verification . 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 wivb tv buffalo new york united states branding wivb 4 general news 4 newscasts slogan we re 4 buffalo general western new york s news leader newscasts channels digital 39 uhf virtual 4 psip subchannels 4.1 cbs affiliations cbs 1949 present owner media general sale to nexstar broadcasting group pending wivb broadcasting llc first air date may 14 1948 ; 68 years ago 1948 05 14 call letters meaning we re iv 4 buffalo former analog channel number and current psip number sister station s wnlo former callsigns wben tv 1948 1977 former channel number s analog 4 1948 2009 former affiliations nbc 1948 1954 secondary from 1949 abc secondary 1948 1956 dumont secondary 1948 1955 transmitter power 790 kw height 417 m facility id 7780 transmitter coordinates 42 39 33 n 78 37 33.7 w 42.65917 n 78.626028 w 42.65917 ; 78.626028 coordinates 42 39 33 n 78 37 33.7 w 42.65917 n 78.626028 w 42.65917 ; 78.626028 website wivb.com wivb tv channel 4 is a cbs affiliated television station located in buffalo new york usa . the station is owned by media general as part of a duopoly with cw affiliate wnlo channel 23 . the two stations share studios on elmwood avenue in north buffalo and wivb tv s transmitter is located in colden new york . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channel 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 cable disputes 5 news operation 5.1 accolades and honors 5.2 notable current on air staff 5.2.1 notable former staff 6 references 7 external links history edit an early wben tv identification card . the station first signed on the air on may 14 1948 as wben tv . 1 it is buffalo s first television station and is the fifth oldest station in new york state . the station was originally owned by the butler family along with the buffalo evening news and wben radio 930 am and 106.5 fm now wtss at 102.5 . its radio sister had been one of cbs radio s first 16 affiliates when that network premiered in 1928 but by that point had switched networks to nbc blue . accordingly channel 4 originally signed on as an nbc television affiliate and with it aired the howdy doody show a show hosted by local native bob smith who had spent the past few years at wben radio before departing for national television . wben tv picked up cbs programming in january 1949 2 and has remained with that network ever since . as the only station in buffalo for its first several years channel 4 also carried secondary affiliations with abc and dumont . it lost nbc when wgr tv channel 2 now wgrz signed on in august 1954 and abc to wgr tv when nbc moved its programs to newly purchased wbuf tv channel 17 now wned tv in 1956 . wben tv continued to share dumont programming with wgr tv until 1956 when that network ceased operations . it operated from studios on the 18th floor of the statler hotel until 1960 when it moved to its current facilities on elmwood avenue . that studio had originally been built for wbuf tv which had gone dark in 1958 two months prior to the sign on of present day abc affiliate wkbw tv channel 7 . one early show running from the late 1940s until 1970 was meet the millers a weekday afternoon series featuring bill and mildred miller providing cooking and household tips . two educational local shows aimed toward children were the hour long fun to learn consisting of 15 minute segments which taught various subjects including the language of spanish at 5 p.m. weekdays and the half hour your museum of science which featured the curator of the buffalo museum of science on saturday mornings . another staple throughout the 1950s and early 1960s was a short visit to the north pole with santa claus and forgetful the elf . this was a daily show that aired only during december and was sponsored by hengerer s department store . on september 23 1977 the then newly renamed wivb took over production of the public access cable television program disco step by step . when the federal communications commission fcc disallowed same market co ownership of newspapers and broadcast licenses in the early 1970s the combination of the buffalo evening news and wben am fm tv was grandfathered under the new rule . however the 1974 death of katherine butler longtime owner and publisher of the evening news led to the placement of the evening news properties in a blind trust since butler left no heirs . this trust company then sold the newspaper to its current owner berkshire hathaway in 1977 . this sale brought an end to 101 years of butler family ownership of the evening news . with the loss of the wben stations grandfathered protection berkshire hathaway opted to keep the newspaper and sell off the broadcasting properties . wben tv was sold to newspaper publisher robert howard of oceanside california for 25.5 million . the new owner changed channel 4 s callsign to wivb which stands for we re iv 4 buffalo on november 1 1977 . 3 the wben callsign remains on 930 am which along with its fm sister station had been sold to larry levite s algonquin broadcasting both of those stations are currently owned by entercom communications . wivb added the tv suffix to its legal call sign in 1981 . channel 4 was then sold to king world productions at that time a separate entity from both viacom and cbs in 1988 . wivb tv nearly dropped its cbs affiliation and became an nbc affiliate in 1994 when king world put itself up for sale nbc parent company general electric s announced purchase of the company never materialized . after attempts by westinghouse broadcasting whose parent company would later purchase cbs and new world communications to make the station a fox affiliate to purchase the station fell through wivb tv was sold to lin tv corporation which would later take the name lin media in 1995 ; king world is now owned by cbs corporation and has since been absorbed into cbs television distribution . the new owner renewed the station s cbs affiliation through a long term contract ; it was renewed in 2014 along with most of the rest of the contracts for lin s cbs affiliates and will expire at an unknown date . 4 at the time of the aborted nbc purchase wivb tv s viewership was in a strong second place in the local ratings while nbc s existing affiliate wgrz tv was in third place although not as distant as it had been throughout much of the 1980s and early 1990s . both stations have since passed then first place wkbw tv . wivb tv did gain the local rights to the national football league s buffalo bills from wgrz tv in 1998 when the american football conference package moved to cbs . wgrz tv had aired most bills games since 1965 . van miller channel 4 s longtime sports director was the bills play by play announcer from 1960 to 2006 except for a brief time in the 1970s when wkbw radio was the flagship . however beginning in 2014 with the introduction of cross flex scheduling and with it the end of determining broadcast rights by conference the nfl started arbitrarily moving most bills games to wutv the local fox affiliate . 5 in 2000 lin bought the station then known as wneq tv the market s secondary pbs member station . on january 23 2001 wneq tv was relaunched as independent station wnlo ; that station became a upn affiliate in 2002 . the previous upn stations wngs wons later switched to the retro television network and were eventually sold to the daystar television network daystar has since sold wngs which today serves as buffalo s metv and this tv affiliate under new call letters wbbz tv . in september 2006 wnlo became buffalo s cw affiliate . on may 18 2007 lin announced that it was exploring strategic alternatives that could have resulted in the sale of the company ; such a sale would not materialize until march 21 2014 when it announced a merger with media general . 6 the merger was completed on december 19 bringing wivb tv and wnlo under common ownership with abc affiliate wten and the same management as fox affiliate wxxa tv in albany ; 7 because media general is part owned by warren buffett the merger also brings wivb back under co ownership with the buffalo news as buffett s berkshire hathaway owns that newspaper and the newspaper television cross ownership ban has since been lifted . the two entities remain operated separately . digital television edit digital channel edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 8 4.1 1080i 16 9 wivb hd main wivb tv programming cbs analog to digital conversion edit wivb tv discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over vhf channel 4 at 9 a.m. 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 39 . 9 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former vhf analog channel 4 . it is one of several buffalo area stations seen in the southern portion of the canadian province of ontario including toronto which is the station s largest target audience . on april 30 2009 shaw broadcast services and shaw direct stopped transmitting the wivb tv signal replacing it with cbs owned wwj tv in detroit . 10 wivb tv also served as the default cbs station for portions of steuben county new york due to the absence of a local affiliate in the elmira market ; this lasted until 2009 when elmira abc affiliate weny tv launched a third digital subchannel on dt2 that is affiliated with cbs . programming edit wivb tv currently airs no local non news programming except for the public affairs program by the people which has been a staple of its programming on sunday mornings at 6 a.m. for many decades . syndicated programming includes rachael ray the meredith vieira show the dr. oz show wheel of fortune and jeopardy the last two of which were acquired in 2012 after having spent most of their runs on wkbw . under lin ownership wivb and lin s other cbs affiliates in markets where the company owned a station duopoly did not broadcast cbs this morning saturday nor in most cases the weekend editions of the cbs evening news broadcasting extended hour long local evening newscasts on saturdays and sundays instead . sister station wnlo aired the weekend editions of the cbs evening news but unlike most lin duopoly stations in this scenario did not carry cbs this morning saturday as it is committed to the cw s saturday morning block currently one magnificent morning . as an exception if cbs sports programming ran into the 6 30 half hour on weekends local news would air from 6 7 on wnlo and the abbreviated network newscast if any might air on wivb tv . in fall 2015 wivb now under media general ownership began to consistently carry both cbs this morning saturday and the weekend editions of the cbs evening news . on the numerous occasions that cbs coverage of the men s final of tennis s us open was pushed back from sunday to monday afternoon and