WEVV-TV is a CBS television affiliate located in Evansville, Indiana. The station operates on digital channel 45, or virtual channel 44 via PSIP, from a transmitter located in Henderson, Kentucky. WEVV is owned and operated by Allen Media Group. Programming on WEVV channel 44.1 includes the full CBS lineup and syndicated programming including Entertainment Tonight. WEVV also operates a digital subchannel (44.2) that is currently affiliated with MyNetworkTV and has added Fox programming since July 1, 2011.
| Evansville, Indiana/Owensboro, Kentucky | ||
|---|---|---|
| Branding | CBS 44
Fox44 (on DT2) 44News (Newscasts) | |
| Channels | Digital: 45 (UHF) | |
| Affiliations | CBS (1995-Present)
Fox (1987-1995) (2011-Present) | |
| Owner |
| |
| First air date | November 17, 1983 | |
| Call letters' meaning | EVansVille(EVV is also the FAA airport designation for Evansville Regional Airport) | |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog:44 (UHF, 1983-2009) | |
| Former affiliations | independent (1983-1987)
Fox (1987-1995) MyNetworkTV (on DT2: 2006-Present) | |
| Transmitter power | 500 kW | |
| Height | 288 m | |
| Facility ID | 72041 | |
| Transmitter coordinates | 37°53′17.4″N 87°32′37.3″W | |
| Website | www.wevv.com/ | |
History[]
WEVV logo used from 1992-1995, as a Fox affiliate.
WEVV began broadcasting on November 17, 1983. It was originally anindependent station, then became a Fox affiliate around 1987, originally branded as "Fox 44" and later as "WEVV Fox TV." In 1995, WEVV was involved in a three-way affiliation switch, joining CBS after Fox moved to ABC affiliate WTVW. (WEHT, which had been with CBS, joined ABC.)
In June 2006, WEVV 's former owner Communications Corporation of America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the Western District of Louisiana. In September of that year, WEVV began broadcasting a digital high definition signal; at the time, a digital subchannel was added on virtual 44.2, which was affiliated with MyNetworkTV and was simulcast on WTSN-LP (and as such, was branded as "MyTSN"). In 2009, the relationship with WTSN-LP ended and channel 44.2 changed branding to "My44."
On May 11, 2011, it was announced that WEVV 44.2 would join the Fox network, reuniting WEVV with the network it was previously affiliated with. Beginning July 1, 2011, channel 44.2 officially had primary affiliation with Fox, while MyNetworkTV programming was moved from the 7-9PM primetime block to 9-11PM. The subchannel was officially branded as FOX 44.[1] The CBS affiliation remained on its main channel. The move left WTVW without Fox affiliation.[2]
News operation[]
WEVV's news logo from the early 1990s while it was affiliated with Fox.
WEVV established a news department in 1992, with local news, branded Fox 44 News at Nine, originally airing weeknights at 9 p.m. With the switch to CBS, the 9 p.m. newscast was dropped, and the news operation was relaunched as NewsNow, adding newscasts at noon, 5 p.m., 10 p.m., and weekends. NewsNow later became CBS 44 News.
Other newscasts were added to mornings, and the 5 p.m. moved to 6 p.m. However, none of these additions/time period changes helped the news ratings, remaining in fourth place behind WFIE, WEHT and WTVW. WEVV shuttered its news department in June 2001 and has not had any local news programming since then, though WeatherVision does provide weather content for the station. WEVV was one amongst a group of major network affiliates without any local newscasts, a group that also includes WTWC-TV/Tallahassee (NBC), WUTV/Buffalo (Fox), KECY-TV/El Centro (Fox), and WWJ-TV/Detroit (a CBS O&O).
After Bayou City Broadcasting acquired WEVV, Bayou City president DuJuan McCoy announced on December 9, 2014, that the company planned to relaunch a news department in 2015. The newscasts premiered on August 3, 2015, with the debuts of a new weekday morning news program (initially airing from 4:30 to 7:00 a.m., and is also simulcast on WEVV-DT2/WEEV-LD), a 90-minute news block starting at 5:00 p.m. and half-hour newscasts at noon and 10:00 p.m. on its main channel, which have all been produced in high definition since the return of in-house news operations. In addition to producing local newscasts for its main feed, WEVV also produces separate weekday morning and nightly 9:00 p.m. newscasts for its Fox/MyNetworkTV subchannel. Unlike most CBS affiliates, WEVV carries only a late-evening newscast at 10:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays (with an hour-long weekend newscast at 9:00 p.m. for WEVV-DT2/WEEV-LD) as it did not produce an early-evening or weekend morning newscast at launch. In January 2022, WEVV launched a 4 p.m. Newscast competing with both WEHT & WFIE.
Personalities[]
Anchors/Reporters
- El'Agance Shemwell - Evening Anchor
- Megan Garrett - Morning Anchor
- Tommy Mason - Morning Anchor
- Claire Dugan - Noon Anchor
- Ben Thomas - Evening Anchor
- Ben Laufer - Weekend Anchor
- Josh Myers - Reporter
- Jordan Whalen - Reporter
- Emmy Fazenbaker - Reporter
- Aaliyah Mulero - Reporter
Storm Team 44 Weather Team
- Griffin Glasscock - Chief Meteorologist; weekday mornings
- Jonathan Weaver - Meteorologist; weeknights
- Gunnar Consol - meteorologist;
- Tracy Felty - Meteorologist/Fill-In
Notable alumni/Former Personalities[]
- Ryan Owens (ABC World News Now)
- Adam Alexander (later at Speed Channel, MRN)
- Mike Puccinelli (later at WBBM in Chicago)
- Jodi Saeland (now with KSTU-TV in Salt Lake City)
- Kelly Sutton (Later at WZTV in Nashville)
- Amanda Decker - Evening Anchor (2015-2020)
- Chris Cerenelli - Evening Anchor (2015-2018)
- Eli Roberts - Evening Anchor (2016-2017)
- MacLeod Hageman - Evening Anchor (2018-2020)
- Brian Miller - Evening Anchor (2020-2024)
- Chad Evans - Chief Meteorologist (2015-2018) (Now at WLFI-TV)
- Cameron Hopman - Chief Meteorologist (2018-2023) (Now at WKOW-TV)
- Lauren Leslie - Reporter, later anchor (2015-2021)
- Andrew Keesee - Sports Director (2015-2016)
- JoJo Gentry - Weekend Sports Anchor, later sports director (2015-2019)
- John Rawlings - Sports Director (2019-2021)
- Joe Downs - Sports reporter, later sports director (2019-2023)
- Melissa Schroeder - Morning Anchor (2015-2018)
- Shelby Coates - Morning & Noon Anchor/Executive Producer (2015-2018) (Now at Spectrum News North Carolina)
- Amanda Chodnicki - Morning Reporter (2015-2017)
- Gretchin Irons - Entertainment Insider
- Veronica DeKett - Morning Reporter, later morning & noon anchor (2017-2019)
- Kayla Moody - Morning Anchor (2018-2019)
- Jackie Brown - Morning Meteorologist (2015-2018) (Now at WeatherNation)
- Chris Mastrobuono - Meteorologist (2017-2019)
- Heather Good - Weekend Anchor (2015-2017) (Now at WTHI)
- Braden Harp - Weekend Meteorologist (2015-2017) (Now at WTHI)
- Chelsea Koerbler - Reporter, later interim weekend anchor (2015-2018)
- William Wolkoff - Reporter (2015-2016)
- Jeff Goldberg - Reporter (2016-2018)
- Melanie Zayas - Reporter (2017-2018) (later at WOLF-TV)
- Nick Ruffolo - Sports Reporter (2017-2019)
- Joylyn Bukovac - Reporter/Fill-In Anchor (2018-2020) (Now at WSMV-TV)
- Katelyn Perrett - Morning Reporter (2018-2019)
- Tyler Druin - Reporter, later Noon Anchor (2019-2021)
- Erran Huber - Reporter/Fill-in Anchor (2019-2021)
- Amanda Porter - Reporter, later Weekend Anchor (2017-2019)
- Jessica Hartman - Morning anchor, later evenings (2019-2022)
- Marisa Patwa - Reporter, later weekend anchor (2020-2022)
- Jake Thomas - Reporter/Sports anchor (2020-2022)
- Sidney Spencer - Reporter (2021-2023)
- Noah Alatza - Reporter/Meteorologist (2019-2020) (Later weekend anchor at WEHT/WTVW)
- Anthony Copeland - Meteorologist (2019-2022)
- Austin Stance - Meteorologist
- John Dobken - Main Anchor
- Ange Humphrey - Anchor (1997-2000) (Now at WEHT)
- Breck Thomas - Reporter (1997-2000) (Later Weekend Anchor at WTVW)
- Tim Black - Founding WEVV Anchor (1992-2001) (Later News Director, then General Manager Of WEVV, now General Manager of WNIN)
- Julie Kanable - Reporter
- Angela Kleaving - Reporter/Anchor
- Angie Richards - Reporter (Later Morning anchor for WEHT)
- Brandon Bartlett - Reporter/Anchor (Later at WFIE, now Evening Anchor at WEHT/WTVW)
- Warren Korff - Reporter/Assignment Editor (later news director for WEVV from 2015-2018) (Now at WEHT/WTVW)
- John Lutzel - Chief Meteorologist
- Michael Schlesinger - Meteorologist
- Lori Farmer - Meteorologist
- Chris Goodman - Sports anchor (Later at WEHT, then WFIE)
- Lezli Lunekas - Reporter
- Shannon Twiford - Reporter
- Jim Alexander - Entertainment Reporter
- Pete Grigsby - Meteorologist (1992-1995)
News/station presentation[]
Newscast titles[]
- Fox 44 News at Nine (1992-1995)
- 44 News Now! (1995-1998)
- CBS 44 News (1998-2001)
- 44News (2015-Present)
Station slogans[]
- Don't Let Fox 44 Weekends Pass You By (1987-1988; local version of Fox ad campaign)
- Fox 44, This is the Year (1988-1990; local version of Fox ad campaign)
- It's on Fox 44 (1990-1992; local version of Fox ad campaign)
- Your Only Primetime News (1992-1994)
- The Tri-State's Only Primetime News (1994-1995)
- Your Home for News (1995-2001)
- Focused On Family And The Community (2015-2020)
- Dedicated To Local News (2020-2024)
- Live, Local, Late Breaking (2024-Now)
Gallery[]
.jpg "WEVV 5PM Open 2020 (2).jpg (151 KB)")
References[]
- ^ http://www.wevv.com/fox-broadcasting-company-and-communications-corporation-of-america-agree-to-affiliation
- ^ "FOX ends affiliation with WTVW," from Evansville Courier & Press, 5/11/2011