WEAU

callsign	WEAU
city	Eau Claire, Wisconsin
branding	WEAU 13; CW Eau Claire La Crosse (on 14.10)
digital	17 (UHF)
virtual	13
translators	see
affiliations	13.1: NBC 14.10: CW+ for others, see
airdate	December 17, 1953
location	Eau Claire–La Crosse, Wisconsin
country	United States
callsign meaning	Eau Claire
former callsigns	WEAU-TV (1953–2012)‡R1R‡‡R2R‡
former channel numbers	Analog: 13 (VHF, 1953–2009) Digital: 39 (UHF, 2002–2009), 13 (VHF, 2009–2011), 38 (UHF, 2011–2020)
owner	Gray Media
licensee	Gray Television Licensee, LLC
former affiliations	All secondary:‡R3R‡ DuMont (1954–1956) CBS (1954−c. 1958) ABC (1954−1970) NTA (1956–1961)
erp	740 kW
haat	615.5 m
facility id	7893
coordinates	44.66389°N, -90.96139°W
licensing authority	FCC
website	https://www.weau.com/

WEAU (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, United States, serving the La Crosse–Eau Claire market as an affiliate of NBC and The CW Plus. The station is owned by Gray Media, and maintains studios on South Hastings Way / US 53 Business in Altoona (with an Eau Claire postal address); its transmitter is located north of Fairchild, near the Eau Claire–Clark county line.

History

WEAU-TV signed-on December 17, 1953, under the ownership of Central Broadcasting Company. This ownership group was led by a predecessor to Morgan Murphy Media and also included the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram along with WEAU radio (790 AM, now WEAQ at 1150 AM, and 94.1 FM, now WIAL).[4] It has always been a primary NBC affiliate but initially carried programs from CBS, ABC

News operation

WEAU tends to focus its local news coverage on Eau Claire and the Chippewa Valley, with a secondary emphasis on La Crosse.

WEAU constructed its own Doppler weather radar in 1979, becoming the first television station in the market to have its own device and no longer rely on delayed data from the National Weather Service. It premiered a 5 o'clock weeknight newscast on September 14, 1981. A satellite truck to provide live remote broadcasts came into use by 1983. The station was met with tragedy in September 1991 when weeknight news anchor Cindy Schott died unexpectedly. Her death was later the subject of a story on Real Life with Jane Pauley and Dateline NBC. WEAU resorted to a solo anchor format for the 6 and 10 p.m. news (John Froyd) following Schott's death but returned to a co-anchor format for their weeknight 10 o'clock program (Pat Kreitlow and Judy Clark) in August 1998 upon Froyd's retirement.

On August 28, 2006, WEAU entered into a news share agreement with Fox affiliates WLAX/WEUX (then owned by Grant Broadcasting System II). The arrangement resulted in those stations airing a weeknight prime time newscast produced by this NBC outlet. Known as Fox 25/48 News at 9, the half-hour broadcast would eventually be expanded to weekends starting January 20, 2007.

WLAX/WEUX features a majority of WEAU's on-air team except for maintaining a separate weeknight meteorologist and weekend news anchor (although they can fill in on the NBC outlet when needed). Fox 25/48 News at 9 originates from a secondary set at WEAU's studios and is fed to the WLAX/WEUX facility through a fiber-optic link. On August 5, 2011, WEAU upgraded its newscasts to high definition level. However, the WLAX/WEUX newscasts were not included in the change because they were produced from a secondary set that lacked HD cameras. As of fall 2015, Fox 25/48 News is broadcast in high definition.

Notable former on-air staff

Craig Coshun – FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin Broadcaster/Big Ten Play-By-Play Announcer; WEAU Reporter/Anchor: 1988–90
Pat Kreitlow – Wisconsin State Senator, 23rd District (D-Chippewa Falls), 2007–2011; WEAU Anchor/Reporter: mid 1990s–2005
Cameron Sanders – CNN Correspondent & Host of public radio's Marketplace; WEAU Reporter: 1979–80

WEAU

History

News operation

Notable former on-air staff

Technical information

Subchannels

Translators

External links

References