WTNH

Encyclopedia : W : WT : WTN : WTNH

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WTNH-TV, channel eight, is the ABC affiliate for the state of Connecticut, licensed to New Haven and owned by LIN Television Corporation. The station's transmitter is located in Hamden, Connecticut, and it serves the Hartford/New Haven television market. WTNH is the sister station to WCTX (channel 59), currently the Hartford/New Haven UPN affiliate.

History

WTNH debuted on June 15, 1948 as WNHC-TV on channel six. The station was founded by the New Haven Register along with WNHC-AM (1340 kHz., now WYBC) and WNHC-FM (99.1 MHz., now WPLR). It is Connecticut's oldest television station, and the second-oldest in New England (WBZ-TV in Boston signed on less than a week earlier). It was originally an affiliate of the DuMont Television Network, adding NBC and CBS in 1949. ABC programming followed in 1950.

In late 1953, WNHC-TV changed frequencies and moved to channel eight. The next year, the Federal Communications Commission collapsed Hartford and New Haven into a single market. WNHC-TV shared some network programming with New Britain's WKNB-TV (now WVIT) until 1955, as WKNB's signal was not strong enough to cover New Haven at the time. In 1955, the New Haven Register and the WNHC stations were bought by Triangle Publications of Philadelphia. By 1956, WNHC-TV lost its CBS affiliation when the network purchased Hartford's WGTH-TV (now WUVN). After NBC's contract with WNHC-TV ended, the station became a sole ABC affiliate, though it shared ABC programming with Waterbury-based WATR-TV (now WTXX) until 1966.

As part of a sale of Triangle's broadcasting interests in 1971, the WNHC stations were sold to Capital Cities Communications, along with sister stations WFIL-AM-FM-TV in Philadelphia and KFRE-AM-FM-TV in Fresno, California. With FCC regulations at the time stipulating a call letter change, the current calls of WTNH came into being once Capital Cities took over. However, the station frequently calls itself WTNH-TV in station promotions. The radio stations were spun off subsequently to new owners, also to comply with FCC rules. WTNH later adopted the Action News format made famous at its Philadelphia sister station, WPVI-TV (the former WFIL-TV).

Capital Cities bought ABC in 1986. The deal stunned the broadcast industry since ABC was some ten times bigger than Capital Cities at the time. The transaction would have resulted in three ABC stations in adjacent Northeastern markets sharing common ownership -- the signals of both WTNH and WPVI surround ABC flagship WABC-TV in New York City. The overlap was greater between WABC-TV and WTNH, however. WTNH's city-grade signal reaches Fairfield County, which is part of the New York market. It also provides a city-grade signal to large portions of Long Island. FCC regulations at the time did not allow common ownership of two stations with overlapping city-grade signals. As a result, the merged company could not keep WTNH, and channel eight was spun off to a minority-controlled firm called Cook Inlet Communications.

Cook Inlet sold WTNH to LIN in 1994. In the mid-1990s, the station dropped the Action News title in favor of the current "NewsChannel 8". When a new UHF independent station in New Haven, WTVU (later WBNE and now WCTX) signed-on in 1995, WTNH began operating the station under a local marketing agreement. In 2001, LIN bought WCTX outright. Since the start of the LMA, WTNH has produced a 10 p.m. nightly and 7 a.m weekday newscast for WCTX.

Despite heavy treatment for cancer, Mel Goldstein remains WTNH's chief meteorologist.

Meterologist Geoff "Mr. Science" Fox has been with WTNH since 1984 and has the longest running association with a Hartford-New Haven television news outlet.

Trivia

• The station is also available over-the-air and on cable in most of Long Island.
• The station's radar is called "Sky Max Doppler".
• The station's city-grade signal reaches Bridgeport.

News Personalities

• Ann Nyberg - anchor
• Dr. Mel Goldstein - chief meteorologist
• Sonia Baghdady - anchor
• Geoff Fox - meteorologist
• Ted Koppy - anchor
• Keith Kountz - anchor
• Darren Kramer - anchor

External links

• [Official website]
• [WTNH's tower]
• [Query the FCC's TV station database for WTNH]

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)

 

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