WWLP

WWLP

Springfield–Holyoke, Massachusetts United States
City	Springfield, Massachusetts
Channels	Digital:11 (VHF) Virtual:22
Branding	22 News The CW Springfield(on DT2)
Programming
Affiliations	22.1:NBC 22.2:CW+ for others, see§ Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	Nexstar Media Group (Nexstar Media Inc.)
History
First air date	March 17, 1953(1953-03-17)
Former channel number(s)	Analog:61 (UHF, 1953–1955), 22 (UHF, 1955–2009) Formersatellites: 32WRLPGreenfield(1957–1978) 14WWOR-TV/WJZB-TVWorcester(1958–1969)
Call signmeaning	William L. Putnam(the station's founder and longtime owner)
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	6868
ERP	15.8kW
HAAT	247 m (810 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	42°5′5″N72°42′12″W
Translator(s)	28WFXQ-CD(UHF)
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	www.wwlp

WWLP(channel 22) is atelevision stationinSpringfield, Massachusetts,United States, affiliated withNBCandThe CW Plus.Owned byNexstar Media Group,the station has studios at Broadcast Center in the Sandy Hill section ofChicopeeat the northwest corner of theI-391/MA 116/Chicopee Streetinterchange, and its transmitter is located onProvin Mountainin theFeeding Hillssection ofAgawam.

WWLP operates a full-timelow-powerdigitalrepeater,WFXQ-CD(channel 28), whose transmitter is located at the top of the oldMount Tom Ski AreainHolyoke.WFXQ-CD primarily serves as a way for the few viewers in the core of the Springfield market without cable or satellite to have UHF access to WWLP's signal, as VHF antennas have some issues with reception in the digital age. As with all other Springfield stations carried on UHF channels, it allows those viewers to use one type of antenna rather than two.

Due to the close proximity of the Springfield–Holyoke andHartford–New Haven, Connecticutmarkets,many stations in Connecticut can be viewed in the SouthernPioneer Valley.Since WWLP's transmitter on Provin Mountain is not far from the state line, its signal can be picked up in northern areas of the state.WVIT(channel 30), which serves as the NBC station for all of Connecticut exceptFairfield County(which is served by networkflagshipWNBCinNew York City), is currently the only Hartford–New Havenbig threestation offered onComcast Xfinity's basic tier.Charter Spectrumcustomers in the Pioneer Valley have access to WVIT, but only with adigitalset top box.

WWLP's facility additionally serves as Nexstar'sNortheastmaster controlhub.

History

A promotional photo of WWLP's Springfield studios in 1960, featuring local businessman Carlton Nash and severaldinosaur track specimensfound on his property inSouth Hadley

WWLP began broadcasting on March 17, 1953, one month before rival WHYN-TV (nowWGGB-TV). The station aired an analog signal onUHFchannel 61 and was an NBC affiliate from the start. At its sign-on, WWLP had the distinction of being one of the first UHF television stations in the United States after theFederal Communications Commission(FCC) opened the UHF band as well as Massachusetts' oldest station outside ofBoston.It was founded byWilliam L. Putnamand his company,Springfield Television.WWLP's original studios were at the transmitter site on Provin Mountain in Feeding Hills.

It switched frequencies to UHF channel 22 on July 2, 1955. The previous analog allotment would remain unused until the secondWTIC-TVsigned on from Hartford in 1984. From its beginnings, the Springfield–Holyoke market was designated as a "UHF island" where no analog VHF stations could be allocated. Springfield was sandwiched between Boston to the east, Hartford–New Haven to the south, and theCapital DistrictofNew York Stateto the west, and all available VHF channels were tied up between them. As a result of technical limitations UHF stations faced in the 1950s, as well as the market's rugged terrain, WWLP's signal was not viewable in much of the northern portion of the market (which at the time includedBrattleboro, Vermont,andKeene, New Hampshire). The station would sign on two full-time satellites to solve that problem and extend its broadcasting radius (see below). WWLP was also at a disadvantage in its early years, as UHF stations could not be viewed without the use of an expensive external converter that received UHF signals (it wasn't until the passing of theAll-Channel Receiver Actin 1962 that all TVs were required to have them built in). From 1975 until 1979, the station aired nationally syndicatedNational Hockey Leaguegames fromThe NHL Network(not to be confused with the present-day cable channel of thesame name).

After three decades, Putnam retired from broadcasting in 1984 and sold his company and its three stations (WWLP,KSTU-TV,andWKEF) to Adams Communications. Adams ran into financial trouble and began breaking up the Springfield Television group in 1987 with the sale of KSTU to MWT Ltd. Adams sold WKEF to KT Communications in 1989 before selling WWLP to Brisette Broadcasting in 1991. However, Brisette himself ran into trouble and merged his group withBenedek Broadcastingat the end of 1995.LIN TV Corporationacquired WWLP in 2000by swappingKAKE-TVinWichita, Kansas,andWOWT-TVinOmaha, Nebraska,to Benedek. This was a result ofChronicle Broadcasting,which owned the latter two, being liquidated. The sale could be seen as the ultimate undoing for Benedek which in 2002 declaredbankruptcyand sold most of their stations (including WOWT and KAKE) toGray Television(who now owns rival stationWGGB-TV).

In early 2000, the station's studios and offices moved to their current home in the Sandy Hill area of Chicopee. However, its transmitter remained in Feeding Hills. Shortly after the change, then-pending owner LIN TV constructed an addition at WWLP's new facilities which would serve as a master control hub for company-owned stations in theNortheast.At this location, room for future expansion was made in the event LIN TV expanded their Northeast properties. That eventually became the case with sister stationsWTNH,WCTX,WPRI-TV(LIN TV flagship), andWNAC-TVhaving master control and some internal operations currently located at the Chicopee studios.

WWLP was well known for producingAs Schools Match Wits,one of American television's earliest and longest-running high school quiz programs. The program first aired in October 1961. In September 2006, the show was canceled by the station because of the costs associated with new FCC regulations requiring all over-the-air television programming in the United States to beclosed-captionedfor the deaf and hard of hearing.The show returned to the air in January 2007, airing now on the area'sPBSmember stationWGBY-TV(channel 57) and co-produced withWestfield State College.

WWLP's studios in Chicopee, located southwest of the junction of theMass PikeandI-391.

On May 18, 2007, LIN TV announced that it was exploring strategic alternatives including the sale of the company. On March 21, 2014,Media Generalannounced that it would purchaseLIN Mediaand its stations, including WWLP andWFXQ-CD,in a $1.6 billion merger.The merger was completed on December 19.

On September 8, 2015, Media General announced that it would acquire theMeredith Corporationfor $2.4 billion, with the combined group to be renamed Meredith Media General once the sale was finalized. Because Meredith already owned WGGB-TV, and the Springfield–Holyoke market does not have enough full-power television stations to legally allow aduopolyin any event (WGGB-TV and WWLP are the only full-power licenses assigned to the market), the companies would have been required to sell either WGGB-TV or WWLP to comply with FCC ownership rules as well as recent changes to those rules regarding same-market television stations that restrictsharing agreementshad the sale gone through. Meredith-owned CBS affiliateWSHM-LD(channel 3) was the only one of the three stations affected by the merger that could legally be acquired by Meredith Media General, as FCC rules permit common ownership of full-power and low-power stations regardless of the number of stations within a single market.On January 27, 2016, however,Nexstar Broadcasting Groupannounced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Media General, who subsequently abandoned its plans to purchase Meredith.

Former satellites

In 1957,WRLPinGreenfieldsigned on as a full-timesatelliteof WWLP. WRLP served the northern portion of the Pioneer Valley market, where WWLP's signal was marginal at best due to the area's rugged and mountainous terrain. From a transmitter on Gunn Mountain inWinchester, New Hampshire(one of the highest points in the region), WRLP could also be seen in Springfield as well, creating a strong combined signal with over 50 percent overlap.

In 1958, Putnam purchased a defunct station inWorcester,WWOR-TV (no relation to the currentSecaucus, New Jersey/Tri-Statestation with thesame callsign), and returned it to the air as a second full-time satellite of WWLP. However, Worcester is part of the Boston market, and WWLP was forced to limit WWOR's broadcast day to only six hours in order to protect the interests ofWBZ-TV,then Boston's NBC affiliate. In 1964, WWOR changed its calls toWJZB-TVand became anindependent stationwhile continuing to simulcast some programming from WWLP.

WRLP and WJZB eventually went off the air due to financial difficulties, with WJZB going dark in 1969 followed by WRLP in 1978. Almost immediately after WRLP left the air, its transmitter was shipped toSalt Lake City, Utah,in order to launchKSTU,an independent sister station on UHF channel 20. That station eventually became aFoxaffiliate on analog VHF channel 13 operating under a different owner.

Subchannels

WWLP-DT2 (The CW)

WWLP-DT2,brandedThe CW Springfield,is theCW+-affiliated seconddigital subchannelof WWLP, broadcasting in720phigh definition on channel 22.2. On cable, the subchannel is available on Xfinity channel 5 and Spectrum channel 13 to viewers inHampden,Hampshire,andFranklincounties.

As cable-only WBQT

WWLP-DT2's former logo as a cable-only CW affiliate.

What is now WWLP-DT2 began its life in September 1998 asWBQT,acable-only affiliate ofThe WBthrough the nationalWB 100+service. Since it was only available on cable, thecall signwas fictional in nature solely for the purposes ofelectronic program guideand rating diary identification, and thus not officially recognized by the FCC. As a WB 100+ station, it was one of the few in the group that was not aligned with an established over-the-air station in the market. WBQT did not initially replace out-of-market WB affiliates (such asWPIXfrom New York City,WBNEfrom Hartford, which was later replaced withWTXX,andWLVIfrom Boston) on local cable systems.

In 1999, WBQT was taken off ofAT&T Broadbandsystems serving the majority of the Springfield–Holyoke market. When Comcast took over AT&T's cable system in 2001, the company began a push to expand WBQT's reach. In late 2001, it replaced out-of-market WB affiliates on most systems with near total replacement taking place by 2003 (mainly taking the cable channel positions formerly held by WTXX, following a pattern whereWSHM-LPreplaced Hartford CBS affiliateWFSBon channel 3 and new Fox affiliateWGGB-DT2replacedWTIC-TVon channel 6 in the Springfield market upon their launches). Throughout the station's affiliation with The WB, it was known on-air asPioneer Valley's WB 16(named after its channel location) and had its own logo.

On January 24, 2006, The WB andUPNannounced the two networks would shut down and merge into a new network, The CW. The next few months saw uncertainty about The CW's place in Springfield due to a lack of broadcast stations in the market and The CW's preference for over-the-air affiliates, along with cable providers then not being receptive to picking up digital subchannels. UPN service was provided byNew Haven's WCTX via cable in the Springfield market, but WTXX, beingTribune-owned, was named a charter affiliate in The CW's launch announcement, shutting out WCTX from the CW affiliation entirely. As WBQT had no web presence or communications department as aWB 100+affiliate, there was no word about it becoming the Springfield affiliate for The CW, nor of a return of WTXX to market cable systems.

There was an early-2006 sign-on of low-powered W28CT broadcasting from the summit of the old Mount Tom Ski Area in Holyoke. After a short period of time, the station's call letters were changed to WXCW-CA in anticipation of it becoming an affiliate of that network. In August 2006, the call letters changed again to WFXQ-CA after word was confirmed that WBQT would continue operations as Springfield's CW affiliate. The station (now WFXQ-CD) eventually became a full-time repeater of WWLP.

As it joined The CW, WBQT also became part ofThe CW Plus,a similar operation to The WB 100+. The station began airing promotions of the new network, with WBQT's branding becomingPioneer Valley CW.The network launched on September 18 with proper on-air changes on WBQT, along with a website on The CW Plus's web presence with schedule information. It branded solely by its listed branding, discounting its varied market channel positions (Comcast 16 and Charter 13). During its cable-exclusive period with The WB and The CW, the station did not have an actual owner and had a signal provided to cable companies through a closed circuit satellite feed.

As WWLP-DT2

WWLP-DT2 originally signed on in 2007, airing a live feed of itsweather radar,with no background audio. As a byproduct of an affiliation agreement between LIN TV and TheCoolTV to carry themusic videonetwork on LIN's stations, WWLP affiliated with the network on its second digital subchannel in 2010. The network was dropped on July 15, 2013, with the subchannel remainingdarkfor the next 20 months.

On December 23, 2014, as part of a long-term affiliation renewal with the network, Media General announced that WWLP and WFXQ-CD would affiliate their respective second digital subchannels with The CW, allowing the former cable-exclusive "WBQT" channel serving the market to have an over-the-air presence.OnJanuary 1,2015, WWLP took over promotional and advertising responsibilities of WBQT from the area's cable companies. As a result, the service was added to the second subchannel of WWLP in order to offer over-the-air viewers access to The CW for the first time. The main station launched a prime time newscast at 10 p.m. on the CW subchannel on April 13, 2015. It also started replaying WWLP's weekday morning lifestyle show,Mass Appeal,at 1 p.m., and as ofApril 1,WBQTPioneer Valley CWwas re-branded asThe CW Springfieldas well.The previousWXCWcall letters were unavailable, having been taken by aFort Myers, FloridaCW affiliate in 2007.

Xfinity began carrying the subchannel's high definition feed on digital channel 820 on April 1, 2015, with Charter adding the feed on digital channel 788 in mid-April 2015 (for viewers in Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties), making CW programming available in HD in the Pioneer Valley for the first time.

WWLP-DT3 (Ion Television)

WWLP-DT3is theIon Television-affiliated third digital subchannel of WWLP, broadcasting instandard definitionon channel 22.3.

On November 5, 2015, WWLP soft-launched a standard definition feed of Ion Television's main signal over subchannel 22.3 as part of Media General's carriage agreement of the network in markets without a dedicated Ion affiliate.New London, Connecticut-basedWHPX-TVhas served as the market's nominal affiliate for years with some cable coverage; until its move to a tower inFarmingtonin 2019, it transmitted fromMontvillecloser to New London in southeastern Connecticut, assuring poor overall Pioneer Valley reception, thus the national feed has mainly been offered by local providers who carry the network.

Berkshire County feed

In April 2017,Charter Communicationswas forced to drop WWLP inBerkshire County,due to new terms in NBC'sretransmission consentagreements which require that only the station assigned to that community can be carried on a cable system. As Berkshire County is a part of theAlbany–Schenectady–Troy, New York media market,Charter was thus required toblack outWWLP's non-local programming in preference to Albany'sWNYT(channel 13); the provider thus chose to drop fully WWLP instead in order to reduce the hassle of maintaining a 'clean feed' of WWLP on its own. Other Springfield stations, along with Boston'sWCVB-TV,were also dropped due to the same concerns.

Because of this, viewers in Berkshire County had little to no access to Massachusetts-specific news on their cable systems outside of the regional cable news channel,NECN,and complained to their government representatives, including the state's congressional delegation, to restore some kind of access to stations in their own state. The offices of SenatorsElizabeth WarrenandEd Markey,along with CongressmanRichard E. Neal,pressured Charter and WWLP's owner, Nexstar, to restore the station's newscasts in some manner. This came at the end of February 2020, when Nexstar and Charter announced they would authorize a return of WWLP to Berkshire County systems, which was launched on March 31, 2020, on SD channels 14/16 (dependent on location), and 1204 in HD.Charter had also launched a local branch of their regional cable news channel,Spectrum News,early in 2020, in order to address the issues brought up by Berkshire residents.

Nexstar provides the secondary feed to Spectrum for those systems, and it features only WWLP's newscasts and other local programming without any of the station's syndicated and NBC programming, nor WWLP's subchannels; during network and syndicated programming times, repeats of that programming, including WWLP newscasts, are seen instead.

Programming

Local programming

WWLP serves as thewestern Massachusettsaffiliate for theNew England Patriots'preseasontelevision network, carrying the team's games not nationally broadcast.

News operation

Ever since its sign-on, WWLP has consistently had the most watched newscasts in the Pioneer Valley. This has been achieved (most of the time) by beating rivalABCaffiliateWGGB-TV(channel 40) in the localNielsen ratingssince both stations went on-the-air. There have been some brief periods when WGGB-TV was on top and there have also been extended times where the stations were basically neck-and-neck with WWLP having a slight edge. However, WWLP consistently outpaced WGGB-TV after theSinclair Broadcast Groupacquired that station in 1998 and drastically cut its news operation.

While operating as full-time satellites of WWLP, WRLP and WWOR/WJZB simulcasted local news from this station. However, when WRLP converted to a separate Independent channel in 1974, its own newscasts were established tailored toward the Northern Pioneer Valley as well as Brattleboro and Keene.

After WGGB-TV recently became locally owned (bought by John J. Gormally who publishes theBusiness Westmagazine), there was a chance the ratings could change. However, as of the July 2008 sweeps period, WWLP continues its longtime dominance with WGGB-TV stabilizing to a strong second. Although low-powered CBS affiliate WSHM-LP established its own news department in October 2005, it initially did not compete on the same level as WWLP and WGGB-TV. However, its ratings grew substantially across the board during the May 2009 sweeps period to within decimal points of WGGB-TV in several key demographics.

In addition to their main studios, WWLP operates a Hampshire County Bureau on Main Street/MA 9/MA 10in downtownNorthamptonas part of Thornes Market (location established in November 2010), and a Franklin County Bureau in Greenfield. NBC O&OWBTS-CD,along with NECN in Boston, share their resources with WWLP for news coverage ofEastern Massachusetts.In turn, WWLP does the same for events from western areas of the state. Although it operates its own weather radar at the transmitter site on Provin Mountain, it is not seen on-air or online. During weather segments, the station does feature liveNOAANational Weather Serviceradar data from several regional sites presented on-screen in a system known as "ESP: Live Doppler" (with "ESP" meaning Exclusive Storm Prediction). The station uses the "Tower V.4" news music package from615 Music.The station's anchors dually serve as field reporters outside of their anchoring assignments.

On January 8, 2012, WWLP became the second station in the Springfield/Holyoke market to broadcast local news in high definition. Rival stationWGGB-TVwas the first to broadcast inHDin September 2011. The April 2015 move of The CW to WWLP-DT2 saw the station launch a half-hour 10 p.m. newscast, competing with WGGB's Fox subchannel in the timeslot.

Notable former on-air staff

• Todd Gross(now atKTVXin Salt Lake City)
• Rob Morrison(last atWCBS-TV,now out of industry)
• Bill Rasmussen(founder ofESPN)
• Anaridis Rodriguez(now atThe Weather Channel)
• Donna Savarese(later atKMOVinSt. Louis)

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal ismultiplexed:

Subchannels of WWLP

Channel	Res.	Aspect	Short name	Programming
22.1	1080i	16:9	WWLP-DT	NBC
22.2	720p		WWLP-CW	The CW Plus
22.3	480i		WWLP-IO	Ion Television
22.4			WWLP-ES	Ion Mystery

Analog-to-digital conversion

WWLP discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, overUHFchannel 22, on February 17, 2009, the original target date on which full-power television stations in the United States were totransition from analog to digital broadcastsunder federal mandate (but was ordered by the FCC to continue transmitting emergency bulletins, local news broadcasts, and information on digital transition on its analog channel for an additional sixty days as part of the "nightlighting"service; the target date was moved to June 12).The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transitionVHFchannel 11,usingvirtual channel22.

External links

• Official website