tv . wbns tv columbus ohio united states branding 10tv general 10tv news newscasts slogan central ohio s news leader new . fresh . up to the minute . secondary channels digital 21 uhf virtual 10 psip subchannels 10.1 cbs 10.2 decades affiliations cbs owner dispatch broadcast group wbns tv inc. founded march 1948 1 first air date october 5 1949 ; 67 years ago 1949 10 05 call letters meaning derived from sister station wbns radio sister station s wbns wbns fm former channel number s analog 10 vhf 1949 2009 transmitter power 1000 kw height 279 m 915 ft facility id 71217 transmitter coordinates 39 58 15.5 n 83 1 39.2 w 39.970972 n 83.027556 w 39.970972 ; 83.027556 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.10tv.com wbns tv channel 10 is a television station in columbus ohio usa . the station is an affiliate of the cbs television network and is owned by the dispatch broadcast group along with wbns radio 1460 am and 97.1 fm . wbns tv s studios offices and transmitter are located on twin rivers drive west of downtown columbus near the confluence of the olentangy and scioto rivers . the dispatch broadcast group broadcasting operations also include wthr the nbc affiliate in indianapolis indiana . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 news operation 4 notable alumni 5 references 6 external links history edit former wbns tv broadcast tower left next to the candelabra tower from which wbns tv and wbns fm now broadcast . wcmh tv as well as the majority of columbus fm radio stations also broadcast from the candelabra tower . wbns tv began operations on october 5 1949 . 2 wbns radio had been a cbs radio network affiliate for almost 20 years so channel 10 immediately joined the cbs television network . it is currently the ninth longest tenured cbs affiliate . channel 10 has used the on air branding of 10tv since 1977 . it is also one of only a few stations in the country to have had the same owner call letters and primary network affiliation throughout its history as well as the only major station in the city still owned by ohio interests . the wbns stations maintained common ownership with the columbus dispatch the city s lone remaining daily newspaper until 2015 under a exemption of the federal communications commission fcc s cross ownership rules . the fcc has largely prohibited common ownership of co located print and broadcast media since the middle 1970s . the wolfe family who purchased the dispatch in 1905 sold the newspaper and related assets to new media investment group in june 2015 . wbns tv was known for its locally produced shows flippo the clown luci s toyshop franz the toymaker and programs hosted by popular columbus zoo and aquarium personality jack hanna hanna s ark . the station also featured fritz the nite owl who hosted midnight movies during the 1970s and sunday state government talk called capital square in the 1990s . throughout much of the 1990s and early years of the millennium wbns tv was home to the 10tv kids news network knn ; a local show produced by kids for kids . the half hour show aired saturday mornings . several knn kids have gone on to pursue careers in television news or public relations in central ohio . in 1995 wbns tv replaced cleveland s wjw tv as the default affiliate in the mansfield area part of the cleveland akron dma after wjw became a fox broadcast outlet . the new cleveland cbs affiliate woio unlike wbns tv did not reach mansfield with a grade b signal . wbns also replaced toledo cbs affiliate wtol on cable television in the lima dma . the first live high definition broadcast on the station s digital signal took place in september 1998 in which the broadcast was a football game between ohio state and west virginia making the station a pioneer in american digital television . the station claims this to have been the first locally produced hd broadcast in the us ; however as several other stations throughout the country also lay claim to this distinction the veracity can not be verified . it is widely considered the first ever live sports game in hd in the us produced using a production truck and transmission vehicle from nhk japan s national public broadcasting organization . 3 the station has strong ties to the athletic department of ohio state university . for many years it has produced the coaches shows for both the football and men s basketball teams along with other shows about ohio state athletics . additionally its radio sister has been the flagship station of ohio state football and basketball for decades . prior to the launch of the big ten network in september 2007 the station aired ohio state games offered by espn plus in both sports including prime time pre emptions of cbs network programming for games . because of the big ten network s exclusive contracts to cover live ohio state sports wbns now only carries selected cbs big ten basketball broadcasts on weekends and latter portions of the conference tourney although the programming outside of live sports remains produced by wbns tv . working with sister company radio sound network wbns tv wbns am and onn produced and distributed on a streaming media platform the ohio state spring football game in 2001 . it was one of the first live sporting events in the us to be streamed . the game was delivered on realvideo a compressed video format on the realplayer media player platform on the station s website . it also was distributed to windows mobile mobile devices using the windows media player format including compaq s ipaq personal digital assistant which required an expresscard to connect to the internet . wbns tv has been the market s home of the syndicated runs of wheel of fortune since 1983 and jeopardy since 1984 one of the few stations to carry the entire run of both series . digital television edit digital channels edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 4 10.1 1080i 16 9 wbns tv main wbns tv programming cbs 10.2 480i 4 3 wbnstv2 decades wbns tv broadcasts in dolby 5.1 and uses its sap channel for varying purposes including simulcasts of its radio sister and simulcasts of noaa weather radio along with descriptive video service and spanish language nfl on cbs coverage from cbs . as of september 15 2012 the high definition feed for wbns tv was dropped from dish network due to a contractual dispute between the two sides . on june 12 2009 wbns tv launched doppler 10 now a weather subchannel carried on channel 10.2 based on the local accuweather platform . 5 on may 28 2013 wbns tv announced that the 10.2 subchannel would begin carrying antenna tv . 6 wbns promotions for the network tagged as ridiculously retro showcase clips from flippo the clown and lucy s toyshop hinting that old local favorites could return to the airwaves . analog to digital conversion edit wbns tv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 10 on june 12 2009 as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television . 7 8 the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 21 9 using psip to display wbns tv s virtual channel as 10 on digital television receivers . news operation edit wbns tv eyewitness news open 2004 . wbns tv was the first television station in the columbus market to debut a news helicopter 10tv skycam now chopper 10 in 1979 satellite news truck 10tv skybeam in 1986 and launch the ohio news network in 1997 which shared studio and office space with wbns until onn ended on august 31 2012 . appropriately for a station with roots in a newspaper wbns tv has been a consistent ratings leader in programming and news for most of the time since records have been kept . in fact for many years a popular saying in columbus was 4 and 6 don t equal 10 referring to wbns tv and its rivals wlwc wcmh tv channel 4 and wtvn tv wsyx channel 6 . in 1983 the station under the leadership of general manager gene d angelo news director larry maisel and marketing director david sams took out a full page back cover ad in weekly variety touting its dominance as having the 1 local evening newscast in the nation 53 share at 6 p.m. top 50 markets . the first major challenge to channel 10 s dominance occurred in 1985 two years after wcmh began featuring the popular anchor team and then married couple of doug adair and mona scott . from then until the mid 2000s wbns tv and wcmh alternated holding the dominant ratings position for their 11 p.m. newscasts and were virtually tied for ratings leads . however since 2002 wbns tv has returned to a dominant position due to stronger cbs programming and cbs reacquisition of sunday afternoon nfl telecasts . wbns tv usually rotates games among the three teams with followings in the columbus market the cleveland browns pittsburgh steelers and cincinnati bengals all of whom are part of the cbs package for the american football conference . during the super bowl xli channel 10 debuted a large marketing campaign to promote the launch of 10tv news in high definition . the song carousels dreaming of tomorrow by columbus rock band alamoth lane was used throughout the course of the campaign . some of the band members were shot playing on the roof of wbns with the columbus skyline behind them . the song was also used to promote sister station wthr s 50th anniversary in 2007 . the station began making preparations for the transition to hd in late march 2007 and debuted its 5 00 p.m. newscast in high definition on april 2 becoming the first television station in central ohio to produce newscasts in hd . the station s newscasts are now known as 10tv news ; 10tv news hd was used from 2007 to 2012 after being known as 10tv eyewitness news for many years . on november 7 2008 wbns tv s morning noon anchor heather pick died of breast cancer . pick learned in 2004 that the disease she overcame in 1999 had returned . in her last public appearance heather hosted the spirit celebration with heather pick raising almost 500 000 for the columbus cancer clinic . 10 on january 3 2011 wbns expanded its weekday morning newscast to 2 hours starting at 4 25 a.m. weekend anchors jeff hogan and angela an replaced chuck strickler and anietra hamper as anchors and weeknight 5 30 p.m. anchor tracy townsend replaced hamper and strickler as noon anchors . 11 on may 11 2011 wbns tv gained high profile advertising when wbns logos and a news ticker replaced those belonging to wcmh tv on the casto building at the corner of high and broad streets in downtown columbus . beginning in 2008 the building was leased by rival station wcmh tv to house its nbc 4 on the square newscast . when wcmh discontinued the newscast wbns assumed the lease but decided not to utilize the street level studio space . 12 on october 1 2012 wbns tv launched a redesigned set . 13 on september 17 2013 maria tiberi the 21 year old daughter of wbns tv sports director dom tiberi was killed in a car accident along interstate 270 in hilliard . although authorities stated that maria was distracted at the time of the accident they did not claim that the distraction was a cell phone . in honor of maria wbns has launched a campaign known as