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WXII-TV

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WXII, channel 12(Analog)/31(Digital), is the NBC television station licensed for the Greensboro–High Point–Winston-Salem, North Carolina (Piedmont Triad) designated market area. It is licensed to Winston-Salem and is currently owned by Hearst-Argyle Television, a unit of the Hearst Corporation. Its transmitter is located on Sauratown Mountain in Stokes County, North Carolina.

NBC Weather Plus is offered on WXII's digital feed titled "WXII 12 WeatherPlus."

History

The station began operation on September 30, 1953 as WSJS-TV. The station at first was owned by a subsidiary of Piedmont Publishing, publishers of the Winston-Salem Journal and Twin City Sentinel along with WSJS radio, and Hollywood star Mary Pickford and her husband Buddy Rogers.[1]

The station has always been affiliated with NBC. ABC was shared with WFMY-TV until WGHP signed on in 1963. The station first broadcast from the basement of the radio building of WSJS-radio on Spruce Street in Winston-Salem. The first broadcast was of the first game of the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The station originally broadcast from antenna near Kernersville. The tower was moved to Sauratown Mountain in 1955.

When Piedmont Publishing was sold to Media General in 1968, Gordon Gray, the longtime publisher of both papers, held onto WSJS-AM-FM-TV as Triangle Broadcasting. Gray also received the franchise for the city's cable system. However, the FCC ruled that TV stations could not also own the cable systems in their markets. Gray was thus forced to sell WSJS-TV in 1972 to Multimedia Inc., who renamed the station WXII-TV. The letters "XII" from "WXII" are the Roman numerals for the number "12", which is the station's channel number. At the time of the call letter change, the station ran a promotional ad parodying the death of Julius Caesar to amplify the Roman numeral theme.

Pulitzer acquired the station in a swap deal in 1983. When Pulitzer bowed out of broadcasting in 1997, Hearst bought the entire group, including WXII.

Promotional campaigns

WXII used the "Hello News" theme package in the early 1980's. Their campaign song was "Hello Piedmont." The tune began with the words, "There's a feeling in the air that you can't get anywhere except the Piedmont."

Following the HELLO campaign of the early 80s, WXII hired a Florida production company to put together a new image campaign, "COUNT ON US". This was used for little more than a year and then dropped.

In the early 90s WXII was rebranded "Your Carolina News Connection".

As with most TV stations, WXII used custom versions of NBC campaigns-- one example being "Come Home to WXII".

Ratings began to increase following a series of severe weather events in the late 80s and early 90s.

Personalities

Current

Past

  • Rick Amme, former anchor (1980s-early 1990s).
  • Tolly Carr, former morning anchor, charged with felony death by vehicle, felony serious injury by vehicle and driving while intoxicated in March 2007.[2]
  • Aixa Diaz, weekend morning anchor, WESH in Orlando, Florida.[3]
  • Harvey Dinkins, farm reporter from 1954-1962. Dinkins was billed as "North Carolina's Favorite Farmer."[4]
  • Denise Franklin, former anchor (1983-1992).
  • Bob Gordon, the station's first announcer. Gordon, real name Robert Gordon Van Horn, hosted Bob Gordon Theater for 19 years.
  • Kathy Murphy, former anchor. Went to work for WGCL in Atlanta in the late 90s.
  • Gene Overby, sports anchor and former voice of Wake Forest University athletics.
  • Chris Runge, former weatherman (1987 to 1996) Left WXII and went to work for WXLV (ABC affiliate in Winston-Salem). Now station manager for Educational TV Channel.
  • Glenn Scott, former weatherman and longtime morning man on WSJS radio.*Debbie Severs, former weather person.
  • Mary Ann Sheboy, reporter for station for 19 years.[5]
  • Bonnie Schneider, meteorologist (joined CNN in 2005).
  • Fred Shropshire, current weekend anchor for WTVD in Durham, North Carolina.[6]
  • John Wendel, meteorologist for WCNC in Charlotte, North Carolina since January 2001.[7]
  • Anthony Wilson, weekend anchor and reporter at WTVD in Durham.[8]

References

  1. ^ The Winston-Salem Journal, Magnolia Trees and Pulitzer Prizes, by Frank V. Tursi, page 182
  2. ^ News 14 Carolina
  3. ^ "New anchor, reporter coming aboard at WESH," Orlando Sentinel TV blog
  4. ^ The Winston-Salem Journal, Magnolia Trees and Pulitzer Prizes, by Frank V. Tursi, page 179
  5. ^ breakthrufilms.org
  6. ^ Fred Shropshire bio
  7. ^ John Wendel bio
  8. ^ Anthony Wilson bio
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