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Description: E2; WNWO
+ SECTION E. PAGE 2 tolodobtadexom THE BLADE: TOLEDO. OHIO ■ SUNDAY. FEBRUmm 28. 2010 + Daniel Overmyer SOME MILESTONES IN WNWO’S HISTORY: October, 1965: Ground is broken for WDHO-TV, Chan nel 24, transmitter, Toledo’s first ultra- high frequency band (UHF) commercial station. WDHO is named for owner Daniel H. Overmyer, a Toledo business man and worldwide warehouse magnate. August, 1966: After several delays, WDHO begins broadcasting, and by fall is offering more than 50 hours of color programming, a mixture mostly of shows from NBC and CBS as well as movies. June, 1969: WDHO becomes an ABC affiliate. 1973: Over myer warehousing companies file for bankruptcy, leading to nearly a decade of owner mismanagement and financial woes for WDHO. March, 1981: Ownership of WDHO is awarded to First National Bank of Boston by a U.S. bankruptcy court in Cleveland. May, 1986: Toledo Television Investors Inc. purchases WDHO for about $20 mil lion. June, 1986: WDHO changes its call letters to WNWO, to stand for northwest Ohio. October, 1995: Channels 24 and 13 switch network affiliations. Channel 24 becomes an NBC affiliate, and Channel 13 an ABC affiliate. August, 1996: WNWO is sold to Cleve land-based Malrite Communications Group for an undisclosed price. By now, Jim Tichy delivers the evening sports while Don Edwards and Stephanie Rob erts wait their turn during a broadcast on May 25,1995. the station has only a single evening newscast. September-October, 1997: To ramp up interest in its upcoming 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts, WNWO airs a promotional spot that acknowedges, “It’s no secret that this station has been dead last in local news.” April, 1998: Malrite Communications and its seven stations, including WNWO, is bought by Alabama-based Raycom Media, Inc., for an undisclosed price. Summer, 2004: WNWO reaches its rat ings pinnacle in the evening newscast, and makes the 11 p.m. news a three-way race. The station also picks up a regional Emmy for Outstanding Daily Newscast. October, 2004: Channel 24’s news director, Lou Hebert, resigns after a bare breast in a men’s magazine appears on air. May, 2005: After switching to a mostly tabloid format for its news, WNWO’s rat ings plummet. August, 2006: Raycom sells WNWO to Barrington Broadcasting Corp. of Hoff man Estates, III., near Chicago, as part of a 12-station, $262 million acquisition. November, 2009: WNWO's ratings woes continue as the station finishes in last place in all competitive newscast races. Channel 24 has never finished above third place in local news viewership. 24 Continued from Page 1 Hebert’s efforts were rewarded with a regional Daily Newscast in Septem ber, 2004. Even more im pressive, die station’s May sweeps that year among viewers ages 25-54: 14,000 tuned in to Channel 24 at 11 p.m., compared to 21,000 Emmy for Outstanding for 11 and a 17,000 for 13. CLASSICS series-THIS WEEKEND! SCHEHERAZADE & SAX APPEAL Friday, March 5 Saturday, March 6 8 pm, The Peristyle Alain Tfridel, conductor Sax 4th Avenue Guest artists Sax 4th Avenue perform Philip Glass' dynamic Concerto for Saxophone Quartet. Alain Trudel conducts Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1 “Classical" and Rlmsky-Korsakov’s entrancing Scheherazade. "We were highly competi tive,” recalled Jim Blue, a former Channel 24 evening co-anchor who left in 2008 after his contract was not renewed. “If the competi tion is at all honest about it, at that time they were concerned about us." In the fall of 2004, then- Channel 24 owners Raycom Media Inc., which now owns WTOL, wanted a shift to more sensational, tabloid- style journalism. Shortly after that change in focus, Hebert resigned after a woman’s breast in a men’s magazine inadvertently made the air during a fea ture on a Playboy Playmate from Bowling Green. Raycom then brought in a news director from Cincin nati who knew little about the Toledo market. “That’s when my reaction was, My god, I’ve got a front- row seat to a train wreck,” Zaleski said. Newscast ratings dropped in February, 2005, and again in May, leaving many em ployees disappointed and disillusioned. “Under Lou, we did some excellent stuff ... a lot of good reporting. I thought we had established a pretty suc cessful approach,” Blue said. “It was disappointing to see things had changed and our ratings had declined." It’s only gotten worse. The station began a long de- Quote-Acrostic Answers are on Page 7 HOW TO SOLVE: Define clues In Words col umn. Transfer tetters to diagram. Quotation reads across; first letters of Words column form acrostic of speaker's name and topic. CLUES A. Transfixed: 4wds. B. Sophocles desolate 0. Full of feeling finger guard H. Land and houses I. ft blows no J. Prominent person K. Popular typeface L Giving off light M. Uniformly N. Jehovah, to Hebrews O. Creole cuisine: 2wds. WORDS f60 125 39 16 89 151 76 141 5 20 107 67 56 96 116 12 65 42 29 74 92 46 80 130 ~28 129' 146' ~47 ”1 115 57 133 68 15 27 8 79 38 78 e' ~45 I4' IS' 165' 124 111 138' ~6o' IS' 128 IS W 83 41 “Si' 135 iii 131 I4' w' 110 4' 84 85 49 10 149 98 62 121 54 30 40 7 100 94 59 153 19 66 11 82 136 114' IS' ”75 145 iSi 93 103 155 51 118 132 31 52 70 104 37 87 ISS' 143' Ta' lo' IS' 102 95 33 1 13 126 63 81 72 112 17 154 137 P. Cast-offs: 2 wds. 150 140 105 71 122 55 43 32 163 97 Q. Dampened 73 23 35 18 139 152108 R. Annoyed 148 77 101 158 53 34 S. Lacking sophistication 2 142 88 99 25 123 CC007Tribuno Modla Services, Inc. Alt rights reserved T. Patriots and Colts 134 156 22 120 113 U. Tokyo, formerly 157 50 91 V. All roads lead here? W. Identical 106 117 48 159 3 164 127 21 scent into a ratings morass, and financial difficulties led to several layoffs last year by current owner Barrington Broadcasting Corp., which purchased WNWO in Au gust, 2006, from Raycom as part of an acquisition of 12 network affiliates. Shenikwa Stratford worked at Channel 24 for more than seven years, and was the first black female primary anchor in the mar ket. She was let go early last year in a round of station cuts. “When I first started there, there were probably 30 people in the newsroom — 10 to 12 reporters, veter an anchors. By the time I left I think we had six on-air tal ent, reporters and anchors. The entire control room was automated," said Stratford, now a stay-at-home mom in a Dallas suburb. “But you can only cut so much. You cut the fat, you cut the meat, and you cut the bone, and now you’re down to the marrow. What can you do?” Optimist Barrington Broadcasting owns 21 stations nation- In 1990, WNWO-TV news anchors were Greg Carson and Dancie Moore. 0DY IN BLUE ‘Kirill Gersteln was recently awarded the Gilmore Artist Award. ^ wide, including Michigan, Texas, New York, and Iowa. The Illinois-based com pany, along with the broad cast television industry, has struggled with a sagging national economy, weak ad vertising revenue, and more focus on the Internet. For the third quarter last year, Barrington posted a net loss of nearly $3.3 million and warned its investors that, while it had improved its financial position, it was not yet out of the woods. In a statement from NBC, the network says it remains committed to Barrington and the beleaguered sta tion. Skorburg said there are signs things are turning around. Ad revenue is up, he said, and the news product is reaching people, even if the ratings indicate otherwise. He pointed to the recent success of a Haitian “needs drive” broadcast throughout a day’s worth of newscasts, which attracted hundreds of viewers to the cause and yielded two trucks worth of supplies. Perhaps the biggest sign of competitive life at Chan nel 24 is Hebert’s return. Now 60, Hebert splits his daily duties between report ing, working with producers, and mentoring a young staff of reporters and anchors. “Every day we go out and do some very good stories and we affect other peoples’ lives,” Hebert said. “Maybe the ratings don’t reflect that, but I’m not sure the ratings are the greatest yardstick to measure our success. “This station has had its moments to shine in the sun and we still do. There are still some things we do like every station to be proud of. We have a good group of people here who want to do well and because of that I’m optimistic.” Contact Kirk Baird at: kbafrd@theblade.com or 419-724-6734.
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- Blade
- Toledo, Ohio
- Feb, 28 2010 - Page 46