WCBI-TV
   | |
| Columbus/Tupelo/ West Point, Mississippi | |
|---|---|
| Branding |
WCBI (general) WCBI News My MS (on DT2) North Mississippi CW (on DT3) |
| Slogan | Your News Leader |
| Channels |
Digital: 35 (UHF) Virtual: 4 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels |
4.1 CBS 4.2 MyNetworkTV 4.3 The CW |
| Affiliations | CBS (1956-1977, 1978-present) |
| Owner |
Morris Multimedia (WCBI-TV, LLC) |
| First air date | July 13, 1956 |
| Call letters' meaning |
Columbus Birney Imes (station founder) |
| Former channel number(s) |
Analog: 4 (VHF, 1956-2009) |
| Former affiliations |
ABC (secondary, 1956-1977) ABC (secondary, 1978-1983) ABC (primary, 1977-1978) NBC (secondary, 1956-1979) UPN (on DT2, 2002-2006) AccuWX (on DT3, 2002-2006) |
| Transmitter power | 708 kW |
| Height | 583.9 m |
| Facility ID | 12477 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 33°45′7″N 88°52′40″W / 33.75194°N 88.87778°W |
| Website | wcbi.com |
WCBI-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Northern Mississippi and Northwestern Alabama licensed to Columbus. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 35 from a transmitter in Northwestern Clay County. Owned by Morris Multimedia, WCBI has studios on 5th Street South in Downtown Columbus. Syndicated programming on the station includes: The Andy Griffith Show and The Doctors.
Digital television
Digital channels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
| Channel | Video | Aspect | PSIP Short Name | Programming[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WCBI-DT | Main WCBI-TV programming / CBS |
| 4.2 | 480i | 4:3 | WCBI-D2 | WCBI-DT2 / MyNetworkTV |
| 4.3 | WCBI-D3 | North Mississippi CW |
Analog-to-digital conversion
WCBI-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 4, on January 24, 2009, due to a transmitter problem. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 35.[2] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 4.
History
When WCBI signed on-the-air July 13, 1956, it was the first television station in North Mississippi. The station was owned by Birney Imes, Jr. a Columbus businessman and publisher of the Commercial Dispatch newspaper. It has studios at a cement block building surrounded by and a group of mobile homes in a pasture off MS 12 just east of Columbus. WCBI was originally affiliated with ABC, NBC, and CBS but has always been a primary CBS station except during the 1977-1978 season when it was a primary ABC affiliate. During the late-1950s, it was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. [3]
NBC disappeared from the schedule in 1979 after WTVA in Tupelo expanded its city-grade signal to include Columbus. WCBI continued to carry some ABC programs until 1983 when WVSB (now Fox affiliate WLOV-TV) signed-on. The station remained in its rural location for more than thirty years. In the early-1990s, Frank Imes (Birney's son) supervised the renovation of the former Egger's Department Store in Downtown Columbus. Live broadcasting began at the new facility on October 25, 1993 with News 4 at 6.
WCBI began broadcasting a full power digital signal in August 2002 on UHF channel 35. By early September, it was broadcasting three digital signals including CBS in high definition on DT1. On DT2 was a standard definition UPN channel known on-air "UPN Mississippi" that was the first digital affiliate of the network in the country. A 24-hour local weather station was located on DT3 known on-air as "WCBI WeatherCheck" and provided as part of The Local AccuWeather Channel.
In November 2003, Imes Communications sold WCBI to current owner Morris Multimedia with the sale closing on January 14 of the next year. It was the last remaining station of Imes' once-sizable smaller-market broadcasting group. The Commercial Dispatch newspaper remains under Imes family ownership to this day.
On September 5, 2006, the UPN Mississippi subchannel was relaunched as "My Mississippi", affiliating with MyNetworkTV as part of the merger of UPN and The WB. Thirteen days later on September 18, the weather subchannel on DT3 was converted to a CW affiliate as "North Mississippi CW".
News operation
On September 8, 2008, WCBI began producing the area's second prime time newscast on this station. Known as WCBI News at 9 on My MS, the broadcast only airs on weeknights for thirty minutes and competes with another prime time show seen for a half-hour on Fox affiliate WLOV-TV (produced Sunday through Friday nights by NBC affiliate WTVA). At some point in time, WCBI added an hour-long extension of its weekday morning show to WCBI-DT2. Known as WCBI News Sunrise on My MS, this broadcast can be seen from 7 until 8 and offers a local alternative to the national network morning shows. In addition to its main studios, the station operates a Tupelo Bureau on Main Street/U.S. 278/MS 6/MS 178. On September 16, 2013, both newscasts airing on WCBI-DT2 moved to CW affiliate WCBI-DT3.
News/station presentation
Newscast titles
- TV-4 News (1970s)
- News 4 (early 1980s)
- WCBI 4 News (1995-2000)
- WCBI News (2000-present)[4]
Station slogans
- "4 is on the Spot" (1970s)
- "ABC 4 is WCBI" (1977-1978)
- "4's on the Move" (early 1980s)
- "We're 4 Mississippi" (1980s)
- "4 Stands for News" (early 1990s)
- "Your Station. Your News." (2000-2005)
- "Keeping You Informed" (2005-2013)
- "Your News Leader" (2013-present)
News music packages
- News Views by Syd Dale (1977-1980)
- The Big One (Theme from "The People's Court") by Alan Tew (1980-1982)
- CBS News Ticker by unknown composer (1982-19??)
- Millennium 3 by Shelly Palmer Company (19??-2004)
- In-Sink (V.1, V.2, V.3, V.4) by 615 Music (2004-200?)
- Ignitor by 615 Music (200?-2011)
- Always Worth Your Time by 615 Music (2011-present)
News team[5]
Anchors
- Jillian Garrigues - weekday mornings
- Bill Gamel - weekday mornings and weekdays at noon; also producer
- Aundrea Self - weekdays at noon, host of "Midmorning with Aundrea" and weeknights at 5 and 6 p.m.; also "Making the Grade" segment producer
- Michelle Lowe - weeknights at 9 and 10 p.m.; "A Day in the Life" segment producer
- Emily Cassulo - weekend evenings
First Alert Weather
- Keith Gibson (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist designation) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
- Heather Sophia - meteorologist; weekdays 4:30 - 8 AM and noon
- Shelby Latino - meteorologist; weekend evenings
Sports team (both seen on The End Zone)
- Robby Donoho - sports director; weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
- Robby Donoho - sports anchor; weekend evenings, also sports reporter
Reporters
- R.H. Brown - general assignment reporter
- Jennifer Ortega - general assignment reporter
- Callie Paxton - general assignment reporter
- Tony Peoples - chief photographer
- Heather Black - general assignment reporter
- Caresse Jackman - general assignment reporter
- Allie Martin - Tupelo Bureau Chief
Contributors
- Scott Ferguson - Dollars & Sense
- Bill Maier - Focus on the Family
- Jeff Farnham - Mortgage Minute
- Beth Jeffers - Get Fit Fridays
- Art Gisburg - Mr. Food
- Derek Cody - The Endzone
Former on-air staff
- Kristen Cornett - weekend weather anchor (1996-1997)
- Rich Wirdzek (now at WHIO) - Morning Meteorologist (2004-2006)
- Andrew Harrison (now at WJTV) - weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.; also "Changing Family" segment producer (2006-2013)
References
- ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WCBI
- ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 03-24.
- ↑ "Require Prime Evening Time for NTA Films" (), Boxoffice, November 10, 1956: 13
- ↑ WCBI 10PM News Open November 20 2011
- ↑ WCBI News Team
External links
- WCBI-TV
- WCBI-DT2 "My Mississippi"
- WCBI-DT3 "North Mississippi CW"
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WCBI-TV
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