WNEP-TV

Encyclopedia : W : WN : WNE : WNEP-TV

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WNEP-TV, is an ABC affiliate station broadcasting on channel 16 to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania DMA. For many years, it has been the highest-rated station in northeastern and central Pennsylvania. The station is licensed to Scranton and owned by The New York Times Company, and its main offices and studios are located in Moosic, just outside the Scranton city limits off of Davis St.[link]. Its digital broadcasts are on HDTV channel 49. Its transmitter is located on Penobscot Knob in Mountaintop, Pennsylvania.

History

There were originally two ABC affiliates in northeastern Pennsylvania. WILK-TV, channel 34 in Wilkes-Barre took to the air on September 16, 1953. It was followed by WARM-TV, channel 16 in Scranton in January 1954.

WILK-TV wanted to get a head start on the other local stations when it signed on in 1953, going on the air at 2 p.m., rather than the 3 p.m. air time the other stations had. The engineers got the signal ready by noon and decided to take a break. However, at lunch, they turned on the station to inspect their handywork, only to find the signal was dead. They rushed back and were able to establish the link by 1:50 p.m., ten minutes before sign-on.

Getting a signal from ABC headquarters in New York was a challenge in the early days with no access to satellites. For example, WILK set up a microwave tower in Effort, about 45 miles east of Wilkes-Barre. From here, the network signal was bounced to the Penobscot Knob transmitter site. Often, station employees had to adjust the Effort hop to accept a signal from WFIL-TV in Philadelphia (now WPVI-TV) if they were unable to receive the New York feed.

WILK and WARM were both losing money, in large part because ABC was not on an equal footing with NBC and CBS (and wouldn't be until the 1970s). However, they stayed on the air because they were owned by well-respected local radio stations. Finally, in 1955, WILK and WARM agreed to merge, this coming after it was made clear that Scranton and Wilkes-Barre would be one market. The new station, WNEP-TV, went on-air on New Year's Day 1956. It operates under WILK's license, using WARM's old channel number. Along with the merger came a new owner, Transcontient Broadcasting of Buffalo, New York. WILK-TV's old channel number was then re-assigned to Binghamton, New York (interstingly, that station, under the call letters WIVT, is also an ABC affiliate). The merged station moved into WILK's old studios in downtown Wilkes-Barre, but was and still is licensed to Scranton. In 1962, it moved to a new studio near Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport.

WNEP-TV initially struggled to survive. However, the station took off in 1968 thanks in part to ABC's color programming and the station's new transmitter on Penobscot Knob. The new transmitter, the first million-watt signal in the market, increased WNEP's broadcast range to cover a large portion of Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania[link]. After bouncing back and forth in the ratings for most of the 1960s and 1970s, it surged to first in 1978 and has held the lead ever since.

Transcontinent merged with Taft Broadcasting in 1964. When Taft bought WIBF-TV in Philadelphia and changed the calls to WTAF-TV (it is now WTXF-TV) in 1969, it had to sell WNEP because of signal overlap between WTAF and WNEP. An employee group bought the station. The New York Times Company bought the station in 1985. It moved to its current studio in Moosic in 1989.

Translators

WNEP serves one of the largest coverage areas east of the Mississippi River. This area is very mountainous, meaning that some areas can't get a clear signal from channel 16. WNEP faces an additional problem because the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre market is a "UHF island" due to the fact that it is too close to Philadelphia and New York for VHF analog service. As a result, it operates the largest translator system of any station in Pennsylvania.

• Allentown: W07DC, channel 7 (in Philadelphia market)
• Clarks Summit: W14CO, channel 14
• Mansfield: W26CV, channel 26
• Pottsville: W61AG, channel 61
• Renovo: W40BS, channel 40
• State College: W36BE, channel 36 and W39BE, channel 39 (in Johnstown market)
• Stroudsburg: W66AL, channel 66
• Towanda: W10CP, channel 10 and W69CE, channel 69
• Willamsport: W20AD, channel 20

Newscasts

The station is best known for its local newscasts, which are among the highest-rated in the United States. The station runs its newscasts under the name "Newswatch 16." [link] .

WNEP also produces the 10 PM news for the local FOX affiliate, WOLF. The station's weather forecasts are named "StormTracker 16".

Local programming

History

Many of the programs aired on WNEP have been in-house productions rather than syndicated shows. The most popular of these was a children's program called The Land of Hatchy Milatchy. Another program, Uncle Ted's Ghoul School, once employed Bill O'Reilly as a writer; he was also a reporter at the station for a brief period during the mid-1970s. Also during the 1970s, WNEP produced two game shows, Bowling for Dollars and Dialing for Dollars. Unlike its newscasts, the game shows were absolute failures considering that they were pitted against other more successful national syndicated primetime games such as Family Feud and Match Game PM.

Current locally-produced programs

Today, WNEP produces two in-house programs: Pennsylvania Outdoor Life, a show about hunting and fishing in Pennsylvania, and Home & Backyard, a show about do-it-yourself home improvements, cooking and gardening.

The station also participates in several local charity events, including the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy telethon and Scranton's annual Santa Parade.

Web site

Then meteorologist Mark Sowers launched WNEP's Web site in 1995, making it the first commercial television station with a Web site in the state of Pennsylvania. In 2002, Sowers became the station's full-time Webmaster and oversaw the relaunch of its Web site, powered by television station Web site provider WorldNow. He still tells gives the forecast from time to time, whenever one of the meterologists are out on vacation. WNEP.com has quickly become one the region's most visited sites and features a wide selection of content:

• Local news
• Local sports
• Local weather, including current conditions, the Realtime Doppler Radar scan and "FutureRadar"
• Syndicated content such as recipes, personals and yellow pages
• Streaming video of the first block of the morning news, entire morning weather block and "cut-ins." The station will occasionally offer the first block of its other newscasts or specific segments when there is a story with high local interest.

In March 2005, WNEP.com hosted its first webcast session. An IRS spokesperson answered viewer questions, which were submitted via the Internet, for an hour. The segment was webcast live over the Internet, but was not available on the broadcast or cable television.

Controversies

WNEP also has had its share of controversies. The most severe incident occurred in 1992, after Jim Renick, a sports anchor, was arrested, and later sent to prison for possessing child pornography. This led people to joke that WNEP's call letters stood for "We Now Employ Perverts". A police investigation determined Renick used his press credentials to take pictures of young men at area high school swim meets.

Another controversy involved the publicized departure of news director and anchorman Frank Andrews, who suffered from alcoholism. Andrews later recovered, and worked for WYOU-TV, the CBS affiliate in the area, where he was news director and primary anchor. In March 2006, Frank Andrews (Shimkus) announced that he would run for the PA State Representative Seat in the 113 district. After winning the primary, he is the democratic canidate for the general election.

In Fall 2005, on Newswatch 16 This Morning, during a jovial conversation about taking sick or personal days off, meteorologist Joe Snedeker jokingly suggested to morning anchor Kim Supon that if he were her boss he would make her choose between her career and motherhood. Supon was visibly upset by the comment, having just taken a day to care for her children, and walked off the set during the commercial break. When the newscast returned, recently hired reporter Ryan Leckey was in the anchor chair. The incident received national attention, including airing as a segment on MSNBC. In response to public outcry, Snedeker apologized on air during the next broadcast[link].

External links

• [WNEP-TV]
• [WNEP-TV tribute page]
• [Photos of WNEP's set]
• [Query the FCC's TV station database for WNEP-TV]
• [Query the FCC's TV station database for W07DC]
• [Query the FCC's TV station database for W14CO]
• [Query the FCC's TV station database for W26CV]
• [Query the FCC's TV station database for W61AG]
• [Query the FCC's TV station database for W40BS]
• [Query the FCC's TV station database for W36BE]
• [Query the FCC's TV station database for W39BE]
• [Query the FCC's TV station database for W66AL]
• [Query the FCC's TV station database for W10CP]
• [Query the FCC's TV station database for W69CE]
• [Query the FCC's TV station database for W20AD]

Broadcast television in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre market  [(Nielsen DMA #54)]
WNEP 16 (ABC) - WYOU 22 (CBS) - WBRE 28 (NBC) - WYLN 35 (A1) - WSWB 38 (The WB/UPN/The CW) - WVIA 44 (PBS) - WQMY 53 (The WB/UPN/My Network TV) - WOLF 56 (Fox) - WQPX 64 (i)

Terrestrial television>Broadcast television in the Philadelphia / Camden / Wilmington market  [(Nielsen DMA #4)]
KYW 3 (CBS) -  WPVI 6 (ABC) -  W07DC 7 (ABC) -  WELL-CA 8 (DS) -  WCAU 10 (NBC) -  WHYY 12 (PBS) -  WPHL 17 (The WB - to be MNTV in 09/06) (The Tube on DT2) -  WNJS 23/WNJT 52 (PBS/NJN) -  W25AW 25  (A1) -  WFPA-CA 28 (TFR) -  WTXF 29 (Fox) -  WQAV-LP 34 (AV/Ind) -  WYBE 35 (Public) -  WLVT 39 (PBS) -  WMGM 40 (NBC) -  W40AZ 40 (Smile) - WMCN 44 (ShN) - WGTW 48 (TBN) -  WTVE 51 (Religious) -  WPSG 57 (UPN - to be The CW in 09/06) -  WBPH 60 (FamNet) -  WPPX 61 (i) -  WWSI 62 (TMO) -  WUVP 65 (UVN) -  WFMZ 69 (Ind)
Past broadcast stations
WKBS 48 (IND)
Local cable television channels
CN8 -  Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia

Terrestrial television>Broadcast television in the Johnstown / Altoona market  [(Nielsen DMA #98)]
WPSU 3 (PBS) - WJAC 6 (NBC) - WWCP 8 (FOX/UPN) - WTAJ 10 (CBS) - WPCW 19 (UPN/The CW)1 - WATM 23 (ABC) - W36BE / W39BE (ABC) - WKBS 47 (CSTV)  1 Technically a Pittsburgh market station. See article.
Out-of-market stations available on cable
Pittsburgh: KDKA 2 (CBS) -  WTAE 4 (ABC) -  WPXI 11 (NBC) -  WPMY 22 (The WB/My Network TV) -  WPGH 53 (Fox) Scranton/Wilkes-Barre: WNEP 16 (ABC) -  WSWB 38 (The WB/UPN/The CW) New York City: WPIX 11 (The WB/The CW) Harrisburg: WLYH 15 (UPN/The CW) Note: Not all stations are available in all areas.
Local cable television channels
WIUP 20 (Ind., The WB on digital subchannel, to become MNTV in September 2006)

 

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