WKBN-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WKBN-TV
city =
station_
station_slogan = Where Your News Comes First
station_branding = 27 First News
analog = 27 (UHF)
digital = 41 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = CBS
Fox (WYFX) (DT2)
network =
founded =
airdate = January 11, 1953
location = Youngstown, Ohio
callsign_meaning =
former_callsigns =
former_channel_numbers =
owner = New Vision Television, Inc.
licensee = nowrap|NVT Youngstown Licensee, LLC
sister_stations =
former_affiliations = Both secondary:
ABC (1953-1957)
DuMont (1953-1955)
effective_radiated_power = 871 kW (analog)
700 kW (digital)
HAAT = 439.3 m (analog)
418 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 73153
coordinates = coord|41|3|23.8|N|80|38|42.7|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.wkbn.com/ www.wkbn.com]

WKBN-TV Channel 27 is the CBS affiliate in Youngstown, Ohio.

WKBN-TV's headquarters are located in Boardman Township. WKBN also owns and operates WYFX-LP Channel 62, the local Fox affiliate and manages Parkin Broadcasting-owned WYTV Channel 33, the local ABC affiliate via a shared services agreement. WKBN-TV's transmitter is located in Youngstown.

On November 15, 2006, Piedmont Television announced the sale of WKBN-TV and WYFX to New Vision Television, based in Atlanta. [http://www.vindy.com/content/business_tech/312783184645778.php] The sale closed in early March 2007.

On April 19, 2006, WKBN-TV began airing its digital signal on UHF channel 41. The WKBN digital broadcast features CBS programming in high definition when available, and also carries a standard definition simulcast of sister station WYFX.

Timeline

*January 11, 1953 [http://www.wkbn.com/about/8389502.html] : station signs on, airs programming from, CBS, ABC, and DuMont
*1956: DuMont signs off the air, leaving WKBN with CBS and ABC
*1957: WKST-TV in New Castle, Pennsylvania (now WYTV in Youngstown) signs on as an ABC affiliate, leaving WKBN as a sole CBS affiliate
*1997: Family owners, the Williamsons, sell the station to Gocom. Gocom later becomes Piedmont Television.
* November 15, 2006: Piedmont announces sale of station to New Vision Television.

Digital TV

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/FCC-07-138A2.pdf] WKBN-TV will remain on its current pre-transition channel number, 41 [http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101231572&formid=387&fac_num=39746 CDBS Print ] ] using PSIP to display WKBN's virtual channel as 27.

News

WKBN has 5 daily newscasts from Monday to Friday:
* First News This Morning (5:00–7:00 a.m.) A morning news show, featuring local news and weather, as well as traffic updates and stories from around the world. It is anchored by Jeff Levkulich and Jackie Preston with weather from Rich Morgan, and live reports from reporters Dennis Biviano and Valerie Smock. First News This Morning is re-played on WKBN's sister station, WYFX-LP, from 7–9:00 a.m..

* First News At Noon (12:00–12:30 p.m.) A mid-day news report which provides breaking news and updates of local and national news and sports. It also features Mr. Food, a nationally syndicated chef, who shows viewers a recipe. First News at Noon, is the only Youngstown newscast to stream Live on the Web daily. This newscast is anchored by Jeff Levkulich, with Rich Morgan on weather reports.

* First News At Five (5:00–5:30 p.m.) The five o'clock edition of First News features local news throughout the day, as well as previews of stories they will report on at the next newscast. In addition, studio guests will appear frequently. It is anchored by Whitney Ward, with weather by Don Guthrie, as well as a replay of the Mr. Food segment from the noon news.

* First News At Six (6:00–6:30 p.m.) The six o'clock news reports on the biggest stories of the day in the Youngstown area, as well as coverage of weather, sports, and community happenings. The news is anchored by Dave Sess and Whitney Ward, with weather by Don Guthrie, sports by Ryan Allison, and "neighborhood news."

* First News At Eleven (11:00–11:35 p.m.) A final recap of the day's news and sports highlights, hosted by Dave Sess, Whitney Ward, Don Guthrie, and Ryan Allison.

On the weekends, First News airs at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.. This newscast is anchored by Mandy Hackman. The weekend news also features Paul Wetzl on weather, and Chad Krispinsky at the sports desk. In addition to newscasts, there is also a talk show on Sunday mornings, hosted by Dee Crawford, who interviews various people from the area.

Ratings-wise, the channel is normally a competitive no. 2 with locally-owned rival WFMJ, frequently taking the no. 1 spot.

On December 10, 2007, WKBN and Parkin Broadcasting (the owner of WYTV) entered into a shared services agreement, in which WKBN will produce WYTV's newscasts. Because of this arrangement, there were several layoffs including WKBN's Joe Bell and Tricia Perry, both veteran reporters who have been with the station for many years.

27 First News Team

Anchors

*Jeff Levkulich: Morning Co-Anchor & Noon Anchor
*Jackie Preston: Morning Co-Anchor & Noon Reporter
*Whitney Ward: Anchor at 5PM, Co-Anchor at 6PM & 11PM
*Dave Sess: Co-Anchor at 6PM & 11PM
*Mandy Hackman: Weekend Anchor / Reporter

Reporters

*Valerie Smock: Morning Reporter / Fill-in Weather
*Gerry Ricciutti: Reporter
*Roxann Sebest: Reporter & Fill-In Anchor/Weather
*Dan Martin: Video Journalist
*Dennis Biviano: Morning Reporter
*Jason Vinkler: Reporter
*Sarah Eisler: Former Anchor; Now reports for “Faces of Adoption”

27 First News Weather Team

*Don Guthrie: Chief Meteorologist
*Rich Morgan: Morning & Noon Weather
*Paul Wetzl: Weekend / Fill-In Meteorologist
*Patty Coller: Fill-In Weathercaster

27 First News Sports Department

*Ryan Allison: Sports Director/Sports Anchor
*Joe Aulisio: "Fox Youngstown" Sports Anchor
*Chad Krispinsky: Weekend Sports Anchor / Reporter

Notable WKBN Alumni

Tom Holden (1938–2005)

For more than 30 years, Tom Holden was the face of Youngstown television news. Holden joined the WKBN-TV news team in March of 1972 as a reporter and sportscaster. He was made anchor of the evening newscast in 1974, a position he would hold until shortly before his death.

Known as "Hootie" to his friends, Holden was born in Youngstown in 1938. He graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Youngstown and received a bachelor of science in journalism from Kent State University.

Co-Anchor Gina Marinelli once said "We estimate Tom anchored more than 15,000 newscasts, raising an entire generation of Valley news watchers on his no-nonsense brand of journalism." [http://www.empyraweb.com/bjpreview/archives/20050613HoldenDies.asp] Holden's son, Tom Jr. briefly served as a reporter for WKBN in the late 90's.

Holden stepped down from his late news anchor duties on April 15, 2005. Suffering from emphysema, Tom Holden died on June 11, 2005.

Gina Marinelli

Gina Marinelli joined Tom Holden as co-anchor on 27 WKBN Evening Newscasts in 1992. She came to WKBN in 1986 as an intern in the radio newsroom. She was hired after receiving a degree in telecommunications from Youngstown State University.

Marinelli was on leave when WKBN announced in March of 2005 that Holden would step down from the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts and instead co-anchor the noon and 5 p.m. newscasts. Gina was reassigned to the noon newscast with Holden and reporting duties at 5 and 6 p.m.

Marinelli left 27 WKBN in July of 2005. Marinelli left WKBN for 33 WYTV also in Youngstown. She co-anchored 33 News at 5 & 5:30 with Angee Shaker. Meanwhile Whitney Ward was hired to replace Marinelli at WKBN.

In December of 2007, Marinelli was laid off from WYTV, due to the merge with WKBN. Her last day was December 7th.

Ode Aduma

New York City-born and raised Ode (pronounced oh-day) Aduma (born 1943) came to Youngstown in the early 1970s, after a career in fashion design. Joining the station as a field reporter in the days when reporters had to shoot their own video, Aduma's distinctive and polished voice on voice-over news stories made him more known than his face, with his distinctive outcue "For Newswatch 27, I'm Ode...Aduma."

Aduma gradually gained more face time over the years, as he eventually became host of "Sundays with Ode", a locally-produced public affairs program aired Sunday morning. Aduma continued to host the program until his retirement in 2005.

Karen Rowe

Karen Rowe was hired as the very first First News at 5:30 co-anchor, along with Bob Black, in 1992. She left the station in 1995 to take an anchor position in Indianapolis at WRTV, before going to Pittsburgh's KDKA in 1997. She left television news to become a full-time mother in 1998.

Robb Schmidt

Former WKBN-TV news anchor Robb Schmidt now works at Youngstown State as the assistant athletic director. Schmidt also is the play-by-play announcer for YSU Basketball.

Catherine Bosley

Anchorwoman Catherine Bosley became full-time night-side crime reporter and back-up anchor at WKBN-TV in 2000. In 2001, she was named morning show co-anchor at WKBN; she became the noon show anchor in 2003. However, that spring, Bosley participated in a wet t-shirt contest while on a vacation with her husband in Key West, Florida. The event was filmed, and the film of Bosley stripping and posing nude for the crowd was leaked on the Internet about 10 months later. As a result of the negative publicity, she resigned from WKBN. Bosley was then replaced by Amber Nicotra as the morning co-anchor on "27 First News This Morning". Nicotra started in January of 2004. Bosley is currently an anchor/reporter for WOIO-TV in Cleveland, Ohio.

WKBN Radio

WKBN (AM) also broadcasts in the Youngstown Area. WKBN-TV was originally owned by this radio station, along with WKBN-FM. However, the television station is now independent from either radio station.

Today, though, WKBN-TV retains a news and weather sharing partnership with Clear Channel Communications, which owns WKBN radio.

External links

* [http://www.wkbn.com/ WKBN-TV]
*TVQ|WKBN-TV
*BIA|WKBN|TV|TV

References