WHEC-TV

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WHEC-TV
Rochester, New York
Branding	10 NBC (general) News 10 NBC (newscasts)
Slogan	Coverage You Can Count On
Channel	Digital: 10 (VHF)
Affiliations	NBC (1989-Present) RTV Coming in 2010
Owner	Hubbard Broadcasting Corporation (WHEC-TV, LLC)
First air date	November 1, 1953
Callsign meaning	Hickson Electric Company
Former channels	10 (VHF analog, 1953-2009) 58 (UHF digital, 2005-2009)
Former affiliations	CBS (1953–1989) ABC (secondary, 1953-1962)
Effective power	18.1 kW
Height	153 m
Facility ID	70041
Antenna coordinates	43°8′7″N 77°35′2″W / 43.13528°N 77.58389°W / 43.13528; -77.58389
Website	www.whec.com

WHEC-TV ("News 10 NBC") is a television station in Rochester, New York. It is an NBC network affiliate, and broadcasts on channel 10. The station is owned by the Hubbard Broadcasting Corporation. Its transmitter is located on Pinnacle Hill in Brighton, New York.

Digital television

The station's digital signal is multiplexed. On June 12, 2009, WHEC-TV turned off its analog signal and moved digital broadcasts back to channel 10. A similar situation happened with ABC affiliate WHAM-TV, which signed off its analog signal on channel 13 at that time and moved WHAM-DT from channel 59 to channel 13. This was due to the FCC auctioning the channel 52-69 band. CBS affiliate WROC-TV remained on channel 45, and by that time, WROC-TV turned off analog channel 8 as channel 8 switch to a nightlight service for a few weeks.

Digital channels

History

Channel 10 signed on as a CBS affiliate on November 1, 1953, through a share-time operation with WVET-TV (owned by Veterans Broadcasting Company) and WHEC-TV (owned by Gannett, owners of the Democrat and Chronicle alongside the radio stations of the same calls). Veterans sold its half of channel 10 to WHEC and purchased WROC-FM (now WPXY-FM) and WROC-TV (channel 8) from Transcontinent Broadcasting in 1961, making WHEC the sole occupant of the channel 10 frequency in Rochester.

WHEC was one of the founding members of the "Love Network" that airs the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon every Labor Day, an affiliation carried to this day. WHEC was the creator of the "cut-ins" that local stations insert into the national telethon, a concept that has since spread across the country.

In 1979, Gannett sold WHEC in the wake of its purchase of Combined Communications under the fear that the FCC, then against grandfathering existing print/broadcast ownership, would force it to sell either property. WHEC made history by being purchased by African-American investor Ragan Henry, marking the first time an existing station was purchased by a minority-owned firm. This ownership was to be short lived, as in 1983 Henry swapped WHEC to Viacom for KDIA in San Francisco. During this time, WHEC stayed steadily in the #2 spot in the market between WOKR and WROC-TV (who swapped spots in the 1970s after WROC was crippled by complacency and a strike)^{[citation needed]}. It was also due to the rise of ABC and the decline of NBC in the viewership ratings during that period.

On July 1, 1989, WHEC swapped affiliations with WROC and became the NBC affiliate for the Rochester market. This move came out of WROC's poor performance and constant preemptions of network programming (NBC was very intolerant of preemptions at this time) and as a byproduct of Viacom's renewals of affiliations in Hartford and Albany. In addition, NBC regained the top ratings spot while CBS was in decline during this time, and NBC wanted its programming to air on a station that performed better than WROC did. This move proved successful at the time as NBC's standing in the market increased whereas CBS's still has not fully recovered^{[citation needed]}. However, during the November 2008 ratings period, WHEC's 11 pm newscast fell to third place, behind WHAM-TV and WROC, while the ratings for its other newscasts also plummeted—largely due to NBC's recent ratings struggles which have continued into the present day. At that time it fell to a distant second overall, closer to third-place WROC than it is to WHAM-TV. However, it recovered during the May 2009 sweeps, with its 11 pm newscast virtually tying WHAM-TV (and both are just ahead of WROC at that timeslot). The three stations became competitive during the May 2009 ratings period, each winning different contests. WHAM-TV still won total-day ratings, with WHEC's biggest strength at the time being its late-night newscast. WROC-TV led in prime time.

After Viacom bought Paramount Pictures in 1994 (putting the Viacom stations under Paramount's group), the company decided to divest itself of all stations not affiliated with its fledgling UPN network. In Spring 1996, Paramount traded WHEC and WNYT in Albany to Hubbard Broadcasting Corporation for UPN affiliate WTOG in Tampa.

Also, WHEC's digital signal (Channel 58) signed onto the air on September 27, 2002 under a Special Temporary Authority. On January 30, 2006, the station launched News 10 NBC WeatherPlus, a 24-hour weather station on its digital sub-channel; the service is also available on Time Warner digital cable.

For many years WHEC-TV was one of 3 Rochester area stations offered on Cable in the Ottawa/Gatineau and Eastern Ontario regions. The Rochester area stations were replaced with Detroit stations when the microwave relay system that provided these signals was discontinued. WHEC and other Rochester stations were available on cable in several communities along the north shore of Lake Ontario, such as Belleville and Cobourg. All Rochester affiliates with the exception of Fox affiliate WUHF were replaced with Buffalo stations in January 2009.

WHEC-TV has a fairly long standing partnership with WYSL, a local radio station. WYSL simulcasts WHEC's newscasts on radio for drive time listeners in exchange for advertisement. The agreement expired in early 2009.

WHEC became the first broadcast television station in upstate New York to launch a 7:00 PM newscast in 2008.

News Team

Current personalities

Anchors

• Pat McGonigle
• Rebecca Leclair
• Lynette Adams
• Rich Funke
• Janet Lomax
• Jennifer Johnson
• Nikki Rudd

Reporters

• Berkeley Brean
• Brett Davidsen
• Deanna King
• Ray Levato
• Linzi Sheldon

Weather

• Kevin Williams
• Rich Caniglia
• Josh Nichols
• Amanda McDonald

Sports

• Robin DeWind
• Brett Stagnitti
• Steve Houseman - Fill In as needed

Past personalities

• Mark Wolfe: Anchor
• Ron Robataille: Anchor
• John Hambleton: Weather
• Maggie Brooks: Anchor, now County Executive for Monroe County, New York
• Lila Carney: Now with WSTM-TV in Syracuse, New York
• Gabe Dalmath: Weeknight anchor, died September 16, 2006
• Keith Eichner: Meteorologist, now with WIVB-TV in Buffalo, New York.
• Christopher Gloninger: Meteorologist WTEN in Albany, New York
• Kevin Jolly: Reporter, now with WROC-TV in Rochester
• Kristine Lopez: Reporter, now with WGXA in Macon, Georgia
• Brian Martin: Anchor/Reporter, now in Salt Lake City, Utah
• Lou Paris: Reporter/anchor, retired, now living in Germantown, Tennessee
• Emily Smith: Reporter, now with WABC-TV in New York City
• Eryka Washington: Reporter/Anchor, now with WESH in Orlando
• Jessica Weinstein: Reporter, now a freelance reporter at WTTG-TV in Washington, DC.
• Catherine Varnum: now reporter with CBS affiliate in Jacksonville, FL

News/Station Presentation

Newscast Titles

• TV-10 News (1970s-1980s)
• NewsWatch 10 (1980s-1987)
• News Team 10 (1987-1993)
• News 10 (1993-1997)
• News 10 NBC (1997-present)

Station Slogans

• Rochester's News Leader (1991-1993)
• Rochester's 24-Hour News Channel (1993-1997)
• Live, Local and Up to the Minute (1997-2002)
• Digging for Answers. Reporting Them First. (2002-2006)
• Coverage You Can Count On (2006-present)

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News Music Packages

• WHEC News Theme
• CBS News Ticker
• The Image Leader
• The Palmer News Package
• Everyday News Package
• Straight Talk
• Dayna
• Production Music: Action News
• The One And Only
• The Tower

External links

• NEWS 10NBC HOMEPAGE
• RNYN - WHEC Television
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WHEC-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WHEC-TV