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→‎"The Weather with 'Captain Sandy'": Smoothing and punctuating verse and sentences & NPOV on Cpt Sandy
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Captain Sandy would appear on the news set wearing a vaguely [[nautical]] cap and blazer, a nod to the region's dependence on the [[Atlantic Ocean]]. His introduction, sung by an off-screen group, went as follows:
Captain Sandy would appear on the news set wearing a vaguely [[nautical]] cap and blazer, a nod to the region's dependence on the [[Atlantic Ocean]]. His introduction, sung by an off-screen group, went as follows:


:''"Yo ho, yo ho, what’s the weather going to be? Here's the man who knows, let's take a look and see. Here is Captain Sandy with the weather he has found, for Savannah and for Chatham and the counties all around."''
::''"Yo ho, yo ho,/ What’s the weather going to be?/ Here's the man who knows,/ let's take a look and see./ Here is Captain Sandy with the weather he has found, for Savannah/ and for Chatham/ and the counties all around."''


The "Captain" would then begin his weather forecast with a loud, "Ahoy there, matey!"
Captain Sandy’s big thermometer was temperamental and would fidget before revealing the next day’s high.


The fun part came when Captain Sandy opened Davey Jones’ locker to get the tide information (a crucial component of any weather forecast in the region) out of Calamity Clam, who always tried to bite the captain.
The comedy elements of the forecast included the thermometer and the clam. Captain Sandy’s big thermometer was temperamental and would fidget before revealing the next day’s high and low temperatures. When Captain Sandy opened Davey Jones’s locker to get the tide information (a crucial component of any weather forecast in the region) out of Calamity Clam, the puppeteer always tried to bite the captain's hand.


By the end of the 1970s, new station ownership found Captain Sandy's routine embarrassing (and likely anachronistic, since most U.S. TV stations had discontinued their local children's shows years before), and the owners made the Captain finally conform to convention, prescribing him a suit and tie like the other newscasters. The owners also fired the puppets shortly after, to the almost-certain sorrow of area children.
By the end of the 1970s, new station ownership found Captain Sandy's routine embarrassing (and likely anachronistic, since most U.S. TV stations had discontinued their local children's shows years before), and the owners made the Captain finally conform to convention, prescribing him a suit and tie like the other newscasters. The owners also fired the puppets shortly after, to the almost-certain sorrow of area children.

Revision as of 13:06, 23 June 2009

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WSAV-TV, channel 3, is the NBC affiliate in Savannah, Georgia and covers southeastern Georgia and extreme southern South Carolina. Its transmitter is located in Bloomingdale, Georgia.

History

WSAV-TV went on the air February 1, 1956, co-owned with WSAV-AM 630 (now WBMQ). It initially broadcast from a facility atop a bank building on Broughton Street in downtown Savannah. The flashing WSAV sign was a landmark on Broughton Street for many years. WSAV-AM had long been an NBC affiliate, so WSAV-TV naturally took the NBC television affiliation. However, it shared ABC with CBS affiliate WTOC-TV until WJCL-TV signed on in 1970. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.[1]

WSAV briefly had an FM station, using the middle of the three AM towers at the transmitter facility on Oatland Island, but, without many listeners to the simulcast programming, FM operation was ceased in the 1950s. In 1960, WSAV-AM-TV moved into a brand new facility on Victory Drive, where WSAV-TV still is today. A new tower was built at the site boosting its signal to many of the surrounding counties in Georgia and South Carolina, giving thousands of viewers their first chance to see television. In 1976, another new tower was built and the WSAV television signal reached out even further. In the same year, WSAV-AM was sold off.

Just a few months later, WSAV expanded the news department, moving into a former insurance office next door to the Victory Drive studio.

In 1982, WSAV swapped affiliations with WJCL and became an ABC affiliate. ABC had become the #1 network in the country, and had been searching for stronger affiliates across the country. However, just four years later, channel 3 returned to NBC in 1986, one year after NBC became #1 again.

In the mid-1990s, like many other commercial television stations in the U.S., WSAV was sold several times. Between 1996 and 1997, both WSAV (acquired from Ellis Communications) and rival station WTOC-TV (acquired from Aflac) were owned by the same company (Raycom Media), a situation that did not last long due to FCC regulations prohibiting ownership of two of the four largest stations in a market. In 1997, Media General traded WTVR-TV in Richmond, Virginia for WSAV and two other stations.

Recently, the station acquired the local rights to the syndicated game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!. Both shows were previously shown on rival WJCL-TV for almost two decades.

On February 1, 2006, WSAV officially celebrated its 50th anniversary. To commemorate the event, Savannah Mayor Otis Johnson officially announced February 1, 2006 as "WSAV Day" and lauded the station for its many achievements over the decades and the station's continued service to its viewers, always "On Your Side" whenever a viewer needs to get a story out.

The station carries MyNetworkTV and Retro Television Network on a digital subchannel -- MyNetworkTV is seen during prime-time, with RTN seen at other hours of the day. This digital subchannel is also available to DirecTV customers in Savannah on channel 29. It is known on-air as "My TV". WSAV's website features a generic MyNetworkTV logo, while the digital subchannel itself features a logo in the upper right-hand corner of the viewer's television screen that reads WSAV-DT 3.2 Savannah with the same aforementioned generic MyNetworkTV logo.

"The Weather with 'Captain Sandy'"

Channel 3 was known for an unusual practice on its newscasts from the 1950s to the 1970s. WSAV was home to "Captain Sandy", who was something of a hybrid between a weatherman and children's show host. The character gave the weather on the evening newscasts, working with puppet sidekicks "Wilbur the Weather Bird," "Arthur Mometer" (our thermometer), and "Calamity Clam."

Captain Sandy would appear on the news set wearing a vaguely nautical cap and blazer, a nod to the region's dependence on the Atlantic Ocean. His introduction, sung by an off-screen group, went as follows:

"Yo ho, yo ho,/ What’s the weather going to be?/ Here's the man who knows,/ let's take a look and see./ Here is Captain Sandy with the weather he has found, for Savannah/ and for Chatham/ and the counties all around."

The "Captain" would then begin his weather forecast with a loud, "Ahoy there, matey!"

The comedy elements of the forecast included the thermometer and the clam. Captain Sandy’s big thermometer was temperamental and would fidget before revealing the next day’s high and low temperatures. When Captain Sandy opened Davey Jones’s locker to get the tide information (a crucial component of any weather forecast in the region) out of Calamity Clam, the puppeteer always tried to bite the captain's hand.

By the end of the 1970s, new station ownership found Captain Sandy's routine embarrassing (and likely anachronistic, since most U.S. TV stations had discontinued their local children's shows years before), and the owners made the Captain finally conform to convention, prescribing him a suit and tie like the other newscasters. The owners also fired the puppets shortly after, to the almost-certain sorrow of area children.

The personality behind the Captain Sandy character, smooth-voiced Joe Cox, later left WSAV to become weatherman at cross-town rival WJCL, where he also hosted an evening radio program on WJCL-FM. The original Captain Sandy, from 1956, was played by Norm Strand.

News/Station Presentation

Newscast Titles

  • WSAV-TV News (1956-1964)
  • The World Today/The World Tonight (1964-1967)
  • Eyewitness News (1967-1974)
  • NewsCenter 3 (1974-1990)
  • WSAV NewsCenter (1990-1996)
  • WSAV News 3 (since 1996)

Station Slogans

  • Channel 3, Proud as a Peacock! (1979-1981; local version of NBC campaign)
  • Channel 3, Our Pride is Showing (1981-1982; local version of NBC campaign)
  • We're Channel 3, Just Watch Us Now! (1982-1983; local version of NBC campaign)
  • Channel 3, Let's All Be There! (1984-1986; local version of NBC campaign)
  • Come Home to the Best, Only on Channel 3 (1988-1990; local version of NBC campaign)
  • WSAV - Coverage You Can Count On (mid-1990s-2006)
  • WSAV 3 - On Your Side (since 2006)

Newscast Music

  • NBC TV-Radio Newspulse by Fred Weinberg Productions, Inc. (1974-1978)
  • WSAV 1978 News Theme by Unknown Composer (1978-1982)
  • WSAV 1982 News Theme by Unknown Composer (1982-19??)
  • WSAV 1986 News Theme by Unknown Composer (19??-19??)
  • KSL 1989 News Theme by Unknown Composer (19??-19??)
  • This is Your News by Gari Communications, Inc. (1997-2004)
  • The NBC Collection by Gari Communications, Inc. (2004-2006)
  • Media General Station Group Package by JDK Music (since 2006)

Newscasts

Kim Gusby is the host WSAV Coastal Sunrise from 5am-7am.

Tina Tyus-Shaw and Russ Riesinger anchor WSAV NEWS3 at 6 and 11.

In 2004 WSAV News 3 at 6 won the National Edward R. Murrow award for Best Newscast.

WSAV was the featured city during Al Roker's weather forecast on NBC's Today on Monday, April 23, 2007. Roker referred to the station as "WSAV - NBC 3".

Digital television

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Digital channels
Virtual Channel Digital Channel Programming
3.1 39.1 main WSAV-TV/NBC programming
3.2 39.2 My Network TV/RTN

Post-analog shutdown

After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion to take place on June 12, 2009 [2], WSAV-TV will remain on its current pre-transition channel number, 39. [3] However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display WSAV-TV's virtual channel as 3.

Current news personalities

Anchors

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Reporters

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Weather

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Sports

Former personalities

  • James Aydelott, meteorologist (now at KXAS-TV, Dallas, Texas)
  • Jesse Blanco, anchor (now at WJCL-TV, Savannah)
  • Lyndy Brannen, anchor (now at WJCL-TV, Savannah)
  • Tom Chisholm, meteorologist (now at WMTW-TV, Portland, Maine)
  • Dianne Derby, anchor/reporter (now at WSPA-TV, Spartanburg, South Carolina)
  • Paul Floeckher, reporter (now a badass at Georgia Southern)
  • Mike Fuori, meteorologist (2005-2008)
  • Curtis Gaston, photographer (now at WarmUpTheTourBus.com)
  • Brad Huffines, meteorologist (now at WAAY-TV, Huntsville, Alabama)
  • Dave Kartunen, anchor/reporter (now at WSVN-TV, Miami, Florida)
  • Jayme King, meteorologist (now at KSAZ-TV, Phoenix, Arizona)
  • Steve LaPointe, meteorologist (now at WRGB-TV, Albany, New York)
  • Tim McGinnis, anchor/managing editor (now at WHOI-TV, Peoria, Illinois)
  • Jed Mescon, anchor/reporter (now at WRCB-TV, Chattanooga, Tennessee)
  • Kaitlyn Pratt, general assignment reporter (2006-2008, now at WAGA-TV, Atlanta, GA)
  • Paul Rea, anchor/reporter
  • Darrel Richter
  • Ben Smith, meteorologist (now at WFTV, Orlando, Florida)
  • Glenn Zimmerman, reporter (now at WNBC-TV, New York)

References

  1. ^ "Require Prime Evening Time for NTA Films", Boxoffice: 13, November 10, 1956{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  2. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
  3. ^ CDBS Print

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