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WJHL-TV

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WJHL-TV is the CBS television affiliate in Johnson City, Tennessee, serving the greater Tri-Cities region of Tennessee and Virginia and neighboring western North Carolina, southeastern Kentucky and the southwestern corner of West Virginia from a transmitter located atop Holston Mountain. It's owned by Media General, which also owns the Bristol Herald Courier.

History

WJHL-TV began broadcasting on October 26, 1953. It was owned by Hanes Lancaster, Sr. his son Hanes, Jr. and Jesse W. "Jay" Birdwell along with WJHL radio (910 AM, now WJCW and 101.5 FM, now WQUT). All three stations took their calls from John H. Lancaster, Sr. (Hanes, Sr.'s father and Hanes, Jr.'s grandfather), who had founded WJHL-AM in 1938.

WJHL-TV was on track to be the first television station to sign on in East Tennessee. The station's original tower was being constructed on Tannery Knob in downtown Johnson City. With just a few weeks before sign-on, the guy wires snapped, sending the 300-foot tower and its antenna crashing to the ground. This enabled WROL-TV in Knoxville (now WATE-TV) to beat WJHL-TV to the air by almost a month. Since many advertisers and banks were skeptical about television's viability (the tower crash didn't help), the Lancasters had to scramble for funding. They were able to get the station on the air, but had to side-mount the antenna on a wooden power pole the Johnson City Power Board installed at the last minute.

The station was affiliated with all four television networks: CBS, NBC, ABC and DuMont. The transmitter was later relocated to Buffalo Mountain, southwest of Johnson City, 1,200 feet higher than Tannery Knob. From that location, WJHL-TV was able to better reach Bristol, Kingsport and other areas of East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia and Western North Carolina. To this day, the old WJHL-FM (now WQUT) still broadcasts from Channel 11's old tower on Buffalo Mountain. Meanwhile, NBC moved to WCYB-TV in Bristol when that station signed on the air in 1956. WJHL-TV lost the Dumont Network when it went off the air in 1957. The two stations shared ABC until 1969, when WKPT-TV in Kingsport signed on.

In 1956, Birdwell launched WBIR-TV in Knoxville and sold his interest in channel 11 to comply with FCC cross-ownership rules of the time. At that time, the two stations had a fairly large full-power Grade A signal overlap, and at the time the FCC did not allow common ownership of two stations with such a large overlap.

In 1969, WJHL-TV moved its transmitter once again 800 feet higher and further east, this time side-by-side with WKPT-TV on the lower end of Holston High Point, on Holston Mountain. At that time, Channel 11 became a full-time affiliate of the CBS-TV Network.

The station was sold to Roy H. Park in 1964, but Hanes Lancaster, Jr. remained as the station's general manager until 1989. He himself had succeeded his father Hanes Lancaster, Sr, the owner-general manager who signed the station on the air in 1953. Lancaster, Jr. was succeeded by current general manager Jack Dempsey. To this day, WJHL-TV holds the distinction of being the only TV station in Tennessee, to have only had three general managers, since it signed on the air. Many of channel 11's employees have stayed on for 30 years or more, which is unusual for a broadcasting market this size.

Media General acquired Park Communications and WJHL-TV in 1997 and re-branded the station from TV-11 to News Channel 11. The station began broadcasting its digital signal on channel 58 in 1998.

As of the November 2008 ratings period, WJHL's 11 p.m. news took over the ratings lead from WCYB. WJHL also leads other stations in the market in total overall viewership.[citation needed]

In May 2009, WJHL switched its branding from "News Channel 11" to "11 Connects News".

Under federal must-carry rules, broadcasters can either allow cable systems in their market to carry their signals for free or charge a fee under retransmission consent provisions. On December 3, 2008, it was announced that Inter Mountain Cable (IMC), a cable provider serving parts of eastern Kentucky, announced that it would drop WJHL from their lineup unless an agreement was reached over retransmission consent.[1] According to The Mountain Eagle, this dispute has caused concern among officials in the city of Fleming-Neon, where IMC holds the cable TV franchise there.[2] The city council in Fleming-Neon have stated that the removal of WJHL will violate IMC's franchise agreement.[2]

Out-of-Market Reception

WJHL is received on many cable systems in Western North Carolina. In the Charlotte DMA, WJHL can be received on cable in Banner Elk, Blowing Rock, Boone, Creston and Linville. In the Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville market, WJHL can be received on Cable channel 11 in Bakersville, Burnsville, and Spruce Pine. WJHL-DT is also carried on Country Cablevision in Burnsville on Cable channel 211, making Country Cablevision the only cable system in North Carolina that carries WJHL-DT.

Local Programs

On August 11, 2008, News Channel 11 debuted a new daytime show, "Daytime Tri-Cities". The show is hosted by Morgan King, a former weatherman at WKPT and WCYB and Amy Lynn, who was an anchor at WCYB.

Newscasts

WJHL's newscasts were also simulcast on WKPT for four years. WKPT shut down its news department February 2002. The simulcasts ceased in September 2006.

In late 2006, the station launched a 24-hour cable weather channel. It can be seen on most cable outlets in the area via digital cable and on digital channel 11.2.

File:WJHL.JPG
Logo used from 2002 to June 2009. The "11" had been used since 1997.

Newscast titles

  • The Tri-Cities Report (1953-1960)
  • The TV-11 Report (1960-1967)
  • TV-11 News (1967-1985)
  • Eyewitness News 11 (1985-1997)
  • News Channel 11 (1997-2009)
  • News Channel 11 Connects (2009- present)

Current Personalities

Anchors

  • Jim Bailey- 6 and 11

Anchors and Reporters

  • Bill Christian- 5 and 5:30pm/Education Watch
  • Sara Diamond- 5pm,5:30pm,6pm/Medical Watch
  • Josh Smith- Morning and Noon

On-Air Reporters

  • Nate Morabito
  • George Jackson
  • Dana Wachter
  • Melissa Hipolet
  • Tim Cable- Cable Country

Online Reporters

Weather

  • Mark Reynolds (Chief Meteorologist)
  • Rob Williams
  • Mallory Nicholls

Sports

  • Kenny Hawkins
  • Kasey Marler

Past Personalities

  • Bob Lewis -Anchor/News Director (now retired as of 2007) [1]
  • Marcus Lynch-Meteorologist (now with WCYB)
  • Jay Siltzer-Reporter (now with WLOS)
  • Erica Estep-Reporter (now with WATE)
  • Tom Wachs- Meteorologist (now with KCTV)
  • Darius Radzius- Reporter
  • Selena Wiles -Anchor (now with WJET-TV)
  • Patrick Sammon -Reporter (now president of Log Cabin Republicans)
  • Lisa Kaplan -Anchor/medical reporter (now at WLEX)
  • Kelly Cales- Multimedia fellow

References

  1. ^ "WKPT, WCYB & WJHL Possible Programming Issue For 2009". Inter Mountain Cable. 2008-12-03. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
  2. ^ a b Farley, William (2009-01-14). "Neon council upset by threat of TV changes". The Mountain Eagle. p. 2. Retrieved 2009-01-15.

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