WTOV-TV

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WTOV-TV
Steubenville, Ohio / Wheeling, West Virginia
Branding	WTOV 9/Nine
Slogan	WTOV (or NEWS) 9 Is Everywhere.
Channels	9 (VHF) analog, 57 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	NBC (since 1980)
Owner	Cox Enterprises
Founded	December 24, 1953
Call letters meaning	We're Television for the Ohio Valley
Former callsigns	WSTV-TV (1953-1978)
Former affiliations	CBS (1953-1980) ABC (secondary, 1953-1980)
Website	www.wtov9.com

WTOV-TV, channel 9, is a television station in the United States. It is the NBC affiliate serving Eastern Ohio, Northern West Virginia, North Central West Virginia, and Western Pennsylvania. Based in Steubenville, Ohio, this station started broadcasting on Christmas Eve in 1953. WTOV is owned by Cox Enterprises, which also owns WPXI in nearby Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. WTOV's transmitter is located in Mingo Junction, Ohio.

The station first went on air as a CBS affiliate with the call sign WSTV-TV on December 24, 1953 -- and at one point it also carried ABC as a secondary affiliate, that affiliation was also split with WTRF-TV. It changed its call letters to WTOV (standing for "We're Television for the Ohio Valley") in 1978 after the station's previous owners, Rust Craft, merged with Ziff Davis. On January 7, 1980, WTOV swapped affiliations with WTRF, becoming an NBC affiliate. In 1983, Ziff Davis sold WTOV, along with then-sister stations WEYI-TV in Saginaw, Michigan and WROC-TV in Rochester, New York, to Television Station Partners, L.P. Television Station Partners was then bought out by Smith Broadcast Group in 1996. In 2000, Cox acquired WTOV, along with WJAC-TV in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, from STC Broadcasting (one of several subsidiaries of Smith Broadcasting).

The station airs tape-delayed high school football games of the week including numerous playoff games of local teams. WTOV aired many college football/basketball games from ABC and ESPN Plus. One of the station's slogans is WTOV9 Is Everywhere.

Many anchors from WTOV have became local celeberties, many moving to other, bigger jobs. Bill Phillips, the former sports director for WTOV, now works at sister station WPXI in Pittsburgh. Kelli Olexia went to the same city, but worked for CBS-owned KDKA. (She has since left the broadcasting industry to be with her kids more often.) Sherri McCutcheon currently hosts a radio program on WKKX-AM in Wheeling. Lisa Kick worked for Youngstown, Ohio's ABC affiliate, WYTV. Jim Forbes has recently moved back and currently works at WTOV's main competitor in the market, WTRF. Former reporter/anchor, Peter Standring moved on, ultimately becoming a host/correspondent for the National Geographic Channel, and is a regular contributor to the science news magazine show, NOVA scienceNOW on PBS.

[edit] News Personalities

• Alison Burns - reporter
• Jackie Cain - reporter
• Kevin Carter - chief meteorologist
• Allison Latos - morning anchor/reporter
• Chandi Lowry - reporter
• Eric Minor - evening anchor (5, 6, and 11)
• Lisa Montgomery - meteorologist
• Jeff Oechslein - morning anchor
• Dino Orsatti - morning anchor
• Natalie Pasquarella - evening anchor (5, 6, and 11)
• John Paul - reporter
• Amy Post - Belmont County reporter
• Ryan Recker - sports reporter
• Don Sloan - sports director
• Deb Witkowski - lifestyle reporter (What Would Deb Do)
• Shelby Zarotney - evening anchor (5 and 6)

[edit] Trivia

• The call letters WTOV previously were used by channel 27 in Portsmouth, Virginia from 1953 until it went dark in 1956. The station went back on the air in 1961 as WYAH (owned by televangelist Pat Robertson), and today it is CW O&O WGNT.

[edit] External links

• WTOV 9
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WTOV

NBC Network Affiliates in the state of Ohio
WDTN 2 (Dayton) - WKYC 3 (Cleveland) - WCMH 4 (Columbus) - WLWT 5 (Cincinnati) - WTOV 9 (Stubenville) - WHIZ 18 (Zanesville) - WFMJ 21 (Youngstown) - WNWO 24 (Toledo) - WLIO 35 (Lima)
See also: ABC, CBS, Fox, PBS, MyNetworkTV, CW and Other stations in Ohio