WTOC-TV

WTOC-TV

Savannah, Georgia
Branding	WTOC 11 (general) The News (newscasts)
Slogan	The Southeast News Leader
Channels	Digital: 11 (VHF)
Affiliations	11.1 CBS (primary until 1970; exclusive 1970-present) 11.2 local weather 11.3 Bounce TV
Owner	Raycom Media (WTOC License Subsidiary, LLC)
First air date	February 14, 1954
Call letters' meaning	Welcome To Our City (from former radio sister)
Former channel number(s)	11 (VHF analog, 1954-2009) 15 (UHF digital, 2002-2009)
Former affiliations	NBC / DuMont / ABC (1954-1956)
Transmitter power	24.4 kW
Height	441 m
Facility ID	590
Transmitter coordinates	32°3′14″N 81°21′1″W
Website	wtoc.com

WTOC-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Southeastern Georgia's Coastal Empire and Southern South Carolina's Lowcountry. Licensed to Savannah, Georgia, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 11 from a transmitter along Fort Argyle Road/SR 204 in unincorporated Southwestern Chatham County, Georgia. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 6 as well as Time Warner Cable and Charter channel 11. There is a high definition feed offered on Comcast digital channel 433, Charter digital channel 711, and Time Warner Cable digital channel 1110. Owned by Raycom Media, WTOC has studios located off Chatham Center Drive in Savannah's Chatham Parkway section. Syndicated programming on the station includes: Everybody Loves Raymond, Entertainment Tonight, and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?.

Digital programming

Digital channel	Programming
11.1	Main WTOC programming / CBS
11.2	WTOC Skytrack Weather
11.3	Bounce TV

History

In October 1929, WTOC-AM 1290 signed on as the first radio station in the Savannah area. It was an enterprise of civic group Junior Board of Trade that was the forerunner of the Savannah Jaycees. It was later purchased by William Knight, Jr., who eventually added an FM station in 1946.

On February 14, 1954, Knight took a great financial risk and established WTOC-TV as the first television station in the Savannah area. WTOC-AM-FM had long been the area's CBS Radio affiliate, so WTOC-TV joined CBS and has been with the network ever since. It carried programming from all four networks for two years until WSAV-TV signed-on in 1956 and took the NBC affiliation. WTOC then shared ABC with WSAV until WJCL-TV signed-on in 1970.

Shortly thereafter, WTOC moved its transmitter to a new 1,500 foot. tower along Fort Argyle Road in Southwestern Chatham County. This significantly increased its coverage area. Knight sold WTOC-AM-FM-TV to Aflac in 1979. That company sold off the radio stations with the AM station becoming WTKS and the FM station WQBT. In 1996, Aflac sold its entire television group, including WTOC, to a group headed by Retirement Systems of Alabama which merged it with Ellis Communications to form Raycom Media. As a condition of the Aflac-Ellis broadcast merger, Raycom had to sell off WSAV which Ellis had owned since 1995.

For many years, WTOC broadcast from studios on Abercorn Street in Downtown Savannah. In 1995, it moved to new facilities (known as "The News Place") on the west side of Savannah at Chatham Parkway in 1995. Since that time, the downtown building has become offices for the President of Savannah College of Art and Design. The station's original triangle-shaped tower, now used as a backup, can still be seen today along Abercorn Street.

A station editorial, a rarity on many American television stations since the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, continues to be presented by WTOC General Manager William Cathcart after the 11 p.m. newscast usually every two weeks. Cathcart's viewpoints are very conservative in nature. While WTOC's regular mail and website address are offered after each of these editorials, counterpoint responses by other parties are never offered on-air. WTOC ended analog services on June 12, 2009 as part of the DTV transition in the United States. The station had been broadcasting its pre-transition digital signal on UHF channel 15, but moved back to VHF channel 11 for post-transition digital operations.

News operation

News open seen weekday mornings at 10.

WTOC has led the local Nielsen ratings in Savannah for most of the time since records have been kept. While WSAV and WJCL made a serious threat in the 1970s, WTOC has won every timeslot since 1980 often garnering more viewers than its rivals combined. Its dominance is so absolute that the station currently calls its newscasts simply "THE News". WTOC airs six hours of news a day, a considerable amount for a station in the 97th market and far more than any other station in Savannah. Unlike most stations which change their graphics and music after a few years of use, WTOC has used versions of Frank Gari's "Newschannel" music package since 1987.

The station won both Emmy and Edward R. Murrow awards for news gathering efforts in 2003. In addition, the station pulled in eleven Georgia Associated Press Awards in 2004. In 2005, Chris Clark won an Emmy for his football special and an Edward R. Murrow award for his story about a high school football player. In 2006, an Emmy was awarded to Mike Manhattan and Zach Powers for Freedom Fighters, a story about 3rd-ID Soldiers in Iraq. In 2007, Zach Powers, Alex Monarch, and Chris Clark won an Emmy for editing a special series on Rosa Parks. The same year, Chris Clark won the Emmy for best sports reporter.

On October 10, 2010, WTOC became the second station in Savannah after WJCL to upgrade local newscasts to high definition level. Its half-hour weekday afternoon show at 4 is streamed live online. Since network programming can sometimes preempt the 6 o'clock hour on Saturdays, WTOC also airs a newscast at 7. The statio operates its own weather radar (known as "Doppler Max 11") at its studios.

On September 26, 2011, sister outlet Fox affiliate WFXG in Augusta, Georgia launched its first ever in-house news operation. In partnership with a News Director based at WTOC in Savannah, WFXG hired multimedia journalists to shoot, edit, and report coverage in the Augusta area. At this point, five personalities have joined that station and work out of WFXG's facility. All anchors for news, weather and sports are provided by WTOC and the nightly prime time broadcast at 10 originates live from this station's studios. WFXG also features unique, regionalized coverage provided by Raycom Media sister outlets including WTOC, WIS and WCSC.

The partnership is comparable to the existing "Raycom News Network", another regional network among the company's widespread group of television stations in the state of Alabama (WSFA in Montgomery, WDFX-TV in Dothan, WAFF in Huntsville, WBRC in Birmingham and WTVM/WXTX in Auburn/Phenix City/Opelika). The six stations share information, equipment (such as satellite trucks) and stories from reporters. WFXG became the third Fox affiliate in Raycom's portfolio to have its newscasts produced in-house joining Birmingham's WBRC and Cincinnati, Ohio's WXIX. Local newscasts on the remainder of the company's Fox outlets are produced through news share agreements by a big three network affiliate in the respective market. There is no regularly scheduled sports report seen on WFXG's broadcast.

Out of Market Carriage

In Georgia, WTOC is carried in Brunswick in the Jacksonville DMA.

News team

Anchors

• Brandi Cummings - weekday mornings and reporter (also "Hometown Hero" and "Top Teacher" segments producer)
• Mike Cihla - weekday mornings and noon
• Sonny Dixon - weeknights at 4, 5, and 6 (also Mid-Morning Live host)
• Jody Chapin - weeknights at 5 and 6 (also Mid-Morning Live host)
• Mike Manhatton - weeknights at 5:30 and 11
• Dawn Baker - weeknights at 5:30 and 11
• Melanie Ruberti - weekends and Sunday producer (also general assignment and medical reporter)
  • weekday morning and weekend fill-in weather anchor
• Mark Tate - Saturday Night Law host
• Marc Dunston - The Magic Marc Show host
• Bill Rancic - America Now
• Leeza Gibbons - America Now

Doppler Max 11 Skytrack Weather

• Patrick Prokop - weeknights at 4, 5, and 6
• John Wetherbee (CBM Seal of Approval) - weeknights at 5:30 and 11
• David Turley - weekday mornings and noon
• Ron Wallace - weekends
• Jamie Ertle - weekends

Sports

• Rick Snow - Director seen weeknights at 6 and 11 (also pre-taped weekday mornings)
  • Fabulous Football Friday and Tailgating with WTOC host
• Ken Griner - weekends and sports reporter

Reporters

• Bill Cathcart - Vice President and General Manager (also editorials)
• Evan Johnson
• Don Logana
• Dal Cannady
• Jaime Dailey
• Brooke Kelley
• Tim Guidera
• Christy Hutchings
• Lynda Figueredo
• Brian Entin

External links

• WTOC-TV
• WTOC-TV mobile
• WTOC-DT3 This TV
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WTOC-TV