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WFSB

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WFSB, virtual channel 3 (UHF digital channel 36), is a CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Hartford, Connecticut, United States and serving the Hartford–New Haven television market. The station is owned by the Meredith Local Media subsidiary of Des Moines, Iowa-based Meredith Corporation. WFSB's studios are located on Denise D'Ascenzo Way in Rocky Hill, and its transmitter is located on Talcott Mountain in Avon, Connecticut.

Most of WFSB's programs are seen in Springfield, Massachusetts over a low-power semi-satellite station, WSHM-LD (channel 3.5). That station is based at the facilities of sister station WGGB-TV (channel 40) in Springfield, although some master control and other internal operations are hubbed through WFSB.

WFSB
WFSBlogo 2004
Hartford/New Haven, Connecticut
Branding Channel 3 (general)

Channel 3 Eyewitness News CBS 3 Springfield (on DT2)

Slogan Eyewitness News is Everywhere
Channels Digital: 33 (UHF)Virtual: 3 (PSIP)
Subchannels 3.1 CBS (WFSB)3.2 Court TV Mystery3.3 Laff3.4 "WFSB Fairfield County"
Network CBS (1958-Present)
Owner Meredith Corporation
First air date September 21, 1957
Call letters' meaning Frederick S. Beebe(former president of former owner Post-Newsweek Stations)
Sister station(s) WSHM-LP
Former callsigns WTIC-TV (1957-1974)
Former channel number(s) 3 (VHF analog, 1957-2009)
Former affiliations Independent (1957-1958)
Transmitter power 1,000 kW
Height 288.8 metres (948 ft)
Facility ID 53115
Transmitter coordinates 41°46′30.1″N 72°48′18.7″W / 41.775028°N 72.805194°W / 41.775028; -72.805194
Website www.wfsb.com/

History[]

WFSB signed on the air on September 23, 1957 as WTIC-TV, owned by the Hartford-based Travelers Insurance Company, along with WTIC radio (1080 AM and 96.5 FM). As Connecticut's second VHF station, WTIC-TV was one of the most powerful stations in New England, not only covering the entire state but a large chunk of western Massachusetts and eastern Long Island in New York. It provided secondary coverage to much of the southern sections of Vermont and New Hampshire. During its first year on the air, Channel 3 was an independent station, as ABC was affiliated with the state's other VHF outlet, WNHC-TV (channel 8, now WTNH) in New Haven; while CBS and NBC had owned-and-operated stations on the UHF band in the market, WHCT-TV (channel 18, now Univision affiliate WUVN) in Hartford and WNBC (channel 30, now WVIT) in New Britain, respectively. With no network affiliation, WTIC-TV devoted much of its airtime to movies, syndicated programs, and three daily newscasts (including one at 10:00 p.m.).

In 1958, CBS was looking to sell WHCT-TV. The network's ratings had been alarmingly low in the market because television manufacturers were not required to have UHF tuners at the time. Many viewers northeast of Hartford got a better signal for CBS programming from WNAC-TV (now WHDH) in Boston or WPRO-TV (now WPRI-TV) in Providence, Rhode Island, while those southwest of Hartford with an outdoor antenna were able to watch the network via New York City flagship station WCBS-TV. Network head William S. Paley decided that it was better to have CBS air its programming on a VHF station, even if it was only an affiliate. WTIC-TV was the obvious choice due to its massive coverage area. Paley quickly negotiated an affiliation deal, and channel 3 became the network's new affiliate in November 1958. WTIC radio had been with NBC Radio for over thirty years. Soon after the affiliation switch, channel 3 surged to the top of the ratings, and has remained there more or less ever since.

The switch to WTIC-TV for CBS had repercussions in Springfield. Although Springfield already had a CBS affiliate in WHYN-TV (channel 40, now sister station WGGB-TV), that station's owners, the Hampden-Hampshire Corporation, knew they would find the going difficult competing against WTIC-TV's stronger VHF signal. WHYN-TV sought to move to the VHF band as well. to no avail. In response, WHYN-TV switched its affiliation to ABC (previously, some ABC programs had been seen on WWLP). Over the years, WTIC-TV repeatedly blocked WHYN/WGGB's attempts to switch back to CBS.

In 1962, the WTIC stations moved to Broadcast House, a state-of-the-art facility in the Constitution Plaza development in Downtown Hartford. A decade later, in late 1972, Travelers Insurance decided to exit broadcasting. The announcement was made to the staff at an employee meeting held in Studio A on January 15, 1973. While the WTIC radio stations were spun off to a company formed by station management called 1080 Corporation, WTIC-TV was sold to The Washington Post Company. The sale of all three stations was closed on March 8, 1974 and the Post's broadcasting division, Post-Newsweek Stations, changed Channel 3's call letters on that date to the current WFSB in honor of broadcasting division president Frederick S. Beebe, who had died a few months earlier. At the time, the FCC did not allow television and radio stations in the same market to share the same call letters if they had different owners. To get the WFSB call letters, the Post had to convince Framingham State College in Framingham, Massachusetts to give up those call letters, which were used on the college's low-power FM radio station, whose call letters were changed to WDJM-FM as a result of the switch. The WTIC call letters returned to Connecticut television in 1984 when Arch Communications, owned by the son of the then-owner of WTIC radio, launched a new independent station on channel 61.

In the late 1980s, Post-Newsweek moved its corporate offices from Washington, D.C. to space located alongside Broadcast House making the station the company's flagship. This was part of a strategy move by the Post to give its various sub-corporations their own independent identities, which worked well at first. By the mid-1990s, however, WFSB found itself in a shrinking market without any significant growth opportunities. In June 1997, Post-Newsweek traded WFSB to the Meredith Corporation in exchange for WCPX-TV (now WKMG-TV) in Orlando, Florida. The sale closed that October although the Post-Newsweek group maintained its base in Hartford until 2000, when the company relocated to its then-largest station, WDIV-TV in Detroit.

Digital channels[]

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP short name Programming
3.1 1080i 16:9 WFSB-1 Main WFSB programming/CBS
3.2 480i WFSB-2 Court TV Mystery
3.3 WFSB-3 Laff
3.4 WFSB-4 “WFSB Fairfield County”

Even though Fairfield County is part of the New York City market where CBS flagship WCBS-TV is based, WFSB targets viewers in the area through "WFSB Fairfield County" on a fourth digital subchannel and the digital tier of Optimum systems; it is essentially a simulcast of WFSB except for some Fairfield County-specific advertising and community calendar events and a preemption of Live with Kelly and Ryan (which is produced by and seen on WABC-TV).

In 2007, the station launched a digital subchannel branded as Eyewitness News Now. With local PBS member CPTV as partner on December 1, 2008, WFSB launched Connecticut Sports Network, which covered 41 high school championships and 20 small colleges.

WFSB shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 3, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 33, using PSIP to display WFSB's virtual channel as 3 on digital television receivers. WFSB was the only Connecticut station that participated in the "analog nightlight" program, with the analog signal remaining in operation until June 26. The sign-off included a clip of the first sign-on of WFSB when they were WTIC and it repeated itself before the actual switch occurred.

News operation[]

WFSB presently broadcasts 37 hours of news per week (with six hours each weekday and 3½ hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). WFSB has been far and away the ratings leader in the Hartford-New Haven television market for as long as it has been a CBS affiliate, with WTNH in New Haven and WVIT in New Britain regularly switching between a distant second and third place. In addition to its local newscasts, the station has a Sunday morning news program called Face the State at 8:30 a.m. During the May 2011 sweeps, the program had ratings above that of the national Sunday shows, including NBC's Meet the Press and ABC's This Week.

On January 13, 2012, WFSB began simulcasting its weekday noon and 6:00 p.m. newscasts on radio stations WLIS (1420 AM) in Old Saybrook and WMRD (1150 AM) in Middletown. On February 28, 2012, WFSB entered into a partnership with The Bulletin in which the two media properties share news footage and stories, along with WFSB providing local forecasts for the Norwich, Connecticut-based newspaper.

On September 9, 2019, WFSB launched its 4:30 p.m. weekday newscast, by having Better Connecticut moved to 4 p.m.

Newscast Titles[]

  • WTIC News ( -1974)
  • Channel 3 Eyewitness News (1974-present)

Station slogans[]

  • "Discover the Land of the 3" (1976–1980)
  • "Your News is Our News" (1980–1984; news slogan)
  • "Great Moments on TV-3" (1982-1983, localized version of CBS' "Great Moments" ad campaign)
  • "The One and Only TV-3" (1983–1997)"
  • "You And Channel 3, We've Got The Touch" (1984-1985, localized version of CBS' "We've Got The Touch" ad campaign)
  • "Stay in Touch with Channel 3" (1985–1986, localized version of CBS' "We've Got the Touch" ad campaign)
  • "Share the Spirit on Channel 3" (1986-1987, localized version of CBS' "Share the Spirit" ad campaign)
  • "Channel 3 Spirit Oh Yes" (1987-1988, localized version of CBS' "CBSpirit" ad campaign")
  • "Get Ready for Channel 3" (1989-1991; localized version of CBS' "Get Ready" ad campaign")
  • ”You Get Our Best Everyday” (1990-1993)
  • ”Coverage You Can Count On” (1993-1995)
  • "Coverage You Can Trust" (1995-1997; news slogan)
  • "Connecticut's News Station" (1997–2004; news slogan)
  • "Eyewitness News is Everywhere" (2004–2019; news slogan)
  • "Connecticut's #1 Local News" (2012-present; news slogan)
  • "Everywhere in Connecticut" (2019-present; news slogan)

Voiceover talents[]

  • Thom Allen
  • Ray Otis - 1990-1994
  • Paul Turner - 1994-2004
  • Scott Chapin - 2004-2010
  • Bill Ratner - 2010-2020

News team[]

Anchors
  • Erin Conolly - weeknights at 4, 5, 6, and 11pm
  • Mark Zinni - weeknights at 4:30, 5, 5:30, and 6pm
  • Nicole Nalepa - weekday mornings (4:30-7AM)
  • Wendell Edwards - weekday mornings (4:30-7AM)
  • Caitlin Francis - weekday mornings (4:30-7AM); also an traffic reporter
  • Kara Sundlun - weekdays at noon; also co-host of Better Connecticut
  • Irene O’Connor - weekend mornings
  • Kevin Hogan - weekend evenings; also an New London Bureau Chief
  • Eric Parker - host of Face The State

Channel 3 Early Warning Pinpoint Meteorologists

  • Bruce DePrest (AMS Seal of Approval) - weeknights at 5, 6 and 11pm
  • Scot Haney - weekday mornings (4:30-7AM) and Better Connecticut host
    • "Connecticut's Everyday Heroes" segment producer
  • Mark Dixon (AMS Seal of Approval) - weekdays at noon and 5:30pm
  • Melissa Cole - fill-in and Better Connecticut "It Mom" segment producer
  • Lorin Richardson - weekend mornings
  • Connor Lewis - weekend evenings

Channel 3 Eyewitness Sports

  • Joe Zone - sports director; weeknights at 6 and 11pm
    • host of Eyewitness News Sports Sunday and Friday Night Football
  • John Holt - weekend evenings and sports reporter
    • seen on Friday Night Football

Reporters

  • Susan Raff - investigative reporter
  • Courtney Zieller - general assignment reporter
  • Marc McFarland - general assignment reporter
  • Matthew Campbell - general assignment reporter
  • Roger Susanin - general assignment reporter
  • Sharon Johnson - general assignment reporter
  • Mike Savino - general assignment reporter
  • Ayah Galah - general assignment reporter
  • Shawnte Passmore - general assignment reporter

Notable former staff[]

  • Nancy Aborn
  • Mike Adams
  • Barbara Allen - weather person/news anchor 1960s- 1986 (deceased)
  • Phil Andrews
  • Erika Arias, 11pm anchor on WTIC-TV
  • Charlie Bagley - longtime weatherman (1970-1994; deceased)
  • Sarah Barr
  • Dick Bertel
  • Nina Bradley
  • Jill Brown
  • Newton (N.J.) Burkett - now at WABC-TV in New York City
  • Ann Butler
  • Heather Cabot (now an author)
  • Lucille Caliendo
  • Jon Camp
  • Greg Coy
  • Denise D'Ascenzo - longtime anchorwoman (1986-2019; deceased)
  • Hilton Kaderli - longtime weatherman (1974-1998; retired)
  • Don Lark
  • Dave Nemeth (retired)
  • Marlene Schneider
  • Harvey Smilovitz
  • Ron Allen - NBC network reporter
  • Dominique Avery - Dir. Programing - CTN - ([2])
  • Adrianne Baughns
  • Polly Bell
  • Julie Bidwell (Banderas) - anchor, Fox News Channel
  • Mika Brzezinski - reporter/anchor (1992-1997; later at CBS News; now the host of MSNBC 'Morning Joe')
  • Gerry Brooks - anchor - NBC Connecticut News
  • Virginia Cha
  • Pei Sze Cheng ([3]) (now at WNBC in New York City)
  • Mary Civiello ([4])
  • Eric Clemons
  • Les Coleman - CBS 
  • Kerry Connolly
  • Bertha Coombs - CNBC
  • Bob Cox - WTIC Weather
  • John Daly
  • Hena Daniels, now at CBS News
  • Brad Davis
  • Patrick Driscoll
  • George Ehrlich
  • Kim Fettig ([5])
  • Jim Forbes ([6])
  • Melissa Francis - anchor/reporter (1998-2000)
  • Joe Furey - now at WTNH
  • Brian Garnett - reporter (1980-2001 deceased)
  • Chris Gordon - now at WRC-TV in Washington, D.C.
  • Dee Griffin
  • Andria Hall (deceased)
  • Jim Hanley
  • Dawn Hasbrouck ([7])
  • Andre Hepkins
  • Rich Hoffman (now at News 12 Long Island)
  • Dennis House - anchor/reporter (1992-2021; now at WTNH-TV)
  • Ellie Pai Hong
  • Tasha Jamerson
  • Dan Kain (now retired)
  • Brendan Keefe
  • Deborah Kent
  • Gayle King - anchor/reporter (1981-1999; now at CBS News)
  • Ted Leitner
  • Rachel Lutzker [8]
  • Lou Martinez
  • Ray Daudani
  • John Metaxas
  • Jon Morroney
  • Miles Muzio ([9])
  • Christine Negroni
  • David Nelson
  • Belkys Nerey (now at WSVN in Miami)
  • Bob Neumeier
  • Mary Ollie Newman
  • Don O. Noel
  • Bill O'Reilly (later at Fox News Channel)
  • Saida Pagan 
  • Bill Patrick
  • Glen Pearson
  • Janet Peckinpaugh - TV Commercials
  • Randall Pinkston
  • Barbara Pinto
  • Mike Randall (now at WKBW-TV in Buffalo)
  • Lonnie Reed - CT ST Rep. 102nd Assembly Dist., President Lonnie Reed Productions
  • Diana Rocco ([10]) (now at WABC-TV in New York City)
  • Emily Rooney
  • David Ropeik
  • Jamie Roth ([11]) (now at WNBC in New York City)
  • Annie Rourke - WTNH
  • R.D. Sahl
  • Donna Saverese
  • Jessica Schneider
  • Pat Sheehan (retired)
  • Dave Smith
  • Bob Steele
  • Al Terzi - legendary anchorman (1968-1978 and 1994-2012; later at WTIC-TV; retired)
  • Joe Tessitore (now at ESPN)
  • Howard Thompson ([12]) (later at WPIX in New York City)
  • Gerry Tony
  • David Ushery (now at WNBC in New York City)
  • Jim Vicevich - Radio Talk show host (Jim Vicevich)

News Videographers

  • Wallace Branch
  • Gregory Geiger - ([13])
  • Frank Loftus -
  • Dick Heintz
  • Alister MacDonald

References[]

  1. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
  2. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztee7Q-jKGo
  3. ^ http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101305937&formid=387&fac_num=53115 CDBS Print
  4. ^ http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-291375A1.pdf

Gallery[]

External links[]

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