| Erie, Pennsylvania | |
|---|---|
| Branding | WSEE (general) WSEE Newswatch The CW Erie (on DT2) |
| Slogan | Watching Out For You |
| Channels | Digital: 16 (UHF) Virtual: 35 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 35.1 CBS 35.2 The CW |
| Owner | Lilly Broadcasting, LLC (operated through LMA by SJL Broadcasting, Inc.) (Lilly Broadcasting of Pennsylvania License Subsidiary, LLC) |
| First air date | April 24, 1954 |
| Call letters' meaning | SEE alludes to CBS eye logo |
| Sister station(s) | WICU-TV |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 35 (UHF, 1954-2009) |
| Former affiliations | UPN (secondary, 1995-2006) |
| Transmitter power | 75 kW |
| Height | 271 m |
| Facility ID | 49711 |
| Website | erietvnews.com/ www.onecarribbeanweather.com/ (WSEE Caribbean weather portal) |
WSEE-TV, channel 35, is an CBS-affiliated television station located in Erie, Pennsylvania, USA. WSEE-TV is owned by Lilly Broadcasting, and is operated by NBC affiliate WICU-TV (channel 12) through a local marketing agreement. The two stations both share studios on State Street in downtown Erie, and a transmitter located in Greene Township, Pennsylvania. [1][2][3][4]
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WSEE operates the area's CW Television Network affiliate on its second digital subchannel. Known on-air as The CW Erie, this can also be seen on Time Warner channel 3 and WICU's second digital subchannel. WSEE-DT2 gets all of its programming from The CW Plus.
| Channel | Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 35.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | main WSEE-TV programming / CBS |
| 35.2 | 480i | 4:3 | WSEE-DT2 "The CW Erie" |
WSEE-TV began broadcasting on April 24, 1954 as a CBS affiliate.[5] ABC programming was shared by WSEE and WICU until WJET-TV signed-on in 1966. UPN content was aired on weekends by WSEE beginning January 16, 1995. In 1998, this station launched a cable-only WB affiliate as part of The WB 100+. It had the fictional call sign "WBEP".[6] On January 24, 2006, UPN and The WB announced that they would cease broadcasting and merge. The new combined network would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of its corporate parents: CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. On September 18 of that year, WSEE launched a new second digital subchannel to simulcast "WBEP" allowing non-cable subscribers access to the new network. That station began official use of the call sign WSEE-DT2 and became part of The CW Plus. This service is similar to The WB 100+.
Back in 2002, WICU entered into a local marketing agreement with WSEE. From that point until June 1, 2009, this station continued to operate from its own studios on Peach Street (U.S. 19) in Downtown Erie. On that date, WSEE merged into WICU's facilities on State Street. On February 17, 2009 at noon, WSEE-TV's digital signal remained on channel 16 when the analog to digital conversion was completed.[7] On May 14, Lilly Broadcasting advised all off-air staffers at WSEE that their services would no longer be required. Most on-air personnel have continued to work through the duration of the contracts although at least one (WICU reporter Kelsie Smith) was moved to sister station WENY-TV in Elmira, New York; two vacant WICU meteorologist positions were eliminated; and another (WSEE news anchor Raychel Vendetti) was laid-off outright.[8]
Its over-the-air digital broadcast signal covers Erie, Warren, and Crawford counties in Pennsylvania; reaches east to Jamestown, New York, west to Ashtabula, Ohio, north to London and Hamilton in Ontario, and south to Clarion, Pennsylvania. The station can also be seen via satellite in North America and the Caribbean through C band. It is available in Costa Rica through one of the country's major cable providers, Cabletica, and in Puerto Rico on all three cable companies serving the island as well as part of the locals package on Dish Network. WSEE currently only distributes CBS's prime time and most daytime programming in HD. All news and syndicated programming are broadcast in standard definition even though some of the network and syndication companies have made HD feeds of those shows available.
WSEE was carried on Rogers Cable in London, Ontario until September 2005 when it was replaced by Detroit's WWJ-TV. It was also offered on many cable systems in the Hamilton, Niagara, and Grand River regions of Ontario. The station was dropped in these areas by the late 1990s. WSEE is still available on some cable systems in Canada that serve communities on Lake Erie. Atlantic Broadband, the cable provider that serves McKean County, Pennsylvania and portions of Cattaraugus County, New York, announced that WSEE would replace Buffalo's WIVB-TV in January 2009. That station has had several high-profile compensation disputes with that cable company.[9] Though an agreement was eventually reached with WIVB, WSEE was kept on the Atlantic Broadband lineups. However, Time Warner Cable announced it would remove WSEE (along with WICU) from its cable lineups in Westfield and Dunkirk, New York in favor of CFTO-TV from Toronto and the new YNN Buffalo despite the fact that Westfield and Dunkirk are arguably within WSEE's must carry territory.
This station has been part of the Primetime 24 lineup since November 1997 when it replaced Raleigh's WRAL-TV due to that station's regular pre-emptions of CBS programming. The service provides American network television service to C band satellite and some cable viewers in Latin America, the Caribbean, and in rural parts of the United States where local signals are not available. This feed of WSEE varies from its local one where local commercials are replaced with ads directed towards the Caribbean (especially direct response ads). Also, the station's local newscasts are replaced with infomercials although there is a taped Caribbean weather forecast by WSEE's weather staff (often in tropical garb) nightly at 11, which is available through a WSEE-managed website specific to Caribbean weather and is branded as "One Caribbean Weather".
On May 28, 2009, WSEE aired its final newscast from its Peach Street studios. After moving into WICU's facilities and going without local broadcasts for nearly four days, news returned to the air. WSEE's weeknight 11 o'clock broadcast moved to 10 on WSEE-DT2 so it would no longer compete with this channel. It is then re-aired on WSEE at 11. WSEE-DT2 simulcasts the first hour of WICU's weekday morning show, airs the nationally syndicated morning broadcast The Daily Buzz from 6 to 9, simulcasts WICU's 12:30 newscast, and re-airs for a third time the 10 p.m. broadcast early the next morning.
The WICU and WSEE facilities are currently unable to air two live broadcasts at the same time because there is only one control center. When WSEE moved into the state street building, the WICU studio was split in two and it was anticipated that a similar (one man) control center operation would be built for WSEE to allow live separate newscast to exist. Since the move, the WSEE "Morning's Live" show airs for an hour weekday mornings at 6 by pre-recording the newscast at 4am. The branding continues to be used despite not being live because the history that WSEE used to pre-tape the shows during the 11 o'clock broadcast and re-air it the following morning. The WSEE 6 o'clock broadcast is usually recorded during the mid afternoon but on occasion is aired live with WICU pre-taping part of the 90 minute newscast they present. WICU's midday newscast airs at 12:30 p.m. as opposed to the traditional noon to accommodate WSEE's live noon newscast but weather segments on both stations are usually pre-taped earlier in the morning. During times of breaking news, weather or election night coverage both WICU and WSEE simulcast the newscasts and occasionally even include the CW channel as well.
Frequently the WSEE weather person does fill in when the WICU weather person is on vacation for the morning shows. The evening newscasts on WICU, WSEE and CW always uses the same weather person for newscasts since the semi-retirement of Joey Stevens. After the departure of WSEE morning man Ray Petelin, and the subsequent delegation of temporary weather anchors Liz Crawford and Kara Coleman strictly to news, all of the weather staff is shared between the stations, with Ed Russo being hired to replace Petelin.
The two stations share weekend broadcasts which can be delayed on one station due to network programming. WICU and WSEE continue to consolidate news operations by sharing reporting, sports and weather staff. New personnel continue to be hired to replace those who leave contrary to early indications that once a personality left a position he or she would not be replaced and the newscasts would instead be merged.
WICU and WSEE merged their Web sites in June 2011.
Anchors
WSEE Newswatch Storm Team Meteorologists
Sports
Reporters
Notable former staff
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