WTWO

Last updated
WTWO
WTWO logo 2016.png
Channels
BrandingWTWO
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
WAWV-TV
History
First air date
September 1, 1965(58 years ago) (1965-09-01)
Former channel number(s)
Analog:
2 (VHF, 1965–2009)
Digital:
36 (UHF, until 2019)
Secondary:
ABC (1965–1973)
DT4:
Cozi TV (2018–2021)
Call sign meaning
Channel 2
Technical information [1]
Licensing authority
 FCC
Facility ID 20426
ERP 464 kW
HAAT 296 m (971 ft)
Transmitter coordinates 39°14′33″N87°23′29″W / 39.24250°N 87.39139°W / 39.24250; -87.39139
Links
Public license information
Website www.mywabashvalley.com

WTWO (channel 2) is a television station in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which provides certain services to ABC affiliate WAWV-TV (channel 38) under joint sales and shared services agreements (JSA/SSA) with Mission Broadcasting. Both stations share studios on US 41/150 in unincorporated Sullivan County (south of Farmersburg), where WTWO's transmitter is also located.

Contents

History

The station first signed on the air on September 1, 1965. Founded by Illiana Telecasting, the first program ever broadcast on WTWO was NBC's morning news program Today , which aired at 7:00 that morning. WTWO, whose call letters were originally assigned to what is now fellow NBC affiliate WLBZ in Bangor, Maine, from 1954 to 1958, originally operated as a primary NBC affiliate with a secondary affiliation with ABC; it carried ABC network programs either on tape delay or by airing them live from the network feed through occasional preemptions of NBC programs (the most notable preemption being the 1967–1969 science fiction series Star Trek ).

Eleven days after its sign-on, on September 12, 1965, WTWO began broadcasting network programming in color. Illiana Telecasting sold the station to Booth Newspapers in 1968. ABC programming was split between channel 2 and primary CBS affiliate WTHI-TV (channel 10) until April 1973, when the network moved to upstart WIIL-TV (channel 38, now WAWV-TV, which would eventually drop ABC to join Fox in September 1995 and rejoin ABC in September 2011). In July 1975, Booth Newspapers sold the station to Malcolm Glazer's Fabri Development Corporation. Malcolm Glazer sold WTWO and two of its sister stations, WRBL in Columbus, Georgia and KQTV in St. Joseph, Missouri, to TCS Television Partners in 1990. TCS Television Partners sold both WTWO and KQTV to Irving, Texas–based Nexstar Broadcasting Group in 1997.

In the spring of 2006, the station dropped on-air references to its channel 2 allocation in its branding, opting to brand simply by the WTWO call letters; the channel 2 branding was restored on October 18, 2010, when it changed its on-air brand to "NBC 2".

On July 9, 2012, Time Warner Cable replaced Cincinnati NBC affiliate WLWT with WTWO on its systems in southwestern Ohio and northeastern Kentucky, due to a carriage dispute with WLWT owner Hearst Television, that resulted in its stations being pulled from TWC's systems in several markets. [2] Nexstar complained that Time Warner Cable substituted the Hearst stations with its own outside of their market areas without permission, while the provider alleged it was within its rights to carry select Nexstar-owned stations as replacements until it reached a new agreement with Hearst, [3] which Hearst and Time Warner Cable reached on July 19, restoring WLWT on its Cincinnati area systems. [4]

Nexstar announced that it would acquire Media General, owners of rival WTHI-TV on January 27, 2016. [5] [6] Despite WTHI's higher ratings, on March 4, 2016, Nexstar and Mission declared their intentions to keep WTWO/WAWV and sell WTHI to another company; [7] four months later; on June 13, 2016, it announced that WTHI and four other stations would be acquired by Heartland Media, through its USA Television MidAmerica Holdings joint venture with MSouth Equity Partners, for $115 million, to comply with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ownership caps. [8]

Controversy

WTWO made national news in January 2006 when it declined to air the controversial NBC dramedy series The Book of Daniel , citing calls and emails from viewers objecting to the show's plotline involving Jesus Christ as the rationale for its decision. In a statement on the station's website, then-general manager Duane Lammers stated "our relationship with NBC always provided for the right to reject programming. I am reaffirming that right to let them know I will not allow them to make unilateral decisions affecting our viewers". [9] [10] Due to poor ratings and affiliates in other markets (including Little Rock sister station KARK-TV) also choosing to preempt the program, NBC canceled the show after only three episodes (this incident may have served as the basis for a plotline in a 2006 episode of the short-lived NBC drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip , in which an NBC affiliate in Terre Haute refused to air the titular comedy series in the show because of a sketch called "Crazy Christians").[ citation needed ]

News operation

WTWO presently broadcasts 14½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 2½ hours each weekday and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays). Unlike most NBC affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone, the station does not produce a midday newscast (but does provide local news inserts during NBC News Daily ), or an early evening newscast at 5:00 p.m.; this is due to the fact that it produces such programs in those timeslots for sister station WAWV-TV, with channel 2 opting to run syndicated programming during the noon and 5:00 p.m. timeslots.

Newscasts on the station began when it debuted on September 1, 1965, under the title W-2 News. In early 1968, the station rebranded as "TV-2" (while retaining a hyphen for the branding of the station's calling, rendered as "W-TWO"); its evening newscasts were accordingly renamed Total News Tonight (the title was later amended to Total News at Twelve, when the station added a midday newscast at noon, and to Total News Today for the 6:00 p.m. newscast). The TV-2 News title was used in conjunction with the Total News brand from 1971 until January 1972, when the former became the full-time newscast branding. The station became the first station in the market to begin broadcasting its newscasts in color in 1971, with Johnny Palmer being appointed as anchor of WTWO's evening newscasts (Palmer remained with the station until he retired in 1992). In 1973, the station adopted the Eyewitness News format for its news programs, which remained in use by the station until 1994, when its newscasts were renamed NewsChannel 2 (which was amended to WTWO NewsChannel 2 after Nexstar bought channel 2 in 1997, and then revised as WTWO NewsChannel in 2007).

The station debuted an hour-long news and talk program in September 1998, titled Live at Five. After WTWO entered into a joint sales agreement with Fox affiliate WBAK-TV, WTWO assumed production responsibilities for channel 38's half-hour primetime newscast at 10:00 p.m. on January 1, 2004, from WTHI (which had been producing the program since WBAK became the market's Fox affiliate in 1995), in addition to allowing the station to rebroadcast the 6:00 a.m. hour of channel 2's weekday morning newscast at 7:00 a.m. In May 2007, WTWO began using digital camera equipment for newsgathering purposes. In 2010, the station unveiled a new set for its newscasts, along with a new graphics and music package (using the "Look B" package originally developed by graphics firm NBC ArtWorks for NBC's owned-and-operated stations, along with Stephen Arnold Music's "The Rock" package); the station's news operation was also rebranded as NBC 2 News.

WTWO aired a one-minute promo on 2006 that criticized WTHI's weather coverage, claiming that WTHI's Doppler radar system was inferior to WTWO's because it was located within downtown Terre Haute, resulting in a "dead zone" – the area within the radius of the radar dome where reflectivity cannot be detected – over the city proper, stating that the WTWO radar's "dead zone" was positioned over a corn field and claimed that the combined experience of WTWO's weather staff was more than that of WTHI's staff; it also stated that WTHI's power had multiple points of failure in contrast to WTWO's. [11] The promotion, though technically accurate, became a source of amusement on Comedy Central's The Daily Show because of its use of hyperbole and techniques reminiscent of political "attack ads". [12] After general manager Duane Lammers called the Daily Show "hard-up for material" in a Tribune-Star article, [13] host Jon Stewart [14] mocked WTWO further in the following night's opening segment. A response video to The Daily Show and Stewart that was supposed to be for internal uses at the station was leaked on YouTube; it has since been taken down, but was uploaded once more on iFilm. [15]

When what became WFXW discontinued its Fox affiliation to rejoin ABC as WAWV on September 1, 2011, WTWO moved its 5:00 p.m. newscast to WAWV (at the same time, the 10:00 p.m. newscast was relegated to live streaming broadcast, which was carried on WTWO/WAWV's shared website until it was discontinued on December 28, 2012). WTWO began producing a half-hour midday newscast at noon of channel 38 on September 10, 2012. In addition to handling production of those newscasts, WTWO produces local weather updates seen on WAWV during AgDay and Good Morning America , as well as morning news updates seen the during the latter network morning program. [16]

On September 28, 2016, WTWO (along with sister station WAWV) began airing local newscasts in HD with a new set. WTWO also changed the newscast title to WTWO News, formerly NBC 2 News.

Notable former on-air staff

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of WTWO [17]
Channel Res. Aspect Short nameProgramming
2.1 1080i 16:9 WTWO-DTMain WTWO programming / NBC
2.2 480i Laff Laff
2.3Mystery Ion Mystery
2.4Antenna Antenna TV

On June 15, 2016, Nexstar announced that it has entered into an affiliation agreement with Katz Broadcasting for the Escape (now Ion Mystery), Laff, Grit, and Bounce TV networks (the last one of which is owned by Bounce Media LLC, whose COO Jonathan Katz is president/CEO of Katz Broadcasting), bringing the four networks to 81 stations owned and/or operated by Nexstar, including WTWO and WAWV-TV. [18] Subchannels Laff and Escape were off the air from July 25, 2017, to May 15, 2018, due to transmission problems. A temporary antenna had been used to broadcast WTWO and sister station WAWV-TV on 2.1 and 38.1. As of May 15, 2018, the new antenna was installed, and all subchannels returned to the air, including newly available Cozi TV. [19] [20] On February 1, 2021, Antenna TV replaced Cozi TV on 2.4. [21]

Analog-to-digital conversion

WTWO discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 36, [22] using PSIP to display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 2.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WBRE-TV</span> NBC affiliate in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

WBRE-TV is a television station licensed to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, United States, serving Northeastern Pennsylvania as an affiliate of NBC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which provides certain services to Scranton-licensed CBS affiliate WYOU under a shared services agreement (SSA) with Mission Broadcasting. The two stations share studios on South Franklin Street in downtown Wilkes-Barre, with a news bureau and sales office next to WYOU's former studios on Lackawanna Avenue in downtown Scranton. WBRE-TV's transmitter is located at the Penobscot Knob antenna farm near Mountain Top.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KHON-TV</span> Fox/CW affiliate in Honolulu

KHON-TV is a television station in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of Fox and an owned-and-operated station of The CW. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KHII-TV. Both stations share studios at the Haiwaiki Tower in downtown Honolulu, while KHON's main transmitter is also located downtown at the Century Center condominium/business complex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WDTN</span> NBC affiliate in Dayton, Ohio

WDTN is a television station in Dayton, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which provides certain services to Springfield, Ohio–licensed WBDT, a de facto owned-and-operated station of The CW, under a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Vaughan Media. The two stations share studios on South Dixie Drive in Moraine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WLWT</span> NBC affiliate in Cincinnati

WLWT is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on Young Street, and its transmitter is located on Chickasaw Street, both in the Mount Auburn neighborhood of Cincinnati.

WXII-TV is a television station licensed to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States, serving the Piedmont Triad region as an affiliate of NBC. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside Lexington-licensed CW affiliate WCWG. WXII-TV and WCWG share studios on Coliseum Drive in Winston-Salem; through a channel sharing agreement, the stations transmit using WXII-TV's spectrum from an antenna on Sauratown Mountain in Stokes County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WPTZ</span> NBC affiliate in Plattsburgh, New York

WPTZ is a television station licensed to Plattsburgh, New York, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Burlington, Vermont–Plattsburgh, New York market. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside Montpelier, Vermont–licensed CW affiliate WNNE. WPTZ and WNNE share studios on Community Drive in South Burlington, Vermont, with a secondary studio and news bureau on Cornelia Street in Plattsburgh. Through a channel sharing agreement, the two stations transmit using WPTZ's spectrum from an antenna on Vermont's highest peak, Mount Mansfield.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WKTV</span> NBC/CBS/CW affiliate in Utica, New York

WKTV is a television station in Utica, New York, United States, affiliated with NBC, CBS, and The CW Plus. Owned by Heartland Media, the station has studios on Smith Hill Road in Deerfield, and its transmitter is located in the Eatonville section of Fairfield.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WLKY</span> CBS affiliate in Louisville, Kentucky

WLKY is a television station in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, affiliated with CBS. The station is owned by Hearst Television, and maintains studios on Mellwood Avenue in the Clifton Heights section on Louisville's east side; its transmitter is located in rural northeastern Floyd County, Indiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WKRC-TV</span> CBS/CW affiliate in Cincinnati

WKRC-TV is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to MyNetworkTV affiliate WSTR-TV under a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Deerfield Media. Both stations share studios on Highland Avenue in the Mount Auburn section of Cincinnati, where WKRC-TV's transmitter is also located.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WESH</span> NBC affiliate in Daytona Beach, Florida

WESH is a television station licensed to Daytona Beach, Florida, United States, serving the Orlando area as an affiliate of NBC. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside Clermont-licensed CW affiliate WKCF. The two stations share studios on North Wymore Road in Eatonville ; WESH's transmitter is located near Christmas, Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WRTV</span> ABC affiliate in Indianapolis

WRTV is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on Meridian Street north of downtown Indianapolis, and its transmitter is located on the city's northwest side near Meridian Hills, Indiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WTTV</span> CBS affiliate in Bloomington, Indiana

WTTV, licensed to Bloomington, Indiana, United States, and WTTK, licensed to Kokomo, Indiana, are television stations affiliated with CBS and serving the Indianapolis area. They are owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Fox affiliate WXIN. The stations share studios on Network Place in northwestern Indianapolis. WTTV's transmitter is located on State Road 252 in Trafalgar, while WTTK's transmitter sits on West 73rd Street on the northern outskirts of Indianapolis.

WISH-TV is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is locally owned by Circle City Broadcasting alongside Marion-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WNDY-TV and low-power, Class A getTV affiliate WIIH-CD. The stations share studios on North Meridian Street on the near north side of Indianapolis; WISH-TV and WNDY-TV also share transmitter facilities on Walnut Drive in the Augusta section of the city's northwest side.

WXIN is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Bloomington-licensed CBS affiliate WTTV, channel 4. Both stations share studios on Network Place in northwestern Indianapolis, while WXIN's transmitter is located on West 73rd Street on the northern outskirts of the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WNDY-TV</span> MyNetworkTV affiliate in Marion, Indiana

WNDY-TV is a television station licensed to Marion, Indiana, United States, serving the Indianapolis area as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. It is locally owned by Circle City Broadcasting alongside Indianapolis-licensed CW affiliate WISH-TV and low-power, Class A getTV affiliate WIIH-CD. The stations share studios on North Meridian Street on the near north side of Indianapolis; WNDY-TV and WISH-TV also share transmitter facilities on Walnut Drive in the Augusta section of the city's northwest side. Despite Marion being WNDY-TV's city of license, the station maintains no physical presence there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WTHI-TV</span> CBS/Fox/MyNetworkTV/CW affiliate in Terre Haute, Indiana

WTHI-TV is a television station in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States, affiliated with CBS, Fox, MyNetworkTV and The CW Plus. Owned by Allen Media Broadcasting, the station has studios on 8th and Ohio Streets in downtown Terre Haute, and its transmitter is located along US 41/150 in unincorporated Sullivan County.

WAWV-TV is a television station in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains joint sales and shared services agreements (JSA/SSA) with Nexstar Media Group, owner of NBC affiliate WTWO, for the provision of certain services. Both stations share studios on US 41/150 in unincorporated Sullivan County, where WAWV-TV's transmitter is also located.

WYCW is a television station licensed to Asheville, North Carolina, United States, serving as the CW outlet for Western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina. It is owned and operated by network majority owner Nexstar Media Group alongside Spartanburg, South Carolina–licensed CBS affiliate WSPA-TV. WYCW and WSPA-TV share studios on International Drive in Spartanburg; through a channel sharing agreement, the two stations transmit using WSPA-TV's spectrum from an antenna on Hogback Mountain in northeastern Greenville County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KTVE</span> NBC affiliate in El Dorado, Arkansas

KTVE is a television station licensed to El Dorado, Arkansas, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Monroe, Louisiana–El Dorado, Arkansas market. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Nexstar Media Group, owner of West Monroe, Louisiana–licensed Fox affiliate KARD, for the provision of certain services. The two stations share studios on Pavilion Road in West Monroe; KTVE's transmitter is located northwest of Huttig, Arkansas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WANE-TV</span> Television station in Indiana, United States

WANE-TV is a television station in Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Nexstar Media Group. The station's studios and transmitter are located on West State Boulevard in the Tower Heights section of the city.

References

  1. ↑ "Facility Technical Data for WTWO". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ↑ "Time Warner-Hearst Retrans Fight Escalates Over Signal Imports – Adweek". AdWeek.
  3. ↑ Greensboro News-Record: "New twist in dispute between Time Warner and WXII", July 12, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Hearst TV, Time Warner Cable End Viewer Blackout - Broadcasting & Cable". BroadcastingCable.com. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Nexstar-Media General: It's A Done Deal". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  6. ↑ Picker, Leslie (2016-01-27). "Nexstar Clinches Deal to Acquire Media General". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  7. ↑ "Nexstar-Media General merger to result in sale of WTHI-TV (Channel 10) | Local News | tribstar.com".
  8. ↑ "Prather Buys 5 TVs From Nexstar-Media Gen". TVNewsCheck. June 13, 2016. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  9. ↑ Field error at the Wayback Machine (archived 2006-04-27)[ dead link ]
  10. ↑ "Entertainment | The Indianapolis Star". indystar.com. Associated Press. 2006-01-05. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
  11. ↑ "Doppler Dead Zone video". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
  12. ↑ "dopplerdeadzone.com".
  13. ↑ McKee, Deb. "VIDEO: Daily Show dogs WTWO weather commercial » Multimedia » News From Terre Haute, Indiana". Tribstar.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-13. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
  14. ↑ "Comedy Central - Media Player". www.comedycentral.com. Archived from the original on 2006-05-20.
  15. ↑ "Screen Junkies – Movie Reviews & TV Show Reviews". Screen Junkies.
  16. ↑ "WAWV-ABC Frequently Asked Questions". Mywabashvalley.com. Archived from the original on 2011-11-27. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
  17. ↑ "RabbitEars TV Query for WTWO". RabbitEars.info.
  18. ↑ "Bounce TV, Grit, Escape, Laff Multicast Deal Covers 81 Stations, 54 Markets". Broadcasting & Cable. June 15, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  19. ↑ "WTWO/WAWV Experiencing Technical Difficulties". MYWABASHVALLEY. 2017-08-02. Retrieved 2017-08-16.
  20. ↑ "Antenna Work Success". 2018-05-16.
  21. ↑ "Interactive Affiliate Map | Antenna TV".
  22. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.