WLBZ (channel 2) is a

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the ear ...

Bangor, Maine Bangor ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Penobscot County. The city proper has a population of 31,753, making it the state's 3rd-largest settlement, behind Portland (68,408) and Lewiston (37,121). Modern Bangor ...

, United States, affiliated with

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Mount Hope Avenue in Bangor, and its transmitter is located on Rider Bluff in Holden. Although identifying as a separate station in its own right, WLBZ is considered a semi-satellite of

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

WCSH WCSH (channel 6) is a television station in Portland, Maine, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Congress Square in Downtown Portland, and its transmitter is located on Winn Mountain in ...

(channel 6) in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

. WLBZ's

master control Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a production control room (PCR) in television studios where the activities such as swit ...

, as well as some internal operations, are housed at WCSH's studios on Congress Square in

Downtown Portland Downtown Portland is the city center of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is on the west bank of the Willamette River in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found. ...

. WLBZ clears all network programming as provided through its parent,

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simult ...

s most of WCSH's newscasts (with local weather inserts) and airs most of its

syndicated Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

programming (though in some cases at different times). There are also some programs that only air on WLBZ while some are only seen on WCSH. WLBZ also airs separate

station identification Station identification (ident, network ID or channel ID or bumper) is the practice of radio and television stations and broadcast network, networks identifying themselves on-air, typically by means of a call sign or brand name (sometimes known, ...

s and commercial inserts. Although WLBZ and WCSH are based in different locations and technically serve separate markets, the two essentially operate as one station. With their combined resources, the stations provide statewide coverage not offered by any other outlet in Maine. WLBZ previously served as the default NBC affiliate for the Presque Isle market, which did not have an affiliate of its own. It is carried in the local tier of Spectrum's cable system in Presque Isle, and is also offered as the NBC affiliate in the Presque Isle

Dish Network DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV ...

and

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California, El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary ...

channel lineups. This changed in 2020, however, with the sign-on of NBC affiliate WWPI-LD by CBS/

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

/ CW+ affiliate (and sister station of rival

WABI-TV WABI-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Bangor, Maine, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. Owned by Gray Television, the station has studios on Hildreth Street in West Bangor, and its transmitter is atop Peaked Mountain ...

)

WAGM-TV WAGM-TV (channel 8) is a television station in Presque Isle, Maine, United States, affiliated with CBS, Fox and The CW Plus. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Fort Kent–licensed low-power NBC affiliate WWPI-LD (channel 16). The two ...

. In addition to its main signal, WLBZ operates low-powered digital

repeater In telecommunications, a repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal and retransmits it. Repeaters are used to extend transmissions so that the signal can cover longer distances or be received on the other side of an obstruction. Som ...

WGCI-LD on VHF channel 4. Licensed to

Skowhegan Skowhegan () is the county seat of Somerset County, Maine. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 8,620. Every August, Skowhegan hosts the annual Skowhegan State Fair, the oldest continuously-held state fair in the United States. Sk ...

, this station has a transmitter in

Norridgewock Norridgewock was the name of both an Indigenous village and a band of the Abenaki ("People of the Dawn") Native Americans/First Nations, an Eastern Algonquian tribe of the United States and Canada. The French of New France called the village Ke ...

's Larone section.

History

The station began broadcasting on September 12, 1954 as WTWO (sometimes rendered as "W-TWO"), an

independent station An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...

locally owned by Murray Carpenter. The following January, it began carrying some CBS programming, becoming a full affiliate by September 1955 (prior to this, CBS programming was seen on

(channel 5), which became a primary NBC affiliate). In 1958, WTWO was sold to the Rines family's Maine Broadcasting System, owner of WLBZ radio (620 AM), WCSH-AM- TV in Portland, and

WRDO WRDO (96.9 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a classic hits format. It is licensed to Fitzgerald, Georgia, United States. The station is currently owned by Broadcast South, LLC and features programming from the Tom Kent Radio Network distri ...

in Augusta. The new ownership changed the station's call letters to WLBZ-TV that June to match its new radio sister (which the Rines had owned since 1944). (The WTWO calls now reside on the NBC affiliate in Terre Haute, Indiana.) The following year, channel 2 swapped affiliations with WABI-TV and joined NBC in order to match WCSH-TV; the two stations also began to share a secondary ABC affiliation (previously, ABC programming was only cleared on WABI). The ABC arrangement remained in place until 1965, when WEMT (channel 7, now WVII-TV) signed on as a full-time ABC affiliate. In its first decades on the air, channel 2 was best known as the home of Eddie Driscoll. He hosted many programs on the station including ''Weird'', '' Dialing for Dollars'', ''The Great Money Movie'', and ''My Backyard''. Driscoll was also known for his improvisation skills and sense of humor. He retired from WLBZ-TV in 1986, and died on September 24, 2006 after suffering from Alzheimer's disease. In the 1970s, WLBZ-TV added a repeater in

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. The p ...

, W57AQ on channel 57, with a transmitter in Meddybemps shared with W61AO (which repeated WABI-TV). W57AQ allowed cable systems in Atlantic Canada to distribute WLBZ by a microwave link from the border, doubling or even tripling the station's coverage area and viewership. Most Canadian cable systems dropped WLBZ after 1996 once American television signals became available to them by satellite, with the last one doing so in 2010. Although a "

flash-cut A flash cut, also called a flash cutover, is an immediate change in a complex system, with no phase-in period. In the United States, some telephone area codes were split or overlaid immediately, rather than being phased in with a permissive dia ...

" to digital on VHF channel 8 was considered, it was instead decided to return the W57AQ license to the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisd ...

(FCC), which deleted it on April 29, 2010. In 1981, WLBZ radio was sold off, becoming WACZ (it is now WZON); in 1997, the -TV suffix was dropped. In 1998, the Maine Broadcasting System (by this time controlled by the Rines-Thompson family) sold WLBZ and WCSH to the

Gannett Company Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. In 2002, WLBZ signed on a digital signal on UHF channel 25, bringing NBC's high definition programming to Eastern and Central Maine. WLBZ's broadcasts became digital-only, effective June 12, 2009. However, the station kept its digital operations on channel 25 until September 10, when it was moved to the VHF channel 2 space previously occupied by the analog service. In 2012, WLBZ's station logo was immortalized in a running sketch series for ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serve ...

'' called "Maine Justice," a parody of courtroom shows featuring a judge and a bailiff with

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

accents who "try" to act like New Englanders. This aired in the same year Gannett entered a dispute against

regarding compensation fees and Dish's AutoHop commercial-skip feature on its Hopper

digital video recorder A digital video recorder (DVR) is an electronic device that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card, SSD or other local or networked mass storage device. The term includes set-top boxes with direct to d ...

s. Gannett ordered that Dish discontinue AutoHop on the account that it is affecting advertising revenues for WLBZ. Gannett threatened to pull all of its stations (such as WLBZ) should the skirmish continue beyond October 7 and Dish and Gannett fail to reach an agreement. The two parties eventually reached an agreement after extending the deadline for a few hours. On June 29, 2015, the Gannett Company split in two, with one side specializing in print media and the other side specializing in broadcast and digital media. WCSH and WLBZ were retained by the latter company, named Tegna.

News operation

Originally, WLBZ operated its own news department and produced local newscasts from its Bangor studios. For most of its history, it was a solid, if distant, second in

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

behind WABI. In 1989, WLBZ began simulcasting some of WCSH's newscasts prepared with a statewide view. Initially, this was limited to morning, noon, and weekend newscasts; however, on June 26, 2000, WLBZ dropped its 5:30 p.m. newscast in favor of WCSH's newscast, (preview of subscription content) with the 11 p.m. newscast following suit on September 11. WLBZ still aired separate newscasts covering Bangor weeknights at 5 and 6 (which were locally produced at its facilities), with all other newscasts originating from the WCSH studios in Portland. By 2015, the 5 p.m. newscast had also been converted to a simulcast; on October 8, 2015, the 6 p.m. newscast, WLBZ's last standalone newscast, was discontinued and replaced with a WCSH-produced newscast. As mentioned, these statewide programs tend to take on a regional feel with coverage from Portland, Bangor, or wherever news occurs around the state. During the weeknight newscasts, WLBZ still produces its own weather forecast segments from Bangor with meteorologist Steve McKay. On August 9, 2010, there was an expansion of the statewide weekday morning show to 4:30 with the new segment being called ''News Center Early Morning Report''. WLBZ and WCSH have used the ''News Center'' branding for their newscasts since the 1970s, even before consolidating. Additionally, both stations featured

Frank Gari Frank Daniel Garofalo (born April 1, 1944), known professionally as Frank Gari, is an American singer-songwriter and composer. Early life Gari was a popular singer and songwriter from the late 1950s and early 1960s. His best known songs as a ...

's "Good News" music package from 1986 until October 22, 2008 when it was dropped (except during "Storm Center" coverage) in favor of standardized music and graphics seen on other Gannett stations. After then- WB affiliate WPXT in Portland shut down its news department in Fall 2002, WLBZ and WCSH entered into a news share agreement with that station resulting in a nightly prime time newscast. Originally called ''News Center at 10 on Maine's WB 51'', it was seen every night for thirty minutes. On weeknights, news and sports segments originated from WCSH's facilities while WLBZ produced the weather segment from its studios. Weekend broadcasts aired entirely from Portland. ''News Center at 10'' was formatted in a similar manner to the statewide shows simulcasted on WLBZ and WCSH except for having a slight Portland focus since WPXT was that market's WB affiliate. In September 2006, the production became known as ''News Center at 10 on The CW Portland'' after WPXT switched to

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

. WLBZ's role in the newscast was eliminated on November 6, 2008 when WCSH moved the prime time broadcast to its "News Center Weather Plus" feed and entirely reoriented the newscast to the Portland market (with WLBZ no longer doing the weather forecast). The "News Center Weather Plus" feed on WLBZ-DT2 and the live video on their websites was replaced with the national Weather Plus service. ''News Center at 10'' was eventually canceled by WCSH after a six-year run. An outdoors and human-interest program called ''Bill Green's Maine'' airs Saturday nights at 7 on WCSH and WLBZ. In 2003, WCSH launched ''207'', a local lifestyle/entertainment magazine-type show which airs weeknights at 7 PM on both stations simultaneously. The "207" name comes from Maine's

telephone area code A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, re ...

. In October 2005, WLBZ and WCSH began offering

NBC Weather Plus NBC Weather Plus was an American weather-oriented digital broadcast and cable television network owned as a joint venture between NBC Universal and the local affiliates of the NBC television network. The service, which was broadcast in standa ...

on new second

digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compressi ...

s. Known as "News Center Weather Plus", the service could also seen on the websites of both stations through live streaming video and digital cable. In late-December 2008 as a result of Weather Plus closing on a national level, WLBZ-DT2 and WCSH-DT2 shifted to a format featuring a loop of local news headlines and weather forecasts. The service retained the "News Center Weather Plus" branding and digital cable carriage but the online live video was dropped. WCSH's weeknight meteorologist Joe Cupo can sometimes be seen on "News Center Weather Plus" providing statewide weather forecasts. Like the main signal, WGCI offers "News Center Weather Plus" on its second digital subchannel. As of February 2014, the channel no longer broadcasts on television. In addition to the main studios in Bangor and Portland, WLBZ and WCSH share two bureaus in the state. This includes the Midcoast Bureau (on Camden Street/

US 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making i ...

) in Rockport and the Lewiston/ Auburn Bureau (on Main Street/ ME 11/ ME 100/

US 202 U.S. Route 202 (US 202) is a spur route of US 2. It follows a northeasterly and southwesterly direction stretching from Delaware to Maine, also traveling through the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massa ...

) in Lewiston. In January 2018, WLBZ and its sister station WCSH rebranded their newscasts under the ''News Center Maine'' moniker. On June 1, 2020, WLBZ and WCSH premiered an hour-long weekday newscast at 4 p.m.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is

multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...

: WLBZ airs two digital subchannels from its transmitter, True Crime Network on Channel 2.2, a network that specializes in crime and investigation reality shows and

Quest A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. The word serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical. Tales of quests figure prominently in the folklore of ev ...

on Channel 2.3, a network that specializes in travel, historical, science, and adventure-focused documentary and reality series aimed at adults between the ages of 25 and 54.RabbitEars TV Query for WGCI-LD
/ref>

Antenna TV Antenna TV is an American digital television network owned by Nexstar Media Group. The network's programming consists of classic television series, primarily sitcoms, from the 1950s to the 1990s. Antenna TV's programming and advertising operatio ...

had been aired from Summer 2015 to October 2017 on 2.3 before

Ion Television Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented ent ...

was transmitted from October 2017 to June 2020 on same channel.

Translator

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wlbz NBC network affiliates True Crime Network affiliates Ion Television affiliates Tegna Inc. GetTV affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1954 LBZ 1954 establishments in Maine Former Gannett subsidiaries