WTVC

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WTVC
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Branding	News Channel 9
Slogan	Depend On Us
Channels	9 (VHF) analog, 35 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	ABC (secondary until 1956)
Owner	Freedom Communications
Founded	March 13, 1953 (in Rome, Georgia; relocated and relaunched in Chattanooga February 11, 1958)
Call letters meaning	W'e're TeleVision Chattanooga
Former callsigns	WROM-TV (1953-57)
Former affiliations	NBC (1953-56) CBS (secondary, 1953-54) DuMont (1953-54)
Website	newschannel9.com

WTVC channel 9 is the ABC affiliate in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is owned by Freedom Communications. The station uses the branding NewsChannel 9 for its newscasts. Its transmitter is located in the community of Walden, Tennessee in a broadcasting antenna farm on the highest point of Signal Mountain.

Contents 1 History 2 Doppler Radar Network 3 News Department 3.1 Newscasts 3.1.1 Monday-Friday 3.1.2 Saturday-Sunday 3.1.3 Past newscasts 3.2 Notable Personalities 3.2.1 Current Personalities 3.2.2 Past Personalities 4 External links

[edit] History

The station signed on the air on March 13, 1953 as WROM-TV in Rome, Georgia; transmitting from a tower on Horseleg Mountain west of Rome. Although Rome was close to Atlanta market and its TV stations, WROM-TV was the first television station in the Chattanooga area, serving as an NBC affiliate. It had secondary affiliations with CBS, ABC and DuMont. It lost CBS when WDEF-TV signed on in Chattanooga in 1954, and lost NBC when WRGP-TV, Chattanooga (now WRCB-TV) signed on in 1956.

On December 5th, 1957, Martin Theaters of Georgia took WROM-TV off the air to move its transmitter north to Chattanooga, and away from the other station it had purchased, WDAK-TV, Columbus, Georgia, which was about to switch from Channel 28 to Channel 9 there. FCC rules mandated a certain amount of separation for stations on the same channel, and also, the FCC did not allow common ownership of two stations with overlapping signals. Channel 9's grade B signal reached Columbus from Rome. There were exceptions to that rule, and stations in Cincinnati (WLWT and WKRC-TV), Dayton (WLWD) and Columbus, Ohio (WLWC and WTVN) were all granted "grandfather" status because co-owned stations in those cities were already in place before the government revised the rules. The government has since relaxed that rule.

Channel 9 returned to the air as WTVC, Chattanooga on February 11, 1958. The station developed a strong reputation for local programming in its early years. Among the early shows that WTVC pioneered was the children's educational show Funtime, with Marcia Kling. Although Funtime ended many years ago, the woman who became known as "Miss Marcia" is still associated with the station after 45 years. Shock Theater which aired on Saturday nights, developed a cult following, with WTVC Programming Director Tommy Reynolds dressed up as Dracula with the moniker Doctor Shock, alongside his irreverent sidekick Dingbat. The Bob Brandy Show, which aired in the afternoons, featured cartoons and kids activities hosted by WTVC advertising executive Bob Brandy, his wife Ingrid, and their horse Rebel.

In 1969, Martin Theaters was sold to Augusta, Georgia businessman J.B. Fuqua. Fuqua also owned WJBF-TV in Augusta, WTVW-TV in Evansville, Indiana; and KTHI-TV (now KVLY-TV in Fargo, North Dakota). Over the next few years, one by one, each station was sold, with WTVC-TV purchased in the early 80's by Belo Broadcasting of Dallas, Texas. In 1982, current owner Freedom Communications bought the station.

Through the late 1960s and mid 1970s, WTVC branded its newscasts Eyewitness News. In 1975, the branding switched to Action News. In the late 80s, WTVC was among the first stations in the country to adopt the NewsChannel branding designation.

After years of broadcasting in cramped quarters behind a Zayre Department Store in the Golden Gateway Shopping Center in downtown Chattanooga (in fact, part of the shopping center was built in 1958 just to house the TV station), WTVC began broadcasting in 2000 from a new digitally-equipped building located between Northgate Mall and Hamilton Place Mall.

In 2004, WTVC began producing First at Ten for Fox affiliate WDSI-TV.

[edit] Doppler Radar Network

WTVC is the first station in Chattanooga and the first station in East Tennessee to own and operate its own Doppler Radar to track severe storms in Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina. The radar tower is located at the transmitter site in Walden and transmits 250,000 watts in a 300-mile radius from the tower. Channel 9also started its own Doppler Radar Network, which consists of doppler radar beams from WTVC, WAAY-TV in Huntsville, Alabama; WSMV-TV in Nashville and WAPT-TV in Jackson, Mississippi.

WTVC also operates the StormTrack 9 Neighborhood Network, which relies on sensitive instruments placed at more than 40 sites to relay weather conditions back to the WTVC-TV Weather Center. This scientific method of collecting weather data replaced human weather watchers, also called "sky watchers," who phone in their unofficial readings daily to TV stations from the community.

[edit] News Department

[edit] Newscasts

[edit] Monday-Friday

• Good Morning Chattanooga (5:00-7:00AM)
• NewsChannel 9 Midday (12Noon-12:30PM)
• This-N-That (12:30PM-1:00PM)
• NewsChannel 9 at 5 (5:00-5:30PM)
• NewsChannel 9 at 5:30 (5:30-6:00PM)
• NewsChannel 9 at 6 (6:00-6:30PM)
• First at Ten (10:00PM-10:35PM, on WDSI-TV)
• NewsChannel 9 at 11 (11:00-11:35PM)

[edit] Saturday-Sunday

• Focus (Saturday 7:30-8:00AM)
• NewsChannel 9 Weekend at 6 (6:00-6:30PM)
• First News Weekend at Ten (10:00PM-10:30PM, on WDSI-TV)
• NewsChannel 9 Weekend at 11 (11:00-11:35PM)

[edit] Past newscasts

• Good Morning Sunday
• NewsChannel 9 for Women (1999-2005)

[edit] Notable Personalities

[edit] Current Personalities

• Kay Blevins, (WDSI) FOX 61 First at Ten Weekend Anchor/Reporter/Producer
• Kim Chapman, 5:00, 6:00, and 11:00 Anchor
• Chip Chapman, Weather (WTVC & WDSI)
• Kim Fields, 5:30 Anchor/Reporter
• David Glenn, Chief Meteorologist
• Scottie Goodman, (WDSI) FOX61 First at Ten, Anchor/Reporter/Producer
• Sarah Jennings, Good Morning Chattanooga Anchor/Reporter
• Bob Johnson, On Medical Leave
• Marcia (Miss Marcia) Kling, This-N-That Health Reporter
• John Madewell, General Assignment Reporter (WTVC & WDSI)
• Tanya Mendis, General Assignment Reporter (WTVC & WDSI)
• Jessica Morris, Weekend Anchor/Reporter
• Darrell Patterson, Sports Director
• Andrea Perry, Focus Host
• John Pless, General Assignment Reporter (WTVC & WDSI)
• Bill Race, Senior Meteorologist
• Erin Sebree, Weekend Meteorologist
• Seth Seymour, General Assignment Reporter
• Calvin Sneed, 5:30 and 11:00 Anchor, Investigative Reporter
• Dave Staley, Weekend Anchor/Sports Reporter (WTVC & WDSI)
• Anne Thompson, Good Morning Chattanooga Anchor
• Don Welch, This-N-That Host
• Karen Zatkulak, General Assignment Reporter

[edit] Past Personalities

• Sean Ash, Weekend Meteorologist, now at WISH, Indianapolis
• Jason Boyer, Morning and Noon Meteorologist (2003-2005) now at KWGN, Denver
• Bob Brandy, host of children's show, deceased
• Melydia Clewell, Good Morning Chattanooga, NewsChannel 9 for Women and Midday Anchor
• Mike Dello Stritto, General Assignment Reporter, now at KOVR-TV, Stockton-Sacramento
• Mike Dunne, Weekend Anchor/Reporter (1987-2006)
• Melissa Greene, Anchor for Good Morning Chattanooga & NewsChannel 9 for Women & Reporter
• Melissa Greer, Weekend Meteorologist, (2003-2004) now at WBTV, Charlotte
• Janice Huff, Weekend Meteorologist, (1982-1983) now at WNBC-TV, New York City
• Amy Katcher, Weekend Meteorologist, (2004-2006) now at WSAZ-TV, Huntington, West Virginia
• Mary Ellen "Mel" Locher, 5:00, 6:00, and 11:00 Anchor/Health reporter (1985-2005) deceased
• Julie Martin, Weekend Meteorologist
• Katrina Owens, 5:30 Anchor/Reporter
• Neal Pascal, Chief Meteorologist (1981-2006)
• Gene Randall, Anchor/Reporter, spent many years with CNN later
• Tommy Reynolds aka "Dr. Shock", host of the late 60's and early 70's "Shock Theater," retired
• Rex Thompson, Weekend Meteorologist

[edit] External links

• NewsChannel 9 - WTVC
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WTVC

ABC Network Affiliates in the state of Tennessee
WKRN 2 (Nashville) - WATE 6 (Knoxville) - WBBJ 7 (Jackson) - WTVC 9 (Chattanooga) - WKPT 19 (Kingsport) - WPTY 24 (Memphis)
See also: CBS, CW, Fox, ION, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS and Other stations in Tennessee