| Lancaster / York / Harrisburg / Lebanon, Pennsylvania |
|
|---|---|
| City of license | Lancaster |
| Branding | WGAL 8 (general) News 8 (newscasts) This TV Lancaster (on DT2) |
| Slogan | Coverage You Can Count On |
| Channels | Digital: 8 (VHF) |
| Subchannels | 8.1 NBC 8.2 This TV |
| Affiliations | NBC |
| Owner | Hearst Television (WGAL Hearst Television, Inc.) |
| First air date | March 18, 1949 |
| Call letters' meaning |
Greater Area of Lancaster |
| Former callsigns | WGAL-TV (1949-1992) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 4 (VHF, 1949-1952) 8 (VHF, 1952-2009) Digital: 58 (1999-2009) (UHF) |
| Former affiliations | CBS / ABC / DuMont (1949-1963) all secondary NBC Weather Plus (on DT2) [1] |
| Transmitter power | 32.2 kW |
| Height | 419 m |
| Facility ID | 53930 |
| Website | wgal.com |
WGAL is the NBC-affiliated television station for South Central Pennsylvania that is licensed to Lancaster. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 8 from a transmitter near U.S. 30 north of Hallam. The transmitter site and tower is also where WGAL's radio partner, WROZ "101.3 The Rose" (which once had the WGAL-FM call sign[2]) transmits their signal from. Owned by Hearst Television, the station has studios on Columbia Avenue (PA 462) in Lancaster. Syndicated programming on WGAL includes: Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, Oprah, and Dr. Phil. The station can also be seen on cable channel 3 and HD channel 808.
Contents |
The station's signal is multiplexed. On WGAL-DT2, Comcast digital channel 248, and Verizon FiOS digital channel 460 is This TV.
| Virtual Channel |
Physical Channel |
Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.1 | 8.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | main WGAL/NBC programming |
| 8.2 | 8.2 | 480i | 4:3 | This TV Lancaster |
Due to problems receiving the main channel 8 signal in many areas, WGAL has applied for six low-powered "fill-in" translators. If any stations sign on, they would be given the same callsign and facility ID as the main station.[3][4]
| Channel | City of License | Service Area | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | Red Lion | York | Application |
| 27 | Carlisle | Carlisle, Mechanicsburg | Application |
| 31 | Gettysburg | Gettysburg, Chambersburg, Thurmont | Application |
| 49 | Harrisburg | Harrisburg and immediate metro area | Construction permit (expires July 1, 2013) |
| 49 | Ephrata | Lancaster, Reading, Lebanon, Hershey | Application |
| 51[5] | Lancaster | Lancaster and immediate area | Construction permit (expires April 7, 2013) |
WGAL-TV began operations on March 18, 1949 on channel 4 as the fourth television station in Pennsylvania and the first outside Philadelphia beating WDTV (now KDKA-TV) in Pittsburgh which began operations in November of that year. It was owned by the Steinman family owners of WGAL radio (1490 AM, now WLPA, and 101.3 FM, now WROZ) and Lancaster's two major newspapers, the Intelligencer Journal and the Lancaster New Era. At the time, Lancaster was the smallest city in the country with a television station. The station's first formal program was shown on March 22 to a group of RCA executives, television dealers, and radio station personnel at the Stevens House Hotel in downtown Lancaster. In 1952, WGAL increased its power from 1,000 to 7,200 watts. Under this new grant, the station was required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to move to channel 8 to prevent interference with WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. That change took place on December 31, 1952.
On January 1, 1954, WGAL presented its first color television broadcast of the Tournament of Roses Parade. It has always been an NBC affiliate but also carried some programs from CBS, DuMont, and ABC until 1963 when Nielsen made the Lancaster and Harrisburg/York areas a single market. The Steinmans also launched WDEL-TV in Wilmington, Delaware around the same time as WGAL's launch but sold that station in 1955. Over the years, the family purchased three more television stations (KOAT in Albuquerque, New Mexico and KVOA in Tucson, Arizona both of which they sold to Pulitzer Publishing in 1969 and WTEV-TV in New Bedford, Massachusetts) as well as several radio stations and newspapers. The Steinmans sold both of their remaining television stations to Pulitzer in late-1978 reuniting them with KOAT (that company spun off KVOA in 1972).
Under Pulitzer's ownership in 1985, WGAL became the first television station in Pennsylvania to broadcast in stereo beating much larger stations in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. It dropped the -TV suffix in 1992. Pulitzer sold its entire television division, including WGAL and KOAT, to what was then Hearst-Argyle Television in 1999. The sale closed on March 18, this station's 50th anniversary. In 2000, WGAL adopted a Hearst-styled logo somewhat similar to sister stations WBAL-TV in Baltimore, Maryland and WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh. WGAL ended programming on its analog signal, on VHF channel 8, on June 12, 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United States. The station then moved back to channel 8 for its post-transition operations.[6][7] It airs the live Pennsylvania Lottery televised nighttime drawings seven nights a week and the live Powerball on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The station is also a community service leader in the market airing the Salvation Army Coats For Kids drive and telethon, the Children's Miracle Network telethon, and the Jefferson Awards. Anchors and other on-air personalities are active in the community as well. WGAL's signal is seen on cable systems far past the market borders. This includes in Fulton County (west), Chester and Berks Counties (east), Northumberland County (north), and Cecil and Harford Counties in Maryland (south).[8]
As the only VHF station in the area, it has been the market leader for many years. This may also have to do with its past owners being local major newspapers as is common for many first ranked stations in the United States. WGAL airs over 21 hours of local news broadcasts every week. With its dominant presence in the market, the station has the highest share in the country (of the top 50 markets) in terms of audience share for the weekday 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. news and also leads all other stations in the market in terms of share on every other broadcast.[9] On September 30, 1995, weekend morning editions of News 8 Today premiered. In addition to its main studios, WGAL operates bureaus in Harrisburg (on Market Street) and York (on South George Street a.k.a. BL I-83/Susquehanna Trail). The station operates the area's only live weather radar at its transmitter site known as "Super Doppler 8".
Since February 2010, days before the Winter Olympic games, WGAL has been using updated tickers for weather warnings, school closings, ect., to fit 16:9 screens. That prevented HDTV broadcasts from reverting to 4:3 standard definition when the tickers appered. Around late October or early November 2010, the set of News 8 had been modified with two new flat screen monitors to the left and right of the set. And an additional flat screen monitor was added to the front of the new anchor desk.
On December 13, 2010, starting with News 8 at 5, WGAL became the first local TV station in the market to present its newscasts in 16:9 widescreen standard definition along with the updated on screen graphics and open.[10] Before WGAL's switch to 16:9, the Lancaster/York/Harrisburg/Lebanon market was the largest Nielsen DMA where all of its local stations did not broadcast local newscasts in high definition or 16:9 widescreen. That title then went to the Providence market until May 16, 2011 when that market's NBC affiliate WJAR became the first there to upgrade to high definition local newscasts. Currently, the title of the largest Nielsen DMA without HD or widescreen ED local newscasts belongs to the Fargo – Valley City market. On August 29, 2011, WGAL became the second television station in Central Pennsylvania (behind Fox affiliate WPMT) to broadcast local newscasts in high definition. The news open was modified to include the station's legacy logos while the set remains unchanged.
Anchors
News 8 Storm Team Meteorologists
Traffic
Sports
Reporters
Hearst Washington Bureau
8 on Your Side Reporters
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