WTVH

WTVH is the CBS-affiliated television station for Central Upstate New York that is licensed to Syracuse. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 47 (or virtual channel 5.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter in Onondaga. Owned by Granite Broadcasting, the station is operated through joint sales and shared services agreements by the Sinclair Broadcast Group (owner of NBC affiliate WSTM-TV and low-powered CW outlet WSTQ-LP). All three outlets share studios together on James Street/NY 290 in the Near Northeast section of Syracuse.

History

The station debuted on December 1, 1948 as WHEN-TV airing an analog signal on VHF channel 8. It went on-the-air as Syracuse's first television station. The channel was the first station owned-and-operated by the Meredith Corporation and was the 47th station to launch in the United States. Meredith simultaneously entered the television field in several Midwestern cities including Omaha and Kansas City. In 1954, it purchased WAGE radio (620 AM) and changed that station's call letters to WHEN (AM); it also switched the station's network affiliation to CBS Radio in 1956 matching it with other Meredith-owned outlets.