please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . december 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message wlvi cambridge boston massachusetts united states city cambridge massachusetts branding cw56 general 7 news newscasts channels digital 41 uhf virtual 56 psip affiliations .1 the cw nbc alternate ; through january 1 2017 .2 buzzr owner sunbeam television whdh tv first air date august 31 1953 ; 63 years ago 1953 08 31 call letters meaning lvi 56 in roman numerals ; former analog channel number and current psip number sister station s whdh former callsigns wtao tv 1953 1965 wxhr tv 1965 1966 wkbg tv 1966 1974 wlvi tv 1974 2010 former channel number s analog 56 uhf 1953 2009 former affiliations dumont 1953 1956 abc 1953 1956 silent 1956 1962 1962 1966 august 1998 independent 1962 1966 1995 the wb 1995 2006 transmitter power 550 kw height 346 m facility id 73238 transmitter coordinates 42 18 10 n 71 13 7 w 42.30278 n 71.21861 w 42.30278 ; 71.21861 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.whdh.com cw56 wlvi virtual channel 56 uhf digital channel 41 is a cw affiliated television station serving boston massachusetts united states that is licensed to cambridge . the station is owned by sunbeam television as part of a duopoly with nbc affiliate whdh channel 7 . the two stations share studios located at bulfinch place in downtown boston wlvi s transmitter is located in needham . the station is automated and operated completely by whdh staffers . contents 1 history 1.1 wtao tv 1.2 wxhr tv wkbg tv 1.3 wlvi tv 1.3.1 tribune company ownership 1.3.2 cw affiliation and sunbeam purchase 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 news operation 3.1 notable current on air staff 3.2 notable former on air staff 4 references 5 external links history edit wtao tv edit channel 56 is the oldest uhf license in boston . it first went on the air on august 31 1953 as wtao tv ; the station was originally owned by middlesex broadcasting along with wtao radio 740 am now wjib and wxhr 96.9 fm now wbqt . the station s studio and transmitter were located atop zion hill in woburn massachusetts . wtao was nominally affiliated with dumont and abc though it was largely programmed as an independent station especially after dumont eliminated entertainment programming in 1955 and abc opted to revert to secondary clearances on wnac tv channel 7 now whdh and to a lesser extent wbz tv channel 4 these moves effectively left wtao reliant on movies and limited local programming to fill its airtime . 1 wtao was written off as a failure and signed off for the last time on march 30 1956 due to low viewership only a small percentage of boston area television sets were even capable of receiving uhf as set manufacturers were not required to equip televisions with uhf tuners until 1964 following the 1961 passage of the all channel receiver act and therefore lack of revenue from sponsors . the station went back on the air on may 17 1962 for a six month federal communications commission fcc study before being taken off the air again on november 17 of the same year . wxhr tv wkbg tv edit the channel 56 license which adopted the wxhr tv call letters in 1965 2 was purchased by kaiser broadcasting and the boston globe in 1966 . the new owners returned the station to the air on december 21 of that year as independent station wkbg tv standing for kaiser broadcasting boston globe operating from a studio in brookline but using the same zion hill transmission tower used by wtao . heard over its test patterns in preparing to sign on and in its opening day broadcast was the bert kaempfert hit instrumental that happy feeling . wkbg intended the brookline studios to be temporary 3 and in 1969 it moved to a much larger facility in a former supermarket on morrissey boulevard in the dorchester section of boston . by that time the station s transmitter had moved to its current site in needham . the antenna at the needham site gave channel 56 better coverage of the southern portion of the boston market than the woburn site afforded . as a kaiser station channel 56 s schedule consisted primarily of cartoons off network sitcoms older movies and occasionally network shows that were preempted by other local stations . however the station was willing to experiment with such projects as universal television s operation prime time although paramount television would contribute some programs as well and syndicated reruns of national geographic specials in primetime . such common independent station programming as a saturday creature double feature following repeats of the outer limits reached youthful and cult audiences . u.s. talk show host conan o brien has credited the station s rotation of classic musicals during its primetime movie offerings with encouraging him to consider a career as a performer . for most of its tenure as an independent station channel 56 was well behind wsbk tv channel 38 which had exclusive rights to broadcasting the games of the highly popular boston bruins and was carried on almost every cable provider in new england in the ratings . still it was carried on most cable providers throughout new england and channel 56 did carry some sports programming of its own including road games of the boston celtics from 1966 to 1969 and road telecasts of the boston bruins in 1966 67 . it also carried telecasts of the world hockey association s new england whalers now the nhl s carolina hurricanes from 1972 to 1974 25 regular season games during the 1972 73 season and 20 games during the 1973 74 season some home and some away games broadcast each year . wlvi tv edit in 1974 the boston globe sold its share in wkbg back to kaiser . the call letters were then changed to the current wlvi tv reflecting the roman numeral for 56 lvi that may 4 and in 1977 chicago based field communications which had acquired 22.5 % of kaiser in 1972 purchased wlvi and the other kaiser stations both wlvi and present day sister station whdh dropped the tv suffix from their callsigns on july 8 2010 . in 1983 wlvi was sold to the gannett company as part of a liquidation of field s television assets . under gannett wlvi continued its general entertainment format which included children s programming from 6 00 to 11 00 a.m. as well as from 1 00 to 5 30 p.m. under the wlvi kids club banner . for the generation of new england children growing up during this period uncle dale dorman also a popular boston radio personality was the familiar personality fronting the kids club hosting the cartoons and appearing in hosted commercial segments . by 1990 dorman left the station and was replaced by paul wagner and elizabeth dann who appeared in new segments of their own and like dorman doubled as announcers . from 1985 to 1990 wlvi again became the carrier of the boston celtics road games . wlvi continued to use the field communications style station branding and logo for nearly a decade after gannett acquired the station . in 1992 the numeric logo changed to a design in which the number 56 was encased in a tall purple blue box with the wlvi calls appearing in a thin font above it in a purple blue strip . the 5 was placed in the top left corner of the box while the 6 appeared below it in the lower right hand corner . the logo design and numerals font was directly replicated from the positions of the 5 and 6 that appeared on the clock face of the custom house tower . tribune company ownership edit in november 1993 gannett sold the station to the tribune company s broadcasting division 5 which was finalized in early 1994 . tribune then affiliated the station with the fledgling wb television network 6 which launched on january 11 1995 . soon afterward after having been branded as channel 56 or tv 56 for most of its history with the minor exception of its branding as living 56 in the late 1980s under gannett ownership the station rebranded as wb 56 . a new red and white wb affiliate style logo debuted in may 1995 which was used on most station branding from the start . the 1992 custom house clock tower logo remained in use only on the 10 p.m. newscast until mid 1996 along with a top of the hour id that aired before the start of the newscast in which the previous logo appeared with the wb s logo and network backlot visuals . the station added wb primetime shows as well as by september 1995 children s programs from kids wb on weekday afternoons . cartoons such as ronin warriors and sailor moon and recent sitcoms continued to be part of the schedule but a few talk and reality shows began to be added by 1996 . the station also served as the default wb affiliate for providence rhode island where wlvi had been available on cable for decades until wlwc signed on in 1997 . the station temporarily went off the air in august 1998 when a crane that was erecting a nearby studio to transmitter link stl tower collapsed onto wlvi s studio building . though no one was injured and the damage was confined to the station s office spaces the incident resulted in several hundred thousand dollars worth of damage . the station used a satellite truck for a network programming downlink and studio space at wcvb tv channel 5 s facilities in needham for its 10 p.m. newscast . in 1999 wlvi began a one year stint as the flagship station of the boston red sox with games produced by an independent company jankowski communications headed by former cbs executive gene jankowski . what was to be a long term partnership between the team jankowski and wlvi ended after a single year when jankowski communications ceased operations . the following year the station discontinued its weekday morning children s programming block in favor of a short lived morning newscast . the station also began running even more syndicated talk and reality shows and dropped most of its off network sitcoms except during the evening hours . afternoon children s programming continued to be supplied by kids wb until that block was relegated to saturday mornings only in january 2006 . channel 56 was the last commercial station in the boston market that continued to broadcast children s programming on weekdays . around this time the station began phasing out references to its channel number in its branding becoming boston s wb . cw affiliation and sunbeam purchase edit on january 24 2006 cbs corporation and time warner s warner bros. entertainment the division that operated the wb announced that they would dissolve upn and the wb and combine upn and the wb s most popular programs alongside new series on a newly created network the cw . the network signed 10 year affiliation agreements with 16 of tribune s 19 wb affiliates including wlvi . 7 however it would not have been an upset had then upn station wsbk which had become owned by cbs corporation through cbs s december 2005 split from viacom been chosen as boston s cw outlet as network officials had been on record as preferring the strongest stations among the wb and upn s affiliate slate and boston was one of the few markets where the wb and upn affiliates were both relatively strong ratings wise . the cw began operations on september 18 2006 and wlvi