WIVB-TV

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WIVB-TV
Buffalo, New York
Branding	News4
Slogan	"4 Today's News 4 Tomorrow's Weather" "Gotta Watch 4" (non-news) "WIVB, Home of Western New York's News Leader" (Station Identification)
Channels	4 (VHF) analog, 39 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	CBS
Owner	LIN TV
Founded	October 1945 May 13, 1948 (on air)
Call letters meaning	We're 4 (IV) Buffalo
Former callsigns	WBEN-TV (1948-77)
Former affiliations	NBC (secondary, 1948-54) ABC (secondary, 1948-56) DuMont (secondary, 1948-55)
Website	www.wivb.com

WIVB-TV is the CBS television affiliate in Buffalo, New York. It broadcasts its analog signal on VHF channel 4, and its digital signal on UHF channel 39. It is owned by LIN TV Corporation, and is sister station to WNLO 23, the area's CW network affiliate.

WIVB's transmitter is located at 8242 Center Street in Colden, New York. It is one of several local Buffalo TV stations seen in Canada.

Contents 1 History 2 Programs 3 News 4 News reporters and journalists 4.1 Current anchors and reporters 4.2 Former reporters 5 External links

[edit] History

The station went on the air in May 13, 1948 as WBEN-TV, almost three years after its owner, the Buffalo Evening News applied for a license. It is the oldest television station in the market and one of the oldest in the entire country. The station operated out of studios on the 18th floor of Hotel Statler until 1960, when it moved to studios at 2077 Elmwood Avenue originally built for WBUF-TV (Channel 17), Buffalo's one time NBC affiliate. One early show, running from the late 1940s until 1970, was Meet the Millers featuring Bill and Mildred Miller and their cooking and household tips each weekday afternoon.

Another staple throughout the 1950s and early 60s was a short visit to the North Pole with Santa Claus and Forgetful the Elf. This was a daily show aired only during December and sponsored by Hengerer's Department Store.

The station's callsign changed to WIVB in 1977, after the newspaper (now owned by Berkshire Hathaway) sold the station to newspaper publisher Robert Howard of Oceanside, California for $25.5 million (the WBEN callsign remains on News Talk 930 AM radio, currently owned by Entercom Communications). WIVB was then sold to King World Productions (at that time a separate entity from both Viacom and CBS) in 1988. LIN acquired the station in 1995.

The station added a morning newscast in the mid-1990s, known as Wake Up!. The station has won several Emmy awards including one in 1999. It has been the #1 news channel in Western New York after rival WKBW's long winning streak ended in the late 1990s/early 2000s.

In 2000, WIVB's parent company LIN bought the station then known as WNEQ (channel 23), the region's secondary PBS affiliate. In January 23, 2001, WNEQ was relaunched as WNLO, an independent station, and soon WIVB began airing a 10 p.m. newscast on WNLO. WNLO began serving as the region's UPN affiliate in 2002. (The previous UPN station WNGS is now a Retro Television Network affiliate, owned by Equity Broadcasting but operated by WKBW's owner Granite Broadcasting under an LMA.) In September 2006 the station becomes the CW Television Network affiliate in Buffalo, NY.

[edit] Programs

WIVB carries programs such as The Oprah Winfrey Show and Inside Edition, as well as the regular CBS broadcast schedule.

[edit] News

WIVB's newscasts are currently titled News 4, and are seen at the following times of the day:

• News 4 Wake Up! - 5:00 to 8:00 a.m. ET (5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. ET until 2002)
• News 4 at Noon - 12:00 p.m. ET
• News 4 at Five - 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. ET
  • Weather Watch 4
  • Sports
• News 4 at Six - 6:00 to 6:30 p.m. ET
• News 4 at Eleven - 11:00 to 11:35 p.m. ET

In addition, WIVB also produces a 10 p.m. newscast, shown on sister station WNLO 23.

When sports events are aired on WIVB, News4 is instead aired on WNLO.

[edit] News reporters and journalists

[edit] Current anchors and reporters

(as of November 2006)

• Robin Adams - sports reporter
• Mike Cejka - Wake Up!/noon meteorologist
• Lisa Flynn - anchorwoman, 5:30pm newscast
• Mylous Hairston - weekend evening anchor
• Melissa Holmes - reporter
• Victoria Hong - morning show co-host
• Jodi Hovenden - reporter
• Rob Macko - reporter
• Ellen Maxwell - reporter
• Michelle McClintick - Weekend Wakeup! anchor
• Luke Moretti - reporter
• Rich Newberg - senior correspondent
• Dr. Peter Ostrow, M.D., Ph.D. - medical reporter
• Don Paul - chief meteorologist
• Paul Peck - weekend sports anchor/reporter
• Barbara Pinson - weekend evening anchor
• Don Postles - anchorman for 5, 6, and 11pm newscasts
• George Richert - reporter
• Lorey Schultz - reporter
• Lisa Scott - morning show co-host and anchorwoman, noon newscast
• Al Vaughters - reporter
• Jacquie Walker - anchorwoman for 5, 6, and 11pm newscasts
• Dennis Williams - sports director
• Mary Beth Wrobel - weekend evening meteorologist

[edit] Former reporters

• Erica Brason, anchor of Weekend Wakeup!. (1999 - 2005) (Now at WGRZ-TV in Buffalo)
• Ray Collins, news anchor and the first anchor of Wake Up! alongside Sue Serio. (1994 - 1999) (Now at WTVT-TV in Tampa)
• Chuck Gurney, meteorologist and (for a brief time) co-anchor of Weekend Wake Up!. (Now at WBNS-TV)
• Chuck Healey, former boxer and sports announcer. He was WBEN's news anchor from 1965 until 1971 when he returned to the sports desk where he remained until his retirement in 1978.
• Carol Jasen, evening anchor. (1979-June 2002) Left the station to marry former WIVB reporter Craig Nigrelli and move to New Mexico.
• Jodi Johnston, did hourly news updates (1994 - 1999) (Now at WGRZ-TV in Buffalo).
• Bob Koop, variously anchored the 11 p.m. news and the 5:30 news amongst other from 1980 until his leukemia forced him to go on sick leave in 1994; he died the next year.
• Van Miller was associated with WBEN/WIVB's from 1955 until his retirement from the station in 1998. For much of that time he was the station's sports director. He also hosted the station's high school quiz show It's Academic from the late 1960s until the 1990s. He also hosted the bowling show Beat the Champ from 1978 through the 1980s taking over from Healey.
• Kevin O'Neill a.k.a. "The Why Guy." (September 1994-November 2006) O'Neill resigned after 12 years as WIVB's feature reporter. ( Now at WGRZ Channel 2 )
• Marie Rice, longtime WIVB reporter and morning update anchor since the 1970's, retired in 2006.
• Sue Serio, joined WIVB as the first female co-anchor of Wake Up! in 1994. Went on maternity leave in 1997 and never returned.
• Chris Daniels - weekday morning traffic reporter, weekend morning weather anchor ( Left November 2006)

[edit] External links

• www.wivb.com
• The Santa Show Page by Buffalonian Steve Cichon
• Brief history of WBEN-TV (WIVB)
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WIVB-TV

CBS Network Affiliates in the state of New York
WCBS 2 (New York City) - WIVB 4 (Buffalo) - WTVH 5 (Syracuse) - WRGB 6 (Albany) - WWNY 7 (Watertown) - WROC 8 (Rochester) - WBNG 12 (Binghamton)
See also: ABC, CW, Fox, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS and Other stations in New York