binghamton new york united states branding channel 34 general newschannel 34 newscasts nbc 5 on dt2 channels digital 34 uhf virtual 34 psip subchannels 34.1 abc 34.2 nbc 34.3 laff 34.4 escape affiliations abc owner nexstar broadcasting group nexstar broadcasting inc. first air date november 24 1962 ; 53 years ago 1962 11 24 call letters meaning variant of sister station wixt now wsyr tv sister station s wbgh cd wsyr tv wetm tv wwti wroc tv wutr wfxv wpny lp wfff tv wvny former callsigns wbja tv 1962 1978 wmgc tv 1978 1998 former channel number s analog 34 uhf 1962 2009 digital 4 vhf 2003 2009 transmitter power 345 kw height 278 m class dt facility id 11260 transmitter coordinates 42 3 39.5 n 75 56 36 w 42.060972 n 75.94333 w 42.060972 ; 75.94333 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.binghamtonhomepage.com wivt is the abc affiliated television station for the eastern southern tier of southern upstate new york and northern pennsylvania . licensed to binghamton it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on uhf channel 34 from a transmitter at its studios on ingraham hill road southwest of downtown . the station can also be seen on time warner cable channel 6 and in high definition on digital channel 1200 . owned by nexstar broadcasting group wivt is sister to class a nbc affiliate wbgh cd and the two outlets share studios . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 5 notable alumni 6 references 7 external links history edit alfred e. anscombe former general manager of wkbw am tv in buffalo secured a construction permit for binghamton s third television station on april 25 1961 . 1 2 he named it wbja tv 3 after his wife beth j. anscombe . initially the station was allocated to uhf analog channel 56 . 3 however five years earlier two competing abc affiliates in northeastern pennsylvania wilk tv channel 34 in wilkes barre and warm tv channel 16 in scranton merged to form wnep tv retaining wilk s license but using warm s old uhf channel 16 . 4 seeing a chance to use more signal at less cost anscombe sought and won a new construction permit for analog channel 34 . 5 the new station signed on november 24 1962 6 from studios at its transmitter site on ingraham hill south of binghamton . 4 5 it has always been an abc affiliate . 6 the northeastern pennsylvania area station now known as wolf tv signed on in 1985 using analog channel 56 . anscombe planned for wbja to be the first station in a seven station group ; 6 however only one other station wepa tv in erie pennsylvania now defunct ; its channel 66 allocation was later used by wfxp was started before the two stations were acquired by gerald arthur oliver lazare and jules hessen a group who also owned weee in rensselaer in 1966 . 7 8 pinnacle communications bought wbja in 1978 9 and changed the call letters to wmgc tv on october 19 10 11 reflecting its new magic 34 branding . 4 it dropped the branding by the mid to late 1980s but retained the call letters . pinnacle sold wmgc to citadel communications in 1986 ; 12 in 1995 citadel sold the station along with wvny in burlington vermont to usa broadcast group 13 which was soon renamed u.s. broadcast group after a complaint from usa network . 14 u.s. broadcast group put its stations up for sale in 1997 ; 15 wskg tv contemplated acquiring wmgc and operating it as an nbc affiliate to raise money for its public broadcasting operations at that time binghamton had no nbc affiliate of its own following wicz tv s switch to fox a year earlier 16 17 but it was instead purchased by the ackerley group 18 which changed the call letters to wivt on february 26 1998 . 10 19 the call letters were derived from ackerley s station in syracuse wixt now wsyr tv . 19 a few months later ackerley nearly lost its investment . on may 31 1998 a tornado ripped through wivt s ingraham hill studios and blew down its tower . cross town rival wbng tv had live reports that night literally from the wivt facilities . the station had a feed restored to cable providers within days but was off the air for several months . 4 wivt became a sister station to wbgh when that station was sold by smith television to ackerley in 2000 . 20 ackerley merged with clear channel communications on june 14 2002 . 21 on april 20 2007 the company entered into an agreement to sell its entire television stations group to newport television a broadcasting group established by providence equity partners ; 22 the deal was completed on march 14 2008 . 23 newport announced on july 19 2012 that it would sell 12 of its stations including wivt and wbgh to nexstar . 24 the sale was completed on december 3 . on september 16 2013 it was announced that mission broadcasting would acquire wicz and low powered mynetworktv affiliate wbpn lp from the stainless broadcasting company subsidiary of northwest broadcasting . upon the deal s completion the stations operations would have been taken over by nexstar making them sisters to wivt and wbgh . 25 in march 2015 mission s purchase of wicz and wbpn was canceled ; as a result stainless withdrew the license assignment applications on march 18 . 26 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 27 34.1 720p 16 9 wivt dt main wivt programming abc 34.2 wbgh hd hd simulcast of wbgh cd 34.3 480i 4 3 laff 34.4 escape since wbgh operates as part of the wivt twinstick its second digital subchannel now carries wbgh in 720p high definition as of february 9 2010 . the official plan was to broadcast wbgh cd in high definition in the future with the federal communications commission fcc roll out plan for low power digital stations . the plan took effect when wbgh cd flash cut to digital in august 2015 . analog to digital conversion edit wivt shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 34 after midnight 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 vhf channel 4 to uhf channel 34 for post transition operations . 28 programming edit syndicated programming on wivt includes wheel of fortune jeopardy judge joe brown and judge judy among others . all the shows mentioned are produced by cbs television distribution . news operation edit newschannel 34 logo . for the most part wivt has been a non factor in the local newscast race in binghamton . it has spent most of its history as the third station in what was at one point essentially a two station market since it did not sign on until november 1962 . the outlet reaped virtually no benefit when the area s long time nbc affiliate wicz switched to fox in 1996 . 4 immediately after taking control the ackerley group significantly upgraded wivt s news department with the ability to share resources with wixt s well respected news department in syracuse as well as the company s other television properties in upstate new york . 4 wivt s evening newscasts began to be simulcast on wbgh in 2000 after that station s acquisition by ackerley . 20 after the aforementioned tornado destroyed its newly renovated studios the station temporarily relocated to the facilities of wskg tv in vestal while rebuilding on ingraham hill . 29 however the upgrades proved unsustainable and cuts began to be made as a result . shortly before clear channel took over in june 2002 wivt eliminated its weekday morning and midday newscasts . 30 on july 8 wixt in syracuse began producing a two hour weekday morning show known as daybreak . airing from 5 until 7 the regional newscast separate from wixt and originating from a secondary set at its east syracuse studios was simulcasted on sister stations wwti in watertown and wutr in utica . the show included brief localized updates focusing on binghamton twice an hour although most coverage was regional in nature with area wide weather forecasts . 30 31 32 in 2003 wivt dropped its weekend newscasts due to a loss of viewership . 32 the station eventually closed down its local sports department in 2006 and at the same time reduced its 11 p.m. newscast to a short five minute update . wivt also began originating its early weeknight shows featuring unique segments including exclusive musical performances from secondary studios in the oakdale mall in johnson city . due to a lack of meteorologists except for a lone weather anchor based at wwti wivt s forecasting personnel also produced most weather segments that were taped in advance for that station . on june 5 2009 wivt and wbgh announced there would be a consolidation of news operations with sister station wetm tv in elmira after newport television made across the board cuts . 33 wbng reported all but two people from the news staff and all production personnel for the news department would be terminated . 34 the press & sun bulletin later identified the two personnel remaining as news director jim ehmke and news anchor peter quinn but also said fifteen other members of the original 28 person staff including non news personnel would remain based in binghamton . the two stations would continue to be locally operated and maintain engineer staff at the studios on ingraham hill road . 35 wivt and wbgh then began simulcasting wetm s newscasts with only regional weather coverage of the eastern twin tiers . 36 a separate newscast specifically focusing on the binghamton area was brought back to wivt and wbgh on june 28 2009 through a simulcast on both stations . 37 this effort originally consisted of a 6 p.m. weeknight newscast entirely produced from wetm s studios in elmira . eventually production of the news and sports portions of the broadcast shifted back to the wivt and wbgh facility . these segments are recorded earlier in the day usually by 5 o clock and feature locally based photojournalists in binghamton . a repeat of the 6 o clock newscast at 11 was subsequently added to the schedules of wivt and wbgh . during the broadcast wsyr in syracuse provides a local weather forecast featuring rotating meteorologists that is also recorded in advance . soon after adding the hyper local bighamton news wivt ceased simulcasting wetm s newscasts making the taped weeknight newscast the only local news shown on the station . however wbgh continued to air wetm s weekend 11 p.m. newscast until some point in late 2013 . notable alumni edit greg kelly now at wnyw references edit the fcc last week pdf . broadcasting . may 1 1961 . p. 62 . retrieved december 4 2011 . for the record pdf . broadcasting . may 1 1961 . p. 129 . retrieved december 4 2011 . a b for the record pdf . broadcasting . may 29 1961 . p. 90 . retrieved december 4 2011 . a b c d e f fybush scott december 20 2000 . ingraham hill binghamton n.y. . tower site of the week . retrieved december 5 2011 . a b the fcc last week pdf . broadcasting . march 12 1962 . p. 61 . retrieved december 5 2011 . a b c wbja tv begins operating pdf . broadcasting . december 3 1962 . p. 50 .