WGME-TV

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WGME-TV
Portland, Maine
Branding	WGME 13 (normal) News 13 (newscasts)
Slogan	Breaking News. Breaking Weather. Breaking Stories.
Channels	13 (VHF) analog, 38 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	CBS The Tube (on DT2)
Owner	Sinclair Broadcast Group
Founded	May 16, 1954
Call letters meaning	We're Gannett of ME (for former owner Guy Gannett)
Former callsigns	WGAN-TV (1954-1983)
Transmitter Power	295 kW/462 m (analog) 100 kW/491 m (digital)
Website	wgme.com

WGME-TV is the CBS affiliated television station for the Portland, Maine market. The station broadcasts an analog signal on VHF channel 13 with a digital signal on UHF channel 38 from a transmitter located on Brown Hill in Raymond. Its 1,619-foot tower was briefly the tallest structure in the world when it was built in 1959. Although its logo may hint at "CBS 13", the station is known on-air as "WGME 13".

The station offers The Tube, a 24-hour digital music video channel, on its DT2 subchannel.

[edit] History

Channel 13's first broadcast was on May 16, 1954, under the callsign of WGAN-TV. It was co-owned for many years with WGAN-AM 560, WGAN-FM 103, and the Portland Press-Herald by Guy Gannett Communications (no relation to the much larger Gannett corporation that now owns rival NBC affiliate WCSH). When the radio stations were sold in 1984, the WGAN call letters went with them. WGAN-TV then changed its call sign to the current WGME-TV. Guy Gannett sold most of its television stations, including WGME, to Sinclair Broadcast Group in 1998.

[edit] Newscasts

The station's newscasts led the ratings in Portland until the late 1980s at which point WCSH became number one. During the final years of Guy Gannett ownership in the 1990s, WGME launched a weekend morning newscast featuring many live shots and in-studio interviews but the effort was abandoned due to poor ratings. Although WGME does not own or operate a weather radar of its own, the station uses live NOAA NWS data from several regional sites presented in a forcasting system onscreen in newscasts called "Doppler 4000 Storm Tracker".

Starting on February 5, WGME began to produce a daily 35-minute 10 PM newscast for WPFO, Portland's FOX affiliate. The newscast is known as News 13 on FOX. During the week, it is anchored by Kiley Bennett, with weather from Chief Meteorologist Charlie Lopresti, and sports from Sports Director Dave Eid. This newscast competes with the 10 PM news that currently airs on WPXT, the area's CW affiliate. The WPXT newscast is produced by Maine's NBC affiliates, WCSH in Portland and WLBZ in Bangor. The WGME-produced 10 PM newscast on WPFO is possible because of a news share agreement.

Weekdays

• News 13 at Daybreak (4:55 to 7 AM)
• News 13 at Noon (12 to 12:30 PM)
• News 13 Live at 5 (5 to 5:30 PM)
• News 13 at 5:30 (5:30 to 6 PM)
• News 13 at 6 (6 to 6:30 PM)
• News 13 at 10 on FOX / Maine's News at 10 (10 to 10:35 PM on WPFO)
• News 13 at 11 (11 to 11:35 PM)

Weekends

• News 13 at 6 (6 to 6:30 PM)
• News 13 at 10 on FOX / Maine's News at 10 (10 to 10:35 PM on WPFO)
• News 13 at 11 (11 to 11:30 PM)

[edit] News Team

Previous WGME logo, used from late 1999 until April 3, 2006. It's sort of a green version of the red-colored version used by KOVR in Sacramento, California

News

• Vivian Bean, (Weekdays 4:55-7:00 a.m.)
• Kiley Bennett, (Weekdays 5:00 p.m. 5:30 p.m., 10:00 p.m., & 11:00 p.m.)
• Kim Block, (Weekdays Noon, 5:00 p.m. & 6:00 p.m.)
• John Hopperstad, (Weekdays 4:55-7:00 a.m. & Noon)
• Gregg Lagerquist, (Weekdays 6:00 p.m. & 11:00 p.m.)
• Jeff Peterson, (Weekdays 5:00 pm & 5:30 pm); was Sports Director at WGME 1991-1994
• Doug Ray, (Weekends 6:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m., & 11:00 p.m.)

Sports

• Dave Eid, (Weekdays 6:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m., & 11:00 p.m.)
• Adam Pellerin, (Weekends 6:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m., & 11:00 p.m.)

Storm Team 13 Meteorologists

• Charlie Lopresti, chief (Weekdays 5:00 , 5:30 , 6:00, 10:00 p.m., & 11:00 p.m.)
• Sarah Long, (Weekdays 4:55-7 a.m. & Noon)
• Max Riseman, (Weekends 6:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m., & 11:00 p.m.)

Reporters

• Kate Barker
• Lucas Colavecchio
• Nikita Hairston
• Diana Ichton
• Amy Sinclair—mainly does light feature and interest stories
• Doug Rafferty—does *Doug's Discovery* and *Entertainment News*; a former Chief Co-Anchor (1991-2006)

[edit] Administration

• Terry Cole, General Manager
• Robb Atkinson, News Director
• Don Barr, General Sales
• Gary Legters, Operations
• Craig Clark, Engineering
• Bryan Bilodeau, Business Manager
• Mike McFadden, MIS / IT

[edit] Past Station Personalities

• Jeff Barnd, former co-anchor, to WLVI Boston, now anchor WBFF Baltimore.
• Tom Caron, former sports reporter, to NESN
• Paul Cousins, meteorologist, now director AtmosForecast Portland and provides recorded forecasts for several radio & television outlets throughout Maine.
• Frank Fixaris, former sports anchor 1967-1992, was a sports radio talk co-host; deceased 2006.
• Dianna Fletcher, former Daybreak anchor/reporter, now media/p.r. consultant Fletcher Media.
• Sayoko Murase, former Daybreak anchor, now with ShawTV, Vancouver, BC
• Steve Schwaid, former news director, now Sr.V.P. news & programming NBC Universal Stations NY.
• Mindi Ramsey, former anchor/reporter, now weekend anchor/reporter WVIT Hartford.
• Emily Apel, former reporter, now anchor/reporter KION Salinas, CA
• Ron Wolfe, former news director,
• Paul Dellegatto, former meteorologist, 1985-86, now chief meteorologist at FOX 13 in Tampa, Florida
• Dave Santoro, former weekend/Daybreak meteorologist who later became Chief Meteorologist a few years back, now a math teacher in the Portland, ME, public school system
• Bruce Berlinger, former Chief Co-Anchor 1978-1989, also did kids interest features

[edit] WGME TV Tower

Coordinates: 43°55′29″N, 70°29′27″W

WGME TV Tower is a 1624 foot (495 m) high guy-wired aerial mast for the transmission of WGME in Raymond, Maine. The tower stands on one side of Panther Pond.

It was built in 1959 and is the second-tallest construction in Maine. According to the 1991 Guinness Book of World Records, WGME TV Tower was the world's tallest structure from 1959 to 1960.

[edit] External Links

• Station Website
• WPFO Website
• CBS Wesbite
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WGME