WHEC-TV

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WHEC-TV
Image:WhecLogoAug04.png
Rochester, New York
Branding 10NBC (general)
News 10NBC (newscasts)
Slogan Coverage You Can Count On.
Channels Analog: 10 (VHF)

Digital: 58 (UHF)
Subchannels 10.1 NBC
10.2 NBC Weather Plus
Affiliations NBC
Owner Hubbard Broadcasting Corporation
(WHEC-TV, LLC)
First air date November 1, 1953
Call letters’ meaning Hickson
Electric
Company
Former affiliations CBS (1953-1989)
ABC (secondary, 1953-1962)
Transmitter Power 316 kW (analog)
415 kW (digital)
Height 152 m (analog)
135 m (digital)
Facility ID 70041
Transmitter Coordinates 43°8′8.3″N, 77°35′1.1″W
Website www.News10NBC.com

WHEC-TV ("News 10NBC") is a television station in Rochester, New York. It is an NBC network affiliate, and broadcasts on channel 10. The station is owned by the Hubbard Broadcasting Corporation. Its transmitter is located on Pinnacle Hill in Brighton, New York.

Contents

[edit] History

Channel 10 signed on as a CBS affiliate on November 1, 1953, through a share-time operation with WVET-TV (owned by Veterans Broadcasting Company) and WHEC-TV (owned by Gannett, owners of the Democrat and Chronicle alongside the radio stations of the same calls). Veterans sold its half of channel 10 to WHEC and purchased WROC-FM (now WPXY) and WROC-TV (channel 8) from Transcontinent Broadcasting in 1961, making WHEC the sole occupant of the channel 10 frequency in Rochester.

WHEC was one of the founding members of the "Love Network" that airs the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon every Labor Day, an affiliation carried to this day. WHEC was the creator of the "cut-ins" that local stations insert into the national telethon, a concept that has since spread across the country.

In 1979, Gannett sold WHEC in the wake of its purchase of Combined Communications under the fear that the FCC, then against grandfathering existing print/broadcast ownership, would force it to sell either property. WHEC made history by being purchased by African-American investor Ragan Henry, marking the first time an existing station was purchased by a minority-owned firm. This ownership was to be short lived, as in 1983 Henry swapped WHEC to Viacom for KDIA(AM) in San Francisco. During this time, WHEC stayed steadily in the #2 spot in the market between WOKR and WROC (who swapped spots in the 1970s after WROC was crippled by complacency and a strike)[citation needed].

On July 1, 1989, WHEC swapped affiliations with WROC and became the NBC affiliate for the Rochester market. This move came out of WROC's poor performance and constant preemptions of network programming and as a byproduct of Viacom's renewals of affiliations in Hartford and Albany. This move proved successful as NBC's standing in the market increased whereas CBS's still has not fully recovered[citation needed].

After Viacom bought Paramount Pictures in 1994 (putting the Viacom stations under Paramount's group), the company decided to divest itself of all stations not affiliated with its fledgling UPN network. In Spring 1996, Paramount traded WHEC and WNYT in Albany to Hubbard Broadcasting Corporation for UPN affiliate WTOG in Tampa.

Also, WHEC's digital signal (Channel 58) signed onto the air on September 27, 2002 under a Special Temporary Authority. On January 30, 2006, the station launched News 10 NBC WeatherPlus, a 24-hour weather station on its digital sub-channel; the service is also available on Time Warner digital cable. When all broadcast TV stations relinquish their analog signals in 2009, WHEC will move its digital signal from Channel 58 back down to Channel 10.

For many years WHEC-TV was one of 3 Rochester area stations offered on Cable in the Ottawa/Gatineau and Eastern Ontario regions. The Rochester area stations were replaced with Detroit stations when the microwave relay system that provided these signals was discontinued. However, WHEC and other Rochester stations are still available on cable in several communities along the north shore of Lake Ontario, such as Belleville and Cobourg.

WHEC-TV has a fairly long standing partnership with WYSL, a local radio station. WYSL simulcasts WHEC's newscasts on radio for drive time listeners in exchange for advertisement.

WHEC became the first broadcast television station in upstate New York to launch a 7:00 PM newscast in 2008.

[edit] News Cast

Anchors

  • Pat McGonigle
  • Rebecca Leclair
  • Lynette Adams
  • Rich Funke
  • Janet Lomax
  • Jennifer Johnson
  • Nikki Rudd

Reporters

  • Berkeley Brean
  • Lila Carney
  • Brett Davidsen
  • Deanna King
  • Ray Levato

Weather

  • Kevin Williams
  • Rich Caniglia
  • Josh Nichols

Sports

  • Mark Gruba
  • Brett Stagnitti
  • Steve Houseman Fill In as needed

Health

  • Robin DeWind

[edit] Past personalities

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Broadcast television in the Rochester market  (Nielsen DMA #78)

WGCE 6 (Ind) - WROC 8 (CBS) - WHEC 10 (NBC) - WHAM 13 (ABC) - WXXI 21 (PBS) - WUHF 31 (Fox) - WBGT 40 (MNTV/A1) - W42CO 42 (TCT) - WPXJ 51 (ION)

Local digital television channels
CW-WHAM 13.2 (The CW)

Local cable television channels
R News - Time Warner Sports 26
See also broadcast television in Buffalo, Syracuse, Elmira and Ontario
v • d • e
NBC Network Affiliates in the state of New York
See also: ABC, CBS, CW, Fox, MyNetwork TV, PBS and Other stations in New York