George Davenport, a colonel during the Black Hawk...
.
Currently, WPTA co-produces newscasts with WISE-TV that are essentially the same in terms of coverage and format. Simulcasted shows on both stations include weekday mornings (except for first half hour at 5 a.m. on WPTA), weeknights at 6, and weekends. This station airs separate weekday noon as well as weeknight 5, 5:30, and 11 o'clock news. WISE-TV does not air broadcasts weeknights at 5 and 5:30 unlike most NBC affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
. Weekend simulcasts can be pre-empted on one channel due to network obligations. WISE-DT2
WISE-DT2
WISE-DT2 is the primary Fox and secondary MyNetworkTV television station for Northeastern Indiana. It is a second digital subchannel of NBC affiliate WISE-TV owned by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation...
offers rebroadcasts of the entire weekday morning show at 7, midday noon news at 1, and weeknight 6 o'clock newscast at 6:30. Like all CW Plus affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone, WPTA-DT2 airs the nationally syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz
The Daily Buzz
The Daily Buzz is a nationally syndicated breakfast television news and infotainment program. The show is produced by Fisher Communications and is owned and distributed by ACME Communications; it is broadcast every weekday morning from studios at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida...
on weekdays from 6 until 9. WPTA and WISE-TV do not currently use their own on-site weather radar
Weather radar
Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, estimate its type . Modern weather radars are mostly pulse-Doppler radars, capable of detecting the motion of rain droplets in addition to the...
as WANE-TV does, instead using NEXRAD
NEXRAD
NEXRAD or Nexrad is a network of 159 high-resolution Doppler weather radars operated by the National Weather Service, an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration within the United States Department of Commerce...
data with VIPIR
VIPIR
Volumetric Imaging and Processing of Integrated Radar, known by the acronym VIPIR, is a type of post-processing program applied to traditional radar systems and is distributed by Baron Weather Solutions...
processing under the name Pinpoint VIPIR HD; one advertisement featured Smith explaining that the live radar at WPTA -- which had been in use since the late 1990s -- was so far outpaced by the VIPIR system that they "unplugged it."
Newscast titles
- Your Esso Reporter (1950s–1961)
- WPTA-TV News (1961–1969)
- Eyewitness NewsEyewitness NewsEyewitness News is a style of news broadcasting used by local television stations in different markets across the United States. It refers to a particular style of television newscast with an emphasis on visual elements and action video...
(1969–1978) - 21 Alive Newsroom (1978–mid 1990s)
- 21 Alive News (mid 1990s–2005)
- Indiana's NewsCenter (2005–present)
Station slogans
- "Together on 21 Alive" (1986–1987, localized version of ABC ad campaign)
- "Your Number One News" (1986–1995)
- "More People Get Their News From 21 Alive News Than From Any Other Local News Source" (variation of ABC's closing slogan on national news programming used until change to Indiana's NewsCenter)
- "A Network of Indiana's NewsCenter" (2005–2010)
News team
- Mary Collins - weekday mornings "INC Today" (5-7 a.m.)
- Ryan Elijah - weekday mornings "INC Today" (5-7 a.m.); also "In Your Corner" segment producer
- Corrine Rose - weekdays at noon; also weeknight reporter and Indiana's NewsCenter Noon Extra host
- Melissa Long - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m.
- Linda Jackson - weeknights at 5:30 and 10 p.m.; also "Viewer Feedback" and "Angels Among Us" segments producer
- Eric Olson - weekends at 6 and 11 p.m.; also "Your Country" segment producer
Pinpoint VIPIR HD Weather (all have the AMS
American Meteorological Society
The 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...
Seal of Approval)
- Curtis Smith - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6, 10, and 11 p.m.
- Chris Daniels - meteorologist; weekday mornings "INC Today" (5-7 a.m.) and noon
- Jason Meyers - meteorologist; weekends at 6 and 11 p.m., also "Weather & Your Health" segment producer
- Chris Havely - Fill-In meteorologist and weather specialist
Sports team (all seen on The Score and Sound Off)
- Dean Pantazi - sports directorSports DirectorA sports director is an individual at a television or radio station who is in charge of the sports department. In local news, the sports director is typically the station's primary sportscaster, and often anchors the primetime newscasts on weekdays. They are in charge of sports programming and...
; weeknights at 6, 10 and 11 p.m. - Tommy Schoegler - sports anchor; weekends at 6 and 11 p.m., also sports reporter
- Kyle Binder - sports anchor; weekend evening fill-in
- Kent Hormann - sports anchor; fill-in
- Scott Zeigler - More of The Score co-host
Multimedia journalists
- Jennifer Blomquist - "Golden Apple" segment producer
- Jeff Bowman - weekday mornings
- Eric Clabaugh - videojournalist
- John Davis - videojournalist
- Dave Leval - based at WMYD in Detroit
- Rachel Martin - videojournalist
- Jeff Neumeyer - videojournalist
- Matt Resnik - videojournalist
- Megan Trent - videojournalist
Contributors
- Elizabeth Nulf MacDonald - Docs on Call rotating host
- Art Ginsburg - "Mr. FoodMr. FoodArt Ginsburg, commonly known as Mr. Food, is a television chef and best selling author of cookbooks who emphasizes simple recipes. He is the originator of "quick & easy cooking" who, for the past 30+ years, has paved the way for TV food personalities who have followed. With his enthusiastic style,...
" segment producer - Lee Kelso - Docs on Call rotating host
- Tracy Warner - politics
Notable former staff
- Marti WrightMarti WrightMarti Wright was a news anchorwoman for WPTA-TV, the ABC television affiliate in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA, from 1981 to 2000.On March 30, 2000, was arrested near her home in Auburn, Indiana on a DWI....
- news anchor and reporter (1981–2000; resigned after DWIDWIDWI is an acronym which means:* Driving while intoxicated, see Driving under the influence* Driving while impaired* Danish West Indies* Diffusion-weighted imaging, a technique used in magnetic resonance imaging* Drinking Water Inspectorate...
in Auburn, IndianaAuburn, IndianaAuburn is a city in DeKalb County, Indiana, United States. The population was 13,086 at the 2010 census. Founded in 1836 by Wesley Park , the city is the county seat of DeKalb County. Auburn is also known as Home of the Classics.-Geography:...
) - Keith EdwardsKeith Edwards (news anchor)Keith Edwards is a retired television journalist who spent most of his career anchoring the evening newscasts on WPTA-TV, the ABC television affiliate in Fort Wayne, Indiana.-Career:...
- news anchor (1983–2007; now retired) - Janette LuuJanette LuuJanette N. Luu is a Vietnamese-American broadcaster. Until October 2009, she hosted CANOE Live, a local TV program on Sun TV in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as Toronto's first-ever Vietnamese TV news anchor.-Personal life:...
- weekend news anchor and reporter (until 2005; now at CKXT-TVCKXT-TVCKXT-DT was a broadcast television station based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and serving much of southern and eastern Ontario, owned by Quebecor Media through its Groupe TVA unit. At the time of the station's closure on November 1, 2011, the station was serving as an over-the-air simulcast of...
)