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WGGB-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts that is licensed to Springfield. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 40 from a transmitter on Mount Tom in Holyoke. Locally owned by Gormally Broadcasting, the station has studios on Liberty Street in Springfield. Syndicated programming on WGGB includes: The Insider, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Family Feud, and Rachael Ray. They operate the area's primary Fox and secondary MyNetworkTV affiliate on a second digital subchannel. Known on-air as Fox 6, it is also offered on cable but not satellite. This includes Comcast channel 6 (hence the branding) and Charter channel 10. There is a high definition signal of WGGB-DT2 on Comcast digital channel 861.
[edit] Digital programmingThe station's signal is multiplexed.
[edit] HistoryThey were the second television station in the Springfield / Holyoke market when it commenced broadcasting as WHYN-TV on UHF channel 55 on April 9, 1953. Its launch was only a month behind rival NBC affiliate WWLP. The station was co-owned with WHYN radio (AM 560 and FM 93.1) and was originally a primary CBS station with secondary ABC and DuMont affiliations. During the late-1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. [1] The station became a sole ABC affiliate in 1958 after DuMont folded in 1956 and WTIC-TV in Hartford, Connecticut (now WFSB), previously an independent, moved to CBS and became that network's affiliate of record in Springfield. WHYN moved to UHF channel 40 a few years later in 1959. Guy Gannett Broadcasting bought the station in 1979 and changed their call sign to the current WGGB-TV effective at the start of the following year. In 1994, WGGB's cameras rolled as Temple University head basketball coach John Chaney confronted University of Massachusetts head coach John Calipari at a press conference. At one point, Chaney threatened Calipari with death. The footage (watermarked with the station's logo and call letters) was picked up by ESPN and has since been shown thousands of times. In 2006, Fox Sports Net's The Best Damn Sports Show Period ranked the incident the fifth-biggest outburst in sports history. The Sinclair Broadcast Group purchased most of Guy Gannett's television stations, including WGGB, in 1998. The station has wanted to move back to CBS on several occasions but was blocked each time by WFSB. CBS did not return over-the-air on a Springfield-based station until 2003 when WFSB started a low-powered semi-satellite, WSHM-LP (now WSHM-LD). On October 15, 2004, WGGB upgraded its over-the-air digital signal to offer ABC programming in high definition. On digital cable, it can be seen on Comcast channel 840 and Charter channel 784. On May 5, 2007, they redesigned their website and added news video. In late-July 2007, Sinclair announced the sale of WGGB to Gormally Broadcasting, LLC for $21.2 million dollars. The sale closed on November 2 making WGGB the only station in the market to be locally owned-and-operated. On December 1, 2008, the station shut down its analog signal and became digital exclusive. It appears to have shutdown as early as November 29 due to transmitter failure. [2][3] On June 12, 2009, the digital signal relocated to the previous analog channel location. [4] Channel 55's spectrum is to be reassigned for use by Qualcomm's MediaFLO system. [edit] WGGB-DT2 "Fox 6"Until March 31, 2008, the area did not have a Fox affiliate of its own. It was the largest DMA to be in that situation. WTIC-TV in Hartford served as the default affiliate on cable. At one point, WFXQ-CA had been rumored as becoming affiliated with the network. That station is owned by LIN TV Corporation along with WWLP. On the 31st, WGGB launched a Fox affiliate on its second digital subchannel. WTIC had its cable channel location on Comcast systems taken by WGGB-DT2, and as a result, it moved to the digital tier on channel 292. Charter followed suit as well placing WTIC on digital cable channel 261. At one point under Sinclair ownership, WGGB's second digital channel had been broadcasting The Tube, a 24-hour digital music channel, but it was dropped at the end of 2006. When the station relaunched on March 31, it also started to show MyNetworkTV programming as a secondary affiliate. On weeknights, MyNetworkTV shows air from 11:30 to 1:30 in the morning. For Saturday prime time, it airs early Sunday mornings from 12:30 to 2:30. [edit] News operation In terms of ratings, WGGB has historically been in second place behind WWLP. There have been some brief periods when they were on top and there have also been extended periods in which the stations were basically neck-and-neck with WWLP having a slight edge. Originally, its newscasts were known as News 40. The station cut back financially under Sinclair ownership, and during that period, rumors of the cancellation of ABC 40 News or conversion to the now-defunct controversial News Central format sometimes spread. In October 2005, WSHM started up a news department and began producing local newscasts. In Fall 2006, WGGB rehired Ed Carroll to be their Chief Meteorologist. He had previously been at the station from 1989 to 1993 before moving on to WBZ-TV in Boston. Until April 2007, it did not carry ABC News World News Now in the early weekday morning hours choosing to air programming from the Home Shopping Network instead. After becoming locally owned, WGGB's news department underwent significant changes and several prominent employees were laid-off. The station debuted a brand new set, graphics, and news music package on April 24, 2008. On August 18, WSHM launched the market's first nightly 10 o'clock newscast on its 24-hour local weather channel. WGGB-DT2 followed suit on September 8 and has since expanded to weekends. On April 6, 2009, WGGB's weekday morning news became a two-hour broadcast. WGGB-DT2 simulcasts this broadcast then replays it at 7 in the morning. WCVB-TV, the ABC affiliate in Boston, shares its resources with WGGB for news coverage of Eastern Massachusetts. In return, WGGB does the same for news from western areas of the state. It does not operate a weather radar of its own choosing instead to use live NOAA National Weather Service radar data that originates from the Local Forecast Office in Taunton. [edit] Newscast titles
[edit] Station slogans
[edit] News teamAnchors
ABC 40 StormTrack Meteorologists
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[edit] Past personnelAnchors
Meteorologists
Sports
Reporters
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[edit] External links
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