WDTV

WDTV
Weston/Clarksburg/ Fairmont, West Virginia
City of license	Weston
Branding	WDTV (general) 5 News
Slogan	Live, Local News
Channels	Digital: 5 (VHF)
Subchannels	5.1 CBS 5.2 AccuWeather
Owner	Withers Broadcasting Company
First air date	March 17, 1954
Call letters' meaning	DuMont TeleVision(reference to previous calls of KDKA-TV and its affiliation)
Sister station(s)	WVFX, WETT-FM
Former callsigns	WJPB-TV (1954-1965)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 35 (UHF, 1954-1955) 5 (VHF, 1960-2009)
Former affiliations	Primary: NBC (1954-1955) ABC (1960-1967) Secondary: CBS (1954-1955) ABC (1954-1955 & 1967-1980s)
Transmitter power	10 kW
Height	240 m
Facility ID	70592
Transmitter coordinates	39°4′29″N80°25′27.2″W
Website	wdtv.com

WDTV is the CBS-affiliated television station for North-Central West Virginia licensed to Weston. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 5 from a transmitter in anunincorporated area between Clarksburg and Arlington. The station can also be seen onComcast, Suddenlink, and Time Warner Cable

channel 5. There is a high definition feed offered on Suddenlink digital channel 782 and Comcast digital channel 905. Locally-owned by the Withers Broadcasting Company, WDTV is sister to Fox/CW affiliate WVFX and the two share studios on Television Drive in Bridgeport along I-79/Jennings Randolph Expressway. However, the latter also maintains facilities on West Pike Street/SR 20 in Downtown Clarksburg.Syndicated programming on this station includes The Insider, Entertainment Tonight, Judge Judy, and Judge Joe Brown among others.

Digital programming[]

On WDTV-DT2 and Comcast digital channel 192 is The Local AccuWeather Channel.

Channel	Video	Aspect	Programming
5.1	1080i	16:9	main WDTV programming/CBS (HD)
5.2	480i	4:3	WDTV-DT2 The Local AccuWeather Channel (SD)

Translators[]

The station has construction permits to air two digital fill-in translators on VHF. Both will have the same call sign as the main signal. WDTV also has a petition to add/modify a digital allotment on VHF channel 6 in Weston presumably for a third translator.

Channel	City of license	Transmitter location
2	Parkersburg	on WVPG-FM tower southeast of Lubeck
7	Clay	between Floe and Nebo

History[]

It signed-on as WJPB-TV on March 17, 1954 as the second television station in the marketlicensed to Fairmont. WJPB was a primary NBC affiliate but maintained secondary relations withABC and CBS. WTAP-TV in Parkersburg was technically the area's first outlet having launched October 8, 1953. That station cleared programming from NBC, CBS, and ABC but was intended to be a primary NBC outlet. Originally, there were plans calling for WJPB to join WTAP (located seventy miles to the west) and turn North-Central West Virginia into one giant market. However, the latter's analog signal on UHF channel 15 was not strong enough to reach across the very rugged dissected plateau to provide Fairmont, Clarksburg, and Weston with adequate reception. Likewise, WJPB's analog signal on UHF channel 35 did not reach Parkerburg. Those two issues, combined with the fact UHF converters were very expensive, led the station to shut down on February 28, 1955.

Meanwhile, the area's third station WBOY-TV signed-on from Clarksburg on November 17, 1957. That was originally intended to be the ABC affiliate for all of North-Central West Virginia. After it became clear Clarksburg/Weston/Fairmont and Parkersburg were going to be separate markets, WBOY joined NBC and remains with the network to this day. On December 30, 1959, WJPB's owner was awarded a construction permit for an analog signal on the more desirable VHF channel 5. It signed back on in June 1960 as a sole ABC affiliate licensed to Weston. In 1965, the station changed its call letters to WDTV. The calls had previously been used from 1949 until 1954 on what is now CBS O&O KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh. The call sign was reportedly chosen for use on this West Virginia outlet "in honor" of KDKA which had been a charter affiliate with DuMont and served as the default station to Clarksburg/Weston/Fairmont.

In 1967, WDTV switched primary affiliation to CBS. However, for many years it continued sharing ABC with WBOY and aired select sports programming from the network since the market was one of the few in the country without a primary ABC affiliate. The area's cable companies piped in WTAE-TV from Pittsburgh to bring the full ABC schedule to the area. At some point in the 1980s, WDTV and WBOY dropped ABC altogether. The network would not return to a Clarksburg/Weston/Fairmont based station until August 1, 2008 when WBOY launched a new second digital subchannel to offer the network. WDTV aired programming from UPN on its second digital subchannel until September 18, 2006 when the network merged with The WB to form The CW. WVFX, at the time owned separately from this station, became an affiliate with the new combined service (through The CW Plus) on a second digital subchannel.

In 2007, WFVX's owner Davis Television (relation unknown to Wisconsin company of the same name controlling WFXS-DT) merged with Withers Broadcasting. Since the Clarksburg/Weston/Fairmont market has only five full-powered stations, this amount is too few to allow a duopoly under normal Federal Communication Commission (FCC) guidelines. However, Withers obtained a "failed station" waiver allowing the purchase to go through. WDTV shut down analog transmissions on June 12, 2009 ^[1] and moved its digital broadcasts back to its previous analog channel. ^[2] Fairmont is technically the market's largest city because Morgantown (though only twenty miles north) has the largest population of any city in the geographic area and is part of the Pittsburgh market. Despite this technicality, the station is still able to sell commercials to businesses in that area. Locations around Morgantown are within reach of over-the-air signals from Pittsburgh stations. In addition to WDTV, most cable providers offer KDKA on their basic tiers. In some cases, that station's high definition feed is offered on the digital tiers instead of WDTV.

News operation[]

After acquiring WVFX, WDTV made plans to produce a prime time newscast at 10 on the former. It would be the second time a broadcast has been attempted on the station in its history. In late-2010, the plans became a reality. The show is known as Fox 10 News at 10 and it features the Fox Interactive Media graphics package and music theme. WVFX also simulcasts WDTV's early evening broadcasts on weeknights from 5 until 6:30. This station does not air its weekday morning show for a full two hours unlike most CBS affiliates. It uses a similar graphics package to those seen on Hearst Televisionstations such as WTAE in Pittsburgh.WBOY currently leads WDTV in local Nielsen ratings because it operates a news bureau in Morgantown and provides other stations in the West Virginia Media Holdings group with a large amount of sports content relative to West Virginia University. However, WDTV's news department holds its own. In Summer 2005, its newscast operation and commercial production went completely digital using electronic news gathering cameras. The station was also first in West Virginia (and quite possibly the East Coast) to exchange audio and video files through various compression formats and high speed FTP servers.

Newscast titles[]

WJPB-TV News (1960-1964)
The Night Report (1964-1965)
TV-5 News (1965-1974)
Newsroom 5 (1974-1981)
NewsCentral 5 (1981-1985)
News 5 Alive (1985-1994)
News 5 (1994-1998)
NewsChannel 5 (1998-2008)
5 News (2008-present)

Station slogans[]

You and Channel 5, We've Got the Touch (1984-1985; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
We've Got the Touch on 'DTV (1985-1986; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
Your Hometown News (1998-2008)
Live, Local News (2008-present)

News team[]

Anchors

Matt Heckel - weekday mornings and noon (also producer)
Brittany Hoke - weekday mornings and noon (also reporter)
Nate Smail- News Director seen weeknights at 5 and 6
Karilynn Galiotos- weeknights at 5:30 and 10pm (also producer)
Ben Katko- weeknights at 11
Katie Lusson- weekends and producer (weekday reporter)

5 News First Alert Stormcenter Team

Ken Meehan - Chief seen weeknights
Brandon Stover - weekday mornings and noon
Larry Hallock- weekends and "Going Green" segment producer

Sports

Joe Brocato - Director seen weeknights at 6, 10, and 11
Brad Bowden - weekends and reporter

Reporters

Melinda Myers - "Melinda's Garden Moment" segment producer
Nicole Porter - Harrison, Lewis and Doddridge Counties
Katie Lusso - Upshur, Randolph, and Barbour Counties
Ben Katko - Monongalia and Preston Counties
Lindsey Burnworth - weekends
Ashton Marra - weekends
Zach Maskell

Former on-air staff[]

Anchors

Ken Selvaggi - now at Raycom
Anne Linaberger - now at KDKA-TV
Flora Posteraro - now at WHTM-TV
Tim Irr - now at WSAZ-TV
Bill Murray - now at WSAZ-TV
Mary Ravasio - now at MSN
Mary Berecky - now at KDKA-TV
Tracy Carloss- now at WEWS-TV
Craig Friedman - now at WBNS-TV
Whitney Daniel - was at WVLT-TV
Alison Latos - now at WTOV-TV
Christi Paul - now at CNN Headline News
Jodine Costanzo - now at WPXI-TV
Tom Schaad - now at WAVY-TV
Karen Schroeder
Kate Weidaw - now at KXAN
Jennifer Vargo - was at KPTM-TV
Susan Barnett - now at KYW-TV
Eva Mastromatteo - now at WBRE-TV
Molly Line - now at Fox News Channel
Jeff Schrock - now at WBOY-TV
Amy Lutz - was at WCSC-TV
Andrea Mock - now at WLTX
Jessica Ralston - now at WSAZ
Jake Glance - now at WCHS-TV
Janice Carpio - now at WOAI-TV
Sunshine Wiles (now Selena) - now at WJET-TV
Kelli Nabors - now English Teacher in Hagerstown, MD
Nicole Ducouer - now at WXII-TV
Ron Corning - was at WNYW-TV
Jennifer Serda - now at WRBL-TV
Ashley Swann (Wharton) - now at WWBT-TV
Jeff Halliday - now Assistant Professor at Longwood University
John Cooper - weekend news, now at WBOY-TV and WOTR
Robert Glen "Bob" Bolyard - was news anchor and teen dance show host when WJPB-TV - deceased

Weather anchors

John Carlin - now at WSLS-TV
Mark Loudin - now at Ohio University
Tony Mainolfi - now at WESH-TV
Jason Cooper - now at NCDC
Brandon Butcher - now at WSHM-TV
Jason Parrish - now at WBOY-TV
James Canterbury - now at WTOL-TV
Bob Metcalfe - now at WROC-TV
Rusty McCranie - now at KOCO-TV
Whitney Kent- now at WVLT-TV

Sports anchors

Dave Stingo - now at WBOY-TV
Dan Potash - now at Fox Sports Pittsburgh
Sean Pragano - now at Speed Channel
Jason Knapp - now at CBS College Sports
Brian Sinkoff- now at WTMM-FM
Jeff Radcliffe - now at Bright House Sports Network Orlando, FL
Dave Weekley - now at The Charleston Gazette
Kurt Dusterberg - author of the non-fiction sports book Journeymen: 24 Bittersweet Tales of Short Major League Sports Careers
Jeff Halliday - now at Longwood University (Richmond, VA)
Sam Lordi - now at YNN Buffalo
Jon Linder- Sports Talk Show Host at WQAM in Miami, FL