WDIO-TV

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WDIO-TV & WIRT
WDIO: Duluth, MN & Superior, WI WIRT: Hibbing, Minnesota
Branding	Channels 10 and 13/Eyewitness News
Slogan	"The Northlands News Leader for 40 Years"
Channels	10, 13 (VHF) analog, 43, 36 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	ABC
Owner	Hubbard Broadcasting
Founded	January 24, 1966
Call letters meaning	WDIO: We're Duluth's IO (10) WIRT: ThIRTeen or Iron Range Television/Thirteen
Website	www.wdio.com

WDIO-TV (channel 10, digital 43) and WIRT (channel 13, digital 36) are the ABC affiliates for North Central and Northeastern Minnesota. WDIO first went on the air on January 24, 1966. WDIO's transmitter is located in Duluth.

WIRT in Hibbing is a full time satellite station of WDIO. WIRT went on the air on September 1, 1967 and serves the Iron Range including Grand Rapids, Virginia, and Chisholm.

WDIO's original owner was Frank Befera, a trained engineer who owned a chain of radio stations across northeastern Minnesota. He sold channels 10 and 13 to Hubbard Broadcasting Corporation in 1987.

Contents 1 Eyewitness News 2 On Air Personalities 2.1 Anchors 2.2 Storm Team 10/13 2.3 Sports 2.4 Reporters 2.5 Former Personalities 3 Ratings 4 External links

[edit] Eyewitness News

WDIO/WIRT's newscasts were branded throughout the 70's and 80's as "Action 10 News." However, they changed their moniker to "Eyewitness News" in the early 90's, partially because of the negative "death and destruction" connotation of the "Action 10 News" name, but also to better conform with the branding of their St. Paul sister-station KSTP. However, unlike KSTP (Who is in 3rd or 4th place in the ratings) WDIO is first in Duluth.

WDIO news anchor Dennis Anderson has been with the station since 1970 and was the first local TV anchor to announce the sinking of the ore freighter Edmund Fitzgerald which sank in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975.

In the late 90's, they used the "Eyewitness News" name sparingly and made theirselves known as "Channels 10 and 13." But in recent years they have slowly changed back as "10 and 13, Eyewitness News" back to just plain "Eyewitness News" in late 2005.

[edit] On Air Personalities

[edit] Anchors

• Sandy Drag- Eyewitness News @ 5
• Dennis Anderson- Eyewitness News @ 6 and 10
• Ryan Carmel- Good Morning Northland
• Deborah Anderson- Eyewitness News Weekend

[edit] Storm Team 10/13

• Kyle Underwood- Eyewitness News @ 5,6, and 10
• Justin Liles- Good Morning Northland
• Adam Young- Eyewitness News Weekend

[edit] Sports

• Tyler Jacobson- Eyewitness News @ 6 and 10
• Josh Zenner- Eyewitness News Weekend

[edit] Reporters

• Jessica Soler
• Renee Passal
• Kim Johnson
• Brady Smith

[edit] Former Personalities

• Steve Long - Mornings
• Collin Ventrella - Weather
• Steve LePage - Sports
• Dan Shutte - 5:00 News
• Chris Nettleton - Sports
• Gavin Moberg - Sports
• Julie Hill - Reporter
• Nick Blair - Reporter
• Ken Chapin - Weather
• Julie Moravchik- Reporter
• Deb Shold - Good Morning Northland Weather
• Margaret Clevenstine - Reporter
• Collen Mahoney - Iron Range Reporter
• Julia Bobodillia - Reporter
• Eric Svoboda - Weekend Weather

[edit] Ratings

Soon after sign-on, WDIO shot to the top of the local news ratings and has remained there more or less ever since. During the 70s and 80s, WDIO dominated competitors KDLH(2nd) and KBJR-TV(3rd). This is probably because until KBJR signed on KRII in 2000, WDIO was the only station in the market to cover the Iron Range with a full-power satellite. But KBJR began to build its audience steadily throughout the 90's and is now neck and neck with WDIO. They continue to duke it out, and have spent most of the last decade trading the top spot. However, both stations can frequently claim bragging rights for their evening newscasts (one might have the most total viewers, while the other has the highest number of 18-49 viewers, the age group most attractive to advertisers).

While it was widely believed that the shared services agreement between KBJR and KDLH would drive viewers to WDIO, the change has not proved extraordinarily beneficial to either KBJR or WDIO. The 5:30 newscast on KDLH attracts similar numbers to its pre-merger 6pm newscast.

WDIO has recently started advertising the amount of viewers. In their commercials, they say that they have more veiwers than the other stations combined. WDIO- 11,000 viewers. KBJR- 9,000 veiwers. KDLH- 1,000 viewers. They also are rated higher than KBJR.

[edit] External links

• WDIO's Website
• Northpine's 10&13 screengrabs (including a rare look at a 1973 newscast)
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WDIO
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WIRT