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WTKR is the CBS affiliate serving the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, officially known as the Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News DMA. The station is licensed to Norfolk and broadcasts on channel 3. Its transmitter is located in Suffolk, Virginia. WTKR is owned by the New York Times Company.

In July 2002, WTKR introduced a "Mobile Newsroom", its name for the live news trucks that travel throughout the Hampton Roads region. "Mobile Newsroom" is preceded by whichever city the reporter does their live story. For example, if a reporter is in downtown Norfolk, that reporter is identified as reporting from the "Norfolk Mobile Newsroom."

WTKR served as the ratings leader in Hampton Roads for many years. However, the station's newscasts currently rank second place at 11pm and last place in the mornings and from 5-6:30pm.

In recent years, WTKR only finished #1 at 12 noon. During the May and November 2005 sweeps periods, WVEC won the noon slot in close races. After the May 2006 period, WTKR reclaimed its first place position at noon, after another close race with WVEC.

WTKR does not run the Saturday Early Show; instead there are news and kids programs on Saturday Mornings.

WTKR-DT provides live color weather radar on its sub-channel of 3-2. Other sub-channels are used for special event coverage such as the NCAA Tournament or a continuous rotation of the stations several "SkyCams" including a feed from VDOT of area highways.

History

The station began operation on channel 4 in April 1950 as WTAR-TV, Virginia's second television station. It was a primary NBC affiliate, with secondary affiliations with CBS, ABC, and DuMont. It was owned by the Virginian-Pilot along with WTAR-AM, Virginia's first radio station.

It moved to channel 3 in 1952 and became a primary CBS affliliate. When WVEC-TV signed on a year later as an NBC affiliate, WTAR shared ABC programming with WVEC until 1957, when WAVY-TV signed on as the NBC affiliate and WVEC became solely an ABC station. When the Virginian-Pilot reorganized its various holdings as Landmark Communications in 1969, WTAR-AM-FM-TV became the flagship stations.

File:WTKR Safe Opening May 19, 2006.jpg
The opening of the WTKR Safe on May 24, 2006.

Over the years, the station expanded its news operation to include about 30 hours of local news production per week. It also produced PM Magazine from the late 1970s to mid-1980s.

After the FCC tightened its ownership restrictions, Landmark sold its Hampton Roads radio and television holdings. WTAR-TV went to Knight-Ridder in 1981. WTAR-AM and WTAR-FM had been sold to different owners, so Knight-Ridder changed the station's calls to WTKR. The new calls reflected the new ownership and also sounded similar to the old ones. WTKR was then purchased by Narragansett Broadcasting in the late 1980s. The New York Times Company, WTKR's current owner, acquired the station in 1995.

Logos

Newscast Titles

  • News 3 (-1992)
  • Channel 3 Eyewitness News (1992-1994)
  • TV-3 News (1994-1995)
  • NewsChannel 3 (1995-2003)
  • Your NewsChannel 3 (2003-Present)

Slogans

  • Part of Your Life (1970s)
  • Discover the Land of the 3 (late 1980s)
  • Hampton Roads' #1 News Source (early 90s-1994)
  • Where Local News Comes First (1995-1999)
  • Coverage You Can Count On (1999-2002)
  • Your NewsChannel 3 (2003-Present)

Current and Past Personalities

Anchors

Meteorologists

Sports

Reporters

Past Personalities

File:Wtkr edhughes.jpg
The late Ed Hughes of WTKR-TV (left) from a 1996 news promo
  • Ed Hughes, often called the Walter Cronkite of Hampton Roads, from 1967 (as WTAR) to his death from cancer in 2004.
  • Dr. Duane Harding, late-80s to 1996; when he was fired.
  • Joe Flanagan, host of WTKR's PM Magazine in early 1980s, now at WVEC.
  • Ann Keffer, anchor in the 1980s-1990s(?). Now hosts ExploreHealth with Sentara, a 30-minute health show shown on WTKR Saturdays at 7:00pm [1] (the program is not produced by WTKR)
  • LeAnne Rains, main co-anchor in the 1990s.
  • Paula Miller, reporter from 1984 until 1999. Now representative in the Virginia House of Delegates, 87th House District.[2]
  • Beverly Kidd, morning/noon anchor in the 1990s until 2001. Now at KTVK in Phoenix.
  • Tom Randles, main co-anchor from the early 1990s until 2005. Now weekend anchor at WSMV in Nashville.

Tower

WTKR's transmission tower is located in northwest part of Suffolk, Virginia. The station transmits with 100 kilowatts of power from an antenna located at a height of 981 feet.

WTKR-DT's transmission tower is also located in the northwest part of Suffolk. The station transmits with 725 kilowatts of power from an antenna located at a height of 1250 feet. It is the tallest antenna in southeastern Virginia.


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