NBC affiliate in Daytona Beach, Florida
WESH
(channel 2) is a
television station
licensed to
Daytona Beach, Florida
, United States, serving the
Orlando
area as an affiliate of
NBC
. It is owned by
Hearst Television
alongside
Clermont
-licensed
CW
affiliate
WKCF
(channel 18). The two stations share studios on North Wymore Road in
Eatonville
(using a
Winter Park
address); WESH's transmitter is located on Brown Road near
Christmas, Florida
.
WESH formerly served as a default NBC affiliate for the
Gainesville
market as the station's analog transmitter provided a city-grade off-air signal in Gainesville proper (and also provided
Grade B
signal coverage in the fringes of the
Tampa Bay
and
Jacksonville
markets
). However, since
January 1
, 2009, Gainesville has been served by an in-market affiliate,
WNBW
(channel 9); although
Cox Communications
continues to carry WESH on its Gainesville area system.
[2]
History
[
edit
]
WESH-TV first signed on the air on June 11, 1956.
[3]
At first, it ran as an
independent station
, but on October 27, 1957, it became an NBC affiliate, and has been with NBC ever since.
[4]
[5]
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 on Corporation Street 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-TV relinquished its secondary affiliation with the network. On that day, the station activated a new 1,000-foot (305 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 on Minnesota Avenue 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 feet (530 m), located on the same site as the 1,000-foot 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 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
, owned by the publishers of the
Houston Post
, the Hobby family. Under H&C ownership, WESH closed its original Holly Hill studio in 1989, and relocated its operations to a temporary studio facility on Ridgewood Avenue (
US 1
), near
International Speedway
Boulevard (
US 92
) in Daytona Beach, which was eventually sold later, but the station maintains its Volusia County
news bureau
and a microwave tower at that facility. The station's primary operations then moved to a brand new studio in Winter Park in 1991, located on Wymore Road, alongside
Interstate 4
, equipped with "Super Doppler 2" atop the STL tower and a helipad. (The studios also currently serve as the graphics hub for all Hearst-owned TV stations.) The Hobbys decided to liquidate H&C in 1992; after an attempt to sell its entire TV station group to
Young Broadcasting
fell through,
[6]
the company accepted an offer by
Pulitzer Publishing
to buy WESH and KCCI for $165 million in 1993.
[7]
Pulitzer sold its entire broadcasting division, including WESH and KCCI, to
Hearst-Argyle Television
in 1998.
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, due to a dispute between Hearst Television and Central Florida's largest cable provider,
Bright House Networks
, WESH was removed from Bright House's Central Florida systems. This was part of a larger dispute between
Time Warner Cable
and Hearst; Bright House was always affected by carriage disputes involving Time Warner Cable. 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.
[8]
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.
[9]
News operation
[
edit
]
WESH presently broadcasts
41
+
1
⁄
2
hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with seven hours each weekday, four hours on Saturdays, and
4
+
1
⁄
2
hours on Sundays).
[
citation needed
]
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 second place in most of its newscasts.
WESH titled its newscasts
NewsCenter 2
for most of the 1970s and 1980s until the station re-branded to
2 News
in 1991,
[10]
then
NewsChannel 2
in 1996. In 2005, WESH adopted the current
WESH 2 News
branding and 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). In August 2006, WESH debuted an hour-long 4 p.m. newscast. 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]
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
.
[12]
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
[13]
).
In mid-January 2018, WESH became the first Hearst-owned station to unveil an updated version of its standardized graphics package that is optimized for the full
16:9
letterboxed
format.
On August 21, 2023, it was announced that WESH would launch weeknight 7 p.m. newscasts on September 11, 2023.
[14]
Notable former on-air staff
[
edit
]
Technical information
[
edit
]
Subchannels
[
edit
]
The station's ATSC 1.0 channels are carried on the
multiplexed
signal of sister station WKCF:
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.
[16]
The arrangement did not include
NBC Sports
' weekday coverage of the
U.S. Open
and
Wimbledon
, which were instead seen on WKCF.
[17]
(For WESH's coverage of the
George Zimmerman
trial two years later, WESH's regular daytime programming was moved to WKCF's second digital subchannel.
[18]
) On July 11, 2011, WESH replaced the weather programming on subchannel 2.2 with
MeTV
.
[19]
[20]
Analog-to-digital conversion
[
edit
]
WESH ended programming on its analog signal, on
VHF
channel 2, at 9 a.m. on June 12, 2009, as part of the
federally mandated transition from analog to digital television
.
[21]
The station's digital signal continued to broadcast on its pre-transition VHF channel 11,
[22]
using
virtual 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.
ATSC 3.0 lighthouse
[
edit
]
Translators
[
edit
]
As of April 2024, WESH's digital replacement translator at Orange City continues to operate in ATSC 1.0, using virtual channels 2.4, 2.5 and 2.6:
Until 2009, the station operated an analog translator in the Melbourne area,
W16AJ
(channel 16).
[24]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Facility Technical Data for WESH"
.
Licensing and Management System
.
Federal Communications Commission
.
- ^
Clark, Anthony (September 16, 2008).
"Local NBC affiliate set to join airwaves"
.
The Gainesville Sun
. Archived from
the original
on September 20, 2008
. Retrieved
September 17,
2008
.
- ^
FCC History Cards for WESH
.
Federal Communications Commission
.
- ^
"WESH-Channel 2 Station Ads"
.
Archived
from the original on August 15, 2023
. Retrieved
August 15,
2023
.
- ^
"WESHTALLTOWER.mpg"
.
Archived
from the original on September 5, 2021
. Retrieved
July 3,
2017
– via www.youtube.com.
- ^
"BC-1992-05-25-OCR-Page-0005"
(PDF)
.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on September 1, 2021
. Retrieved
August 22,
2020
.
- ^
"BC-1993-02-22-OCR-Page-0048"
(PDF)
.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on September 2, 2021
. Retrieved
August 22,
2020
.
- ^
"Orlando Sentinel: "WESH off Bright House; Pennsylvania station is substitute", July 10, 2012"
. Archived from
the original
on July 14, 2012
. Retrieved
July 11,
2012
.
- ^
"Nexttv | Programming| Business | Multichannel Broadcasting + Cable | www.nexttv.com"
.
NextTV
. August 15, 2023.
Archived
from the original on June 8, 2008
. Retrieved
August 15,
2023
.
- ^
"May 1991 WESH Newscast"
.
YouTube
.
Archived
from the original on December 21, 2021.
- ^
"Martha Sugalski, Jim Payne to anchor 10 p.m. news on Channel 18"
. Archived from
the original
on October 20, 2012
. Retrieved
June 15,
2013
.
- ^
"HD"
. Archived from
the original
on October 19, 2007
. Retrieved
October 18,
2007
.
- ^
"Audio Player"
.
[
dead link
]
- ^
"WESH to launch 7 p.m. newscast on September 11"
. August 21, 2023.
Archived
from the original on August 21, 2023
. Retrieved
August 21,
2023
.
- ^
"RabbitEars TV Query for WESH"
.
rabbitears.info
.
Archived
from the original on August 15, 2023
. Retrieved
August 15,
2023
.
- ^
"Casey Anthony: WESH goes wall to wall with trial Wednesday"
.
The Orlando Sentinel
. June 7, 2011. Archived from
the original
on June 10, 2011
. Retrieved
June 8,
2011
.
- ^
Knox, Merrill (June 27, 2011).
"WESH Shifts Wimbledon Coverage to WKCF, Stays with Casey Anthony Trial"
.
TVSpy
.
Archived
from the original on July 1, 2011
. Retrieved
June 27,
2011
.
- ^
Boedeker, Hal (June 21, 2013).
"George Zimmerman trial to rearrange daytime lineup"
.
The Orlando Sentinel
.
Archived
from the original on June 27, 2013
. Retrieved
June 26,
2013
.
- ^
"Where do I watch MeTV in Chicago - MeTV?"
.
Me-TV Network
.
[
permanent dead link
]
- ^
"Orlando News, Weather and Sports - Florida News - WESH Channel 2"
.
WESH
.
Archived
from the original on August 28, 2019
. Retrieved
August 28,
2019
.
- ^
"List of Digital Full-Power Stations"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on August 29, 2013
. Retrieved
June 15,
2013
.
- ^
"CDBS Print"
.
Archived
from the original on October 25, 2012
. Retrieved
June 8,
2011
.
- ^
"Digital TV Market Listing for WESH"
.
RabbitEars.Info
.
Archived
from the original on February 11, 2017
. Retrieved
January 26,
2017
.
- ^
"Facility Details ≪ Licensing and Management System Admin ≪ FCC"
.
enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov
.
Archived
from the original on July 27, 2021
. Retrieved
December 1,
2020
.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
|
Full power
|
- WESH
(2.1
NBC
, 2.2
MeTV
, 2.3
Story
)
- WKMG-TV
(6.1
CBS
, 6.2
Dabl
, 6.3
Cozi
, 6.4
Start
, 6.5
Catchy
)
- WFTV
(9.1
ABC
, 9.2
Laff
, 9.3
Mystery
)
- WDSC-TV
(15.1
Edu.
Ind.
, 15.2
FL Ch.
, 15.3
DW-TV
)
- WKCF
(18.1
CW
, 18.2
Crime
, 18.3
Estrella
)
- WUCF-TV
(24.1
PBS
, 24.2
Create
, 24.3
Kids
, 24.4
NHK
, 24.5
Edu.
)
- WOTF-TV
(26.1
Grit
, 26.2
LATV
, 26.3
Comet
, 26.4
Charge!
, 26.5
Court
)
- WRDQ
(27.1
Ind.
, 27.2
Court
, 27.4
This
,
31.2
TMD
)
- WOFL
(35.1
Fox
, 35.2
Buzzr
, 35.3
Fox WX
)
- WVEN-TV
(43.1
UNI
, 43.2
Get
, 43.3
Bounce
, 43.4
Mystery
, 43.5
Quest
, 43.6
NV
,
43.7
UniMas
)
- WTGL
(45.1
Rel.
)
- WHLV-TV
(52.1
TBN
, 52.2
Inspire
, 52.3
Smile
, 52.4
Enlace
, 52.5
Positiv
)
- WACX
(55.1
Rel.
, 55.2
Aliento
, 55.3
GEB
, 55.4
SBN
, 55.5
Vida
, 55.6
BVOVN
, 55.7 RTVEO, 55.8
CBN News
, 55.9
QVC2
, 55.10 JGN, 55.11
Mega
)
- WOPX-TV
(56.1
Ion
, 56.2
Bounce
,
56.3
Grit
, 56.4
Defy
, 56.5
Scripps News
, 56.6
JTV
, 56.7
QVC
, 56.8
HSN
)
- WRBW
(65.1
MNTV
, 65.2
Movies!
, 65.3
H&I
, 65.4
Grio
)
- WEFS
(68.1
Edu.
Ind.
, 68.2
CAS
, 68.3
NASA
, 68.4
FL Ch.
)
|
---|
Low-power
|
- WDTO-LD
(5.1
Daystar
, 5.2 DS Espanol, 5.3 Reflections)
- WSWF-LD
(10.1
Diya
, 10.2 Orange TV, 10.3 Vision TV, 10.4
This
, 10.5
NewsNet
, 10.6
ANT
, 10.7
Fun Roads
, 10.10
JTV
, 10.11
HSN
, 10.12
QVC
)
- WOME-LD
(11.1
Dark
)
- W21AU-D
(21.1
NV
, 21.2
ATeve
, 21.3 TuBox)
- WRCF-CD
(29.1
UniMas
)
- WTMO-CD
(31.1
TMD
, 31.3
TXO
, 31.4
LX
)
- WZXZ-CD
(36.1
TCN
, 36.2
YTA
, 36.3
LC
, 36.4
JTV
, 36.5
Ads
, 36.6
QVC2
)
- WHDO-CD
(38.1
Rev'n
, 38.2
TeleAnacaona
, 38.3
LC
, 38.4
ShopHQ
)
- WATV-LD
(47.1
Clic
, 47.2/.4/.6
Ads
, 47.3
Novelisima
, 47.5
Corazon
, 47.7
NOST
)
- WFEF-LD (50.1 ULFN, 50.2
TBD
(soon)
, 50.3
LC
, 50.4
Ads
, 50.5
beIN Espanol
, 50.6
beIN Xtra
, 50.7
Dark
)
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Outlying areas
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ATSC 3.0
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Cable
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Streaming
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Defunct
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Transmitter
sites
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Principal cities
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Counties
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Populated places
| over 25,000
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10,000?25,000
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Topics
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NBC
network affiliates licensed to and serving the state of
Florida
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Daily newspapers
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Weekly newspapers
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Magazines
| United States
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International
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Hearst Television
(
Hearst Media
Production Group
)
Stations affiliated
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Radio stations
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Entertainment
& syndication
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Business media
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Real estate
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1
Owned by Montclair Communications and operated by Hearst under an
LMA
.
2
Carries the network in a secondary status.
|