WVIT
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WVIT, channel 30, is the NBC owned-and-operated station for the state of Connecticut. It is licensed to New Britain, with studios in West Hartford and transmitter in Farmington.
History
WVIT signed-on for the first time on February 15, 1953 as WKNB-TV, a sister station to WKNB radio (840 kHz., now WRYM). The calls stood for Kensington-New Britain. It is Connecticut's second-oldest television station, and the first on the UHF band. It was originally the CBS affiliate for Hartford [[Citing sources citation needed]].In 1954, only a year after channel 30 signed on, Hartford and New Haven were collapsed into a single television market. However, WKNB's signal was not strong enough to cover southern Connecticut at the time -- a problem that would hamper channel 30 for almost a quarter-century. As a result, WKNB shared CBS programming with New Haven's WNHC-TV (channel 8, now WTNH) for a year. After CBS bought WHCT-TV (now WUVN) in Hartford in 1955, channel 30 became an NBC affiliate and has remained with that network ever since.
NBC itself purchased the station in 1957 and renamed it WNBC-TV (for New Britain, Connecticut). It planned to boost the station's signal to cover all of the market, but these plans never materialized. In its first stint as an NBC-owned station, channel 30 failed to gain much headway in the ratings, largely because television manufacturers were not required to include UHF tuning capability until 1964. Viewers had to buy an expensive converter to watch WNBC-TV, and even with one the picture was barely viewable. Nonetheless, NBC bought channel 30 as part of an experiment to determine whether UHF could be competitive with VHF.
However in 1957, the Travelers Insurance Company signed on WTIC-TV (channel 3, now WFSB). A little more than a year later, it became Hartford-New Haven's CBS affiliate after the network decided to sell WHCT. NBC realized its UHF experiment was a lost cause and sold WNBC-TV to Balabran Corporation in 1959. In 1960, the calls changed again--this time to WHNB-TV (for Hartford-New Britain; NBC reclaimed the previous calls for its flagship radio and television combination in New York City.
In 1966 WHNB became, once again, one of two NBC affiliates in Connecticut: the network signed with WATR-TV (channel 20) in Waterbury in order to get its programming into New Haven. Channel 30 itself made up for the shortfall in its market coverage by operating two low-power translators (starting in 1971) in Torrington on channel 79 [link], and later in the 1980s, on channel 59 in New Haven. Although WATR-TV's signal decently covered the entire market, NBC did not drop its affiliation with WHNB for reasons that are unknown to this day.
Balabran sold WHNB to Viacom in 1978. The station changed its call letters to WVIT (for "Viacom International Television") to reflect its new ownership. Viacom immediately announced plans to boost WVIT's signal. In 1980, WVIT signed on with a clear signal to New Haven for the first time. Viacom also beefed up WVIT's news operation. Channel 30 had long been an also-ran behind WFSB and WTNH due to its weak signal in New Haven. After the signal boost, however, it became a factor in the ratings for the first time. WVIT became the market's exculsive provider of NBC programming in March 1982, when WATR-TV's affiliation contract with NBC ended and the station became independent WTXX. The Torrington translator was turned off in 1987, and the New Haven repeater was shut down in the middle 1990s to allow full-powered WTVU (now WCTX) to begin operations.
Viacom purchased Paramount Pictures in 1994. Within the next year, following the launch of the United Paramount Network venture it co-owned with Chris-Craft Industries, Paramount/Viacom began to sell off its non-UPN affiliated stations. WVIT, which was Viacom's first station purchase in 1978, ended up being the last non-UPN outlet sold in 1997. As part of a three-way deal, WVIT was sold to former owner NBC, while Paramount/Viacom ended up with WLWC in Providence, Rhode Island and WWHO in Columbus, Ohio, two stations owned by Fant Broadcasting which NBC operated by way of local marketing agreements. With NBC's second acquisition of the station came a greater investment into and expansion of the news department, and by the start of the new millenium WVIT was regularly trading the number-two position in the market with WTNH.
WVIT did produce a 10 PM newscast for WTXX, but that ended and now WTXX shows WTIC's hour newscast instead.
Logos
Trivia
- WVIT is one of NBC-Universal's 10 owned-and-operated television stations -- and one of two O&Os on the UHF dial along with KNSD San Diego. A third UHF O&O station, WNCN Raleigh-Durham, was recently sold to Media General.
- WVIT is the only Connecticut TV station to have been owned by two major media conglomerates: Viacom and NBC Universal.
Staff
On-Air Talent
- Gerry Brooks, Weekday Co-Anchor at 6 PM and 11 PM
- Joanne Nesti, Weekday Co-Anchor at 6 PM and 11 PM
- Janet Peckinpaugh, Weekday Co-Anchor at 5 PM and 5:30 PM
- Logan Byrnes, Weekday Co-Anchor at 5 PM & 5:30 PM and General Assignment Reporter
- Brad Drazen, Weekend Morning Co-Anchor and General Assignment Reporter
- Brian Shactman, Weekday Morning Co-Anchor
- Keisha Grant, Weekday Morning Co-Anchor
- Brad Field, Chief Meteorologist seen Weekdays at 5 PM, 5:30 PM, 6 PM, and 11 PM
- Lisa Carberg, Consumer Reporter
- Mindi Ramsey, Weekend Morning Co-Anchor and General Assignment Reporter
- Tom Monahan, Chief Political Correspondent
- Lauren Petty, General Assignment Reporter
- Debra Bogstie, General Assignment and Investigative Reporter
- Brandon Rudat, General Assignment Reporter
- Doug Greene, General Assignment Reporter
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) | |||
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