WLFY-FTV

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WLFY-FTV
(semi-satellite of WHOO-FTV
Indianapolis, Indiana)
225px
Lafayette, Indiana
United States
Branding ABC 19 (general)
24 Hour News 19 (newscasts)
Eyewitness News (during WHOO news simulcasts)
Channels Digital: 19 (UHF)
Virtual: 19 (PSIP)
Subchannels 19.1 ABC
Affiliations ABC (since 1995, O&O since 2016)
Owner ABC Fantasy Television Stations
(Indiana Media, LLC)
First air date October 20, 1969; 54 years ago (1969-10-20)
Call letters' meaning West LaFaYette Indiana
Sister station(s) Lafayette: WTIN
Indinaapolis: WHOO-FTV, WICW-FTV
Former channel number(s) Analog: 19 (1969-2009)
Digital: 3 (-2009)
Former affiliations NBC (1969-1995)
Transmitter power 1000 kW
Height 297.6 m

WLFY-FTV, channel 19, is the ABC-affiliated fantasy television station for Lafayette, Indiana. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on channel 19 from a transmitter south of the city. Owned by ATE Media Corporation, the station is sister to Inianapolis' ABC affiliate WHOO-FTV. Although it identifies as a station in its own right, WLFY is considered a semi-satellite of WHOO. It has its own studios in West Lafayette, but some internal operations are based at WHOO's studios in Indianapolis.

History[edit]

It began broadcasting on analog UHF channel 19 on October 20, 1969, as an NBC affiliate. WLFY's transmitter had originally broadcast at low power, making it unreceivable in parts of west-central Indiana outside of the immediate Lafayette area. Out of its original 20-person staff, only one person had any experience in television; the rest were radio personalities who pulled double duty.

Throughout its entire run as an NBC affiliate, the station's on-air look was very primitive, even by small-market standards. Much of its equipment had been bought as surplus from other stations, and was usually in a poor state of repair after as much as two decades of use. This was especially true of the transmitter; by the early 1980s the station's signal had deteriorated to the point of unacceptability. Matters weren't helped by the fact that the station's coverage area is very mountainous; UHF stations don't get much penetration in rugged terrain even under the best conditions. It didn't even have a character generator for newscasts. The station was unable to get a network feed, forcing station engineers to rely on microwave links from WEVI (now a CW affiliate) in Indianapolis, WSBI (now a Fox O&O) in South Bend, WPMA or WFAZ in Fort Wayne for network programming. WSBI was primarily used as a backup in case WEVI preempted an NBC show to show local programming. Whenever the microwave system failed, WLFY was forced to switch to and from WEVI, WSBI or WFAZ's signal, usually with less-than-satisfactory results. When this happened, WLFY sometimes aired WEVI, WSBI or WFAZ's commercials or station IDs when it was unable to cover them up in time. As such, the station never thrived, even when cable arrived in the area in the 1970s.

In 1995, Mirimar Broadcasting sold WLFY, WGA, and WCBM to ATE Media Corporation, the longtime owner of WHOO, WMRI (then WFAZ), WAWZ, WTXI (then WSBL). The new owner changed channel 19's affiliation to ABC to eventually match that its sister stations and switching affiliations with WQLI. With wealthier ownership, WLFY was able to build a much more modern studio and a stronger transmitter. The station also got a significant on-air facelift, making it look much more modern.

Even with the switch to digital, the great majority of WLFY's viewers still watch the station on cable, which is all but essential for acceptable television in this part of Indiana. Satellite does not get as much penetration in the area. Due to contracts with satellite providers, sister station WHOO is the only ABC station uplinked for the Lafayette market.


Digital television[edit]

Digital channels[edit]

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[1]
19.1 720p 16:9 WLFY Main WLFY programming / ABC

Analog-to-digital conversion[edit]

WLFY-FTV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 19, on June 12, 2009, the 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 relocated from its pre-transition VHF channel 3 to its former analog channel 19.[2]

Out of market coverage[edit]

Programming[edit]

General programming[edit]

All of the ABC programming schedule has been run on WLFY since 1995, when the station affiliated with ABC. Even though the station is a semi-satellite of WHOO, WLFY airs its own identifications, commercials, and syndicated programming. Syndicated programs on WLFY include Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, and Rachael Ray. One noticeable difference in the schedules of WLFY and WHOO is that General Hospital airs on WLFY at the same time as most other affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone at 2:00 pm, while WHOO (along with other ATE Media owned ABC affiliates) airs it at 10 a.m. because of grandfather clause from Mirimar Broadcasting.

Sports programming[edit]

ATE Media Indiana Network[edit]

Since a majority of the viewing area includes central Indiana, WHOO is part of the ATE Media Indiana Network, a system designed to rapidly share information among ATE Media's widespread group of television stations and websites in Indiana. A regional network has developed among sister station WHOO, Fort Wayne's NewsCenter 9 (WMRI), South Bend's ABC 2 Eyewitness News (WTXI), Evansville's 21Alive News (WEAI), Terre Haute's NewsChannel 5 (WFAZ), New Albany/Louisville, KY's NewsCenter 13 (WLOK), Cincinnati's 24 Hour News 15 (WCIN), Gary/Chicago's News 39 (WAWZ), and Dayton's ABC 33 News (WOWO) in which stations share information, equipment such as satellite trucks or even reporters' stories. Between them, these ten stations cover the entire of the state of Indiana. The ten stations also comprise the ABC Indiana Network and the ABC Indiana Weather Blog, where meteorologists from all ten stations post forecasts and storm reports, as well as live feeds from all of the cameras that the ten stations operate. The site also has live feeds of ABC 24 VIPIR (WHOO/WLFY), Live Skytrak Doppler 9 (WMRI), Live Doppler 39 StormVision (WAWZ), Doppler 33 StormVision (WOWO), Live Doppler 13 (WLOK), Live Doppler 15 (WCIN) and Pinpoint Doppler 21 (WEAI).


As ABC carries the Indianapolis 500, WLFY and the ATE Media Indiana Network airs 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 ATE Media Network to air in the afternoon during the race. This dates back to when WIND and WEVI were 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.

From 1996 until 2012, some fringe parts of the market were able to watch the race via affiliates outside the Indianapolis market, including WLFY. Starting with the 2013 race, WLFY joined WHOO and eight other stations to air the race in prime time. This did not sit well with race fans as they were angry that they could no longer were able watch the race live after fans that were used to watching the race on WLFY. ATE Media President and CEO Patrice Rafferty imposed the restriction as a condition of WHOO's ABC affiliation contract.

On May 25, 2016 with the event sold out, IMS and sister station WHOO announced that it would air the Indianapolis 500 live in the market for the first time as an ABC affiliate.[3][4]

Newscasts[edit]

In the 1970s, the newscasts were known as NewsService 19. Currently during the week, WLFY produces separate morning, 4, 6, and 11 o'clock newscasts on weekdays. It simulcasts WHOO's weekday noon (though only the first half hour), 4:30 (Indiana News Tonight), 5, and 5:30 and weekend morning broadcasts. WLFY dropped weekend evening newscasts in October 2009, instead simulcasting WHOO's newscasts, but began airing their own again starting in 2014. Although WHOO has been airing newscasts in high definition since 2008, WLFY simulcasts them in standard definition. In addition to its main studios, it operates two news bureaus and shares one with WHOO. There are additional WHOO staff seen on this station.


In WLFY weather segments, it uses regional National Weather Service radar data presented on-screen in a system called "Live Pinpoint Doppler". WHOO operates its own weather radar called "Live First Alert Defender".


Since WLFY was acquired by ATE Media in 1995 (13 years after ATE Media acquired WHOO, and the eight other stations serving Indiana), WLFY and WHOO have shared certain news resources; some reports filed by WLFY personnel are occasionally used during WHOO's news broadcasts. In 2007, the two stations began co-producing a weekdaily newscast at noon, Indiana at Noon, with news anchors based in both Indianapolis and Lafayette.


ATE Media Corporation produces a half-hour evening newscast that airs at 4:30pm. The newscast, titled Indiana News Tonight with Karly Ryder, is broadcast live from WHOO's Indianapolis studios in high definition on all 10 stations and is anchored by Karly Ryder. The statewide newscast features news stories filed by reporters from all ten ATE Media-owned ABC stations serving Indiana as well as a sports segment produced by WLFY and WHOO, focusing on Indiana University and Purdue University athletics, called Hoosier Nation. The ATE Media Indiana Network stations simulcast the program at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time (3:30 p.m. Central) and utilize their own on-air weather staff to provide local weather inserts during the broadcast that target their specific viewing areas (the coverage areas of WOWO/Dayton, WCIN]/Cincinnati, WAWZ/Chicago, and WLOK/Louisville include several counties in Indiana (two in WOWO's viewing area, three in WCIN's, five in WLOK's, and six in WAWZ's), though WOWO and WCIN primarily serve parts of western Ohio, WAWZ serves parts of northeast Illinois and WLOK also serves parts of northern Kentucky).[13] In addition, WHOO carries a public affairs program called Indiana Decision Makers hosted by former WMRI anchor Patricia Edwards. This is simulcast on Saturday mornings at 5 and Sunday mornings at 11 on the ATE Media Indiana Network.

On April 1, 2013, WLFY finally launched its own newscasts in high definition.[5]


Notable former on-air staff[edit]

References[edit]

  1. RabbitEars TV Query for WYMT
  2. DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds (PDF). Retrieved on 2012-03-24.
  3. Blackout Lifted: ABC 24 and ABC Indiana to show Indianapolis 500 Live on Race Day
  4. WHOO to air Indy 500 live
  5. ??

External links[edit]