WFIE

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WFIE
Evansville, Indiana
Branding	14 WFIE / 14 News
Slogan	The Tri-State's News Leader
Channels	14 (UHF) analog, 46 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	NBC
Owner	Raycom Media
Founded	November 15, 1953 on UHF channel 62
Call letters meaning	We're First In Evansville
Former affiliations	ABC, DuMont (1953-1956)[1]
Transmitter Power	2,510 kW Analog 250 kW Digital 128 kW Digital STA
Website	www.14wfie.com

WFIE, owned and operated by Raycom Media is the NBC network affiliate serving the Evansville, Indiana metropolitan area, known as the "Tri-State" area of Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois. It operates on UHF channel 14 and in high definition on channel 46, also on the UHF dial.

The station began broadcasting on November 15, 1953 on channel 62, originally co-owned by Jesse, Isadore and Oscar Fine. It was the sixth television station in Indiana. The station, with FCC approval, moved to channel 14 in August of 1961. The station was an affiliate of NBC, ABC, and DuMont [2].

WFIE claims to be the first television station in Evansville. While technically true, the tri-state area's first television station is actually WEHT, which went on the air on September 27, 1953. Although WEHT is licensed to Evansville, its studios and transmitter are located across the Ohio River in Henderson, Kentucky. WFIE, like WEHT, also has its transmitter and tower in Henderson.

WFIE was the market's first television station to telecast color programs, in 1956. It was the first in Evansville to telecast live and local color programs, beginning on March 10, 1966. The station also became the first in the market to broadcast local news, sports and weather outside its studios, in August 1977.

The Fines sold WFIE to the Morton family of Louisville, owners of fellow NBC affiliate WAVE, in 1956. The Mortons' broadcasting holdings would eventually become known as Orion Broadcasting. In October 1981, Orion merged with Cosmos Broadcasting Corporation, a subsidiary of insurance and broadcasting conglomerate Liberty Corporation. In the ensuing years, WFIE would have two more "firsts". It became the first television station in the market to broadcast in stereo, in September 1985, and was only the second station in Indiana (first in Evansville) to build its own Doppler radar system, in February 1988.

Liberty bowed out of the insurance business in 2000, bringing WFIE directly under the Liberty banner. On February 1, 2006, Liberty merged with Raycom.

In May of 2002, WFIE began broadcasting digitally on channel 46.

In Fall 2005, WFIE launched a 24 hour, local, weather channel on digital channel 14.2. "24/7 Weather" features an L-shaped display, and continuously shows doppler radar and local and national forecasts. It is very similar to NBC Weather Plus.

On April 3, 2006 WFIE abandoned 615 Music's popular "News One" theme music in favor of "NBC Flagship," part of "The NBC Collection," by Gari Communications. This marked the station's first theme change since 1996.

In early August, 2006, WFIE began branding their newscasts as "14 News," dropping the "Newswatch 14" identity. In a further transition, WFIE rebranded their weather department under the "First Alert" label on September 22, 2006. This is a departure from the "Storm Team" brand used since the mid-nineties.

In November, 2006, WFIE added The Tube Music Network on digital channel 14.3, in accordance with many Raycom Media stations.

[edit] External links

• 14 WFIE, The Tri-State's News Leader: Home
• The History of WFIE-TV, 50th Anniversary
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WFIE

NBC Network Affiliates in the state of Indiana
WTWO 2 (Terre Haute) - WTHR 13 (Indianapolis) - WFIE 14 (Evansville) - WNDU 16 (South Bend) - WISE 33 (Fort Wayne)
See also: ABC, CBS, CW, Fox, MyNetworkTV, PBS, Religious and Other stations in the state of Indiana