WHNT-TV
Encyclopedia
WHNT-TV is the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

-affiliated television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...

 for the Tennessee Valley
Tennessee Valley
The Tennessee Valley is the drainage basin of the Tennessee River and is largely within the U.S. state of Tennessee. It stretches from southwest Kentucky to northwest Georgia and from northeast Mississippi to the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina...

 area of North Alabama
North Alabama
North Alabama is a region of the U.S. state of Alabama, generally considered to include 12 counties: Cherokee, Colbert, DeKalb, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, Morgan, and Winston, with a combined population of 958,247, or 20.84% of the state's population as...

 that is licensed to Huntsville
Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is a city located primarily in Madison County in the central part of the far northern region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Huntsville is the county seat of Madison County. The city extends west into neighboring Limestone County. Huntsville's population was 180,105 as of the 2010 Census....

. It broadcasts a high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...

 digital signal on UHF channel 19 from a transmitter on Monte Sano. Owned by Local TV
Local TV
Local TV LLC is a limited liability corporation, owned by Oak Hill Capital Partners , which operates 18 local network-affiliated television stations in the United States.-History:...

, the station has studios on Holmes Avenue Northwest in downtown Huntsville. It also has three bureaus: Decatur, Sand Mountain (Albertville), and Shoals (Florence). Syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...

 programming on WHNT includes: Rachael Ray
Rachael Ray (TV series)
Rachael Ray, also known as The Rachael Ray Show, is a talk show starring Rachael Ray that debuted in syndication in the United States and Canada on September 18, 2006....

, Ellen
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show, often shortened to Ellen, is an American television talk show hosted by comedian/actress Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it is produced by Telepictures and airs in syndication, including stations owned by NBC Universal. For its first five seasons, the show...

, and The Dr. Oz Show
The Dr. Oz Show
The Dr. Oz Show is an American syndicated television talk show, hosted by Dr. Mehmet Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon and teaching professor at Columbia University who became famous for his appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show from 2004 until 2009....

.

Digital programming

Its signal is multiplexed. On WHNT-DT2, Charter
Charter Communications
Charter Communications is an American company providing cable television, high-speed Internet, and telephone services to more than 4.7 million customers in 25 states. By revenues, it is the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States, behind Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Cox Communications...

 digital channel 148, Knology
Knology
Knology Inc. is a cable company that formed in 1994 by ITC Holding Company, Inc, a telecommunications holding company in West Point, Georgia that also founded Internet service provider Mindspring. In late 1994, shortly after Knology's inception, two employees made a $600,000 investment to make...

 digital channel 199, and Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...

 digital channel 211 is Antenna TV
Antenna TV
Antenna TV is an American digital broadcast television network, primarily featuring classic television series from the 1950s to the 1990s, along with some feature films. It is owned by Tribune Broadcasting, a division of the Chicago-based Tribune Company...

.
Channel Programming
19.1 Main WHNT programming / CBS
19.2 Antenna TV
Antenna TV
Antenna TV is an American digital broadcast television network, primarily featuring classic television series from the 1950s to the 1990s, along with some feature films. It is owned by Tribune Broadcasting, a division of the Chicago-based Tribune Company...

 "WHNT 2"

The station became a charter affiliate of Tribune Broadcasting
Tribune Broadcasting
The Tribune Broadcasting Company is a group of radio and television stations located throughout the United States which are owned and operated by the Tribune Company, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois and named for the flagship Chicago Tribune newspaper.- History :Tribune Broadcasting...

's digital multicast channel Antenna TV
Antenna TV
Antenna TV is an American digital broadcast television network, primarily featuring classic television series from the 1950s to the 1990s, along with some feature films. It is owned by Tribune Broadcasting, a division of the Chicago-based Tribune Company...

 upon its launch on January 1, 2011, it now is carried on digital subchannel 19.2, replacing Retro Television Network
Retro Television Network
The Retro Television Network is a system of television stations that airs classic television shows as well as more recently produced programs...

 programming on that subchannel. The network, whose programming consists of classic sitcoms from the 1950s to the 1990s during the afternoon and evening, and movies during the morning and late night hours, debuted on Local TV, LLC-owned stations in other markets as well as stations owned by Antenna TV's parent company Tribune Company
Tribune Company
The Tribune Company is a large American multimedia corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. It is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with ten daily newspapers and commuter tabloids including Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida...

 on the same date.

It is noted that unlike most Antenna TV subchannels, WHNT2 is transmitted in 16:9 standard-definition widescreen. However, with the exception of the WHNT newscasts (which are presented on WHNT2 in standard-definition widescreen that's been downconverted from the original high definition production) and some of the local commercials, programming on this subchannel is entirely in pillarboxed 4:3 standard definition.

Post-analog shutdown

WHNT-TV ended programming on its analog signal, on UHF channel 19, on June 12, 2009, as part of DTV transition in the United States
DTV transition in the United States
The DTV transition in the United States was the switchover from analog to exclusively digital broadcasting of free over-the-air television programming...

. The station then moved back to channel 19 for its post-transition operations. The station was originally going to move to channel 46 but received late permission from the FCC to move digital broadcasts to channel 19, following the closure and license cancellation earlier in the year of Florence
Florence, Alabama
Florence is the county seat of Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States, in the northwestern corner of the state.According to the 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the city's population was 36,721....

 station WYLE, which was to have broadcast on digital channel 20. WHNT is now the only station in the market operating on its original channel.

History

WHNT began operations on Thanksgiving Day
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...

, November 28, 1963 (the first new station to be launched after President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

 was assassinated), and has always been an affiliate of CBS. The FCC originally licensed the frequency for WHNT to the city of Fort Payne
Fort Payne, Alabama
Fort Payne is a city in DeKalb County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 12,938. The city is the county seat of DeKalb County. It bills itself as the "Official Sock Capital of the World."...

 some forty miles to the southeast. The station was founded by a local businessman, Charles Grisham, now deceased, who also would own two other Southern stations, WSLA
WAKA
WAKA is the CBS-affiliated television station for Central Alabama's Black Belt region licensed to Selma. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 42 from a transmitter in Gordonville. The station can also be seen on Knology and Charter channel 8...

 in Selma, Alabama
Selma, Alabama
Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, Alabama, United States, located on the banks of the Alabama River. The population was 20,512 at the 2000 census....

 and WYEA
WLTZ
WLTZ is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Chattahoochee Valley of West-Central Georgia and East-Central Alabama. Licensed to Columbus, Georgia, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 35 from its studios on NBC 38 Drive in the Vista Terrance section of South...

 in Columbus, Georgia
Columbus, Georgia
Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Muscogee County, Georgia, United States, with which it is consolidated. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 189,885. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2009, had an estimated population of 292,795...

. In 1980, Grisham sold WHNT to The New York Times Company
The New York Times Company
The New York Times Company is an American media company best known as the publisher of its namesake, The New York Times. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr. has served as Chairman of the Board since 1997. It is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City....

, which operated it for over a quarter century. In September 2006, The New York Times announced that the company would put its entire broadcast group up for sale with eight other stations affected in addition to WHNT. On May 7, 2007, WHNT became a property of Oak Hill Capital Partners which operates the station as part of Local TV.

WHNT's facilities are in downtown Huntsville where the station moved in 1987 from their original location on Monte Sano Mountain. The move was prompted by a fire that destroyed rival WAFF-TV's studios, then on Governors Drive, five years earlier. For use during an emergency, backup broadcast capabilities for news remains at the Monte Sano site. The transmitter and tower remain on Monte Sano because the mountain provides the highest elevation in the immediate area. WHNT is the only station in Huntsville to operate from a facility actually constructed specifically for broadcasting purposes. WAAY-TV
WAAY-TV
WAAY-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Tennessee Valley area of North Alabama that is licensed to Huntsville. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter at its Monte Sano Boulevard studios on top of Monte Sano Mountain. Calkins Media owns...

 operates from a former gas station, WAFF from a former jewelry store, and WZDX
WZDX
WZDX is the Fox-affiliated television station for North Alabama's Tennessee Valley. Licensed to Huntsville, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 41 from a transmitter on Monte Sano Boulevard Southeast in Madison County . The station can also be seen on Knology channel 4 as...

 from an office building.

In 2003, WHNT allowed competing stations WAAY and WZDX to use space on its tower after both station's towers used on WAAY's property collapsed, killing three men. This station first used sixteen millimeter film for most of its commercial and news gathering. In 1979, it switched to the 3/4 inch video tape format. WHNT used this system until 1998 when new Panasonic
Panasonic
Panasonic is an international brand name for Japanese electric products manufacturer Panasonic Corporation, which was formerly known as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd...

 DVC machines and cameras were purchased. In October of 2010, the station stopped using tape. All cameras now record on digital cards and video playback for all newscasts comes off a digital server. WHNT's archives, the most extensive in Huntsville television, go back to 1973 and include a mix of film and video. The film library had been stored at the University of North Alabama
University of North Alabama
The University of North Alabama is a coeducational university located in Florence, Alabama, and the state's oldest four-year public university....

, but has recently been returned to Huntsville. In May 2002, WHNT became the first station in the Huntsville market
Media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...

 to broadcast a digital signal and begin broadcasting in high definition on UHF channel 59.

Until November 25, 2008 at 5 p.m., the station offered a 24-hour local weather channel on its second digital subchannel. It then switched to RTV. WHNT is the only station in the Hunstville market area that has never changed its network affiliation. WHNT clears the entire CBS schedule. However, the Saturday edition of The Early Show
The Early Show
The Early Show is an American television morning news talk show broadcast by CBS from New York City. The program airs live from 7 to 9 a.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday; most affiliates in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones air the show on tape-delay from 7 to 9 a.m. local time. ...

airs on WHNT-DT2.

News operation

WHNT has been noted for live coverage of breaking news such as the shooting death of a Huntsville police officer, the 2006 Huntsville Bus Accident
2006 Huntsville bus accident
The Huntsville bus accident involved a school bus carrying 40 students from Lee High School and occurred on November 20, 2006 on an elevated portion of Interstate 565 in Huntsville, Alabama. Police stated that the bus went over the side of the road after being hit by a small car. Four students were...

 , and the solving of a thirty year-old murder case in September 2007. Generally speaking, over the years, WHNT has always been competitive in terms of ratings with rivals WAAY and WAFF. In fact, this station is the only one among the three major network affiliates in Huntsville to have never finished in last place in the Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...

. Since Fall 2004, WHNT has used the ARMOR Doppler Weather Radar system in weather forecasting along with its own weather radar
Weather radar
Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, estimate its type . Modern weather radars are mostly pulse-Doppler radars, capable of detecting the motion of rain droplets in addition to the...

 at its transmitter site.

On August 18, 2008, WHNT became the first television station in Huntsville to begin broadcasting all of its news programs in digital 16:9
16:9
16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...

 widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....

. Although not truly high definition when launched, the broadcasts match the ratio of HD television screens. On April 13, 2009 starting with the weeknight 5 o'clock show, the station stopped using the NewsChannel 19 name and became WHNT News 19. Beginning on February 1, 2010, WHNT added a weeknight prime time newscast at 9 on WHNT-DT2 (referenced on-air as WHNT2). It competes with Fox affiliate WZDX, which also airs a 9 p.m. newscast which is produced by WAAY. WHNT also previously aired an hour-long newscast at 7 a.m. on WHNT2, but discontinued it in September 2010. In November 2010, WHNT added a Sunday evening prime time newscast at 9 p.m. on WHNT2. Following the major tornado outbreak of April 27, 2011, WHNT introduced a 6:30pm newscast.

On August 18, 2010 during the 10pm newscast, WHNT became the first station in Huntsville to begin airing news segments in full high definition. The first segment was a sunset scene in Huntsville's Big Spring Park
Big Spring Park (Huntsville, Alabama)
Big Spring International Park is located in downtown Huntsville, Alabama. The park is built around its namesake "Big Spring", the original water source that the city of Huntsville was built around...

.

On February 2, 2011, WHNT upgraded its newscast productions to full high-definition. During the two month transition to HD, the station's newcast originated from another part of the building while the studio was completely renovated for the first time since 1987. WHNT's newscasts are in high definition from both the studio and field like many of WHNT's Local TV stablemates. This makes WHNT the only station in Huntsville to be fully HD. Also, all of the station's file video since October of 2010 is in high definition.

In addition to its main studios, it operates bureaus covering The Shoals
The Shoals
The Shoals is a metropolitan area in northwestern Alabama, officially known as the Florence-Muscle Shoals Metropolitan Area, including the cities of Florence, Muscle Shoals, Tuscumbia, and Sheffield, and the counties of Lauderdale and Colbert...

 and Decatur
Decatur, Alabama
Decatur is a city in Limestone and Morgan Counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. The city, affectionately known as "The River City", is located in Northern Alabama on the banks of Wheeler Lake, along the Tennessee River. It is the largest city and county seat of Morgan County...

 (Northwestern Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

), and Sand Mountain
Sand Mountain (Alabama)
Sand Mountain is a sandstone plateau in northeastern Alabama and northwestern Georgia. It is part of the southern tip of the Appalachian mountain chain. Geologically a continuation of Walden Ridge, Sand Mountain is part of the Cumberland Plateau, separated from the main portion of the plateau by...

 (Northeastern Alabama).

Newscast titles

  • WHNT-TV News (1963–1970)
  • News 19 (1970–1975)
  • Action News
    Action News
    Action News is a local television newscast format in the United States. It was conceived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at WFIL-TV by then-news director Mel Kampmann in 1970 as a response to the "Eyewitness News" format used on rival station KYW-TV...

     19
    (1975–1984)
  • WHNT News 19 (1984–1987 and 2009-present)
  • NewsCenter 19 (1987–1995)
  • NewsChannel 19 (1996–2009)

Station slogans

  • "Keep Your Eye On Us" (1976–1978)
  • "The News People" (1978–1981)
  • "Reach for the Stars on Channel 19" (1981–1982; local version of CBS ad campaign, also used to open newscasts)
  • "The Valley's Leading News Station" (1987–1990)
  • "The New 19 and You" (1987–1990; used in image campaign by Frank Gari)
  • "The News Leader in the Tennessee Valley" (1990–1993)
  • "We're Here For You" (1993–1995)
  • "Where Local News Comes First" (1995–1998)
  • "First. Live. Local." (1996–2007)
  • "Taking Action. Getting Results." (2007–present)

News team

Anchors
  • Jerry Hayes - weeknights at 6:30 and 10
    • "Good Question" segment producer
  • Elise Morgan - weeknights at 6 and 10
  • Greg Screws - weeknights at 6 and 9 (on WHNT2)
    • "Deal or Dud" segment producer
  • Clarissa McClain - weeknights at 5 and 9 (on WHNT2)
  • Lee Marshall - weeknights at 5 and 6:30
  • Steve Johnson - weekday mornings 5-7 a.m.
    • "Driving You Crazy" segment producer
  • Carson Clark - weekend evenings & reporter
    • "Carson's Classics" segment producer
  • Michelle Stark - weekday mornings 5-7 a.m. & technology reporter
  • Robert Reeves - weekday mornings 4:30-5:00 a.m., "Robert on the Road" and "Pay It Forward" segment producer
  • Carrie Marchese - weekdays at noon & investigative/consumer reporter
  • Beth Jett - weekend evenings and reporter


Meteorologists
  • Dan Satterfield (Certified Broadcast Meteorologist
    Certified Broadcast Meteorologist
    Certified Broadcast Meteorologist is a rating for meteorologists given by the American Meteorological Society.The Certified Broadcast Meteorologist program was established to raise the professional standard in broadcast meteorology and encourage a broader range of scientific understanding,...

    ) - Chief -weeknights
  • Ben Smith - weekday mornings & noon
  • Brandon Chambers - weekend evenings
  • Christina Meeks - weekend mornings


Sports
  • Edward Egros
  • Christine Killimayer


Reporters
  • Nick Banaszak- Huntsville Reporter
  • Venton Blandin - Huntsville Reporter
  • Rikki Klaus - Huntsville Reporter
  • Jerrita Patterson - Shoals Reporter
  • Robert Richardson - Sand Mountain videojournalist
  • David Wood - Huntsville videojournalist
  • David Kumbroch - Huntsville videojournalist
  • Nate Adams - weekday morning traffic reporter(also on WRSA-FM
    WRSA-FM
    WRSA-FM is an adult contemporary music-formatted radio station serving the Huntsville, Alabama, area.The broadcast transmitter and tower for WRSA-FM is located on Brindlee Mountain.-Personalities:...

     96.9)
  • Jeff Gray - weekday morning videojournalist (also on WRSA-FM
    WRSA-FM
    WRSA-FM is an adult contemporary music-formatted radio station serving the Huntsville, Alabama, area.The broadcast transmitter and tower for WRSA-FM is located on Brindlee Mountain.-Personalities:...

    96.9)

Photojournalists
  • Gregg Stone - Chief Photographer
  • Shane Hays - Assistant Chief Photographer
  • Carter Watkins - Shoals Bureau Chief Photographer
  • Dave Schmidt - Morning Photographer
  • Brian Covington - Decatur Photographer
  • Alex Lynch - Evening Huntsville Photographer
  • Dion Hose - Dayside Photographer

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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