WLNE-TV

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WLNE-TV
New Bedford, Massachusetts / Providence, Rhode Island
Branding	ABC 6 (normal) ABC 6 News (newscasts)
Slogan	Where News Comes First
Channels	6 (VHF) analog, 49 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	ABC
Owner	Freedom Communications (sale to Global Broadcasting pending)
Founded	January 1, 1963
Call letters meaning	We Love New England
Former callsigns	WTEV (1963-80)
Former affiliations	CBS (1977-95) NBC (secondary)
Website	abc6.com

WLNE-TV "ABC 6" is the ABC affiliate for the Providence, Rhode Island and New Bedford, Massachusetts television market. It is owned by Freedom Communications. Though the station is licensed to the city of New Bedford, WLNE maintains its studios in the Charles Orms Building in Downtown Providence. WLNE broadcasts an analog signal on VHF channel 6 from a transmitter located in Tiverton, Rhode Island. The tower is 1,000 feet tall (305 m) and broadcasts at 100,000 watts. The station broadcasts a digital signal on UHF channel 49 from a transmitter located in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.

WLNE's audio signal transmits on a frequency of 87.75 megahertz (+10 kHz shift), and as a result, can be picked up on the lower end of the dial on most FM radios at 87.7 MHz. This is true of all other channel 6 stations in the United States.

Contents 1 History 2 Programming 3 Newscasts 4 Logos 5 References 6 External Links

[edit] History

The station began broadcasting on January 1, 1963, as WTEV-TV, the first full-time ABC network affiliate and locally owned station in the Rhode Island market. The station maintained its studios at 430 County Street in New Bedford. Prior to WTEV's sign-on, ABC programming had been shared between NBC affiliate WJAR-TV and CBS affiliate WPRO-TV (now WPRI-TV).

In 1977, WTEV swapped affiliations with WPRI, becoming a CBS affiliate after Knight Ridder Television, which had just purchased WPRI, cut an affiliation deal which switched most of the television stations it owned at the time to ABC. Channel 6 changed its call letters to the present-day WLNE-TV in 1980. The WTEV call sign is now used on a CBS affiliate in Jacksonville, Florida.

In 1983, Freedom Communications became the owner of WLNE. Freedom has owned the station since then. Around this time, WLNE relocated its studios and offices from New Bedford to its current location at the Charles Orms Building, 10 Orms Street in Downtown Providence. Ironically, it is the only major Rhode Island station with studios in Providence, even though it is the only station licensed to the Massachusetts side of the market.

On September 10, 1995, in a reversal of the 1977 affiliation swap, WLNE became an ABC affiliate again when CBS purchased WPRI.

Early in the afternoon of May 4, 2005, the analog transmitter went off the air due to an equipment failure in the building next to the tower. The transmitter had been running at 80-percent power due to another, unrelated technical problem that occurred approximately two weeks earlier. Although cable and Dish Network satellite subscribers continued to receive broadcasts (through a fiber optic connection), over the air and DirecTV satellite subscribers were unable to receive the channel (DirecTV gets their signal via antenna). The transmitter was again operational late Thursday evening, after 32-1/2 hours off the air.

In August of 2006 the Providence Journal reported that WLNE was up for sale. The key reason for the decision was the lack of a second station for Freedom to operate in the market that would improve synergies for the Providence operation. This could also be traced to WLNE's longtime #3 status in the market. [1]

On March 12, 2007, Freedom announced it was selling WLNE to Global Broadcasting, a company based in Delaware headed by Robinson Ewert and Kevin O'Brien. [2] O'Brien used to run Meredith Corporation's television station group before being fired in 2004 for, according to Broadcasting & Cable magazine, "unspecified violations of company Equal Employment Opportunity policies" [3] [4] . The sale must be approved by the Federal Communications Commission. Global Broadcasting is not related to a similarly-named Canadaian company, Canwest Global Communications.

[edit] Programming

The longest-running program on channel 6 is the TV Mass from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River, which began in 1963. Originally, it was broadcast at 8 AM. The TV Mass is currently broadcast at 11 AM (as it has been since 2004). It is taped at the chapel of Bishop Stang High School in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.

The longest running program on WLNE was The Truman Taylor Show. The Sunday morning public affairs program debuted in 1963. Numerous politicians appeared on the show, including two U.S. Presidents. In late 2005, Taylor taped his final show and in early 2006, ABC 6 On the Record with host Jim Hummel replaced it. Truman Taylor is now a featured op-ed columnist for the Providence Journal.

WLNE, in partnership with Cox Communications, operates a 24-hour cable news channel called the Rhode Island News Channel. WLNE and Cox Communications launched the cable station in September of 1998. The cable channel airs simulcasts and rebroadcasts of WLNE newscasts as well as a half-hour newscast, seen only on the cable channel weekend mornings. That newscast is currently anchored by Jeremy Tung. The channel is only offered on Cox cable channel 5. There is no separate website for the cable channel. [5]

[edit] Newscasts

The station's radar is called "Storm Tracker 6", which has a signal that originates from the NWS Local Forcast Office in Taunton, Massachusetts. For most newscasts, the newsteam consists of one news anchor, meteorologist, and sports anchor. The weekday 6 PM newscast, however, features two news anchors. During the newscasts, the majority of reports are done from the station's newsroom, although there are limited live reports that are also used.

WCVB-TV, the ABC affiliate for Boston, shares its resources with WLNE for news coverage of Southeastern Massachusetts.

Weekdays

• ABC 6 In The Morning (6 to 7 AM)
• ABC 6 at Noon (12 to 12:30 PM)
• ABC 6 News at 6 (6 to 6:30 PM)
• ABC 6 News at 11 (11 to 11:35 PM)

Saturdays

• ABC 6 News on the Rhode Island News Channel (8:30 to 9 AM)
• ABC 6 News at 6 (6 to 6:30 PM)
• ABC 6 News at 11 (11 to 11:35 PM)

Sundays

• ABC 6 On the Record (public affairs) (7:30 to 8 AM)
• ABC 6 News on the Rhode Island News Channel (8:30 to 9 AM)
• ABC 6 News at 6 (6 to 6:30 PM)
• ABC 6 News at 11 (11 to 11:15 PM)
• ABC 6 Sports Locker (11:15 to 11:35 PM)

Anchors

• April O'Dell - weeknight co-anchor, 6 & 11 p.m.
• Walter Cryan - weeknight co-anchor, 6 p.m.
• John Deluca - reporter / weekday anchor, ABC 6 In the Morning
• Melissa Mahan - reporter / weekday anchor, Noon
• Tom Langford - reporter / weekend evening anchor, 6 & 11 p.m.
• Jeremy Tung - reporter / weekend morning anchor, 8:30 a.m.

Storm Tracker 6 Meteorologists

• Mark Searles - 6 & 11 p.m. (Weeknights)
• Fred Campagna - ABC 6 In the Morning and Noon
• Jim Corbin - 6 & 11 p.m. (Weekends)
• Matt Lagor

Sports

• Ken Bell - Sports Director / Weekday Sports Anchor/ host of ABC 6 Sports Locker
• Don Coyne - Weekend Evening Sports Anchor / Reporter
• Brian O'Neill - Sports Reporter / Fill-In Anchor

Reporters

• Wendy Cicchetti - (Special Projects Reporter)
• Jim Hummel - (Chief Reporter)
• Julie Ruditzky
• Josie Guarino
• Elyce Kirchner
• Jennifer Gannon
• Parker Gavigan

[edit] Logos

Original WTEV logo from 1963.	WTEV logo from the 1960s.	WTEV logo from the 1970s.	WLNE logo from the early 1980s.
WLNE logo from the mid 1980s.	WLNE logo from late 1980s	WLNE logo used from 1994-1995.	Current WLNE ABC 6 logo used since Fall of 1995.
Logo for WLNE's Rhode Island News Channel.

[edit] References

• Paul Grimaldi and Timothy C. Barmann (May 7, 2005). "Channel 6 off air for over a day". The Providence Journal, p. B1–2.
• Deacon James N. Dunbar (November 11, 2005). "Fall River diocese's TV Mass is favorite of region's shut-ins". The Anchor (the newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River, MA), pgs. 1 and 12.

[edit] External Links

• Station Website
• Historic WTEV Website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WLNE