WESH

Daytona Beach/Orlando, Florida
City of license	Daytona Beach, Florida
Branding	WESH 2 (general) WESH 2 News (newscasts)(pronounced as "Wesh")
Slogan	Local. Live. Late Breaking.
Channels	Digital: 11 (VHF) Virtual: 2 (PSIP)
Translators	24 (UHF) Ocala 18 (UHF) Orange City (construction permit)
Affiliations	2.1 NBC 2.2 Me-TV
Owner	Hearst Television, Inc. (Orlando Hearst Television, Inc.)
First air date	June 11, 1956
Call letters' meaning	Wright EScH (original licensee for the station)
Sister station(s)	WKCF
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 2 (VHF, 1956–2009)
Former affiliations	DT2: NBC Weather Plus (2004–2008)
Transmitter power	54.9 kW
Height	511 m
Facility ID	25738
Transmitter coordinates	28°36′35″N 81°3′35″W / 28.60972°N 81.05972°W / 28.60972; -81.05972
Licensing authority	FCC
Public license information:	Profile CDBS
Website	www.wesh.com

WESH, virtual channel 2 (VHF digital channel 11), is an NBC-affiliated television station serving Orlando, Florida, United States and is licensed to Daytona Beach. The station is owned by the Hearst Television division of the Hearst Corporation, and is part of a duopoly with CW affiliate WKCF (channel 18). The two stations share studio facilities on North Wymore Road in Eatonville (using a Winter Park address) along I-4, and WESH's transmitter is located in Christmas.

The station's signal is relayed through two UHF digital translators broadcasting on channel 18 in Orange City (transmitting from WESH's former analog tower) and channel 24 in Ocala. On cable, WESH can be seen on Bright House Networks channel 4 in Orlando and channel 2 in outlying areas, and on Comcast channel 3.

In addition, WESH formerly served as a default NBC affiliate for the Gainesville market as the station's transmitter provides a city-grade off-air signal in Gainesville proper (and also provides Grade B signal coverage in the fringes of the Tampa Bay and Jacksonville markets). However since January 1, 2009, Gainesville is served by an in-market affiliate, WNBW (channel 9); although Cox Communications continues to carry WESH on its Gainesville area system.^[1]

History[edit]

WESH-TV first signed on the air on June 11, 1956, and has been an NBC affiliate since its debut. Businessman W. Wright Esch (for whom the station is named) won the license, but sold it to Perry Publications of Palm Beach just before the station made its debut. The station's original studios were located in Holly Hill, near Daytona Beach.

The station's original transmitter tower was only 300 feet (91 m) high, which was tiny even by 1950s standards, and limited channel 2's signal coverage to Volusia County. As such, it shared the NBC affiliation in Central Florida with primary CBS affiliate WDBO-TV (channel 6, now WKMG-TV). It finally became the market's exclusive NBC affiliate on November 5, 1957, when WDBO relinquished its secondary affiliation with the network. On that day, the station activated a new 1,000-foot (300 m) transmitter tower in Orange City. The tower was located farther north than the other major Orlando stations' transmitters because of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules at the time that required a station's transmitter to be located within 15 miles (24 km) of its city of license. The station's signal was short-spaced to prevent interference with non-commercial educational station WTHS-TV (channel 2, now PBS member station WPBT) in Miami.

Perry sold WESH-TV to Cowles Communications of Des Moines, Iowa in 1965. Cowles later moved its headquarters to Daytona Beach, and built a satellite studio in Winter Park. WESH was one of two NBC affiliates that were owned by Cowles Communications; during various points in the company's history, Cowles also owned at least three CBS-affiliated stations and two ABC affiliates (one of the two ABC affiliates, WHTN-TV (now WOWK-TV) in Huntington, West Virginia, was affiliated with CBS and ABC on separate occasions during Cowles ownership; that station has since switched back to CBS). In 1980, the station built a new transmitter facility, measuring at 1,740-foot (530 m), located on the same site as the 1,000-foot (300 m) tower; at the time that tower was built, it was the tallest man-made structure in Florida. The new tower allowed for WESH to expand its signal coverage into areas such as Lakeland, Gainesville and St. Augustine; the channel 2 signal traveled a very long distance under normal conditions. The 1,000-foot (300 m) tower was dismantled in the late 1980s.

Cowles exited broadcasting in 1984 and sold two of its stations, WESH and Des Moines' KCCI, to Houston-based H&C Communications. Under H&C ownership, WESH closed its original Holly Hill studio in 1989, and relocated its operations to a new studio facility on Ridgewood Avenue (U.S. 1), near International Speedway Boulevard (US 92) in Daytona Beach. The station's primary operations also moved to a brand new studio in Winter Park in 1991, located on Wymore Road, alongside Interstate 4. H&C's owners, the Hobby family decided to exit broadcasting in 1995; the company's stations were sold off to different owners, with WESH and KCCI being sold to Pulitzer. Pulitzer sold its entire broadcasting division, including WESH and KCCI, to Hearst-Argyle Television in 1999.

On May 8, 2006, Hearst-Argyle announced its purchase of then-WB affiliate WKCF (channel 18, now a CW affiliate) from Emmis Communications, as part of Emmis' sale of its television station assets to concentrate on its radio properties. This acquisition was completed on August 31, 2006; resulting in Orlando's third commercial television station duopoly (alongside Cox-owned WFTV and WRDQ, and Fox-owned WOFL and WRBW).

On July 9, 2012, Hearst Television entered into a dispute with Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, resulting in WESH's removal from Bright House's Central Florida systems; the station was temporarily replaced with Nexstar Broadcasting Group-owned Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania NBC affiliate WBRE-TV (TWC/Bright House opted to replace the Hearst stations with out-of-market signals such as WBRE, as the companies do not have the rights to carry any nearby affiliates of networks whose Hearst-owned affiliates were pulled due to the dispute.^[2] The substitution of WBRE in place of WESH lasted until July 19, 2012, when a new carriage deal was reached between Hearst and Time Warner.^[3]

Digital television[edit]

Digital channels[edit]

WESH's digital signal is multiplexed:

In 2005, WESH launched a second digital subchannel affiliated with NBC Weather Plus; Weather Plus later shut down on December 1, 2008, with the subchannel's programming switched to the Local AccuWeather Channel. WESH's 2.2 subchannel was later used to carry NBC Daytime and syndicated programming from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the late spring and early summer of 2011, in order to accommodate Casey Anthony trial coverage on WESH's primary channel.^[5] The arrangement did not include NBC Sports' weekday coverage of the U.S. Open and Wimbledon, which were instead seen on WKCF.^[6] On July 11, 2011, WESH replaced the weather programming on subchannel 2.2 with Me-TV.^[7][8]

Analog-to-digital conversion[edit]

WESH shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 11.^[9][10] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 2. WESH is the only television station in the Orlando market broadcasting on the VHF band post-transition, as WFTV and WKMG-TV opted to broadcast their digital signals on the UHF dial instead.

News operation[edit]

WESH presently broadcasts 40½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 6½ hours on weekdays, and four hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). WESH was the first station in Orlando to carry an on-site Doppler weather radar system, "SuperDoppler 2", as opposed to relying on data from regional radar sites operated by the National Weather Service; the radar is located atop the tower at the station's Winter Park studio facility. The station also operates a VIPIR 3D radar system, taking advantage of the fact that the radars at Melbourne, Tampa, Jacksonville and Miami can all reach Orlando, in addition to "SuperDoppler 2." WESH also produces a nightly weather forecast segment for its Tampa sister independent station WMOR-TV titled the Bikini Cast.

For over two decades, WESH's newscasts have usually placed second in the market, behind WFTV. However, for most of the time since 2004, WESH's newscasts have traded second and third place with WKMG, while its 4 p.m. newscast continued to trail The Oprah Winfrey Show (which concluded its syndication run in May 2011) on WFTV by a wide margin; this coincided with NBC's ratings struggles that have occurred since 2005. Throughout much of the first half of 2009, WESH's ratings became much more competitive with once-dominant WFTV, especially in the key Adults 25-54 demographic. This was attributed to decreases in viewership on its major station rivals, while ratings for WESH's newscasts remained flat. That mini-resurgence was short-lived, however, as WFTV regained its dominance during the November 2009 sweeps period, while WESH retreated back to third (behind WKMG), except on weeknights. WESH was one of many NBC affiliates across the country that benefitted from the network coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics during the February sweeps ratings period: Its late-night newscast beat WFTV's by a small margin. Since then WESH has maintained a solid #2 ranking in most of its newscasts.

WESH branded its newscasts under the NewsCenter 2 title for most of the 1980s; the station eventually changed its news branding to 2 News in 1992, then switched to the "NewsChannel 2" brand in 1996, before adopting the current WESH 2 News in 2005; that year, it began pronouncing the station's call letters as a word for the first time since the early 1990s (grammatically though, the station's callsign does not spell an actual word). Shortly after Hearst acquired WKCF, WESH began producing a weekday morning newscast for that station in January 2007; this was eventually followed by the launch of a WESH-produced nightly 10 p.m. newscast on WKCF on August 31, 2009.^[11] Also in 2007, WESH debuted an hour-long late afternoon newscast at 4 p.m.

On November 1, 2007, WESH became the second television station in Orlando (behind WFTV) and the fourth Hearst-owned station to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition.[2] Along with the switch, the station replaced the mandated "Hearst TV News Music Package" theme by Newsmusic Central (although the chimes of "Where the News Comes First" version of the theme were retained during weather forecasts) with Gari Media Group's The NBC Collection (which was used for openings, teases and bumpers beginning in 2005). However in November 2008, the "Hearst TV News Music Package" (with the de facto "Where the News Comes First" signature) was fully reinstated.

In April 2010, video footage from the station's news helicopter "Chopper 2" began to be broadcast in high-definition (WFTV upgraded video footage from its helicopter "Skywitness 9" to HD two months later). Dave Marsh served as WESH's chief meteorologist for 37 years, until his retirement on July 31, 2006; Marsh was later replaced by Tony Mainolfi on May 3, 2007. On July 18, 2012, WESH became the first Hearst-owned station to unveil a new standardized graphics and music package ("Strive" by inthegroovemusic^[12]).

News/station presentation[edit]

Newscast titles[edit]

• The Big News (1956–1962)
• Newscope (1962–1970s)
• Channel 2 News (1970s)
• NewsCenter 2 (1970s–1990)^[13]
• NewsCenter 2 Nightcast (11 p.m. newscast; 1987–1990)^[14]
• 2 News (1990–1996)^[15]
• NewsChannel 2 (1996–1999)^[16]
• WESH NewsChannel 2 (1999–2005)^[17]
• WESH 2 News (2005–present)^[18]

Station slogans[edit]

• "The Best to View is on Channel 2" (1950s)
• "Florida's Channel 2" (1960s)
• "Florida's Watching 2" (1960–1970)
• "Experience You Can Trust" (1970–1987)
• "Go Where The News Is" (mid-late 1980s)
• "(Florida's/Channel) 2's The One For All" (1987–1992; used during period station used Frank Gari's "The One 4/For All")^[19]
• "Working For You" (1996–1997)
• "Where The News Comes First" (1997–2005)
• "Big Coverage of the Big Story" (2005–2009)
• "Local. Live. Latebreaking." (2009–present)

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

News team[edit]

Current on-air staff[edit]

WESH's primary news anchors are Aixa Diaz (weekday mornings on WESH 2 News Sunrise on CW 18 from 7-9 a.m.; also reporter), Jason Guy (weekday mornings on WESH 2 News Sunrise from 5-7 a.m. and WESH 2 News Sunrise on CW 18 from 7-9 a.m., and weekdays at noon), Meredith McDonough (weekday mornings on WESH 2 News Sunrise from 4:30-7 a.m. and weekdays at noon), Stewart Moore (weekend mornings on WESH 2 News Sunrise from 5-8 a.m.; also Monday-Wednesday morning reporter), Amanda Ober (interim anchor; weekends at 6, 10 (WKCF) and 11 p.m., also reporter and fill-in anchor), Jim Payne (weekdays at 4 and weeknights at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.), Syan Rhodes (weeknights at 10 p.m. (WKCF)) and Martha Sugalski (weekdays at 4 and weeknights at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.).^[20]

The WESH 2 First Alert Weather team includes chief meteorologist Tony Mainolfi (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and NWA Seals of Approval; weeknights at 5, 6, 10 (WKCF) and 11 p.m.) and meteorologists Dan Billow (AMS Seal of Approval; fill-in meteorologist, also space reporter), Jason Brewer (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval; weekdays at noon and 4 p.m.), Eric Burris (AMS Seal of Approval; weekend mornings, weekends at 6, 10 (WKCF) and 11 p.m.) and Amy Sweezey (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and NWA Seals of Approval; weekday mornings from 4:30-7 on WESH and 7-9 a.m. on WKCF).^[20]

The station's sports team includes sports director Larry Ridley (weeknights at 6, 10 (WKCF) and 11 p.m.) and sports anchor Pat Clarke (weekends at 6, 10 (WKCF) and 11 p.m., also host of "UCF Sports Sunday" (during football season) and sports reporter).^[20]

The station's reporting staff includes Travell Eiland (general assignment reporter), Greg Fox (political reporter), Bob Kealing (investigative reporter), Stephanie Kolp (general assignment reporter), Dan McCarthy ("Chopper 2 HD" pilot), Dave McDaniel (Seminole County reporter), Michelle Meredith (investigative reporter), Marina Maracco (weekday morning reporter), Claire Metz (Volusia and Flagler County reporter), Gail Paschall-Brown (weekday 4, 5 and 6 p.m. reporter), Talitha Vickers (general assignment reporter) and Kimberly Williams (weekday morning traffic reporter). Reporters for the Hearst Television Washington Bureau are Hallie Jackson (weekday mornings), Sally Kidd and Nikole Killion.^[20]

Notable former-on-air staff[edit]

• Andrea Jackson - Thursday-Sunday morning reporter (now contributor for The Daily Buzz)
• Kendra Oestreich - 11 p.m. reporter; now at KXAS-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth as Kendra Lyn)
• Dan Satterfield (now at WBOC-TV in Salisbury, Maryland)
• Stuart Scott (now at ESPN)
• Scott Walker - weekday morning and noon anchor (now 4, 5 and 10 p.m. anchor at WDSU in New Orleans)

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• WESH.com - Official WESH website
• MeTVOrlando.com - Official Me-TV Orlando website
• WESH Brings NBC to Central Florida - WESH History
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WESH
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WESH-TV