WSAW-TV

WSAW-TV (digital channel 7) is a CBS affiliate television station licensed to Wausau, Wisconsin and serving central and north central Wisconsin, United States. The station is owned by Gray Television and operates from studios at 1114 Grand Avenue in Wausau, and from a transmitter located on the summit of Rib Mountain in the Marathon County township of Rib Mountain (44° 55' 14.00" N, 89° 41' 28.00" W)[1]. The station also operates two translator stations in Sayner, Wisconsin, near the Eagle River area of far Northern Wisconsin (analog signal W57AR, channel 57, and digital signal W42DH-D, channel 42).

History
The station launched on October 23, 1954 as WSAU-TV, a sister station to WSAU radio (AM 550 and the original WSAU-FM at 95.5, now WIFC. It was originally owned by a consortium of north-central Wisconsin newspapers that included the Wausau Daily Tribune-Herald, owner of WSAU-AM-FM.

Channel 7 originally operated from the Plumer Mansion, a Richardsonian Romanesque-stylebuilding that was located on N. 5th St in Wausau and torn down in 1972, one year after the station moved to its current home.[2] The Plumer Mansion's castle-like exterior and a suit of armor displayed in the mansion inspired the station's graphic designer, Sid Kyler, to design a medieval-style "7" logo along with an accompanying cartoon mascot, the fully-armored knight "Sir Seven."[3] The logo and mascot served as representations of the station for several decades.

Sometime in the 1960s, the station's original owners sold it to Forward Communications. Forward sold off channel 7 in 1981, and it adopted its current calls, WSAW-TV. By the late 1980s, WSAW's logo would change to a square-style "7", which would be replaced by a stylized version of the circle 7 logo in 2006.

WSAW-TV has been affiliated with CBS since its beginning, although the station did have secondary affiliations with DuMont (until that network expired in 1956), ABC (until WAOW-TVsigned on in 1965), and NBC (until WAEO launched in 1966). In Fall 2006, WSAW-TV addedMyNetworkTV to digital subchannel 7.2 (subchannel 7.3 broadcasts "24/7 Weather").

On April 2, 2011, WSAW NewsChannel 7 became the first and only station in northcentral Wisconsin to broadcast local news in high definition from the studio and in the field.[4]. With the switch to HD came and revamp of their news set and new graphics. Along with the switch, "Sir Seven" returned, still true to the original in the 1950s, now in 3D/HD.[5]

Digital television
WSAW-TV's broadcasts have been digital-only since before midnight on February 16, 2009, when the analog signoff featured a "good night" from Sir Seven.[6].

Current on-air staff
 Anchors
 * Sarah Grey - News Director
 * Jeff Thelen - weeknights at 5, 6 & 10 p.m.
 * Heather Sahr - weeknights at 5, 6 & 10 p.m.
 * Maria Szatkowski - weekend evenings; also reporter and producer
 * Holly Chilsen - weekdays at 4 p.m. (on WZAW); also reporter
 * Jerel Ballard -
 * Matthew Simon - weekdays at 4 p.m. (on WZAW); also investigative reporter
 * Dale Ryman - weeknights at 9 p.m. (on WZAW)
 * Sean Caldwell - weekday mornings on Sunrise 7 (4:30-7 a.m.)
 * Kassandra Sepeda - weekday mornings on Sunrise 7 (4:30-7 a.m.) and noon; also producer

Weather Authority Storm Team
 * Mark Holley - Chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
 * Jeremy Tabin - (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) meteorologist; weekend evenings
 * Emily Skye - meteorologist; weekday mornings on Sunrise 7 (4:30-7 a.m.)
 * Chad Franzen - (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) meteorologist; weekdays at noon; also fill-in meteorologist and WSAW.com webmaster

Reporters
 * Holly Chilsen
 * Maria Szatkowski
 * Jerel Ballard

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Sports team
 * Reece Van Haaften - Sports director; weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
 * Bailey Harbit - Sports anchor and reporter
 * Adriana Torres - Sports anchor and reporter

Former on-air staff

 * Julia Fello - Reporter/Sunrise 7 Sunday Anchor, later with WKOW, 27 News Madison, WI, now with WTMJ 4, Milwaukee, WI,
 * Todd Hicks -Morning Anchor,now Anchor with WGBA, NBC26 Green Bay, WI.
 * Susan Siman - Anchor, now with WISC, CBS3 Madison, WI.
 * Lynn Sprangers - Weekend Anchor, now President of Milwaukee Brewers Charities
 * John Karcher - Anchor, later with WISC, CBS3 Madison, WI, Now Retired
 * Ken Chapin - Weatherman 1968-78, Later with WDIO Duluth, MN, retired.
 * Randy Ollis - Meteorologist, now with WISH-TV 8 Indianapolis, IN.
 * Mace Michaels - Meteorologist, now with KGAN, Cedar Rapids, IA
 * Tony Schumacher- Meteorologist, now runs his own weather company, Great Lakes Weather Service,and is now with WAOW 9, Wausau,WI.
 * Judi Krall (Loomis) - Anchor, later with WANE-15, now President Creative Writing-Marketing Concepts, Fort Wayne, IN
 * Mike Gousha - Anchor, was with WISN 12, Milwaukee, WI, now at Marquette University
 * Joyce Garbaciak - Anchor, now with WISN 12, Milwaukee, WI
 * Mike "Jocko" Jacques - 2 time Sports Director (mid-late '00's) will graudate with his MBA in 2011 and works on The Badger Sports Report

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Bill Schmidt- Sports anchor now News anchor Bill Jartz at WBAY tv2 in Green Bay WI

Newscast titles

 * Your Esso Reporter (1954-1956)
 * WSAU-TV News (1956-1960s)
 * Channel 7 Reports (1960s-1980s)
 * News 7 (1980s-early 1990s)
 * 7 News (early 1990s)
 * NewsChannel 7 (early 1990s-present)

Station slogans

 * Putting You First is What Keeps Us First (late 1970s-early 1980s)
 * Local News, Local People (early 1990s-1996)
 * On Your Side (1996-2010)
 * 7 You Know, 7 You Trust (2010-2011)
 * Your Local News & Weather Authority (2011-present)