WYTV

WYTV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Mahoning Valley of Northeastern Ohio that is licensed to Youngstown. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 36 from a transmitter on Shady Run Road in Boardman Township. Owned by PBC Broadcasting, the station is operated by New Vision Television though a shared services agreement (a.k.a. SSA). This makes it sister to CBS affiliate WKBN-TV and low-powered Fox affiliate WYFX-LP. All three stations share studios on Sunset Boulevard in Boardman Township (although its mailing address says Youngstown).

Syndicated programming on WYTV includes: The Insider, Entertainment Tonight, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, and The Dr. Oz Show. It operates the area's MyNetworkTV affiliate on a second digital subchannel. Known on-air as MyYTV, this can also be seen on Armstrong Cable channel 13 and Time Warner Cable digital channel 373. Syndicated programming on WYTV-DT2 includes: My Wife and Kids, Star Trek: The Next Generation, COPS, and The People's Court. Some of WYTV's syndicated programming later moved to WKBN.

Digital programming
Its signal is multiplexed. It operates a 24-hour local weather channel called "My Valley Weather" on a third digital subchannel. At one point, it had also been offered on the digital tier of Time Warner Cable. Originally called "Weather on the 3's", the channel shows continuous weather updates through WYTV's relationship with WeatherBug.

It was redesigned on February 24, 2009 when WKBN and WYFX had their on-air look redesigned and "Weather on the 3's" was made to match those two station's on-air look. It was renamed "My Valley Weather" to coincide with the launch of the combined weather website for WYTV and WKBN. This station is currently the only commercial station in the area with three digital subchannels.

Along with sister station WKBN, WYTV will soon have two subchannels broadcasting in high-definition, with MyYTV broadcasting in HD. The future of the "My Valley Weather" subchannel is uncertain due to MyYTV broadcasting in HD. As of February 2011, My YTV is still in standard definition.[1]

[edit] History
It originated as WKST-TV with an analog signal on UHF channel 45. As the television partner to WKST radio, which still exists on AM 1200, it was licensed to New Castle, Pennsylvania and signed-on April 4, 1953. At that time, it was the only full-time ABC affiliate in Western Pennsylvania as WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh did not sign-on until September 1958 while WJET-TV in Erie did not sign on until 1966.

WKST-TV moved to UHF channel 33, was re-licensed to Youngstown, and became WYTV in 1964. After moving channels, WYTV was replaced on channel 45 by independent station WXTV which moved from channel 73 and remained on-the-air until late-1962. That station had scheduled programming from 6 to 11 pm and repeated the same programs multiple times within a given week. In 1973, channel 45 was re-allocated to nearby Alliance, Ohio as an educational channel and became WNEO.

WYTV once aired a kids' show during the 1980s entitled 33 Powwww which consisted of a "voice-activated" video game powered by the Mattel Intellivision. Viewers would call in to play this game and win prizes. Cartoons were also aired during the show. The TV POWWW concept was a syndicated franchise seen on television stations throughout the United States such as WCLQ in Cleveland (now WQHS-TV). WYTV also has produced the local quiz show YSU Academic Challenge in which high school and middle school students from all over the area answer questions for prizes.

The station was Youngstown's first Fox network affiliate from 1994 to 1998. WYTV carried programming from that network in addition to the station's primary ABC network programming. Youngstown did not have a full time Fox affiliate so WYTV joined the network as a secondary affiliate in part due to the network's acquisition of the rights to NFL football. In 1998, Youngstown got its own full-time affiliate when WKBN launched low-powered sister station WYFX-LP.

WYTV was owned by Benedek Broadcasting since the 1990s until the company's bankruptcy filing in 2002. Instead of being purchased by Gray Television, WYTV was bought by Chelsey Television, LLC and was managed by Barrington Broadcasting.[2] The station has applied to increase its digital signal to one megawatt at the end of the transition.[3]

On February 6, 2007, Chelsey Television filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to sell WYTV to Parkin Broadcasting of California which then leased out the station to WKBN/WYFX owner New Vision Television under a shared services agreement which is essentially a local marketing agreement under different legal terms.

At the time, some critics wondered if the shared services agreement was legal since the Youngstown market only has four full-powered television stations (WFMJ-TV, WKBN, WYTV, and PBS station WNEO). This would clearly violate FCC duopoly rules that require a minimum eight full-powered stations in a given market in order to permit a duopoly. In addition, both New Vision and Parkin share an office building in Los Angeles and have a "cozy relationship" leading to speculation that Parkin is simply a shell corporation for New Vision since the two also have similar operations in other markets. This is not unlike what Sinclair Broadcast Group does with Cunningham Broadcasting which is a shell corporation of Sinclair.

Nonetheless, the FCC approved the shared services agreement on July 30, 2007.[4] WYTV then moved from its Shady Run Road studios over to the WKBN/WYFX facilities in Boardman Township. Since the agreement, both WYTV and WKBN have launched two combined web sites for area sports and weather and have gradually had their on-air looks mirror each other while their web sites are now identical.

[edit] News operation
Unlike WKBN and WFMJ, WYTV tends to focus more on Warren area-related topics in the news which has become more evident under WKBN control. Due to the duopoly, WYTV has a smaller news department than WKBN and some personnel from the latter are seen on this station. Part of the shared services agreement called for a consolidation of news departments between WYTV and WKBN. This occurred on December 6, 2007 and over forty people at WYTV and six at WKBN were fired.[5] All newscasts on this station now originate from a secondary set at WKBN's studios.

Since being taken over by that station, WYTV has not aired a weekday noon newscast, unlike most ABC affiliates, opting instead to air reruns of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. There is also no weeknight show at 5:00, but a 5:30 broadcast is aired while WKBN runs Deal or No Deal. Since WFMJ airs The Oprah Winfrey Show during this time, this makes WYTV the only station in the area to air news weeknights at 5:30. It had announced plans to build satellite streetside news studios in Downtown Youngstown which are no longer used with the move to WKBN.

Before the merge with WKBN, WYTV operated its own weather radar at its old studios. The station has news and weather partnerships with WNCD-FM 93.3, WAKZ-FM 95.9, WMXY-FM 98.9, WBBG-FM 106.1, WKBN-AM 570, and WNIO-AM 1390. WYTV-DT2 re-airs the weekday morning show.

On Thursday, May 6, 2010, WYTV (along with sister stations Fox Youngstown and WKBN) made the switch to HD broadcasts. WYTV also got new news graphics and logos to go along with its new set and HD upgrade. The new logo matches that of WKBN, WYFX, and the "MyValley" websites the two stations operate together. MyYTV is still using its original logo.

[edit] Newscast titles

 * Eyewitness News (late 1970s-1989 and 1992–1994)
 * 33 Eyewitness News (1989–1992 and 1994–1997)
 * ABC 33 News (1997-98)
 * NewsChannel 33 (1998–2002)
 * 33 News (2002–present)

[edit] Station slogans

 * "Your 24 Hour News Source" (1989–1997)
 * "On Your Side" (1997–2002)
 * "What Everybody Wants to Know" (2002)
 * "Straight to the Point News" (2002–2003)
 * "Straight to the Point" (2003–2007)
 * "We Believe in This Valley" (2007–present)

[edit] News team
+ denotes personnel also seen on WKBN

Anchors My Valley Weather My Valley Sports Reporters
 * Len Rome - weekday mornings and health reporter
 * "Good Question" segment producer
 * Niki Weirich - weeknights
 * + Damon Maloney - weekends and reporter
 * Stan Boney - weeknight meteorologist and news anchor
 * Academic Challenge host
 * Jim Loboy - weekday mornings
 * Ryan Halicki-weekend weather
 * + Paul Wetzl - weekends
 * Bill Castrovince - weeknights at 6 and 11
 * + Chad Krispinsky - weekends and sports reporter
 * + Peggy Sinkovich - Trumbull County, Chief reporter
 * + Dan Martin - video journalist
 * + Greta Mittereder - video journalist and weekday mornings
 * + Dennis Biviano - video journalist and weekday mornings
 * + Christina London - video journalist
 * + Julie Loeper - video journalist
 * + Miriam Hobbs - video journalist
 * + Damon Maloney- video journalist

Former on-air staff

 * Vince Bevacqua - weeknight co-anchor (1999-2007)
 * Kristi Branam - weekend sports and sports reporter
 * Jody Chevalier - weekday morning meteorologist (departed 2002)
 * Patty Coller - fill-in meteorologist
 * Susan DeLeo - weekend co-anchor
 * Mindy Drayer - weekday morning co-anchor
 * Patty Dushaw Earnhardt - Trumbull County reporter and weekday morning co-anchor (departed 2005)
 * Stacia Erdos - weeknight co-anchor (departed 1998 for WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh)
 * Mandy Hackman - video journalist seen weeknights at 6 and 11
 * Bob Hannon - Sports Director (1988-2008)
 * Demetrious Ivory - weekday morning meteorologist (left in 2005 for WTAE-TV)
 * Sabrina Lavdis - weekend co-anchor (departed 2006)
 * Jeff Levkulich - weekend co-anchor and reporter (departed 2007)
 * Melissa Mack - weekday morning meteorologist (departed 2006 for WJW-TV)
 * Gina Marinelli - weeknight co-anchor (2005 - 2007)
 * Eva Mastromatteo - weekend anchor (departed 2008 now at WNEP-TV)
 * Amy Radinovic - weekday morning co-anchor (now weekday morning co-anchor on WKBN)
 * Mike Rowe - anchor/reporter
 * Alicia Scicolone - weekday morning co-anchor (now a reporter for WEWS Newschannel 5 Cleveland)
 * Angee Shaker - weeknight co-anchor (2000-2008)
 * Jason Vinkler - reporter
 * Kristin Wedemeyer - weekend meteorologist