ABC coming to the Ohio Valley
West Virginia: That's right, ABC will finally get an affiliate - well sort of - in the Wheeling/Steubenville market. Our friends at Ohio Media Watch are reporting that WTRF-TV (7), a CBS affiliate, is adding another digital subchannel (7.3) to carry ABC programming. West Virginia Media, who owns WTRF, will be doing the same thing with their nearby sister station WBOY-TV (12), an NBC affiliate in Clarksburg/Weston. The transition is to take place August 1. Until then, Ohio Valley residents will have to continue relying on Pittsburgh's WTAE-TV (4) and Columbus' WSYX-TV (6).Readers’ Forum
Didn’t WTRF have dual affiliations back in the ‘dim times’ ?
RJ
RJ Kanary - July 10, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Well, I guess this leaves MyNetworkTV out of the market for now. (WPMY aside) It is still possible that WTRF launches a fourth channel for MyNetworkTV, but that would leave strictly no room for HD, and all the channels would be SD. (I think in a tiny market like Wheeling/Steubenville, which also has several rural areas with no cable service, just GETTING more full-time network affiliates over-the-air without relying on Pittsburgh would be satisfying.) I don’t see WTOV picking up MyNetworkTV on a digital subchannel, they’re more likely to pick up Retro TV Network like sister stations WPXI and WJAC; all three already have NBC WeatherPlus. It’s also possible that WBGN tries separating WVTX again and affiliating them with MyNetworkTV. Either way, it looks like Wheeling/Steubenville is finally coming close to having full-time affiliates of all the major networks.
Joe Gerard (URL) - July 10, 2008 at 7:53 pm
RJ – WTRF did have dual affiliations way back when – and it was with ABC. By the 80s, this was still listed in the TVV Guide but rarely implemented. I do recall one time that WTRF carried the Indy 500, but that was about the only time I remember WTRF carrying ABC programming. With the advent of HD, it is nice to see stations multicast multiple networks. I do wonder if this will be HD or SD though?
Dave - July 11, 2008 at 09:07 am
I wonder if there will be a separate news department for the new ABC affiliate or if they will run syndicated programming where a local newscast would be before World News. Obviously, this will be an SD channel but at least WTAE can be pulled in for HD offerings.
Tom Lavery (URL) - July 11, 2008 at 09:35 am
I doubt if there will be separate news departments. WATM in Altoona from what I’m aware doesn’t have any news at all since sister station WWCP now airs only a 10PM news from WJAC. WTRF is a CBS affiliate FIRST, although with KDKA drawing in better ratings in the Wheeling/Steubenville market than WTRF and being an O&O I’m surprised that they just don’t strip the affiliation from WTRF once their next contract expires. Interestingly enough, WWJ-TV in Detroit is a CBS O&O in a MAJOR MARKET yet they don’t have a news department. (That’s mainly because they were basically created from scratch during the whole New World/Fox affiliation switch, and current Fox O&O WJBK-TV was CBS before the switch.) It’s hard to say if it is required to have a news department when an affiliate with ABC, CBS, or NBC; it’s obviously not with Fox and it’s pretty much nonexistent with the CW or MyNetworkTV unless its a Tribune-owned station. However, after CBS affiliate WOIO in Cleveland picked up CBS, they didn’t have any plans to start a news department but were told by CBS that they “preferred” to have a news department in a market the size of Cleveland. This of course eventually led to the controversial “19 Action News” that the station has now, but they’ve certainly come a long way from where they started with it. But given the market size of Wheeling/Steubenville, if the new ABC station airs news, expect it to be a simulcast of WTRF’s news, or in the case of MY-YTV in Youngstown with WYTV, repeat the news from the main WTRF after WTRF switches to the CBS Evening News and/or syndicated programming.
Joe Gerard (URL) - July 11, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Well, WTRF made an official announcement on their web site, seen here. Looks like they will be airing local news. I would assume it will be a simulcast of the main WTRF. Man, can you see them finishing the 6PM newscast and saying “Now stay tuned for the CBS Evening News & ABC World News Tonight.”, depending on the channel being watched. The logo for ABC Ohio Valley is up as well.
Joe Gerard (URL) - July 12, 2008 at 5:03 pm
WTRF was one a many stations in the Pittsburgh fringe area that had dual affiliations. WSTV (now WTOV) also carried ABC shows through the 1970s. And I remember as plain as day when WJAC in Johnstown used to carry ABC shows such as “McHale’s Navy” and “The Lawrence Welk Show” in prime time.
WICU in Erie also showed programs from all three networks before WSEE and WJET hit the air in the mid 1960s. It wasn’t uncommon for channel 12 in Erie to run CBS and ABC programs between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. on weekdays. That, of course, was when re-runs and syndicated talk shows were not as readily available as they are now.
Rick - July 13, 2008 at 2:32 pm
I just checked their website as well and it appears that all 3 stations will carry the WTRF 6pm newscast. It seems rather redundant to carry the same news on 3 channels at the same time. I’d leave the Fox affiliate with syndicated fare & keep the 10 pm news intact. For ABC, have a live newscast or a rebroadcast of the 6pm news at 7. Not much you can do with the 11pm news, you’re stuck with a simulcast there or a 1/2 hour program with a five minute filler going into “Nightline.”
Tom Lavery (URL) - July 14, 2008 at 07:54 am
Well, as I mentioned before, MY-YTV already does a tape-delay rebroadcast of the main WYTV’s 5, 5:30, and 6 PM news at 6:30, 7, and 7:30 PM respectively. WTRF could probably air ABC World News on ABC Ohio Valley at 6 (granted its ready to air), then air a taped-delay repeat of the news in a similar matter that WYTV does to MY-YTV. And you talking about simulcasting news at the same time: WKBN currently similcasts its noon news onto WYFX. Granted, WYFX does air WKBN news at times CBS programming is on (such as from 7-9 AM and at 10 PM), but why noon for both? This slot could be used for syndicated programming as well.
Joe Gerard (URL) - July 14, 2008 at 3:44 pm
None of the network evening newscasts are available at 6 PM ET. They each feed live for the first time at 6:30 PM ET, with a refeed at 7 PM ET for the few stations that still do hour-long 6 PM newscasts, then another refeed at 7:30 PM ET for Mountain Time stations and one more at 8:30 PM ET for the West Coast.
Scott Fybush - July 15, 2008 at 12:03 am
Several years ago, I came across a May 1958 TV Guide for Pittsburgh at a used bookstore in Alliance, Ohio. Out of twelve stations listed, eight were full or partial ABC affiliates.
Pittsburgh
2 KDKA CBS-ABC
11 WIIC NBC
13 WQED-Educ.
Steubenville
9 WSTV CBS-ABC
Wheeling
7 WTRF NBC-ABC
Johnstown
6 WJAC NBC-CBS=ABC
56 WARD CBS-ABC
Altoona
10 WFBG CBS-ABC
Clarksburg
12 WBOY NBC-CBS-ABC
Youngstown
21 WFMJ NBC
27 WKBN CBS
New Castle
45 WKST ABC (Forerunner to WYTV 33-Only on the air 6 months by this time-27 had been ABC before this)
Of course, this was a few months before WTAE-4 came on the air..
Tim Lones (URL) - July 15, 2008 at 2:40 pm
My Network TV is already carried on WTRF7.2 – Fox Ohio Valley from 11pm-1am.
Charles McGinnis - July 16, 2008 at 12:11 pm