| Virginia Beach/Norfolk/ Newport News/Portsmouth, Virginia |
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|---|---|
| City of license | Virginia Beach |
| Branding | Fox 43 (general) Fox 43 News |
| Slogan | Your Late News an Hour Earlier |
| Channels | Digital: 29 (UHF) |
| Subchannels | 43.1 Fox |
| Translators | 36 WPMC-CA Mappsville 45 WNLO-CD Norfolk |
| Owner | LIN TV Corporation (WAVY Broadcasting, LLC) |
| First air date | March 22, 1993 |
| Call letters' meaning | Virginia Beach Television |
| Sister station(s) | WAVY-TV |
| Former channel number(s) | 43 (UHF analog, 1993-2009) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1993-1995) The WB (1995-1998) |
| Transmitter power | 1,000 kW |
| Height | 241 m |
| Facility ID | 65387 |
| Website | fox43tv.com |
WVBT is the Fox-affiliated television station for the Hampton Roads area of Southeastern Virginia that is licensed to Virginia Beach. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 29 from a transmitter in the Driver section of Suffolk. Owned by the LIN TV Corporation, the station is sister to NBC affiliate WAVY-TV and the two share studios with Ion Television owned-and-operated WPXV-TV on Wavy Street in Downtown Portsmouth.
Syndicated programming on WVBT includes: Maury, Family Guy, TMZ on TV, and The Wendy Williams Show. It can also be seen on two Class A repeaters: analog WPMC-CA channel 36 in Mappsville from a transmitter along US 13/Lankford Highway in Bloxom and digital WNLO-CD channel 45 in Norfolk with a transmitter co-located with the main signal.
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WVBT began operation on March 22, 1993 with Home Shopping Network programming along with infomercials and religious shows. It became a charter affiliate of The WB starting on January 11, 1995. Shortly thereafter, the station came under a local marketing agreement (LMA) with LIN TV and began to be operated by WAVY. In May 1996, WVBT began broadcasting from a new transmitter, giving it a coverage area comparable to the other major Hampton Roads stations.
WVBT found out in the fall of 1995 that it was going to lose its WB affiliation to the market's original Fox affiliate, WTVZ, due to an affiliation deal between The WB and WTVZ's owner, Sinclair Broadcast Group. LIN TV reached an affiliation agreement with Fox in November 1995, and WVBT swapped affiliations with WTVZ in August 1998. [1] [2] LIN TV purchased WVBT-TV in February 2002 from the original broadcast company and owner that had a Local Marketing Agreement (LMA) with LIN TV.
Until January 2007, WAVY operated a 24-hour local weather channel on WVBT's second digital subchannel taking advantage of its 720p signal to present the service without interfering with video quality on either WAVY or WVBT. Known on-air as the "WAVY Weather Station", it is now cable-exclusive to address E/I requirement concerns and can be seen on Mediacom channel 9, Charter channel 22, and Cox digital channel 227. There are live current conditions, updated forecasts, and a live feed of "Super Doppler 10 HD". However, some listing services continue to show a second digital subchannel for WVBT erroneously.
On June 12, 2009 at 9 in the morning, [3] WVBT's digital signal remained on channel 29 when the analog to digital conversion was completed. What is now WNLO-CD began as W45BG (call sign assigned November 1993) becoming WNLO-LP in November 2000 and WNLO-CA in January 2002. It went all-digital in January 2005 making it one of the first low-power stations in the country to begin digital broadcasting. Its calls became the current WNLO-CD ("CD" for "Class A Digital") in July 2009. This should not be confused with a CW-affiliated sister station in Buffalo, New York that uses the same call letters in full-power form. The channel could have used the calls WVBT-CA (as most of these situations in other markets do) but likely chose not to due to the mere two-channel separation between channels 43 and 45 to avert confusion.
WVBT is rebroacasted on two low-powered class A translators. [4] [5] [6] [7] While one translator (WNLO-CD) is licensed in Norfolk, Virginia with its digital transmitter located in Driver, Virginia the other one (WPMC-CA) is licensed in Mappsville, Virginia with its transmitter located in Bloxom, Virginia in Accomack County of which is in the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Both class A translators are owned and operated by WAVY Broadcasting, LLC and LIN TV. Unlike WNLO-CD of which is a digital Class A translator in Driver, Virginia, WPMC-CA in Bloxom, Virginia is not a digital Class A translator because, it seems like WAVY Broadcasting and parent company LIN TV have not yet upgraded WPMC-CA into a digital class A translator.
When WVBT made the switch to Fox in 1998, WAVY started producing a nightly prime time newscast on this station known as Fox 43 News at 10. It was not the market's first prime time broadcast as CBS affiliate WTKR produced a short-lived show on WGNT from 1995 until 1997. [8] ABC affiliate WVEC-TV also produced a prime time newscast on low-powered WPEN-LP from 1995 until it started cable-only LNC 4 (now LNC 5) in 1997. [9] WVEC continued to produce a 10 o'clock show on the cable channel until January 30, 2009. The 45 minute broadcast on WVBT is followed by the Fox 43 Sports Wrap with sports news and highlights.
On July 21, 2008, the newscast and sports show started to be produced in high definition after WAVY made the upgrade. On February 2, 2009, WVBT added Fox 43 News at 7 on weekday mornings featuring news, weather and traffic updates along with various entertainment/lifestyle features. This morning show ended on January 8, 2010 and was replaced by The Hampton Roads Show which launched January 18, 2010 from a secondary set that is also streamed live on its website. [10] The Hampton Roads Show moved to WAVY at 11 a.m. on September 12, 2011.[11]
Anchors
Super Doppler 10 HD Meteorologists
Sports
Reporters
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