WRIC-TV
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| Petersburg/Richmond, Virginia | |
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| Branding | WRIC-TV 8 (general) 8 News (newscasts) |
| Slogan | Straight To The Point |
| Channels | Digital: 22 (UHF) Virtual: 8 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | (see article) |
| Affiliations | ABC |
| Owner | Young Broadcasting, Inc. (operated by Gray Television) (Young Broadcasting of Richmond, Inc.) |
| First air date | August 15, 1955 |
| Call letters' meaning | W-RIChmond |
| Former callsigns | WXEX-TV (1955-1990) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 8 (VHF, 1955-2009) |
| Former affiliations | NBC (1955-1965) The Country Network (2010-2011) |
| Transmitter power | 850 kW (digital) |
| Height | 328 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 74416 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 37°30′45″N 77°36′5″W / 37.5125°N 77.60139°W |
| Website | www.wric.com/ |
WRIC-TV, virtual channel 8 (digital channel 22), is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Richmond, Virginia market. It is owned by Young Broadcasting. The station is licensed to nearby Petersburg, while its studios are just off the Powhite Parkway extension (State Route 76) in the Arboretum office park in western Chesterfield County. Syndicated programming on WRIC includes: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Dr. Phil and The 700 Club.
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[edit] History
The station began operation in 1955 as WXEX-TV, an NBC affiliate. It was originally licensed to Petersburg and was owned by Thomas Tinsley along with WLEE radio. Channel 8's transmitter was located in the Bermuda Hundred area of eastern Chesterfield County. Originally, it didn't cover Richmond nearly as well as did WTVR-TV (channel 6) and WRVA-TV (channel 12, now WWBT). The main studios were located in Petersburg. At first, a Richmond sales office was located at WLEE's studios on West Broad Street in Richmond; later, satellite studios were established just off Midlothian Turnpike in Bon Air, a suburb of Richmond.
The station swapped affiliations with channel 12 in 1965 and became and ABC affiliate. It has been with that network ever since. In 1968, the station (along with sister station WLEE-AM) was sold to Nationwide Communications. In 1969, a fire destroyed its original Petersburg studios. For a few weeks, the station had to broadcast from its transmitter, then set up temporary offices and studios in a vacated store in Petersburg. The station later moved in a brand new facility on Crater Road that it named Blandford Manor. In 1981, Nationwide sold off sister station WLEE-AM.
WXEX's call letters were changed on April 23, 1990 to WRIC-TV and the station moved its studios to the current location in Chesterfield County. However, it is still licensed to Petersburg; unlike the other stations in the market, it identifies as "Petersburg/Richmond." Nationwide would sell all three of its ABC-affiliated television stations, including WRIC, to Young Broadcasting in 1993.
The station's owner, Young Broadcasting, went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009. The station was part of a bankruptcy auction scheduled for July 14, 2009 but cancelled at the last minute[1]. On July 22, a bankruptcy judge approved a plan in which Young's secured lenders would take over the company and outsource the management of seven of its 10 stations, including WRIC, to Gray Television. Final approval of the deal from the Federal Communications Commission is still pending.
On September 28, 2011, WRIC-TV became the third commercial station (behind WWBT and WTVR) in Richmond to broadcast local news in high definition.
On November 1, 2011, WRIC-TV ceased to carry The Country Network on the station's 8.2 sub-channel after the stations owner terminated their deal with TCN and dropped the channel on all of its stations that carried it.
[edit] Digital Televisoin
| Channel | Video | Aspect | Name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.1 | 720p | 16:9 | WRIC-DT | Main WRIC-TV programming / ABC |
On June 12, 2009, WRIC-TV ended its analog broadcast and its digital signal remained on its pre-transition digital channel 22.[2] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers continue to display WRIC-TV's virtual channel as 8.1.
[edit] News team[3]
Anchors
- Ava-Joye Burnett - weekends
- Juan Conde - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m.
- Morgan Dean - weekday mornings for Good Morning Richmond (5-7 a.m.) and 9 a.m.
- Christina Feerick - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m.
- Amy Lacey - weeknights at 5:30 p.m.
- Amie McLain - weekday mornings for Good Morning Richmond (5-7 a.m.) and 9 a.m.
- Kerri O'Brien - weekdays at noon
8 News Stormtracker Weather
- John Bernier (AMS Seal of Approval; member, NWA) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m.
- Matt DiNardo (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings for Good Morning Richmond (5-7 a.m.), 9 a.m. and noon
- Paul Milliken (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - meteorologist; weekend mornings, also Monday and Tuesday morning traffic reporter
- Jason Myers (member, AMS; member, NWA) - meteorologist; weekends at 6 and 11 p.m., also general assignment and Wednesday-Friday morning traffic reporter
Sports team
- Phil Orban - sports director/anchor
- Yianni Kourakis - sports video journalist/reporter/anchor
Reporters
- Ava-Joye Burnett - video journalist
- Darragh Copley - video journalist
- Nate Eaton - general assignment reporter
- A.J. Lagoe - investigative reporter
- Josh Landon - general assignment reporter
- Ronnie McCray Jr. - video journalist
- Laura Morris - weekday morning reporter
- Veronica Rohrmoser - video journalist
- Kim Schumacher - general assignment reporter
- Katelyn Sherwood - video journalist
- Mark Tenia - video journalist
[edit] Former on-air staff
- Tracy Butler - meteorologist (now with WLS-TV in Chicago)
- Matt Lauer - host of "PM Magazine" (1980s; now with NBC News and host of Today)
- Mara MacDonald - reporter
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- WRIC website
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WRIC-TV
- Query TV Fool's coverage map for WRIC-DT
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WRIC-TV
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