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| Hagerstown, Maryland | |
|---|---|
| Branding | WHAG (general) WHAG News (newscasts) |
| Slogan | Only One Station Hits Home |
| Channels | Digital: 26 (UHF) Virtual: 25 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 25.1 NBC |
| Owner | Nexstar Broadcasting Group (Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.) |
| First air date | January 3, 1970 |
| Call letters' meaning | HAGerstown |
| Former callsigns | WHAG (1970-1979) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 25 (UHF, 1970-2009) Digital: 55 (UHF) |
| Transmitter power | 575 kW |
| Height | 376 m |
| Facility ID | 25045 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 39°39′45″N 77°57′54″W / 39.66250°N 77.96500°W |
| Website | your4state.com |
WHAG-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Hagerstown, Maryland. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 26 from a transmitter on Fairview Mountain west of Clear Spring. Owned by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group, the station has studios in the Alexander House Hotel on National Pike (U.S. 40 eastbound) in Downtown Hagerstown (although the address says East Washington Street). Syndicated programming on WHAG includes: We The People, Steve Harvey, Storm Stories, The 700 Club, Inside Edition, and AgDay.
Despite being designated a part of the Washington, D.C. market (with its own O&O affiliate WRC-TV), WHAG operates like a small market station focusing on areas west of Frederick County. It serves the 4-state area of Chambersburg, PA, Hagerstown, MD, Martinsburg, WV, and Winchester, VA with a more local perspective. Reporters are often hired directly out of college and serve as "one man band" personnel that shoot, write, and edit their own stories. There is a high turnover rate with most personalities staying at the station for a year or two before moving on to a larger market.
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History [edit]
The station signed-on January 3, 1970. It was owned by Warren Adler and the Regional Broadcasting Company along with WHAG radio in Halfway (AM 1410 and FM 96.7, now WDLD). WHAG-TV's original analog transmitter was to be on top of the Hagerstown Motor Inn (now the Alexander House) but was rejected due to structural incompatibility. A site on Fairview Mountain would become the location of the analog signal on UHF channel 25. Regional Broadcasting Company wanted the station to affiliate with ABC (which was the number one network at the time) but had to join NBC, which was the number three network. In 1973, Regional Broadcasting Company sold WHAG-TV to the Magazine Brothers of Washington D.C. who in-turn sold it to local aviation pioneer Richard Henson in 1977. It added the -TV suffix to its callsign in 1979.[1] The station was then sold in 1981 to Great Trails Broadcasting and then to Quorum Broadcasting in 1998.[2]
Beyond NBC programming, WHAG's line-up has been stable and consistent. It does not carry the network's Early Today. Long blocks of infomercials have been shown on weekends since the early-1990s. In September 2006 following the lead of other Nexstar-owned stations, WHAG switched its website's URL from "nbc25.com" to "your4state.com". Around this time, infomercials began appearing on weekdays during the daytime. Recently, it has been added to the Dish Network lineup of local offerings and is available to subscribers that currently receive the Washington D.C. market locals. On June 12, 2009, WHAG moved to UHF channel 26 when the analog to digital conversion was completed.
News operation [edit]
Right from the start, WHAG began offering local newscasts with The Valley News which aired weeknights at 6, 7, and 11. The original anchors were Bob Witt with news, Glenn Presgraves with sports, and Bill Wolfinger forecasting the weather. Bill Wolfinger also did a Saturday night horror movie show where he would be in costume similar to Lon Chaney. The news department expanded in 1972 to include weekend evening broadcasts at 11 that totaled six hours of local news per week. By the year 2000, news content increased to over 22 hours of broadcasts per week. In 1997, WHAG added a microwave truck allowing the transmitting of live breaking news from the viewing area.[2] On February 12, 2010, WHAG dropped the "NBC 25" branding for "WHAG" and switched its news branding from "NBC 25 News" to "WHAG News". This also happened at the same time a new set, music, and graphics package was launched. The station operates a bureau on East Patrick Street (MD 144) in Frederick.
On August 30, 2010, WHAG added a half hour to its weekday noon and 5 p.m. newscasts. Until this point unlike most NBC affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone, the station had not aired a broadcast weeknights at 5:30. It still does not offer a full two hour weekday morning show. There is now a half hour broadcast seen Monday through Saturday nights at 7. On weekends, an hour long morning show at 6 as well as a half hour Sunday morning broadcast at 9 were added. In addition, a Northern Virginia Bureau covering Leesburg, Berryville, and Winchester was opened. Although not a full news department, this is now the second local news operation established in those areas after TV3 Winchester launched back on March 5, 2007. All of the preceding changes required the expansion of WHAG's personnel.[3][4]
News team (as of February 2012) [edit]
Anchors
- Mark Kraham - news director; weekday mornings at 9:56 a.m. (during The Today Show)
- Jeff Bowers - weeknights at 6:00, 7:00 and 11:00 p.m.
- Jeannie Flitner - weeknights at 6:00, 7:00 and 11:00 p.m.
- Lynn Lawson - weekday mornings (5:30-7:00 a.m.)
- Patricia Martellotti - Saturdays at 7:00 and weekends at 6:00 and 11:00 p.m.; also weekday reporter
- TBD - weekdays at noon
- TBD - weeknights at 5:00 and 5:30 p.m.
- TBD - weekend mornings (6:00-7:00 weekends and 9:00-9:30 a.m. Sundays)
Weather team
- Lou Scally - chief weather anchor; weeknights at 5:00, 5:30, 6:00 and 7:00 p.m.; also heard on WJEJ-AM 1240
- Alan Auglis - meteorologist; weekend mornings (6:00-7:00 weekends and 9:00-9:30 a.m. Sundays) and weekends at 11:00 p.m.
- Bryan Tolle (member, NWA) - meteorologist; weeknights at 11:00 p.m.
- Dan Peck - meteorologist
- TBD - weekday mornings (5:30-7:00 a.m.) and weekdays at noon
- TBD - Saturdays at 7:00 and weekends at 6:00 p.m.
Sports team
- Harold Kuntz - sports director and anchor; weeknights at 6:00, 7:00 and 11:00 p.m., also sports reporter and WHAG Sports Connection host
- Kevin Reitmeyer - sports reporter; also "Athlete of the Month" segment producer
- Paul Espinosa - sports reporter; co-anchor of weekend "WHAG Sports Connection" broadcasts (Saturdays at 7:30 and Sundays at 10:35 p.m.)
- TBD - sports anchor; Saturdays at 7:00 and weekends at 6:00 and 11:00 p.m.
Reporters
- Lynn Lawson
- Ananda Rochita
- Dawn White
- Sujata Kandelwal
- Dana Chicklas
- Bejoy Joseph
- Katie Kyros
- Jessica Reyes
- Hayley Mason
- Jennifer Lee
- Patricia Martellotti
References [edit]
- ^ "RabbitEars.Info". RabbitEars.Info. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
- ^ a b [1][dead link]
- ^ "WHAG to Expand Coverage and Newscasts on Monday". Your4state.com. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
- ^ "WHAG Schedule 2010". Your4state.com. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
- ^ [2][dead link]
External links [edit]
- Official website (Mobile)
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WHAG-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WHAG-TV
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