WLNE-TV

:For other ABC channels that are also number channel 6 see ABC 6.Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WLNE-TV
city =
station_
station_slogan = Fastest Growing News
in New England
station_branding = ABC 6 (general)
ABC 6 News (newscasts)
analog = 6 (VHF)
digital = 49 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = ABC
CNN
network =
founded = January 1, 1963
location = New Bedford, Massachusetts /
Providence, Rhode Island
callsign_meaning = We Love
New England
former_callsigns = WTEV (1963-1980)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Global Broadcasting
licensee = Global Broadcasting of Southern New England, LLC
sister_stations = Rhode Island News Channel
former_affiliations = ABC (1963-1977)
CBS (1977–1995)
effective_radiated_power = 100 kW (analog)
350 kW (digital)
HAAT = 283 m (analog)
284 m (digital)
class = A
facility_id = 22591
coordinates = coord|41|35|49|N|71|11|20.7|W|type:landmark_scale:2000 (analog)
coord|41|51|55.4|N|71|17|12.7|W|type:landmark_scale:2000 (digital)
homepage = [http://www.abc6.com/ abc6.com]

WLNE-TV, channel 6, is the ABC-affiliated television station for the state of Rhode Island and Bristol County, Massachusetts that is licensed to New Bedford. Its analog transmitter is located in Tiverton. The station's digital transmitter is located in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Owned by Global Broadcasting, WLNE has studios on Orms Street in downtown Providence. It is one of two major Rhode Island stations (the other being CW affiliate WLWC) whose facilities are located in Providence despite its primary city of license being on the Massachusetts side of the market.

The station's analog video is broadcast at a frequency of 83.26 MHz AM. The station's analog audio is broadcast at a frequency of 87.76 MHz FM (both frequencies are +10 kHz shift from center chanel 6 frequency to prevent interference with channel 6 stations in Albany, Portland and Philadelphia). WLNE's analog audio can be picked up on the lower end of the dial on most FM radios at 87.7 MHz. This is true of all other analog channel 6 stations in the United States until February 17, 2009. After that date, channel 6 audio will no longer be available on the radio. WLNE regularly mentions this additional way of coverage.

Digital television

The station's digital channel is multiplexed.

Analog-to-digital conversion

After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009 http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf] , WLNE-TV will remain on its current pre-transition channel number, 49. [http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101231118&formid=387&fac_num=25456 CDBS Print ] ] However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display WLNE-TV's virtual channel as 6.

History

The station began broadcasting on January 1, 1963 as WTEV-TV from studios on 430 County Street in New Bedford. The station is licensed to New Bedford because the FCC had allocated only two VHF frequencies to Rhode Island. Although it soon became clear that Providence was big enough to support three television stations, UHF was not considered viable at the time. The decision was then made to seek the channel 6 allocation in New Bedford, the only city close to Providence with an available VHF allocation.

Immediately upon taking to the air, WTEV became Rhode Island's ABC affiliate. ABC had a curious history in Rhode Island prior to WTEV's sign-on. WNET-TV had signed on channel 16 in 1953 as an ABC affiliate only to go dark in 1956 due to the aforementioned difficulties facing UHF stations. That station is now Fox affiliate WNAC-TV. For the seven years prior to channel 6's sign-on, ABC programming had been shared between NBC affiliate WJAR-TV and CBS affiliate WPRO-TV (now WPRI-TV).

In 1966, WTEV was purchased by Steinman Stations, who also owned WGAL in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and was also a one-time owner of KOAT in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 1977, WTEV swapped affiliations with WPRI and became a CBS affiliate after Knight Ridder Television, which had just purchased WPRI, cut an affiliation deal that switched most of the television stations it owned at the time to ABC. In 1979, the Steinmans sold both of their television stations to Pulitzer Publishing, who changed channel 6's call letters to the present-day WLNE-TV in 1980. The WTEV call sign is now used on a CBS affiliate in Jacksonville, Florida.

In 1984, Pulitzer sold WLNE to Freedom Communications. This sale was necessary because Pulitzer had acquired WFBC-TV (now WYFF) in Greenville, South Carolina and WXII-TV in the Piedmont Triad in 1983. This left the company one VHF station over the FCC's ownership limit of the time. Around this time, WLNE relocated its studios and offices from New Bedford to its current location in downtown Providence. On September 10, 1995, in a reversal of the 1977 affiliation swap, WLNE became an ABC affiliate again when CBS purchased WPRI.

Early in the afternoon of May 4, 2005, WLNE's analog transmitter went off the air due to a faulty section of transmission line on the tower. The transmitter had been running at 80-percent power due to another unrelated technical problem that occurred approximately two weeks earlier. Although cable and Dish Network satellite subscribers continued to receive broadcasts through a fiber optic connection, over-the-air and DirecTV satellite subscribers were unable to receive the channel (DirecTV gets its signal via antenna). The transmitter was operational again late Thursday evening after 32-1/2 hours off the air.

In August 2006, "The Providence Journal" reported that WLNE was for sale. The key reason for the decision was the lack of a second station for Freedom to operate in the market that would improve synergies for the Providence operation. On March 12, 2007, Freedom announced it was selling WLNE to Global Broadcasting, a Delaware corporation headed by Robinson Ewert and Kevin O'Brien. The FCC granted approval of this sale in mid-September and ownership was officially transferred on October 9, 2007. Freedom continued to operate WLNE's website until November 30, when it was remade by [http://www.broadcast-interactive.com Broadcast Interactive Media] .

Programming

The longest-running program on channel 6 is "TV Mass" from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River which began in 1963. Produced by WLNE, the show was originally broadcast at 8 AM. "TV Mass" is currently broadcast at 11 AM (as it has been since 2004). It is normally taped at the chapel of Bishop Stang High School in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. Easter Mass and Christmas Mass are normally taped at St. Mary's Cathedral in Fall River, Massachusetts.

Prior to its host's retirement, the longest running program on WLNE was "The Truman Taylor Show". The Sunday morning public affairs program debuted very early in 1963. Numerous politicians appeared on the show, including two U.S. presidents. In late 2005, Taylor taped his final show. He is now a featured op-ed columnist for "The Providence Journal".

In early 2006, "ABC6 News On the Record" replaced "Truman Taylor," with Jim Hummel hosting the program until his departure from the station in July 2008. Following his departure, "On The Record" was temporarily taken off the air, replaced by infomercials. The show returned in October 2008, with weeknight anchor John DeLuca and chief political analyst Buddy Cianci as hosts.

Syndicated programs aired on WLNE include "Dr. Phil", "Martha Stewart", "Entertainment Tonight", "Inside Edition", and "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire". On weekends and overnights, WLNE airs "Frasier" and "COPS".

WLNE has been the market home of the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon since 1993. As WTEV, it was one of the first affiliates of the "Love Network" when it was formed in 1968. Local cutaways had been broadcast from the Warwick Mall for years. In 2007, the telethon relocated to the Providence Marriott Downtown hotel, which is on the same street as WLNE's studios. Once again, the location was changed in 2008 to the [http://www.twinriver.com Twin River Casino] in Lincoln. This is where the current pledge record was established. In total, $755,705 in local donations was raised.

WLNE became the first station in Rhode Island to broadcast a local program in high definition when it aired Bristol's 2008 4th of July parade live in high definition, with facilities provided by Comcast. It was hosted by John DeLuca, Allison Alexander, Fred Campagna, and Paul Mueller of ABC 6 and Todd Newton of Comcast. WLNE has been the official television home of the parade since 2006.

Rhode Island News Channel

The "Rhode Island News Channel" (RINC) began broadcasting on November 30, 1998. Operated by WLNE and Cox Communications, it is the first and only 24-hour local news channel in the state. RINC provides non-stop news 24-hours a day, seven days a week consisting of rebroadcasts of the main newscasts that air on WLNE. A weekend morning newscast is produced exclusively for the "Rhode Island News Channel". The station can only be found on Cox cable channel 5. RINC also provides live, continuing coverage of breaking news and other newsworthy events. When severe weather strikes, the WLNE weather team provides accurate and up to the minute forecasts. The cable station, in partnership with "The Providence Journal", gives viewers an additional source for local news during the week through reports from its newsroom via a news ticker at the bottom of the screen.

On September 29, 2008, WLNE began offering an extra hour of local news on weekday mornings. An extended hour of "Good Morning Providence", airing exclusively on RINC, is currently the only 7 A.M. local newscast in the market. The 5 to 7 A.M. edition of the newscast is also simulcasted on RINC.

News operation

Under Freedom Communications ownership, WLNE was ranked a distant third in the market behind WJAR and WPRI. The majority of news reports originated taped or live from the station's newsroom. There were few live reports done out in the field. For all broadcasts, there was only one anchor. Since Global Broadcasting took over as owners of WLNE, several significant changes have been made to the news department. This included changes in overall image and a remodeled news set. "ABC 6 News in the Morning" was expanded to two hours and has been rebranded to "Good Morning Providence". Two news anchors are now assigned to each newscast on weekdays, accompanied by a significant increase in live and exclusive reports out in the field. Because of these changes, ratings have increased. "ABC 6 News" now promotes itself as "The Fastest Growing News in New England".

"You Paid for It" is a unit of "ABC 6 News" that targets corruption and illegal or irresponsible government spending. The station has the distinction as being the only Rhode Island station to be awarded the "Edward R. Murrow Award" for "Investigative Reporting" in 2006 and 2007. Tom Langford won the award in 2006 and former chief reporter Jim Hummel won it in 2007. From 2004 until October 2007, the station was the market home of "Mr. Food". His recipe segments aired during the weekday morning and Noon newscasts. However, with new management at the station, "Mr. Food" was pulled. On October 24, 2007, WLNE announced that infamous former Providence mayor and WPRO-AM personality Vincent "Buddy" Cianci would join the station as chief political analyst and contributing editor starting on November 1. Cianci was a political analyst at WLNE in the late-1980s. He also hosts a segment on "ABC 6 News" entitled "Buddy TV."

On December 17, WLNE announced it would launch "ABC 6 First At 4", the market's first-ever 4 o'clock newscast on January 14, 2008. Described as a "hard newscast" and not morning-show style fluff, "First at 4" gives WLNE a head start in coverage of weather and politics. This newscast competes head to head with "Oprah" that airs on WJAR. Originally touted as the market's only three anchor newscast, since the depature of Melissa Mahan, the hour-long broadcast now features only Allison Alexander and Paul Mueller as anchors. John DeLuca is often featured with a preview of what's on tap for the 6PM newscast, as well as co-hosting "Buddy TV." WADK-AM in Newport began offering a simulcast of "First At 4" in July.

Segments that currently air during the morning and Noon newscasts include "Ask the Pharmacist" where Dr. Kristina Ward, from the University of Rhode Island's [http://www.uri.edu/pharmacy/ College of Pharmacy] , answers viewers' medical questions. This segment only airs on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Monday mornings, the "Money Minute with Janet Marcantonio" gives advice on the best ways to save money. "Pick of the Litter" is featured on Tuesdays with Dr. E. J. Finocchio and Steve Cascione. Every morning, ABC 6 airs the "Tech Bytes" and "MONEYScope" reports from ABC News during their morning news.

For weather, WLNE uses live regional radar data, high resolution satellite data and several high-end workstations provided by a combination of several sources, including "AccuWeather". This weather system is known on-air as "Digital Storm Tracker XT". WLNE puts heavy emphasis on weather, especially during severe weather. Due to WLNE's coverage area overlapping with Boston's ABC affiliate WCVB-TV, the two stations share resources for news coverage of southeastern Massachusetts. Along with ABC News, WLNE is also a CNN affiliate.

News / Station presentation

Newscast titles

*"WTEV News" (1963-1973)
*"Newscope 6" (1973-1980)
*"Action News" (1980-1981)
*"Channel 6 News" (1981-1983)
*"WLNE News" (1983-1987)
*"WLNE 6 News" (1987-1990)
*"6 News" (1990-1994)
*"ABC 6 News" (1995-Present)

Newscast music

*"WTLV 1972 News Theme", Unknown (1970-1977)
*"WTEV 1977 News Theme", Unknown (1977-1980)
*"Move Closer To Your World", Mayoham Music (1980-1981)
*"WLNE 1981 News Theme", Unknown (1981-1983)
*"WRGB 1986 News Theme", Unknown (1983-1990)
*"Shock", John Tesh (1990-1992)
*"WLNE 1992 News Theme", Unknown (1992-1994)
*"WLNE 1995 News Theme", Star Trak Music (1995-1999)
*"WLNE 1999 News Theme", Unknown (1999-2001)
*"WLNE 2001 News Theme", Unknown (2001-Present)
*"High Velocity (V.1, V.2)", 615 Music (2008-Present)

News team

Anchors
*Tom Langford - weekday mornings and Noon
*Doreen Scanlon - weekday mornings and Noon
*Paul Mueller - Monday through Thursday at 4
**Sunday nights and reporter
*Allison Alexander - weeknights at 4, 6, and 11
*John DeLuca - weeknights at 6 and 11
**Fridays at 4
*Erica Ricci - weekend mornings (on RINC)
**reporter
*(vacant) - Saturday nights
**reporter

"ABC 6 Storm Tracker Meteorologists"
*Fred Campagna (Certified Broadcast Meteorologist) - Chief seen on weeknights
*Steve Cascione (AMS Seal of Approval) - weekday mornings and Noon
*Matt Lagor (AMS Seal of Approval) - weekend mornings (on RINC)
**fill-in
*Jim Corbin (AMS Seal of Approval) - weekend evenings
**seen during special weather coverage

Sports
*Ken Bell - Director seen on weeknights at 6 and 11
**host of "ABC 6 Sports Locker"
*Don Coyne - weekend evenings
**sports reporter
*Brian O'Neill - sports reporter
**fill-in

Reporters
*Vincent "Buddy" Cianci - Chief Political Analyst and contributing editor
**host of "The Buddy Cianci Show" on WPRO-AM 630
*Loren Petisce - weekday morning traffic
*Shaina Lewis - weekday morning traffic fill-in
*Malini Basu
*Parker Gavigan
*Julie Ruditzky
*Jennifer Gannon
*John Guice
*Kimberly Bookman
*Colleen Harry
*Robert Goulston
*Samantha Knapp

References

*Paul Grimaldi and Timothy C. Barmann (May 7, 2005). "Channel 6 off air for over a day". "The Providence Journal", pp. B1–2.
*Deacon James N. Dunbar (November 11, 2005). "Fall River diocese's TV Mass is favorite of region's shut-ins". "The Anchor" (the newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River, MA), pp. 1 and 12.
*Paul Edward Parker (October 12, 2007). "Cryan retires as Channel 6 is sold". "The Providence Journal".
*(October 24, 2007). "ABC6 names "Buddy" Cianci Chief Political Analyst & Contributing Editor". "abc6.com".

External links

* [http://www.abc6.com/ WLNE-TV/DT "ABC 6"]
* [http://www.abc.com/ ABC]
*TVQ|WLNE
*BIA|WLNE|TV|TV