what is now the branding of cbs 3 eyewitness news for the cbs o & o station see kyw tv . for the television station in hartford connecticut that currently uses the callsign formerly used by wfsb tv see wtic tv . for other uses see cbs 3 and wtic . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . may 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message wfsb hartford new haven connecticut united states branding channel 3 general channel 3 eyewitness news newscasts slogan on your side channels digital 33 uhf virtual 3 psip affiliations .1 cbs .2 escape .3 laff .4 wfsb fairfield county owner meredith corporation first air date september 21 1957 ; 59 years ago 1957 09 21 call letters meaning frederick sessions beebe former president of former owner post newsweek stations sister station s wggb tv wshm ld former callsigns wtic tv 1957 1974 former channel number s analog 3 vhf 1957 2009 former affiliations independent 1957 1958 transmitter power 1 000 kw height 288.8 metres 948 ft facility id 53115 transmitter coordinates 41 46 30.1 n 72 48 18.7 w 41.775028 n 72.805194 w 41.775028 ; 72.805194 website wfsb.com wfsb virtual channel 3 uhf digital channel 33 is a cbs affiliated television station located in hartford connecticut . the station is currently owned by the meredith corporation . wfsb s studios and offices are located on capitol blvd in rocky hill and its transmitter is located on talcott mountain in avon connecticut . most of wfsb s programs are seen in springfield massachusetts over a low power semi satellite station wshm ld channel 3.5 . that station is based at the facilities of abc fox sister station wggb tv channel 40 in springfield although some master control and other internal operations are hubbed through wfsb . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.1.1 wfsb dt 2.1.2 wshm ld 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 5 references 6 external links history edit wfsb signed on the air on september 21 1957 as wtic tv owned by the hartford based travelers insurance company along with wtic radio 1080 am and 96.5 fm . as connecticut s second vhf station wtic tv was one of the most powerful stations in new england not only covering the entire state but a large chunk of western massachusetts and providing secondary coverage to much of the southern sections of vermont and new hampshire . during its first year on the air channel 3 was an independent station as abc was affiliated with the state s other vhf outlet wnhc tv channel 8 now wtnh in new haven ; while cbs and nbc had owned and operated stations on the uhf band in the market whct tv channel 18 now wuvn in hartford and wnbc channel 30 now wvit in new britain respectively . with no network affiliation wtic tv devoted much of its airtime to movies syndicated programs and three daily newscasts including one at 10 p.m. . 1 in 1958 cbs was looking to sell whct tv . the network s ratings had been alarmingly low in the market because television manufacturers were not required to have uhf tuners at the time . many viewers northeast of hartford got a better signal for cbs programming from wnac tv now whdh in boston or wpro tv now wpri tv in providence while those southwest of hartford with an outdoor antenna were able to watch the network via new york city flagship station wcbs tv . network head william s. paley decided that it was better to have cbs air its programming on a vhf station even if it was only an affiliate . wtic tv was the obvious choice due to its massive coverage area . paley quickly negotiated an affiliation deal and channel 3 became the network s new affiliate in the fall of 1958 . ironically wtic radio had been with nbc radio for over thirty years . 2 soon after the affiliation switch channel 3 surged to the top of the ratings and has remained there more or less ever since . the switch to wtic tv for cbs had repercussions in springfield massachusetts as it forced whyn tv channel 40 now sister station wggb tv to drop its original cbs affiliation which it replaced with abc previously some abc programs had been seen on wwlp . over the years wtic tv repeatedly blocked whyn s attempts to switch back to cbs . in 1962 the wtic stations moved to broadcast house a state of the art facility in the constitution plaza development in downtown hartford . a decade later in late 1972 travelers insurance decided to exit broadcasting . the announcement was made to the staff at an employee meeting held in studio a on january 15 1973 . while the wtic radio stations were spun off to a company formed by station management called 1080 corporation wtic tv was sold to the washington post company . the sale of all three stations was closed on march 8 1974 and the post s broadcasting division post newsweek stations changed channel 3 s call letters on that date to the current wfsb in honor of broadcasting division president frederick fritz sessions beebe frederick s. beebe . 3 to get the wfsb call letters the post had to convince framingham state college in framingham massachusetts to give up those call letters which were used on the college s low power fm radio station whose call letters were changed to wdjm fm as a result of the switch . the wtic call letters returned to connecticut television in 1984 when arch communications owned by the son of the then owner of wtic radio launched a new independent station on channel 61 . 4 in the late 1980s post newsweek moved its corporate offices from washington d.c. to space located alongside broadcast house making the station the company s flagship . this was part of a strategy move by the post to give its various sub corporations their own independent identities which worked well at first . by the mid 1990s however wfsb found itself in a shrinking market without any significant growth opportunities . in june 1997 post newsweek sold the station to the meredith corporation in exchange for wcpx tv now wkmg tv in orlando florida . 5 the sale closed that october although the post newsweek group maintained its base in hartford until 2000 when the company relocated to its then largest station wdiv in detroit . on september 8 2015 media general announced that it would acquire meredith for 2.4 billion with the combined group to be renamed meredith media general if the sale had been finalized . because media general currently owns wtnh and the two stations rank among the four highest rated stations in the hartford new haven market in total day viewership the companies would have been required to sell either wfsb or wtnh to comply with fcc ownership rules as well as recent changes to those rules regarding same market television stations that restrict sharing agreements . mynetworktv affiliate wctx channel 59 which is also owned by media general is the only one of the three stations that were previously affected by the merger that could have been legally be acquired by meredith media general as its total day viewership ranks below the top four ratings threshold . 6 7 8 9 however on january 27 2016 nexstar broadcasting group announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire media general and that meredith agreed to the termination of its acquisition by media general . 10 digital television edit digital channels edit on april 15 2015 wfsb dt added subchannels for escape tv and laff tv . wfsb dt edit wfsb dt2 was a standard definition digital feed of sister station wshm removed in autumn 2012 . wfsb dt3 charter digital channel 243 comcast digital channel 247 and cox digital channel 801 is a 24 hour local news and weather channel known as eyewitness news now . to comply with the e i requirements eyewitness news now airs three hours of gina d s kids club every saturday morning starting at 9am et the same time as cbs dream team on the main channel . even though fairfield county is part of the new york city market where cbs flagship wcbs tv is based wfsb targets viewers in the area through wfsb fairfield county on a fourth digital subchannel and the digital tier of cablevision systems ; it is essentially a simulcast of wfsb except for a preemption of live with kelly and michael which is produced by and seen on wabc tv . wfsb s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 11 3.1 1080i 16 9 wfsb main wfsb programming cbs 3.2 480i 4 3 wfsb 2 escape 3.3 wfsb 3 laff 3.4 wfsb 4 wfsb fairfield county wshm ld edit these subchannels are available only in areas covered by wshm s digital signal which broadcasts at a low power . channel video aspect psip short name programming 12 3.5 1080i 16 9 wshm hd wshm ld cbs 3 springfield 3.6 480i 4 3 wshm d2 cozi tv analog to digital conversion edit wfsb shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 3 on june 12 2009 as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television . 13 the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 33 14 using psip to display wfsb s virtual channel as 3 on digital television receivers . wfsb was the only connecticut station that participated in the analog nightlight program with the analog signal remaining in operation until june 26 . 15 the signoff included a clip of the first sign on of wfsb when they were wtic and it repeated itself before the actual switch occored programming edit until january 2016 wfsb would air a repeat of the evening s entertainment tonight after the late show with stephen colbert placing the late late show with james corden on a 30 minute tape delay one of several affiliates the others being khou wwl tv kmov kotv dt and wkmg tv to do so . additionally until january 2008 the station pre empted the first hour of the early show in favor of a third hour of its weekday morning newscast . the change was made after cbs began requiring all affiliates to carry the early show in its entirety . news operation edit wfsb presently broadcasts 33 hours of locally produced newscasts each week with five hours on weekdays and four hours each on saturdays and sundays . the station operates its own weather radar known as early warning pinpoint doppler . located above one of the passenger terminals at bradley international airport in windsor locks this is also used by sister station wshm branded similarly as pinpoint doppler . the springfield station will often share resources with wfsb and this station doing the same for coverage from connecticut . after post newsweek took control of the station in 1974 wfsb adopted the eyewitness news title and format pioneered at kyw tv in philadelphia . ironically rival wtnh tv used the action news format made famous at then philadelphia sister station wpvi tv and even used the same move closer to your world music package . wfsb is the most watched among the local newscast market s stations according to the nielsen ratings second only to the wtic tv s current weeknight newscasts . for many years wtnh had been a distant runner up in the market to wfsb . however in recent times it has fended off a spirited challenge from wvit . the two stations have spent the last decade trading the