WWLP
WWLP is the
NBC affiliate serving the
Springfield, Massachusetts television market. Its studios are in
Chicopee, Massachusetts while its transmitters are on Provin Mountain in
Feeding Hills, Massachusetts.
The station first went on the air on channel 61 on
March 17,
1953. It was founded by William L. Putnam, the founder and longtime owner of Springfield Television. WWLP had the distinction of being one of the first
UHF television stations in the United States as well as being Massachusetts' oldest television station outside
Boston. WWLP began broadcasting on channel 22 on
July 2,
1955.
Springfield Television also operated WJZB-TV Channel 14 in
Worcester, Massachusetts [
1] from
1958 to
1968 and WRLP Channel 32 in
Greenfield, Massachusetts [
2] from
1957 to
1978. Both stations were initially satellites of WWLP, and later became independent stations. Both WJZB and WRLP have since gone dark; the WRLP transmitter was shipped to
Salt Lake City, Utah almost immediately after WRLP went dark in order to launch independent (now
Fox owned-and-operated) station
KSTU (then on UHF Channel 20, now on
VHF Channel 13).
After three decades, William L. Putnam decided to retire from broadcasting by selling his company and its three stations (WWLP and KSTU, plus
WKEF in
Dayton, Ohio) to Adams Communications in
1984. Adams began breaking up the Springfield Television group in
1989 with the sale of WKEF to KT Communications L.P. Adams then sold KSTU directly to Fox in
1990 before selling WWLP to Paul Brisette of Brisette Broadcasting in
1992. In
1996, Brisette sold all of his stations to
Benedek Broadcasting.
LIN Television acquired the station in
2000 by swapping
KAKE-TV in
Wichita, Kansas and
WOWT-TV in
Omaha, Nebraska to Benedek in the wake of
Chronicle Broadcasting (which owned the latter two) being disbanded. The sale could be seen as the ultimate undoing for Benedek, which in
2002 declared bankruptcy and sold most of their stations, including WOWT and KAKE to
Gray Television.
In early
2000, the station's studios and offices moved from their original home in Feeding Hills to their current home in Chicopee. (Its transmitter was not moved.) Shortly after the move, then-pending owner LIN constructed an addition which became a master control hub for their stations in the Northeast with room for future expansion in the event LIN expands their Northeast properties.
The station is known for producing
As Schools Match Wits, one of the longest running high school quiz programs in the United States. The program has been on the air since October
1961.
WWLP has traditionally had the most-watched newscasts in the market, beating
WGGB in the ratings most of the time ever since both stations went on the air. There have been some brief periods in which WGGB was on top, and there have also been extended periods in which the stations were basically neck-and-neck with WWLP having a slight edge. However, WWLP has consistently outpaced WGGB ever since
Sinclair Broadcast Group acquired WGGB in 1998, with a sizable margin in WWLP's favor for most shows.
The long-term ratings ramifications of
WSHM, which started up a newsroom in late 2005, remain to be seen. To this point, however, the traditional ratings pecking order has not changed.
WWLP's weather radar is called "ESP Live Doppler", with ESP an abbreviation for Exclusive Storm Prediction in this case. The radar is located with the station's transmitter on Provin Mountain in Feeding Hills,
Massachusetts.
As of
July 2006, WWLP does not offer
NBC Weather Plus, although
Hartford's
WVIT does.
Weekdays
*22 News at 5 a.m. - 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m.
*22 News at Noon - 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
*Live at Five - 5:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
*22 News at 5:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
*22 News at 6 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
*22 News at 11 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. to 11:35 p.m.
Saturday
*22 News at 6 a.m. - 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m.
*22 News at 9 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
*22 News at 6 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
*22 News at 11 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Sunday
*22 News at 7 a.m. - 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.
*22 News at 9 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
*22 News at 6 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
*22 News at 11 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. to 11:35 p.m.
*
WWLP - Our History. WWLP.com.
*
Official website
