branding whio tv channel 7 general news center 7 newscasts slogan coverage you can count on channels digital 41 uhf virtual 7 psip affiliations .1 cbs .2 metv .3 laff owner cox media group miami valley broadcasting corporation first air date february 23 1949 ; 67 years ago 1949 02 23 call letters meaning w ohio sister station s whio am whio fm whko fm wzlr fm former channel number s analog 13 vhf 1949 1952 7 vhf 1952 2009 former affiliations secondary dumont 1949 1952 dt2 7 weather now 2006 2014 transmitter power 1000 kw digital height 290 m digital facility id 41458 transmitter coordinates 39 44 2 n 84 14 53 w 39.73389 n 84.24806 w 39.73389 ; 84.24806 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website whio tv whio tv virtual channel 7 is the cbs affiliated television station licensed in dayton ohio serving that state s miami valley area . it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on uhf channel 41 from its transmitter on germantown street in western dayton . the station is owned by cox media group and its studios are co located with sister properties the dayton daily news and cox s miami valley radio stations in the cox media center building on south main street near downtown dayton . contents 1 station history 2 programming 3 digital television 3.1 digital channels 3.2 analog to digital conversion 3.3 logo 4 weather 4.1 storm center 7 4.2 live doppler 7 4.3 7 weather now 5 widescreen and high definition news 6 notable alumni 7 see also 8 references 9 external links station history edit whio tv signed on february 23 1949 on channel 13 . it was the first television station in dayton to begin broadcasting although wlwd then channel 5 now wdtn channel 2 was the first to have its license granted . the station has been owned by the cox publishing family and their related companies since its inception ; cox also publishes the dayton daily news the first newspaper ever purchased 1 by cox enterprises founder james m. cox . in fact whio tv is only the second of three television stations built by cox from the ground up merely five months after its sister property wsb tv in atlanta where cox media group is headquartered now . whio tv s licensee miami valley broadcasting was originally used as the official name for cox media s television arm for decades . whio tv has been a cbs affiliate from the very beginning and is the only station in dayton never to have changed its primary affiliation ; it did air some programming from the long defunct dumont television network during its first three years on the air . the station moved to channel 7 in 1952 following the release of the federal communications commission s sixth report and order which reorganized vhf channel assignments throughout much of ohio and the midwest . 2 whio tv also 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 the case before a low powered cbs affiliate wlmo lp went on the air in lima . whio tv also remains on time warner s lima cable systems along with columbus cbs affiliate wbns tv . on december 15 2009 cox media group announced that it would move whio tv as well as cox radio stations whio whio fm whko and wzlr from its home since the 1950s on wilmington avenue in dayton at the kettering city line 3 to the cox media center building also the current home of the daily news on south main street in dayton by december 2010 . whio tv began broadcasting from the new facility at 2 35 a.m. on december 12 2010 . 4 whio tv s newscasts known as newscenter 7 since the mid 1970s have been in first place in the nielsen ratings for many years and that trend continues to this day . citation needed whio tv s digital subchannel 7.2 became an affiliate of metv on december 1 2014 . 5 digital subchannel 7.3 was added as a laff affiliate on april 15 2015 the network s launch date . 6 7 programming edit outside of the cbs network schedule syndicated programming on whio tv includes live with kelly and michael dr. phil the ellen degeneres show wheel of fortune and entertainment tonight . this is one of the few u.s. markets where wheel and jeopardy are seen on separate tv stations the latter airing on wdtn . the highest quality surviving broadcast copy of the star wars holiday special is derived from this tv station . 8 the dayton dragons began televising games on digital channel 7.2 time warner cable channels 23 and 372 on april 9 2009 9 eventually airing 25 games per season . in the 2016 season the dragons telecasts moved to wbdt . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 10 7.1 1080i 16 9 whio hd main whio tv programming cbs 7.2 480i 4 3 whio me metv 7.3 whio la laff analog to digital conversion edit whio dt began transmitting its digital signal on channel 41 in october 2001 . 11 the station shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 7 on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television stations in the united states transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 41 . 12 13 14 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former vhf analog channel 7 . logo edit throughout the 1960s and into the early 1970s whio tv s logo was the numeral 7 with the station s call letters and city of license inside a perforated circle . by the early 1970s the logo was streamlined with the 7 now broken at the point where the two lines in the 7 meet ; by this time the 7 was by itself inside a solid unbroken circle usually with the call letters nearby drawing comparisons with the circle 7 logo used by new york s wabc tv and other abc owned stations . a graphics package used around 1996 also was used with modifications at three other cox owned stations wsoc tv in charlotte nc wftv in orlando fl and kiro tv in seattle wa . aside from some slight changes this logo remained until early 2007 when the break was removed . 15 16 17 even after the change the broken 7 logo remained on the anchor desk until the move to the cox media center building in december 2010 . the station debuted its new button 7 logo on march 30 2013 which sports a simple white 7 on a blue circular background . weather edit storm center 7 edit whio tv currently calls its team of meteorologists the storm center 7 weather team . whio tv bills its radar which is powered by baron services as live doppler 7 . whio tv did not use its own professional meteorologists until 1993 with the hiring of penn state meteorology graduate heidi sonen . 18 19 the station dropped the accuweather service it had previously featured and hired other meteorologists to fill out the staff including former weather channel meteorologist fred barnhill . usaf meteorologist warren madden was hired from nearby wright patterson air force base ; he went to the weather channel in december 1996 . after sonen s retirement in 1997 the station hired more penn state graduates for the role of chief meteorologist including brian orzel and jamie simpson . in december 2004 the station introduced stormcenter 7 which is a weather center created by fx group that doubles as a set where weather reports can be done . in february 2015 simpson announced his resignation 20 having accepted a plea agreement on a drunk driving charge . 21 whio announced a national search for his replacement in the position of chief meteorologist . 21 on may 7 2015 the station announced that it had hired eric elwell as the its new chief meteorologist with brett collar hired as the new weekend morning meteorologist . both were announced to be starting in june with all existing meteorologists at the station remaining but in some cases being rotated on the schedule . 22 collar officially began on june 20 2015 with elwell s first day on june 29 2015 . 23 live doppler 7 edit on june 29 2007 whio tv debuted its new doppler weather radar initially billed as new live doppler 7 currently called live doppler 7 hd . the radar is available anytime on the station s website . 7 weather now edit on december 15 2006 whio tv launched 7 weather now programmed 24 hours a day with a mix of frequently updated locally produced forecasts and content from the accuweather channel . live coverage of developing severe weather could be found on 7 weather now as well as the latest watches and warnings . weekday mornings from 7 to 8 a.m. the final hour of news center 7 daybreak was rebroadcast on the channel . 24 25 effective december 1 2014 7 weather now is no longer programmed on digital channel 7.2 but can be found as a live stream at the station s website and through the whio weather mobile app . 5 widescreen and high definition news edit whio tv began broadcasting its newscasts in a 16 9 widescreen standard definition format on april 1 2007 ; it was the first ohio station outside of cleveland to switch to this new format . in the station s december 12 2010 move to the cox media center all of its cameras graphics and equipment were replaced with full high definition equipment . beginning with that day s late night newscast which was delayed to 11 26 p.m. due to an overrun of cbs network programming whio tv began broadcasting all locally shot portions of its newscasts studio segments and live field reports in high definition . whio tv remained the only station in the dayton area that broadcast local newscasts in high definition or 16 9 widescreen until july 21 2012 when wdtn made the upgrade to hd . wkef followed suit during a move to a new facility . local commercials on whio tv however continue to be stretched from their original 4 3 standard definition to widescreen dimensions . on january 21 2016 whio tv debuted a new set designed by fx group . 26 27 notable alumni edit jim baldridge co anchor 1972 88 lead anchor 1988 2009 now retired phil donahue co anchor during the 1960s left for wlwd in 1967 mick hubert sports anchor director 1979 89 now radio play by play announcer for university of florida tracie savage anchor reporter 1986 91 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 gil whitney reporter anchor and weather specialist died in 1982 see also edit channel 7 virtual tv stations in the united states channel 41 digital tv stations in the united states list of television stations in ohio list of television stations in ohio by channel number list of television stations in the united states by call sign initial letter w miami valley channel cable channel operated by whio tv from september 1994 through the end of 2006 ; served as upn affiliate from october 1998 to september 2006 references edit dayton daily news tv coverage rtma predicts expansion pdf . broadcasting telecasting . may 19 1952 . p. 78 . retrieved march 27 2016 . 1414