WPTA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| WPTA | |
|---|---|
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| Fort Wayne, Indiana | |
| Branding | 21Alive/Indiana's NewsCenter |
| Slogan | A New Generation of News |
| Channels | 21 (UHF) analog, 24 (UHF) digital |
| Affiliations | ABC , The CW on DT2 |
| Owner | Malara Broadcasting (operated by Granite Broadcasting) |
| Founded | October 27, 1957 |
| Transmitter Power | 562 kW (analog) 335 kW (digital) |
| Height | 224.0 m (analog) 224.4 m (digital) |
| Website | IndianasNewsCenter.com Fort Wayne's CW Homepage |
WPTA is a television station in Fort Wayne, Indiana, broadcasting locally on channel 21 as an affiliate of ABC. The station is owned by Malara Broadcasting, but is operated through a local marketing agreement by Granite Broadcasting Corporation. Granite owns WISE-TV, the local NBC affiliate. Both stations broadcast local news programming jointly under the banner Indiana's News Center. The station broadcasts in digital on channel 24, and one of its digital subchannels will become an affiliate of The CW starting September 18, 2006.
Malara files its Securities and Exchange Commission reports jointly with Granite, leading to allegations that it is simply a shell corporation for Granite. If these allegations are ever found to be true, Granite would be in violation of FCC rules regarding duopolies. The FCC does not allow common ownership of two of the four largest stations in a single market. In addition, Fort Wayne has only six full-power stations--too few to allow duopolies in any case.
The "21 Alive" name was in use since the late-1970s, when the station was owned by Combined Communications (which was sold to Gannett in 1979), in which most of their stations (including Atlanta's WXIA-TV, another former Combined station) included "Alive" in their nickname. Gannett sold the station (along with WLKY-TV in Louisville, Kentucky) to Pulitzer in 1983, who later sold WPTA to Granite in 1986.
At one point, WPTA was among the top 10 strongest ABC affiliates, ranking up with WISN-TV Milwaukee and KTRK in Houston. Today it is still a strong ABC affiliate according to Granite Broadcasting's web site in 1997. Since it took over WISE TV is has lost most of the ratings points. In fact, WANE TV has been the markets news leader for the last two years according to Nielson Media Research In the last ratings period of February of 2007 WPTA was doubled by WANE TV in several newscast time slots. WANE TV has won every time slot for it's news progarmming.
Contents |
[edit] Newscasts
WPTA produces five newscasts using three different "news teams". These newscasts are produced with sister-station WISE-TV, and are branded Indiana's NewsCenter.
[edit] Weekdays
- Indiana's NewsCenter Today on 21Alive (5:00-7:00 AM)
- Indiana's NewsCenter Local News Update (7:00-9:00 AM) (segments during Good Morning America)
- Indiana's NewsCenter at Noon on 21Alive (12:00-12:30 PM)
- Indiana's NewsCenter at 5 on 21Alive (5:00-5:30 PM)
- Indiana's NewsCenter at 6 on 21Alive (6:00-6:30 PM)
- Indiana's NewsCenter at 11 on 21Alive (11:00-11:35 PM)
[edit] Weekends
- Indiana's NewsCenter Weekend at 6 (6:00-6:30 PM)
- Indiana's NewsCenter Weekend at 11 (11:00-11:35 PM)
[edit] News Team
[edit] Anchors
- Keith Edwards - Indiana NewsCenter at 5, 6, and 11
- Melissa Long - Indiana NewsCenter at 5, 6, and 11
- Ryan Elijah - Indiana NewsCenter Today
- Mary Collins - Indiana NewsCenter Today and updates during Good Morning America
- Corrine Rose - Indiana NewsCenter at Noon
- Eric Olson - Indiana NewsCenter Weekend
[edit] Weather
- Curtis Smith - News Center at 5, 6, and 11
- Chris Daniels - News Center Today/News Center at Noon
- Jason Meyers - News Center Weekend
- Jay Walker - fill-in
[edit] Sports
- Dean Pantazi - News Center at 6 and 11
- Tommy Scholger - News Center Weekend
[edit] Reporters
- Jennifer Blomquist - also served as anchor
- Jeff Neumeyer
- Nicole Pence
- Jane Hersha
- Jessica Toumani
WPTA also uses personnel from WISE
[edit] Notable WPTA Alumni
- Brent Cameron (meteorologist, now at WSVN Miami, Florida)
- Marti Wright (anchor/reporter 1981-1999, resigned after a DUI in Angola, IN)
- Victor Locke (anchor 1983-2004, now a voiceover announcer and anchor/reporter at KSUT-FM in Durango, Colorado)
- Tacoma Newsome (reporter, now at WCMH in Columbus, Ohio)
- Sandra Jones (reporter, now at WTVR in Richmond, Virginia)
- Christine Zak (reporter, went to WEEK-TV Peoria, Illinois in 1976, now retired)
- Janette Luu (weekend anchor until 2005, now at CKXT-TV in Toronto, Ontario Canada)
- Heather McMichael (anchor/reporter ??-1995, went to WDAF-TV in Kansas City, Missouri)
- Greg Johans (sports anchor in the 1980's, now retired)
- Michael Morrissey (meteorologist until 2006, now in public relations at a Fort Wayne company)
[edit] External links
| Broadcast television in the Fort Wayne market (Nielsen DMA #106) | ||
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W07CL 7 (3ABN) - WANE 15 (CBS) - WPTA 21 (ABC) (The CW via "WBFW" on DT2) - WISE 33 (NBC) (MNTV on DT2) - WFWA 39 (PBS) - WFWC-CA 45 (3ABN) - WFFT 55 (FOX) - WINM 63 (TCT/TBN) |
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| Local cable television channels | ||
| ABC Network Affiliates in the state of Indiana | |
|---|---|
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WRTV 6 (Indianapolis) - WPTA 21 (Fort Wayne) - WEHT 25 (Evansville) - WBND-LP 57 (South Bend) |
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| See also: CBS, CW, Fox, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS, Religious and Other stations in the state of Indiana | |
