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WLOS channel 13 is the ABC television affiliate in the U.S. city of Asheville, North Carolina. It also serves other portions of western North Carolina, upstate South Carolina (including Greenville, Spartanburg, and Anderson), northeastern Georgia, and eastern Tennessee. The station is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group and is sister station to WMYA-TV, the market's MyNetworkTV affiliate. WLOS' transmitter is located atop Mount Pisgah (North Carolina). It is carried on channel 13 on most cable providers in the market, however in its hometown of Asheville on Charter Cable it is carried on channel 3.

History

The station signed on air on September 18, 1954. Since the station was founded, it has been an ABC affiliate.

Shortly after, most of western North Carolina, including Asheville was collapsed into the Greenville/Spartanburg market. This was due to the station's wide coverage in South Carolina. WLOS also enjoyed secondary coverage in portions of Tennessee and Virginia, and could also be seen in portions of Georgia and Kentucky under the right conditions. Before the mid to late 1960s, no other ABC affiliate put a clear signal into much of this area. The station also had significant viewership in the Charlotte area, and is still available on cable in much of the western portion of the market.

WLOS' only competition came from WAIM-TV, channel 40 in Anderson. Unfortunately, the channel 40 signal covered only the immediate Anderson area. From its 1954 debut, WLOS had a strong signal in Greenville, Spartanburg and Anderson. It pressured ABC to drop its programming from channel 40 from the 1960s onward, finally succeeding in 1979.

The station was owned by Wometco from the 1960s until 1984, when the company was sold to the investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR). WLOS was later sold to Anchor Media, which in turn was later sold to River City Broadcasting, which merged with Sinclair in 1996. Channel 40 in Anderson, now MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYA-TV, is also now operated and effectively owned by Sinclair.

Late night

WLOS began 24/7 broadcasting in late 2005/early 2006, having previously signed off on early Saturday mornings from 5-6 AM after the late movie. It may still put up color bars now for a few minutes if the movie ends early but otherwise has paid programming. WLOS also signed off every night until 1992 with the introduction of ABC's overnight World News Now, and later just late Friday night/early Saturday morning and late Saturday night/early Sunday morning until the early 2000s. according to a particular sign-off clip from 1988, the sign offs back then included the national anthem played by the Macon County High School Band, while the color bars afterwards said "Good Morning, 13 WLOS-TV, Asheville, NC." Later on, the sign-offs included Sandi Patty's rendition of the national anthem with a video of different people saluting the flag, followed by shots of newspaper presses and people voting with ballots. These years used a color version of the Indian-head test pattern and in the center said "13 WLOS Asheville-Greenville-Spartanburg."

Slogans

WLOS used the slogan "Count on 13" from 1988 to 1993, and from 1984 to 1988 used a "Turn To" slogan along with Frank Gari's "Turn To News" theme for the newscasts.

Cable disputes

On January 5, 2007, Mediacom Cable dropped all Sinclair stations, including WLOS, from its systems because of a dispute over compensation. [1] Mediacom is the cable provider for much of western North Carolina (though not Asheville itself), leaving much of WLOS' viewing area without ABC until the dispute was resolved a month later. Additionally, Charter Cable briefly dropped WLOS-DT because of compensation disputes. [2]

Current news personalities

  • Sherrill Barber, Reporter
  • Larry Blunt, Anchor
  • Russ Bowen, Weekend Anchor
  • Jeremy Butterfield
  • Mike Cuevas, Chief Meteorologist
  • Victoria Dunkle, Morning Co-Anchor
  • Terrie Foster, Reporter
  • Darcel Grimes, Anchor
  • Larry Hawley, Sports Anchor
  • Holly Headrick, Reporter
  • Charu Kumarhia, Reporter
  • John Le, Reporter
  • Edward McDonald, Sports Anchor
  • Susan Mundy, Morning Reporter
  • Stan Pamfilis, Sports Director
  • Kassandra Pride, Reporter
  • Carolyn Ryan, Reporter
  • Jay Siltzer, Morning Co-Anchor/Fill-In Weather Anchor
  • Pat Simon, Anchor
  • Tammy Watford, Anchor
  • Julie Wunder, Morning/Noon Weather Anchor

Past news personalities

  • Mike Bettes, Chief Meteorologist (now at The Weather Channel)
  • Brenda Burch, AM Anchor
  • Ken Bostic, Evening Weather Anchor
  • Michelle Boudin, Reporter (12/2001-12/2006) (now at WCNC-TV in Charlotte, NC)
  • Jason Boyer, Weekend Meteorologist (now at KWGN-TV in Denver, CO)
  • Bob Caldwell, Meteorologist (1966-2007) (now retired)
  • Bob Child, Meteorologist (now at News 14 Carolina)
  • Heather Childers, Weekend Anchor (now at News 14 Carolina)
  • Amy Davis, Reporter (now at KPRC-TV in Houston, TX)
  • Jenny Dunn, Weekend Sports Anchor/Reporter (now at WFTV in Orlando, FL)
  • Monty DuPuy, Meteorologist (came from rival WFBC-TV in the late 1970s, now retired from television)
  • Donna Foreman, Weekend Anchor/Reporter
  • Jon Greiner, Anchor/Reporter (now at WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh, PA}
  • Hoyt Harris, Co-Anchor (now Anchor at KATC-TV in Lafayette, LA)
  • Charlie Hicks, Sports Anchor/Reporter (1967-68)
  • Suzanne Hudson, Anchor/Reporter
  • Mike Hydeck, Anchor/Reporter (now with WFSB-TV in Hartford, CT)
  • Sherrie Johnson, Reporter (now with WMAR-TV in Baltimore, MD)
  • Frank Kracher, Anchor (now at WTVH-TV in Syracuse, NY)
  • Candice Little, Weekend Anchor/Reporter (now at Fox Charlotte in Charlotte, NC)
  • Bill Norwood, Metorologist (now retired)
  • Mimi Paige, Morning Anchor (deceased-killed in automobile accident)
  • Mark Pompilio, Anchor (now at WKEF-TV in Dayton, OH)
  • Deborah Potter, Anchor/Reporter (most recently served as press secretary to former U.S. Congressman Charles H. Taylor)
  • Gary Stephenson, Chief Meteorologist/Weekend Meteorologist (now at News 14 Carolina)
  • Scott Wickersham, Anchor (now at WSOC-TV in Charlotte, NC)

Programming

Despite being an ABC affiliate, WLOS has pre-empted a fair amount of network programming over the years, including:

WLOS has been the home of popular syndicated game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! since 1985. Prior to that, WYFF aired both shows.

The station also produced a local children's show called Mr. Bill and Bumbo starring weathermen Bill Norwood and Bob Caldwell (both retired), who celebrated his 40th anniversary on the air at WLOS in June 2006.

Newscast name history

WLOS's newscasts have been known by the following names:

  • Your Esso Reporter
  • Your World Today/Tonight (1970s)
  • The Carolina's Today/News 75 [or 76] (1975-1976)
  • Dateline 13 News (1970s-1980s)
  • News 13 (1980s-current)

Logos

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