22 News

22 News WWLP is a full service television station broadcasting to the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts as an NBC (National Broadcasting Company) affiliate on ... See more local channel 11. WWLP began broadcasting on March 17, 1953 one month before rival WGGB-TV, making it Massachusetts' oldest station outside of Boston. The station aired an analog signal on UHF channel 61 as an NBC affiliate. It switched frequencies to UHF channel 22 on July 2, 1955. WWLP was well known for producing "As Schools Match Wits," one of the longest running high school quiz programs in the United States, first broadcast in October 1961 until September 2006. From 1975 until 1979, the station aired nationally syndicated National Hockey League games from The NHL Network. One of WWLP's most successful alumni is Bill Rasmussen, founder of ESPN. WWLP has consistently produced the most popular newscasts in the Pioneer Valley. This has been achieved by beating rival ABC affiliate WGGB in the local Neilson ratings. In 2009, WWLP won 5 Associated Press Awards for excellent news coverage. WWLP was founded by William L. Putnam and his company, Springfield Television. After thirty years, Putnam retired from broadcasting by selling his company and its three stations to Adams Communications in 1984. Adams sold WWLP to Paul Brisette in January 1994. Brisette sold the station to Benedek Broadcasting in 1995. Current owner LIN TV acquired WWLP in early-2001 by swapping KAKE-TV in Wichita, Kansas and WOWT-TV in Omaha, Nebraska to Benedek. WWLP also operates a Hampshire County Bureau on Main Street in Northampton, Massachusetts as part of Thornes Market and a Franklin County Bureau in Greenfield. NBC affiliate WHDH-TV in Boston shares its resources with WWLP for news coverage of Eastern Massachusetts. In turn, WWLP does the same for events from western areas of the state.