1.
Riverfront Stadium
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Located on the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati, the stadium was best known as the home of The Big Red Machine, as the Reds were often called in the 1970s. Construction began on February 1,1968, and was completed at a cost of less than $50 million, on June 30,1970, the Reds hosted the Atlanta Braves in their grand opening, with Hank Aaron hitting the first ever home run at Riverfront. Two weeks later on July 14,1970, Riverfront hosted the 1970 Major League Baseball All-Star Game and this game is best remembered for the often-replayed collision at home plate between Reds star Pete Rose and catcher Ray Fosse of the Cleveland Indians. In September 1996, Riverfront Stadium was renamed Cinergy Field in a deal with Greater Cincinnati energy company Cinergy. In 2001, to room for Great American Ball Park. There was a wall in center field visible after the renovations. The stadium was demolished by implosion on December 29,2002, the astroturf panels covering the tracks could be seen in left field during Reds games. Riverfront Stadiums scoreboard was designed by American Sign and Indicator, and that scoreboard would be upgraded in the 1980s with the addition of an adjacent Sony JumboTron. Riverfront quickly earned a place in Cincinnatis century-long baseball tradition as the home of one of the best teams in baseball history, the World Series would return in 1990, with Cincinnati winning the first two of a four-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics at Riverfront. Players who combined power and speed like Joe Morgan, Pete Rose and Ken Griffey, catcher Johnny Bench and first baseman Tony Pérez played here. The artificial turf covered not only the grass area of the ballpark but is usually the skinned portion of the infield. Only the pitchers mound, the plate area, and cutouts around first, second. This was the first stadium in the majors with this sliding pit configuration, Riverfront hosted the MLB All-Star Game twice. First on July 14,1970 with President Richard Nixon in attendance, despite Cincinnatis love of baseball, it was the prospect of a professional football team that finally moved the city to end 20 years of discussion and build a new stadium on the downtown riverfront. Perhaps the most memorable game at Riverfront was the AFC Championship on January 10,1982. The game became known as the Freezer Bowl and was won by the Bengals over the San Diego Chargers, the air temperature during the game was −9 °F and the wind chill was −37 °F, the coldest in NFL history. The win earned the Bengals their first of two trips to the Super Bowl while playing at Riverfront, Riverfront Stadium hosted the 1988 AFC Championship, as the Bengals beat the Buffalo Bills 21–10 to advance to their second Super Bowl appearance. During the Bengals tenure, they defeated every visiting franchise at least once, enjoying perfect records against the Arizona Cardinals, New York Giants, and Philadelphia Eagles
2.
Cincinnati
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Cincinnati is a city in the U. S. state of Ohio that serves as county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the side of the confluence of the Licking with the Ohio River. With a population of 298,550, Cincinnati is the third-largest city in Ohio and its metropolitan statistical area is the 28th-largest in the United States and the largest centered in Ohio. The city is part of the larger Cincinnati–Middletown–Wilmington combined statistical area. In the 19th century, Cincinnati was an American boomtown in the heart of the country, it rivaled the larger cities in size. Throughout much of the 19th century, it was listed among the top 10 U. S and it was by far the largest city in the west. By the end of the 19th century, with the shift from steamboats to railroads drawing off freight shipping, trade patterns had altered and Cincinnatis growth slowed considerably. Cincinnati is home to two sports teams, the Cincinnati Reds, the oldest franchise in Major League Baseball. The University of Cincinnati, founded in 1819, is one of the 50 largest in the United States, Cincinnati is known for its historic architecture. In the late 1800s, Cincinnati was commonly referred to as Paris of America, due mainly to such ambitious projects as the Music Hall, Cincinnatian Hotel. The original surveyor, John Filson, named it Losantiville, in 1790, Arthur St. Ethnic Germans were among the early settlers, migrating from Pennsylvania and the backcountry of Virginia and Tennessee. General David Ziegler succeeded General St. Clair in command at Fort Washington, after the conclusion of the Northwest Indian Wars and removal of Native Americans to the west, he was elected as the mayor of Cincinnati in 1802. Cincinnati was incorporated as a city in 1819, exporting pork products and hay, it became a center of pork processing in the region. From 1810 to 1830 its population tripled, from 9,642 to 24,831. Completion of the Miami and Erie Canal in 1827 to Middletown, Ohio further stimulated businesses, the city had a labor shortage until large waves of immigration by Irish and Germans in the late 1840s. The city grew rapidly over the two decades, reaching 115,000 persons by 1850. Construction on the Miami and Erie Canal began on July 21,1825, the first section of the canal was opened for business in 1827. In 1827, the canal connected Cincinnati to nearby Middletown, by 1840, during this period of rapid expansion and prominence, residents of Cincinnati began referring to the city as the Queen City
3.
Cincinnati Reds
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The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League Central division. They were a member of the American Association in 1882. The Reds played in the NL West division from 1969 to 1993 and they have won five World Series titles, nine NL pennants, one AA pennant, and 10 division titles. The team plays its games at Great American Ball Park. Bob Castellini has been executive officer since 2006. The origins of the modern Cincinnati Reds can be traced to the expulsion of a team bearing that name. Both were important activities to entice the citys large German population, while Hulbert made clear his distaste for both beer and Sunday baseball at the founding of the league, neither practice was actually against league rules in those early years. On October 6,1880, however, seven of the eight team owners pledged at a league meeting to formally ban both beer and Sunday baseball at the regular league meeting that December. Only Cincinnati president W. H. Kennett refused to sign the pledge, when these attempts failed, he formed a new independent ballclub known as the Red Stockings in the Spring of 1881, and brought the team to St. Louis for a weekend exhibition. The Reds first game was a 12–3 victory over the St. Louis club, upon arriving in the city, however, Caylor and Thorner discovered that no other owners had decided to accept the invitation, with even Phillips not bothering to attend his own meeting. By chance, the duo met a former pitcher named Al Pratt, the ploy worked, and the American Association was officially formed at the Hotel Gibson in Cincinnati with the new Reds a charter member with Thorner as president. The club never placed higher than second or lower than fifth for the rest of its tenure in the American Association, the National League was happy to accept the teams in part due to the emergence of the new Players League. This new league, a failed attempt to break the reserve clause in baseball. Because the National League decided to expand while the American Association was weakening and it was also at this time that the team first shortened their name from Red Stockings to Reds. The Reds wandered through the 1890s signing local stars and aging veterans, during this time, the team never finished above third place and never closer than 10½ games. At the start of the 20th century, the Reds had hitting stars Sam Crawford, seymours.377 average in 1905 was the first individual batting crown won by a Red. In 1911, Bob Bescher stole 81 bases, which is still a team record, like the previous decade, the 1900s were not kind to the Reds, as much of the decade was spent in the leagues second division
4.
World Series
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The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball in North America, contested since 1903 between the American League champion team and the National League champion team. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a playoff. As the series is played in October, during the season in North America. As of 2016, the World Series has been contested 112 times, with the AL winning 64, the 2016 World Series took place between the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Cubs. Seven games were played, with the Cubs victorious after game seven, the final score was 8–7, the game went into extra innings after a tied score of 6–6. This was the third World Series won by the Cubs, as well as their first title since 1908, in the National League, the St. As of 2016, no team has won consecutive World Series championships since the New York Yankees in 1998,1999, all championships were awarded to the team with the best record at the end of the season, without a postseason series being played. From 1884 to 1890, the National League and the American Association faced each other in a series of games at the end of the season to determine an overall champion. These series were disorganized in comparison to the modern World Series, the number of games played ranged from as few as three in 1884, to a high of fifteen in 1887. Both the 1885 and 1890 Series ended in ties, each team having won three games with one tie game, the series was promoted and referred to as The Championship of the United States, Worlds Championship Series, or Worlds Series for short. In his book Krakatoa, The Day the World Exploded, August 27,1883, Simon Winchester mentions in passing that the World Series was named for the New York World newspaper, but this view is disputed. Until about 1960, some sources treated the 19th-century Series on a basis with the post-19th-century series. After about 1930, however, many authorities list the start of the World Series in 1903, following the collapse of the American Association after the 1891 season, the National League was again the only major league. The league championship was awarded in 1892 by a playoff between half-season champions and this scheme was abandoned after one season. Beginning in 1893—and continuing until divisional play was introduced in 1969—the pennant was awarded to the club in the standings at the end of the season. For four seasons, 1894–1897, the league played the runners-up in the post season championship series called the Temple Cup. A second attempt at this format was the Chronicle-Telegraph Cup series, in 1901, the American League was formed as a second major league. No championship series were played in 1901 or 1902 as the National and these series were arranged by the participating clubs, as the 1880s Worlds Series matches had been
5.
Major League Baseball
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Major League Baseball is a professional baseball organization, the oldest of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. A total of 30 teams now play in the National League and American League, the NL and AL operated as separate legal entities from 1876 and 1901 respectively. After cooperating but remaining legally separate entities since 1903, the merged into a single organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball in 2000. The organization also oversees Minor League Baseball, which comprises about 240 teams affiliated with the Major League clubs, with the World Baseball Softball Confederation, MLB manages the international World Baseball Classic tournament. Baseballs first professional team was founded in Cincinnati in 1869,30 years after Abner Doubleday supposedly invented the game of baseball, the first few decades of professional baseball were characterized by rivalries between leagues and by players who often jumped from one team or league to another. The period before 1920 in baseball was known as the dead-ball era, Baseball survived a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series, which came to be known as the Black Sox Scandal. The sport rose in popularity in the 1920s, and survived potential downturns during the Great Depression, shortly after the war, baseballs color barrier was broken by Jackie Robinson. The 1950s and 1960s were a time of expansion for the AL and NL, then new stadiums, Home runs dominated the game during the 1990s, and media reports began to discuss the use of anabolic steroids among Major League players in the mid-2000s. In 2006, an investigation produced the Mitchell Report, which implicated many players in the use of performance-enhancing substances, today, MLB is composed of thirty teams, twenty-nine in the United States and one in Canada. Baseball broadcasts are aired on television, radio, and the Internet throughout North America, MLB has the highest season attendance of any sports league in the world with more than 73 million spectators in 2015. MLB is governed by the Major League Baseball Constitution and this document has undergone several incarnations since 1875, with the most recent revisions being made in 2012. Under the direction of the Commissioner of Baseball, MLB hires and maintains the sports umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, MLB maintains a unique, controlling relationship over the sport, including most aspects of Minor League Baseball. This ruling has been weakened only slightly in subsequent years, the weakened ruling granted more stability to the owners of teams and has resulted in values increasing at double-digit rates. There were several challenges to MLBs primacy in the sport between the 1870s and the Federal League in 1916, the last attempt at a new league was the aborted Continental League in 1960. The chief executive of MLB is the commissioner, Rob Manfred, the chief operating officer is Tony Petitti. There are five other executives, president, chief officer, chief legal officer, chief financial officer. The multimedia branch of MLB, which is based in Manhattan, is MLB Advanced Media and this branch oversees MLB. com and each of the 30 teams websites. Its charter states that MLB Advanced Media holds editorial independence from the league, MLB Productions is a similarly structured wing of the league, focusing on video and traditional broadcast media
6.
Detroit Tigers
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The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit, Michigan. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the American League Central division. One of the ALs eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in 1901 and they are the oldest continuous one-name, one-city franchise in the AL. The Tigers have won four World Series championships,11 AL pennants, the Tigers also won division titles in 1972,1984 and 1987 while members of the AL East. The team currently plays its games at Comerica Park in Downtown Detroit. The Tigers constructed Bennett Park at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Trumbull Avenue in Corktown, in 1912, the team moved into Navin Field, which was built on the same location. It was expanded in 1938 and renamed Briggs Stadium and it was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961 and the Tigers played there until moving to Comerica Park in 2000. The club is a member of the American League, one of four clubs still located in its original city. It was established as a member in 1901. The Tigers played their first game as a league team at home against the Milwaukee Brewers on April 25,1901. After entering the ninth inning behind 13–4, the team staged a comeback to win 14–13. The team finished third in the eight-team league,11 years later, an elegant stadium was constructed on the site of Bennett Park and named Navin Field for owner Frank Navin. In 1938, it was improved and named Briggs Stadium, and was subsequently renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961, Tiger Stadium was used by the Tigers until the end of the 1999 season. Since 2000, they have played in Comerica Park, there are various legends about how the Tigers got their nickname. One involves the orange stripes they wore on their black stockings, Tigers manager George Stallings took credit for the name, however, the name appeared in newspapers before Stallings was manager. Another legend concerns a sportswriter equating the 1901 teams opening day victory with the ferocity of his alma mater and they had played significant roles in certain Civil War battles and in the 1898 Spanish–American War. The baseball team was informally called both Wolverines and Tigers in the news. The earliest known use of the name Tigers in the media was in the Detroit Free Press on April 16,1895, upon entry into the majors, the ballclub sought and received formal permission from the Light Guard to use its trademark
7.
San Francisco Giants
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The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball franchise based in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1883 as the New York Gothams, and renamed three years later to the New York Giants, the team moved to San Francisco in 1958. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League West division. As one of the longest-established and most successful baseball teams. The team was the first major team based in New York City. They have won 23 NL pennants and have played in 20 World Series competitions – both NL records, the Giants eight World Series championships rank second in the National League and are tied for fourth overall. The Giants have played in the World Series 20 times –14 times in New York, six in San Francisco –, the Giants franchise has the most Hall of Fame players in all of professional baseball. The Giants rivalry with the Dodgers is one of the longest-standing, the teams began their rivalry as the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers, respectively, before both franchises moved west for the 1958 season. The Giants have won six pennants and three World Series championships since arriving in San Francisco and those three championships have come in 2010,2012, and most recently in 2014, having defeated the Kansas City Royals four games to three during the 2014 World Series. The Giants began as the baseball club founded by millionaire tobacconist John B. Day and veteran amateur baseball player Jim Mutrie, the Gothams, as the Giants were originally known, entered the National League in 1883, while their other club, the Metropolitans played in the American Association. Nearly half of the original Gotham players were members of the disbanded Troy Trojans, Louis Browns in a pre-modern-era World Series. They repeated as champions the year with a pennant and Championship victory over the Brooklyn Bridegrooms. It is said that one particularly satisfying victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, Mutrie. From then on, the club was known as the Giants, the Giants original home stadium, the Polo Grounds, dates from this early era. It was originally located north of Central Park adjacent to 5th and 6th Avenues and 110th and 112th Streets, the Giants were a powerhouse in the late 1880s, winning their first two National League Pennants and World Championships in 1888 and 1889. But nearly all of the Giants stars jumped to the upstart Players League, whose New York franchise was named the Giants. The new team built a stadium next door to the Polo Grounds
8.
WLW
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WLW – branded Newsradio 700 WLW – is a commercial news/talk radio station serving Greater Cincinnati. Owned by iHeartMedia, WLW is a 50, 000-watt clear-channel station that covers much of the half of North America at night. WLW serves as the Cincinnati affiliate for ABC News Radio and as a station for the Cincinnati Bengals. It is also the home of radio personality Bill Cunningham, the WLW studios are located in Sycamore Township, while the station transmitter is located in Mason. Besides a standard transmission, WLW broadcasts over a single HD radio channel. In July 1921, radio manufacturer Powel Crosley Jr. began tests from his 20-watt College Hill home station, powell already owned a number of enterprises including the Crosmobile, and a refrigerator-freezer company. He owned the Cincinnati Reds baseball club from 1934 to 1961, Crosley was innovative, personally inventing, or funding the development of, many then–cutting edge technological advances related to his ventures. He placed these in the hands of his younger brother Lewis. On March 22,1922, Crosley and his Crosley Broadcasting Corporation began operating a commercially licensed,50 watt station, under its current call sign, Crosley was a fanatic about the new broadcasting technology, and continually increased his stations capability. The power increased to 500 watts in September 1922, and to 1000 watts in May 1924, in January 1925, WLW was the first 5000 watt broadcasting station. On October 4,1928, the station increased its power to 50 kilowatts and it was the first station at this power level, which remains the maximum power allowed for any AM station in the United States. At 50 kilowatts, WLW was heard easily over an area from New York to Florida. In 1933 he obtained a permit from the Federal Radio Commission for a 500 kilowatt superstation. It was the first large amplifier used in the United States for public, domestic radio broadcasting and was in operation between 1934 and 1939 and it was an experimental amplifier, driven by the radio stations regular 50 kW transmitter. It operated in class C with high-level plate modulation, the amplifier required a dedicated 33 kV electrical substation and a large pond complete with fountains for cooling. It operated with an input of about 750 kW and its output was 500 kW. In January 1934, WLW began broadcasting at the 500 kilowatt level late at night under the call sign W8XO. In April 1934 the station was authorized to operate at 500 kilowatts during regular hours under the WLW call letters, on May 2,1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a ceremonial button that officially launched WLWs 500-kilowatt signal
9.
Sparky Anderson
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George Lee Sparky Anderson was a Major League Baseball player, coach and manager. He managed the National Leagues Cincinnati Reds to the 1975 and 1976 championships and he was the first manager to win the World Series in both leagues. His 2,194 career wins are the sixth most for a manager in Major League history and he was named American League Manager of the Year in 1984 and 1987. Anderson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000, Anderson was born in Bridgewater, South Dakota, on February 22,1934. He moved to Los Angeles when he was 8 and he was a batboy for the USC Trojans. He attended Susan Miller Dorsey High School in Los Angeles, upon graduating, he was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers as an amateur free agent in 1953. Andersons American Legion team won the 1951 national championship, which was played in Briggs Stadium in Detroit and he married Carol Valle on October 3,1953. They had first met when each was in the fifth grade, Anderson began his playing career with the Santa Barbara Dodgers of the class-C California League, where he was primarily used as a shortstop. In 1954, he was moved up to the class-A Pueblo Dodgers of the Western League and was moved to second base, in 1955, Anderson was moved another step up the minor league ladder, playing for the Double-A Fort Worth Cats of the Texas League. A radio announcer gave him the nickname Sparky in 1955 for his feisty play, in 1956, he moved up once more, this time to the Triple-A Montreal Royals of the International League. In 1957, he was assigned to the Los Angeles Angels of the open-classification Pacific Coast League, the next season, after the Dodgers move to Los Angeles, he returned to Montreal. The Phillies gave Anderson their starting second base job, and he spent what would be his one season in the major leagues in 1959. However, he batted only.218 in 152 games, with no runs and 34 runs batted in. His 527 at-bats is still the record for the most by a player who played in one Major League season. He played the four seasons with the Triple-A Toronto Maple Leafs in the International League. After watching several practices, Leafs owner Jack Kent Cooke observed Andersons leadership qualities, Cooke immediately encouraged him to pursue a career in managing, offering Anderson the post for the Leafs. In 1964, at the age of 30, Anderson accepted Cookes offer to manage the Leafs and he later handled minor league clubs at the Class A and Double-A levels, including a season in the Reds minor league system. It was during the 1966 season that Andersons club lost to Miami 4–3 in 29 innings and he made his way back to the majors in 1969 as the third-base coach of the San Diego Padres during their maiden season in the National League
10.
Pete Rose
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Peter Edward Pete Rose Sr. also known by his nickname Charlie Hustle, is an American former professional baseball player and manager. Rose played in Major League Baseball from 1963 to 1986, Rose, a switch hitter, is the all-time MLB leader in hits, games played, at-bats, singles, and outs. Rose won both of his Gold Gloves as an outfielder in 1969 and 1970, in 1991, the Baseball Hall of Fame formally voted to ban those on the permanently ineligible list from induction, after previously excluding such players by informal agreement among voters. In 2004, after years of denial, Rose admitted to betting on baseball and on, but not against. The issue of Roses possible reinstatement and election to the Hall of Fame remains a contentious one throughout baseball, on June 22,2015, ESPN concluded an investigation and determined that Rose bet on baseball while still a player-manager, from 1984 to 1986. The investigation also made public the existence of records of bets made by Rose on baseball, in 2016, Rose was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame. Rose was born April 14,1941 in Cincinnati, Ohio, one of four born to Harry Francis Pete. He was a member of the Order of DeMolay as a young boy and he played baseball and football at Western Hills High School. Although Rose was small for his age, he earned the starting running back position on his football team. When he was not promoted to the varsity team in his sophomore year, Rose was dejected. At the end of the year, Roses teachers decreed he would have to attend summer school or be held back. His father decided it would be better for Pete to repeat a year of school than miss a summer playing baseball and it would also give Pete an extra year to mature physically. He played catcher, second base and shortstop and compiled a.626 batting average and this would have been the pinnacle of Roses baseball career if not for the help of his uncle Buddy Bloebaum. Bloebaum was a Bird dog scout for the Reds and he pleaded the case for his nephew, the Reds, who had recently traded away a number of prospects who turned out to be very good, decided to take a chance on Pete. Upon his graduation from school, Rose signed a professional contract. During a spring training game against the Chicago White Sox in 1963, during another spring training game against the New York Yankees, Whitey Ford gave him the derisive nickname Charlie Hustle after Rose sprinted to first base after drawing a walk. Despite the manner in which Ford intended it, Rose adopted that nickname as a badge of honor, Rose made his major league debut on April 8,1963 against the Pittsburgh Pirates and drew a walk. After going 0-for-11, Rose got his first Major League hit on April 13 and he hit.273 for the year and won the National League Rookie of the Year Award, collecting 17 of 20 votes
11.
Road (sports)
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A road game or away game is a sports game where the specified team is not the host and must travel to another venue. Most professional teams represent cities or towns and amateur sports teams often represent academic institutions, each team has a location where it practices during the season and where it hosts games. When a team is not the host, it must travel to games. Thus, when a team is not hosting a game, the team is described as the team, the visiting team, or the away team. The venue in which the game is played is described as the stadium or the road. The host team is said to be the home team, major sporting events, if not held at a neutral venue, are often over several legs at each teams home ground, so that neither team has an advantage over the other. Occasionally, the team may not have to travel very far at all to a road game. These matches often become local derbies, a few times a year, a road team may even be lucky enough to have the road game played at their own home stadium or arena. This is prevalent in college athletics where many schools will play in regional leagues or groundshare. The related term true road game has seen increasing use in U. S. college sports in the 21st century, while regular-season tournaments and other special events have been part of college sports from their creation, the 21st century has seen a proliferation of such events. These are typically held at sites, with some of them taking place outside the contiguous U. S. or even outside the country entirely. In turn, this has led to the use of true road game to refer to contests played at one home venue. In some association football leagues, particularly in Europe, the teams fans sit in their own section. Depending on the stadium, they will either sit in a designated section or be separated from the home fans by a cordon of police officers. However, in the leagues in England, supporters may be free to mix. When games are played at a site, for instance the FA Cup final in England which is always played at Wembley Stadium. This results in each team occupying one half of the stadium and this is different from other sports, particularly in North America, where very few fans travel to games played away from their home stadium. Home and away fans are not separated at these games
12.
WLWT
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WLWT, virtual channel 5, is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. The station is owned by the Hearst Television subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation, the stations studios and transmitter are located on Young Street in the Mount Auburn neighborhood of Cincinnati. WLWT was established by the Crosley Broadcasting Corporation, owners of WLW, Crosley Broadcasting was a subsidiary of the Crosley Corporation, which became a subsidiary of the Aviation Corporation in 1945. The stations studios were housed with WLW in the Crosley Square building, WLWT later affiliated exclusively with NBC in 1949, after WKRC-TV and WCPO-TV signed on during that year. Following the release of the FCCs Sixth Report and Order in 1952, WLWT was reassigned to channel 5, as the previous channel 4 allocation was shifted north to Columbus and given to sister station WLWC. In addition to WLWT and WLWC, Crosley also operated stations in markets, WLWD in Dayton. The three WLW television stations in Ohio were NBC affiliates, and carried common programming along with WLWI in Indianapolis, most of these shows were produced at the WLWT studios on Crosley Square, and included The Ruth Lyons 50-50 Club, the Paul Dixon Show and Midwestern Hayride. The programs were syndicated regionally and also appeared on two stations outside of the Midwest that were owned by Crosley, WLWA in Atlanta. In 1957, WLWT became the first station in the Cincinnati market to begin television broadcasts. It later became the first station in the nation to broadcast entirely in color, for a period during the 1970s, the stations slogan was 5, The Originator, in reference to all of the local programming that was produced by the station. The Crosley broadcast division took the name of its parent company in 1968, avcos ownership of WLW radio and WLWT, and the Columbus, Dayton and Indianapolis television stations was initially protected under the new rule. WLWTs channel 5 coverage area covered a large amount of the Dayton and Columbus markets, while WLW radio could be heard throughout much of eastern North America at night. Also in 1968, when the Cincinnati Bengals were enfranchised by the American Football League, channel 5, through NBC and this partnership would continue through the end of the 1997 season, when WKRC took over as the default station of record for the team. The station airs Bengals games nowadays when they are featured on NBCs Sunday Night Football, in the mid-1970s, Avco decided to exit broadcasting and sold all of its stations to separate buyers. WLWT was the next to last to be sold, going to Multimedia, as a result, the stations all lost their grandfathered protection, which led to an ownership conflict situation which Hearst-Argyle would encounter two decades later. The Gannett Company bought Multimedia in 1995, argyle merged with the broadcasting unit of the Hearst Corporation to form Hearst-Argyle Television in August 1997. Hearst had owned WDTN since 1981, but the company opted to keep the larger WLWT. WLWTs licensee name under Multimedia and Gannett ownership, Multimedia Entertainment, in 1996, WKRC-TV and WCPO-TV traded networks, leaving WLWT as the only Cincinnati television station to never change its affiliation
