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WVLT-TV

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WVLT-TV (VHF channel 8) is "Volunteer TV", a CBS television network affiliate serving Knoxville, Tennessee, the 58th DMA in America according to Nielsen Media Research. The station is owned and operated by Gray Television, and has its transmitter is located in Knoxville.

The station also operates a MyNetworkTV affiliate My VLT2 on its DT2 digital sub-channel; before 2006, it was a UPN affiliate, branded as UPN Knoxville.

WVLT is the only station in its market with a news bureau outside of Knoxville; it is headed by Bureau Chief Stephen McLamb and located in Blount County. The station also touts itself as having the only mid-afternoon newscast in Knoxville (FIRST at 4:00) and the only early evening newscast (Volunteer TV News at 7:00).

History

WVLT-TV debuted on October 1, 1953 as WSKT-TV, on channel 26. It was Tennessee's first UHF station, and the second television station in East Tennessee; it signed on a few hours after WROL-TV, channel 6, (now WATE-TV). The station was a CBS affiliate, but also shared ABC programming with WROL-TV.

Channel 26 found the going difficult at first, since television manufacturers weren't required to build in UHF tuning capability at the time. Viewers needed an expensive converter to watch WSKT, and even then the picture quality was marginal at best. In addition, UHF signals at the time usually did not carry very well over rugged terrain. In 1954, the station's original owners sold the station to South Central Communications, a radio company in Evansville, Indiana, who changed its calls to WTVK.

When WBIR-TV signed on in 1956 and took the CBS affiliation, WTVK became a full-time ABC affiliate. In 1979, the station changed affiliations from ABC to NBC, swapping affiliations once again with WATE-TV.

In 1988, the station changed affiliations from NBC to CBS, swapping affiliations with WBIR-TV; shortly afterward the station changed its calls to WKXT-TV and moved to channel 8, one of the last remaining VHF channel allocations in the U.S. It became one of the few stations in America to have been an affiliate of all "Big 3" networks. South Central sold the station to Knoxville Channel 8, LP in 1992. It changed its callsign again to WVLT-TV in 1997 after Gray Television bought the station.

Vol Network Affiliation

In 2007, WVLT TV/MYVLT TV and the Vol Network, the broadcasting arm of the University of Tennessee's athletic department, entered into a new 10-year agreement for WVLT/MYVLT TV to be the exclusive home of all Vol TV Network programing in the Knoxville area. This gives the two stations the exclusive rights to the weekly highlights shows featuring head football coach Phil Fulmer, head men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl, head women's basketball coach Pat Summit, and other UT athletic-related programs in the Knoxville market. With this, the Vol TV Network ends a 10-year relationship with NBC affiliate WBIR-TV.[1]

Newscast & Station Information

Past Newscast Titles

  • First Edition News (Mid 1970s-Late 1970s)
  • Metro 26 News (Late 1970s-Early 1980s)
  • NewsCenter 26 (Early 1980s-1986)
  • WTVK NewsCenter (1986-1988)
  • News 8 (1988-1997)
  • NewsChannel 8 (1997-1998)
  • Volunteer News (1998-2001 or 2002)
  • Volunteer TV News (2002-2006)

Current News Anchors & Reporters

News Anchors

  • Alan Williams (5:30/7/11pm)
  • Kelli Parker (First at Four/5:30/11pm) (Leaving to devote more time to family)
  • Bob Yarbrough (East Tennessee This Morning/Noon)
  • Stacy McCloud (East Tennessee This Morning/Noon)
  • Mark Packer (First at Four/Sports Overtime)
  • Jessa Goddard (News at 7pm)
  • Gordon Boyd (Weekends)
  • Lauren Davis (Weekends)

Sports

  • Rick Russo (Sports Director)
  • Mark Packer
  • Daryl Hobby
  • Wes Boling

News Reporters

  • Kim Bedford
  • Gordon Boyd
  • Lauren Davis
  • Allison Hunt
  • Gary Loe
  • Mike McCarthy
  • Stephen McLamb (Blount County Bureau Chief)
  • Rob Pratt

Weather

  • Scott Blalock, Chief Meterologist
  • Craig Edwards
  • Jim Freeman

Miscellaneous

  • Walter Lambert (TV Chef)
  • Shirley Nash-Pitts (Consumer Expert)
  • Liz Tedone Edwards (Special Reports)

Past Personalities

Anchors

  • Allen Denton
  • Sam Brown (now Lecturer at College of Communications at University of Tennessee)[1]
  • Elda Brown
  • Cheryl Masur
  • Kathryn Norton
  • Kent Blackwelder (Noonday)
  • Tim Cox
  • Adena Chumley
  • John Gilbert
  • Art Powell
  • Kim Sims Thomas (Noonday)
  • Phil Rainey
  • Jennifer Julian
  • Brenda Burch
  • Norman Hammitt

Anchor/Reporters

  • Rob Scobey
  • Jim Hampton
  • John Lomax
  • Lee Merrit
  • Corrina Collins (now Corrina Sullivan and currently at WOFL-TV in Orlando)
  • Ron Sprowl
  • Kim Keelor
  • Lizz Walker
  • Ben Roberts (now at WALB-TV)

Reporters

  • Monte Janssen
  • Melinda Kramer
  • Russ Greene
  • Russell Walker
  • Becky Colaw
  • Heather Burgiss (now at UNC-TV)
  • Lisa Stearns (now with Baptist Health System)
  • Chloe Morroni (now at WISN-TV)
  • Rudy Cooks

Weather

  • Don Carson
  • Johnny Mountain (now at KCBS-TV)
  • Topper Shutt (now at WUSA-TV)
  • John Gerard (now at WTVJ-TV)
  • Maxine Perry
  • Lea Doolittle
  • Kelly Cox (now with WTVF-TV)
  • Rick Katzfey
  • Chad Gibson

Sports

  • Ralph Boston
  • Stan Cotton
  • David Sharp
  • Jim (Big Jim) Hess
  • Rusty Ensor
  • Mike Raita
  • Erik Waxler (now with WHAS-TV)
  • Nick Paranjape
  • Brandon Fisher
  • Eric Waddell
  • Denny Trease (now with WKYT-TV)

Logo History

References

1. http://volunteertv.com (New Vol Network agreement.)

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