WSAZ-TV

Encyclopedia : W : WS : WSA : WSAZ-TV

WSAZ-TV is a television station in Huntington, West Virginia. Owned by Gray Television, it is the NBC affiliate for the Huntington-Charleston market, the second-largest television market (in terms of area) east of the Mississippi River. The station serves 61 counties that cover southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and southeastern Ohio. In addition, it is available on cable in Parkersburg. Its transmitter is located in Ona, West Virginia.

WSAZ's programming can also be seen in the Kanawha Valley on translator W16CE, channel 16 in Charleston. This station is carried on the Charter Communications cable system in the eastern part of the market.

WSAZ has been the far-and-away market leader in the Huntington-Charleston market ever since records have been kept, as well as one of the strongest NBC affiliates in the country.

History

WSAZ, the oldest television station in West Virginia, began broadcasting on channel five on October 14, 1949, owned by the Huntington Herald-Dispatch along with WSAZ-AM (930 kHz., now WRVC). WSAZ radio had long been an NBC affiliate, so WSAZ-TV became an NBC-TV affiliate and has stayed with NBC to this day, though it carried secondary CBS DuMont and ABC affiliations until 1954, 1955, and 1955, respectively. It is the only commercial station in the market that has never changed its affiliation, making it NBC's longest continuously-affiliated station south of Washington, D.C.

One story of how WSAZ's call letters dates from WSAZ-AM's origins in 1923. Radio engineer Glenn Chase applied to the Secretary of Commerce for a license to operate a small radio station in Pomeroy, Ohio (it moved across the Ohio River to Huntington in 1927). In the application he reportedly claimed that since he was building most of the station's equipment himself, "it would probably be the worst station from A to Z." He asked that appropriate call letters be assigned. His request was promptly granted and the call letters WSAZ were given to him meaning "Worst Station from A to Z."

A more likely story was that the allocation of the call letters WSAZ were pure coincidence as they were assigned by the Department of Commerce in an alphabetical sequence just after WSAX in Chicago, and WSAY in Port Chester, New York. However, the myth persists that the calls stand for "Worst Station from A to Z"--a myth WSAZ-AM itself helped spread by using it as a slogan for many years.

In 1950, WSAZ-TV received FCC permission to build a private microwave link to Cincinnati; allowing viewers to get NBC programming live. The nation's first privately owned microwave system, it was a remarkable feat for the smallest city in the country at the time to have a television station. The first live broadcast was scheduled for a Labor Day baseball game, but the system broke down for four hours and forced WSAZ to broadcast a fire at a nearby hotel. WSAZ ditched the Cincinnati link in favor of one from Columbus, Ohio in 1952.

Also in 1952, the FCC granted WSAZ the highest power ever authorized for a television station. This allowed the station to penetrate more of its huge viewing area, most of which is a very rugged dissected plateau. The super-powered signal could be seen from Cuba to southeastern Canada. As part of the power boost, WSAZ moved to its current location on channel three in order to prevent interference with WLWT in Cincinnati, a fellow NBC affiliate which also broadcasted on channel five. However, as the regulation of domestic television stations were normalized, WSAZ's signal strength was reduced to the same levels as other stations in 1956. The station's transmission tower was the tallest in North America until WIS-TV in Columbia, South Carolina activated a taller tower in 1959.

The Herald-Dispatch sold WSAZ-AM-TV to Goodwill Stations, owner of WJR radio in Detroit and WJRT-TV in Flint, Michigan, in 1961. Goodwill merged with Capital Cities Communications in 1964. Capital Cities sold the radio station in Stoner Broadcasting in 1970, but kept WSAZ-TV until 1971, when it was sold to Lee Enterprises. Emmis Communications bought the station in 2000 after Lee decided to bow out of broadcasting. Emmis then sold WSAZ to Gray Television in 2005. The Gray Television purchase made WSAZ a sister station to WTAP-TV in Parkersburg.

Being based in Huntington, WSAZ is located 50 miles (80 km) away from West Virginia's state capital, Charleston. As such, the station opened a branch studio there in 1956. It also opened a low-power station on channel 23 in Charleston to serve the Kanawha Valley soon after its signal was cut to standardized levels. While Charleston and its close-in suburbs receive the channel three signal very well, much of the Kanawha Valley is still unable to receive the VHF signal due to the market's terrain. The Charleston translator was moved to channel 16 in 2003 after WSAZ began using channel 23 for its digital broadcasts.

Since 1956, WSAZ's newscasts have featured two anchors, one at the main studio in Huntington and the other in Charleston. NBC studied the format and used it as the basis for the Huntley-Brinkley Report, anchored by Chet Huntley in New York City and David Brinkley in Washington. All three original networks have used this approach at one time or another since then.

WSAZ uses its low-power translator in Charleston to provide viewers with a "split" newscast. At 6 p.m. and 11 p.m., the two anchors appear together on screen until a certain point (usually 10-15 minutes into the newscast) when the newscast will "split." Viewers in the 28 counties of the Kanawha Valley who watch channel 16 (and those on the Valley's main cable provider, Charter Cable) will then see a newscast targeted specifically to them, while viewers in the other 33 counties will see a newscast featuring news from Kentucky and Ohio as well as West Virginia. WSAZ calls this concept "two-city news."

Rumors have persisted for some time that NBC may buy WSAZ. However, these rumors are speculative at best, especially since NBC recently sold four of its owned and operated stations located below market #25. The Huntington-Charleston market is the 61st market. Rumors also abounded soon after the Gray Television purchase that WTAP would scrap its newscasts and simulcast WSAZ's newscasts instead. However, this is unlikely since A.C. Nielsen recently named WTAP the highest-rated NBC affiliate in the country. It should be noted that WTAP is the only commercial station in the Parkersburg market.

WSAZ-DT 3.2 / My Z TV

WSAZ/My Z TV logo.

The station has announced plans to launch WSAZ-DT 3.2 "My Z TV" on September 5, 2006, which would also include programming from My Network TV. The channel will feature a 10:00 p.m. half hour long local news cast and a re-airing of non-NBC programming currently on the main WSAZ feed in different time periods.[link]

Memorable personalities

• Bill Click, host of Farm Report
• Jule Huffman, meteorologist and second host of Mr. Cartoon
• Bos Johnson, news anchor
• George Lewis, host of Steamboat Bill and original host of Mr. Cartoon
• Dean Sturm, host of Saturday Night Jamboree
• Don Wagoner, host of Beachcomer

Addresses

• 645 Fifth Avenue, Huntington, WV 25701
• 111 Columbia Avenue, Charleston, WV 25302

External links

• [WSAZ Website]
• [Query the FCC's TV station database for WSAZ]