WFSB

Encyclopedia : W : WF : WFS : WFSB

WFSB is an affiliate of the CBS television network serving most of the state of Connecticut. The station is owned by the Meredith Corporation. Licensed to the state capital of Hartford, WFSB's signal reaches as far away as southwest New Hampshire. WFSB's studios are located at 3 Constitution Plaza in Hartford, with transmitter on Avon Mountain. WFSB broadcasts a digital signal of sister station WSHM-LP, the CBS affilliate in Springfield, MA on channel 33.2.

Contents

1 History
2 Staff

2.1 On-air talent

3 Former Channel 3 Employees
4 Trivia
5 External links

History

Connecticut's second VHF station debuted September 21, 1957 as WTIC-TV, an independent station owned by the Hartford-based Travelers Insurance Company along with WTIC-AM (1080 kHz.) and WTIC-FM (96.5 MHz.). It was one of the most powerful stations in the Northeast, covering nearly all of Connecticut and much of western Massachusetts, including Springfield. The channel 3 signal travels a very long distance under most conditions.

By 1958, CBS was looking to sell its owned and operated station in Hartford, WHCT-TV (channel 18, now WUVN). CBS' ratings had been astonishingly low in Hartford because television manufacturers were not required to have UHF tuners at the time. CBS figured it was better to have its programming on a VHF station, even if it was merely an affiliate. When CBS began shopping around for a new affiliate, it was a foregone conclusion that WTIC-TV would get the affiliation. WTIC-AM had been Hartford's CBS radio affiliate for many years, and CBS was also attracted by having its programming on one of the most powerful stations in New England.

WTIC-TV proved to be a success beyond CBS' wildest dreams. With its tie-ins to CBS and one of New England's leading broadcasters, channel 3 became the highest-rated station in the market. It has held the lead more or less ever since.

In early 1974, Travelers Insurance decided to sell the WTIC stations and sold channel three to the Washington Post Company in 1974 while keeping WTIC AM-FM in the interim. The Posts broadcasting division, Post-Newsweek Stations, changed the calls to WFSB, after broadcasting division president Frederick S. B'eebe; The WTIC-TV calls returned to Connecticut in 1984 when Arch Communications, the then-owners of WTIC-AM-FM, signed on as part-owners of a new television station on channel 61.

In the late 1980s, Post-Newsweek moved its corporate offices from Washington, D.C., to office space located alongside WFSB, making that station the company's flagship. This was part of a move by the Post to give its various subcorporations their own independent identities. This strategy worked well at first; however, by the mid 1990s, WFSB found itself in a shrinking market without any cluster opportunities around it. In June 1997, Post-Newsweek swapped WFSB to the Meredith Corporation for WCPX-TV (now WKMG-TV) in Orlando, Florida. The sale closed that October, although the Post-Newsweek group maintained its base in Hartford until 2000 when it relocated to the company's then-largest station, WDIV in Detroit.

From 1958 until 2003, WFSB was also the default CBS affiliate for the Springfield, Massachusetts market. (Springfield, a two-station market, is only 30 miles from Hartford, and lost its own CBS station when WHYN-TV [now WGGB] switched to ABC in 1958.) Seeing an opportunity to increase its presence in western Massachusetts, in late 2003 WFSB began operating a low-power station in Springfield; WSHM-LP, on channel 67. WSHM can also be seen on WFSB's digital signal (33.2/3.2).

During 2006, construction started on a new building for WFSB, which will be moving from its longtime home on Constitution Plaza in downtown Hartford to the suburb of Rocky Hill. The station is tentatively scheduled to move into the new building in the fall of 2007.

Also in June 2006, the station's website was redesigned (along with those of four of Meredith Corporation's other stations). The old website was operated by the Local Media Network division of World Now. Now Internet Broadcasting operates the site. However, WFSB is still listed on Local Media Network's list of TV websites.

Staff

On-air talent

Al Terzi, Weekday Anchor at Noon & 5PM and Host of Sunday Morning "Face The State"
Denise D'Ascenzo, Weekday Co-Anchor at 5:00 PM, 5:30 PM, 6:00 PM, and 11:00 PM
Dennis House, Weekday Co-Anchor at 6 PM and 11 PM
Steve Bunnell, Weekday Morning Anchor and General Assignment Reporter
Dawn Hasbrouck, Anchor Weekday Mornings & Noon and Health Reporter
Kara Sundlun, Weekend Anchor at 6 PM & 11 PM and Investigative Reporter
Irene O'Connor, Weekend Morning Anchor and General Assignment Reporter
Len Besthoff, General Assignment Reporter
Jon Camp, General Assignment Reporter (to become WMTW anchor in August)
Leon Collins, General Assignment Reporter
Hena Daniels, General Assignment Reporter
Kevin Hogan, New London Bureau Chief
Dan Kain, General Assignment Reporter
Rachel Lutzker, Traffic Reporter
Eric Parker, General Assignment Reporter
Susan Raff, General Assignment Reporter
Diana Rocco, General Assignment Reporter
Jamie Roth, General Assignment Reporter
Jessica Schneider, General Assignment Reporter
Bruce DePrest, Chief Meteorologist seen Weekdays at 5 PM, 5:30 PM, 6 PM, and 11 PM
Scot Haney, Weekday Morning Meteorologist
Mark Dixon, Meteorologist seen Weekend Evenings and Monday through Wednesday at Noon & 5:30 PM
Joe Zone, Sports Director
John Holt, Sports Anchor and Reporter

Trivia

WFSB's radar is called "Early Warning Pinpoint Doppler"
Bill O'Reilly was a reporter and anchor at the station from 1979-1980
WFSB's departure to Rocky Hillwill make WTIC-TV (Fox-61) the only Big 4 television station based in downtown Hartford.
Best of Hartford 2006 Awards: Best Meteorologist (Scot Haney) and Best Anchor (Denise D'Ascenzo)

External links

Terrestrial television>Broadcast television in the Hartford/New Haven market [(Nielsen DMA #28)]
WFSB 3 (CBS) - WTNH 8 (ABC) - WRDM 13 (TEL/RAI) - W17CD 17 (Ind) - WUVN 18 (UNI) - WTXX 20 (The WB/The CW) (The Tube on DT2) - WEDH 24 / WEDW 49 / WEDN 53 / WEDY 65 (PBS/CPTV) - WHPX 26 (i) - WVIT 30 (NBC) - WHCT 38 (AZA) - WSAH 43 (S@H/JTV) - WUTH 47 (TFU) - WNHX 51 (Ind) WCTX 59 (UPN/MNTV) - WTIC 61 (Fox)
Local digital television channels
WSHM 33.2 (CBS)

Meredith Corporation

Fox Network Affiliates: KFXO | KPTV | KVVU | WHNS

NBC Network Affiliate: WSMV

UPN Network Affiliate: KPDX¹

WB Network Affiliates: KSMO¹ | WFLI²

Radio Station: WNEM

¹Confirmed as affiliates of My Network TV starting September 5, 2006.

²Confirmed as an affiliate of The CW Television Network starting September 18, 2006.

³Digital subchannel confirmed as an affiliate of My Network TV Television Network starting September 5, 2006.

Annual Revenue: .2 billion USD (2005) | Employees: Unknown at this time. | Stock Symbol: NYSE: [MDP] | Website: [www.meredith.com]

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.