| WHO-TV | |
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| Des Moines, Iowa | |
| Branding | Channel 13 |
| Slogan | See the Difference |
| Channels | Analog: 13 (VHF) Digital: 19 (UHF) |
| Translators | K27CV (27, UHF) Ottumwa, Iowa K66AL (66, UHF) Clarinda, Iowa |
| Affiliations | NBC |
| Owner | Local TV |
| Founded | April 26, 1954 |
| Call letters meaning | derived from WHO radio |
| Former affiliations | UPN (secondary until 9/06) |
| Website | www.whotv.com |
WHO-TV is a television station that broadcasts on channel 13 in Des Moines, Iowa. It is affiliated with the NBC television network and serves most of central Iowa. The station transmits from the WOI-Tower in Alleman, Iowa, which is actually owned by WHO-TV's owners. Programming on WHO-TV is repeated on K27CV channel 27 in Ottumwa and K66AL channel 66 in Clarinda. City governments own both these translators.
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History
WHO-TV signed on the air on April 26, 1954 as the third television station in Des Moines. It was owned by the Palmer family, owners of WHO radio (AM 1040 and FM 100.3, now KDRB). The Palmers had competed with KIOA for the channel 13 license and won it after reaching a settlement.[1] It has always been an NBC affiliate. The Palmers sold off their broadcast holdings in 1996, with WHO-TV and sister station KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City going to The New York Times Company. Up to that time, channel 13 had been the last locally owned commercial station in Des Moines. WHO-AM, which was eventually acquired by Jacor Communications (which later merged with Clear Channel Communications), continued to occupy the same building until it moved to another building in 2005. WHO-DT began broadcasting in high-definition television during the 2002 Winter Olympics. WHO's main anchor since 1987, John Bachman, was one of three reporters who interviewed Ronald Reagan, announcer for WHO-AM in the 1930s, at the end of his presidential term. The other two were Larry King and Barbara Walters. While WHO-TV was co-owned with WHO-AM, it used an owl as its mascot, as WHO-AM still does today.[1] On January 4, 2007, the New York Times Company entered into an agreement to sell its entire television stations group to affiliates of the private equity group Oak Hill Capital Partners. WHO-TV will be operated as part of Local TV LLC, a new broadcasting company owned by Oak Hill. On May 7th, 2007, Local TV took ownership of WHO-TV. On December 20, 2007, Local TV and Tribune Company have entered into a letter of intent to create a third-party broadcast management company which will provide shared services to all of the stations Local TV and Tribune Company own respectively. The company will function as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tribune Company, and will provide back-office services, administration, and a number of other functions to the stations with the goal of maximizing efficiencies, sharing best practices, and fostering innovation.
Personalities and programming
WHO-TV's Channel 13 News broadcasts ranked second to KCCI in ratings, with the exception of Today in Iowa. They have the first weekend morning newscast in the Des Moines area, as their Today in Iowa morning news airs seven days a week. WHO-TV also provides aerial coverage of stories with its "Chopper 13" helicopter, Central Iowa's only television news helicopter. Current on-air news personalities (as of January 2, 2008) include:
News
- John Bachman, news anchor of 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts
- Brooke Bouma, "Today in Iowa" Co-Anchor
- Patrick Dix, reporter and Today in Iowa & "News at Noon" anchor
- Brad Ehrlich, Today in Iowa traffic reporter
- Sonya Heitshusen, reporter/News at 5 anchor
- Erin Kiernan, co-anchor, 5, 6, and 10 p.m. newscasts
- Elizabeth Klinge, reporter and Today in Iowa Saturday and Today in Iowa Sunday news anchor
- Amanda Krenz, reporter
- Lynn Melling, reporter/weekend anchor
- Dave Price, reporter
- Megan Reuther, Today in Iowa reporter
- Mark Tauscheck, reporter
- Jannay Towne, reporter
- Dan Winters, reporter and anchor of Today in Iowa Saturday and Today in Iowa Sunday
Sports
- Heather Burnside, Co-host "SoundOff with Keith Murphy"
- Chris Hassel, sports reporter & anchor
- Keith Murphy, sports director, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts
- Shawn Terrell, weekend sports anchor & reporter
- Andy Fales, Sunday "SoundOff"
Weather
- Jeriann Ritter, Today in Iowa meteorologist
- Justin Sacher, noon and weekend meteorologist
- Megan Salois, noon, Today in Iowa Saturday and Today in Iowa Sunday meteorologist
- Ed Wilson, chief meteorologist of 5, 6, and 10 p.m. newscasts
Former on-air news personalities
- Gary Amble (Now at KCTV-TV Kansas City, MO)
- Todd Bailey
- Patrick Bell (Now at WBNS-TV Columbus, OH)
- Jack Cafferty (Now at CNN)
- Mark Ferree (Now a salesman at European Motorcars)
- Dave Fraiser (Now Chief Meteorologist KWGN-TV Denver, CO)
- Kathy Ellis Fraiser (lives in Colorado)
- Courtney Maxwell Greene (Now Press Secretary to Iowa Governor Chet Culver)
- Holly Gregory (Now at WGN-TV Chicago, IL)
- Laurie Groves (Now Public Relations Manager, Iowa Farm Bureau)
- Loren Halifax (Now Morning Anchor, FOX 4 Kansas City, KS)
- Jim Hibbs (Now Associate Wixted Pope Nora Thompson & Associates West Des Moines, IA)
- Lisa Brones Huber (Now Attorney and Director of Client Relations, Middleton Reutlinger, P.S.C.; Louisville, KY)
- Telly Hughes (Now at KPLR-TV St. Louis, MO)
- Jacqui Jeras (Now Meteorologist CNN)
- Kerry Kavanaugh (Now at WFTS-TV Tampa, FL)
- Mike Keen
- Scott Lind
- Mike Lozano (Now retired)
- Ryan Lund
- Carol Maloney (Now at MidAtlantic Comcast SportsNet)
- Mark Meisenheimer (Now Community Relations Associate, Tallgrass Retirement Community, Kansas City, KS)
- Mary Milz (Now WTHR-TV Indianapolis, IN)
- Rob Olson (Now at KMSP-TV Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN)
- Jason Parkin (Now at KCCI-TV Des Moines, IA)
- Rachael Parker
- Pat Parris (Now Host FSN Live, FSN Midwest)
- Tom Patton (Now at WWBT-TV Richmond, VA)
- Alison Gregory Pope (Now founding partner of Wixted Pope Nora Thompson & Associates)
- Scott Pope (Owns Racing Horses & Associate Wixted Pope Nora Thompson & Associates Johnston, IA)
- Melanie Posey (Now at WBRC-TV Birmingham, AL)
- Jim Poston
- Katherine Pritchard
- Cale Ramaker (Now at FOX35-TV Orlando, FL)
- Susy Robinette (Now at KDSM-TV Des Moines, IA)
- Jerry Reno (Now Real Estate Agent with Codwell Banker Mid-America Group in Johnston, IA)
- Emily Schmidt (Now at WJLA-TV Washington DC)
- Phil Scott
- Trisha Shepherd (Now at WRTV in Indianapolis)
- Bobbi Silvernail Bergman (Now at WOI-TV Des Moines, IA)
- Rick Silvestrini (Now Des Moines area business owner)
- Kathy Soltero (Was Anchor KCNC-TV Denver, CO, Now Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty in Denver, CO)
- Jim Strickland (Now at WSB-TV Atlanta, GA)
- Joe Sullivan (Now wind energy company meteorologist in Minneapolis, Minnesota)
- Steve Templeton (Now at KMOV-TV St. Louis, MO)
- Brandon Thomas (Now working for a pharmaceutical company)
- Sue Toma
- Mirtha Vaca (Now at KING5-TV Seattle, WA)
- Therese Thompson Wielage (Now Vice-President, Spindustry Interactive)
- Eileen Wixted (Now founding partner of Wixted Pope Nora Thompson & Associates)
- Cal Woods (Now at KDSM-TV Des Moines, IA)
- Jim Zabel (Now with WHO-AM Radio)
- Jon Cahill
Syndicated programs carried on WHO-TV include the game shows Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy! (which aired on WOI-TV prior to 2005), and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, as well as the talk shows The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Montel Williams Show, and Rachael Ray. Local programs include The Insiders, a Sunday-morning political talk show moderated by John Bachman, and Sound Off, a Sunday-night sports talk show hosted by Keith Murphy.
Secondary Affiliation
In 2003, WHO-TV began airing select UPN programs which KPWB (now KCWI) had dropped. WHO-TV aired various UPN programs from 12:00 A.M.-1:00 A.M. on Sunday mornings and WWE Friday Night Smackdown! (then called WWE Smackdown) on Sunday nights at 11:30 P.M. On January 24, 2006, CBS and Time Warner announced the formation of The CW, formed with the merging of UPN and The WB programming. On February 22, 2006, News Corporation announced that they would start up another new network called My Network TV. It was also created to compete against The CW. On March 16th, 2006, then-WB Affiliate KPWB was confirmed as the Des Moines affiliate of The CW. A few months later, My Network TV announced that it would affiliate with a new station, KDMI-DT. KDMI-DT began broadcasting My Network TV on September 5, 2006. KCWI began broadcasting The CW on September 18, 2006.
See also
- The Floppy Show, a long-running children's television series on WHO-TV
References
- ^ Stein, Jeff (2004). Making Waves: The People and Places of Iowa Broadcasting. Cedar Rapids, Iowa: WDG Communications. ISBN 0-9718323-1-5.
External links
- WHO-TV web site
- WHO-TV political web site
- WHO-TV historical artifacts from DesMoinesBroadcasting.com
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WHO-TV
- Query the FCC's TV station database for K27CV
- Query the FCC's TV station database for K66AL
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| See also: ABC, , CBS, Fox, MyNetworkTV, PBS and Other stations in Iowa |
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Corporate officers: Bobby Lawrence (Chairman and CEO) · Robert Lawrence ABC: WNEP • WQAD | CBS: KFSM • WHNT • WREG • WTKR | Fox: KDVR1 • KSTU1 • KTVI1 • WBRC1 • WDAF1 • WGHP1• WITI1• WJW1 | NBC: KFOR • WHO | MyNetworkTV: KAUT | Local Weather Channel: WQAD WX Channel |
| Annual Revenue: Unknown at this time · Employees: Unknown at this time · Stock Symbol: None, privately held · Website: www.localtvllc.com |
