WFSB

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WFSB
Hartford / New Haven, Connecticut
Branding	Channel 3
Slogan	"Everywhere"
Channels	3 (VHF) analog, 33 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	CBS (since 1958)
Owner	Meredith Corporation
Founded	September 21, 1957
Call letters meaning	Frederick S. Beebe (former president of Post-Newsweek Stations, former owners)
Former callsigns	WTIC-TV (1957-74)
Former affiliations	Independent (1957–58)
Website	www.wfsb.com

WFSB, channel three, is an affiliate of the CBS television network serving most of the state of Connecticut. The station is owned by the Meredith Corporation. Licensed to the state capital of Hartford, WFSB's signal reaches as far away as southwest New Hampshire. WFSB's studios are located at 3 Constitution Plaza in Hartford, with transmitter on Avon Mountain.

WFSB broadcasts a digital signal of sister station WSHM-LP, the CBS affiliate in Springfield, Massachusetts, on channel 33.2.

Contents 1 History 2 WSHM-LP 3 Newscasts 3.1 Weekdays 3.2 Weekends 4 On-air Talent 4.1 Anchors 4.2 Reporters 4.3 Weather 4.4 Sports 5 Former WFSB personalities 6 Administration (All Italian all the time....) 7 External links

[edit] History

Connecticut's second VHF station debuted September 21, 1957 as WTIC-TV, an independent station owned by the Hartford-based Travelers Insurance Company along with WTIC-AM (1080 kHz.) and WTIC-FM (96.5 MHz.). It was one of the most powerful stations in the Northeast, covering nearly all of Connecticut, much of western Massachusetts (including Springfield), and parts of Long Island.

By 1958, CBS was looking to sell its owned and operated station in Hartford, WHCT-TV (channel 18, now WUVN). CBS' ratings had been astonishingly low in Hartford because television manufacturers were not required to have UHF tuners at the time. CBS figured it was better to have its programming on a VHF station, even if it was merely an affiliate. When CBS began shopping around for a new affiliate, it was a foregone conclusion that WTIC-TV would get the affiliation. WTIC radio had been Hartford's CBS radio affiliate for many years, and CBS was also attracted by having its programming on one of the most powerful stations in New England.

WTIC-TV proved to be a success beyond CBS' wildest dreams. With its tie-ins to CBS and one of New England's leading broadcasters, channel three became the highest-rated station in the market. It has held the lead more or less ever since.

In early 1974, Travelers Insurance decided to sell the WTIC stations and sold channel three to the Washington Post Company in 1974 while keeping WTIC-AM-FM in the interim. The Post's broadcasting division, Post-Newsweek Stations, changed the calls to WFSB, after broadcasting division president Frederick S. Beebe; The WTIC-TV calls returned to Connecticut in 1984 when Arch Communications, the then-owners of WTIC-AM-FM, signed on as part-owners of a new television station on channel 61.

In the late 1980s, Post-Newsweek moved its corporate offices from Washington, D.C., to office space located alongside WFSB, making that station the company's flagship. This was part of a move by the Post to give its various subcorporations their own independent identities. This strategy worked well at first; however, by the mid 1990s, WFSB found itself in a shrinking market without any cluster opportunities around it. In June 1997, Post-Newsweek swapped WFSB to the Meredith Corporation for WCPX-TV (now WKMG-TV) in Orlando, Florida. The sale closed that October, although the Post-Newsweek group maintained its base in Hartford until 2000 when it relocated to the company's then-largest station, WDIV in Detroit.

During 2006, construction started on a new building for WFSB, which will be moving from its longtime home on Constitution Plaza in downtown Hartford to the suburb of Rocky Hill. The station is tentatively scheduled to move into the new building in the fall of 2007.

Also in June 2006, the station's website was redesigned (along with those of four of Meredith Corporation's other stations). The old website was operated by the Local Media Network division of World Now. Now Internet Broadcasting operates the site.

On weekday mornings, WFSB prempts the first hour of CBS's The Early Show and airs a third hour of local morning news instead.

[edit] WSHM-LP

When channel three became a CBS station, it was able to persuade CBS to make it the primary CBS affiliate for Springfield as well. Springfield, at the time a two-station market, is only 30 miles from Hartford, and WFSB has repeatedly blocked attempts by Springfield's original CBS affiliate, current ABC station WGGB, to switch back to CBS ^{[citation needed]}. Seeing an opportunity to increase its presence in western Massachusetts, WFSB began operating a low-power station in Springfield, WSHM-LP (channel 67) in late 2003. WSHM can also be seen on WFSB's digital signal (33.2/3.2). Although WSHM holds itself out as a separate station, it is generally considered a semi-satellite of WFSB.

[edit] Newscasts

[edit] Weekdays

• Eyewitness News at 5:00 AM - 5-5:30 AM
• Eyewitness News at 5:30 AM - 5:30-6 AM
• Eyewitness News at 6:00 AM - 6-6:30 AM
• Eyewitness News at 6:30 AM - 6:30-7 AM
• Eyewitness News at 7:00 AM - 7-8 AM
• Eyewitness News at Noon - Noon-12:30 PM
• Eyewitness News at 5:00 PM - 5-5:30 PM
• Eyewitness News at 5:30 PM - 5:30-6 PM
• Eyewitness News at 6:00 PM - 6-6:30 PM
• Eyewitness News - 11-11:35 PM

[edit] Weekends

• Eyewitness Saturday / Sunday at 6:00 AM - 6-7 AM
• Eyewitness Saturday / Sunday at 7:00 AM - 7-8 AM
• Eyewitness Sunday at 8:00 AM - 8-9 AM (Sundays only)
• Eyewitness News at 6:00 PM - 6-6:30 PM
• Eyewitness News - 11-11:35 PM

[edit] On-air Talent

[edit] Anchors

• Al Terzi, noon and 5pm, also host of "Face The State"
• Denise D'Ascenzo, all weekday evening newscasts (5 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 6 p.m., 11 p.m.)
• Dennis House, 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. weekdays
• Mike Hydeck, weekday mornings, also reporter
• Kara Sundlun, weekdays noon, also I-Team reporter (wife of Dennis House)
• Irene O'Connor, weekend mornings

[edit] Reporters

• Len Besthoff, I-Team
• Leon Collins, New Haven bureau chief, I-Team
• Hena Daniels
• Kevin Hogan, New London bureau chief
• Dan Kain
• Rachel Lutzker, TimeSaver Traffic
• Eric Parker
• Susan Raff
• Diana Rocco
• Jamie Roth
• Jessica Schneider

[edit] Weather

• Bruce DePrest, chief meteorologist, weekday evenings
• Scot Haney, weekday mornings (also reports Every Town Has a Story on Fridays)
• Mark Dixon, weekdays at noon and 5:30 p.m.
• Darren Sweeney, weekends

[edit] Sports

• Joe Zone, sports director and weekday anchor
• John Holt, weekend anchor and reporter

Denise D'Ascenzo and Scot Haney were named Best Anchor and Best Meteorologist respectively in the Best of Hartford 2006 Awards.

[edit] Former WFSB personalities

• Sarah Barr, former weekend anchor (2000-2004)
• Charley Bagley, former morning weatherman
• Gerry Brooks, former anchor (1979-1993) now at WVIT
• Dave Smith, former sports anchor
• Khambrell Marshall, former weekend sports anchor now in Houston.
• Dave Nemeth, former weatherman now in Tampa Bay.
• Roger Simms, former weekend sportscaster.
• Eric Clemons, former sports anchor (1998-2005) Sports Director of WVUE In New Orleans
• Melissa Cole, former meteorologist
• Stefanie Cruz, reporter/sub-anchor (1999-2004) currently co-host of Good Day Sacramento on KMAX and anchor at KOVR
• Dina Falco, former sports anchor (2003-2005)
• Kim Fettig, former reporter now at WGCL in Atlanta [1]
• Rich Hoffman, former meteorologist
• Ellie Pai Hong, former morning anchor (2000-2003) currently at WMAQ-TV in Chicago [2]
• Tasha Jamerson, former anchor now at WTXF
• Hilton Kaderli, former meteorologist (1974-1998)
• Deborah Kent, former consumer reporter (1986-2004)
• Don Lark, former anchor now at WSTM Syracuse.
• Miles Muzio, former chief meteorologist (1998-2002) currently at KBAK-TV in Bakersfield, CA[3]
• Gayle King, former anchor
• David Nelson, former anchor now at WAVY in Portsmouth, VA [4]
• Bill O'Reilly, former anchor and reporter (1979-80)
• Janet Peckinpaugh, former anchor (1987-1995) now at WVIT
• Andrew Pergam, former reporter (2001-2002) now at WVIT
• Randall Pinkston, former reporter, now at CBS.
• Harvey Smilovitz, former sports anchor (1992-1998), now in Cincinnati.
• Joe Tessitore, former sports anchor (1995-2003) now at ESPN
• Brian Van Aken, former meteorologist
• David Ushery, former reporter (1989-1993) now at WNBC
• Steve Bunnell, former morning anchor (2004-2006)

[edit] Administration (All Italian all the time....)

• Klarn DePalma, Vice President and General Manager
• Gary Brown, News Director
• Dana Neves, Assistant News Director
• Frank Discenza, News Operations Manager
• Victor Zarrilli, Chief Engineer
• Jim Gorham, Creative Services Director
• Joanne Gowdy, New Business Sales Manager
• Jim Messina, National Sales Manager
• Maripat Jordan, Local Sales Manager
• Stephanie Turner, Marketing Manager
• Linda Poindexter, MIS Director
• John Ahearn, Director of Traffic Operations
• Lisa Garofalo, Human Resource Manager
• Lori LeBlanc, Business Manager

[edit] External links

• Query the FCC's TV station database for WFSB
• WFSB Homepage
• WSHM-LP Homepage
• WFSB Tower & Transmitters
• Connecticut First Coalition