Ft. Myers stations rebrand under ‘Gulf Coast’ banner

Two Ft. Myers, Florida, television stations have opted to adopt shared branding.

Hearst-owned WBBH and Montclair Communications’ WZVN are both now using the “Gulf Coast” name.

WBBH goes by “Gulf Coast NBC” while WZVN operates under the banner of “Gulf Coast ABC,” reflecting their respective network affiliations.

Set Design

WBBH-TV

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WBBH and WZVN share a building and many operations through a local marketing agreement, though each station maintains its own studio and set.

Set Design

WZVN

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The new branding moves away from the former NBC2 and ABC7 monikers the stations used, with the number referring to the channel number on local cable systems.

Technically speaking, WBBH is on digital Channel 15, though it also uses remapping to virtually operate its legacy Channel 20. WZVN, meanwhile, uses digital Channel 28 but remaps Channel 26 to its signal. 

While specifics about the rebranding were not included in the stations’ announcement, the shared branding that does not rely on channel numbers could be viewed as a way for the stations to co-produce content and transition away from referring to local cable system numbering as more consumers switch to streaming, which often doesn’t use channel numbers, and over-the-air viewing, which has the potential to spark confusion because these signals don’t use channel 7 or 2.

The two stations, which also switched to the gulfcoastnewsnow.com domain and variations of that name on social media, did indicate that “expanding digital offerings” will be part of the rebranding, including an updated mobile app under Hearst’s “Very Local” banner (incidentally, gulfcoastnews.com appears to be controlled by Sinclair Broadcast Group and redirects to abc3340.com, the website for its Birmingham, Alabama, station WBMA. 

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The station will “continue delivering the trusted award-winning journalism viewers know they can count on,” according to a statement, while there are now programming or schedule changes immediately planned. 

WBBH and WZVN have been under the LMA arrangement since 1994, when the stations were owned by Waterman Broadcasting and Ellis Communications, respectively.

Waterman sold WBBH to Hearst in 2023 and WZVN was sold to Montclair after Raycom Media’s purchased Ellis but opted to sell the license. Montclair was founded by Lara Kunkler, the goddaughter of Waterman founder Bernie Waterman. 

Until 1995, WZVN was known as WEVU. It switched the calls that year, with the last three characters of the new letters meant to phonetically sound like “seven,” another reference to the station’s cable slot. 

The old WZVN logo, left, and WBBH logo, right.

Prior to the change, WBBH used the NBC peacock along with a stylized italic “2” for its logo, while WZVN utilized a variation of the “Circle 7” logo used by multiple ABC-owned stations and others that occupy the same channel number, at least virtually. 

Now, both stations share a new mark featuring an interconnected “G” and “C” — short for “Gulf Coast” — in a clean sans serif. The space inside of the “C” houses the appropriate network logo in the individual station looks. When both stations are referred to collectively, such as online, the network logos can move to the right of “Gulf,” while in other cases they start inside the “C” and continue slightly to the right. 

It’s worth noting that, when both network logos are used, it appears to be standard practice to put the ABC logo first, which could be thanks to alphabetical order or the fact the ABC globe fits neatly into the “C” space.

The new WZVN logo, top, and WBBH logo, bottom, drop any reference to the station call signs or channel numbers. 

For color, the new brand relies on a shade of blue that is more in line with WBBH’s old look. WZVN previously used a much different shade of blue in its logo.

The updated brand mark not only enforces the literal linking of the two stations but also could be viewed as a sort of wavy look, a reference to the nearby Gulf of Mexico. 

The words “Gulf Coast” are spelled out in what appears to be faux small caps and typically are stacked across two lines to the right of the “GC” mark. When the word “News” is added to refer to the stations’ newscasts, the “Gulf Coast” moves to a single line above an all-caps “News.”

The stations are now also both using the Hearst “digarid” graphics package with the the updated Gulf Coast News logo. Previously, WZVN used a different, more “swirly” look that was similar to the alternate look Hearst station WMUR in Manchester, New Hampshire, uses to avoid looking too similar to WCVB in Boston, which Hearst also owns and has some crossover between the two markets.

With the branding, both stations are using updated bug boxes in conjunction with the package’s normal lower third banners. 

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In addition to the overall rebranding, WBBH has dropped its “First Alert” weather branding. Both stations now use “Gulf Coast Weather” instead, with the weather graphics sporting both the ABC and NBC logos.

WZVN appears to have dropped its “Your most accurate” weather branding, while the “Alert” branding remains as a sort of alternative to “breaking news.”