WTVG

For the former co-owned Newark, New Jersey television station that used the WTVG calls, see WFUT-TV.

WTVG, channel 13, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Toledo, Ohio. WTVG's studios and offices are located in Toledo, and its transmitter is located in Oregon, Ohio.

History

The station signed on the air on July 21, 1948 as WSPD-TV, owned by Storer Broadcasting along with WSPD radio (AM 1370 and FM 101.5, now WRVF). WSPD-TV was the first television station in the Storer Broadcasting chain. Originally, the station carried programming from all four television networks: NBC (primary affiliation 1948-1954, secondary from 1955-1969, and exclusive from 1970-1995), ABC, CBS and DuMont. With DuMont shutting down in 1955, the CBS affiliation moving to WTOL in 1958 (was a primary affiliate of CBS from 1955-58) and the ABC affiliation moving to WDHO (now WNWO-TV) in 1970 (which was primary from 1958-1970) , WSPD-TV became an exclusive NBC affiliate.

Storer also owned WJBK-AM-FM-TV in Detroit and WJW-AM-FM-TV in Cleveland. WSPD-TV's city-grade signal could be seen in the Detroit suburbs, while its grade B signal could be seen in Detroit and Cleveland. The FCC grandfathered this situation under its "one-to-a-market" rule in the 1970s. Storer sold off WSPD-FM in the early 70s and WSPD-AM in 1979, and channel 13 became WTVG.

The Storer stations were taken over by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) in 1985. As a result, WTVG lost its grandfathered protection and was not sold to Gillett 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.

In 1994, New World Communications, the owner of most of WTVG's former sister stations, signed an affiliation deal with Fox Broadcasting Company, resulting in most of New World's stations switching affiliation to Fox. Among the stations due to switch was WJBK, Detroit's longtime CBS affiliate. To avoid being consigned to UHF in the 11th-largest market, CBS heavily wooed Detroit's longtime ABC affiliate, WXYZ-TV. WXYZ's owner, E.W. Scripps Company, then told ABC that unless it agreed to affiliate with Scripps-owned stations in four smaller markets, it would switch WXYZ to CBS. As a contingency, ABC approached SJL about buying WTVG and WJRT-TV in Flint, Michigan. Both stations' city-grade signals reached portions of the Detroit area, which would come in handy if ABC lost WXYZ to CBS. The deal closed on August 29, 1995. However, WTVG's affiliation contract didn't run out until November, and WJRT has already been an ABC affiliate, so ABC had to run WTVG as an NBC affiliate for two months while NBC looked for a new affiliate in the area. On November 5, 1995, WTVG began airing ABC programming, sending the NBC affiliation to WNWO-TV. In 1996, Capital Cities/ABC was acquired by Disney. As it turned out, ABC had agreed to the affiliation deal with Scripps as well, and WXYZ retained its ABC affiliation. To date, WTVG is the only network owned and operated station in Toledo.

Digital Channels

Digital channels
Virtual Channel	Physical RF Channel	Video	Aspect	Programming
13.1	19.1	720p	16:9	Main WTVG Programming / ABC HD
13.2	19.2	480i	4:3	13 ABC Plus (local news rebroadcasts)
13.3	19.3	480i	4:3	13 ABC WeatherNow/The AccuWeather Channel

In 2009, WTVG will remain on channel 13 when the analog to digital conversion is complete.

I-Team

The I-Team is WTVG's investigative reporting unit. The I-Team also produces the "Restaurant Report Card" segment, which has been one of Action News's most popular segments.

Restaurant Report Card

On Thursdays during the 6pm newscast, the Restaurant Report Card segment highlights the results of health inspections at Toledo-area restaurants. The segment also features restaurants that have done well in their inspections.

Ask the Expert

During the 12pm Newscast, local experts in different fields answer questions sent in by viewers on WTVG's website. One of 5 different experts is featured every day.

Weather & Traffic

13ABC has a team of five meteorologists:

Stan Stachak: Chief Meteorologist/Weekday Evenings
Jay Berschback: Mornings and Noon
Kristin Emery: Weekend Mornings
Blizzard Bill Spencer: Weekend Evenings
Susan Ware: Fill-in Meteorologist

Resources

13ABC owns and operates a 350,000 Watt Doppler Radar named Live Doppler 13000
Systems from Baron Services:

VIPIR (Volumetric Imaging and Processing of Integrated Radar)
FasTrac
StormWarn
Neighborhood IRIS (Internet Radar Imaging Server)

Traffic

Shown every 10 minutes along with weather in the mornings 5am-7am

Time Saver Traffic Team:

Andi McKay

Sports

13ABC Action News Sports Rob Powers and the Powers Pack

Rob Powers: Weekday Evenings
Joe Nugent: Weekend Evenings
Dave Holmes: Weekend mornings

Football Friday-During Regular Season

Showcases Northwest Ohio High school Football Games

Basketball Friday-During Regular Seasons

Showcases Northwest Ohio Girls & Boys Basketball

The 13th Frame

Every year, WTVG holds a 35-week long bowling series called "The 13th Frame", hosted by Rob Powers, aired on Thursdays during the 11PM newscast. Players are given two balls, and win $1 for each pin knocked down. If the player gets 2 strikes, the player can go for a Turkey to win a $250 jackpot. During times when there have been losing streaks, the jackpot has been known to become progressive.

Personalities

13abc Action News Good Morning

Jeff Smith
Sashem Brey
Jay Berschback
Andi McKay

13abc Action News at Noon

Jeff Smith
Susan Ross-Wells
Jay Berschback

13abc Action News at 5 (PM)

Lee Conklin
Diane Larson
Stan Stachak

13abc Action News at 5:30 (PM)

Rob Powers
Susan Ross-Wells
Stan Stachak

13abc Action News at 6, 11 (PM)

Lee Conklin
Diane Larson
Stan Stachak
Rob Powers

13abc Action News Saturday, Sunday Morning and Sunday Midday

Efrem Graham
Melissa Andrews
Kristin Emery
Dave Holmes

13abc Action News Weekend Evenings

Bill Hormann
Kristian Brown
Bill Spencer
Joe Nugent

Reporters

Greg Bilazarian
Tony Geftos
Lissa Guyton
Jennifer Jarrell
Christine Long
Sanaa Orra
Zack Ottenstein
Rebecca Regnier (People, Places, and Things)
Christina Williams

Weather Team

Jay Berschback
Kristin Emery
Bill Spencer
Stan Stachak
Susan Ware

Sports

Rob Powers
Dave Holmes
Joe Nugent

Past Personalities

Elisa Amigo (WJW-TV)
Jala Anderson
Gordon Boyd (WVLT-TV)
Jeff Blanzy (WLS-TV)
Sarah Bloomquist (WPVI-TV)
Ryan Burr (ESPN)
Anthony Cabrera (KVOA-TV)
Jim Carey
Dave Chudowsky (WKYC-TV)
Ronnie Dahl (WJBK)
Hakem Dermish (WRC-TV)
Tim Gerber (KSAT-TV)
Katrina Hancock (WDIV-TV)
Steve Rudin (WJLA-TV)
Jim Hill
Erica Hurtt (Owens Illinois)
Greg Jones (auto parts salesman)
Jason Knowles (producer at WLS-TV)
Sam Louie
Jason Martinez (KFSN-TV)
Jim Madaus (WWJ-TV)
Sarah Oehler
Theresa Pollick (Ohio Department of Transportation)
Christa Quinn (WPSG-TV)
Rebecca Regnier (People, Places, and Things segment only)
Jim Rudes (retired)
Adora Udoji (Court TV)
Frank Venner (retired)
Kelli Wiese (KYTX-TV)
Diane Wilson (WTVD-TV)
Kareen Wynter (CNN)

Trivia

Kristan Brown is on maternity leave after giving birth to twin girls Laila and Lauren on April 22nd. She filed a story self-defense, even for pregnant women.

Kristin Emery was recently hired by WTVG. She started June 1. She takes the places of Meteorologist Susan Ware, who went on maternity leave in February. Ware said that she wanted to work on a fill in basis. Earlier this year, Leslie LoBue from WJRT-TV in Flint helped fill in for Ware, then Jim Madaus from WXYZ-TV came in April.

Alexis Means won an Ohio Associated Press award for best spot news coverage for "Gunmen in the School," a breaking news story in which a gunman was allegedly seen walking into a Toledo Public School.

On June 21, 2006, Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan was under a moderate risk for severe weather. A massive complex of thunderstorms moved into Michigan and took a turn to the southeast. A tornado warning was later issued for Lucas County. During this, Jeff Smith was with his wife, Lisa, who had gone into labor at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center. Later that night, she gave birth to a boy — Dugan Jeffrey Smith. Efrem Graham and Sashem Brey have been filling in for Smith in the mornings, while Rebecca Regnier fills in at Noon.

On January 15, 2007, Stan Stachak returned to Action News. He had been off for several weeks to have knee replacement surgery.

WTVG utilizes the Sony PDW510 XDCAM Camcorder

All Toledo stations (WTVG, WTOL, WNWO, and WUPW) use the Jeep Liberty as an ENG vehicle, due to the fact that they are made locally by Chrysler. WTVG also uses another Jeep-brand vehicle, the Jeep Commander.