WVII-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for Central and Eastern Maine licensed to Bangor. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 7 from a transmitter on Black Cap Mountain along the Penobscot and Hancock County line. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 8 and in high definition on digital channel 708. Owned by Rockfleet Broadcasting, WVII is sister to low-powered primary Fox and secondary MyNetworkTV affiliate WFVX-LP and the two outlets share studios on Target Industrial Circle in West Bangor. Syndicated programming on this station includes Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, The People's Court and Judge Judy among others. Overnight, it airs paid programming from Jewelry Television. WVII serves as the default ABC affiliate through cable for the Presque Isle market since the area does not have an affiliate of its own.

Digital programming [link]

WFVX does not currently offer a digital signal of its own due to the station's low-powered status. However, there is one provided in high definition on WVII's second digital subchannel. WFVX can also be seen in HD on Time Warner Cable digital channel 704.

History [link]

The station signed-on October 15, 1965 with the calls WEMT and aired an analog signal on VHF channel 7. Before this outlet was launched, ABC maintained secondary affiliations with CBS affiliate WABI-TV and NBC affiliate WLBZ. The current call letters, WVII-TV, were adopted in 1976. The WEMT call sign is now used on a Fox station in the Tri-Cities of Northeastern Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia. It is the only television station in Bangor to have never switched its network affiliation.

In February 1995, WVII suffered a transmitter failure due to a fire. This knocked it off-the-air during a Bangor Hydro Electric advertisement. It would not return to full-power broadcasting for two months. However, the station was available on cable and to most of its off-air coverage area through a temporary transmitter. TCI Cable and WVII had facilities sharing a rear property line on Target Industrial Circle. The cable company ran a transmission line from its building to this station allowing it to continue normal operations while it purchased a replacement transmitter. WVII became the second station to broadcast in stereo in April 1995 as a result of this new addition.

The cause of the fire was never determined other than believed to be electrical in origin. In April 2001, Rockfleet Broadcasting made its first venture into UHF broadcasting by entering into a local marketing agreement (LMA) with MPBN Plus repeater W30BF that was locally-owned by James McLeod. Rockfleet then changed the call letters to WCKD-LP and network affiliation to UPN. After Portland's WPXT dropped Fox for The WB, the company negotiated with Fox to convert WCKD to the network. However, UPN threatened legal action for breach of an affiliation agreement and the plan was abandoned. Despite that, WCKD did air some Fox Sports programming including Super Bowl XXXVI. In 2003, Rockfleet purchased a new station assigned the call letters WFVX-LP. This was set up to broadcast an analog signal on channel 22 and became the Fox affiliate for Bangor. WFVX inherited WCKD's syndicated programming.

In October 2006, WVII made national news in a New York Times article quoting General Manager Michael Palmer saying "when Bar Harbor is underwater, then we can do global warming stories. Until then," he added, "no more." Palmer said he wanted no more stories broadcast on global warming because: "a) we do local news, b) the issue evolved from hard science into hard politics and c) despite what you may have heard from the mainstream media, this science is far from conclusive." Palmer said in his e-mail message to his operations manager and two women who served as a news anchor and news reporter he placed "global warming stories in the same category as 'the killer African bee scare' from the 1970s or, more recently, the Y2K scare when everyone's computer was going to self-destruct."

WVII's contract with Time Warner Cable to offer ABC programming in high definition was established at the start of September 2007 and tentatively expired in 2011. In August 2008, WVII and WFVX became part of the New England Patriots Television Network with the two splitting broadcasts of pre-season games. The latter airs Patriots All Access on Sunday mornings at 11 produced by Boston's WBZ-TV. On February 17, 2009 after its 11 o'clock newscast, WVII turned-off its analog signal and began broadcasting exclusively in digital. Initially, this remained on the pre-transitional UHF signal on channel 14 but was eventually moved back to the analog channel.

News operation [link]

Although WVII has always maintained a news department and aired local newscasts, it has spent most of its history as a distant third place in the Nielsen ratings behind WABI and WLBZ. In comparison with those outlets and most other big three affiliates in the country, its news operation is quite small. The station produces weeknight newscasts at 6, 10 (on WFVX), and 11. Both of the late night programs can be seen for 35 minutes. Its website offers on demand video of the broadcasts and other stories/features seen on-air.

Unlike most other ABC affiliates, WVII does not air weeknight newscasts at 5 and/or 5:30 though it did produce a broadcast in the latter time slot until August 1998. ^[1] It currently does not offer weekend newscasts after the 6 p.m. edition ended in September 1998 ^[2] and the 11 p.m. show was eventually dropped as well. WVII also attempted a noon newscast during the 1990s. Since September 18, 2006, WFVX's prime time broadcast has been competing with other news seen for thirty minutes on WABI's CW-affiliated second digital subchannel. In mid-October 2006, WVII began taping the late night shows at 10 and 11 earlier in the evening. However, the sports report is still seen live featuring game highlights and scores. As of September 2011, WFVX has resumed airing a live prime time newscast at 10.

Although an in-house weather department existed at one point in time, WVII currently contracts with AccuWeather to produce the station's daily forecasts. The segments are recorded in advance with rotating meteorologists and fed via satellite to Bangor from AccuWeather's headquarters on Science Park Road in State College, Pennsylvania. As a result, the station may not cover all severe weather events or be too late in doing so when conditions warrant. Meteorologists will sometimes refer to the forecast segments as originating from the "ABC 7 (and Fox Bangor) Weather Center" even though the outsourcing exists.

Until September 7, 2011, this station did not have a full weekday morning show. Instead, there were local weather cut-ins seen during Good Morning America from 7 until 9 that were also recorded in advance by AccuWeather. It was at this point WVII expanded its news department to include a weekday morning newscast. There is now a half-hour show seen on WVII from 6:30 until 7 (called Your Bangor News This Morning) as well as an hour-long program from 7 to 8 on WFVX (known as The 7 AM News Hour on Fox Bangor). It is the second time the station has offered a weekday morning show. The previous attempt at a 6:30 a.m. program ended on October 1, 1998. ^[2] The addition is only the second option for local news originating from Bangor since WLBZ simulcasts WCSH in Portland with regionalized content.

The first half of the 7 a.m. hour competes with a local show seen on WABI-DT2 (although that is recorded in advanced). The weather forecast segments continue to be taped in advance since there is still no locally-based weather team in Bangor. When providing regional and state coverage, WVII and CBS affiliate WGME-TV in Portland share content and video footage. During the summer months, the station periodically airs its early evening news at 6 on Fridays from a town selected in advance. This production is known as "Your Bangor News on the Road" and WVII offers a traditional newscast but also explores the town where the show is being broadcasted from.

Newscast titles [link]

• NewsPlus 7 (1980s)
• 7 Eyewitness News (1980s-mid 1990s)
• Channel 7 News (mid 1990s-1999)
• News 7 (1999-2002)
• ABC 7 News (2002–2008)
• Your Bangor News (2008–present)
• The 7 AM News Hour on Fox Bangor (2011-present, WFVX)
• The 10 PM News on Fox Bangor (2011-present, WFVX)

Station slogans [link]

• "Maine's Watching WVII-TV" (1990–1992, localized version of ABC's "America's Watching ABC" ad campaign)
• "Coverage You Can Count On" (late 1990s-2002)
• "On the Move For You" (2002–2008)
• "News For Bangor, Live From Bangor" (2008-2012)

News team [link]

Anchors

• Clay Gordon - weekday morning news and reporter
• Nicole Gerber - weekday morning news and reporter
• Cindy Michaels - News Director seen weeknights at 6 and 11 (also reporter and "Cindy at the Cinema" segment producer)
• Tony Consiglio - weeknight news
• Brian Sullivan - Sports Director seen weeknights and Sports Blitz host

Reporters

• Adrienne Stein - "Around the State" segment producer (based at WGME)
• Aaron Jackson - Sports Blitz host and fill-in sports anchor
• Paul Edwards - "Officer on Duty" segment producer
• Dave Cloutier - "Pet Connection" segment producer
• David Simpson - Chief Photographer
• William Stewart - photographer
• Lindsay Mills
• Erin Thomas
• Jared Pliner

References [link]

External links [link]

• WVII-TV "ABC 7"
• ABC
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WVII-TV