WTWO

WTWO is the NBC-affiliated television station in Terre Haute, Indiana. It formerly operated on analog channel 2; it is now located on digital channel 36. Through a joint sales agreement (JSA), it operates the local Fox affiliate, WFXW. Its transmitter and headquarters are located inFarmersburg, Indiana.

History
The station's callsign was originally assigned to a television station in Bangor, Maine, which changed its call letters to WLBZ-TV in 1958.

WTWO first signed on the air on September 1, 1965 at 7 a.m., a fairly late date for a fully affiliated VHF outlet. The first program WTWO aired was The Today Show. A primary NBC affiliate, the station also carried ABC network programs either on tape delay or by occasionally preempting NBC programs (the most famous being a preemption of Star Trek). Local primary CBS affiliate WTHI-TV (channel 10) also carried some ABC programs in the same way.

"W-2 News" was the first newscast, running with that title until 1967. When Illiana Telecasting sold channel 2 to Booth Newspapers, some on-air and branding changes occurred. That year, the station became "TV-2" (while retaining a hyphen in the callsign, "W-TWO"), and the local news adopted the name "Total News Tonight".

This practice ended by 1973, when Terre Haute finally obtained a full-time ABC affiliate, WIIL-TV, channel 38 (now Fox affiliate WFXW). Beginning in 1995, ABC became available to Terre Haute-area viewers only on stations from adjoining markets.

In the spring 2006, the station dropped reference to its analog channel number, using the call letters only. WTWO brought back reference to (PSIP virtual) channel 2 with "NBC 2" branding, starting on October 18, 2010.

WTWO-TV switched to using digital camera gear in May 2007, with every field reporter and photographer equipped with digital gear. On December 10, 2007, the Friday-only local lifestyle–entertainment program The Valley Showcase expanded to five days a week at 11 am, including local news and weather. This marked a return to 'midday' news on WTWO for the first time since 2002. In 2009, the program reverted to airing on Fridays only.

WTWO's digital signal is on channel 36.1 (PSIP virtual channel 2.1), and switched to full-power digital in mid-December 2008. In June 2008, WTWO-DT began to air HD-available programming from the network.

Controversy
WTWO made national news in early 2006 by declining to air the controversial and short-lived NBC program The Book of Daniel, citing protesting calls and emails from viewers as the rationale for its decision. "Our relationship with NBC always provided for the right to reject programming. I am reaffirming that right to let them know I will not allow them to make unilateral decisions affecting our viewers", WTWO General Manager Duane Lammers said in a statement on the WTWO website.[1] Due to poor ratings and several other affiliates following suit with WTWO, NBC canceled the show after only three episodes. A plotline on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip about the NBS affiliate in Terre Haute refusing to air the show because of a sketch called "Crazy Christians" was probably loosely based on this incident.[citation needed]

Also in 2006, WTWO aired a controversial one-minute promotion criticizing rival WTHI over its weather coverage. The commercial claimed that WTHI's Doppler weather radar was inferior to WTWO's because WTHI's radar was located within downtown Terre Haute; thus, its "dead zone" sat over thousands of residents, instead of WTWO's, whose "dead zone" sat over a corn field. The ad also mentioned that the combined experience of WTWO's weather team was more than that of WTHI's staff, and that WTHI's power had multiple points of failure in contrast to WTWO's. [3] The promotion, though technically accurate, became a source of amusement on Comedy Central's The Daily Show because of its use of hyperbole and techniques reminiscent of political "attack ads". http://www.dopplerdeadzone.com After WTWO's general manager called the Daily Show "hard-up for material" in a local newspaper,[2] Jon Stewart[3] mocked the station further in the following night's opening.

A response video to The Daily Show and Stewart that was supposed to be for internal uses at the station was leaked on YouTube; it has since been removed, but has sprung up once more on iFilm.

Syndicated programming on WTWO

 * Jeopardy! at 7:30 p.m. (Saturdays at 7:00 p.m.)
 * Rachael Ray at 12:00 p.m.
 * The Real Housewives of Orange County at 2:00 p.m.
 * Dr. Oz at 3:00 p.m.
 * The Insider at 11:30 a.m.
 * The Oprah Winfrey Show at 4:00 p.m.
 * Wheel of Fortune at 7:00 p.m. (Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.)

Times in Illinois are one hour earlier. WTWO does not yet broadcast its syndicated programs in HD.

News operation
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">The first newscast in full color aired in 1971. Two years later, the newscast rebranded again to "TV-2 Eyewitness News", the name it bore until 1994. "NewsChannel 2" was then adopted. After the sale of the station in 1997 to Nexstar Broadcasting from TCS Television Partners, the station amended the title to "WTWO NewsChannel 2", then again in 2007 as "WTWO NewsChannel". In 2010, branding was changed to "NBC 2 News". The morning newscast repeats on WFXW at 7/6 a.m. Central so Illinois viewers can watch it at a later time.

Current WTWO/WFXW on-air staff

 * Tom McClanahan, News Director/5:30 pm anchor & reporter.
 * Dana Winklepleck, morning news anchor/reporter
 * Patrick Fazio, 5 pm, 6 pm, and 11 pm weeknight news anchor
 * Elyse Evans, 5 pm, 6 pm, 10 pm (WFXW), and 11 pm news weeknight news anchor
 * Jon Swaner, weekend news anchor/reporter
 * Jesse Walker, Chief Meteorologist
 * Dan Reynolds, weekend meteorologist, Tech Talk
 * Jason Pensky, Sports Director
 * Wes Woodward, reporter
 * Megan Reust, reporter
 * Morgan Moore, reporter
 * Eric Peat, weekend sports/sports reporter
 * Grant Pugh, sports reporter/photographer

Notable WTWO alumni

 * Kathy Dash, news anchor (now at Rose-Hulman Institute)
 * Ann Shea, anchor for "The Weekly Special" (operating out of IU Bloomington WTIU-PBS)
 * Nancy Hauskins, news anchor (went to WKRN Nashville, now anchoring a political show)
 * Jennie Runevitch, weekend anchor/reporter (now at WTHR Indianapolis)
 * Matt Seigel, sports reporter (now at KMTV Omaha)
 * Jim Payne, news anchor (now at WESH-TV Orlando)
 * Ray Dalessio, weekend sports anchor (now at CNN Headline News)
 * Mike Royer, weekday meteorologist (now at WVTM-TV Birmingham)
 * Johnny Palmer, News Anchor 1967-1992 (Deceased, 2007 at age 78)
 * Mark Allen, News Reporter/Anchor 1971-87, General Manager 1987-90 (now at WTHI-TV)
 * David Brown, Meteorologist (now an anchor/reporter at WCVB in Boston)
 * Jay Berschback, Meteorologist (now at WTVG Toledo)
 * Mitch Blacher, investigative reporter KGTV, San Diego
 * Kate Williams, news anchor/reporter (now at WXIN-TV Indianapolis)
 * Sarah Fortune, reporter (Now at WTVW Evansville)
 * Matt Pieper, news anchor/reporter (now at News 12 The Bronx/Brooklyn in New York City)
 * Melanie Waxler (Snow), reporter/anchor (now at Bay News 9 in Tampa, FL)
 * David Shepherd, reporter (now at WEHT-TV/Evansville, IN)
 * Janet Van De Winkle, weather (now at WEYI/Flint, MI)

Newscast titles

 * W-2 News (1965–1967)
 * Total News at Twelve / Total News Today / Total News Tonight (1967–1973)
 * TV-2 News (1971–1973; used in conjunction with "Total News")
 * TV-2 Eyewitness News (1973–1994)
 * NewsChannel 2 (1994–2003)
 * WTWO NewsChannel 2 (2003–2007)
 * WTWO NewsChannel (2007–2010)
 * NBC 2 News (2010-Present)

Station slogans

 * Your No. 1 Color Station (1965–1967)
 * Good News (1971–1973)
 * The News People (In Touch with People) (1977–1983)
 * We`re TV-2, Just Watch Us Now (1982-1983; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Experience in Action (1983–1987)
 * Come Home to TV-2 (1986–1987, localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Your Hometown Team (1987–1990)
 * Your 24 Hour News Source (1990–1992 and 1995–1996)
 * In Touch with the Wabash Valley 24 Hours a Day (1992–1994)
 * Moving Ahead with The Valley (1994)
 * Working For You (1994–1995)
 * The Wabash Valley's 24-Hour News Team (1996–1997)
 * This is Your News (2003–2006)
 * Live and Local (2007–2008)
 * Making Good Things Happen (2008)
 * Your #1 Source for News, Weather, and Sports (2010-present)

News music packages

 * NBC Nightly News Ticker (1970–1973)
 * The First NBC Affiliate Package (1973–1977)
 * News People, by Tuesday Productions (1977–1983)
 * WWL-TV, by Tuesday Productions (1983–1987)
 * Looking Great, by Non-Stop Music (1987–1990)
 * KATC 1986 News (1990–1991)
 * Production Music: The Visionary, by Soundtrack Music (1991)
 * Production Music: News Breakers, by Soundtrack Music (1991)
 * NBC: The Place To Be (1991–1992)
 * WTWO First Report News (1992–1993)
 * NBC Affiliate Package (1992–1994)
 * Prime News, by NewsMusic Central (1994–1997)
 * The Great News Package, by Gari Communications (1997–2003)
 * The NBC Collection, by Gari Communications (2003–2007)
 * WTWO Live at Five, by MoneyMusic (2006–2008)
 * Signature, by the Stephen Arnold Group (2007–2010)
 * U-Phonix, by the Stephen Arnold Group (2009–2010 Only used for bumpers and morning/weekend opens)
 * The Rock, by the Stephen Arnold Group (2010-Present)