WNEI-FTV
 | |
| Evansville, Indiana/Henderson/Owensboro, Kentucky United States | |
|---|---|
| Branding | NBC 7 (general) NBC 7 News (newscasts) |
| Slogan | The Tri-State's News Leader |
| Channels | Digital: 7 (VHF/PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 7.1 NBC |
| Affiliations | NBC (1953-present) |
| Owner | NoSirGifts Fantasy Television Stations (WNEI, LLC) |
| First air date | September 11, 1953 |
| Call letters' meaning | NBC Evansville Indiana |
| Sister station(s) | WBEI |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 7 (VHF, 1953–1961) Digital: 14 (UHF, 2001–2009) |
| Former affiliations | All secondary: DuMont (1953–1956) ABC (1953–1956) |
| Transmitter power | 70 kW |
| Height | 311 m |
WNEI is the NBC-affiliated fantasy television station for the Tri-State area of Southwestern Indiana, Northwestern Kentucky and Southeastern Illinois that's licensed to Evansville, Indiana. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 7 from a transmitter in the Wolf Hills section of Henderson, Kentucky. The station is owned by the NoSirGifts Fantasy Television Stations subsidiary of NoSirGifts Venues, as part of a duopoly with CW affiliate WBEI (channel 23).
Contents
History[edit]
WNEI was granted a construction permit on January 10, 1953, and began broadcasting on September 11, 1953 on analog on VHF channel 7. It was Evansville's first television station as well as the first on the VHF band. In its early years on the air, WNEI fought an attempt by the FCC to deintermix the market, which would have moved the station to UHF channel 31 (making Evansville a UHF island; its eventual rivals, WEAI-FTV and WEKI-FTV, had operated on UHF since their inceptions in 1956) and reallocated channel 7 to Louisville, Kentucky. The station's studio facilities then as now, are located on Carpenter Street in downtown Evansville.
WNEI was originally a primary NBC outlet with secondary ABC and DuMont affiliations.[1] Both of those networks were dropped in August 1956 with the launch of WEAI-FTV (which took ABC) and the shutdown of DuMont. This left WNEI as a full-time NBC affiliate. It is the only station in the market to have never changed its primary affiliation; as such, WNEI, along with its long-time sister station WVTH in Vincennes, are the longest-tenured NBC affiliates in the state of Indiana. Also in 1956, WNEI became the area's first station to telecast color programming (by virtue of its NBC affiliation). The station was originally owned by Hendersonville Enterprises.
The Hendersonville Enterprises sold the station to the Imperial family of Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1966. The Imperials' broadcasting holdings would eventually become known as Imperial Broadcasting. It was the first station in Evansville to telecast live and local color programs beginning on March 10, 1966.
Fort Wayne, Indiana-based NoSirGifts Fantasy Television Stations bought Imperial Broadcasting's television properties for $1.13 billion on July 7, 2008. Under NoSirGifts ownership, it began branding itself as "NBC 7." Since then, the station has almost never used its call letters on-air, except during legal IDs.
In 2000, WNEI relocated its transmitter facilities from the Owensboro tower to a nearly 2,000-foot (610 m)Template:Convert/track/abbr/Template:Convert/track/disp/Template:Convert/track/sing perch on an arm of Evansville Capital's new digital candelabra tower 8 miles (13 km)Template:Convert/track/abbr/Template:Convert/track/disp/Template:Convert/track/adj/ closer to Evansville. WNEI signed on its digital signal on UHF channel 14 at the same time.
Digital television[edit]
Digital channels[edit]
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
| Channel | Video | Aspect | PSIP Short Name | Programming[2] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WNEI-DT | Main WNEI programming / NBC |
Analog-to-digital conversion[edit]
WNEI discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 7, on June 12, 2009, the official 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 UHF channel 14 to channel 7.
