WTVY (TV)

WTVY

Dothan, Alabama
Branding	WTVY News 4
Slogan	Your Hometown News Leader
Channels	Digital: 36 (UHF) Virtual: 4 (PSIP)
Subchannels	4.1 WTVY/CBS 4.2 MyNetworkTV/Me-TV 4.3 The CW 4.4 NBC
Affiliations	CBS Television Network
Owner	Gray Television, Inc. (Gray Television Licensee, LLC)
First air date	February 12, 1955
Sister station(s)	WRGX-LD, WJHG-TV, WECP-LD
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 9 (VHF, 1955-1960?) 4 (VHF, 1960-2009)
Former affiliations	DT2: UPN (2005-2006)
Transmitter power	1,000 kW
Height	573 m
Transmitter coordinates	30°55′11.7″N 85°44′29.5″W / 30.919917°N 85.741528°W / 30.919917; -85.741528 (WTVY)
Website	www.wtvy.com

WTVY, virtual channel 4, is the CBS-affiliated television station in Dothan, Alabama; it is owned by Gray Television. The station's signal, originating from a transmitter in Bethlehem, Florida, reaches portions of Alabama, Georgia and Florida. In addition to its CBS affiliation, WTVY carries programming from The CW and MyNetworkTV, respectively, on its two digital subchannels. It also retransmits the signal of the market's NBC affiliate WRGX-LD on 4.4.

For much of its history, WTVY was also the designated CBS affiliate for the Panama City, Florida market, where Gray also owns that city's NBC affiliate, WJHG-TV; in exchange, WJHG is available in Dothan on cable since Dothan does not have its own NBC affiliate. In fact, WTVY's transmitter is located in the Panama City market even though it is only 28 miles from Dothan. This status ended on September 24, 2012, when Gray launched WECP-LD as a Panama City-based CBS affiliate, though most cable systems in that market would continue to carry WTVY in lieu of WECP until October, when the latter replaced WTVY on area systems.^{[1] [2]} Gray likewise launched WRGX-LD, as a Dothan-based NBC affiliate on June 1, 2013, replacing WJHG and Montgomery's WSFA on area cable systems.^[3]

Digital television

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

History

WTVY's first broadcast was on February 12, 1955, originally on channel 9, as a CBS affiliate. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.^[4]

In a massive reallocation of signals in Alabama and Georgia mandated by the Federal Communications Commission to minimize signal interference, the station moved to channel 4 around 1960, where it still remains today. At the time of the reallocation, WTVY also relocated to new studios with a 1,209 ft (368.5 m) tower in Webb, five miles (8 km) east of Dothan. At the time, the tower was the tallest structure in the state of Alabama. In the early 1970s WTVY became one of the first stations in the country to broadcast 24 hours a day. WTVY-FM still utilizes the tower to transmit its signal.

In 1978, WTVY moved to its current 2,035 ft (ASL) tower in Bethlehem, Florida (28 miles/45 km southwest of Dothan). The tower is the tallest structure in the state of Florida and one of the tallest broadcasting towers in North America. The tower is so tall that on clear nights the strobe warning lights on the tower have been seen as far as 50 miles away in certain locations. The move was made in part to improve its signal in Panama City and along the Florida Gulf Coast, where it had been the default CBS affiliate since the early 1960s. The new tower gave WTVY one of the largest coverage areas in the southeastern U.S. It provides at least grade B coverage to much of the Florida side of the Mobile/Pensacola market, including Fort Walton Beach and Destin. It also provides grade B coverage to much of the Montgomery market.

In 1993, WTVY moved its studios to the historic Houston Hotel building in downtown Dothan (now known as the Woods Building). WTVY operates on the first two floors. The news studio is actually located in what used to be the grand ballroom of the hotel. The building is tall enough (eight stories) that the station's studio-to-transmitter microwave dish is located on top of the building, not requiring a smaller tower to be built on the property.

For many years Charles Woods, a perennial aspirant to the governorship of Alabama and occasional minor-party presidential candidate, owned WTVY, through his Woods Communications company. The station ownership was transferred to Chemical Bank and operated under the corporate name of Dothan Holdings, LLC Benedek Broadcasting bought WTVY from Chemical Bank/Dothan Holdings in 1995 for a price of $28 million. WTVY was one of the Benedek stations that was purchased by Gray Television in 2002.

Programming

Syndicated programming includes Wheel of Fortune, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Rachael Ray, and Live with Kelly. When Panama City relied on WTVY for a CBS station, all syndicated programming that was duplicated on WJHG and WMBB was still shown on WTVY on Panama City's cable systems. This is in contrast to SyndEx laws, which gives local stations the option to restrict importing of syndicated programming that is already available on an in-market station. With WECP replacing WTVY as Panama City's CBS affiliate, WECP was able to air shows that WJHG could not, and would not have to rely on an out-of-market station to fill an affiliation slot.

News operation

Newscasts air weekdays from 5-7 a.m., and 12-12:30, 5-5:30, 5:30-6 (WRGX), 6-6:30, 9-9:30 (WTVY-DT3), and 10-10:30 p.m. Central, plus 8-9 a.m. on Saturday mornings, 6:00 on Saturday, 5:00 on Sunday, and weekends at 10:00 p.m. This is a considerable amount for a station serving two fairly small markets (Dothan is the 172nd market, Panama City is the 151st market).

WTVY has historically been a ratings powerhouse in the Wiregrass, winning every news timeslot. This is partly because its only local competition, ABC affiliate WDHN, has a coverage area only half as large.

The building WTVY is broadcasting from also has a radar dome that is used, but is "unreliable to the current TruVu Titan system," according to the staff of the station. Currently, the weather center of the station is using a TruVu Titan 6.2.4 radar specifically made for WTVY.

On Monday, June 4, 2012, WTVY became the first station in the Dothan market to broadcast local news in high definition.

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

• WTVY News (1955–1964)
• Television 4 Reports (1964–1970)
• TV-4 News (1970–1985)
• WTVY News (1985–1998)
• WTVY News 4 (1998–present)

Station slogans

• "The Tri–State's News Leader" (1991–1995)
• "Your Hometown News Leader" (1995–present)

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

News team

Current on-air staff ^[5]

Anchors

• Paul Stockman - weekday mornings; also news and sports reporter
• Demetria McClenton - weekday mornings and weekdays at noon
• Tessa Darlington - weeknights at 5, 5:30 (WRGX), 6, and 10
• Reginald Jones - weeknights at 5, 5:30 (WRGX), 6, and 10
• Lauren St. Germain - weeknights at 9 (WTVY-DT3); also reporter
• Brian Johnson - weeknights at 9 (WTVY-DT3)
• Devon Sellers - Saturday mornings; also reporter
• Bethany Anderson - weekend evenings; also reporter

4WARN Weather

• Nathan Harrington - weeknights
• Chris Havely - weekday mornings and weekdays at noon
• Oscar Fann - weekends

Sports

• Kim Allen - Director; weeknights at 6 and 10
• Matt Harris - weekend evenings; also sports reporter

Reporters

• Mike Gurspan - Coffee County Bureau
• Troy Kinsey - Florida Capitol Bureau
• Katrice Nolan
• Victoria Rosa - multimedia journalist
• Cynthia Washington
• Rachel Yonkunas
• Matthew McClellan

Notable former on-air staff

• Mitch English - weather anchor/reporter (co-host of nationally syndicated news program The Daily Buzz from 2002-2012 )
• Don Rollins--staff on and off air announcer 1963-1966 (now retired from NBC Radio, Wall Street Journal Radio and New York Times Radio/WQXR, all New York, NY.)

References

External links

• WTVY.com - Official WTVY-TV Website
• Official CW Dothan Website

• Query the FCC's TV station database for WTVY
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WTVY-TV
• Program Information for WTVY at TitanTV.com