| Greensboro / High Point / Winston-Salem, North Carolina |
|
|---|---|
| Branding | WFMY News2 |
| Slogan | "Get Answers" |
| Channels | Digital: 51 (UHF) Virtual: 2 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 2.1: CBS 2.2: weather |
| Affiliations | CBS |
| Owner | Gannett Company (WFMY Television Corporation) |
| Founded | August 18, 1949 |
| Call letters' meaning | began as the TV arm of FM station WFMY (now WQMG-FM) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 2 (VHF, 1949-2009) |
| Former affiliations | All secondary: ABC (1949-1963) NBC (1949-1953) DuMont (1949-1956) |
| Transmitter power | 1000 kW |
| Height | 568.8 m |
| Facility ID | 72064 |
| Website | www.digtriad.com |
WFMY-TV (digital channel 51, virtual channel 2) is a television station in Greensboro, North Carolina. Owned by the Gannett Company, WFMYis the CBS affiliate for the Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem (also known as the Piedmont Triad) area. WFMY's studios are located on Phillips Avenue in downtown Greensboro, and its transmitter is located in Randleman, North Carolina.
Contents |
The station began operation on September 22, 1949 as the second television station in North Carolina, just a few months after fellow CBS affiliate WBTV in Charlotte. It was owned by the Greensboro News Company, publishers of the Greensboro Daily News and Daily Record (now merged as the Greensboro News & Record). The News Company had put WFMY-FM on the air in 1947, but it removed the station from the air in the early part of the 1950s, eventually selling the license around 1955 to another party. The new owner put it back on the air as WQMG-FM (97.1), which retains those calls to the present day. It aired programs from all four networks (CBS, NBC, ABC, and DuMont), but has always been a primary CBS affiliate. NBC moved to WSJS-TV (now WXII-TV) when it signed on in 1953 and WFMY shared ABC with WSJS until WGHP signed on in 1963.
Sportscaster Charlie Harville worked at WFMY from 1949 to 1963, when he joined WGHP, and from 1977 to 1988[1].
In 1965, the News Company was bought by what became Landmark Communications. The station was acquired by Harte-Hanks Communications in 1976, and by Gannett in 1989.
WFMY's local programming, including the long-running news program "Good Morning Show" with Lee Kinard, and children's program "The Old Rebel Show" pre-empted CBS' various attempts at morning programming from the 1957 through the 1980s. WGGT (now WMYV) aired the CBS Morning News until 1985, and afterwards WFMY began to run the broadcast on delay from 8-10am following "The Good Morning Show". Lee Kinard later moved to the weeknight news until his retirement in the 1990s. WFMY carries CBS's Saturday Early Show only on its digital subchannel; the main channel carries a Saturday edition of "The Good Morning Show," followed by the CBS kids' block.
Another important local daytime program from the 1970s was "Sandra and Friends", hosted by current news anchor Sandra Hughes. This was one of the first shows in the region to be hosted by a black woman.
On September 25, 1984, the station's number one news-gathering tool, SKY 2, did itself become news. The Bell Jet Ranger Helicopter, piloted by Tom Haroski, was attempting to assist in the rescue of a construction worker trapped atop a water tower in Kernersville, near Winston-Salem. The tower was being dismantled when a piece of steel snapped and trapped the worker for hours. He was bleeding profusely when late that night, SKY 2 was called in to assist. The pilot began lowering the chopper above the tower. An EMS worker on board was going to attempt the rescue. As the chopper hovered over the tower the tail rotor hit one of the steel beams of the tower sending the helicopter nose first into the ground. The images were captured on tape by competitor WXII and broadcast around the country. The pilot and rescue worker were killed instantly. In a sad footnote, it was determined that the worker they were attempting to reach had bled to death before the chopper ever took off.[2]
WFMY began using a new version of SKY 2 (painted black) after the accident, but eventually retired the chopper altogether.
During the analog television era, WFMY boasted one of the largest coverage areas in the Southeast. It provided grade B coverage as far west as Charlotte and as far east as Raleigh. The channel 2 signal traveled a very long distance under normal conditions. Despite the move to a digital signal on UHF, WFMY's secondary coverage area is almost as large as it was in analog. Its digital signal operates at a full million watts, equivalent to 5 million watts for an analog transmitter.
On Tuesday, January 5, 2010 at noon, WFMY begun producing 16:9 widescreen newscasts. Local stories and remote broadcasts were all in 16:9 widescreen as well. On November 13, 2011 beginning with its 11 p.m. newscast, WFMY began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. The station introduced a new format for its newscasts titled News 2.0.[3]
| Channel | Name | Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | WFMY HD | 1080i | 16:9 | Main WFMY-TV programming / CBS |
| 2.2 | WFMY SD | 480i | 4:3 | Weather |
On July 27, 2011, WFMY aired a story that claimed there had been a "series" of "violent flash mob" attacks at a downtown Greensboro, N.C. park[4]. The report made numerous allegations that were not substantiated and were subsequently refuted by the Greensboro Police Department as reported by the News & Record[5]
In North Carolina, WFMY is available on Time Warner Cable in Albemarle and Charter Communications in the Hickory area (QAM only), which are part of the Charlotte media market.[6] WFMY is also available on Charter Communications and Main Street Broadband in Siler City and DirecTV in Chatham, Durham, Lee, Orange, and Person Counties, which are part of the Raleigh market. WFMY was previously available on Time Warner Cable in Carrboro and on cable in Southern Pines and Lee County as well.[7]
In Virginia, WFMY is available on Comcast in Galax, Chatmoss Cablevision in Danville, and DirecTV in Carroll, Grayson and Henry Counties, and in Danville and Martinsville, which are part of the Roanoke market.
During the 1970s and 1980s, CATV had WFMY carried in more areas of North Carolina as well as outside the state. In North Carolina, WFMY was once carried in Rockingham, Richmond County and as far northeast as Henderson, Vance County. In Virginia, it was once carried in Rocky Mount and as far north as Clifton Forge, Alleghany County.[8]
Anchors
Reporters
Weather
|
|||||||||||
|
||||||||