WYTV

WYTV

Youngstown, Ohio United States
Branding	33 WYTV (general) 33 WYTV News (newscasts)
Slogan	We believe in this Valley.
Channels	Digital: 36 (UHF) Virtual: 33 (PSIP)
Subchannels	33.1 ABC 33.2 MyNetworkTV 33.3 Bounce TV
Owner	Vaughan Media (WYTV Television, LLC)
Operator	Nexstar Media Group
First air date	April 4, 1953 (1953-04-04)
Call letters' meaning	W Youngstown TeleVision
Sister station(s)	WKBN-TV, WYFX-LD
Former callsigns	WKST-TV (1953–1963)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 45 (UHF, 1953–1959) 33 (UHF, 1959–2009)
Former affiliations	Secondary: Fox (1994–1998)
Transmitter power	1,000 kW
Height	177 m
Facility ID	4693
Transmitter coordinates	41°3′43″N 80°38′7″W / 41.06194°N 80.63528°W / 41.06194; -80.63528
Website	wytv.com

WYTV, channel 33, is an ABC-affiliated television station located in Youngstown, Ohio, USA. WYTV is owned by Vaughan Media but operated by the Nexstar Media Group through joint sales and shared services agreements. WYTV shares studios and offices with Nexstar-owned WKBN-TV (channel 27) in Youngstown's Pleasant Grove neighborhood; the station's transmitting tower is based at the site of its former studios in the city's Lansingville section.

Digital channels

History

The station originated as WKST-TV with an analog signal on UHF channel 45. As the television partner to WKST radio, which still exists on AM 1200, it was licensed to New Castle, Pennsylvania and signed-on April 4, 1953. Besides serving New Castle, which was its own market at the time, it was the default ABC affiliate in Youngstown. It also served western portions of the Pittsburgh market that didn't get a good signal from WENS-TV (now WINP-TV). At the time of its sign-on, New Castle was its own TV market. After WENS-TV signed off due to financial problems, WKST-TV was the only full-time ABC affiliate in Western Pennsylvania until WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh signed-on in September 1958. As ABC was by far the smallest and weakest of the three major networks, it had a hard time getting full-time affiliates, as only a few were large enough to support three full network affiliates. Youngstown was thus fortunate to have a full-time ABC affiliate in this period, as many markets comparable to Youngstown's size or even bigger didn't get one until the 1960s or even as late as the 1980s, while some very small markets didn't get one until the DTV transition in the 2000s.

WKST-TV moved to the stronger channel 33 in 1959, improving its over-the-air signal in the process in order to better serve the Youngstown market--where the bulk of its audience now resided. In September 1963, the station's license moved to Youngstown and became WYTV-TV (the redundant -TV suffix would be dropped in 1998); this was done in order to keep the station marketed as a Youngstown station after New Castle was collapsed into the Pittsburgh market by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Nielsen Media Research even though it is considerably closer to Youngstown. After moving channels, WYTV was replaced on channel 45 by independent station WXTV which moved from channel 73 (the former channel location of WFMJ-TV before moving to channel 21) and remained on-the-air until late 1962. That station had scheduled programming from 6 to 11 pm and repeated the same programs multiple times within a given week. In 1973, channel 45 was re-allocated to nearby Alliance, Ohio as an educational channel and became WNEO.

Along with WTAE-TV and to a lesser extent WTVN/WSYX in Columbus, WYTV at times has also served as the default ABC affiliate to the Wheeling, West Virginia/Steubenville, Ohio market, which only has two commercial stations, WTOV-TV and WTRF-TV (the latter being a sister station to WYTV during the 1990s), who had dropped ABC as a secondary affiliate in the 1980s. Although the area finally got a full-time ABC affiliate in 2008 when WTRF-TV launched one on its third digital subchannel, WYTV remains on cable in parts of the market.

WYTV became known for its programming targeted to kids. This is an important footnote to the station's history, because daily children's programming was often aired by independent or public television stations. However, Youngstown never had a full-power independent station, so it continued airing children's programming long after most Big Three stations dropped it from their weekday schedules. Other children's programming came from Cleveland independents WUAB and WKBF or Pittsburgh based WPGH-TV and WPTT, which were piped in via cable. To fill this void, WYTV aired cartoons and other kid-themed programming between the "after school" hours of 4 and 6pm, a somewhat unusual move since the usual fare among its competitors was first-run sitcoms, syndicated talk shows, courtroom dramas, and the like. It once aired a kids' show during the 1980s entitled 33 Powwww which consisted of a "voice-activated" video game powered by the Mattel Intellivision. Viewers would call in to play this game and win prizes. Cartoons were also aired during the show. The TV POWWW concept was a syndicated franchise seen on television stations throughout the United States such as WCLQ in Cleveland (now WQHS-TV). WYTV also has produced the local quiz show YSU Academic Challenge in which high school and middle school students from all over the area answer questions for prizes.

The station was Youngstown's first Fox network affiliate from 1994 to 1998. WYTV pre-empted ABC programming whenever Fox programming aired. Youngstown did not have a full-time Fox affiliate for the network's first decade, so WYTV joined the network as a secondary affiliate in part due to the network's acquisition of the rights to NFL football. In 1998, Youngstown got its own full-time affiliate when WKBN launched low-powered sister station WYFX-LP. WYTV was owned by Benedek Broadcasting from 1994 until the company's bankruptcy filing in 2002. Instead of being purchased by Gray Television, WYTV was bought by Chelsey Television, LLC and was managed by Barrington Broadcasting.^[2] The station has applied to increase its digital signal to one megawatt at the end of the transition.^[3]

WYTV was not among the ABC affiliates to pre-empt the Veterans Day airing of the film Saving Private Ryan in 2004 out of fears of being fined by the FCC for indecency in the wake of the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy, feeling that the film aired unedited on terrestrial television in the past without FCC repercussions.^[4] Because WYTV did opt to air Saving Private Ryan, this gave viewers in the Columbus, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh television markets that were able to view WYTV either over-the-air or on cable television the option of watching the film, since Sinclair Broadcast Group, E. W. Scripps Company, and Hearst-Argyle Television (owners of WSYX, WEWS-TV, and WTAE-TV, respectively) didn't allow any of their ABC affiliates to air the film. As Sinclair and Scripps each own additional ABC affiliates in the state, WYTV ultimately was one of only two ABC affiliates in the entire state of Ohio to air the film, alongside then-ABC O&O WTVG. It was later determined that the movie showing was not a violation of FCC regulations.

On February 6, 2007, Chelsey Television filed an application with the FCC to sell WYTV to Parkin Broadcasting of California, which then leased out the station to WKBN/WYFX owner New Vision Television under a shared services agreement—essentially a local marketing agreement under different legal terms. At the time, some critics wondered if the shared services agreement was legal, since the Youngstown market only has four full-powered television stations (WFMJ, WKBN, WYTV, and PBS station WNEO)--not enough to legally permit a duopoly under FCC rules. New Vision and Parkin share an office building in Los Angeles and have a "cozy relationship," leading to speculation that Parkin is simply a shell corporation that enables New Vision to circumvent FCC ownership rules. This is not unlike what Sinclair Broadcast Group does with Cunningham Broadcasting, which is a shell corporation of Sinclair. Nonetheless, the FCC approved the shared services agreement on July 30, 2007.^[5] WYTV then moved from its 3800 Shady Run Road studios over to the WKBN/WYFX facilities in Boardman Township.

The 24-hour local weather channel had also been offered on the digital tier of Time Warner Cable at one point in time. Originally called "Weather on the 3s", the channel shows continuous weather updates through WYTV's relationship with WeatherBug. It was redesigned on February 24, 2009 when WKBN and WYFX had their on-air look redesigned and "Weather on the 3s" was made to match those two station's on-air look. It was renamed "My Valley Weather" to coincide with the launch of the combined weather website for WYTV and WKBN. This station is currently the only commercial outlet in the area with three digital subchannels. Along with sister station WKBN, WYTV plans on having two subchannels broadcasting in high-definition with MyYTV broadcasting in HD. The future of the "My Valley Weather" subchannel was uncertain due to MyYTV proposed upgrade to HD. As of February 2012, My YTV is still in standard definition, however,^[6] and its HD feed is currently available only on cable. On July 1, 2013, WYTV added Bounce TV to 33.3, displacing the MyValley Weather channel.

On May 7, 2012, LIN TV Corporation announced that it will acquire the New Vision Television station group for $330.4 million and the assumption of $12 million in debt. Along with the outright ownership of WKBN-TV, the agreement includes the acquisition of New Vision's shared services agreement with PBC Broadcasting (who is also transferring the licenses of the PBC-owned stations to Vaughan Media), giving LIN operational control of WYTV.^[7] LIN and Vaughan also entered into a joint sales agreement for WYTV.^[8] On October 2, the FCC approved the proposed sale to LIN TV.^[9] The transaction was closed on October 12, 2012.^[10]

On March 21, 2014, Media General announced that it would purchase LIN Media and its stations, including WKBN-TV, WYFX-LD, and the SSA and JSA with WYTV, in a $1.6 billion merger.^[11][12] The FCC approved the deal on December 12, 2014, but a condition of the deal requires Media General to end the JSA between WKBN-TV and WYTV within two years due to tighter regulations on such deals.^[13] The merger was completed on December 19.^[14]

In 2017, WKBN sold its spectrum for $34 million as part of the FCC's spectrum reallocation program and will move its broadcasting to WYTV's frequency.^[15]

News operation

For a period as a separate station, WYTV produced a prime time newscast at 10 on its MyNetworkTV second digital subchannel. This competed with another broadcast airing at the same time on Fox affiliate WYFX that was produced by WKBN.

In December 2007, the news departments of WYTV and WKBN physically merged. As a result, over forty personnel at WYTV and six at WKBN were laid-off.^[16] Under the shared services agreement, the senior station partner began producing newscasts on this ABC affiliate from a secondary set at the Sunset Boulevard studios. A previous plan calling for WYTV to build satellite streetside studios in Downtown Youngstown were abandoned due to the consolidation. The current operational status of its Doppler weather radar based at the old facility on Shady Run Road is unknown. The two stations gradually had their on-air looks mirror each other while their respective web sites became identical. New logos for the stations and updated websites debuted in January 2009 including combined operations for sports and weather.

Due to the duopoly, WYTV and WKBN maintain separate primary anchors for news, weather, and sports during the week but share most general assignment reporters and video footage. The two initially maintained separate web sites as well, however after LIN Media took over ownership of WKBN & WYFX and operations of WYTV, WYTV's website became a redirect to WKBN's website with only WYTV's station identification information available on WKBN's web site.

On May 6, 2010, the two outlets upgraded their combined news operation to high definition complete with new graphics on WYTV. There are news and weather sharing partnerships with WNCD-FM 93.3, WAKZ-FM 95.9, WMXY-FM 98.9, WBBG-FM 106.1, WKBN-AM 570, and WNIO-AM 1390.

In November 2013, WYTV along with WKBN debuted a branded tool for showing live broadcasts from a moving vehicle. "33 Live Drive Action Cam" is a Jeep Patriot that can chase storms, show road conditions and respond to breaking news.

Also in November 2013, WYTV started separating its content from that of WKBN & WYFX. This included WYTV receiving its own website once again.

September 14, 2015 introduced a new news set and a new logo for WYTV.

References

External links

• Official website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WYTV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WYTV-TV