WESH

Encyclopedia : W : WE : WES : WESH

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WESH, "WESH 2" is a television station serving the Orlando metropolitan area. It is affiliated with the NBC network. It is licensed to Daytona Beach, with studio facilities in Winter Park. It transmits its analog signal on VHF channel 2 and its digital signal on VHF channel 11, when viewed over the air PSIP will display 2.1 for WESH DT and 2.2 for WESH Weather Plus. It is currently owned by Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. Its transmitter is located in Orange City, Florida.

WESH was the first station in Orlando to carry an on-site RADAR facility, SuperDoppler 2 as opposed to relying on National Weather Service RADARs. It is installed on top of the tower located at the Winter Park broadcast studio. Today it also promotes a VIPIR 3D RADAR system, taking advantage of the fact that the RADARs at Melbourne, Tampa, Jacksonville and Miami can all reach Orlando, in addition to SuperDoppler 2. WESH also produces a nightly weathercast for its sister station in Tampa Bay, WMOR, anchored by chief meteorologist Dave Marsh.

The primary news anchors at WESH are Jim Payne and Wendy Chioji.

History

WESH first went on the air on June 11, 1956. WESH was an NBC affiliate, as it still is today. However, WESH's broadcast tower was very short: it was only 300 feet high. Because of this, for its first year of operation, its coverage was limited to Volusia County. As such, it shared the NBC affiliation in Central Florida with WDBO-TV (now WKMG-TV). It finally became the sole NBC affiliate for the Central Florida market on November 5, 1957. On that day, a new 1,000-foot tower was built and opened, WESH would be the only station transmitting from there. WESH's tower location was farther from Orlando than the other stations because it was short-spaced to another channel two in Florida, public broadcaster WPBT in Miami.

The Cowles family, then owner of KRNT-TV (now KCCI) in Des Moines, Iowa, purchased the station in 1965. The Cowleses would serve as WESH's longest standing owner, owning the station for 19 years. The Cowleses got out of broadcasting in 1984. They wold sell WESH and KCCI to Houston, Texas-based H&C Communications, owners of KPRC-TV, Houston's NBC affiliate that also broadcast on channel two. Under H&C, the Daytona Beach studio was moved to the corner of US 1 and US 92 in 1989. The station's primary operations also moved to a brand new studio in Winter Park in 1991.

In 1980, while still owned by the Cowleses, the station built a 1,700 ft tower on the same site as the 1,000 foot tower. The new tower allowed for WESH to expand its coverage into areas like Lakeland, Gainesville, and St. Augustine. The 1,000 foot tower was dismantled in the late 80's.

The Hobby family, owners of H&C, retired from broadcasting in 1995, selling off its stations to various owners. WESH and KCCI were sold to Pulitzer. Pulitzer then decided to exit broadcasting itself, selling all of its stations, including WESH and KCCI, to Hearst-Argyle, in 1999.

On May 8, 2006, Hearst-Argyle announced its purchase of WB (and future CW) affiliate WKCF from Emmis Communications. Emmis is also exiting broadcast television so it could concentrate on radio. This acquisition was approved by the Federal Communications Commission on July 7 2006. Upon consummation, this acquisition will result in Orlando's third commercial duopoly operation. Orlando's other two duoplies are Cox-owned WFTV/WRDQ and Fox-owned WOFL/WRBW.

The station is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary.

On the June 21, 2006 episode of The Tonight Show, Ross the Intern, a flamboyant personality made an appearance as a guest meteorologist.

Previous logos

Image:wesh 1987.gif|The 2 on this logo is known as the Sailboat 2 logo. Image:2WESH.PNG|Current WESH logo. The "2" is based on the one used by former sister station KPRC in Houston from 1992 to 1995.

Newscasts

Weekdays

• WESH2 News Early Sunrise - 5AM-7AM
• WESH2 News at Noon - NOON-12:30PM
• WESH2 News at Five - 5PM-5:30PM
• WESH2 News at 5:30 - 5:30PM-6PM
• WESH2 News at Six - 6PM-6:30PM
• WESH2 News at Eleven - 11PM-11:35PM

Weekends

• WESH2 News Early Sunrise Weekend - 5AM-8AM
• WESH2 News at Noon Weekend - NOON-12:30PM
• WESH2 News at Six Weekend - 6PM-6:30PM
• WESH2 News at Eleven - 11PM-11:35PM (11:30 Saturdays)
• Sunday Sports Extra - 11:35PM-12:05AM Sundays

External links

• [WESH Official Website]
• [WESH Brings NBC to Central Florida] - WESH History
• [Query the FCC's TV station database for WESH]

Broadcast television in the Orlando / Daytona Beach / Melbourne market  [(Nielsen DMA #20)]
WESH 2 (NBC) - WKMG 6 (CBS) - WFTV 9 (ABC) - WTMO 15 (TEL) - WCEU 15 (PBS) - WKCF 18 (The WB/The CW) - W21AU 21 (AZA) - WMFE 24 (PBS) - WVEN 26 (UNI) - WRDQ 27 (Ind) - WRCF 29 (A1) - WOFL 35 (Fox) - WZXZ 36 (MTV2) - WOTF 43 (TFU) - WLCB 45 (Ind) - WOGX 51 (Fox) - WTGL 52 (Ind) - WOPX 56 (i) - WRBW 65 (UPN/MNTV) - WBCC 68 (PBS)
Local digital television channels
WACX 40 (TBN)
[[Template:Gainesville TV|Gainesville]] channels serving Ocala, part of the Orlando market
WUFT 5 (PBS) - WCJB 20 (ABC)
Local cable television channels
Central Florida News 13

 

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