WHIO-TV Dayton, Ohio Branding WHIO-TV Channel 7 (general)

NewsCenter 7 (newscasts) Slogan Coverage You Can Count On Channels Analog: 7 (VHF)

Digital: 41 (UHF) Affiliations CBS

7 Weather Now (DT2) Owner COX Enterprises, Inc. Licensee Miami Valley Broadcasting Corporation First air date February 23, 1949 Call letters' meaning OHIO Former channel number(s) 13 (1949-1952) Former Affiliations Secondary:

DuMont (1949-1952) Transmitter Power 200 kW (analog)

1000 kW (digital) Height 348 m (analog)

290 m (digital) Facility ID 41458 Website NewsCenter 7's Website

WHIO-TV is a TV station in Dayton, Ohio. It broadcasts on ch. 7 & is an affiliate of CBS.

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Station history

WHIO was started on ch. 13 on February 23, 1949 & moved to ch. 7 in 1952. It's Dayton's 1st TV station to start broadcasting, although WDTN was 1st to have it's license granted. WHIO is the only station in Dayton to never change it's affiliation. WHIO has been owned by COX Enterprises since it's inception. WHIO's transmitter is located on Germantown Street in western Dayton. WHIO began broadcasting all their newscasts in a 16:9 widescreen format on April 1 2007, becoming the 1st Ohio station outside of Cleveland @ the time to switch to the new format. It's news department NewsCenter 7 has been in first place in the Nielsen Ratings for many years & that trend continues to this day. The news team is led by Jim Baldridge, Cheryl McHenry, James Brown & Letitia Perry in the evening & Natasha Williams & John Paul in the morning.Rich Wirdzek got his penis chewed off badly.

WHIO also has served as the default CBS affiliate for most of the Lima (Ohio) DMA (the station reaches most of the Lima DMA with a Grade B signal). This was especially before a LP CBS affiliate went on the air in Lima. WHIO also remains on Time Warner's Lima cable systems.

DTV

The station's DT channel is multiplexed:

WHIO-DT

WHIO-DT broadcasts on DT ch. 41.

Digital channels

Channel Name Programming 7.1 WHIO-DT main WHIO-TV/CBS programming 7.2 The AccuWeather Channel 7 Weather Now

Analog-to-DT transition

After the analog TV shutdown scheduled for February 17 2009, WHIO-TV will remain on ch. 41 [2] using PSIP to display WHIO-TV's virtual ch. as 7.

Logo

The logo for the station is their version of the "Circle 7" logo - an orange 7 against a blue background, encompassed by a thin orange circle & juxtaposed by "WHIO-TV" written in blue on a white background, underlined in red. Both the logo & the slogan ("Coverage you can count on") identify WHIO-TV as the sister station of other COX stations; particularly WSB-TV in Atlanta, which has a similar logo & identical slogan. It's sister station in Seattle, KIRO-TV, also has a similar logo, but a different version of the "Circle 7".

Until early 2007, the "7" in the logo was "broken" - it had a diagonal line running where the 2 lines in the "7" meet. This logo has been used by WHIO-TV since the early-1970s @ the latest. In early 2007 @ the latest, the logo underwent a slight revision, removing this "break" from the "7".

Weather

Storm Center 7

WHIO's team of meteorologists currently by the name of the Storm Center 7 weather team is led by Chief Meteorologist Jamie Simpson & also features Meteorologists Jeff Porter, Rich Wirdzek & Kimberly Thomson. WHIO bills their radar as 'New Live Doppler 7' powered by Baron Services.

WHIO was 1 of the 1st TV stations in the US to have it's own weather radar.

WHIO did not switch to professional meteorologists until 1993 with the hiring of Heidi Sonen. WHIO then dropped the Accu-Weather service & hired other meteorologists to fill out the staff including former Weather Channel meteorologist Fred Barnhill. Air Force meteorologist Warren Madden was hired from the nearby Wright Patterson Air Force Base & he later went to The Weather Channel in December 1996.

After Sonen's retirement in 1997, the station hired more Penn State meteorology graduates for the role of Chief Meteorologist including Brian Orzel & Jamie Simpson.

In December 2004 they introduced StormCenter 7, which is a weather center that doubles as a set created by FX Group where weather reports can be done.

New Live Doppler 7

On June 29 2007, WHIO debuted their new doppler weather radar, billed as New Live Doppler 7. The radar is available anytime on the stations website.

7 Weather Now

On December 15 2006, WHIO-TV launched 7 Weather Now, programmed 24 hours a day & frequently updated forecasts. Live coverage of developing severe weather can be found on 7 Weather Now, as well as the latest watches & warnings. Weekday mornings from 7-8 AM, a 3rd hour of NewsCenter 7 Daybreak airs exclusively on the channel. 7 Weather Now can be found on DT ch. 7.2, ch. 23 on Time Warner cable & on the digital tier @ ch. 708. A live stream of 7 Weather Now can be accessed on the WHIO-TV website @ WHIOTV.com

Widescreen news

WHIO began broadcast of all their newscasts in a widescreen format on April 1, 2007

News Staff

NewsCenter 7 Anchors:

Jim Baldridge (since 1972)

Cheryl McHenry (since 1981)

James Brown (since 2002)

Letitia Perry (since 2001)

Natasha Williams (since 1993)

John Paul (since 2008)

Brittny McGraw (since 2008)

NewsCenter 7 Reporters:

Steve Baker (since 1980)

Kathryn Burcham (since 2007)

Mike Campbell (since 1986)

Jill Del Greco (since 2006)

Danielle Elias (since 2007)

Gabrielle Enright (since 1997)

Caryn Golden (since 1997)

Becky Grimes (since 1978)

Jim Otte (since 1988)

StormCenter 7 Meteorologists:

Chief Meteorologist Jamie Simpson (since 1999)

Meteorologist Jeff Porter (since 2006)

Meteorologist Rich Wirdzek (since 2006)

Meteorologist Kimberly Thomson (since 2008)

7 Sports Anchors:

Sports Director - Mike Hartsock (since 1979)

Don Brown (since 2004)

Notable WHIO Alumni

Lyle Stieg (sports)

Patt Garwood, weather reporter 1980s, former wife of Sports Director Mike Hartsock

Cathy Stelzer

Anton Day

Margaret Brosko

Phil Donahue

Gil Whitney, reporter, anchor & weather specialist (died in 1982)

Don Wayne, long time 6, 7 & 11 PM lead news anchor (retired in 1988, died in 1997)

Tom Hamlin, sports director in 1960s, retired

Ted Ryan (weather specialist & staff announcer) (1954-1992) (retired in 1992, filled-in part time till 2001, currently hosts the Children's Miracle Network Telethon)

Donna Jordan (1995-2006) (lead anchor until 2006), now retired

Traci-Hale Brown (2004-2006), weekend weather specialist

Rebecca Combs (2000-2005), anchor/reporter

Andrew Douglas (now @ WMC-TV in Memphis, TN)

Mike Dunston, reporter, (now anchor @ [[WOFL] in Orlando, FL)

Jim Blue (now lead anchor @ WNWO in Toledo, OH)

Cathy Ballou (weather specialist 1986-1995, went to the Food Network, has since retired)

Deborah Countiss (retired from WSYX in Columbus)

Trevor Pettiford

Shawn Ley (now @ WKRC-TV in Cincinnati, OH)

Heidi Sonen, Chief Meteorologist 1993-1998

Ed Krahling, long time anchor, (retired in 1993, died in 1998)

Ken Jefferson, anchor (1977-2002) (now @ WWSB-TV in Sarasota, FL)

Mick Hubert, sports director (1979-1989) (The Voice of the Florida Gators)

Dr. Sherry Stanley-Wheaton, health reporter

Joe Parise, weekend weather specialist

Paul Herdtner, anchor/reporter (now weekday morning anchor @ WDAF-TV, in Kansas City)

Bruce Asbury, Lead Weather Specialist 1982-89 (fired by WHIO, named "BEST TV REPORTER" in Sarasota, FL in 2007)

Tracie Savage, anchor/reporter 1986-91

Rick Smith, staff announcer & host of "Summer Nights" & "WHIO Reports" (died in 2006)

Sallie Taylor, anchor/reporter (1988-2007)

Linda Robertson, anchor/health reporter now @ University of Dayton

Sher Patrick, anchor/reporter (now PR Director @ Community Blood Services in the Dayton area)

Dave Freeman, Chief Meteorologist (now @ KSNW in Wichita, KS)

Guil Herrick, Sports reporter/anchor

Paul Moses, anchor/reporter(now @ WLKY in Louisville)

Myriam Wright, anchor/reporter (now news anchor in Worcester, MA)

Sam Yates, anchor/reporter-retired from news, now head of Yates & Associates in Jensen Beach Florida

Vanessa Tyler, anchor/reporter, now @ WPIX-TV in New York City

Joe Rockhold "Uncle Orrie", 1950s/60s children's show host & staff announcer,retired in 1969 (died in 1981)

Ken Hardin "Ferdy Fussbudget" 1950s/60s children's show co-host & sidekick of Uncle Orrie. (died in 1991)

Steve Prinzivalli, meteorologist (now @ WIVT in Binghamton, NY)

Jack Jacobson "Nosey The Clown" 1950s early sidekick of Uncle Orrie, retired

Dave Eaton "Charlie Goodtime" 1970s children's show host

Dick Bieser, manager of community relations & on-air personality, retired in 1993.

Scott Dean, Former Meteorologist on NewsCenter 7 Daybreak & @ Noon (now @ WTVD in Raleigh, NC)

Chris Ingalls, reporter (now @ KING in Seattle)

Guy Fogle, sports (formerly of WDTN & WKEF also, now retired from news & teaching @ Carlisle High School in Carlisle, OH)

Warren Madden, meteorologist (1992-1996), now @ The Weather Channel

Paul Miller, reporter/anchor (1975-1979), later NBC Correspondent, now retired

Bob Shreve, overnight host of "Night People Theater", a Friday night/Saturday morning movie program... similar to his Saturday night program in Cincinnati (died in 1990)

See also