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| Channels | |
| Branding | 13 ABC;13Action News; CW 13 (13.2) |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
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| History | |
First air date | July 21, 1948 (77 years ago) (1948-07-21) |
Former call signs | WSPD-TV (1948–1979) |
Former channel numbers |
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Call sign meaning | Television in theGlass City |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 74150 |
| ERP | 20.1kW |
| HAAT | 306.8 m (1,007 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°41′0″N83°24′49″W / 41.68333°N 83.41361°W /41.68333; -83.41361 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WTVG (channel 13) is atelevision station inToledo, Ohio, United States, affiliated withABC andThe CW. Owned byGray Media, the station maintains studios on Dorr Street (SR 246) in Toledo, and its transmitter is located on Stadium Road inOregon, Ohio.
The station signed on the air on July 21, 1948, as WSPD-TV, owned by the locally based Fort Industry Corporation, forerunner ofStorer Broadcasting, along with WSPD radio (1370 AM[2] and FM 101.5, nowWRVF). The studios were originally located at 136 Huron Street in downtown Toledo. It was Toledo's first television station,[3] and the first television station in the Storer Broadcasting chain.
Originally, the station carried programming from all four television networks: ABC,NBC,CBS andDuMont.[2] However, it was a primary NBC affiliate,[2] owing to its radio sisters' long affiliation withNBC radio. DuMont shut down in 1955, leaving WSPD-TV affiliated with just the big three networks.[2]
In 1958, however, CBS moved its affiliation to newly signed-onWTOL-TV (channel 11), owing to its long affiliation withWTOL radio. WSPD kept its ABC and NBC affiliations. In 1961, WSPD radio moved to new studios in downtown Toledo, where they remain, WSPD-TV's studio building was remodeled within a year. WSPD-TV became an exclusive NBC affiliate in 1969, whenOvermyer Broadcasting, then owner of then-independent WDHO-TV (channel 24, nowWNWO-TV), persuaded ABC to move its affiliation there.[2] By then, WSPD-TV had become the first station in northwest Ohio to broadcast incolor.
Storer also owned WJBK-AM-FM-TV inDetroit and WJW-AM-FM-TV inCleveland. Both WJBK-TV and WJW-TV were longstanding CBS affiliates. WSPD-TV provided city-grade coverage to most of Detroit's suburbs, while its grade B signal could be seen in Detroit and Cleveland. TheFederal Communications Commission (FCC) grandfathered this situation under its "one-to-a-market" rule in the 1970s. Storer sold off WSPD-FM, WJW-FM, and the Detroit radio stations (by then WDEE-AM-FM) in the early 1970s, WJW radio in 1977, and WSPD radio in 1979,[citation needed] but kept channel 13. As a result of an FCC rule in place then that stated that TV and radio stations in the same market could not share callsigns if they had different owners, channel 13 became WTVG on October 1 of that year.[2] By then the studio building on Huron Street had been outgrown and WTVG moved into its current studio building in southwest Toledo on Dorr Street. As with most Storer stations, the studio's facade has aGeorgian mansion design, complete with columns.
The Storer stations were taken over byKohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) in 1985. As a result, WTVG lost its grandfathered protection and was not sold toGillett Communications along with the other Storer stations in 1987. Instead, it was sold to a local employee/investor group called Toledo Television, Inc. Toledo Television, in turn was bought out by SJL Broadcast Management in 1991.[2]
In 1994,New World Communications, which purchased much of the former Storer chain, signed a long-term affiliation deal withFox that saw most of their stationsswitching to that network. One of those stations wasKSAZ-TV, the CBS affiliate inPhoenix, Arizona; CBS secured a replacement affiliate in the market via a larger deal withMeredith Corporation that also saw Meredith'sWNEM-TV, Flint's NBC affiliate, switch to CBS.[4] Rumors emerged of NBC courting SJL about either purchasing WTVG orWJRT-TV, Flint's ABC affiliate, or signing both to a long-term affiliation deal;[5] this ledCapital Cities/ABC to purchase both stations for $155 million in October 1994.[6][7] As a result, WTVG would switch from NBC back to ABC.[8]
Capital Cities/ABC completed its purchase of the stations on August 29, 1995;[8] however, WTVG's NBC affiliation contract did not run out until October. On October 28, 1995, ABC moved to WTVG, sending the NBC affiliation to WNWO-TV.[2]
In 1996, Capital Cities/ABC was acquired byDisney.[2] WTVG was the smallest station in the country that was an O&O of any major network, not countingsemi-satellites (this includesWOGX inOcala–Gainesville, Florida; which is a semi-satellite ofWOFL inOrlando).
Because of its status as an O&O, WTVG aired theVeterans Day airing of the filmSaving Private Ryan in 2004, while many affiliates preempted it out of fears of being fined by the FCC for indecency in the wake of theSuper Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy. In fact, Scripps andSinclair Broadcast Group (who combined owned four ABC affiliates in Ohio, as well asWCHS-TV inCharleston, West Virginia, which serves parts ofSouthern Ohio, and WXYZ) decided to preempt the film onall of their ABC affiliates. Among the then-seven ABC affiliates in or serving Ohio at the time (Lima andWheeling, West Virginia, would later gain their own affiliates), this left WTVG andWYTV inYoungstown as the only ABC stations in Ohio to air the film. It was later determined that the movie showing was not a violation of FCC regulations.
ABC News Now was launched in 2004 on digital subchannels of ABC owned-and-operated stations and affiliates.[9] For conversion to digital broadcasting, the station requested to stay on and was assigned Channel 13 by August 2007 and was temporarily assigned Channel 19 for temporary digital broadcast during the transition.[2]ABC Owned Television Stations, including WTVG, launched on April 27, 2009, theLive Well Network in high definition on the station's sub-channels alongside theAccuWeather Channel.[10] WTVG's broadcasts became digital-only, effective June 12, 2009.[2] Digital channel 13 transmits at a lower power than it did on digital channel 19, so in some locations, there has been a reduction in coverage. Many VHF stations are applying to the FCC for power increases to restore their coverage area after moving fromUHF back to VHF.
On November 3, 2010,Broadcasting & Cable magazine announced that SJL Broadcasting, now owned by the principal owners ofLilly Broadcasting, made an agreement with Disney to buy back WTVG and WJRT, amid speculation that Disney may sell off ABC. Both stations retained their affiliations with ABC.[11] SJL teamed up with a new private equity partner,Bain Capital, whose affiliated offshoot Sankaty Advisors provided the capital for the purchases (which amounted to $16.8 million on WTVG's end of the $30 million deal). WTVG began being owned by SJL Broadcasting again beginning April 1, 2011.[12] On April 12, 2011, the new management dismissed around 20 people from a pre-sale work force of approximately 100—all behind-the-scenes staff—from the station, despite promising earlier that they would make no staff cuts. Similar cuts occurred at WJRT, though cuts there also involved that station's veteran newscasters Bill Harris and Joel Feick.[13]
On January 13, 2011, WTVG filed an application to the FCC to increase its power from 14.6 kW to 16.7 kW.[14] The station granted a construction permit on the power increase on March 7.[15]
On July 24, 2014, SJL announced that it would sell WTVG and WJRT again, this time toGray Television, owner ofLansing, Michigan's NBC affiliateWILX-TV, for $128 million—a value higher than that of their original sale to ABC. Gray also announced its intent to addThe CW to WTVG's digital subchannels.[16] The sale was completed on September 15.[17]
On September 1, 2014, WTVG added The CW to its second digital subchannel to replace Live Well Network, acquiring the affiliation and syndicated programming from the previousToledo 5 cable channel operated byBuckeye Cablesystem, and inheriting its previous cable positions. The move made The CW's programming available over-the-air and in high definition in the Toledo market for the first time since the network's launch.[16][18][19]
On June 25, 2018, Gray announced its intent to acquireRaycom Media in order to merge their respective broadcasting assets (consisting of Raycom's 63 existing owned-and/or-operated television stations, and Gray's 93 television stations) under Gray's corporate umbrella, in a cash-and-stock merger transaction valued at $3.6 billion. As such, Gray was able to sell either WTVG or Raycom-owned WTOL, since both stations ranked among the four highest-rated stations in the Toledo market in total day viewership.[20][21][22][23][24][25] On August 20, 2018, Gray announced that they would retain WTVG and sell WTOL and its shared services agreement withWUPW to rival broadcasterTegna Inc., along withKWES-TV in Odessa, Texas, for $105 million.[26] The deal was completed on January 2, 2019.[27]
On July 14, 2021, Gray announced it would sell WJRT-TV toAllen Media Group as part of its larger acquisition of the broadcasting assets ofMeredith Corporation. As Gray elected to keep rival stationWNEM-TV in the Flint market, the sale separated WJRT-TV from WTVG after 30 years as sister stations.[28] The sale was completed on September 23.[29][30]
WTVG presently broadcasts 43 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with seven hours each weekday and four hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). The station also produces a local discussion program,Bridges, which airs Sundays from 11:30 a.m. to noon in high definition.
WTVG canceled the showCoffee with the Fords on June 19, 2011. The show was hosted by former Toledo mayor Jack Ford and his wife Cynthia.Coffee with the Fords was shown between 12:30–1 p.m. on Sunday afternoons and was on the air for over four years.[31]
WTVG also airs two special Friday night sports programs,Football Friday showcasing games across northwest Ohio, during thehigh school football season andBasketball Friday showcasing girls' and boys' games across northwest Ohio during thehigh school basketball season.
WTVG utilizes theSony PDW510XDCAM camcorder. All Toledo stations (WTVG,WTOL/WUPW, andWNWO) use theJeep Liberty as anENG vehicle, due to the fact that they were made locally byChrysler. WTVG also uses other Jeep-brand vehicles.
WTVG operated a 350,000-wattDoppler weather Radar named "Live Doppler 13000 HD". It was discontinued in 2018.
In 2011, WTVG received sixEmmy Awards from the Lower Great Lakes chapter of theNational Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. WTVG also received over 15 nominations for their news, a record for the station.[32]
In June 2011, news anchors at WTVG began usingiPads to read news stories instead of paper. WTVG is the first television station in Toledo to use the technology. WTOL began using iPads in late September 2011.
On April 4, 2012, WTVG announced that longtime chief meteorologist Stan Stachak would retire from the station at the end of May 2012. Stachak had been at WTVG for over 30 years and became the chief meteorologist for the station back in 1980. Stachak had overseen many technological advances during his 32-year tenure, including the addition of Toledo's only Doppler weather radar in 2003. Stachak retired as chief meteorologist on April 20, 2012. Stachak's final broadcast was during the 11 p.m. newscast on May 27, 2012.[33][34]
On September 13, 2021, WTVG premiered a 4 p.m. newscast.[35] On September 16, 2024, WTVG premiered a 10 p.m. newscast on WTVG-DT2.[36]
On April 13, 2010, WTVG became the last ABC-owned station (as well as the first station in the Toledo market) to have upgraded its news productions to16:9widescreenenhanced definition. On July 2, 2010, WTVG became the first news station in Toledo and the ninth ABC-owned station to broadcast its newscasts inhigh definition. The in-studio cameras are in720p HD, and field coverage is in widescreen enhanced definition. WTVG began using new HD graphics on January 17, 2012, and began broadcasting high definition commercials in May 2012. WTOL channel 11 began broadcasting their newscasts in high definition on April 21, 2011. WNWO began broadcasting newscasts in 16:9 enhanced definition widescreen on August 15, 2011. WUPW began broadcasting their newscasts in HD on May 31, 2012.
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13.1 | 720p | 16:9 | WTVG HD | ABC |
| 13.2 | CW 13 | The CW | ||
| 13.3 | 480i | MeTV | MeTV | |
| 13.4 | THE365 | 365BLK | ||
| 13.5 | ION | Ion Television | ||
| 13.6 | DABL | Dabl | ||
| 13.7 | WXN | WeatherNation | ||
| 13.8 | OUTLAW | Outlaw |
Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofOhio | ||
|---|---|---|
Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Ohio | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
| Religious | ||
| Spanish | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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