WFTV

WFTV
	[1]
Orlando, Florida
Branding	Channel 9 (general) Channel 9 Eyewitness News (newscasts)
Slogan	Coverage You Can Count On
Channels	Digital: 39 (UHF) Virtual: 9 (PSIP)
Subchannels	9.1: ABC 9.2: Severe Weather Center 9 Now
Affiliations	ABC
Owner	Cox Enterprises (WFTV, Inc.)
First air date	February 1, 1958
Call letters' meaning	Florida TeleVision
Sister station(s)	WRDQ
Former callsigns	WLOF-TV (1958-1963)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 9 (VHF, 1958-2009)
Transmitter power	1,000 kW
Height	492 m
Facility ID	72076
Transmitter coordinates	28°34′7″N 81°3′13″W / 28.56861°N 81.05361°W / 28.56861; -81.05361
Website	wftv.com

History

The station signed on-the-air on February 1, 1958 as WLOF-TV (for We Love Orlando, Florida). It has been an ABC affiliate since its launch. For years, the station was owned by a consortium of local investors. It changed its call letters to the current WFTV in 1963. The SFN Companies purchased the station in 1984. SFN in turn sold the station to Cox Communications in 1985. As of July 2006, WFTV is now seen on the co-owned Cox cable system in Ocala (basic on channel 9 and high definition on digital channel 729) in addition to Gainesville's WCJB-TV. Ocala and Marion County are both part of the Orlando market. Prior to this, the Cox system in Ocala only offered WCJB due to contractual obligations even though that city is not in the same television market as Gainesville. To further complicate matters for viewers in the area of Northwest Marion county, WNBW-DT an NBC affiliate located in Gainesville, Florida and in operation since 2008 also identifies itself as channel 9.

After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion on June 12, 2009,^[1]^[2] WFTV continued digital broadcasts on its current pre-transition channel number 39.^[3] However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display WFTV's virtual channel as 9. Since February 25, 2009, it has had an application filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to air a digital auxiliary facility from a transmitter in northeastern Osceola County.

Digital programming

The station's signal is multiplexed. The second digital subchannel is a 24-hour local weather and traffic channel which is carried by Comcast on channel 209 and on Bright House Networks on channel 1091.

Channel	Programming
9.1	main WFTV programming / ABC HD
9.2	Severe Weather Center 9 Now

In April 2010, WFTV announced plans to add a simulcast of GenTV affiliate WAWA-LD on a third digital subchannel.^[4]^[5]^[6] However, before the subchannel could launch, WAWA's chief investor pulled out, effectively closing that station and dissolving the partnership with WFTV.^[7]

Programming

Syndicated programming on WFTV includes: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Family Feud, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Wheel of Fortune, and Jeopardy!.

Pre-emptions over the years and today

In the 1970s, WFTV preempted the ABC Sunday morning cartoon rerun lineup, which many affiliates also did not run. Until the $20,000 Pyramid moved to the noon slot, WFTV chose to not run whatever show ABC had on at Noon on weekdays in order to run a local newscast. In May 1975, the station controversially preempted the Emmy Award-winning TV movie A Moon for the Misbegotten starring Jason Robards and Colleen Dewhurst, due to the film's adult language. In 1978, Mork & Mindy was rescheduled by the station to air on Sunday afternoons, but was cleared to air in primetime after a few weeks. After Pyramid was moved to that slot, WFTV ran it earlier in the morning and a day behind. From the mid 1970s through the early-1980s, WFTV preempted the soap opera The Edge of Night which was preempted by many other ABC affiliates as well. From 1985 to the early 1990s, WFTV ran only half of the shows ABC put in in the 11 AM to Noon slot. From 1994 through 1996, the station did not air ABC's weekday morning programs at 11 (The Home Show and Mike and Maty). The station began to carry such programming overnights starting in 1996 not starting to air it in its proper timeslot until The View debuted in 1997. WFTV ran the entire Saturday morning cartoon lineup from ABC until 1990, when it began preempting two hours of it in favor of a two hour local newscast. In 1993, WFTV expanded the newscast to three hours and dropped the entire Saturday morning ABC cartoon lineup, adding a few educational children's shows and other syndicated programming. In 1996 an hour of ABC cartoons was restored on Sunday mornings and another hour was restored to Saturday mornings early in 1997. In the fall of 1997, WFTV began to carry two hours of the lineup that were under the One Saturday Morning banner. In 1999, the station increased the amount of Saturday morning cartoons from ABC to three hours and increased it to four hours in 2002.

WFTV was one of the few ABC affiliates that pre-empted Jimmy Kimmel Live. Its sister stations in Atlanta (WSB-TV) and Charlotte (WSOC-TV) as well as Allbritton Communications station KTUL in Tulsa and Sinclair Broadcast Group station WEAR-TV in Pensacola also initially did not air the program. However on November 21, 2005, the station did start airing the late night talk show and now airs almost the entire ABC schedule with little preemption. These pre-emptions are currently limited to some of ABC's weekend morning programming. Four out of five hours of the ABC Saturday morning lineup were now ran. This included three out of four hours of the ABC Kids lineup. The station began carrying the Saturday edition of Good Morning America (It still does not run the Sunday version) in the beginning of July 2007 along with its sister stations in Atlanta and Charlotte. The three hours of the ABC Kids' lineup ran on WFTV complies with federal E/I regulations while the one hour it did not run with shows such as the Power Rangers series which did not comply with E/I standards. ABC dropped Power Rangers on August 28, 2010. In 2004, all Cox-owned ABC affiliates preempted the movie Saving Private Ryan due to the graphic violence and profanity in the film after the FCC stepped up its vigilance following the Janet Jackson / Justin Timberlake Super Bowl incident that year. The FCC declared the film as not indecent after the fact.

In March 2010, WFTV stopped using its station ID bug after commercial break returns during Good Morning America and elected to show its own time and temperature graphic, instead of the standardized version that the program uses. This move is similar to CBS affiliate WKMG (channel 6, owned by Post-Newsweek Stations), which also shows its own time and temperature graphic, instead of using the standardized format that CBS uses for The Early Show. On March 20, 2010 WFTV reinstated the station ID bug during Good Morning America.

Newscasts

In 1992, WFTV dropped two of the five hours of ABC's Saturday morning cartoons in order to add a local newscast. The station ceased airing the block completely in 1993 when the broadcast expanded to three hours. Alongside its own Eyewitness News shows, WFTV has also been producing a nightly 10 o'clock news (Eyewitness News at 10 formerly known as Action News at 10) for sister station WRDQ since 2000. It added a two-hour long weekday morning newscast (Eyewitness News This Morning) at 7 on WRDQ in 2007.

For most of the time since the 1980s, WFTV has been the dominant news station in Central Florida. Although NBC affiliate WESH made some temporary advances in the 1990s, WFTV often enjoys ratings higher than the combined rating of the other network affiliates in the Central Florida market. In some airings, it has been the highest rated ABC station in the Southeastern United States. In the May 2009 sweeps period, only WESH's weekday morning news programs even came close to tying WFTV in the ratings race while the prime time programs on CBS affiliate WKMG-TV led overall. In fact, during much of the first half of 2009, WFTV's dominance was not as absolute as it had been in the past decade or so even though it continues to lead in most time slots. However, in the November 2009 sweeps period, WFTV regained its dominance over the other stations in the market. It has been one of ABC's strongest affiliates over the years even with the network itself currently languishing in third or fourth place nationally (trading positions with NBC during this period).

The main anchor duo on Eyewitness News, Bob Opsahl and Martie Salt, have been together on-air for over 15 years, from 1984–1994 and 2003–present. Opsahl has been the primary anchor at WFTV since 1984. Salt was originally an anchor from 1982–1994, departing for the Tampa, Florida ABC affiliate, WFTS-TV, from 1994-2003 where she anchored the news under her married name, Martie Tucker). She returned to WFTV in 2003.

On June 29, 2006, this station became the first Florida station to offer newscasts in 720p high definition. It was also the first Cox owned-and-operated station and the tenth in the country. With the switch to HD came a new set from FX Group and graphics from Giant Octopus. The station operates a Baron Services weather radar called "Early Warning Doppler 9 HD" at its old analog transmitter site north of Bithlo along the Orange and Seminole County line.

WFTV released a commercial saying it will be upgrading the Radar to one million watts, that would make it the second most powerful radar in central Florida, WOFL also having one million watts.

News/station presentation

[edit] Newscast titles

Mid Florida News (1950s-1960s)
Newsline 9 (1970s-1976)
(Channel 9) Eyewitness News (1976–present)

[edit] Station slogans

Powerful 9 (1960s)
Eyewitness News is Everywhere! (1977-1980)
Channel 9 is Still the One! (1977?-1980?; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
You and Me and Channel 9 (1980?-1981; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
Now is the Time, Channel 9 is the Place (1981–1982; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
Central Florida's Leading News Station (1982–1987)
Together on Channel 9 (1986–1987; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
People You Can Count On (1987–1991; general slogan)
Central Florida's News Leader (1988–1999; news slogan)
Coverage You Can Count On (1999–present)

[2] This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

News team

[edit] Current on-air staff

Current anchors

Nancy Alvarez - weekends at 6, 10 (on WRDQ) and 11 p.m.
Liz Artz - weekend mornings (5-9 a.m. on WFTV, 9-10 a.m. on WRDQ) and noon; also Monday-Wednesday reporter
Josh Benson - weeknights at 6:30 and 10 p.m. (on WRDQ); also reporter
Bianca Castro - weekday mornings (7-9 a.m. on WRDQ); also reporter
Vanessa Echols - weekday mornings (5-7 a.m. on WFTV) and noon
Bob Opsahl - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6, and 11 p.m.
Martie Salt - weeknights at 5, 6, and 11 p.m.
Greg Warmoth - weekday mornings (5-7 a.m. on WFTV, 7-9 a.m. on WRDQ)
Vanessa Welch - weeknights at 5:30, 6:30 and 10 p.m. (on WRDQ); also reporter
Barbara West - weekdays at noon; also health reporter

Severe Weather Center 9

Tom Terry (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6, 6:30, 10 (on WRDQ) and 11 p.m.
Eboni Deon - meteorologist; weekend mornings (5-9 a.m. on WFTV, 9-10 a.m. on WRDQ) and noon
Matt Makens (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and NWA Seals of Approval) - meteorologist; weekends at 6, 10 (on WRDQ) and 11 p.m.
Brian Monahan (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekends at 6, 10 (on WRDQ) and 11 p.m.; starting in December 2010, replacing Matt Makens; currently at WINK-TV in Ft. Myers
Brian Shields (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and NWA Seals of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings (5-7 a.m. on WFTV, 7-9 a.m. on WRDQ) and noon

Sports team (both are seen on Sports Night on 9 Sundays at 11:30 p.m.)

Phil Burton - sports director; Monday-Thursdays at 6, 10 p.m. (on WRDQ) and 11 p.m.
Joe Kepner - sports anchor; Friday-Saturdays at 6, 10 p.m. (on WRDQ) and 11 p.m.; also sports reporter

Reporters

Jason Allen - Volusia and Flagler Counties reporter; weeknights at 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m.
Steve Barrett - 10 and 11 p.m. reporter
Bob Baxa - weekday morning traffic reporter
Kathi Belich - 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m. reporter
Mark Boyle - 10 and 11 p.m. reporter
Jeff Deal - 10 and 11 p.m. reporter
Ryan Hughes - weekday morning and noon reporter
Daralene Jones - weekday morning and noon reporter
Q. McCray - Monday, Tuesday, and Friday 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m., and weekend evening reporter
Kenneth Moton - Wednesday-Sunday 10 and 11 p.m. reporter
Mary Nguyen - 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m. reporter
Kevin Oliver - Brevard County reporter; weeknights at 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m.
Berndt Petersen - 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m. reporter
Scott Rates - "Skywitness 9" pilot reporter
Eric Rasmussen - 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m. reporter
George Spencer - Seminole County reporter; weeknights at 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m.
Blaine Tolison - Monday-Tuesday 10 and 11 p.m., Friday 5, 5:30 and 6, and weekend noon and 6 p.m. reporter
Todd Ulrich - consumer and investigative reporter

Former on-air staff

Natalie Allen (previously with CNN)
Wyatt Andrews - reporter (now at CBS News)
Darrell Greene - anchor/reporter (now evening news anchor at WHBQ-TV in Memphis)
Glenn Richards - meteorologist (now chief meteorologist at WOFL)
Deborah Roberts - NASA/Brevard County Bureau chief reporter/weekend anchor (now at ABC News)
Raelin Storey - reporter (now spokeswoman for the City of Hollywood, Florida)

[3] This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.==References==

External links

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