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WTVF

Encyclopedia : W : WT : WTV : WTVF

WTVF, also known as "NewsChannel5", is the CBS affiliate in Nashville, Tennessee. The station is owned by Landmark Communications. Its transmitter is located in Nashville.

WTVF also owns and operates NewsChannel5+, a spinoff cable channel, viewable on Channel 50 on most of Middle Tennessee's cable systems. NewsChannel5+ airs replays of the mother station's news broadcasts, as well as original and exclusive call-in and interview shows. NC5+ has also carred live gavel-to-gavel coverage of high-profile criminal trials in the Nashville area, such as those of Paul Dennis Reid and Perry March. NC5+ regularly goes live during severe weather, and will sometimes air local news live if CBS programming pre-empts WTVF's regular local news time slot, such as during the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

Along with their website, [newschannel5.com], the stations promote themselves under the umbrella branding NewsChannel5 Network.

Contents

History

WTVF signed on the air on August 6, 1954 as WLAC-TV, owned by the Life and Casualty Insurance Company and Nashville businessman Guilford Dudley. Channel 5 was part of a triopoly along with WLAC-AM 1510, and later WLAC-FM (now WNRQ-FM). The call letters, of course, reflected those of the insurance company. It took the CBS affiliation from WSIX-TV (now WKRN-TV), since WLAC-AM had been Nashville's CBS affiliate since 1928. Nashville became the smallest city in the U.S. 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 to the Hobby family of Houston in 1975, who changed the station's callsign to WTVF; American General/L&C eventually sold WLAC-AM-FM to other interests. Landmark bought WTVF in 1994.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the station used the "Eyewitness News" moniker; it has used the branding "NewsChannel5" since 1989.

During its years as WLAC-TV, the station helped launch the career of a young African-American reporter named Oprah Winfrey by making her a regular news anchor in the early 1970s. The station's Studio B, 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 studios in the now-defunct Opryland USA complex). Channel 5'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," which featured R&B performances and dancing, similar to "American Bandstand." Rumor has it that Don Cornelius, then a Chicago TV host, may have used it as a model for his successful "Soul Train" years later.

WTVF has long battled with WSMV--which itself started as WSM-TV, the television arm of another Nashville heritage radio station, WSM-AM--for the top spot in the Nashville ratings. Generally speaking, channel 5 is more popular in the city of Nashville itself than in the more conservative suburbs (e.g., Williamson and Sumner counties) because of its emphasis on hard news and investigative reports, as opposed to WSMV's emphasis on softer stories. Amazingly, the reverse was true some 15 to 20 years ago, as WSMV earned numerous awards for hard-hitting coverage, while WTVF did not make many waves, relying mainly on newscast staples like crime coverage. Still, Nashville is one of the fastest-growing TV markets in the U.S., and any number of factors could change the playing field for both stations.

The station currently airs a local talk, variety show Talk of the Town at 12:30pm, delaying the CBS soap The Bold and the Beautiful to 1:30pm with As the World Turns airing at 3pm. Starting in September, B&B and ATWT will finally air in their CBS network timeslots of 12:30 and 1pm with Rachael Ray's new show premiering at 3pm on September 18th. Talk of the Town will move to 11:00am and air for 30 minutes before The Young and the Restless.

Station Newscasts

Weekdays

NewsChannel 5 broadcasts live newscasts for approximately six and a half hours Monday through Friday.

Weekends

NewsChannel 5 airs live newscasts for approximately four and a half hours on Saturday.

NewsChannel 5 airs live newscasts for approximately four hours on Sunday, and a live sports show for approximately 20 minutes.

Station Trivia

"If the press calls, call your PR person. If Phil Williams calls, call your lawyer because you're in trouble."

See also

External links

Terrestrial television>Broadcast television in the Nashville market  [(Nielsen DMA #30)]
WKRN 2 (ABC) - WSMV 4 (NBC) - WTVF 5 (CBS) - WNPT 8 (PBS) - WETV 11 (unknown) - WIIW 14 (Religious/DS) - WZTV 17 (Fox) - WCTE 22 (PBS) - WNPX 28 (i) - WUXP 30 (UPN/My Network TV) - WJNK 34 (3ABN) - W36AK 36 (TBN) - WHTN 39 (CTN) - WPGD 50 (TBN) - W52CT 52 (A1) - WNAB 58 (WB/The CW) - WJFB 66 (ShopNBC)

Broadcast television in the Bowling Green market  [(Nielsen DMA #183)]
WTVF 5 (CBS) - WBKO 13 (ABC) (Fox on DT2) (The CW on DT3 "WBWG", starting 9/061) - WZTV 17 (FOX) - WKYU 24 (PBS) - WUXP 30 (UPN) - WLKY 32 (CBS) - WBKI 34 (WB) - WNKY 40 (NBC) - WKAG-LP 43 (A1) - WKGB 53 (PBS/KET)
Local cable television channels
WBWG 12 (The WB/The CW1)
1(WBWG will become an affiliate of The CW and will be included on WBKO's digital signal in September 2006)

Broadcast television in the Jackson, Tennessee market  [(Nielsen DMA #174)]
WREG 3 (CBS) - WSMV 4 (NBC) - WMC 5 (NBC) - WTVF 5 (CBS) - WBBJ 7 (ABC) - WLJT 11 (PBS) - WMAE 12 (PBS/MPB) - WHBQ 13 (FOX) - WJKT 16 (UPN/FOX) - WJTE-LP 19 (FamilyNet) - W35AH 35 (TBN)
'''CBS Network Affiliates in the state of Tennessee
WREG 3 () - WTVF 5 () - WVLT 8 () - WJHL 11 () - WDEF 12 ()
'''See also: , , , , , and stations in Tennessee

 

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