WTVF
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| WTVF | |
|---|---|
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| Nashville, Tennessee | |
| Branding | NewsChannel 5 |
| Slogan | Your News and Information Leader Tennessee's First Local News in High Definition |
| Channels | Digital: 5 (VHF) |
| Subchannels | 5.1 CBS HD (digital), 5.2 NC5+, 5.3 THIS.TV |
| Affiliations | CBS |
| Owner | Landmark Media Enterprises LLC (NewsChannel 5 Network, LLC) |
| First air date | August 6, 1954 |
| Call letters’ meaning | TeleVision Five |
| Sister station(s) | KLAS-TV |
| Former callsigns | WLAC-TV (1954-1975) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 5 (1954-2009) Digital: 56 (1999-2009) |
| Transmitter Power | 22 kW |
| Height | 425 metres/1,390 feet |
| Facility ID | 36504 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | 36°16′5″N 86°47′16″W / 36.26806°N 86.78778°W |
| Website | www.newschannel5.com |
WTVF, also known as NewsChannel 5, is the CBS television network affiliate in Nashville, Tennessee. The station is owned by Landmark Media Enterprises (which was called Landmark Communications until September 2008). Its transmitter is located in Nashville.
WTVF also owns and operates NewsChannel 5+, a spinoff cable channel, viewable on Channel 50 on most of Middle Tennessee's cable systems (Channel 250 on Comcast in Nashville and surrounding areas.) Along with their website, newschannel5.com, the stations promote themselves under the umbrella branding "NewsChannel 5 Network". (Both "NewsChannel 5" and "NewsChannel 5 Network" are also used by stations in other markets.)
As of February 4, 2007, WTVF became the first station in Tennessee to broadcast local news in HDTV. Its sister station, KLAS-TV in Las Vegas, Nevada, also broadcasts in this format.
On January 30, 2008, Landmark announced its intention to sell WTVF, along with its other TV station KLAS-TV in Las Vegas.[1] This was followed on July 14, 2008 with an announcement that the station would be sold to Bonten Media Group.[2] However, the deal was put off after Bonten informed Landmark that it could not close on the purchase after its key financial backer for that purchase, Lehman Brothers, went bankrupt.[3]
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[edit] History
[edit] Ownership
WTVF signed on the air on August 6, 1954 as WLAC-TV, owned by the Life and Casualty Insurance Company and Nashville businessmen Guilford Dudley, Al Beaman and Thomas Baker. Ever since its inception, the signal of WLAC/WTVF has been short-spaced to Memphis' WMC-TV.
Channel 5 was part of a triopoly along with WLAC-AM 1510, and later WLAC-FM (now WNRQ-FM). The callsign, of course, reflected the initials of the insurance company. It immediately took the CBS affiliation from WSIX-TV (channel 8, now WKRN-TV, channel 2) because WLAC-AM had been Nashville's CBS radio affiliate since 1928. With WLAC-TV, Nashville became the smallest city in the U.S. to have three network-affiliated commercial television stations. American General Corporation, a Houston-based insurer, bought L&C and WLAC-AM-FM-TV in the 1960s.
WLAC-TV was sold in 1975 to the Hobby family (owners of the now-defunct Houston Post), who changed the station's callsign to WTVF. (American General/L&C eventually sold WLAC-AM-FM to other interests, and the other stations have had several owners over the years.) In 1983, the Hobbys reorganized their broadcast holdings as H&C Communications after their flagship property, the Post was sold. Landmark bought WTVF from the Hobbys in 1994.
In 2008 Landmark Communications decided to sell its properties, including WTVF, KLAS and The Weather Channel. WTVF was to have been purchased by Bonten Media Group LLC, a firm that owns 16 conventional broadcast and digital stations in five states. WTVF would have become the biggest station in Bonten's holdings, as well as the first CBS affiliate in its portfolio. That deal fell through, however, due to the economic crisis of 2008. Landmark Communications changed its name to Landmark Media Enterprises in September 2008. Although the sale of The Weather Channel and some other assets was eventually completed, Landmark took most of its other properties off the market in October 2008. As a result, WTVF and KLAS remain owned by Landmark.
[edit] Famous programs and personalities
During its years as WLAC-TV, the station helped launch the career of a young African-American reporter and native Nashvillian named Oprah Winfrey by making her a regular news anchor in the early 1970s. The station's Studio A, which was built in 1967 near the Tennessee State Capitol building, was also the home of the hit show Hee Haw for most of its 1968–1993 run. (Its last few years were recorded at The Nashville Network's studios adjacent to the now-defunct Opryland USA theme park.) Channel 5's relation to WLAC-AM, which was known for many years for its nighttime soul music programming, led it to air a groundbreaking show on Friday and Saturday nights during the mid- and late-1960s called Night Train, hosted by Noble Blackwell (a disc jockey on Nashville soul radio station WVOL), which featured R&B performances and dancing, similar to American Bandstand. Rumor has it that Don Cornelius, then a Chicago TV host, may have used it as a model for his successful Soul Train years later.[citation needed]
[edit] Digital television
After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion was completed on June 12, 2009 [4], WTVF moved its digital broadcasts back to channel 5. [5] Since WTVF's transition to channel 5, some viewers in the immediate Nashville area were having reception problems of the VHF digital channel. So, on July 6, 2009, the station decided and filed for a low-powered digital channel 50 to cover the viewers that cannot receive the VHF channel. It will broadcast at 100kW.[6]
NewsChannel 5+ returned as a terrestrial signal, as Channel 5.2, on July 31, 2009.
Digital channels
| Virtual Channel |
Physical RF Channel |
Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.1 | 5.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | Main WTVF-TV programming / CBS HD |
| 5.2 | 5.2 | 480i | 4:3 | NewsChannel 5+ |
| 5.3 | 5.3 | 480i | 4:3 | This TV |
[edit] Newscasts
WTVF has long battled with WSMV – which itself started as WSM-TV, the television arm of another Nashville heritage radio station, WSM-AM – for the top spot in the Nashville ratings. Generally speaking, Channel 5 is more popular in the city of Nashville itself than in the more conservative suburbs (e.g., Williamson and Sumner counties) because of its emphasis on hard news and investigative reports, as opposed to WSMV's emphasis on softer stories. Amazingly, the reverse was true some 15 to 20 years ago, as WSMV earned numerous awards for hard-hitting investigative and government affairs coverage (while still targeting a more upscale suburban demographic), while WTVF did not make many waves, relying mainly on newscast staples like crime coverage (which reflected its urban lead).
During the 1970s and 1980s, the station used the "Eyewitness News" moniker; its current "NewsChannel 5" branding and logo have been in use since 1989.
In 1974, WLAC became the first non-network-owned television station in the country to use Electronic News Gathering (ENG) to bring live field reports to its viewers.[7]
[edit] Recent history
On February 2, 2007, WTVF rolled out its new on-air look, complete with a new state-of-the-art news set, weather center, and graphics in tandem with NewsChannel 5's official HD debut. The new set was completely built in a separate studio from its existing set, keeping disruptions of news operations to a minimum. As of February 4, 2007, WTVF is the 25th television station in the U.S. to air local news in high definition (HD), and one of only four television stations at the time with an HD weather center and system.
The previous day, February 1, marked the end of the decades-long monopoly WTVF had in providing CBS programming to some counties in southern Kentucky. Bowling Green's WNKY-TV, an NBC affiliate, launched another station on its digital subchannel, a full CBS affiliate. WTVF was removed from a number of southern Kentucky cable systems as a result, due to FCC rules against duplication of network programming on different cable channels.
On July 31, 2009, WTVF began multicasting on its digital subchannels with the over-the-air relaunch of NewsChannel 5+ on digital channel 5.2, and the addition of This TV on digital channel 5.3.
[edit] Chris Clark, four-decade anchor
Behind Winfrey, the station's most notable anchor is Chris Clark. He served as the station's main anchor from 1966 to 2007, longer than anyone in Nashville television history. Clark is a Greek-American whose real name is Christopher Botsaris. In June 2006, Clark reduced his daily anchoring schedule to one newscast – NewsChannel 5 at 6 p.m. – and announced he would retire at the end of his contract in 2007. Clark's final broadcast, after 41 years on-air, took place on May 23, 2007, the final day of the May "sweeps" ratings period. The station ran a number of on-air tributes in the days leading up to Clark's departure. Clark signed off with a tribute to his co-workers and friends, and gave his closing line a final time: "I'll see you then..." Rhori Johnston, the co-anchor on the 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts, succeeded Clark at 6 p.m.
Before arriving at WLAC/WTVF, Clark worked for stations in his native Georgia, in Atlanta and Albany. He graduated from the University of Georgia in Athens. While at Albany's WALB-TV, Clark managed to interview Martin Luther King, Jr.
[edit] NewsChannel 5+
NewsChannel 5+ airs replays of the mother station's news broadcasts, as well as original and exclusive call-in and interview shows. NC5+ has also carried live, gavel-to-gavel coverage of high-profile criminal trials in the Nashville area, such as those of Paul Dennis Reid, Perry March and Mary Winkler. NC5+ regularly goes live during severe weather, and will sometimes air local news live if CBS programming pre-empts WTVF's regular local news time slot, such as during the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. It also carries The Saturday Early Show which WTVF does not run (The station airs all other CBS programming.).
NewsChannel 5+ airs on broadcast digital 5.2 and Comcast Cable digital channel 250.
[edit] In Spanish
WTVF also produces daily 90-second news updates for local Telefutura affiliate, WLLC-LP, anchored by Eva Melo. This newscast is the only Spanish-language newscast in Nashville, a market consisting of about 4% Spanish-speaking viewers, a fast-growing audience in the middle Tennessee area. [1]
[edit] Personalities
[edit] Current On-Air Talent
(as of August 2009)
Current Anchors
- Scott Arnold - Saturdays at 5 and 6, Sundays at 5:30 and weekends at 10PM (also State Capitol reporter)
- Steve Hayslip - weekday mornings "NewsChannel 5 This Morning" (also reporter)
- Rhori Johnston - weeknights at 5, 6, and 10PM (also reporter)
- Jennifer Kraus - weekend mornings "NewsChannel 5 This Morning" (also investigative reporter)
- Kristin Priesol - weeknights at 5 and 10PM (also reporter)
- Amy Watson - weekday mornings "NewsChannel 5 This Morning" (also reporter)
- Vicki Yates - weeknights 4 and 6PM
Reporters
- Syreeta Baker - general assignment reporter
- Mark Bellinger - general assignment reporter
- Nick Beres - general assignment reporter
- Chris Cannon - general assignment reporter
- Lisa Chavarria - general assignment reporter
- Rodney Dunigan - general assignment reporter
- Brent Frazier - general assignment reporter
- Ben Hall - investigative reporter
- Amanda Hara - general assignment reporter
- Dave Nichols - traffic reporter
- Jeff Tang - general assignment reporter
- Phil Williams - chief investigative reporter
- Marcus Washington - general assignment reporter
- Eric White - general assignment reporter
Storm5HD Weather Team
- Ron Howes (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist; weeknights at 6 and 10PM
- Lelan Statom (AMS/NWA Member) - Meteorologist; weekday mornings "NewsChannel 5 This Morning"
- Charlie Neese (NWA Seal of Approval) - Meteorologist; weeknights at 4 and 5PM
- Kelly Cox (AMS/NWA Member) - Meteorologist; weekend mornings, Saturdays at 5 and 6, Sundays at 5:30 and weekends at 10PM
Sports Team
- Hope Hines - Sports Director; weeknights at 6 and 10PM
- Eric Yutzy - Sports Anchor; Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5:30 and weekends at 10PM (also sports reporter)
[edit] Former On-Air Talent
This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.[edit] News/Station Presentation
[edit] Newscast Titles
- Newsbeat (6 p.m. newscast)/The Big News (10 p.m. newscast; 1960s)
- Channel 5 News (1970-1974)
- Eyewitness News (1974-1989)
- NewsChannel 5 (1989-present)
[edit] Station Slogans
- Tune In. Turn On. Take Five. (1968-1969)
- 5 Takes You There Live (1975-1976)
- The News People (1977-1979)
- We're Looking Good on Channel 5 (1979-1980; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
- Looking Good Together, Channel 5 (1980-1981; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
- Reach for the Stars on Channel 5 (1981-1982; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
- Great Moments on Channel 5 (1982-1983; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
- Friends You Can Turn To (1983-1986)
- Share the Spirit on 5 (1986-1989; localized version of CBS ad campaign, also used in image campaign using TM Productions' "Spirit of Texas", which was used on KHOU-TV)
- Nashville's News Station (1986-1989)
- More News. More Experience. More Often. (1989-1998)
- Your News and Information Leader (1995-present)
- Tennessee's First and Only Local News in High Definition (2007-2008)
- Tennessee's First Local News in High Definition (2008-present)
This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "NewsChannel 5 owner looks to sell station". Nashville Business Journal. 2008-01-30. http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2008/01/28/daily25.html. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
- ^ "Bonten Buys WTVF-TV Nashville from Landmark". Broadcasting & Cable. 2008-07-14. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6578295.html?rssid=193. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
- ^ "WTVF Nashville Sale Is Off". Broadcasting & Cable. 2008-10-15. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6605593.html. Retrieved 2008-10-15.
- ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). FCC.gov. http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
- ^ "DTV Transition Status Report". FCC.gov. 2008-03-18. http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101238437&formid=387&fac_num=36504. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
- ^ "Low Power DTV Channel Application" (PDF). FCC.gov. http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/prefill_and_display.pl?Application_id=1320219&Service=LD&Form_id=346&Facility_id=36504. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
- ^ "Electronic News Gathering project". http://uweb.txstate.edu/~me04/projectx.htm.
[edit] External links
- NewsChannel5.com
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WTVF
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WTVF-TV
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