Channel 12 bought by Florida company; anchor dropped

EAST PROVIDENCE — Sunrise Television Corp., of St. Petersburg, Fla., has acquired
Channel 12, WPRI-TV, the company announced last Tuesday. Two of the station’s
news anchors, Ann Conway and Steve Wieczek were fired along with three other newsroom
employees, the Providence Journal reported. Channel 12, a CBS outlet, had been
owned by Clear Channel Communications. The station has trailed Channel 10, WJAR-TV,
an NBC outlet, in viewer ratings for years. Sunrise announced its plan to purchase
Channel 12 in February filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for
$50 million. Channel 12 had also been operating Channel 64, WNAC, the Fox Communications
outlet in this area, under a marketing agreement. That station was owned by Sunrise,
but the company said it now planned to sell Channel 64 to LIN Television, a Providence-based
company.