WBTV

{{Infobox broadcast}} may refer to:

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• Template:Infobox television station

WBTV, channel 3, is the CBS affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina in can be found on cable channel 2. It is owned by Philadelphia-based Lincoln Financial Group, which also owns co-located radio stations WBT radio (1110 AM and 99.3 FM) and WLNK-FM. WBTV's studios are located at 1 Julian Price Place ().

Lincoln Financial purchased the station in April 2006 through its acquisition of founding owner Jefferson-Pilot Corporation. [1] As part of the purchase, Lincoln Financial retained Jefferson-Pilot's entire broadcasting division, which is now called Lincoln Financial Media. Lincoln Financial's broadcasting operations are headquartered with the former Jefferson-Pilot's financial services division in Greensboro, North Carolina. However, WBTV is Lincoln Financial Media's flagship station. WBTV's transmitter is located near Dallas, North Carolina.

History

WBTV went on the air on July 15, 1949. It is the Carolinas' first television station and the oldest station between Richmond and Atlanta. WFMY-TV in Greensboro signed on a few months later, and is second in each of those categories. WBTV was founded by Jefferson Standard Insurance Company of Greensboro. It had purchased WBT, the city's oldest radio station and the first fully licensed radio station in the South, from CBS in 1947. Shortly before the TV station went on the air, its call letters were shortened from WBT-TV to WBTV. Jefferson Standard merged with Pilot Life in 1968 (though it had owned controlling interest since 1945) and became Jefferson-Pilot, its name until it became part of Lincoln Financial Group in 2006.

WBTV was one of the last construction permits issued before the FCC's "freeze" on new television licenses, which lasted until 1952. As such, it was Charlotte's only VHF station for eight years, carrying affiliations with all three major networks. However, it has always been a primary CBS affiliate, owing to WBT-AM's long affiliation with CBS Radio. It is the only commercial station in the market that has never changed its affiliation.

WBTV's only competition in the early years came from a UHF station on channel 36, known variously as WQMC-TV, WAYS-TV and WUTV, which went dark in 1959. Charlotte's second VHF station, WSOC-TV, signed on in 1957; it took the NBC affiliation. After channel 36 returned to the air as WCCB (now on channel 18) in 1964, it was nominally an ABC affiliate, but WBTV continued to air some ABC programs until 1967. After WAGA-TV in Atlanta dropped CBS in 1994, WBTV became the longest-tenured CBS affiliate south of Washington, D.C.

WBTV was granted the first construction permit for a digital television station in the United States in 1998.

From 1958 to 1974, WBTV's studios were the home for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling broadcasts.

For many years, WBTV was one of the country's most dominant television stations. In fact, its dominance was so absolute that it was once said the dials of most Charlotteans' TV sets were "rusted on channel 3." WSOC (an ABC affiliate since 1978) gained a large lead in ratings for most news programs beginning in 1990, though WBTV has returned to a strong position within the last two years. The two stations currently trade the ratings lead back and forth during the day; WSOC leads at 6 AM and 6 PM, and WBTV at noon and 11 PM. NBC affiliate WCNC-TV consistently places third. [[2]] WBTV still has a small lead sign-on to sign-off because it's the only Charlotte station that puts a decent signal into the Blue Ridge Mountains, where its ratings market includes several counties, without the need for translators.

WBTV generally clears the entire CBS lineup, but sometimes preempts CBS programming in favor of Atlantic Coast Conference sports programming. The station has been Charlotte's home for ACC sporting events since C.D. Chesley piped North Carolina's historic win in the 1957 NCAA tournament. Jefferson-Pilot/Lincoln Financial has produced both basketball and football games since 1982; Raycom Sports has been their partner in the basketball production throughout that time, and joined in the football production in 2006.

For many years, it also preempted whatever game show CBS aired at 10:30am, instead airing a delayed broadcast of the previous day's Price is Right before airing a news and variety show, "Top O' the Day," from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM. It now airs a conventional half-hour newscast at noon.

The popularity of a series of specials commemorating the station's 25th anniversary in 1974 led to a long-running program, "Those Were the Years," featuring episodes of classic television shows. It was seen for several years at 11:30 PM on Fridays, pre-empting the CBS late-night shows which competed poorly with Johnny Carson.

Following the 2005 retirement of longtime WSOC anchorman Bill Walker, WBTV has billed lead anchor Paul Cameron as "The Voice of Experience." Cameron joined WBTV in 1981 as sports director, and then succeeded longtime anchorman Bob Inman upon his retirement in 1996. WBTV's Maureen O'Boyle once anchored the FOX-produced newsmagazine A Current Affair.

The station produces a 10 PM newscast for the area's CW affiliate, WJZY.

Diana Williams, now at WABC-TV in New York City, was an anchor at WBTV during the early 1980s. She was succeeded as the station's main female anchor by Sara James, now a reporter for Dateline NBC.

Lincoln Financial is now reportedly considering the sale of its media properties, including WBTV, WBT-AM/FM and WLNK. [3]

Transmitter

WBTV's transmission tower is a 2000 feet (609.6 meter) high guy-wired aerial mast for the transmission of FM and TV-programmes located in Dallas, North Carolina (geographical coordinates: 35°21′51″N 81°11′12″W. The tower was completed in 1984.

The 2,000 feet tall WBTV tower from about ⅔ mile away. Taken near the intersection of Springs Rd & Bob Friday Rd on 4-28-2007

Current and former personalities

Anchors

• Paul Cameron: weekdays 5, 6, and 11 pm
• Maureen O'Boyle: weekdays 5, 6 and 7 pm
• Tonia Bendrickson: weekdays 5:30 and 11 pm
• Jamie Boll: weekdays 5:30 pm
• Molly Grantham: weekdays 10 pm (on WJZY)
• John Carter: Morning Show and Noon
• Lenise Ligon: Morning Show and Noon
• Barbara Pinson: Saturday
• Sharon Smith: Sunday

Reporters

• Tom Roussey
• Steve Ohnesorge
• Steve Crump
• Michael Handy
• Jeff Atkinson
• Dedrick Russell
• David Whisenant
• Carson Chambers
• Kristen Hampton
• Rob Tufano
• Sarah Batista
• Ron Lee
• Chuck Roads (traffic)

Weather Alert Team

• Eric Thomas (Chief Meteorologist; 5:30, 6, 7, 10 & 11)
• Al Conklin (noon, 5 & 5:30)
• Chris Suchan (mornings)
• Mark Johnson (weekend, potentially freelance)

Sports Team

• Delano Little (Sports Director, "Football Friday Night" co-host)

Former anchors and reporters

• Bob Inman (anchor, 1970-75 and 1979-96)
• Janet England (anchor, 1977-85; first female anchor in Charlotte television)
• Clyde "Cloudy" McLean (weatherman, 1949-85; deceased)
• Mike Cozza (reporter, 1975-97), now spokesman for Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation
• Jim Thacker (sports director, 1968-81; deceased)
• Doug Mayes (anchor, 1949-81)
• Diana Williams (anchor, 1982-86; now at WABC-TV in New York City)
• Sara James (anchor, 1986-91; now at Dateline NBC)
• Sonja Gantt (health reporter, 1987-93; now at WCNC)
• Mike McKay (weatherman, 1967-95), now at Davidson College classical music radio station WDAV
• Jim Patterson (weatherman, 1949-86; deceased)
• Bob Knowles (anchor/reporter, 1995-2003; deceased)
• Melissa Greer (weather anchor, 2004-2007; deceased)
• Kricket Morton (weekend sports anchor/reporter, 1994-2007)
• Shawnette Wilson (weekend anchor ?-2007; now at WTXF in Philadelphia)
• Rita Cosby (reporter 1990's; now at MSNBC)
• John Blunt (anchor/reporter 1970-76; now at WCAU in Philadelphia)
• Lu Ann Cahn (reporter 1980-85; now at WCAU)
• Tom Burlington (anchor/reporter ?-1995; now at WTXF)

External links

• WBTV web channel
• WBTV Morning Show Page
• WBTV History
• WBTV Television Tower at Structurae
• "Listing 1005062". Antenna Structure Registration database. U.S. Federal Communications Commission.
• http://www.skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?b7121
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