WSAV-TV

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WSAV-TV
Savannah, Georgia
Branding	News 3
Slogan	WSAV 3 - On Your Side
Channels	3 (VHF) analog, 39 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	NBC (1956-82, 1986-present); My Network TV (Beginning September, 2006, digital subchannel only)
Owner	Media General Broadcast Group
Founded	February 1, 1956
Call letters meaning	WSAVannah
Former affiliations	ABC (secondary 1956-70, sole affiliate 1982-86)
Website	WSAV.com

WSAV-TV, channel 3, is the NBC affiliate in Savannah, Georgia and covers southeastern Georgia and extreme southern South Carolina. Its transmitter is located in Bloomingdale, Georgia.

Contents 1 History 1.1 The Weather with "Captain Sandy" 2 Newscasts 3 External links

[edit] History

WSAV-TV went on the air February 1, 1956, co-owned with WSAV-AM 630. It initially broadcast from a facility atop a bank building on Broughton Street in downtown Savannah. The flashing WSAV sign was a landmark on Broughton Street for many years. WSAV-AM had long been an NBC affiliate, so WSAV-TV naturally took the NBC television affiliation. However, it shared ABC with CBS affiliate WTOC-TV until WJCL signed on in 1970.

In 1960, WSAV-AM-TV moved into a brand new facility on Victory Drive, where WSAV-TV still is today. A new tower was built at the site boosting its signal to many of the surrounding counties in Georgia and South Carolina, giving thousands of viewers their first chance to see television. In 1976, another new tower was built and the WSAV television signal reached out even further. In the same year, WSAV-AM was sold off; the callsign for that station is now WBMQ.

Just a few months later, WSAV expanded the news department, moving into a former insurance office next door to the Victory Drive studio.

In 1982, WSAV swapped affiliations with WJCL and became an ABC affiliate, mainly because they were the #1 network at that time. However, just four years later, channel 3 returned to NBC in 1986, one year after NBC became #1.

In the mid-1990s, like many other commercial television stations in the U.S., WSAV was sold several times. At one point, both WSAV and rival station WTOC-TV were both owned by the same company, a situation that did not last long due to FCC regulations prohibiting ownership of two of the four largest stations in a market. In 1997, Media General Broadcast Group traded WTVR-TV in Richmond, Virginia for WSAV and two other stations.

Recently, the station acquired the local rights to the syndicated game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! (which was previously shown on rival WJCL-TV for almost two decades.)

On February 1, 2006, WSAV officially celebrated its 50th anniversary. To commemorate the event, Savannah Mayor Otis Johnson officially announced February 1, 2006 as "WSAV Day" and lauded the station for its many achievements over the decades and the station's continued service to its viewers, always "On Your Side" whenever a viewer needs to get a story out.

The station carries My Network TV on a digital subchannel.

[edit] The Weather with "Captain Sandy"

Channel 3 was known for an unusual practice on its newscasts in the 1950s and 1960s. WSAV was home to "Captain Sandy", who was something of a hybrid between a weatherman and children's show host. The character gave the weather on the evening newscasts, working with puppet sidekicks "Wilbur the Weather Bird," "Arthur Mometer" (our thermometer), and "Calamity Clam."

Captain Sandy would appear on the news set wearing a vaguely nautical cap and blazer, a nod to the region's dependence on the Atlantic Ocean. His introduction, sung by an off-screen group, went as follows:

"Yo ho, yo ho, what’s the weather going to be? Here's the man who knows, let's take a look and see. Here is Captain Sandy with the weather he has found, for Savannah and for Chatham and the counties all around."

Captain Sandy’s big thermometer was temperamental and would fidget before revealing tomorrow’s high.

The fun part came when Captain Sandy opened Davey Jones’ locker to get the tide information (a crucial component of any weather forecast in the region) out of Calamity Clam, who always tried to bite the captain.

By the end of the 1970s, new station ownership found Captain Sandy's routine embarrassing (and likely anachronistic, since most U.S. TV stations had discontinued their local children's shows years before), and they made the Captain finally conform to convention, prescribing him a suit and tie like the other newscasters. The owners also fired the puppets shortly after, to the almost-certain sorrow of area children.

[edit] Newscasts

WSAV-TV's newscasts, known as "News 3 On Your Side ", are seen at the following times:

• Weekdays: Coastal Sunrise 5-7am, News 3 6-6:30pm, and 11-11:35pm

WSAV Coastal Sunrise host and WRHQ-FM (Q105.3) radio personality Lyndy Brannen is well-known in Savannah as is his longtime TV partner Kim Gusby and WSAV 6 and 11 anchor Tina Tyus-Shaw.

In 2004 WSAV News 3 at 6 won the National Edward R. Murrow award for Best Newscast.

[edit] External links

• WSAV-TV homepage
• Lyndy Brannen
• Captain Sandy fan site
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WSAV-TV