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WLOS, channel 13, is the ABC-affiliated television station for western North and South Carolina that is licensed to Asheville, North Carolina. Its transmitter is located on Mount Pisgah. Owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station is sister to MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYA-TV. The two stations share studios on Technology Drive in Asheville near I-26. Sydicated programming on WLOS includes: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Maury, and Martha Stewart. The station offers a simulcast of WMYA on its second digital subchannel.

Digital television

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Digital channels
Channel Programming
13.1 / 56.1 main WLOS programming / ABC HD
13.2 / 56.2 My Network TV (WMYA-TV)

Analog-to-digital conversion

After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion to take place on June 12, 2009 [1][2], WLOS moved its digital broadcasts back to its former analog channel number, 13.[3]

After the DTV Delay Act postponed the date to June 12, WLOS intended to keep the original date on February 17, but on February 12, the FCC said stations must justify using the early cutoff date, and on February 13, station general manager Jack Connors said the FCC said the station would also have to end analog broadcasts on its translators, leaving many in the mountainous area without a signal.[2]

Translators

In addition to its main signals, WLOS operates a network of 10 translator sites throughout the mountains of western North Carolina.

City of license Callsign Transmitter location
Tryon W05AC Tryon Peak
Cherokee W05AF Jenkins Mountain
Spruce Pine W06AD Woody's Knob
Bat Cave W06AQ Chimney Rock
Bryson City W08AN west of the town
Marion W10AP Mount Ida
Franklin W11AJ Winespring Bald
Waynesville W12AR Little Mountain
Black Mountain W12AQ Allen Mountain
Burnsville W12AU Phillips Knob.

History

The station began broadcasting on September 18, 1954. It was owned by the Skyway Broadcasting Company along with WLOS radio (1380 AM, now WKJV). It has always been an ABC affiliate, and is the second-longest tenured primary ABC affiliate south of Washington, D.C. (behind Lynchburg's WSET-TV, coincidentally also on channel 13). During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.[4]

Shortly after channel 13 signed on, most of western North Carolina, including Asheville, was collapsed into the Greenville / Spartanburg market. This was due to the station's wide coverage area in South Carolina. WLOS boasted, then as now, the highest transmitter location east of the Mississippi River, giving it one of the largest coverage areas in the nation. In addition to its primary coverage area of the western Carolinas, the station also had significant viewership in the Charlotte area, especially the western portion. It appeared in the Charlotte television listings for many years, and advertised its programs in Charlotte-area newspapers well into the 1970s. It is still available on many cable systems in the western portion of the Charlotte market.

WLOS also enjoyed secondary coverage in portions of Tennessee and Virginia, including the Tri-Cities and Knoxville. It was available on cable in the Tri-Cities well into the 1980s. It 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. Indeed, many viewers in Knoxville and the Tri-Cities got a better signal from WLOS than Knoxville's WTVK (channel 26, now CBS affiliate WVLT-TV on channel 8) and the Tri-Cities' WKPT-TV (channel 19), both of which were on UHF and didn't get much penetration in their largely mountainous coverage areas.

WLOS' only ABC competition came from WAIM-TV in Anderson which also carried a few CBS programs. Unfortunately, the channel 40 signal covered only the immediate Anderson area. Channel 13 pressured ABC to drop its programming from channel 40 from the 1960s onward, finally succeeding in 1979.

Wometco Enterprises bought WLOS in 1958 and owned it until 1984 when the company was sold to the investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR). The station was later sold to Anchor Media which in turn was later sold to River City Broadcasting. That company merged with the Sinclair Broadcast Group in 1996. Channel 40 in Anderson, now MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYA, is also now operated and effectively owned by Sinclair. On January 5, 2007, Mediacom dropped all Sinclair stations (including WLOS) from its systems because of a dispute over compensation. [5] 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 briefly dropped WLOS-DT because of compensation disputes. [6] .WLOS broadcasts its digital signal at 834.7 kW on UHF channel 56. This channel is currently on a band of UHF (channels 52 to 69) which will be no longer in use after the June 12, 2009 cutoff date for analog broadcasting. Therefore, it seems likely that WLOS will remain on channel 13 after the final conversion to all-digital broadcasting.

Programming

Despite being an ABC affiliate, WLOS has pre-empted a fair amount of network programming over the years. The station has been the home of popular syndicated game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! since 1985. Prior to that, WYFF aired both programs. The station also produced a local children's show called Mr. Bill and Bumbo starring now retired weathermen Bill Norwood and Bob Caldwell (who celebrated his 40th anniversary on the air at WLOS in June of 2006). WLOS began broadcasting 24 hours a day / 7 days a week in late-2005 / early-2006, having previously signed off on early Saturday mornings from 5 to 6 A.M. after the late movie. It may still put up color bars for a few minutes if the movie ends early but otherwise airs paid programming.

WLOS also signed off every weeknight until 1992 with the introduction of ABC News overnight World News Now. Later on, the station signed off 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 Madison County High School Band while the color bars afterwards said "Good Morning, 13 WLOS-TV, Asheville, NC". After that, the sign-offs included Sandi Patty's rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner 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". Non-network programming that has aired on WLOS includes:

News operation

File:Wlos open.png
The station's nightly 11 o'clock news open.

WLOS is one of only a few stations owned by Sinclair that airs a nightly newscast. Most of the others were abandoned in 2005 when the company shut down News Central. In addition to their main studios in Asheville, the station operates three news bureaus. One is located on Verdae Boulevard in Greenville, South Carolina. There are also two bureaus in North Carolina located in Rutherford and Haywood Counties. On weeknights, WLOS produces two half-hour newscasts on WMYA at 6:30 and 10 P.M. At the 2008 Southeast Regional Emmy Awards on June 21, WLOS received seven awards. As of September 17, the WLOS and WMYA newscasts are broadcasted in high definition. They were the second pair of stations in the market to do so after CBS affiliate WSPA-TV and CW affiliate WYCW. Two of WLOS's competitors, WYFF and WHNS, have not yet switched to high definition newscasts. Historically, WLOS's newscasts tend to focus more on the North Carolina side of its sprawling market.

Newscast history

WLOS's newscasts have been known by the following names. WLOS used the slogan "Count on 13" from 1988 to 1993 and from 1984 to 1988 the "Turn to 13 Together" slogan along with Frank Gari's "Turn To News" theme.

  • Your Esso Reporter (1953-1957)
  • The Night Report (1957-late 1960s)
  • NewsScope (late 1960s-1970s)
  • Your World Today / Tonight (1970s)
  • The Carolinas Today / News 75 (or 76) (1975-1976)
  • Dateline 13 News (1970s-1980s)
  • News 13 (1980s-current)

News team

Anchors

  • Larry Blunt - Anchor, News13 at 6 and 11
  • Russ Bowen - Anchor, News 13 at 10 on My40 / Reporter
  • Victoria Dunkle - Morning/Noon anchor
  • Frank Fraboni - Anchor, News 13 at 5, 5:30, and 6:30 / Reporter
  • Darcel Grimes - Anchor, News13 at 6 and 11
  • Holly Headrick - Anchor, News13 at 10 on My40 / Reporter
  • Leigh Ann Long - Weekend Anchor/Reporter
  • Jay Siltzer - Morning Anchor/Health Reporter/Fill-in meteorologist
  • Tammy Watford - Anchor, News13 at 5, 5:30, and 6:30 / "Never Stop Learning" segment producer

News 13 Sky Watch Meteorologists

  • Mike Cuevas (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist
  • Julie Wunder (AMS Seal of Approval) - Weekday Morning and Noon Meteorologist / Weather Reporter
  • Karen Wynne (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - Weekend Meteorologist / Environmental Reporter

Sports

  • Stan Pamfilis - Sports Director seen on weeknights 6, 6:30, 10, and 11
  • Edward McDonald - Weekend Sports Anchor/Reporter
  • Adam Kohler - Sports Reporter

Reporters

  • Sherrill Barber - General Assignment Reporter
  • Courtney Brennan - General Assignment Reporter
  • Craig Demchak - Washington D.C. correspondent
  • Terrie Foster - General Assignment Reporter/Fill-in anchor
  • Heather Graf - General Assignment Reporter
  • Charu Kumarhia - General Assignment Reporter
  • John Le - General Assignment Reporter
  • Meghan McCorkell - Washington D.C. correspondent
  • Morris Jones - Washington D.C. correspondent
  • George Sheldon - Traffic Reporter
  • Kassandra Pride - General Assignment Reporter
  • Courtney Ward - General Assignment Reporter

Past personalities

  • Mike Bettes, Chief Meteorologist (now at The Weather Channel)
  • Brenda Burch, AM Anchor
  • Ken Bostic, Evening Weather Anchor
  • Michelle Boudin, Reporter (2001-2006) (now at WCNC-TV in Charlotte, NC)
  • Jason Boyer, Weekend Meteorologist (now at KWGN-TV in Denver, CO)
  • Jeremy Butterfield, Reporter
  • Bob Caldwell, Meteorologist (1966-2007) (now retired)
  • Bob Child, Meteorologist (now at News 14 Carolina)
  • Heather Childers, Weekend Anchor (now at News 14 Carolina)
  • Karen Coulon, left in 1991 after being indicted on arson charges (later acquitted). [7]
  • Amy Davis, Reporter (now at KPRC-TV in Houston, TX)
  • Jenny Dunn, Weekend Sports Anchor/Reporter (most recently 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)
  • Larry Hawley, Sports Anchor/Reporter
  • 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 (most recently at WCCB in Charlotte, NC)
  • Bill Norwood, meteorologist–host (now retired)
  • Mimi Paige, Morning Anchor (deceased - killed in automobile collision while on her way to host the morning news show)
  • Mark Pompilio, Anchor
  • Deborah Potter, Anchor/Reporter (most recently served as press secretary to former U.S. Congressman Charles H. Taylor)
  • Carolyn Ryan, News Repoter/fill-in anchor
  • Pat Simon, Anchor/Reporter (now at KSLA 12 in Shreveport, LA)
  • Gary Stephenson, Chief Meteorologist/Weekend Meteorologist (now at News 14 Carolina)
  • Scott Wickersham, Anchor/Reporter (now at WSOC-TV in Charlotte, NC)

Logos

References

  1. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
  2. ^ a b Tony Kiss, "Switch to All-Digital TV Continues to Hit Roadblocks," Citizen-Times, February 14, 2009.
  3. ^ CDBS Print
  4. ^ "Require Prime Evening Time for NTA Films", Boxoffice: 13, November 10, 1956{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  5. ^ http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct=us/0-0&fp=45a406de0d166546&ei=JXGkRaTANZHwowLInbm7DA&url=http%3A//www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article%3FAID%3D200770106002&cid=1112411522 Asheville Citizen Times
  6. ^ Sinclair Media Watch
  7. ^ http://www.mountainx.com/news/2000/0517motive.php Mountain Xpress: Trial by Fire - March 17, 2000.
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