Difference between revisions of "WEVI-FTV"

Revision as of 19:51, 24 November 2018

WEVI-FTV

Indianapolis, Indiana United States
City of license	Carmel, Indiana
Branding	WEVI 4 (general) News 4 (newscasts)
Slogan	Indiana's CW (general) WEVI Stands for Indiana (newscasts)
Channels	Digital: 4 (UHF) Virtual: 4 (PSIP)
Subchannels	4.1 CW
Affiliations	CW (2012-present)
Owner	United Broadcasting of Indianapolis
First air date	May 31, 1949; 74 years ago (1949-05-31)
Call letters' meaning	EntraVision Indiana
Sister station(s)	WEKI-FTV Terre Haute WFTW Fort Wayne
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 4 (UHF, 1949–2009)
Former affiliations	Primary: CBS (1949-1954) NBC (1954-1999) ABC (1999–2012)
Transmitter power	20 kW
Height	500 m

WEVI-FTV, virtual channel and digital channel 4, is an CW affiliated fantasy television station located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. WEVI is owned by United Broadcasting. The station have studio facilities located on West Washington Street in Downtown Indianapolis; WEVI maintains transmitter facilities located in Carmel. On cable, the station is available on Comcast Xfinity, Bright House Networks AT&T Uverse channel 4 in standard definition and in high definition on Bright House Networks, Xfinity and U-verse digital channel 1004.

History

The station first signed on the air on May 31, 1949 as Indiana's first fantasy television station; WEVI is the market's oldest continuously operating VHF television station.

As a CBS affiliate

As an NBC affiliate

As an ABC affiliate

As an CW affiliate

Digital television

Digital channel

Analog-to-digital conversion

Programming

Outside of the CW network schedule, syndicated programs broadcast by WEVI include Dr. Phil, Judge Judy, Pickler & Ben and TMZ Live. Outside of local newscasts, the station produces Talkin' Outdoors, a special interest program showcasing outdoor recreation that is produced in cooperation with the Indiana Game & Fish Commission which airs on Saturday mornings immediately after News 4 Today in Indiana. WEVI clears the CW network schedule and typically airs all network programs in pattern, except during instances where the station carries breaking news or severe weather coverage, or special programming.

In addition to local news programming, WEVI's weekend schedule include the NoSirGifts distributed Queen of the Willis, Hoosier Anchorwoman!, Deanna & Brandi (all created by Van Buren, Indiana native Ava Zinn and cast features Speedway native Karly Jameson).

Sports Programming

Indianapolis Colts

As an NBC affiliate, WEVI formerly broadcasted Indianapolis Colts games from the arrival of the Colts in 1984 until 1997 for games televised by NBC and as an ABC affiliate, formerly broadcasted Monday Night Football games involving the Colts from Week 9 of 1999 until 2005.

The preseason and selected telecasts of MNF and TNF mark the only NFL games to have aired on WEVI as ABC lost the rights to NFL games in 2006 onwards. WEVI currently airs Colts games through select telecasts via the NFL Network's Thursday Night Football and/or via ESPN's MNF if the ABC Indiana Network (including WHOO) decides not to air the event on the ABC Indiana network as serves as the local over-the-air broadcaster of Monday Night Football games involving the Indianapolis Colts, airing simulcasts of the team's ESPN-televised games (WHOO's corporate parent, the The Walt Disney Company, holds 80% majority ownership stake in ESPN, and the ABC Fantasy Television Stations have right of first refusal for simulcasts of ESPN's NFL telecasts within a team's home market).

During the regular season, Colts games are rotated between WIFX (channel 11, through the NFL on CBS), Fox O&O WIND (channel 36, through the Fox NFL), The ABC Indiana Network (see above, with MNF), NBC-owned WNBI (channel 18, through NBC Sunday Night Football), and at some cases, WICW (through MNF).

Indianapolis 500

As ABC carries the Indianapolis 500, WEVI aired the race in primetime on a tape delay rather than airing it live during the daytime, with that day's primetime schedule transmitted by ABC under a special dispensation early to the station to air in the afternoon during the race. This dates back to when WIND was the ABC affiliate in Indianapolis when the Indianapolis Motor Speedway requires this arrangement to encourage residents and tourists in the Indianapolis metropolitan area to attend the race. Until ABC moved from WEVI to WHOO in 2012, some fringe parts of the market were able to watch the race via affiliates in Fort Wayne (WNDI and later WMRI since 2005), Terre Haute (WATW, now a Fox O&O), Dayton, Ohio (WJDO, now a CBS affiliate), and Louisville, Kentucky (WKJM, now a CBS affiliate).

News operation

WEVI presently broadcasts 71 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 11½ hours on weekdays, seven hours on weekends). In addition, the station produces the highlight program Sports Xtra, airing Sundays at 11:30 p.m. As an NBC affiliate, WEVI's newscasts finished in second place the ratings in the Indianapolis market for many years; as recently as the early 1960s, WEVI's news viewership often doubled the audience of WHOO and WIND combined. WHOO's newscasts surged into first place since the 1960s, although WEVI managed to remain at a solid second place even after the switch from NBC to ABC. However, channel 4's ratings flatlined after CBS' move from WIND to WIFX, and in 2011, it fell to fourth place for the first time in its history. It has never really recovered and remained in fourth place behind WHOO, WIFX and WNBI (on some occasions, it has placed fifth behind Fox owned WIND. Since 2015, the station is now in a spirited battle for second place in the indianapolis newscast ratings race, along with WIFX, WNBI and WIND.

WEVI has brought forth several technological innovations over the years; it was the first television station in Indianapolis to record local programming on videotape and to use mini-cams for newsgathering purposes. Channel 4 was also the first in the market to use microwave relays (years prior to the use of satellite transmissions for newsgathering) to provide live remote footage from the field ("Insta-Cam"), the first to use a mobile satellite uplink vehicle (NewStar 4) to provide live video from remote locations, the first to convert to non-linear digital editing for news content, the first to use digital news cameras and the first to provide VODcasting. In 1979, the station debuted a half-hour 5:00 p.m. newscast, becoming the first station in the market to carry an early evening news program in that timeslot.

When WEVI became a CW affiliate in 2012, the station expanded its morning, evening and late newscasts replacing World News Tonight in the 6:30 p.m. timeslot), expanded the weekday morning newscast by two hours hour (replacing Good Morning America), expanded its late newscast by an hour while moving its 11:00 p.m. newscast to 10 p.m. At that time, WEVI kept its longstanding "News 4 Indianapolis" brand as an NBC and ABC affiliate rather than "CW 4 News".

References

External links