WVII-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for Central and Eastern Maine licensed toBangor. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 7 from a transmitter south of East Eddington along the
 
| |
| Bangor, Maine | |
|---|---|
| Branding | ABC 7 (general)
Your Bangor News Fox Bangor (on DT2) |
| Slogan | News For Bangor
Live From Bangor |
| Channels | Digital: 7 (VHF) |
| Subchannels | 7.1 ABC
7.2Fox (primary) MyNetworkTV(secondary) |
| Affiliations | Jewelry Television(overnight) |
| Owner | Rockfleet Broadcasting
(Bangor Communications, LLC) |
| First air date | October 15, 1965 |
| Call letters' meaning | VII (Roman numeral 7) |
| Sister station(s) | WFVX-LP, WJFW-TV |
| Former callsigns | WEMT (1965-1976) |
| Former channel number(s) | 7 (VHF analog, 1965-2009)
14 (UHF digital) |
| Transmitter power | 14 kW |
| Height | 229 m |
| Facility ID | 3667 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 44°45′43.2″N68°33′56.2″W |
| Website | wvii.com |
Penobscot and Hancock County line. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 8 and in high definition on digital channel 708. Owned byRockfleet Broadcasting, WVII is sister to low-powered primary Fox and secondary MyNetworkTVaffiliate WFVX-LP and the two share studios on Target Industrial Circle in West Bangor.Syndicated programming on this station includes Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, The People's Court, and Judge Judy among others. Overnight, it airs Jewelry Television. On cable, WVII serves as the default ABC affiliate for the Presque Isle market since the area does not have an affiliate of its own.
Digital programming
WFVX does not currently offer a digital signal of its own due to the station's low-powered status. However, there is one provided in high definition on WVII's second digital subchannel.
| Channel | Name | Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.1 | WVII-HD | 720p | 16:9 | main WVII programming/ABC (HD) |
| 7.2 | WVII-DT2 | 720p | 16:9 | WFVX-LP "Fox Bangor" (HD) |
History
Identification in 1985 using standard version of Circle 7 logo.
It signed-on October 15, 1965 with the calls WEMT. The station aired an analog signal on VHF channel 7. Before this station was launched, ABC maintained secondary affiliations with CBS affiliate WABI-TV and NBC affiliate WLBZ. The current call letters, WVII-TV, were adopted in 1976. The WEMT call sign is now used on a Fox station in the Tri-Citiesof Northeastern Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia. It is the only outlet in Bangor to have never switched its network affiliation.
In February 1995, WVII suffered a transmitter failure due to a fire. This knocked it off-the-air during a Bangor Hydro Electricadvertisement. It would not return to full-power broadcasting for two months. However, the station was available on cable and to most of its off-air coverage area through a temporary transmitter.TCI Cable and WVII had facilities sharing a rear property line on Target Industrial Circle. The cable company ran a transmission line from its building to this station allowing it to continue normal operations while it purchased a replacement transmitter.
WVII-TV's for ABC's "America's Watching ABC" campaign from 1990
WVII became the second station to broadcast in stereo in April 1995 as a result of this new addition. The cause of the fire was never determined other than 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 locally-owned by James McLeod. Rockfleet then changed the call letters to WCKD-LP and network affiliation to UPN. After Portland's WPXT dropped Fox for The WB, the company negotiated with Fox to convert WCKD to that network. However, UPN threatened legal action for breach of an 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 assigned the call letters WFVX-LP. This was set up to broadcast an analog signal on channel 22 and became the Fox affiliate for Bangor. WFVX inherited WCKD's syndicated programming.
In October 2006, WVII made national news in a New York Times article quoting General Manager Michael Palmer saying "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 news reporter 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 tentatively expired in 2011. In August 2008, WVII and WFVX became part of the New England Patriots Television Network with the two spiting broadcasts of pre-season games. The latter airs Patriots All Access on Sunday mornings at 11 produced by Boston's WBZ-TV. On February 17, 2009 after its 11 o'clock newscast, WVII turned-off its analog signal and began broadcasting exclusively in digital. Initially, this remained on the pre-transitional UHF signal on channel 14 but was eventually moved back to the analog channel.
News operation
News open.
Although WVII has always maintained a news department and aired local newscasts, its efforts have never really been on the same level as the two older stations in the market, WABI and WLBZ. In comparison with those stations and most other big three affiliates in the country, its news operation is quite small. Since WVII is the youngest network affiliate in Bangor, the station has traditionally been ranked at a distant third place in Nielsen ratings. Currently, the station produces weeknight newscasts at 6, 10 (on WFVX), and 11. All three shows are simulcasted on local conservative talk radio station WNZS-AM 1340. Its website offers on demand video of the 6 o'clock broadcast and other stories/features seen on-air.
Since September 18, 2006, WFVX's prime time broadcast has been competing with a live newscast seen on WABI's CW-affiliated second digital subchannel. In mid-October 2006, WVII began taping its late night shows at 10 and 11 (both 35 minutes in length) earlier in the evening. However, the sports report is still seen live featuring game highlights and scores. Although an in-house weather department existed at one point in time, WVII now contracts with AccuWeather to produce the station's daily forecasts. The segments are recorded in advance and fed via satellite to Bangor from AccuWeather's headquarters on Science Park Road in State College, Pennsylvania.
As a result, the station may not cover all severe weather events or be too late in doing so when conditions warrant. Meteorologists will sometimes refer to the forecast segments as originating from the "ABC 7 (and Fox Bangor) Weather Center" even though the outsourcing exists. This station does not currently have a weekday morning show but there are local weather cut-ins during Good Morning America (from 7 until 9) recorded in advance by AccuWeather. When providing regional and state coverage, WVII and CBS affiliate WGME-TV in Portlandoften share content. During the Summer months, the station periodically airs its early evening news at 6 on Fridays from a town selected in advance. This production is known as "Your Bangor News on the Road" and WVII offers a traditional newscast but also explores the town where the show is being broadcasted from.
Newscast titles
- Eyewitness News (1970s–1980s)
- NewsPlus 7 (1980s-early 1990s)
- 7 Eyewitness News (early-mid 1990s)
- NewsChannel 7 (mid 1990s)
- Channel 7 News (mid 1990s–1999)
- News 7 (1999-2002)
- ABC 7 News (2002–2007 & 2012–present)
- Your Bangor News (2007–2012)
Station slogans
- "We're The One, on Channel 7" (1978-1979 localized version of ABC ad campaign)
- "You And Me and Channel 7" (1980-1981 localized version of ABC ad campaign)
- "Now Is The Time, Channel 7 is The Place" (1981-1982 localized version of ABC ad campaign)
- "That Special Feeling on Channel 7" (1983-1984 localized version of ABC ad campaign)
- "We're With You On Channel 7" (1984-1985 localized version of ABC ad campaign)
- "You'll Love It on Channel 7" (1985-1986 localized version of ABC ad campaign)
- "Together on Channel 7" (1986-1987 localized version of ABC ad campaign)
- "Maine's Watching WVII-TV" (1990–1992, localized version of ABC's "America's Watching ABC" ad campaign)
- "If It's Maine, It Must Be Channel 7" (1992-1993, localized version of ABC ad campaign)
- "Coverage You Can Count On" (late 1990s–2002)
- "On the Move For You" (2002–2006)
- "News For Bangor Live From Bangor" (2006–2011)
- "Focused on Your Community and Our Towns" (2012–present)
News team
Current on-air staff
News Team
- Kristin Hosfelt
- Weekday morning anchor (6:30-8:00 a.m.)
- General assignment reporter
- Bryan Shawver
- Weekday morning anchor (6:30-8:00 a.m.)
- General assignment reporter
- Craig Colson
- News Director
- Weeknight anchor at 6:00 p.m.
- Lindsay Mills
- Weeknight anchor at 6:00 and 10:00 p.m.
- General assignment reporter
- Brian Sullivan
- Weeknight anchor at 10:00 and 11:00 p.m.
- General assignment reporter
- Karina Bolster
- Weeknight anchor at 11:00 p.m.
- General assignment reporter
- Jaclyn Cangro
- Weekend evening anchor at 10:00 p.m.
- General assignment reporter
- Aaron Jackson
- Sports Director
- Weeknight sports anchor/reporter
- Britney Devane
- General assignment reporter
- Sports reporter/fill in sports anchor
- Erin Thomas
- General assignment reporter
- Patrick Thomas
- General assignment reporter
Weather Team
- Jim Dickey
- Weekday morning meteorologist
- Bernie Rayno
- Weeknight meteorologist
- Matt Brooks
- Weekend evening meteorologist
Former on-air staff
Anchors
- 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
Meteorologists
- Ted Shapiro - Chief seen weeknights
- now same position at WAGM-TV
- Charlie Lopresti - reporter
- now Chief Meteorologist at WGME
- Erin Coakley
- Rob Nucatola
Sports
- 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
Reporters
- 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