WHAG-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Hagerstown, Maryland. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 26 from a transmitter on Fairview Mountain west of Clear Spring. Owned by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group, the station has studios in the Alexander House Hotel on National Pike (U.S. 40 eastbound) in Downtown Hagerstown (although the address says East Washington Street). Syndicated programming on WHAG includes: Dr. Phil, The Insider, Storm Stories, and Inside Edition.
Despite being designated a part of the Washington, D.C. market (with its own [[O&O affiliate [[WRC-TV), WHAG operates like a small market station focusing on areas west of Frederick County. Reporters are often hired directly out of college and serve as "one man band" personnel that shoot, write, and edit their own stories. There is a high turnover rate with most personalities staying at the station for a year or two before moving on to a larger market.
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History
The station signed-on January 3, 1970. It was owned by Warren Adler and the Regional Broadcasting Company along with WHAG-AM 1410 and WQCM-FM 96.7 (now on 94.3). WHAG-TV's original analog transmitter was to be on top of the Hagerstown Motor Inn (now the Alexander House) but was rejected due to structural incompatibility. A site on Fairview Mountain would become the location of the analog signal on UHF channel 25. Regional Broadcasting Company wanted the station to affiliate with ABC (which was the number one network at the time) but had to join NBC which the number three network. In 1973, Regional Broadcasting Company sold WHAG-TV to the Magazine Brothers of Washington D.C. who in-turn sold it to local aviation pioneer Richard Henson in 1977. The channel was then sold in 1981 to Great Trails Broadcasting and then to Quorum Broadcasting in 1998. [1]
Beyond NBC programming, WHAG's line-up has been stable and consistent. It does not carry the network's Early Today. Long blocks of infomercials have been shown on weekends since the early-1990s. In September 2006 following the lead of other Nexstar-owned stations, WHAG switched its website's URL from "nbc25.com" to "your4state.com". Around this time, infomercials began appearing on weekdays during the daytime. Recently, it has been added to the Dish Network lineup of local offerings and is available to subscribers that currently receive the Washington D.C. market locals. On June 12, 2009, WHAG moved to UHF channel 26 when the analog to digital conversion was completed. As of June 28, 2009, the channel is available in high definition format on Verizon FiOS in the Washington D.C. area.
News operation
Right from the start, WHAG began offering local newscasts with The Valley News which aired weeknights at 6, 7, and 11. The original anchors were Bob Witt with news, Glenn Presgraves with sports, and Bill Wolfinger forecasting the weather. The news department expanded in 1972 to include weekend evening broadcasts at 11 that totaled six hours of local news per week. By the year 2000, news content increased to over 22 hours of broadcasts per week. In 1997, WHAG added a microwave truck allowing the transmitting of live breaking news from the viewing area. [2] On February 12, 2010, WHAG dropped the "NBC 25" branding for "WHAG" and switched its news branding from "NBC 25 News" to "WHAG News". This also happened at the same time a new set, music, and graphics package was launched. At one point, the station operated a bureau on East Patrick Street (MD 144) in Frederick.
On August 30, 2010, WHAG added a half hour to its weekday noon and 5 p.m. newscasts. Until this point unlike most NBC affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone, the station did not aired a broadcast weeknights at 5:30. It still does not offer a full two hour weekday morning show. There is now a half hour broadcast seen Monday through Saturday nights at 7. On weekends, an hour long morning show at 6 as well as a half hour Sunday morning broadcast at 9 were added. In addition, a Northern Virginia Bureau covering Leesburg, Berryville, and Winchester was opened. Although not a full news department, this is now the second local news operation established in those areas after TV3 Winchester launched back on March 5, 2007. All of the preceding changes required the expansion of WHAG's personnel. [3] [4]
News/station presentation
Newscast titles
- TV-25 News (1970s)
- News 25 Alive (late 1980s-1996)
- NBC 25 News (1996-2010)
- WHAG News (2010-present)
Station slogans
- Your Leading Source for Local News (1996-2007)
- On Air. Online. Only One Station Hits Home. (2007-present)
[1] This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions. News team [2][3]A WHAG Ford E-Series television truck in Annapolis, Maryland.
[4][5]Logo used from the late-1990s until February 12, 2010.Anchors
- Mary King - weekday mornings
- Nikki Burdine - weekdays at noon as well as weeknights at 5 and 5:30
- Pieter Bickford - Assistant News Director seen weeknights at 6 and 7
- Angelique Gonzalez - weeknights at 6, 7, and 11
- environmental reporter
- Jeannie Flitner - weekends
- Mark Kraham - News Director seen weekday mornings at 9:56
Meteorologists
- Lou Scally - weeknights and heard on WJEJ-AM 1240
- Chris Smith - weekday mornings and noon
- Mike Grogan - weekends
Sports
- Karen Loftus - weeknights at 6, 7, and 11
- WHAG Sports Connection host
- Harold Kuntz - weekend evenings and sports reporter
- "Athlete of the Month" segment producer
Reporters
- Alex Hoff - Northern Virginia Bureau
- Ashley Monfort - website producer
- Erin Wolfe - website producer
- Kristen Freethy
- Jacqueline Waite
- Jamie Burke
- Charya Lon
- Adam Winer
- Dawn White
- Ava-Joye Burnett
- Ananda Rochita
Former on-air staff
- Molly Henneberg - anchor & reporter (1995 to 1997, now at Fox News Channel)
- Desiree Berenguer - morning anchor/reporter (1995 to 1998, most recently at News 12 New Jersey)
- Greg Miller - Sports Director (now at WPSD-TV in Paducah, Ky.)
- Kim McKintyre - anchor/reporter (1995 to 1997, most recently at Fox News Channel)
- Jim Osman - reporter (now at KYW Philadelphia)
- Ken Quattrin - weather (1996-2000, most recently at KTTC Rochester, MN)
- Mike Hill - sports anchor (1995 to 1996, now at ESPN)
- Julia Harding - reporter (1995 to 1997, now at WAGA Atlanta)
- Garnet Stevens - Sports Director (now at Kaplan College-Hagerstown)
- Shawn Stepner - Sports Director (now at WKBW in Buffalo)
- Josh Reed - Sports Director (now at WHTM in Harrisburg)
- Jory Rand - sports anchor (now at KDKA in Pittsburgh)
- Morgan Fogarty - anchor & reporter (now at WCCB in Charlotte)
- Melissa Mollet - anchor & reporter (now at KDVR in Denver)
- Lance Barry - anchor/reporter (2001 to 2003, now Anchor at WCPO-TV in Cincinnati, OH)
- Melanie Woodrow - anchor/reporter (2004 to 2006, now at WAVY in Portsmouth, VA)
- Cara Sapida - anchor/reporter (now at WPXI)
- Marie Coronel- general assignment/political reporter (2005-2007) (now at WTKR in Norfolk, VA)
- Joe Little - Frederick Bureau reporter/morning show anchor (1999-2000) (now a news reporter at KGTV in San Diego, CA)
- Kaitlin McCarthy - Reporter (2006 to 2008, now at KRQE)
- Lynne Ashminov - reporter
- Steve Rowings - sports reporter
- Jamie Costello - reporter (now at WMAR Baltimore)
- David Bennett Wasser - reporter/Frederick Bureau Chief (now Executive Producer at RLTV)
- Megan Healey - reporter (now at WHTM in Harrisburg)