WZVN-TV
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| WZVN-TV | |
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| Naples / Fort Myers, Florida | |
| Branding | ABC 7 (cable channel) |
| Slogan | ABC 7 Works For You! |
| Channels | Analog: 26 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | ABC |
| Owner | Montclair Communications, Inc. (operated under LMA by Waterman Broadcasting Corporation) (Montclair Communications, Inc.) |
| First air date | August 21, 1974 |
| Call letters’ meaning | ZeVeN = "seven" (the "Z" sounds like "S") |
| Sister station(s) | WBBH-TV |
| Former callsigns | WEVU (1974-1995) |
| Transmitter Power | 5,000 kW (analog) 1,000 kW (digital) |
| Height | 368 m (analog) 453.9 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 19183 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | (analog) (digital) |
| Website | www.abc-7.com |
WZVN-TV, channel 26, is the ABC-affiliated television station in Fort Myers, Florida. Its analog transmitter is located northeast of Bonita Springs near the Collier and Lee County line. This location puts a stronger signal into Naples and Southern Collier County. WZVN's digital transmitter is located north of Fort Myers Shores near the Lee and Charlotte County line.
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[edit] Overview
WZVN is carried on Comcast cable channel 7, which is why the station is known on-air as ABC 7. However, not all Comcast systems in the market carry WZVN on channel 7. Comcast's Arcadia system carries WZVN on channel 11 due to WWSB (another ABC 7 with a nearly identical logo) taking the channel 7 slot. Also, its Clewiston system offers WZVN on channel 10. In addition to offering it over-the-air, WZVN broadcasts its HDTV signal on Comcast digital cable channel 231.
The station's studios, which are shared with NBC affiliate WBBH-TV, are located on Central Avenue in Fort Myers. WZVN is technically owned by Montclaire Communications, Inc. However, it is operated by Waterman Broadcasting Corporation (the owner of WBBH) through a local marketing agreement (LMA). WZVN is one of two major Fort Myers-based stations licensed to Naples (the other one being CW affiliate WXCW).
[edit] History
WZVN began broadcasting on August 31, 1974 with the call letters WEVU. The station was owned by Caloosa Television. In 1976, The Home News Company purchased the station. WEVU began its partnership with WBBH in 1994 through a local marketing agreement according to a USA Today article on media consolidation. Without this resource, WEVU would have had to shut down its news department.
The station's call letters became the current WZVN on October 16, 1995. The previous WEVU calls currently reside on WEVU-CA. In 1995, WZVN began identifying itself on-air by its cable channel and started using a variant of the common circle 7 logo. WZVN's version has the ABC logo attached to the bottom left corner superimposed over a tall black rectangle. Unlike the more common varieties, the "seven" is curved differently. Both of WZVN & WBBH's digital signals went on the air on October 31, 2002. As a result, the two stations became the first in the market to make such a launch.
[edit] News operation
Darrel Adams is news director for WZVN & WBBH, who operate out of a single newsroom. Each station uses its own personalities, news set, and on-air style. However, it is not unusual for news personnel to share video. WBBH is the primary competitor with CBS affiliate WINK-TV. That station has long been the market leader in terms of newscast ratings. WZVN's best known former personality is Harry Horn who is also a veteran of WBBH and WINK-TV. He anchored weeknights on WZVN for 15 years until his retirement in 2004. Horn lost his battle with ALS in August of 2005. On August 14, 2006, WZVN rebranded its evening newscasts as Gulfshore News and added a nightly 10 o'clock newscast on MyNetworkTV affiliate, "WNFM". However, it only ran for 9 months as a result of Comcast's frequent technical difficulties. This hindered the show's ratings and as a result, WZVN canceled the production on May 25, 2007. The cancellation may have also been in response to the popularity of WINK-TV's 10 P.M. news on WXCW. On November 8, 2006, re-branding of WZVN's newscasts continued with Good Morning Southwest Florida becoming Good Morning Gulfshore. On April 9, 2007, WZVN pulled the Gulfshore News label from all its newscasts and simply referred to them as ABC 7 News.
During major hurricanes, recently Charley and Wilma, the news teams of WZVN & WBBH join together to put on 24-hour coverage. The coverage is simulcasted on both stations and streamed via live video on both of their websites. During previous years, WBBH's anchor desk was used along with both station's weather centers. As of the 2007 season, WZVN's HDTV studio will be used in the event of a hurricane. Commercial breaks are dropped for several hours preceding and following landfall. On July 12, 2007, WZVN began broadcasting its news in 16x9 standard definition. The station branded it as "enhanced digital definition" which is not the same as full high definition. It also began to use the WZVN-HD calls on its website. As of October 20, competitor WINK-TV is the first and only Southwest Florida station to broadcast local news in full high definition. WZVN and WBBH share two news bureaus. The Collier County Bureau is located on Tamiami Trail North in Naples. The Charlotte County Bureau is located in Punta Gorda. WZVN & WBBH operate their own weather radar. It is located near the two station's studios and is known on WZVN as "Precision Doppler" or "Precision VIPIR" when used in 3D mode. Unlike most ABC affiliates, WZVN does not air news at Noon or at 5 P.M. during the week. However, it airs a 10 o'clock edition of it morning news. Anchoring the 10 o’clock edition are Eric Wiesfeld and Nancy Alvarez.
[edit] News team
Anchors
- Eric Weisfeld - weekday mornings and 10 A.M.
- reporter
- Nancy Alvarez - weekday mornings and 10 A.M.
- consumer & investigative reporter
- Len Jennings - weeknights
- Stacey Deffenbaugh - weeknights
- Noah Pransky - weekend mornings
- sports reporter
- Catherine Bergerson - weekend mornings
- weeknight 6 o'clock fill-in
- reporter
- Bay Scroggins - weekend evenings
- reporter
ABC 7 Precision Weather Team
- Jim Reif (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief seen on weeknights
- Waterman Broadcasting Director of Meteorology
- John Patrick (NWA and AMS Seals of Approval) - weekday mornings
- Jim Clarke (AMS Seal of Approval) - weekends
Sports
- Jason Kurtz - Director seen on weeknights
- Evan Fitzgerald - weekend evenings
- sports reporter
Reporters
- Mike Baldyga
- Sean Brown - website
- Scott Dobroski
- Susie Hassan
- Kelly Imrick - weekday morning traffic
- Katie LaGrone - consumer & investigative
- Joshua Landon - weekday mornings
- Randy Simons
- Stephanie Tsoflias
- Max Turnier
[edit] Former personalities
- Gordon Barnes - chief meteorologist
- Ibby Carothers - meteorologist
- Paul Conrad - weather forecaster
- Michelle Cunningham - meteorologist now at WBBH]
- Tim Drawbridge - weekend meteorologist
- Meghan Danahey - weekend meteorologist
- now at WFAA
- Shelby Goldman - sports
- Julian Gonzalez - sports
- Sharon Gregory - evening anchor
- now at sister station WVIR-TV
- Harry Horn - anchor
- Curtis Jay
- Phil Jean - sports
- Bonnie Kenny
- Scott Madus
- Emily Norman - anchor
- Kent Overmeyer - sports director
- Meredith Putney - anchor
- Erik Salna - chief meteorologist
- Heather Turco - anchor
- now at WBBH
- Patrick Taney - weekday mornings
- now 5:30 P.M. anchor at WKBW
- Gary Widom - reporter
[edit] External links
- WZVN-TV/DT "ABC 7"
- WZVN wireless
- WBBH-TV/DT "NBC 2"
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WZVN
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WZVN-TV
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