WTOC-TV

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WTOC
Savannah, Georgia
Branding	WTOC 11 / THE News
Slogan	The Southeast News Leader
Channels	11 (VHF) analog, 15 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	CBS
Owner	Raycom Media
Founded	February 14, 1954
Call letters meaning	Welcome To Our City
Former affiliations	NBC (secondary, 1954-56), ABC (secondary, 1954-70)
Website	WTOC.com

WTOC-TV, channel 11, is the CBS affiliate in Savannah, Georgia. Its transmitter is located in Savannah.

[edit] History

In October 1929, WTOC-AM signed on as the first radio station in the Savannah area, an enterprise of the Junior Board of Trade, a civic group that was the forerunner of the Savannah Jaycees. It was later purchased by William Knight, Jr.

On Valentine's Day 1954, Knight took a great financial risk and established WTOC-TV as the first television station in the Savannah area. WTOC-AM had long been Savannah's CBS affiliate, so WTOC-TV joined CBS and has been with that network ever since. It carried programming from all three networks for two years until WSAV-TV signed on in 1956 and took the NBC affiliation. WTOC then shared ABC with WSAV until WJCL signed on in 1970.

In subsequent years, both AFLAC and Raycom Media owned WTOC-TV and vastly expanded the quality and quantity of WTOC's news operation to build an organization that is considered the "Southeast News Leader."

WTOC is one of the nation's most dominant television stations. It has been the ratings leader in Savannah for as long as records have been kept. While WSAV and WJCL waged a spirited battle with WTOC for much of the 1970s, WTOC has won every time slot since 1980, with a nearly two-to-one lead over its nearest competition. The turning point may have been in 1979, when WTOC lured Doug Weathers back from WJCL. Weathers had previously worked for WTOC-AM-FM-TV in various capacities from 1951 to 1973, the last 12 years as anchorman. Weathers served as anchorman and news director until his retirement in 2001.

The station airs 6 hours of news a day, a considerable amount for a station in the 98th market and far more than any other station in Savannah. Years of being in the lead have led WTOC to keep things somewhat old-fashioned, with an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality. Its news department has a lower budget than is usually expected for other stations that have long topped the ratings in their respective cities, and a reputation for a "down-home," "folksy" and "homespun" approach to news. However, its dominance in Savannah is so absolute that it calls its newscasts simply "THE News."

The station garners a wide range of reaction from its 22-county viewing area in Georgia and South Carolina. Some love the station and have watched it for decades; others detest its "folksy" and "homespun" feel and, with its unwillingness to ever mention its CBS affiliation (even though it is one of CBS' strongest affiliates) coupled with its news department's low-budget production value, consider it a stodgy relic that has yet to come into the 21st century.

Station manager Bill Cathcart follows the 11PM newscast from time to time with an editorial, usually from a very conservative point of view. Although the station's mailing address and website are given after each of Cathcart's incendiary editorials, an opposing viewpoint is never expressed on WTOC.

In May 2002, WTOC was first again by broadcasting the first digital television signal in the area.

On June 15, 2005 WTOC stopped using the DVC-PRO and now uses an electronic video storage system.

[edit] Newscasts

WTOC-TV's newscasts, known as "THE News", are seen at the following times:

• Weekdays:

5-7 AM, known as THE News First Report.

7-8 AM, known as THE News at Daybreak.

12-12:30 PM, known as THE News at Noon.

5-6 PM, known as THE News at 5.

6-6:30 PM, known as THE News at 6.

11-11:30 PM, known as THE News at 11.

They also have a daily weekday talk news show at 10 AM, called "Mid-Morning Live with Sonny and Jody", with Sonny Dixon and Jody Chapin as anchors.

Long-time newscaster Sonny Dixon is perhaps the most well-known TV anchor in Savannah, although much like WTOC itself, he does have detractors who feel that his "down-home, folksy" delivery are one of several detriments that WTOC continues to have into the 21st century.

The station won both Emmy and Edward R. Murrow awards for news gathering efforts in 2003.

[edit] External links

• WTOC-TV homepage
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WTOC

CBS Network Affiliates in the state of Georgia
WRBL 3 (Columbus) - WCTV 6 (Thomasville) - WTOC 11 (Savannah) - WRDW 12 (Augusta) - WMAZ 13 (Macon) - WNEG 32 (Toccoa/Athens) - WSWG 44 (Valdosta/Albany) - WGCL 46 (Atlanta)
See also: ABC, CW, Fox, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS, and Other stations in Georgia