WVII-TV

Digital programming
Although WFVX operates its own signal, it is carried on WVII's second digital subchannel.

History
Identification in 1985 that used standard version of the Circle 7 logo.The station first took to the air on October 15, 1965 under the call sign WEMT. Before it was launched, ABC maintained secondary affiliations with CBS affiliate WABI-TV and NBC afifliate WLBZ. The current call letters, WVII-TV, were adopted in 1976. The WEMT calls are now used on a Fox station in the Tri-Cities of Northeastern Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia. It is the only channel in Bangor to have never switched its network affiliation.

In February 1995, it suffered a transmitter failure due to a fire. This knocked it off the air during a Bangor Hydro Electric advertisement. It would not return to full-power broadcasting for two months. However, the station was available on cable and to most of its over-the-air coverage area through a temporary transmitter. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tele-Communications,_Inc. TCI Cable] and WVII had facilities that shared a rear property line on Target Industrial Circle. The cable company ran a line from its building to this channel allowing the station to continue normal operations while purchasing a replacement transmitter. WVII became the second station to broadcast in stereo in April 1995 as a result of a new transmitter. The cause of the fire was never determined other than being believed to be electrical in origin.

In April 2001, Rockfleet Broadcasting made its first venture into UHF broadcasting by entering into a local marketing agreement (LMA) with MPBN Plus repeater W30BF that was locally-owned by James McLeod. Rockfleet then changed its call letters to WCKD-LP and network affiliation to UPN. After Portland's WPXT dropped its Fox affiliation for The WB, the company negotiated with Fox to convert WCKD to that network. However, UPN threatened legal action for breach of its affiliation agreement and the plan was abandoned. WCKD did air some Fox Sports programming including Super Bowl XXXVI. In 2003, Rockfleet purchased a new station. It was assigned the call letters WFVX-LP, was set up to broadcast on channel 22, and received the Fox affiliation. WFVX inherited WCKD's syndicated programming.

In October 2006, WVII made national news in a New York Times article that quoted General Manager Michael Palmer as saying that "when Bar Harbor is underwater, then we can do global warming stories. Until then," he added, "no more." Palmer said he wanted no more stories broadcast on global warming because: "a) we do local news, b) the issue evolved from hard science into hard politics, and c) despite what you may have heard from the mainstream media, this science is far from conclusive." Palmer said in his e-mail message to his operations manager and two women who served as a news anchor and a reporter that he placed "global warming stories in the same category as 'the killer African bee scare' from the 1970s or, more recently, the Y2K scare when everyone's computer was going to self-destruct."

WVII's contract with Time Warner Cable to offer ABC programming in high definition was established at the start of September 2007 and will expire in 2011. In August 2008, WVII and WFVX became part of the New England Patriots Television Network and the two split the airing of pre-season games. The latter airs Patriots All Access from Boston's WBZ-TV on Sunday mornings at 11. On February 17, 2009 after its 11 o'clock newscast, it turned-off its analog signal and began broadcasting exclusively in digital. Initially, this remained on the pre-transitional UHF signal but was eventually moved back to the analog channel.

News operation
Current news open.WVII has always had local newscasts but never with the same level of success as the two older stations in the market, WABI and WLBZ. Due to that fact and it being the youngest of network affiliates in Bangor, it has long been ranked at a distant third in the ratings. Compared with the other channels, WVII's news department is quite small for a big three affiliate. Currently, the station airs broadcasts weeknights at 6, 10, and 11. All three shows are simulcasted on conservative talk radio station WNZS-AM 1340. Except for the sports reports, the late shows are taped earlier in the evening which has been a practice since mid-October 2006. WFVX's prime time news competes with a live broadcast on CW affiliate WABI-DT2. There are also local weather cut-ins on WVII during the weekday editions of Good Morning America.

When covering regional news that happens in Maine, this channel and CBS affiliate WGME-TV in Portland often share content. During the Summer months, the channel airs its Friday night broadcast at 6 from a pre-selected town in a production known as "Your Bangor News on the Road".Although a weather department existed at one point, WVII currently outsources all weather forecasts to AccuWeather in State College, Pennsylvania. The segments are pre-taped and fed via satellite. As a result, WVII may not cover all severe weather events or be too late in doing so. Meteorologists will sometimes refer to the forecast segments as originating from the "ABC 7 (and Fox Bangor) Weather Center" even though the outsourcing exists.

Newscast titles

 * 7 Eyewitness News (1980s-early 1990s)
 * Channel 7 News (mid 1990s)
 * News 7 (late 1990s-2002)
 * ABC 7 News (2002–2008)
 * Your Bangor News (2008–present)

Station slogans

 * "Maine's Watching WVII-TV" (1989–1990, localized version of ABC's "America's Watching ABC" ad campaign)
 * "Coverage You Can Count On" (late 1990s-2002)
 * "On the Move For You" (2002–2008)
 * "News For Bangor, Live From Bangor" (2008-present)

News team
AccuWeather Meteorologists
 * Cindy Michaels - weeknight news anchor
 * "Cindy at the Cinema" segment producer
 * reporter and producer
 * Tony Consiglio - weeknight news anchor and producer
 * Brian Sullivan - Sports Director seen weeknights and Sports Blitz host
 * Aaron Jackson - news reporter and fill-in sports anchor
 * Sports Blitz host
 * Paul Edwards - "Officer on Duty" segment producer
 * Dave Cloutier - "Pet Connection" segment producer
 * Nicole Gerber - news reporter
 * Jim Kosek - weeknights
 * Mark Mancuso - weekday morning cut-ins
 * Bernie Rayno - website

Former on-air staff
Anchors Meteorologists Sports Reporters
 * Amy (McHugh) Erickson - reporter
 * now weekend anchor and reporter at WABI-TV
 * Jan Smith - News Director seen weeknights at 6
 * Steve Lacy - now weekend morning anchor and reporter at WCVB-TV
 * Rick Douglas - reporter, producer, and editor
 * Ali Carlson - weekends and reporter
 * Chris White - producer and reporter
 * now Senior Interactive Content Producer at WRGB
 * Carolyn Callahan reporter and fill-in anchor
 * now reporter and weekend anchor at WABI-TV
 * Ted Shapiro - Chief seen weeknights
 * now same position at WAGM-TV
 * Charlie Lopresti - reporter
 * now Chief Meteorologist at WGME
 * Erin Coakley
 * Rob Nucatola
 * Sean Cryan - Director
 * Chuck Whitney - Director
 * Ted Lombardi - Director
 * Eric Frede - Director
 * now at NESN
 * Tim Baier - Director
 * now sports reporter at News 14 Carolina
 * Nate Long - Director
 * now sports producer in Boston at Fox Sports Net
 * Rich Chrampanis - now Sports Director in Myrtle Beach
 * Ryan Welch - weekends
 * now weekday sports reporter at News 14 Carolina
 * Elgin Traylor - reporter
 * Kate (Barker) Shub - now at WGME
 * Marci Natale - now at WRGB
 * Eric Gullickson - photojournalist
 * now weekend sports anchor and sports reporter at KEYC-TV
 * Adam Shub
 * Mike Avery
 * Keith Sterling