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WOIO, "Cleveland's CBS19" is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio. It broadcasts on UHF channel 19 and is affiliated with the CBS television network. It is owned by Raycom Media, and is sister station to WUAB channel 43. It is licensed to Shaker Heights, and its transmitter is located in Parma, Ohio.

History

WOIO signed on the air on May 19, 1985. The station was locally owned, and aired off-network sitcoms, old movies, off-network drama shows, and religious shows. That fall, WOIO added cartoons in the morning and the late afternoon. The station was sold to Malrite later in the year.

By the end of 1985, WOIO had surpassed WCLQ (now WQHS) as the market's second highest-rated independent station, and behind only WUAB. However, by 1986, WOIO ceased to be an independent station, as it became the market's Fox affiliate.

In 1991, Malrite signed a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Cannel Broadcasting (WUAB's owner), and as a result, WOIO and WUAB became sister stations. Both stations moved to a location at downtown Cleveland's Reserve Square.

Becoming a CBS affiliate

In September 1994, WJW dropped its CBS affiliation and became a Fox affiliate. As a result, the CBS affiliation migrated to WOIO. WOIO moved its sitcoms and non-Fox cartoons to WUAB. At first, WOIO had no intention to start a news division. However, CBS informed WOIO that it "preferred" that the station air newscasts. Since there was little time to form a news division, WOIO had WUAB, its sister station (which already produced the "Channel 43 10 O'Clock News"), manage its new news division. WOIO began airing newscasts at 6:30pm and 11pm. The two WOIO newscasts and the 10PM WUAB broadcast became collectively known as "Cleveland Television News."

However, the switching of the two networks caused major shakeups in terms of all Cleveland TV News. WJW viewers were not impressed with the station's new hard-hitting format brought on by the new Fox affiliation, and were not willing to start watching the new poorly produced WOIO newscasts. It was at this time that WEWS began its 7 year run as the top rated news station in Cleveland. Additionally, with the Fox affiliation, WJW moved its late night newscast form 11PM to 10PM. This meant that now, for the first time, there were two 10PM newscasts, WJW and WUAB, thus splitting the audience. The combination of a second 10PM newscast and the poor quality of WOIO's newscasts resulted in absolute failure for "Cleveland Television News." The struggling WKYC (NBC) moved into second last place before WOIO.

In 1996, WOIO and WUAB dropped the "Cleveland Television News" ID. WOIO began identifying itself as "Cleveland's CBS 19" and titled its newscasts "CBS 19 News" in hopes that viewers would see "CBS" and gain their trust. Once again, however, WOIO failed to win viewers and remained the lowest rated station.

In 1997, WOIO tried a two woman (Gretchen Carlson & Denise Dufala) anchor team for it's 6 and 11PM newscasts. This is something done rarely nationally and never in Cleveland. This was seen as merely a stunt and ratings did not improve.

In 1999, both WOIO and WUAB titled their newscasts "Hometeam 19" and "Hometeam 43" respectively. The stations tried to put an emphasis on local coverage, and play on the fact that at the time they carried all 3 major Cleveland sports teams (Indians and Cavaliers on 43, Browns on 19). While both WOIO and WUAB made minor gains during this period, both were still in last place.

Action News

In the late 1990s, Malrite was bought out by Raycom Media. Raycom was not impressed with both WOIO and WUAB's ratings and decided that a major change was needed. In late 2001, Raycom hired controversial station manager Bill Applegate as the GM at WOIO and WUAB. Raycom made this selection because Applegate was known for creating "different" newscasts and quick turnarounds of struggling TV stations to becoming contenders. In May 2002, "Action News" debuted. Almost the entire news team was replaced with new people and a popular press format was put into place. The pacing, the look, the style, and the language of each newscast took on a dramatically different look and feel. Soon after, the newscasts' title would officially be changed to "19 Action News", airing on both WOIO and WUAB. Ratings improved almost immediately, especially in late news, where 19 Action News at 11 became the only late newscast to gain viewers an unprecedented four years in a row, as WKYC, WEWS, and WJW's late newscasts either remained flat or dropped dramatically. The success of WOIO's late news gained national attention as it toppled WEWS, a thirty year market leader, into third place.

In June 2004, WOIO began airing Cleveland's first 4PM newscast. The show is hosted by David Wittman, Sharon Reed and Jeff Tanchak. It debuted in last place, but now has grown steadily as it fights for second place with WJW's Judge Judy, but still trails The Oprah Winfrey Show at that hour.

In November of 2004, Cleveland viewers responded to what many say is themost controversial local news story ever. Earlier that year, Spencer Tunick, a photographer known for taking pictures of large groups of naked people came to Cleveland. 19 Action News anchor Sharon Reed, regarded by many viewers as attractive, volunteered to pose in the photo for a first hand account of the experience. WOIO shot video of Reed getting up in the morning, going to the event, stripping down to her underwear, and finally nude profile shots of her. The story, called "Body of Art", aired in the November sweeps period after being promoted heavily with promos that contained a "viewer discression advisory". Both WOIO and Reed insisted that the story had nothing to do with selling sex, but instead was supposed to make viewers question whether the body is art or "something else." On the night the story aired WOIO received its highest ratings ever. The story also gave Reed and WOIO national attention, as she was invited to defend the piece on Fox News and on The Late Show With David Letterman.

In another local television first, WOIO and the historic NFL franchise Cleveland Browns entered into an unprecedented partnership in April 2005. After terminating it's relationship with WKYC, the Browns turned to WOIO to become the Home Of The Browns, beginning with a pre-season draft show, training camp access, broadcast rights to all pre-season games, all of CBS' AFC contracted Browns games (provided that the home games sell out), and several pre- and post game shows.

Today, WOIO's newscasts continue to make plenty of noise in the Cleveland local television news landscape. 19 Action News Morning, 19 Action News at Noon, and 19 Action News First At Four are all on the rise, and 19 Action News at 11 is a half a rating point out of first place.

Newscasts

WOIO's newscasts are currently titled "19 Action News." They are seen at the following hours:

Weekdays

• 5am - 7am: 19 Action News This Morning
• 12noon - 12:30pm: 19 Action News at Noon
• 4pm - 5pm: 19 Action News First at Four
• 5pm - 6pm: 19 Action News at Five
• 6pm - 6:30pm: 19 Action News at Six
• 11pm - 11:35pm: 19 Action News at Eleven

Weekends

• 6pm - 6:30pm: 19 Action News at Six *Saturdays only
• 6:30pm-7pm: 19 Action News at 6:30 *Sundays only
• 7am-9am: 19 Action News Sunday Morning *Sundays only

Cleveland Browns

WOIO is the TV home of the Cleveland Browns.

They air most Browns regular season games (via CBS), including sold-out intraconference home games.

They also air all non network preseason games, as well as team produced Sunday pre- and post-game shows and a Monday night coach's show.

External links

• WOIO Website
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