| Binghamton, New York | |
|---|---|
| Branding | NewsChannel 34 NBC 5 (on DT2) |
| Slogan | Coverage You Can Count On |
| Channels | Digital: 34 (UHF) Virtual: 34 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 34.1 ABC 34.2 NBC |
| Owner | Newport Television (Newport Television License, LLC) |
| First air date | November 24, 1962 |
| Call letters' meaning | based on WIXT |
| Sister station(s) | WBGH-CA, WSYR-TV, WETM-TV, WWTI, WHAM-TV, WXXA-TV |
| Former callsigns | WBJA-TV (1962-1978) WMGC-TV (1978-1998) |
| Former channel number(s) | 34 (UHF analog, 1962-2009) 4 (VHF digital, 2003-2009) |
| Transmitter power | 345 kW |
| Height | 278 m |
| Facility ID | 11260 |
| Website | newschannel34.com |
WIVT is the ABC-affiliated television station for Upstate New York's Eastern Southern Tier licensed to Binghamton. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 34 from a transmitter at its studios on Ingraham Hill Road southwest of Downtown Binghamton. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 6 and in high definition on digital channel 703. Owned by Newport Television, WIVT is sister to Class A NBC affiliate WBGH-CA and the two outlets share studios. However, master control and some internal operations are based at centralcasting facilities within WSYR-TV's facility on Bridge Street in East Syracuse. Syndicated programming on WIVT includes Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Judge Joe Brown and Judge Judy among others.
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Due to its Class A status, WBGH does not air a digital signal of its own. However, there is one offered in high definition on WIVT's second digital subchannel to serve as that purpose. WBGH can also be seen in HD on Time Warner Cable digital channel 700.
| Channel | Name | Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 34.1 | WIVT-HD | 720p | 16:9 | main WIVT programming/ABC (HD) |
| 34.2 | WIVT-DT2 | 1080i | 16:9 | WBGH-CA "NBC 5" (HD) |
Alfred E. Anscombe, former General Manager of WKBW-AM-TV in Buffalo, secured a construction permit for Binghamton's third television station on April 25, 1961.[1][2] He named it WBJA-TV[3] after his wife Beth J. Anscombe. Initially, the station was allocated to UHF analog channel 56.[3] However, five years earlier, two competing ABC affiliates in Northeastern Pennsylvania (WILK-TV channel 34 in Wilkes-Barre and WARM-TV channel 16 in Scranton) merged to form WNEP-TV, retaining WILK's license but using WARM's old UHF channel 16.[4] Seeing a chance to use more signal at less cost, Anscombe sought and won a new construction permit for analog channel 34.[5] The new station signed on November 24, 1962[6] from studios at its transmitter site on Ingraham Hill south of Binghamton.[4][5] It has always been an ABC affiliate.[6] The Northeastern Pennsylvania-area station now known as WOLF-TV signed on in 1985 using analog channel 56.
Anscombe planned for WBJA to be the first station in a seven-station group;[6] however, only one other station, WEPA-TV in Erie, Pennsylvania (now defunct; its channel 66 allocation was later used by WFXP) was started before the two stations were acquired by Gerald Arthur, Oliver Lazare, and Jules Hessen, a group who also owned WEEE in Rensselaer, in 1966.[7][8] Pinnacle Communications bought WBJA in 1978[9] and changed the call letters to WMGC-TV on October 19,[10][11] reflecting its new "Magic 34" branding.[4] It dropped the branding by the mid to late-1980s, but retained the call letters.
Pinnacle sold WMGC to Citadel Communications in 1986;[12] in 1995, Citadel sold the station, along with WVNY in Burlington, Vermont, to USA Broadcast Group,[13] which was soon renamed U.S. Broadcast Group after a complaint from USA Network.[14] U.S. Broadcast Group put its stations up for sale in 1997;[15] WSKG-TV contemplated acquiring WMGC and operating it as an NBC affiliate to raise money for its public broadcasting operations (at that time, Binghamton had no NBC affiliate of its own, following WICZ-TV's switch to Fox a year earlier),[16][17] but it was instead purchased by the Ackerley Group,[18] which changed the call letters to WIVT on February 26, 1998.[10][19] The call letters were derived from Ackerley's station in Syracuse, WIXT (now WSYR-TV).[19]
A few months later, Ackerley nearly lost its investment. On May 31, 1998, a tornado ripped through WIVT's Ingraham Hill studios and blew down its tower. Cross-town rival WBNG-TV had live reports that night literally from the WIVT facilities. The station had a feed restored to cable providers within days but was off-the-air for several months.[4]
WIVT became a sister station to WBGH when that station was sold by Smith Television to Ackerley in 2000.[20] Ackerley merged with Clear Channel Communications on June 14, 2002.[21] On April 20, 2007, the company entered into an agreement to sell its entire television stations group to Newport Television, a broadcasting group established by Providence Equity Partners;[22] the deal was completed on March 14, 2008.[23]
WIVT ceased analog transmission after midnight on June 12, 2009. Initially, the station continued its digital broadcasts on VHF channel 4 while new equipment, originally used by sister station KGPE in Fresno, California for analog braodcasting, was installed. The new equipment for WIVT's digital operations on channel 34 in early August. The channel 4 signal, which had been broadcasting since June 16, 2003, was located on a low-band of VHF and vulnerable to impulse noise. WIVT commenced digital operations on channel 34 early in the morning on August 17 and channel 4 went dark on August 18. Since WBGH operates as part of the WIVT twinstick, its second digital subchannel now carries WBGH in 1080i high definition as of February 9, 2010. The official plan is to broadcast that station in high definition in the future with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) roll-out plan for low-power digital stations.
For the most part, WIVT has been a non-factor in the local newscast race in Binghamton. It has spent most of its history as the third station in what was at one point essentially a two-station market,[4] and reaped virtually no benefit when the area's long-time NBC affiliate WICZ switched to Fox in 1996.
Immediately after taking control, the Ackerley Group significantly upgraded WIVT's news department with the ability to share resources with WIXT's well-respected news department in Syracuse as well as the company's other television properties in Upstate New York.[4] After the tornado destroyed its newly renovated studios, the station temporarily relocated to the facilities of WSKG-TV in Vestal while rebuilding on Ingraham Hill.[24] WIVT's evening newscasts began to be simulcast on WBGH in 2000, after its acquisition by Ackerley.[20] However, the upgrades proved unsustainable and cuts began to be made as a result.
Shortly before Clear Channel took over in June 2002, WIVT eliminated its morning and midday newscasts.[25] On July 8,[25] the station began producing a two-hour weekday morning show known as Daybreak. Airing from 5 until 7, the newscast was simulcast on sister stations WWTI in Watertown and WUTR in Utica and included brief localized updates (focusing on Binghamton) twice an hour. Most coverage, however, presented was regional in nature, with area-wide weather forecasts produced from WIXT.[26][27] WWTI and WUTR subsequently dropped the program, which then reverted to a Binghamton focus. In 2003, WIVT dropped its weekend newscasts.[27]
The station closed down its sports department in 2006; at the same time, its full-length newscast weeknights at 11 was reduced to a short five-minute update. WIVT also began originating its early weeknight shows, including musical performances, from secondary studios in the Oakdale Mall in Johnson City. Due to a lack of meteorologists (except for a lone weather anchor) based at WWTI, WIVT's forecasting personnel provided most weather segments taped in advance for that station.
On June 5, 2009, WIVT and WBGH announced there would be a consolidation of news operations with sister station WETM-TV in Elmira after Newport Television made across the board cuts.[28] WBNG reported all but two people from the news staff and all production personnel for the news department would be terminated.[29] The Press & Sun-Bulletin identified the two personnel remaining as news anchor Peter Quinn and News Director Jim Ehmke but also said fifteen other members of the original 28 person staff, including non-news personnel, would remain based in Binghamton.[30] The two continued to be locally operated and maintain engineer staff at the studios on Ingraham Hill Road. Initially, WIVT and WBGH simulcasted all newscasts from WETM with hardly any coverage of Binghamton except during regional weather forecast segments. This left the Eastern Southern Tier with two television stations for local news, and as a result, there was a noticeable increase in viewership on WBNG and (to a lesser extent) on WICZ.
A separate newscast focusing on the Binghamton area was brought back to WIVT and WBGH on June 28, 2009.[31] This is taped in advance (featuring locally-based photojournalists) and aired weeknights at 6 and again at 11 with updated weather and sports cut-ins in the later show. Originally airing from a secondary set at WETM's studios on East Water Street in Downtown Elmira, production of the news and sports segments eventually shifted back to the Ingraham Hill facility with weather cut-ins from Elmira. WIVT continues to simulcast WETM's newscasts on weekday mornings (second hour only) and weekdays at noon. On weekends, WETM's show at 11 is the only broadcast seen on WIVT; this newscast, as well as the Sunday 6 p.m. newscast, is also seen on WBGH.
+ denotes personnel based at WIVT and WBGH
Anchors
NewsChannel 34 Storm Team Meteorologists
Sports
Reporters
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