WFMY-TV
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| Greensboro/High Point/ Winston-Salem, North Carolina |
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| Branding | WFMY News 2 |
| Slogan | The News That Matters Most |
| Channels | Digital: 51 (UHF) Virtual: 2 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 2.1: CBS 2.2: weather |
| Affiliations | CBS |
| Owner | Gannett Company (WFMY Television Corporation) |
| Founded | August 18, 1949 |
| Call letters' meaning | began as the TV arm of FM station WFMY (now WQMG-FM) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 2 (VHF, 1949-2009) |
| Former affiliations | All secondary: ABC (1949-1963) NBC (1949-1953) DuMont (1949-1956) |
| Transmitter power | 1000 kW |
| Height | 568.8 m |
| Facility ID | 72064 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 35°52′13.3″N 79°50′24.1″W / 35.870361°N 79.840028°W |
| Website | www.digtriad.com |
WFMY-TV (digital channel 51, virtual channel 2) is a television station in Greensboro, North Carolina. Owned by the Gannett Company, WFMY is the CBS affiliate for the Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem (also known as the Piedmont Triad) area. WFMY's studios are located on Phillips Avenue northeast of downtown Greensboro, and its transmitter is located in Randleman, North Carolina.
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History [edit]
The station began operation on September 22, 1949 as the second television station in North Carolina, just a few months after fellow CBS affiliate WBTV in Charlotte. It was owned by the Greensboro News Company, publishers of the Greensboro Daily News and Daily Record (now merged as the Greensboro News & Record). The News Company had put WFMY-FM on the air in 1947, but it removed the station from the air in the early part of the 1950s, eventually selling the license around 1955 to another party. The new owner put it back on the air as WQMG-FM (97.1), which retains those calls to the present day. It aired programs from all four networks (CBS, NBC, ABC, and DuMont), but has always been a primary CBS affiliate. NBC moved to WSJS-TV (now WXII-TV) when it signed on in 1953. WFMY also shared ABC with WSJS until 1963 when WGHP signed on.
Sportscaster Charlie Harville worked at WFMY from 1949 to 1963, when he joined WGHP, and from 1977 to 1988.[1]
In 1965, the News Company was bought by what became Landmark Communications. The station was acquired by Harte-Hanks Communications in 1976, and by Gannett in 1989.
WFMY's local programming, which includes the long-running news program "Good Morning Show" with Lee Kinard and children's program "The Old Rebel Show", pre-empted CBS' various attempts at morning programming from 1957 through the 1980s. WGGT (now WMYV) aired the CBS Morning News until 1985, and afterwards WFMY began to run the broadcast on delay from 8-10am following "The Good Morning Show". Lee Kinard later moved to the weeknight news until his retirement in the 1990s.
On Saturdays, WFMY carries "The Good Morning Show" on its main channel, followed by the CBS kids' block. CBS This Morning airs on its digital channel.
Another important local daytime program from the 1970s was "Sandra and Friends", hosted by longtime news anchor Sandra Hughes. This was one of the first shows in the region to be hosted by an African-American female.
On September 25, 1984, the station's number one news-gathering tool, SKY 2, did itself become news. The Bell Jet Ranger Helicopter, piloted by Tom Haroski, was attempting to assist in the rescue of a construction worker trapped atop a water tower in Kernersville, near Winston-Salem. The tower was being dismantled when a piece of steel snapped and trapped the worker for hours. He was bleeding profusely when late that night, SKY 2 was called in to assist. The pilot began lowering the chopper above the tower. An EMS worker on board was going to attempt the rescue. As the chopper hovered over the tower the tail rotor hit one of the steel beams of the tower sending the helicopter nose first into the ground. The images were captured on tape by competitor WXII and broadcast around the country. The pilot and rescue worker were killed instantly. In a sad footnote, it was determined that the worker they were attempting to reach had bled to death before the chopper ever took off.[2]
WFMY began using a new version of SKY 2 (painted black) after the accident, but eventually retired the chopper altogether.
During the analog television era, WFMY boasted one of the largest coverage areas in the Southeast. It provided grade B coverage as far west as Charlotte and as far east as Raleigh. The channel 2 signal traveled a very long distance under normal conditions. Despite the move to a digital signal on UHF, WFMY's secondary coverage area is almost as large as it was in analog. Its digital signal operates at a full million watts, equivalent to 5 million watts for an analog transmitter.
On Tuesday, January 5, 2010 at noon, WFMY begun producing 16:9 widescreen newscasts. Local stories and remote broadcasts were all in 16:9 widescreen as well.[citation needed] On November 13, 2011 beginning with its 11 p.m. newscast, WFMY began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. The station introduced a new format for its newscasts titled News 2.0.[3]
WFMY has made a number of changes to its daytime schedule in March and April 2013. In March it moved Let's Make A Deal from 3 PM to 10 AM, replacing it in the afternoon with double runs of The Andy Griffith Show, which had been airing in the mornings. WFMY also announced a new part news/part investigative series, 2 Wants To Know, to replace the third daily showing of Andy Griffith at 5:30 PM, effective April 25, 2013, a move which has angered some viewers, as indicated in stories in the Greensboro News & Record and the Winston-Salem Journal.
Digital channels [edit]
| Channel | PSIP Short Name | Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | WFMY HD | 1080i | 16:9 | Main WFMY-TV programming / CBS |
| 2.2 | WFMY SD | 480i | 4:3 | WFMY News 2 Local Weather First |
Controversy [edit]
On July 27, 2011, WFMY aired a story that claimed there had been a "series" of "violent flash mob" attacks at a downtown Greensboro park.[4] The report made numerous allegations that were not substantiated and were subsequently refuted by the Greensboro Police Department as reported by the News & Record[5]
Out-of-market cable and DirecTV carriage [edit]
In recent years, WFMY has been carried on cable in multiple areas outside of the Greensboro media market. That includes cable systems within the Charlotte and Raleigh markets in North Carolina, and the Roanoke market in Virginia. On DirecTV, WFMY has been carried in multiple areas within the Raleigh market in North Carolina and the Roanoke market in Virginia.[6]
During the 1970s and 1980s through CATV, WFMY was once carried in Rockingham, Southern Pines and Henderson in North Carolina, and Rocky Mount and Clifton Forge in Virginia.[7]
On-air staff [edit]
Current on-air staff [edit]
Anchors
- Julie Luck, weeknights at 5:00, 6:00, and 11:00 p.m.
- Frank Mickens, weeknights at 5:00, 6:00, and 11:00 p.m.
- Tanya Rivera, weeknights at 5:30 p.m. with "2 Wants to Know"
- Jackie Fernandez, weekday mornings on The Good Morning Show (5:00-8:00 a.m.)
- Eric Chilton, weekday mornings on The Good Morning Show (5:00-8:00 a.m.); also meteorologist
- Meghan Packer, weekday mornings on The Good Morning Show (4:30-5:00) and The Good Morning Show Headline Reader (5:00-8:00 a.m.)
- Tracey McCain, weekdays at noon; also The Good Morning Show Field Reporter (4:30-8:00 a.m.)
- Carol Andrews, weekends at 6:00 and 11:00 p.m.
- Faith Abubey, weekend mornings on The Good Morning Show (6:00-9:00 a.m.)
- Brian Formica , Sports Anchor/Reporter
Weather
- Grant Gilmore, chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5:00, 6:00 and 11:00 p.m.
- Ed Matthews, weekdays at noon and weekend mornings on The Good Morning Show (6:00-9:00 a.m.)
- Leigh Brock, meteorologist, weekends at 6:00 and 11:00 p.m.; also Reporter
Reporters
- Liz Crawford, General Assignment Reporter
- Philip Jones, General Assignment Reporter
- Morgan Hightower, General Assignment Reporter
- Lauren Melvin, General Assignment Reporter
- Tony Smith, General Assignment Reporter / Weather Anchor
- Patrick Phillippi, The Good Morning Show Reporter (4:30-8:00 a.m.)
References [edit]
- ^ Patrick Wilson, "Special Person - Broadcaster Charlie Harville Was 'Respected by Everyone in Sports,'" Winston-Salem Journal, March 3, 2002.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ WFMY Greensboro Debuting HD 'News 2.0', TVNewsCheck, November 10, 2011.
- ^ Downtown Greensboro "Flash Mob" Beating Investigated By Police | digtriad.com
- ^ Police: No "flash mob attacks" in Greensboro : News-Record.com : Greensboro & the Triad's most trusted source for local news and analysis
- ^ SVTV Stations - The things you care that others won't
- ^ Cable Search
External links [edit]
- WFMY-TV website
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WFMY
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WFMY-TV
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