WBRE-TV

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WBRE-TV
Wilkes-Barre-Scranton, Pennsylvania
Branding	WBRE / WBRE News
Slogan	On Your Side
Channels	28 (UHF) analog, 11 (VHF) digital
Translators	51 W51BP Clarks Summit 24 W24BL Pottsville 60 W60AH and 64 W64AL Stroudsburg 30 W30AN Williamsport
Affiliations	NBC
Owner	Nexstar Broadcasting Group
Founded	January 1, 1953
Call letters meaning	Baltimore Radio & Engineering (original owners, call sign was kept when WBRE was sold and it unofficially means Wilkes-BarRE)
Former affiliations	none
Website	pahomepage.com

WBRE-TV is a NBC affiliate station broadcasting on channel 28 to most of northeastern and central Pennsylvania in the Wilkes-Barre-Scranton DMA. The station is owned by Nexstar Broadcasting, based in Irving, Texas. The station is located in downtown Wilkes-Barre. WBRE's transmitter is located in Mountaintop, Pennsylvania.

Contents 1 History 2 Newscasts 2.1 Weekdays 2.2 Weekends 3 News Team 4 Translators 5 External links

[edit] History

On January 1, 1953, WBRE went on-air, becoming the first television station in the market. It led the ratings throughout the 1950s until ABC affiliate WNEP-TV jumped ahead of it in 1959. However, it jumped back in the lead in the early 1960s and went back and forth for first with WDAU-TV (now WYOU) until the late 1970s. In 1972, disaster struck WBRE when its offices were flooded by Hurricane Agnes. Most of the station's equipment was moved above ground and survived, but a film archive located in the basement was destroyed. Nexstar Broadcasting Group acquired the station in January 1998.

Later that year, as usual for most Nexstar stations, it entered into a local sales agreement and shared services agreement with the local Mission Broadcasting station (in this case, WYOU).

Since WBRE and WYOU have both trailed WNEP, the area's ABC affiliate, in the ratings for their news shows consistently for the last several decades, a major shakeup in format occurred in the fall of 2006. While WYOU went with a talk/debate format for its nightly news, WBRE became more of the traditional news program, setting a more clear competition against WNEP. WBRE's nightly news has a few twists, however. They are the only station in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton market to provide meteorological reports from multiple set locations, perhaps nodding towards the vast area that the station broadcasts to. In addition, the 5:00 news through the 6:00 news provide co-anchorage from different locations. Andy Mehalshick usually reports from a remote location while still handling the duties of an anchor. He is back behind the desk with co-anchorh Lyndall Stout at the 11:00 news.

On 3 January 2007, Nexstar tapped Louis J. Abitabilo to become the VP and general manager for the station. [1]

[edit] Newscasts

[edit] Weekdays

• Pennsylvania Morning (5-7 AM, also airs on WYOU)
• Pennsylvania Midday (12-12:30 PM, also airs on WYOU)
• WBRE News at 5 (5-5:30 PM)
• WBRE News at 5:30 (5:30-6 PM)
• WBRE News at 6 (6-6:30 PM)
• WBRE News at 11 (11-11:35 PM)
• Updates throughout the morning from 7:25 to 9:55

[edit] Weekends

• WBRE News Saturday/Sunday (9-10 AM)
• WBRE News at 6 (6-6:30 PM)
• WBRE News at 11 (11-11:30 PM)

[edit] News Team

• Andy Mehalshick: anchor/chief investigative reporter
• Alexis Fisher: I-team producer/producer
• Lyndall Stout: anchor
• Dave Becker: reporter
• Bobby Day: Reporter
• Josh Hodell: chief meteorologist
• Phil Schoener: sports director
• Dia Wallace: anchor
• Jeff Chirico: consumer reporter
• Joe Holden: investigative reporter
• Amy Bradley: investigative reporter
• Laurie Monteforte: reporter
• Lorena Beniquez: reporter
• Carmen Grant: reporter
• Jill Konopka: reporter
• Colin Riccobon: sports
• April Gonzales: meteorologist
• Kevin Derk: meteorologist
• Dave Skutnik: meteorologist based in Lackawanna County
• Brian Fitzgerald: meteorologist based in the Poconos
• Jeff Jumper: meteorologist based in Central PA

Pennsylvania Morning and Pennsylvania Midday news and Production Staff

• Producer: Sherry Gardner, Bill Jones, Sarah Klinges
• Director: Wes Kontasky Jr., Bob Piorkowski
• Electronic Graphics: Jim Mcglynn
• Studio Camera: Maria Tomassoni, Bill Griffiths, Heather Barcheski, Tom Walzer
• Operations: Camio Camerella
• Assignment Manager: Bobby Day
• Photo Journalist: Joe Butash
• Mark Hiller: anchor
• Kerry Shahen: anchor
• David Kuharchik: meteorologist
• Dave Skutnik: Fill in Meteorologist
• Brian Fitzgerald: Fill in meteorologist
• April Gonzales: Fill In meteorologist

[edit] Translators

Like most stations in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre market, WBRE must rely on repeaters to serve its coverage area. The market is one of the largest east of the Mississippi River and is very mountainous.

• Clarks Summit: W51BP channel 51
• Pottsville: W24BL channel 24
• Stroudsburg: W60AH channel 60 and W64AL channel 64
• Williamsport: W30AN channel 30

[edit] External links

• WBRE Website (shared with WYOU-TV)
• Photos of WBRE's set
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WBRE-TV
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W51BP
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W24BL
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W60AH
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W64AL
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W30AN

v • d • e

Broadcast television in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre market (Nielsen DMA #53)

W07BV 7 / W19CI 19 (EWTN) - WNEP 16 (ABC) - WYOU 22 (CBS) - WBRE 28 (NBC) - WYLN 35 (A1) - WSWB 38 (The CW) - WVIA 44 (PBS) - WQMY 53 (MNTV) - WOLF 56 (FOX, The CW via WSWB on DT2, MNTV via WQMY on DT3) - WQPX 64 (ION)