charlotte florida united states city naples florida branding abc 7 general abc 7 news newscasts slogan abc7 here general get more newscasts channels digital 41 uhf virtual 26 psip subchannels 26.1 abc 26.2 metv affiliations abc owner montclair communications inc. operated through lma by waterman broadcasting corporation first air date august 21 1974 ; 42 years ago 1974 08 21 call letters meaning zeven sounds like seven or disambiguation of wsvn tv sister station s wbbh tv wvir tv former callsigns wevu 1974 1995 former channel number s analog 26 uhf 1974 2009 transmitter power 1 000 kw height 453.9 m facility id 19183 transmitter coordinates 26 48 54 n 81 45 41.6 w 26.81500 n 81.761556 w 26.81500 ; 81.761556 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website abc 7 . com wzvn tv virtual channel 26 uhf digital channel 41 is an abc affiliated television station serving fort myers florida united states that is licensed in naples as such it is one of two fort myers based stations licensed in naples alongside cw affiliate wxcw channel 46 . the station is owned by montclair communications ; the waterman broadcasting corporation which owns nbc affiliate wbbh tv channel 20 operates wzvn tv under a local marketing agreement . the two stations share studio facilities located on central avenue in fort myers ; wzvn s transmitter is located along sr 31 in unincorporated southeastern charlotte county ; a backup transmitter is located in bonita springs . citation needed the station is also available on comcast and centurylink channel 7 . there is a high definition feed provided on comcast digital channel 431 and centurylink digital channel 1007 . known on air as abc 7 the branding is derived from wzvn s primary cable position in the market on xfinity and most other cable providers in the area . this practice stems in part from the area s exceptionally high cable penetration rate which is one of the highest in the united states . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 news operation 4 notable current on air staff 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit wevu logo in 1991 . the station first signed on the air on august 21 1974 as wevu a phonetic translation of we vieu w ; it was the third television station to sign on in fort myers . the station was owned by gulfshore television corporation it immediately took over the abc affiliation which beforehand was relegated to off hour secondary clearances through wbbh tv channel 20 and cbs affiliate wink tv channel 11 . however viewers with a good antenna could also watch the full abc schedule from miami s wplg west palm beach s wpec or wlcy tv now cbs affiliate wtsp in st. petersburg . the station s original studios were located off of us 41 in bonita springs the station s original transmitter facilities were located southeast of bonita springs near the collier and lee county line . this location allowed the station to provide a stronger signal into naples and southern collier county as compared with the market s other broadcast outlets . gulfshore television sold the station to caloosa television a subsidiary of the home news company in 1978 . in 1987 the station moved its operations to a new building located on bonita bay boulevard in bonita springs . in 1992 it was sold to fcvs communications then owner of wkch tv now wtnz in knoxville tennessee and wach in columbia south carolina which turned around and sold all three stations to ellis communications in 1993 . in 1994 wevu entered into a local marketing agreement with wbbh and moved its operations into that station s facility on central avenue . at the time both stations began identifying by their cable channel slots with channel 26 starting to use a variant of the circle 7 logo . wzvn s version has the abc logo attached to the bottom left corner boxed in by a black rectangle . unlike the more common varieties such as that used by network flagship wabc tv in new york city the seven numeral is curved differently . the station changed its call letters to the current wzvn tv a phonetic translation of z s even on october 16 1995 the wevu calls later resided on a now defunct local class a station . ellis communications merged with raycom media in 1996 although due to federal communications commission fcc ownership limits in effect at the time that barred common ownership of two television stations in the same market wzvn s license was spun off to montclair communications which continued the lma with wbbh . it should be noted that station s operator waterman broadcasting holds an investment interest in montclair communications even though the two companies file separate financial reports with the securities and exchange commission . as of august 2009 its website is now completely operated by wbbh as a hybrid of that station s web address with a different color scheme . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 1 26.1 720p 16 9 wzvn hd main wzvn tv programming abc 26.2 480i 4 3 wzvn sd metv on june 6 2011 wzvn began airing programming from metv a digital multicast network that airs classic television sitcoms and dramas from the 1950s through the 1980s on a second digital subchannel . this allotment was previously used to broadcast a standard definition simulcast of its main signal . 2 analog to digital conversion edit wzvn tv became the first television station in the market to launch a high definition digital signal on october 31 2002 . the station discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over uhf channel 26 on february 17 2009 the original target date in which full power television stations in the united states were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate which was later pushed back to june 12 2009 . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 41 3 using psip to display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 26 . as part of the safer act 4 wzvn tv kept its analog signal on the air until february 25 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the national association of broadcasters . news operation edit wzvn tv presently broadcasts 33 hours of locally produced newscasts each week with 5 hours on weekdays and three hours on saturdays and sundays . between the two wzvn and wbbh air a combined twelve hours of news on weekdays and 4 hours on weekends . in addition to the main studios wzvn and wbbh operate a collier county bureau on tamiami trail north u.s. 41 sr 45 in naples . the two stations operate a baron weather radar at the main facilities that is known on wzvn as stormwarn 7 live doppler . the radar has a range of 300 miles and can survey approaching storms in three dimensions . in 1994 wzvn and wbbh merged their news departments and began having news reporters appear on both stations . resources such as video footage and stories also began to be shared between the stations . during this period each station maintained separate unique sets at the central avenue facilities and featured a distinct on air style . there were primary personalities such as news anchors that would only appear on one station . the joint operation was billed as the eyewitness news network . it should be known that if wzvn chose not to become a junior partner in the lma with wbbh the station would have been required to shut down its news department . traditionally wbbh tended to cover more stories from charlotte county while wzvn had a slight collier county focus since it is licensed to naples and had the former analog transmitter located further south than the area s other television outlets . today wzvn continues the practice of maintaining its own primary on air team on weekdays that only appear on the station . otherwise all other personnel including most reporters are shared amongst one another . its newscasts are broadcast from a separate set at the central avenue facility allowing it to have a different on air identity and graphics scheme from wbbh . compared with that station channel 26 s newscasts usually tend to air in a more flashier fast paced format with promotions referring to the station providing more news coverage in 30 minutes than the market s other stations . wbbh traditionally covers more investigative and consumer stories through its nbc 2 investigators unit . on weekends there are separate news and sports anchors but the same meteorologists are seen on both wzvn and wbbh . this is possible because the two stations maintain individual sets and do not always air local newscasts at the same timeslots . since it was the first station to sign on in southwest florida and was the only one located on the vhf dial wink tv has long been the most watched television station according to nielsen . one of the best known former personalities and a veteran of southwestern florida broadcasting is harry horn . he lost his battle with als in august 2005 . during major hurricanes most recently charley and wilma wzvn and wbbh combined their news resources to provide 24 hour continuous coverage . commercial breaks are dropped for several hours preceding and following landfall . coverage is simulcast on both stations and a common live video stream is featured on both stations websites . during previous years wbbh s news set was used during hurricanes along with both wbbh and wzvn s weather sets . as of 2007 wzvn s high definition news set is now used in the event of a hurricane as its internal location at the central avenue facility provides the best protection against damaging winds . on august 14 2006 through a news share agreement the station began producing a nightly primetime newscast for cable exclusive wnfm which eventually become the market s mynetworktv affiliate on september 5 . known as abc 7 gulfshore news at 10 on my tv 8 the broadcast was the first competitor to fox affiliate wftx tv whose 10 p.m. newscast has been long dominant in the ratings . however as a result of comcast s frequent technical difficulties as the cable company operates wnfm which hindered the show s ratings as well as the march 26 2007 launch of a wink produced 10 p.m. newscast that quickly garnered enough viewership to emerge as a strong second place in the 10 p.m. timeslot wzvn canceled the program on may 25 2007 . on july 12 2007 wzvn upgraded its newscasts to 16 9 widescreen enhanced definition . on october 20 however rival wink tv became the first station in southwestern florida to broadcast news programming in high definition . wzvn would itself upgrade its newscasts to hd on july 19 2008 . on october 26 of that year several changes occurred to wzvn and wbbh s news programming in order to better compete with wink tv . wzvn dropped the first hour of its weekday morning newscast as of 2012 that hour has since been restored and a mid morning newscast at 10 a.m. wbbh debuted a new hour long midday broadcast at 11 a.m. while keeping its hour long noon newscast . meanwhile wzvn added an hour long weekday morning newscast at 9 a.m. on september 8 2009 the station began producing a half hour 7 p.m. newscast on weeknights to compete against wink tv s newscast airing in the same timeslot . on january 16 2012 wzvn debuted an hour long newscast