| Nashville, Tennessee | |
|---|---|
| Branding | NewsChannel 5 |
| Slogan | Your News and Information Leader (primary) Tennessee's First Local News in High Definition (secondary) |
| Channels | Digital: 5 (VHF) Virtual: 5 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | (see article) |
| Translators | 50 (UHF) Nashville |
| Affiliations | CBS This TV (DT3) |
| Owner | Landmark Media Enterprises (NewsChannel 5 Network, LLC) |
| First air date | August 6, 1954 |
| Call letters' meaning | TeleVision Five |
| Sister station(s) | KLAS-TV |
| Former callsigns | WLAC-TV (1954-1975) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 5 (VHF, 1954-2009) Digital: 56 (UHF, 1999-2009) |
| Transmitter power | 22 kW |
| Height | 425 metres (1,394 ft) |
| Facility ID | 36504 |
| Website | newschannel5.com |
WTVF is the CBS-affiliated television station for Middle Tennessee that is licensed to Nashville. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 5 from a transmitter north of downtown along I-24. Owned by Landmark Media Enterprises, the station has studios on James Robertson Parkway. Syndicated programming on WTVF includes: Inside Edition, Ellen, and Rachael Ray.
Contents |
| Channel | Video | Aspect | Name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WTVF-DT | Main WTVF programming / CBS |
| 5.2 | 480i | 4:3 | WTVF-DT2 | "NewsChannel 5+" |
| 5.3 | WTVF-DT3 | This TV |
On WTVF-DT2 and Comcast digital channel 250 is an independent station that features locally-produced programming, repeats of local news from the main channel, and additional syndicated shows. There is also live gavel-to-gavel coverage of high-profile criminal trials in the Nashville area including those of Paul Dennis Reid, Perry March, and Mary Winkler. WTVF-DT2 goes live during severe weather and will sometimes air local newscasts if CBS programming preempts the main channel, such as during the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. It also carries the Saturday edition of The Early Show, which WTVF does not run. On WTVF-DT3 and Comcast digital channel 249 is This TV.
WTVF discontinued regular analog programming on June 12, 2009 [1], and moved its digital broadcasts back to channel 5.[2] Since WTVF's transition to that channel, some viewers in the immediate Nashville area were having reception problems of the VHF digital channel. So on July 6, 2009, the station decided and filed for a low-powered digital channel 50 on UHF to cover the viewers that cannot receive the VHF channel. It broadcasts at 100 kW.[3] The original application to operate this translator has yet to be granted but STAs have been approved.[4] On July 31, WTVF began multicasting on its digital subchannels the over-the-air relaunch of "NewsChannel 5+" (originally a cable-only operation) on 5.2 and the addition of This TV on 5.3.
WTVF signed on-the-air August 6, 1954 as WLAC-TV owned by the Life and Casualty Insurance Company along with Nashville businessmen Guilford Dudley, Al Beaman, and Thomas Baker. Ever since its inception, its analog signal was short-spaced to Memphis' WMC-TV also on Channel 5 (coincidentally, WMC-TV began on Channel 4 and was immediately short-spaced to WSM-TV, now WSMV, Channel 4, Nashville). WLAC-TV was part of a triopoly along with WLAC-AM 1510 and later WLAC-FM (now WNRQ-FM). The call sign reflected the initials of the insurance company. It immediately took the CBS affiliation from WSIX-TV (analog channel 8, eventually WKRN-TV on analog channel 2) because WLAC-AM had been Nashville's CBS Radio affiliate since 1928. With WLAC-TV, Nashville became the smallest city in the United States to have three network-affiliated commercial television stations. American General Corporation, a Houston-based insurer, bought L&C and WLAC-AM-FM-TV in the 1960s.
WLAC-TV was sold in 1975 to the Hobby family (owners of the now-defunct Houston Post) who changed the station's call sign to the current WTVF. American General/L&C eventually sold WLAC-AM-FM to other interests and the other stations have had several owners over the years. In 1983, the Hobbys reorganized their broadcast holdings as H&C Communications after their flagship property the Post was sold. Landmark Communications, based in Norfolk, Virginia, bought WTVF from the Hobbys in 1994. February 1, 2007 marked the end of the decades-long monopoly WTVF had in providing CBS programming to some counties in Southern Kentucky. Bowling Green's WNKY, an NBC affiliate, launched an new second digital subchannel to be the area's CBS affiliate. WTVF was removed from a number of Southern Kentucky cable systems as a result due to FCC rules against duplication of network programming on different cable channels.
In 1998, WTVF became the primary home station for the Tennessee Titans, known as the Oilers for that season, when the rights to air road games of the National Football League's American Football Conference moved to CBS.
On January 30, 2008, Landmark announced its intention to sell WTVF along with sister station KLAS-TV in Las Vegas, Nevada and cable network The Weather Channel.[5] This was followed on July 14, 2008 with an announcement that this channel would be sold to Bonten Media Group, a firm that owns sixteen conventional broadcast and digital stations in five states.[6] However, the deal was put off due to the economic crisis of 2008 as Bonten informed Landmark that it could not close on the purchase after its key financial backer for that purchase, Lehman Brothers, went bankrupt.[7] Landmark Communications changed its name to Landmark Media Enterprises in September 2008.
Although the sale of The Weather Channel and some other assets was eventually completed, Landmark took most of its other properties off the market in October 2008. As a result, WTVF and KLAS remain owned by Landmark. WTVF would have become the biggest station in Bonten's holdings as well as the first CBS affiliate in its portfolio.
During its years as WLAC, the station helped launch the career of a young African-American reporter and native Nashvillian named Oprah Winfrey by making her a regular news anchor in the early-1970s. The station's Studio A, which was built in 1967 near the Tennessee State Capitol building, was also the home of the hit show Hee Haw for most of its 1968–1993 run. Its last few years were recorded at The Nashville Network's studios adjacent to the now-defunct Opryland USA theme park. The channel's relation to WLAC-AM, which was known for many years for its nighttime soul music programming, led it to air a groundbreaking show on Friday and Saturday nights during the mid-and late-1960s called Night Train hosted by Noble Blackwell (a disc jockey on Nashville soul radio station WVOL-AM 1470), which featured R&B performances and dancing similar to American Bandstand. From 1972 until 1975 Show Biz, Inc.'s The Bobby Goldsboro Show was recorded at the WLAC/WTVF studios.
Behind Winfrey, the station's most notable anchor is Chris Clark. He served as the station's main anchor from 1966 to 2007, longer than anyone in Nashville television history. Clark is a Greek-American whose real name is Christopher Botsaris. In June 2006, Clark reduced his daily anchoring schedule to one newscast (weeknights at 6) and announced he would retire at the end of his contract in 2007. Clark's final broadcast, after 41 years on-air, took place on May 23, 2007, the final day of the May "sweeps" ratings period. The station ran a number of on-air tributes in the days leading up to Clark's departure. He signed-off with a tribute to his co-workers and friends and gave his closing line a final time: "I'll see you then...". Rhori Johnston, the co-anchor on the weeknight 5 and 10 o'clock broadcasts, succeeded Clark at 6 p.m. Before arriving at WLAC/WTVF, Clark worked for stations in his native Georgia in Atlanta and Albany. He graduated from the University of Georgia in Athens. While at Albany's WALB-TV, Clark interviewed Martin Luther King, Jr.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the station used the Eyewitness News moniker. The current NewsChannel 5 branding and logo have been in use since 1989. In 1974, WLAC became the first non-network-owned television station in the country to use Electronic News Gathering (ENG) to bring live field reports to its viewers.[8] On February 2, 2007, WTVF rolled out a new on-air look complete with a new state-of-the-art news set, weather center, and graphics in tandem with its official HD debut. The new set was completely built in a separate studio from its existing set keeping disruptions of news operations to a minimum. As of February 4, WTVF is the 25th television station in the nation to air local news in high definition and one of only four at the time with an HD weather center and system.
WTVF produces daily ninety second news updates for Telefutura affiliate WLLC-LP anchored by Eva Melo. This newscast is the only Spanish-language newscast in Nashville, a market consisting of about 4% Spanish-speaking viewers, a fast-growing audience in the Middle Tennessee area.[9] Both "NewsChannel 5" and "NewsChannel 5 Network" are also used by stations in other markets. All news anchors also serve as reporters.
A full broadcast of the August 8, 1974 6 p.m. newscast exists in the Vanderbilt Television News Archive in Nashville, the result of the Archive's staff inadvertently leaving recording equipment on after taping CBS News' coverage of the events leading to the resignation of President Richard Nixon at 5:30 p.m.[10] The broadcast featured interviews with Nashville-area and Tennessee politicians about that day's events in Washington and was anchored by Harry Chapman, with Ron Kaiser doing the weather and Hope Hines the sports. Main anchor Chris Clark filed a telephone report from Washington concerning reaction from the senators and representatives in Tennessee's Congressional delegation. Since it was not the policy of the Archive to record local newscasts alongside network ones and this occurrence was quite accidental, this may well be the only preserved, full-length Nashville television news broadcast prior to the late 1970s (when video cassette recorders became widely marketed), other than local cut-ins to network election coverage and two 1973 special broadcasts of The Today Show (on WSM-TV). It is available for public viewing at the Archive, but, because of the equipment at the time, the broadcast was recorded in black and white, although all live television by then was broadcast in color.
Before the advent of satellite technology in the 1980s, the Archive taped all CBS News broadcasts from the airwaves of WLAC/WTVF.
Anchors
Storm 5 HD Weather Team
Sports team
Reporters
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