WTNH Totally Explained

Everything about Wtnh totally explained

WTNH, channel 8, is the ABC affiliate for the state of Connecticut, licensed to New Haven and serving the Hartford/New Haven television market. WTNH is owned by LIN Television Corporation, and is the sister station to WCTX (channel 59), the Hartford/New Haven market's MyNetworkTV affiliate. The two stations share a studio facility in New Haven, and WTNH's transmitter is located in Hamden, Connecticut.
On May 18, 2007, LIN TV announced that it was exploring strategic alternatives that could result in the sale of the company.(External Link

)

History

WTNH debuted on June 15, 1948 as WNHC-TV on channel 6. The station was founded by the New Haven Register along with WNHC radio (1340 AM, now WYBC) and WNHC-FM (99.1 MHz., now WPLR). It is Connecticut's oldest television station, and the second-oldest in New England (WBZ-TV in Boston signed on less than a week earlier). It was originally an affiliate of the DuMont Television Network, and claims to have been the first full-time affiliate of that short-lived network.(External Link

) It added NBC and CBS in 1949, with ABC following in 1950.
   In late 1953, WNHC-TV changed frequencies and moved to channel 8. The next year, the Federal Communications Commission collapsed Hartford and New Haven into a single market. WNHC-TV shared some NBC programming with New Britain's WKNB-TV (now WVIT) until 1955, as WKNB's signal wasn't strong enough to cover New Haven at the time. In 1955, the New Haven Register and the WNHC stations were bought by Triangle Publications of Philadelphia. Also in that same year, WNHC-TV lost its CBS affiliation when that network purchased Hartford's WGTH-TV (later WHCT and now WUVN). The station became a sole ABC affiliate, though it shared ABC programming with Waterbury-based WATR-TV (now WTXX) until 1966. It has been a primary ABC affiliate longer than any station in New England except WMTW-TV in Portland, Maine, also located on channel 8.
   As part of a sale of Triangle's broadcasting interests in 1971, the WNHC stations were sold to Capital Cities Communications, along with sister stations WFIL-AM-FM-TV in Philadelphia and KFRE-AM-FM-TV in Fresno, California. However, Capital Cities couldn't keep the radio stations because it already owned the maximum number of radio stations allowed at the time. As a result, WNHC-TV changed its call letters to WTNH-TV soon after Capital Cities took over. (The station dropped the -TV suffix from its calls in 1985, but continued to call itself "WTNH-TV" on-air well into the 1990s.) WTNH later adopted the Action News format made famous at its Philadelphia sister station, WPVI-TV (the former WFIL-TV).
   Capital Cities bought ABC in 1986 in a deal that stunned the broadcast industry. However, the FCC wouldn't allow the merged company to keep WTNH due to a significant signal overlap with ABC's flagship station, WABC-TV in New York City. WTNH's signal decently covers Fairfield County (which is part of the New York City market) as well as most of Long Island. At the time, the FCC normally didn't allow common ownership of two stations with overlapping coverage areas. As a result, channel 8 was spun off to a minority-controlled firm called Cook Inlet Communications.
   Cook Inlet sold WTNH to LIN in 1994. In the mid-1990s, the station dropped the Action News title in favor of the current "NewsChannel 8". When a new UHF independent station in New Haven, WTVU (later WBNE and now WCTX) signed-on in 1995, WTNH began operating the station under a local marketing agreement. In 2001, LIN bought WCTX outright. Since the start of the LMA, WTNH has produced a 10 p.m. nightly and 7 a.m. weekday newscast for WCTX.
   For many years, WTNH has been the second-highest rated station in Connecticut, behind WFSB. However, in recent years it has had to fend off a spirited challenge from a resurgent WVIT. There is a heavy regional tilt to WTNH's ratings for news and local programming, as it traditionally does far better in Nielsen's "Metro B" area (New Haven County) than "Metro A" (Hartford County). This trend doesn't hold for network programming. It is the one Hartford/New Haven TV station with a large Fairfield County audience as well.
   WTNH was the first station in the country to use videotape for local programming, and one of the first to broadcast in color.

Digital television

The station's digital channel is multiplexed.

Channel	Programming
8.1 / 10.1	main WTNH-TV/ABC programming
8.2 / 10.2	Local weather radar

Post-analog shutdown

After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009, WTNH will remain on its current pre-transition channel number, 10. However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display WTNH's virtual channel as 8.

Trivia

WTNH operates a newsroom in New London at the headquarters of The New London Day.
The station operates a "Hartford Bureau" on Columbus Blvd. in that city.
Fake promos for "Supercalifragilisticexpialidoppler" as an April Fools joke were leaked onto the internet in 2005 and have become a big hit. (External Link)
The station's Master Control room and some traffic responsibilities (along with WCTX) actually originate from Springfield, Massachusetts.

Current personalities

Anchors

Sonia Baghdady - weekday mornings and Noon

Ted Koppy - weeknights at 6 and 11

Keith Kountz - weeknights at 5, 5:30, and 10

Darren Kramer - weekday mornings and Noon

Jocelyn Maminta - weeknights at 5 and 5:30

health reporter

Ann Nyberg - weeknights at 6, 10, and 11

Chris Velardi - weekend mornings

Sara Welch - weekend evenings

reporter

Weather

Dr. Mel Goldstein - Chief seen on weekday mornings and at Noon

Geoff Fox - weeknights

Gil Simmons - weeknights at 10

weekend evenings

Matt Scott - weekend mornings

Sid Starks - fill-in

Sports

Noah Finz - Director seen on weeknights at 6, 10, and 11

John Pierson - weekend evenings

sports reporter

Marc Robbins - sports reporter Reporters

Alan Cohn - investigative

Tina Detelj - New London Bureau

Mark Davis - Hartford-based political correspondent

Desiree Fontaine - Traffic Cam 8

Dennis Protsko - Chopper 8

also with sister stations WPRI-TV & WNAC-TV)

Darren Duarte

Erin Cox

Crystal Haynes

Jodi Latina

Jamie Muro

Annie Rourke

Tricia Taskey

Bob Wilson

Notable alumni

Nancy Aborn

Brian Burnell

Dennis Buckman

Jon Crane

Leon Collins

Verna Collins

Persefone Contos

Judy Chong

Kristen Cusato

Wendy Cicchetti

Kendra Farn

Joe Francis

Dick Galliette

George Grande

Jim Hoffer

Christina Hager

Marci Izard

Bob Jones

Tom Lewis

Cathy Marshall

SallyAnn Mosey

Bob Norman

Janet Peckinpaugh

Bob Picozzi

Sam Rosen

Stelio Salmona

Anna Sava

Pat Sheehan

Jocelyn Sigue

Sue Simmons

Peter Standring

Andrea Stassou

Alexandra Steele

Diane Smith

Al Terzi

George Thompson

Mike Warren

Carla WohlFurther Information

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