Miscellaneous unorganized material/WSEE-TV

WSEE-TV
Erie, Pennsylvania
Branding	WSEE (general) WSEE Newswatch The CW Erie (on DT2) WICU 12 (on DT3)
Slogan	Watching Out For You
Channels	Digital: 16 (UHF) & WICU-DT 12.3 (VHF)
Subchannels	35.1 CBS 35.2 The CW 35.3 NBC
Owner	Lilly Broadcasting, LLC (operated through LMA by SJL Broadcast Management Corporation) (Lilly Broadcasting of Pennsylvania License Subsidiary, LLC)
First air date	April 24, 1954
Call letters' meaning	SEE alludes to CBS "eye logo"
Sister station(s)	WICU-TV WENY-TV
Former channel number(s)	35 (UHF analog, 1954-2009)
Former affiliations	UPN (secondary, 1995-2006)
Transmitter power	75 kW
Height	271 m
Facility ID	49711
Transmitter coordinates	42°3′52″N 80°0′19″W / 42.06444°N 80.00528°W / 42.06444; -80.00528
Website	wsee.tv

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Digital programming[]

Its signal is multiplexed. It operates the area's CW affiliate on a second digital subchannel. Known on-air as The CW Erie, it can also be seen on Time Warner channel 3. WSEE-DT2 gets all of its programming from The CW Plus.

WSEE currently only distributes CBS's prime time and most daytime programming in HD. All news, syndicated programming, and even The Early Show are broadcast in standard definition, even though some of the network and syndication companies have made HD feeds of those shows available.

Virtual channel	Video	Aspect	Programming
35.1	1080i	16:9	main WSEE programming (CBS HD)
35.2	480i	4:3	WSEE-DT2 "The CW Erie"

History[]

WSEE-TV began broadcasting on April 24, 1954 as a CBS affiliate.^[5] ABC programming was shared by WSEE and WICU until WJET-TV signed-on in 1966. UPN content was aired on weekends by WSEE from January 16, 1995 until September 18, 2006 when UPN and The WB merged to become The CW. The area's WB affiliate was cable-only "WBEP" that existed from 1998 until 2006 and was operated by WSEE.^[6] In 2002, WICU entered into a local marketing agreement with WSEE. From that point until June 1, 2009, this station continued to operate from its own studios on Peach Street in downtown Erie. On that date, that station along with its CW subchannel merged into WICU's facilities on State Street.

It completed its digital transition on February 17, 2009 at noon renaming on pre-transitional channel 16.^[7] On May 14, Lilly Broadcasting advised all off-air staffers at WSEE that their services would no longer be required. Most on-air personnel have continued to work through the duration of their contracts though at least one (WICU reporter Kelsie Smith) was moved to sister station WENY-TV, two vacant WICU meteorologist positions were eliminated, and another (WSEE anchor Raychel Vendetti) was laid-off outright.^[8]

Its over-the-air digital broadcast signal covers Erie, Warren, and Crawford counties in Pennsylvania; reaches east to Jamestown, New York, west to Ashtabula, Ohio, north to London and Hamilton in Ontario, and south to Clarion, Pennsylvania. The station can also be seen via satellite in North America and the Caribbean through C band. It is available in Costa Rica through one of the country's major cable providers, Cabletica, and in Puerto Rico on all three cable companies serving the island as well as part of the locals package on Dish Network.

Out-of-market coverage[]

WSEE was carried on Rogers Cable in London, Ontario until September 2005 when it was replaced by Detroit's WWJ-TV. It was also offered on many cable systems in the Hamilton, Niagara, and Grand River regions of Ontario. The station was dropped in these areas in the early-1990s. WSEE is still available on some cable systems in Canada that serve communities on Lake Erie. Atlantic Broadband, the cable provider that serves McKean County, Pennsylvania and portions of Cattaraugus County, New York, announced that WSEE would replace Buffalo's WIVB-TV in January 2009. That station has had several high-profile compensation disputes with that cable company.^[9] Though an agreement was eventually reached with WIVB, WSEE was kept on the Atlantic Broadband lineups.

However, Time Warner Cable announced it would remove WSEE (along with WICU) from its cable lineups in Westfield and Dunkirk, New York in favor of CFTO-TV from Toronto and the new YNN Buffalo despite the fact that Westfield and Dunkirk are arguably within WSEE's must carry territory. This station has been part of the Primetime 24 lineup since November 1997 when it replaced Raleigh's WRAL-TV due to that station's regular pre-emptions of CBS programming. The "Primetime 24" service provides American network television service to C band and some cable viewers in Latin America, the Caribbean, and in rural parts of the United States where local signals are not available. This feed of WSEE varies from its local one where local commercials are replaced with ads directed towards the Caribbean (especially direct response ads). Also, the station's local newscasts are replaced with infomercials although there is a taped Caribbean weather forecast by WSEE's weather staff (often in tropical garb) nightly at 11.

News operation[]

On May 28, 2009, WSEE aired its final newscast from its Peach Street studios. After moving into WICU's facilities and going without local broadcasts for nearly four days, news returned to the air. This station's weeknight 11 o'clock broadcast moved to 10 on WSEE-DT2 so it would no longer compete with WICU. It is then re-aired on WSEE at 11. WSEE-DT2 simulcasts the first hour of WICU's weekday morning show, airs the nationally syndicated morning broadcast The Daily Buzz from 6 to 9, simulcasts WICU's 12:30 newscast, and re-airs for a third time the 10 p.m. broadcast early the next morning.

The WICU and WSEE facilities are currently unable to air two live broadcasts at the same time because there is only one news set. WICU's 5:30 newscast is in fact a relabeled rerun of the 5:00 newscast, which allows WSEE to use the facilities to tape its weeknight 6 o'clock broadcast. Similarly, WICU's midday newscast airs at 12:30 p.m. as opposed to the traditional noon, to accommodate WSEE's live noon newscast. The two stations share a weekend newscast, Weekends Now with Lisa Adams, and the Sportsblitz highlight show using all of their sports staff.

Despite earlier indications that WICU and WSEE would begin consolidating their news operations, as of April 2010, only the reporting staff is shared between the two stations. On weekdays, separate anchors and meteorologists are used for separate shows on each station. New anchors continue to be hired to replace those who leave contrary to early indications that once an anchor left a position he or she would not be replaced and the newscasts would instead be merged.

Newscast titles[]

WSEE News (1954–1968)
Eyewitness News (1968–1976)
News 35 (1976–1984)
Newswatch 35 (1984-Summer 2005)
WSEE Newswatch (Summer 2005–present)

Station slogans[]

"News Where You Live" (1975–1979)
"Erie's Number One Source For News" (1979–1982)
"In Touch With Erie" (1982–1985)
"We're Looking Out For You!" (1985–1988)
"Keeping Us Strong" (1988–1993)
"Accurate. Fair. Dependable." (1993–1997)
"People You Can Count On" (1997–2002)
"The Team You Trust" (2002–2006)
"Watching Out For You" (2006–present)

News team[]

+ denotes personnel not seen on WICU

Anchors

Stephanie Schelkun - weekday mornings and reporter
Scott Bremner - weekdays at Noon and reporter
- Insider host and "The Newsmakers" segment producer
Lisa Weismann - weeknights and reporter
Scott MacDonnell - weeknights and reporter
Lisa Adams - weekends and weekend producer

WSEE Newswatch Storm Team

+ Joey Stevens - weeknights
+ Ray Petelin (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - weekday mornings and Noon
Liz Crawford - temporary Saturdays, fill-in, and news reporter
Julie Coates - Sundays

Sports

Gary Drapcho - Director seen weeknights and Sportsblitz host
K.C. Kantz - alternates weekends and sports reporter
Jay Puskar - alternates weekends

Reporters

+ Art Ginsburg - "Mr. Food" segment producer
William Cornelius - "Chef William" segment producer
Amanda Post - education
Paul Wagner - weeknights

Former on-air staff[]

Jacqueline Policastro - anchor, Washington Correspondent (2007–2010) now morning reporter at WISH TV, Indianapolis IN
Phil Fatica - Anchor, (1986–1990), currently serving as Erie County Councilman
Scott Baker - anchor/reporter (1988–1993), later with WTAE in Pittsburgh, now with breitbart.tv
Jennifer Boresz - reporter (2005–2006), now a reporter/fill-in anchor at WTOL-TV Toledo, Ohio
Stu Boyar - sports (1978–1985), now at WGRZ-TV Buffalo, NY
Kelly Curran - meteorologist/reporter (2005–2007), now a meteorologist/reporter at WICS-TV Springfield, IL
Heidi Deja-reporter (1988–1990) now a media relations manager in NC
Jim Dewart - weathercaster (1974–1984), died in 1994
Micah Johnson - reporter, anchor (1984–1985) now CEO of Entegy Group MediaStars International
Tim Earl - meteorologist (1981–1995) Currently lives in Dallas, TX staffing IT and Telecommunication Projects
Dana Elderkin - anchor (1974), now a college professor in North Carolina
Leila Feinstein - reporter (1995–2000), now an anchor at KTLA-TV in Los Angeles, California
Barry Finn - Chief Meteorologist (1983–1984)
T.J. Marshall - weather anchor (summer, 1999), now in seminary preparing for priesthood.
John Meyer - sports (2004–2005), now a sports reporter at WTAE-TV Pittsburg, PA
Jennifer Mobilia - Anchor/Reporter (2007–2009), laid off as a result of WSEE-WICU merger
Kym Morey - reporter (1990–1991), died in 1991
Lloyd Newell - Primary anchor (1984–1986), now a professor at Brigham Young University and the host of Music and the Spoken Word
Carol Pella - reporter (1974–2002), retired
Dave Price - reporter (1997), now serves as weather anchor for The Early Show on CBS
Bill Schubert - meteorologist (1995–2004), now at WTOV in Steubenville, Ohio/Wheeling, W.Va.; was one of the first meteorologists on air at The Weather Channel
Don Shriver - anchor (1999–2004), retired
John Stehr - anchor/reporter (1980), now primary anchor at WTHR-TV in Indianapolis, Indiana
Mark Strzepek - meteorologist (1996–1998) - now senior meteorologist for Direct Energy in Houston, TX. Has previously worked at AccuWeather, KBMT in Beaumont, TX, KXXV in Waco, TX.
Drew Sugars - anchor (1994–1998) - now anchor at KCOY in Santa Maria, CA
Nerissa Sugars - anchor (1994–1998) - now lead anchor at KCOY in Santa Maria, CA
Kim Thomas - reporter (2005–2006), now a reporter at WJET-TV Erie
Tony Victor-anchor/reporter (1998–2000), now working as director of major gifts for Gannon University.
Pat Van Zandt - anchor (2001–2008), working in the non-profit sector
Raychel Vendetti - anchor (2003–2009), laid off as a result of the WICU-WSEE merger
Carol Wilson - reporter (1992–2007), retired
Pete Yaksick - anchor/reporter (2001–2003), now a professor of Criminology at Mercyhurst College
Rudy Yovich - sports (1989–1993), now Assistant Athletic Director at IPFW
Lisa Zompa - anchor/reporter (1988–2005), now working as director of development for Erie City Mission
Kim Young - reporter/anchor (1994–2002), now a professor of Journalism at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College and host of Weekend All Things Erie on WQLN
Freda Tarbell - anchor/reporter (1985–1999), now Community Relations Coordinator for the PA Department of Environmental Protection

References[]

^ http://tvlistings.zap2it.com/tvlistings/ZCSGrid.do?stnNum=65364&channel=12.3
^ Lilly Broacasting and SJL Choose Axcera for Digital Television Transmitters, 12 April 2007 [1]
^ Radio Station World
^ SJL Broadcasting Group
^ Brainy History
^ Backchannel Media
^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
^ Press and Tower
^ Holliday, Anne. WIVB Being Pulled from Bradford Lineup. WESB. 22 December 2008.

External links[]

REDIRECT Chronology of call letters WSEE