branding news 5 cleveland slogan on your side primary slogan first in ohio first in cleveland secondary general channels digital 15 uhf virtual 5 psip affiliations .1 abc .2 cozi tv .3 laff owner e. w. scripps company scripps broadcasting holdings llc first air date december 17 1947 ; 68 years ago 1947 12 17 call letters meaning edward willis scripps founder of the cleveland press former channel number s analog 5 vhf 1947 2009 former affiliations primary cbs 1947 1956 secondary dumont 1947 1956 nbc 1957 1966 dt2 live well network 2011 2015 transmitter power 1000 kw height 300.7 m facility id 59441 transmitter coordinates 41 22 26 n 81 43 4 w 41.37389 n 81.71778 w 41.37389 ; 81.71778 coordinates 41 22 26 n 81 43 4 w 41.37389 n 81.71778 w 41.37389 ; 81.71778 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.newsnet5.com wews tv virtual channel 5 uhf digital channel 15 is an abc affiliated television station located in cleveland ohio united states . the station is owned by the e. w. scripps company . wews tv maintains studio facilities located on euclid avenue near i 90 in downtown cleveland and its transmitter is located in the cleveland suburb of parma . contents 1 history 1.1 local programming 1.2 the morning exchange 1.3 wews vs. wakr wakc 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 2.3 lost finale controversy 3 logos 4 programming 4.1 syndicated 4.2 cleveland browns 5 news operation 5.1 early news coverage 5.2 eyewitness news 5.3 news channel 5 5.3.1 on your side era 6 notable current on air staff 7 notable alumni 8 cable coverage in canada 9 references 10 external links history edit wews test pattern famously declared it to be the first in cleveland . the station first signed on the air on december 17 1947 1 as the first commercially licensed television station in ohio and the 16th overall in the united states . the call letters denote the initials of the parent company s founder edward willis scripps . the station is the oldest in cleveland to maintain the same channel position as an analog broadcaster ownership and call letters since its sign on . a few weeks before wews tv s sign on scripps launched wews fm 102.1 the frequency is now occupied by wdok as an outlet for wews tv personalities to gain on air experience before the launch of the television station . channel 5 s first broadcast was of a christmas pageant run by the station s corporate cousin the cleveland press . 2 its staff included capable producers jim breslin and betty cope who would later become president of wviz channel 25 . in october 1948 wews still cleveland s only television station broadcast the 1948 world series games played in cleveland between the indians and the boston braves . the telecasts were fed to stations throughout the midwest . wews aired only one other world series involving the indians in 1995 when the indians again faced the now atlanta braves the local broadcast was split with wkyc tv channel 3 due to the abc nbc shared baseball network . wews originally operated as a cbs affiliate with secondary abc and dumont affiliations ; it lost the cbs affiliation to wjw tv channel 8 in 1955 after that station s then owner storer broadcasting used its influence with cbs to land the affiliation . the station later lost the dumont affiliation when that network ceased operations in 1956 . wews was also an affiliate of the short lived paramount television network ; the station was one of the network s strongest affiliates airing such paramount programs as time for beany 3 hollywood reel 4 and frosty frolics . 5 wews also aired two nbc programs both of which had been preempted by westinghouse owned nbc affiliate kyw tv now wkyc the network s evening newscast the huntley brinkley report during the 1959 1960 season ; and the tonight show with hosts jack paar and later johnny carson from october 1957 to february 1966 . 6 in 1977 wews tv went before the u.s. supreme court for recording and broadcasting the entire human cannonball act of hugo zacchini . he performed his circus routine at the geauga county fair in burton ohio and the station did not compensate him as was required by ohio law . in zacchini v. scripps howard broadcasting co. the u.s. supreme court ruled that the first amendment did not shield the wews from liability from common law copyright claims . 7 local programming edit in its early days as an abc affiliate the station produced its own shows in the afternoon as abc offered little daytime network programming . among the local programs offered during the 1950s and 1960s included news analysis from dorothy fuldheim children s programs featuring the uncle jake character played by gene carroll and the captain penny character played by ron penfound 8 and exercise programs with paige palmer . alice weston had one of the first live television cooking shows and barbara plummer was miss barbara for a generation of young viewers on the local version of romper room . the most popular show was the gene carroll show a program that showcased cleveland area talent which aired sundays at noon beginning in 1948 and ran well into the 1970s . 2 wews also offered a 90 minute afternoon variety show the one o clock club weekdays hosted by fuldheim and bill gordon . 1 the program was so popular that competitor kyw tv was prompted to organize a competing variety show which was the beginning of the mike douglas show . during the late 1960s and early 1970s wews produced several programs that eventually entered into national syndication . the first program was upbeat . considered by some to be one of the most significant early rock and roll variety television shows upbeat featured a live audience a group of dancers and lip synched but occasionally live performances by popular acts of the era . 9 the program began locally as the big 5 show and the name was changed to upbeat when it went national altogether running from 1964 to 1971 . among the program s hosts was don webster who later doubled as the station s lead weather forecaster . at its peak upbeat was seen in over 100 television markets . artists who appeared on upbeat included aretha franklin the beatles simon and garfunkel otis redding and stevie wonder . in fact redding s final appearance ever came on the show s december 9 1967 episode . the next afternoon his twin engine airplane crashed in the icy waters of lake monona in madison wisconsin killing all but one of the eight passengers on board . another show seen throughout the country was polka varieties an hour long polka music program 10 that ran locally on sundays at 1 p.m. from 1956 into the early 1980s and was syndicated during its later years to 30 television markets . the program featured various popular bands that played slovenian style polka polish italian and bohemian style music . america s polka king frank yankovic was the original band to perform on the show . other bands included richie vadnal george staiduhar markic zagger and hank haller . original host tom fletcher was replaced by paul wilcox whose presence became an indelible part of the show . uttering the well known show opening phrase from america s polka capital of cleveland ohio this is polka varieties now in its year on the air were several famous voices associated with the station over the years including cort stanton ralph gunderman and david mark . black on black which examined issues of importance to african american communities was syndicated to several markets . on december 17 2007 channel 5 celebrated its milestone 60th anniversary on the air . from the early 1970s until july 1 2011 wews was cleveland s television outlet for the ohio lottery . on june 2 2011 nbc affiliate wkyc channel 3 announced that the station had acquired the rights to air the lottery drawings as well as its saturday night game show cash explosion . 11 after two years on channel 3 wews re assumed the local television lottery rights on july 1 2013 . 12 the morning exchange edit main article the morning exchange one program in particular the morning exchange which ran from 1972 to 1999 changed the face of morning television . it was the first morning show to utilize a living room set and the first to establish the now familiar concept of news and weather updates at the top and bottom of the hour . during its peak in the 1970s nearly 70 % of all television households in cleveland were tuned to the program . the format also served as a template for abc s good morning america . 13 wews vs. wakr wakc edit at one time the cleveland akron market was served by two abc affiliates in addition to wews wakr tv channel 23 served viewers in akron and canton who could not receive a clear signal from wews . wakr signed on in 1953 six years after wews began operations and was stuck with a less desirable uhf signal instead of a vhf signal following the fcc s 1952 sixth report and order which resulted in a realignment of television allocations in the midwest . wakr tv gained an abc affiliation as the network could not clear its full schedule on its then primary station in cleveland wxel now wjw and retained it after abc moved to wews full time in 1955 . as abc soon garnered equal footing with cbs and nbc in the late 1960s this caused cannibalization of ratings and angered wews station management as they did not want to compete with another station showing the same programming . the feud ended in may 1996 when wakc shut down its news department after being purchased by paxson communications and dropped all abc programming that december adopting an infomercial and religious programming format as wvpx tv . it would eventually settle in as the cleveland akron market s outlet of the pax tv network which eventually became ion television . 14 despite this wakr wakc became a farm station of sorts for wews tv ; its most notable alumni were ted henry who was a weather anchor at wakr prior to his long association with wews and longtime chief meteorologist mark johnson a former wakc weatherman who has been with wews since 1993 . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 15 5.1 720p 16 9 wews hd main wews tv programming abc 5.2 cozi cozi tv 5.3 480i 4 3 laff laff on may 26 2011 it was announced that wews along with other scripps stations around the country had signed a deal to carry the live well network on their digital subchannels . the network began to be carried on digital subchannel 5.2 on september 5 2011 . the subchannel is also currently available on select northeast ohio cable providers . 16 live well network announced they would be going off the air in april 2015 and as a result 5.2 switched to the classic tv network cozi tv at 10 00 am on april 8 . 17 the comedy network laff debuted on the newly activated 5.3 subchannel a week later . 5.3 was activated on april 7 and ran continuous promos for the network s launch prior to the official premiere date . 18 5.3 also now airs on select northeast ohio cable providers . analog to digital conversion edit wews tv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 5 on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television stations in the united states