toledo ohio . for the former wtvg tv in newark new jersey see wfut dt . wtvg toledo ohio united states branding 13 abc general 13 abc action news newscasts cw 13 dt2 slogan this is home channels digital 13 vhf subchannels 13.1 abc 13.2 the cw 13.3 weathernation owner gray television gray television licensee llc founded july 21 1948 ; 68 years ago 1948 07 21 call letters meaning we re tv in the glass city nickname for toledo sister station s wjrt tv former callsigns wspd tv 1948 1979 former channel number s 13 vhf analog 1948 2009 19 uhf digital 1996 2009 former affiliations primary nbc 1948 1995 accuwx dt3 2006 2013 secondary cbs 1948 1958 abc 1948 1970 dumont 1948 1955 transmitter power 16.7 kw height 305.4 m facility id 74150 transmitter coordinates 41 41 0 n 83 24 49 w 41.68333 n 83.41361 w 41.68333 ; 83.41361 coordinates 41 41 0 n 83 24 49 w 41.68333 n 83.41361 w 41.68333 ; 83.41361 website www.13abc.com wtvg channel 13 is the abc affiliated and the cw affiliated television station for northwest ohio and licensed in toledo ohio . owned by gray television the station s studios and offices are located on dorr street sr 246 in toledo and its transmitter is located in oregon ohio . contents 1 digital channels 2 history 2.1 wspd 2.2 wtvg 2.3 abc owned station 2.4 sjl broadcasting ownership 2.5 sale to gray television 3 programming 3.1 ohio lottery 4 news operation 4.1 high definition newscasts 5 notable past on air staff 6 see also 7 references 8 external links digital channels edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 1 13.1 720p 16 9 wtvg hd main wtvg programming abc 13.2 cw 13 the cw 13.3 480i wx now weathernation history edit wspd edit the station signed on the air on july 21 1948 as wspd tv owned by storer broadcasting along with wspd radio 1370 am 2 and fm 101.5 now wrvf . the studios were originally located at 136 huron st. in downtown toledo . it was toledo s first television station and the first television station in the storer broadcasting chain . originally the station carried programming from all four television networks abc nbc cbs and dumont . 2 however it was a primary nbc affiliate 2 owing to its radio sisters long affiliation with nbc radio . dumont shut down in 1955 leaving wspd tv affiliated with just the big three networks . 2 in 1958 however cbs moved its affiliation to newly signed on wtol tv channel 11 owing to its long affiliation with wtol radio . wspd kept its abc and nbc affiliations . wtol picked up nbc programming not carried by wspd tv and in 1965 became officially a co affiliate of nbc with wspd tv . in 1961 wspd radio moved to new studios in downtown toledo where they remain wspd tv s studio building was remodeled within a year . wspd tv became an exclusive nbc affiliate in 1970 when overmyer broadcasting then owner of then independent wdho tv channel 24 now wnwo tv persuaded abc to move its affiliation there . 2 by then wspd tv had become the first northwest ohio station to broadcast in color . wtvg edit storer also owned wjbk am fm tv in detroit and wjw am fm tv in cleveland . both wjbk tv and wjw tv were longstanding cbs affiliates . wspd tv provided city grade coverage to most of detroit s suburbs while its grade b signal could be seen in detroit and cleveland . the federal communications commission fcc grandfathered this situation under its one to a market rule in the 1970s . storer sold off wspd fm wjw fm and wjbk am fm wdee am wdrq fm the early 1970s wjw am in 1977 and wspd am in 1979 citation needed and channel 13 became wtvg on october 1 . 2 by then the studio building on huron street had been outgrown and wtvg moved into its current studio building in southwest toledo on dorr street . adhering to the design of the studios of most of its sister television station at the time wtvg s current studio building is a modern interpretation of an antebellum mansion . the storer stations were taken over by kohlberg kravis roberts & co. kkr in 1985 . as a result wtvg lost its grandfathered protection and was not sold to gillett communications along with the other storer stations in 1987 . instead it was sold to a local employee investor group called toledo television inc. toledo television in turn was bought out by sjl broadcast management in 1991 . 2 abc owned station edit in 1994 new world communications the owner of most of wtvg s former sister stations signed an affiliation deal with fox broadcasting company resulting in most of new world s stations switching affiliation to fox but some stayed with nbc which later bought the new world stations that did not go to fox . among the stations due to switch were wjbk detroit s longtime cbs affiliate and cleveland s longtime cbs affiliate wjw tv . to avoid being consigned to uhf in what were then the ninth largest market detroit and 15th largest market cleveland akron cbs heavily wooed detroit s longtime abc affiliate wxyz and wews cleveland s longtime abc affiliate . wxyz s owner the e.w. scripps company then told abc that unless it agreed to affiliate with their stations in cincinnati phoenix tampa and baltimore it would switch wxyz to cbs . 3 scripps also threatened to switch wews to cbs . as a contingency abc approached sjl about buying wtvg and wjrt tv in flint michigan . as mentioned above wtvg provides grade b coverage of detroit itself and city grade coverage to most of detroit s suburbs wxyz as well as grade b coverage to the sandusky and norwalk ohio area wews which would have come in handy had wxyz and wews switched to cbs . the deal valued at 120 million 4 closed on august 29 1995 . however wtvg s affiliation contract didn t run out until october so abc had to run wtvg as an nbc affiliate for two months while nbc looked for a new affiliate in the area . on october 28 1995 wtvg rejoined abc sending the nbc affiliation to wnwo tv . 2 as it turned out abc agreed to the affiliation deal with scripps as well and wxyz and wews retained their abc affiliations . abc chose not to trade its newly acquired stations for former o & o wxyz tv because of abc s ownership of wjr am and two other fm stations in detroit and scripps was looking to exit the radio business completely . citation needed in 1996 capital cities abc was acquired by disney . 2 wtvg was the smallest station in the country that was an o & o of any major network not counting semi satellites this includes wogx in ocala gainesville florida ; which is a semi satellite of wofl in orlando . because of its status as an o & o wtvg aired the veterans day airing of the film saving private ryan in 2004 while many affiliates pre empted it out of fears of being fined by the fcc for indecency in the wake of the super bowl xxxviii halftime show controversy . in fact scripps and sinclair broadcast group who combined owned four abc affiliates in ohio as well as wchs tv in charleston west virginia which serves parts of southern ohio decided to pre empt the film on all of its abc affiliates . among the then seven abc affiliates in or serving ohio at the time lima and wheeling west virginia would later gain their own affiliates this left wtvg and wytv in youngstown as the only abc stations in state to air the film . it was later determined that the movie showing was not a violation of fcc regulations . abc news now was launched in 2004 in the us on digital subchannel of abc owned & operated stations and affiliates . 5 for conversion to digital broadcasting the station requested to stay on and was assigned channel 13 by august 2007 and was temporary assigned channel 19 for temporary digital broadcast during the transition . 2 abc owned television stations including wtvg launched on april 27 2009 the live well network in high definition on the station s sub channels alongside the accuweather channel . 6 wtvg s broadcasts became digital only effective june 12 2009 . 2 channel 13 dtv transmits at a lower power than it did on channel 19 dtv so in some locations there has been a reduction in coverage . many vhf stations are applying to the fcc for power increases to restore their coverage area after moving from uhf back to vhf . sjl broadcasting ownership edit on november 3 2010 broadcasting & cable magazine announced that sjl broadcasting now owned by the principal owners of lilly broadcasting made an agreement with disney to buy back wtvg and wjrt upon speculation that disney may sell off abc . both stations retained their affiliations with abc . 7 sjl teamed up with a new private equity partner bain capital whose affiliated offshoot sankaty advisors provided the capital for the purchases which amounted to 16.8 million on wtvg s end of the 30 million deal . wtvg began being owned by sjl broadcasting again beginning april 1 2011 . 8 on april 12 2011 the new management dismissed around 20 people from a pre sale work force of approximately 100 all behind the scenes staff from the station despite promising earlier that they would make no staff cuts . similar cuts occurred at wjrt though cuts there also involved that station s veteran newscasters bill harris and joel feick . 9 on january 13 2011 wtvg filed an application to the fcc to increase its power from 14.6 kw to 16.7 kw . 10 the station granted a construction permit on the power increase on march 7 . 11 sale to gray television edit on july 24 2014 sjl announced that it would sell wtvg and wjrt again this time to gray television owner of lansing michigan s nbc affiliate wilx tv for 128 million a value higher than that of their original sale to abc . gray also announced its intent to add the cw to wtvg s digital subchannels . 4 the sale was completed on september 15 . 12 on september 1 2014 wtvg added the cw to its second digital subchannel to replace live well network acquiring the affiliation and syndicated programming from the previous toledo 5 cable channel operated by buckeye cablesystem and inheriting toledo 5 s previous cable positions . the move made the cw s programming available over the air and in high definition in the toledo market for the first time since the network s launch . 4 13 14 programming edit ohio lottery edit on july 1 2011 wtvg began to broadcast the nightly ohio lottery drawings and broadcast the game show cash explosion on saturday evenings . wtvg took over broadcasting the lottery drawings and game show from rival station wtol . 15 news operation edit wtvg airs over two hours of local news shows every sunday . the shows are each a half hour and talk about different types of topics . the shows include conklin and company 11 00 11 30 bridges 11 30 a.m. 12 00 noon roundtable 12 00 12 30 p.m. and full plate 12 30 1 00 p.m. . all four shows are also broadcast in high definition . wtvg ended the show coffee with the fords on june 19 2011 . the show was hosted by former toledo mayor jack ford and his wife cynthia . coffee with the