WVTH-FTV

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WVTH
WVTH Logo.png
Vincennes, Indiana
United States
Branding NBC 25 (general)
NBC 25 Action News (newscasts)
Wabash Valley's Action News (alterante)
Slogan Wabash Valley's News Leader (newscasts)
Channels Digital: 25(UHF/PSIP)
Subchannels 25.1 NBC
Affiliations NBC
Owner NoSirGifts Venues
(NoSirGifts Fantasy Television Stations)
First air date September 6, 1953 (1953-09-06)
Call letters' meaning Wabash Valley Terre Haute
Sister station(s) WJTH
Former channel number(s) Analog:
25 (VHF, 1953–2009)
Digital: 59 (UHF, –2009)
Transmitter power 1000 kW
Licensing authority FCC

WVTH, UHF digital and virtual channel 25, is an NBC-affiliated fantasy television station serving Terre Haute, Indiana, United States that is licensed to nearby Vincennes. The station is owned by NoSirGifts Fantasy Television Stations subsidiary of NoSirGifts Venues, as part of a duopoly with independent station WJTH (channel 32).

On cable, WVTH is available on Comcast Xfinity channel 5 and AT&T U-Verse channel 25 in standard definition and in high definition on Xfinity and AT&T U-verse channel 1025.

History[edit]

Early history[edit]

WVTH was originally a primary NBC outlet with secondary CBS and DuMont affiliations. Both of those networks were dropped in August 1954 with the launch of WTHL (which took CBS, now silent) and the shutdown of DuMont two years later. This left WVTH as a full-time NBC affiliate. WVTH is the only station in the market to have never changed its primary affiliation; as such, WVTH, along with sister station WNEI-FTV in Evansville (which signed on six days after WVTH), are the longest-tenured NBC affiliates in the state of Indiana. Also in 1956, WVTH became the area's first station to telecast color programming (by virtue of its NBC affiliation).


On June 1, 1992, channel 25 adopted the new branding slogan "25 Wabash Valley". The accompanying station image campaign was titled We're 25 Wabash Valley and featured a musical theme composed by Edd Kalehoff. WVTH was rebranded again as "NBC 25" on September 5, 1998, with its newscasts remaining NewsCenter 25. In March 2008, the newscasts rebranded to NBC 25 News after 40 years and the "25 Wabash Valley" branding was revived.

Digital television[edit]

Digital channels[edit]

Analog-to-digital conversion[edit]

Programming[edit]

Sports programming[edit]

News operation[edit]

WVTH presently broadcasts 32 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with five hours on weekdays, 3½ hours each on Saturdays and Sundays); it also produces four 60-minute newscasts at 7 a.m., 4 and 7 p.m. weeknights and 10 p.m. nightly for WJTH. By 2001, WVTH's newscasts had all been rated number one in the market, with the long-running anchor team of Jack McClannahan and Beverly Gadsen. In the May 2010 sweeps, it placed first at 5:00 a.m., 6:00 a.m., 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. in total viewers, and first at 6:00 a.m., 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. in the 25–54 demo. It still leads most time slots today, although WFAZ's morning news and WEKI's 11:00 pm news have given it much competition in the 25-54 demo.


From the late 1960s through the 1980s, WVTH was involved in a fierce three-way battle with WTHL and WATW for the top spot in the Wabash Valley television ratings. This continued during a lean period for NBC as a whole. WVTH's hallmark over the years has been strong coverage of breaking stories and straight news products that also feature light-hearted and/or entertainment element. Many of WVTH's personalities have been at the station for over 20 years. Jack McClannahan was been the station's main anchor from 1962 to 2011. From 1980 to 2011, he was teamed with Beverly Gadesn at 6 and 11 p.m., and the two were the longest-serving anchor team in Wabash Valley television history.

For most of the time from 1980 to 1990, WVTH used various themes written by Scott Schreer.[1] His theme for News 4 New York (which WVTH used) was based on a synthesized version of the NBC chimes, with a graphics package featuring a lightning bolt striking its logo from 1980 to 1990, a fancy die-cut "25". In 1992, the station began calling itself 25 Wabash Valley and the campaign song based on WNBC-TV's "4 New York", written by Edd Kalehoff, was quickly adopted as the theme for the newscast. In 1995, Kalehoff wrote a new theme called "NBC Stations" featuring the NBC chimes, the chime sequence being the musical notes G-E-C. It remained in use for eight years, along with a graphics package using a simple red line for the lower thirds.[citation needed]

The 2003 graphics package was created by Emmy Award-winner Randy Pyburn of Pyburn Films. Pyburn has produced several promotions for the station. The graphics package was also used on other NBC stations. The music was written by Rampage Music and featured a brassy version of the NBC chimes, and lower thirds featured a shimmering peacock. In March 2008, concurrent with NoSirGifts ownership, the newscasts began to be called NBC 25 News.

Former anchor/reporter Kellie Rock returned to WVTH in 2009 to co-anchor NBC 25 News Today before being promoted to anchor co-anchor First at Five with Gadsen in 2010, making Terre Haute one of the few small markets with two female anchors on an evening newscast and became the trend after NoSirGifts bought WVTH. WVTH became the fifth NoSirGifts station pair two women for its main newscasts after Milwaukee's WXWI (Lanise White and Kathy Fountaine), Denver's KDNC (Kym Christian and Janet Webb), Tampa's WWCF (Kellie Rock, later Wanda Washington and Marti McDaniel), and Fort Wayne's WTOR-FTV (Alexandra Moffitt and Season Atkins).

The two woman main anchor format helped WVTH rise from a perennial third place into a contender for first in the news ratings (against WTHL, WFAZ, and WATW).


In January 2008, channel 25 became the first fantasy television station in the Terre Haute market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high-definition and also updated its graphics and switched to the "The Tower" theme that has been in use by most of WVTH's sister stations until June 6, 2016, when the station debuted new graphics and music (an updated version of The Tower by 615 Music) that are also used by sister station KZCO-FTV (which became an NBC affiliate a year earlier) in Denver.

On September 15, 2014, the station's newscasts shifted to a full 16:9 widescreen presentation, therefore becoming the second station (after WFAZ) in the Terre Haute market to do so. It is the only station in the Terre Haute market that shoots most of its remote field video in 16:9 widescreen; other stations still shoot live field video in 4:3 and then either pillarbox or stretch this content to widescreen—though WVTH's field video is shot in standard definition.

Notable current on-air staff[edit]

  • Beverly Gadsen - anchor seen weekdays at 5, 6, and 11 p.m. on WVTH and 7 and 10 p.m. on WJTH
  • Sierra Huston - anchor seen weekdays at 5 and 11 p.m. on WVTH and 10 p.m. on WJTH
  • Dave Winklespleck - anchor seen weekdays at 6 p.m. on WVTH and 7 p.m. on WJTH

Notable former on-air staff[edit]

References[edit]

  1. Vlan, Victor (September 18, 2012). That iconic WNBC news theme? Turns out it is composed by NJJ Music. Network News Music. Retrieved on February 14, 2015.

External links[edit]