WHIO-TV

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WHIO-TV
Dayton / Springfield, Ohio
Branding	WHIO-TV Channel 7 NewsCenter7
Slogan	Coverage You Can Count On
Channels	7 (VHF) analog, 41 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	CBS
Owner	Cox Broadcasting (Miami Valley Broadcasting Corp.)
Founded	July 11, 1949 (on ch.13; moved to ch.7 in 1952)
Call letters meaning	Play on Ohio
Former affiliations	None
Website	http://www.whiotv.com

WHIO-TV is a television station in Dayton, OH. Affiliated with the CBS Television Network.

Contents 1 Station history 2 Logo 3 Storm Center 7 and Live Doppler 7 4 7 Weather Now 5 Miami Valley Channel 6 Newscenter 7 |HD| 7 Theme music 8 Newscast Titles 9 Station slogans 10 WHIO-TV NewsCasts 10.1 Weekdays 10.2 Weekends 10.3 On-air staff 11 Notable WHIO Alumni 12 External links

[edit] Station history

WHIO was started on channel 13 on July 11, 1949 and moved to channel 7 in 1952. It is Dayton's first television station to start broadcasting, although WDTN was first to have its license granted. WHIO is the only station in Dayton to never change its affiliation and will be the first in Southwest Ohio to broadcast news in High Definition on April 1, 2007. WHIO has been owned by Cox Enterprises since its inception. WHIO's transmitter is located on Germantown Street in western Dayton. Its news department NewsCenter 7 has been in first place in the Nielsen Ratings for many years. The newsteam is lead by Jim Baldridge, Cheryl McHenry, & Letitia Perry in the evening and Natasha Williams & James Brown in the morning.

[edit] Logo

The logo for the station is their version of the "Circle 7" logo -- an orange 7 against a blue background, encompassed by a thin orange circle, and juxtaposed by "WHIO-TV" written in blue on a white background, underlined in red. Both the logo and the slogan ("Coverage you can count on") identify WHIO-TV as the sister station of other Cox stations; particularly WSB-TV in Atlanta, which has a similar logo and identical slogan. Its sister station in Seattle, KIRO-TV, also has a similar logo, but a different version of the "Circle 7".

[edit] Storm Center 7 and Live Doppler 7

WHIO's team of meteorologists currently by the name of the Storm Center 7 weather team is led by Chief Meteorologist Jamie Simpson and also features meteorologists Jeff Porter and Rich Wirdzek who has recently joined in Mid 2006. Weather specialist Traci Hale-Brown also fills in on weekends on some rare occasions. WHIO calls their radar Live Doppler 7 and sometimes by Triple Live Doppler 7 as they have access to radars in Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, and Louisville to work with the doppler in Dayton. Some argue that the name is incorrect since they have access to four radars but can only dial into three at one time.

WHIO was one of the first television stations in the United States to have its own doppler radar. During the 1974 tornado in Xenia, Ohio, Gil Whitney, legendary weather caster who died in 1982 (and even had a summertime variety show that ran several years), was the first to alert the public. Using the radar, Whitney spotted a "hook echo", indicating a tornado. Although there were thirty-four fatalities on that fateful day, without Whitney's warning there likely could have been hundreds more.

Although WHIO has always been a ratings leader and was well regarded in weather after Whitney's tenure, the station did not switch to professional meteorologists until 1993 with the hiring of Heidi Sonen. WHIO then dropped the Accu-Weather service and hired other meteorologists to fill out the staff including former Weather Channel meteorologist Fred Barnhill. Air Force meteorologist Warren Madden was hired from the nearby Wright Patterson Air Force Base and he later went to The Weather Channel.

After Sonen's retirement in 1997, the station hired more Penn State meteorology graduates for the role of Chief Meteorologist including Brian Orzel and Jamie Simpson.

In December 2004 they introduced StormCenter 7, which is a weather center that doubles as a set created by FX Group where weather reports can be done.

[edit] 7 Weather Now

On December 15, 2006, WHIO-TV launched 7 Weather Now and is part of The AccuWeather Channel. It provides weather updates from Storm Center 7 and a news crawl. The service has a similar setup as NBC Weather Plus that NBC affiliate WDTN does not have at this time. The station airs on digital subchannel 7.2 and on Time Warner Digital Cable channel 708.

[edit] Miami Valley Channel

WHIO-TV had a secondary channel on local Time Warner Cable channels 17 and 6, with the number varying by each local cable system. The station was used as the UPN affiliate until UPN ceased operations on September 15, 2006. The station aired a 10:00PM edition of NewsCenter 7 anchored by Donna Jordan. The network was started in 1994 as a joint venture between Viacom Cable, Continental Cablevision (both Time Warner today) and WHIO-TV. It gained the UPN affiliation in 1995.

On September 16, 2006 the channel changed its name back to "The Miami Valley Channel" (MVC) as it still aired its regular daytime programming including The Greg Behrendt Show, Dr. Phil and selected shows from the i network.

After 12 years, The Miami Valley Channel was shut down at midnight on January 1, 2007 due to the network not having a major affiliation and was dropped from Time Warner Cable's lineup.[1] Viewers that tuned into MVC on January 1 saw a message from Time Warner Cable that stated, "The Miami Valley Channel (MVC) programming is no longer carried on Time Warner Cable. MVC was the former UPN network affiliate. UPN stopped broadcasting their signal in August of 2006 and MVC is no longer in operation as of December 31, 2006." This was caused by WBDT becoming Dayton's CW affiliate, while My Network TV airs on a digital subchannel for WRGT.[2][3]

[edit] Newscenter 7 |HD|

WHIO will broadcast all of their news in high definition beginning on April 1, 2007. A high definition control room on Wilmington Avenue is complete, enabling programs that that previously could not be broadcast in high definition, such as Wheel Of Fortune and Let's Play Crosswords (coming in September 2007), to be broadcast in the new format. A new graphics package has been created and will debut with the switch to the 16:9 format. WHIO has begun airing commericals for the switch during their local news broadcasts branding it as the "All Digital Widescreen Presentation Of NewsCenter 7". [4]

[edit] Theme music

• 1972-1983 "Move Closer to Your World" by Al Ham
• 1990-1992 WHIO 1990 News Theme
• 1992-1995 "Counterpoint" by Stephen Arnold Music (commissioned package)
• 1995-2005 WHIO 1995 Custom Package by Stephen Arnold Music
• 2005-2006 "Extreme" by Stephen Arnold Music
• 2006-Present "The CBS Enforcer Music Collection" by Gari Communications

[edit] Newscast Titles

• 1972-1977 Total News
• 1977-Present NewsCenter 7

[edit] Station slogans

• 1977-1990 7 The Leader
• 1990-1991 The Miami Valley News Leader
• 1991-Present Coverage You Can Count On

[edit] WHIO-TV NewsCasts

[edit] Weekdays

• NewsCenter 7 Daybreak Edition 5:00-7:00am
  • Anchors: Natasha Williams and James Brown
  • Weather: Jeff Porter
  • Traffic: Sgt. Mark Bowren
• NewsCenter 7 This Morning 7:00am-8:00am with National updates from CBS' The Early Show
  • Anchor: James Brown
  • Weather: Jeff Porter
  • Traffic: Sgt. Mark Bowren
• NewsCenter 7 at Noon 12:00pm-12:30pm
  • Anchor: James Brown
  • Weather: Jeff Porter
• NewsCenter 7 at 5 5:00-6:00pm
  • Anchors: Cheryl McHenry and Jim Baldridge
  • Weather: Jamie Simpson
• NewsCenter 7 at 6 6:00pm-6:30pm
  • Anchors: Cheryl McHenry and Jim Baldridge
  • Weather: Jamie Simpson
  • Sports: Mike Hartsock
• NewsCenter 7 Nightbeat 11:00pm-11:35pm
  • Anchors: Letitia Perry and Jim Baldridge
  • Weather: Jamie Simpson
  • Sports: Mike Hartsock

[edit] Weekends

• NewsCenter 7 Saturday 6:00am-7:00am
  • Anchor: Sallie Taylor
  • Weather: Rich Wirdzek
• NewsCenter 7 Saturday 8:00am-10:00am
  • Anchor: Sallie Taylor
  • Weather: Rich Wirdzek
• NewsCenter 7 at Noon 12:00pm-12:30pm
  • Anchor: Sallie Taylor
  • Weather: Rich Wirdzek
• NewsCenter 7 at 6 6:00pm-6:30pm
  • Anchor: Steve Summers
  • Weather: Rich Wirdzek
  • Sports: Margaret Brosko
• NewsCenter 7 Nightbeat11:00pm-11:35pm
  • Anchor: Steve Summers
  • Weather: Rich Wirdzek
  • Sports: Margaret Brosko

[edit] On-air staff

NEWSCENTER 7 Anchors And Reporters:

• Steve Baker
• Jim Baldridge
• James Brown
• Mike Campbell
• Amy Coveno
• Anton Day
• Jill Del Greco
• Gabrielle Enright
• Caryn Golden
• Becky Grimes
• Cheryl McHenry
• Jim Otte
• Letitia Perry
• Cathy Stelzer
• Steve Summers
• Sallie Taylor
• Natasha Williams

StormCenter 7 Team:

• Chief Meteorologist Jamie Simpson
• Meteorologist Jeff Porter
• Meteorologist Rich Wirdzek
• Meteorologist Tracie Hale-Brown

Sports Anchors:

• Sports Director - Mike Hartsock
• Margaret Brosko
• Don Brown

Washington Bureau Reporters:

• Alison Burns
• Carol Han
• Megan Hughes
• Scott MacFarlane

[edit] Notable WHIO Alumni

• Gil Whitney (died in 1982)
• Don Wayne (retired in 1988, died in 1997)
• Harry Butler,staff announcer,retired
• Tom Hamlin, sports director in 1960s, retired
• Ted Ryan (retired in 1992, filled-in part time till 2001)
• Donna Jordan (lead anchor until 2006), now retired
• Andrew Douglas (now at WMC-TV in Memphis, TN)
• Jim Blue (now lead anchor at WNWO in Toledo, OH)
• Cathy Ballou (went to the Food Network, has since retired)
• Deborah Countiss (retired from WSYX in Columbus)
• Reg Chapman (now at WNBC-TV in New York, NY)
• Trevor Pettiford (now at WVTM-TV in Birmingham, AL)
• Shawn Ley (now at WKRC-TV in Cincinnati, OH)
• Ed Krahling, long time anchor, (retired in 1993, died in 1998)
• Ken Jefferson, anchor (now at WWSB-TV in Sarasota, FL)
• Mick Hubert, sports director (1979-1989) (The Voice of the Florida Gators)
• Dr. Sherry Stanley, health reporter
• Joe Parise, weekend weather specialist
• Paul Herdtner, anchor/reporter
• Bruce Asbury, Lead Weather Specialist 1982-89 (fired for cocaine use following arrest)
• Linda Robertson, anchor/health reporter now @ Kettering Medical Center
• Sher Patrick, anchor/reporter
• Dave Freeman, Chief Meteorologist
• Guil Herrick, Sports reporter/anchor
• Paul Moses, anchor/reporter
• Myriam Wright, anchor/reporter
• Chad Duff, anchor/reporter
• Sam Yates, anchor/reporter
• Vanessa Tyler, anchor/reporter, now @ WPXI-TV, New York City
• Joe Rockhold "Uncle Orrie", children's show host,retired in 1969 (died in 1981)
• Ken Hardin "Ferdy Fussbudget" children's show co-host and sidekick of Uncle Orrie. (died in 1991.)
• Steve Princivalli, meteorologist
• Jack Jacobson "Nosey The Clown" early sidekick of Uncle Orrie, retired
• Dave Eaton "Charlie Goodtime" 1970s children's show host

[edit] External links

• WHIO Website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WHIO

Broadcast television in the Dayton market  (Nielsen DMA #58)
WDTN 2 (NBC) - WHIO 7 (CBS) (Accuweather on DT2) - WPTO 14 (PBS) - WPTD 16 (PBS) - WKEF 22 (ABC) - WBDT 26 (The CW) - WRCX-LP 40 (BFC) - WKOI 43 (TBN) - WRGT 45 (Fox) (MNTV on DT2) - WWRD-LP 55 (HSN) - W66AQ 66 (MNTV)
Defunct cable television channels
Miami Valley Channel / UPN 17 (UPN)
See also: Broadcast television in the Indianapolis, Columbus, Cincinnati, Fort Wayne, and Lima markets

CBS Network Affiliates in the state of Ohio
WHIO 7 (Dayton) - WBNS 10 (Columbus) - WTOL 11 (Toledo) - WKRC 12 (Cincinnati) - WOIO 19 (Shaker Heights/Cleveland) - WKBN 27 (Youngstown) - WLMO-LP 38 (Lima)
See also: ABC, Fox, NBC, PBS, MyNetworkTV, CW and Other stations in Ohio