WUHF

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WUHF
Rochester, New York

City of license	Rochester, New York
Branding	Fox Rochester (general) 13 WHAM News on Fox Rochester (newscasts)
Slogan	Your Breaking News & Weather Authority
Channels	Digital: 28 (UHF) Virtual: 31 (PSIP)
Subchannels	31.1 Fox
Affiliations	Fox
Owner	Sinclair Broadcast Group (WUHF Licensee, LLC)
First air date	January 1980
Call letters' meaning	Ultra High Frequency
Sister station(s)	WHAM-TV, WUTV, WNYO-TV, WSTM-TV, WSTQ-LP, WRGB, WCWN
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 31 (1980–2009)
Former affiliations	Independent (1980–1986)
Transmitter power	320 kW
Height	161 m
Facility ID	413
Transmitter coordinates	43°8′5″N 77°35′7″W / 43.13472°N 77.58528°W / 43.13472; -77.58528
Website	foxrochester.com

WUHF is the Fox-affiliated television station for Rochester, New York. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 28 (hence the call letters) from a transmitter on Pinnacle Hill on the border between Rochester and Brighton. The station can also be seen on Time Warner channels 7 and 1206 in standard definition and high definition. Owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station is a sister to ABC affiliate WHAM-TV, owned by Deerfield Media and operated by Sinclair under a shared services agreement. They both share studios on West Henrietta Road (NY 15) in Henrietta (though the mailing address says Rochester). From 2005 to 2013, the station was operated by Nexstar Broadcasting Group and co-located with CBS affiliate WROC-TV.

Digital television

Digital channel

Channel	PSIP Short Name	Video	Aspect	Programming
31.1	WUHF-DT	720p	16:9	Main WUHF programming / Fox

Analog-to-digital conversion

On February 17, 2009, like most Sinclair stations, the station's analog programming left channel 31 and was replaced by a "nightlight" loop that ran until March 3. WUHF continues to operate its digital signal on channel 28.

History

WUHF began operations in January 1980 as a general entertainment independent station running cartoons, sitcoms (classic and recent), movies, drama shows, and religious shows. The station was owned by Malrite and the General Manager was Jerry Carr who was the former "The Weather Outside" personality. Apparently by sheer coincidence, the station re-used a call sign which was previously used by a different and unrelated station which operated on the same channel 31, albeit in New York City. The latter station had only used the WUHF calls for its first year of experimental operation (1961-62); it currently uses the call sign WPXN-TV.

In 1983, former underground cartoonist Brian Bram produced and hosted All Night Live, a program aired live from midnight to 7 in the morning Fridays and Saturdays. Bram's show was a showcase for regional bands including Personal Effects, Cousin Al and the Relatives, and The Degrads. On October 6, 1986, WUHF became a charter affiliate of Fox for Rochester and was known on-air as "Fox 31". Most of the religious shows were gone by then. In 1989, Act III Broadcasting bought the station from Malrite Communications Group. In a group deal, Abry would become the owner in 1994.

By 1996, it was controlled by Sinclair and was eventually sold to that company. In the 1990s, classic sitcoms, movies, and drama shows made way for talk, reality, and court shows. Cartoons ended the station's weekday airings at the end of 2001 when Fox closed its weekday kids block nationwide. In 2000, the station became known on-air as "Fox Rochester" although it adopted a "Fox 31" logo in 2003. Its digital signal signed on-the-air in 2004 under a special temporary authority from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In 2006, WUHF added The Tube digital music video channel on a new second digital subchannel. This continued until the service went out of business in 2007.

In August 2005, the Sinclair Broadcast Group entered into a shared services agreement with Nexstar Broadcasting Group, owners of CBS affiliate WROC-TV. Sinclair agreed to be the subordinate entity allowing Nexstar to control programming for WUHF. The station then moved from its studios on East Avenue in Rochester to WROC's facilities. ^[1]

On May 15, 2012, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Fox agreed to a five-year extension to the network's affiliation agreement with Sinclair's 19 Fox stations, including WUHF, allowing them to continue carrying the network's programming through 2017.^[2]

On December 3, 2012, Sinclair announced it would acquire the non-FCC assets of ABC affiliate WHAM-TV from Newport Television (with the license and other FCC assets being transferred to Deerfield Media). On December 31, 2013, WUHF terminated its eight-year SSA with WROC, and the station was re-located into the Henrietta studios of WHAM. On January 1, 2014, WUHF introduced two WHAM-produced newscasts, Good Day Rochester, and a new 10 p.m. newscast. Both were previously seen on WHAM's The CW sub-channel.^[3]

Cable carriage

In 1994, several cable systems in Canada started carrying WUHF via the Cancom communications satellite in out-of-market areas where Fox was not otherwise available. However, it had been carried on cable in Belleville, Ontario and other communities on the north shore of Lake Ontario since the 1980s. It was formerly carried by EastLink (in SD only) and on Bell Aliant FibreOP TV (in both SD and HD) for viewers in Atlantic Canada until late 2012 (January 30, 2013 in EastLink's case), when it was replaced with WFXT, the Fox O&O Boston station. The station is also carried in the Thousand Islands region of the North Country in the town of Hammond (via Citizens Cable TV) as well as in the provinces of Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador. WUHF has been carried on satellite systems since 2001 and it is currently the only Rochester-based television station seen in Canada on the Shaw Direct satellite provider.^[4]

CF Cable in Western Montreal suburbs used to carry the station in 1995 but replaced it with sister station WUTV from Buffalo the following year. That station was carried on Vidéotron for cable systems outside the West Island. It was also the first Fox station carried on Montreal cable. However, the northern suburbs of that city (particularly St. Jerome) still carry the station even though in Mont Tremblant, WFFF-TV along with other Burlington, Vermont/Plattsburgh, New York stations are seen there instead. Sinclair was re-negotiating for carriage of WUHF on the local Time Warner system in Rochester. The previous agreement expired on December 31, 2010. ^[5] An updated retransmission agreement was reached in February 2011. Had this not happened, WUHF could have pulled its signal from Time Warner.

Newscasts

Weekday morning news open.

In 1997, WUHF established its own news department and aired a nightly prime time newscast (known as The Ten O'Clock News) along with a Sunday night sports highlight show. In 2003, the operation was converted to Sinclair's controversial News Central format which consisted of national and international news as well as weather and sports segments produced at Sinclair's headquarters on Beaver Dam Road in Hunt Valley, Maryland. The local news operation at WUHF was significantly sized down as a result. It also aired "The Point", a one-minute conservative political commentary, that was also controversial and a requirement of all Sinclair-owned stations with newscasts until the series was discontinued in December 2006.

After becoming operated by Nexstar, the News Central format was abandoned and broadcasts on WUHF ceased. Two anchors, a producer, and a photographer were added to WROC's news staff. The remainder of its personnel was laid off in this move. On September 1, 2005, a nightly half hour prime time show (known as Fox First at 10) produced by WROC began airing on this station. It aired from a secondary set from that station's facilities. Eventually, this expanded to 45 minutes followed by a fifteen-minute sports highlight program known as Sports Extra.

On September 4, 2012, WROC became the second Rochester area station to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. The 10 p.m. newscast on WUHF was included in the upgrade. On December 30, 2013, WROC produced its final newscast on WUHF. WHAM-TV took over WUHF's newscasts on January 1, 2014; as a result, the 10 p.m. newscast became 13 WHAM News at 10 on Fox Rochester, and the station began airing a morning newscast from 7–9 a.m., Good Day Rochester; both newscasts were effectively relocated from WHAM-DT2.^[6]

News team

Anchors

Norma Holland - weekday mornings (also Many Voices, Many Visions host)
Doug Emblidge - weekday mornings (reporter and heard on WQBW-FM 95.1)
Jennifer Johnson - weekday mornings
Adam Chodak - weekday mornings also weekends at 10:00 and reporter
Ginny Ryan - weeknights at 10:00

Weather team

Glenn Johnson (NWA and AMS Seals of Approval) - Chief seen weeknights at 10:00
Mark McLean (AMS Seal of Approval) - Director of Weather Services seen weekends at 10:00
Marty Snyder (AMS Seal of Approval) - weekday mornings (also heard on WHAM-AM 1180)

Sports team

Mike Catalana - Director seen weeknights at 10:00 (also "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" segment producer)
Toby Motyka - sports anchor; weekends at 10:00 (WUHF); also weekday reporter
Jon Doss - reporter and fill-in anchor

Reporters

Jerry Manley - "Soul Plates" segment producer
Patrice Walsh
Sean Carroll
Jane Flasch
Evan White
Angela Hong
Alexis Arnold
Kelsie Smith

Notable former WUHF-TV on-air staff

Donna Dedee (Doyle) - news director/anchor (1995-2001; now CEO of School of the Holy Childhood in Henrietta)
John DiTullio - sports anchor (1997-2003; now host of "The John DiTullio Show" on Sportsradio 1280 WHTK in Rochester)
Cory Hepola - sports anchor/reporter (2008-2011; now with CSN Houston)
Jenna Wolfe - sports anchor (1998-1999; now with NBC's Today)^[7]

References

↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20001019032050/http://foxrochester.com/
↑ Sinclair Reups With Fox, Gets WUTB Option, TVNewsCheck, May 15, 2012.
↑ "WROC out, 13WHAM in on Fox". Democratic & Chronicle. Gannett Company. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
↑ http://www.shaw.ca/television/programming/hd-channels/
↑ http://www.sbgi.net/template/time-warner/
↑ WROC out, 13WHAM in on Fox. Democrat & Chronicle, 7 October, 2013, Retrieved 8 October, 2013
↑ "Jenna Wolfe bio". Retrieved 10 March 2013.

External links

v t e Television Stations viewable in the Greater Rochester, New York area

Reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television

Local stations	WROC (8.1 CBS, 8.2 Bounce TV) WHEC (10.1 NBC, 10.2 Me-TV, 10.3 WX) WHAM (13.1 ABC, 13.2 CW) WXXI (21.1 PBS, 21.2 World, 21.3 Create) WUHF (31.1 Fox) WBGT-CD (40.1 MNTV, 40.2 This TV, 40.3 Tuff TV, 40.4 Heartland, 40.5 MRTV, 40.6 QVC Over Air) W42CO-D (42.1 TCT, 42.2 TCT HD, 42.3 TCT Family, 42.4 La Fuente) WPXJ (51.1 ION, 51.2 qubo, 51.3 ION Life, 51.4 ION Shop, 51.5 QVC Over Air)

Cable-only stations	Time Warner Cable News Rochester YES MSG

Adjacent locals	Buffalo WGRZ (2.1 NBC, 2.2 Antenna TV) WIVB (4.1 CBS) WKBW (7.1 ABC) WNED (17.1 PBS-HD, 17.2 PBS, 17.3 World) WNLO (23.1 CW) WUTV (29.1 Fox, 29.2 ZUUS Country) WNYO (49.1 MNTV) WBBZ (67.1/67.3 Me-TV, 67.2 This, 67.4 Daystar) Syracuse WSTM (3.1 NBC, 3.2 The CW, 3.3 WX) WTVH (5.1 CBS) WSYR (9.1 ABC, 9.2 WSYR-DT2) WCNY (24.1 PBS, 24.2 YourTV, 24.3 World, 24.4 WCNY-HD) WNYS (43.1 MNTV, 43.2 silent) WSPX (56.1 ION, 56.2 qubo, 56.3 ION Life) WSYT (68.1 Fox, 68.2 ZUUS Country)

New York State television Albany/Schenectady Binghamton Buffalo Burlington/Plattsburgh Elmira New York City Rochester Syracuse Utica Watertown See also Toronto Ontario

v t e Fox Network Affiliates in the state of New York

WNYW 5 (New York City) WXXA 23 (Albany) WNYF-LD 28 (Watertown) WUTV 29 (Buffalo) WUHF 31 (Rochester) WFXV 33 (Utica) WICZ 40 (Binghamton) WYDC 48 (Elmira) WSYT 68 (Syracuse)

See also ABC CBS CW Fox ION MyNetworkTV NBC PBS Other stations in New York

v t e Sinclair Broadcast Group

ABC network affiliates	KATU KDNL KHQA KOMO KTVO KVII / KVIH WCHS WEAR WGTU / WGTQ¹ WHOI WHAM² WICD WICS WKEF WLOS WPDE WSYX WTVC WXLV

CBS network affiliates	KBAK KBOI KDBC KEPR KEYE KFDM KGAN KGBT KHQA KIMA KLEW KMEG³ KRCG KTVL KTVO KUTV KVAL / KCBY / KPIC WGME WHP WKRC WPEC WRGB WTVH⁴ WWMT

The CW network affiliates	KEPR KFDM KFRE KIMA KMTR / KTCW / KMCB⁵ KMYS² KOCB KTVL KVII / KVIH KVCW KXTU KXVO⁶ KYUU WBUI⁷ WBSF¹ WCWN WHAM² WHOI WKRC WLFL WLYH⁸ WNAB⁹ WNUV¹ WSTQ WTTO / WDBB WTVX WUCW WVTV WWHO¹⁰ WWMB¹¹ WWMT

Fox network affiliates	KABB KBFX KBSI KBTV² KDSM KFOX KFXA¹² KMPH KOKH KPTH KPTM KRXI KSAS KXRM WACH WBFF WDKY WFXL WLUC WMSN WPFO¹³ WPGH WRGT¹ WRLH WRSP / WCCU⁷ WSMH WSYT¹⁴ WTAT¹ WTTE¹ WUHF WUTV WVAH¹ WYZZ^{1, 15} WZTV

MyNetworkTV affiliates	KAME² KDBC KMTW¹⁶ KMYU KUTV KVMY WABM WCGV WDKA¹⁷ WFGX WMMP WMYA¹ WMYV WNYO WNYS¹⁴ WPMY WRDC WRGT¹ WRLH WSTR² WSYX WTCN WTTA WTVZ WUTB² WUXP

NBC network affiliates	KMTR / KMCB / KTCW⁵ KRNV / KENV¹⁸ WEYI¹¹ WJAC WLUC WNWO WOAI WPBN / WTOM WPMI² WSTM WTOV WTWC

Other affiliates	Independent station WJTC² This TV affiliates KMYU WFGX Univision KUNP^MFX KUNS^MFX KUNW-CD / KVVK / KORX Azteca América WWHB

Radio Stations	KOMO-AM KOMO-FM¹⁹ KPLZ-FM KVI

Wrestling promotion	Ring of Honor

¹Nominally owned by Cunningham Broadcasting and operated by Sinclair under an LMA. However, trusts belonging to members of SBGI's founding Smith family control almost all of Cunningham's stock. ²Owned by Deerfield Media and operated by Sinclair under an LMA. ³Owned by Waitt Broadcasting and operated by Sinclair. ⁴Owned by Granite Broadcasting and operated by Sinclair. ⁵Owned by Roberts Media and operated by Sinclair. ⁶Owned by Mitts Telecasting and operated by Sinclair. ⁷Owned by GOCOM Media and operated by Sinclair. ⁸Operated by Sinclair, owned by Nexstar. ⁹Owned by Tennessee Broadcasting and operated by Sinclair by an outsourcing agreement. ¹⁰Owned by Manhan Media and operated by Sinclair. ¹¹Owned by Howard Stirk Holdings and operated by Sinclair under an LMA. ¹²Owned by Second Generation Ltd. and operated by Sinclair. ¹³Owned by Corporate Media Consultants Group (itself 49% owned by Max Media) and operated by Sinclair. Sale to Cunningham Broadcasting, pending FCC approval. ¹⁴Owned by Bristlecone Broadcasting, Sinclair operates WSYT through transitional agreement. WNYS is owned by RKM Media, LLC, its LMA assignment will be transfered to Bristlecone. ¹⁵Operated by Nexstar under an LMA. ¹⁶Owned by Mercury Broadcasting Company and operated by Sinclair. ¹⁷Owned by WDKA Acquisition Corporation and operated by Sinclair. ¹⁸Owned by Intermountain West Communications Company and operated by Sinclair. Sale to Cunningham Broadcasting, pending FCC approval. ¹⁹Owned by South Sound Broadcasting, Sinclair programs this station, as a simulcast of KOMO (AM).

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