| WEAT-TV | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Location |
Bellingham, MA |
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Branding |
WEAT 62, RKO 62 Bellingham |
|
Slogan |
62. TV Made Fresh Daily. (general branding) |
|
Channel(s) |
Analog: 62 (UHF) |
|
subchannel(s) |
62.1 WEAT HD |
|
Affiliation |
|
|
First air date |
July 4, 1982 |
|
Former call letters |
none |
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Former channel number |
none |
|
Former Affiliation |
none |
|
Owner(s) |
|
WEAT is the RKO Network affiliate that serves the Bellingham, MA area. It broadcasts on channel 62. It is owned by Nationwide Communications. WEAT-TV offers the complete RKO Network schedule along with Syndicated progamming such as Ellen, Family Feud, Judge Judy, Supermarket Sweep, Dr. Phil, The McLaughlin Group, MEGA Guts, Michael Rosen's Book Challenge, and The Andy Griffith Show, along with complete uninterrupted playthroughs of RKO Games, Sega and Ubisoft games produced exclusively for WEAT-TV viewers. On May 29, 2016, the RKO-Sega-Ubisoft shares were sold by RKO to Nationwide Communications.
History[]
WEAT signed on over the air in 1982 because of RKO General wanting a new station to support a local independent station, WRBW. Sega and Activision (whose stake would be sold to Ubisoft in 1990), who owned WRBW, agreed and it started transmissions on July 4, 1982. At its first launch, it was a low power station until May 7, 1983 (the date of Michael Rosen's birthday), when became a Ultra High Frequency station. WEAT later succesfully went on the RKO Holdings-owned RKO Cable, Comcast, Verizon, Charter, Bellingham TV Communications and AT&T U-verse cable systems.
Later Years[]
- 1992: Started its digital feed.
- 1995: Started showing the Disney Afternoon syndication package on weekdays.
- 1996: WEAT started showing complete uninterrupted playthroughs of RKO Games, Sega and Ubisoft games produced exclusively for the viewing audience.
- 1997: WEAT does its first EAS test.
- 1999: Nintendo sells 67% of its share of Hyper Network station WHYP to RKO Holdings, Sega and Ubisoft, so WHYP, WEAT and WRBW form the Rainbow Television Assets Company, Inc. In the same year, it drops the Disney Afternoon and replaces it with Fox Kids.
- 2002: Fox Kids was dropped and replaced with Syndicated programming.
- 2004: The station restored a former Vietnam People's Air Force Cessna L-19 for traffic reports.
- July 4, 2007: WEAT celebrated its 25th anniversary in style by dressing up like they did in 1982 and also did the newscasts with film grain chroma-keyed in and 16mm pops and crackles in the soundtrack and the graphics in 1982 style.
- 2009: Rebuilded its digital transmitter for the DTV switchover. However, the analog transmitter remained.
- 2011: Digital subchannels started up.
- 2013: RKO Movies added to list of subchannels.
- 2014: Added another L-19 to the traffic report team.
- 2016: Sega and Ubisoft stakes sold to Nationwide Communications.
| Television stations in Bellingham, Massachusetts |
|---|
| WBEL 3 (MyTV/MyNetworkTV) WFUG 8 (ABC) |
| View • Talk • Edit |