WRLH-TV
Encyclopedia
WRLH-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station
for Richmond, Virginia
. It broadcasts a high definition
digital signal on UHF channel 26 from a transmitter at the studios of PBS
affiliates WCVE-TV/WCVW
in Bon Air
. The station can also be seen on Comcast
and Verizon FiOS
channel 11. There is a high definition feed offered on Comcast digital channel 511 and Verizon FiOS digital channel 805. Owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group
, it has studios on Westmoreland Street in the North Side
area of Richmond. Syndicated
programming on WRLH includes: Two and a Half Men
, Family Guy
, Maury
, Judge Judy
, and How I Met Your Mother
.
, Verizon FiOS channel 10, and Comcast digital channel 209 is the area's MyNetworkTV
& This TV
affiliate. On WRLH-DT3 and Comcast digital channel 205 is TheCoolTV
.
in Hartford, Vermont
. It aired an analog signal on UHF channel 35 from a transmitter southwest of the U.S. 60
/SR 288
interchange. It was the second station owned by the TVX Broadcast Group
that had launched WTVZ in 1979 as a successful Independent in the neighboring Hampton Roads
market
. The WRLH call letters refer to Richmond and two of the executives in TVX who were primarily responsible for getting this station on-the-air (Gene Loving and Harvey Hudson). Like most Independents, it initially offered a format consisting of cartoons, sitcoms, movies, drama shows, and religious programming in mid-mornings after the cartoons.
In 1983, WRNX signed on channel 63 with a religious format, and WRLH's religious programming moved there. Some of those shows moved back to WRLH when WRNX took on a general entertainment format in Summer 1985 under a new call sign, WVRN, and the two stations now competed under the same format. The competition took a toll financially, and as a result, TVX sold WRLH to Times Mirror Broadcasting in Spring 1986. Times Mirror then turned around and sold WRLH (along with WMAR in Baltimore
) to Gillett Broadcasting that fall.
By then, WRLH was already a charter Fox affiliate with the affiliation agreement having been inherited from TVX ownership. The station is the only Richmond channel that has never changed its network affiliation having been with Fox since the network's inception. WVRN was put up for sale after its parent company, Sudbrink Broadcasting, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late-1986. At that point, Act III Broadcasting
purchased WVRN and both stations continued to suffer financially.
Part of the problem was that Fox only offered eight hours of programming a week at the time, meaning WRLH was still programmed largely as an independent. At the time, Richmond was just barely big enough to support what were essentially two independent stations. Soon after Act III bought WVRN, it offered to buy WRLH's programming on the condition that channel 35 itself be sold to a different group that would run it as a non-commercial or home shopping type station. Gillett declined but offered instead to sell WRLH outright to Act III, which then put WVRN back on the market. There were no takers for channel 63, however, and Act III merged WVRN's programming onto WRLH's schedule and took WVRN off the air. The analog UHF channel 63 license was returned to the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) for deletion.
The Act III group was purchased by Abry Communications in 1993. Sullivan Broadcasters (in which Sinclair had an interest in) took over the station in 1996 and Sinclair bought WRLH outright in 1998. It began carrying a secondary UPN
affiliation at the network's inception on January 16, 1995. This moved to WZXK (now WUPV-TV) in 1998. Also that year, WRLH began to carry programming from Kids' WB
with NBC
affiliate WWBT
carrying The WB
programming out of rotation in late-night since there was no full-time affiliate with the network in Richmond. On March 14, 2008, the Virginia High School League
championships basketball tournament was televised for the first time by WRLH and other Virginia
television stations.
On June 24, Sinclair announced that it was intending to purchase CBS
affiliate WTVR-TV
from Raycom Media
and sell WRLH to the previously unknown Carma Broadcasting. Raycom had recently bought Lincoln Financial Media
's three television stations, including Richmond NBC
affiliate WWBT
, and put WTVR on the market because FCC rules do not allow duopolies between two of the four largest stations in a market. Sinclair was to provide "sales and other non-programming related services" to WRLH after the sale was finalized. This could be seen by some as an attempt by Sinclair to sell WRLH to a shell corporation used for the purpose of circumventing FCC ownership rules, much as Sinclair has done for years with Cunningham Broadcasting
.
In August 2008, the United States Department of Justice
, under provisions of a consent decree with Raycom Media entered into as part of the Lincoln Financial Media deal, denied the company permission to sell WTVR to Sinclair. As a result, Raycom sought and was eventually granted a temporary waiver to keep both WTVR and WWBT until it could find a buyer for WTVR, which was eventually swapped to Local TV
for a station in Birmingham, Alabama
.
MGM and Weigel Broadcasting
launched This TV, a fledgling digital network broadcasting old movies, in November 2008. WRLH-DT2, a digital subchannel
that carries MyNetworkTV, became one of This TV's launch-day affiliates. Sinclair and Fox recently finalized a six-year affiliation contract extension for the 19 Fox affiliates either owned or controlled by Sinclair, including WRLH. Channel 35's affiliation contract now expires in March 2012. It requested and received permission from the FCC to switch-off analog broadcasting on the original transition date of February 17, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. It was the only station in the Richmond market that ended analog broadcasting before the new date of June 12. WRLH did provide "nightlight
" analog service for thirty days after. A fake WRLH newscast sporting the "Fox 35" logo is seen at the beginning of the 2001 film Hannibal
.
On September 19, 1994, WWBT (then owned by the Jefferson-Pilot Corporation) entered into a news share agreement with WRLH. This resulted in a nightly prime time newscast being produced on WRLH known as Fox News at 10. On January 8, 2001, the weeknight broadcast was expanded to an hour. This made WRLH the only station in the area to have a late-night hour-long news show. Friday nights at 10:45, there is a fifteen minute sports highlight show that airs known as Fox First Sports. WWBT became the first in the market to air local newscasts in high definition
on July 27, 2008. However, the WRLH broadcasts were not included in the upgrade because this channel lacks the necessary equipment to transmit local or syndicated programming in HD.
As a result, it still presents the WWBT news in pillarboxed 4:3 standard definition
. The nightly prime time newscast did not face competition until March 5, 2007 when CW affiliate WUPV launched a 35-minute weeknight newscast at 10 produced by WTVR. Thirty minute weekend shows on that station began October 20, 2007 and ended a year later on October 19. The final weeknight newscast was November 7. Three days later, WUPV announced that the agreement with WTVR had been canceled due to high financial costs to produce the broadcasts. On January 5, 2009, WWBT began airing a high definition weeknight newscast for WUPV which airs against the national newscasts on the big three networks
.
Anchors
Reporters
Photojournalists
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 Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
. 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 26 from a transmitter at the studios of PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
affiliates WCVE-TV/WCVW
WCVE-TV
WCVE-TV is a Public Broadcasting Service member public television station licensed to Richmond, Virginia. It broadcasts on channel 23 and is owned by Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation. The station is a member of PBS, of which WCVE-TV became a charter member. The station signed on for...
in Bon Air
Bon Air, Virginia
Bon Air is a census-designated place in Chesterfield County, Virginia, United States. The population was 16,366 at the 2010 census. The community is considered a suburb of the independent city of Richmond in the Richmond-Petersburg region, and shares a post office with Richmond...
. The station can also be seen on 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...
and Verizon FiOS
Verizon FiOS
Verizon FiOS is a bundled Internet access, telephone, and television service which operates over a fiber-optic communications network. It is offered in some areas of the United States by Verizon Communications. Verizon was one of the first major U.S...
channel 11. There is a high definition feed offered on Comcast digital channel 511 and Verizon FiOS digital channel 805. Owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group
The Sinclair Broadcast Group is an American telecommunications company that operates the largest number of local television stations in the United States. Headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, it owns a total of 57 stations across the country in 35 primarily small and medium markets, many of...
, it has studios on Westmoreland Street in the North Side
North Side (Richmond Virginia)
The North Side is an area composed of northern Richmond, Virginia and some parts of Henrico County, Virginia.The area is home to many diverse neighborhoods, especially early streetcar suburbs, including Barton Heights, Bellevue, Ginter Park, Washington Park, Hermitage Road, Highland Park, Sherwood...
area of Richmond. 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 WRLH includes: Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...
, Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
, Maury
Maury (TV series)
Maury is a syndicated American tabloid talk show hosted by Maury Povich.When the series first aired in 1991, the show was called The Maury Povich Show and was produced by MoPo Productions in association with Paramount Domestic Television...
, Judge Judy
Judge Judy
Judge Judy is an American court show featuring former family court judge Judith Sheindlin arbitrating over small claims cases in small claims court...
, and How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...
.
Digital programming
On WRLH-DT2WRLH-DT2
WRLH-DT2 is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for Richmond, Virginia. The station is a second digital subchannel of Fox affiliate WRLH-TV owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group. Over-the-air, it broadcasts a standard definition digital signal on UHF channel 26.2 from a transmitter at the...
, Verizon FiOS channel 10, and Comcast digital channel 209 is the area's MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
& This TV
This TV
This TV is a United States general entertainment television network, with a large emphasis in its programming on movies....
affiliate. On WRLH-DT3 and Comcast digital channel 205 is TheCoolTV
TheCoolTV
THECOOLTV is a United States over-the-air digital subchannel launched in March 2009. The network's current program schedule consists of an all-music video lineup that can be customized to meet an affiliate's preference, along with the three hours per week of E/I programming as required by the...
.
| Channels | Video | Aspect Aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,... |
Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 35.1 | 720p 720p 720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan... |
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 ... |
main WRLH programming / Fox |
| 35.2 | 480i 480i 480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC... |
4:3 | "My TV Richmond" & "This TV Richmond" |
| 35.3 | TheCoolTV |
History
WRLH began its operation on February 20, 1982 as Richmond's first general entertainment Independent station. The calls were previously used on a predecessor to WNNEWNNE
WNNE is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Connecticut River Valley area of eastern Vermont and western New Hampshire that is licensed to Hartford, Vermont. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 25 from a transmitter on Mount Ascutney in Windsor County, Vermont...
in Hartford, Vermont
Hartford, Vermont
Hartford is a town in Windsor County in the U.S. state of Vermont. It is located on the New Hampshire border, at the intersection of Interstates 89 and 91. It is the site of the confluence of the White River and the Connecticut River; the Ottauquechee River also flows through the town...
. It aired an analog signal on UHF channel 35 from a transmitter southwest of the U.S. 60
U.S. Route 60 in Virginia
U.S. Route 60 in Virginia runs west to east through the central part of the state, generally close to and paralleling the Interstate 64 corridor, except for the crossing of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and in the South Hampton Roads area....
/SR 288
Virginia State Route 288
State Route 288 is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is a freeway-standard partial beltway around the southwest side of Richmond...
interchange. It was the second station owned by the TVX Broadcast Group
TVX Broadcast Group
The TVX Broadcast Group was an American media company that owned a group of UHF television stations during the 1980s. Originally known as the Television Corporation, the company was headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, and was founded by a group of Norfolk-area businessmen led by Timothy McDonald...
that had launched WTVZ in 1979 as a successful Independent in the neighboring Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
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...
. The WRLH call letters refer to Richmond and two of the executives in TVX who were primarily responsible for getting this station on-the-air (Gene Loving and Harvey Hudson). Like most Independents, it initially offered a format consisting of cartoons, sitcoms, movies, drama shows, and religious programming in mid-mornings after the cartoons.
In 1983, WRNX signed on channel 63 with a religious format, and WRLH's religious programming moved there. Some of those shows moved back to WRLH when WRNX took on a general entertainment format in Summer 1985 under a new call sign, WVRN, and the two stations now competed under the same format. The competition took a toll financially, and as a result, TVX sold WRLH to Times Mirror Broadcasting in Spring 1986. Times Mirror then turned around and sold WRLH (along with WMAR in Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
) to Gillett Broadcasting that fall.
By then, WRLH was already a charter Fox affiliate with the affiliation agreement having been inherited from TVX ownership. The station is the only Richmond channel that has never changed its network affiliation having been with Fox since the network's inception. WVRN was put up for sale after its parent company, Sudbrink Broadcasting, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late-1986. At that point, Act III Broadcasting
Act III Broadcasting
Act III Broadcasting was a company that owned several television stations that started as independents, and later became Fox affiliates. The stations were located in medium-sized markets, and the company existed from the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s, eventually to be sold to Abry in 1994...
purchased WVRN and both stations continued to suffer financially.
Part of the problem was that Fox only offered eight hours of programming a week at the time, meaning WRLH was still programmed largely as an independent. At the time, Richmond was just barely big enough to support what were essentially two independent stations. Soon after Act III bought WVRN, it offered to buy WRLH's programming on the condition that channel 35 itself be sold to a different group that would run it as a non-commercial or home shopping type station. Gillett declined but offered instead to sell WRLH outright to Act III, which then put WVRN back on the market. There were no takers for channel 63, however, and Act III merged WVRN's programming onto WRLH's schedule and took WVRN off the air. The analog UHF channel 63 license was returned to the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) for deletion.
The Act III group was purchased by Abry Communications in 1993. Sullivan Broadcasters (in which Sinclair had an interest in) took over the station in 1996 and Sinclair bought WRLH outright in 1998. It began carrying a secondary UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
affiliation at the network's inception on January 16, 1995. This moved to WZXK (now WUPV-TV) in 1998. Also that year, WRLH began to carry programming from Kids' WB
Kids' WB
Kids' WB! was Warner Bros. American childrens programing division brand for The WB Television Network. In September 2006, the block moved to The CW Television Network. The CW is the result of The WB's merger with UPN in 2006...
with NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliate WWBT
WWBT
WWBT is the NBC-affiliated television station for Richmond, Virginia. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 12 from a transmitter at its studios on Midlothian Turnpike in the city. Owned by Raycom Media, the station operates CW affiliate WUPV through a shared services...
carrying The WB
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
programming out of rotation in late-night since there was no full-time affiliate with the network in Richmond. On March 14, 2008, the Virginia High School League
Virginia High School League
The Virginia High School League is the arbiter of interscholastic competition among public high schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Unlike similar organizations in many other states, private or religious schools are prohibited from joining. Non-public schools belong to other organizations,...
championships basketball tournament was televised for the first time by WRLH and other Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
television stations.
On June 24, Sinclair announced that it was intending to purchase 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...
affiliate WTVR-TV
WTVR-TV
WTVR-TV, virtual channel 6, is a CBS television affiliate based in Richmond, Virginia owned by Local TV, the broadcasting arm of Oak Hill Capital Partners...
from Raycom Media
Raycom Media
- History :Although Raycom Media dates its birth to 1996, the core of the company was formed in 1992 when Atlanta native Bert Ellis formed Ellis Communications. He eventually controlled 13 television stations and two radio stations....
and sell WRLH to the previously unknown Carma Broadcasting. Raycom had recently bought Lincoln Financial Media
Lincoln Financial Media
Lincoln Financial Media is a subsidiary of Lincoln National Corporation that owns radio stations in the United States.-History:In April 2006, Lincoln Financial acquired Jefferson-Pilot's television and radio operations, which were renamed Lincoln Financial Media. The group owns 14 radio stations in...
's three television stations, including Richmond NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliate WWBT
WWBT
WWBT is the NBC-affiliated television station for Richmond, Virginia. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 12 from a transmitter at its studios on Midlothian Turnpike in the city. Owned by Raycom Media, the station operates CW affiliate WUPV through a shared services...
, and put WTVR on the market because FCC rules do not allow duopolies between two of the four largest stations in a market. Sinclair was to provide "sales and other non-programming related services" to WRLH after the sale was finalized. This could be seen by some as an attempt by Sinclair to sell WRLH to a shell corporation used for the purpose of circumventing FCC ownership rules, much as Sinclair has done for years with Cunningham Broadcasting
Cunningham Broadcasting
Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation is an owner of television stations in the United States. The company currently owns six stations—four affiliated with Fox Broadcasting Company , one affiliated with MyNetworkTV and one affiliated with The CW Television Network.Cunningham has very close ties to...
.
In August 2008, the United States Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
, under provisions of a consent decree with Raycom Media entered into as part of the Lincoln Financial Media deal, denied the company permission to sell WTVR to Sinclair. As a result, Raycom sought and was eventually granted a temporary waiver to keep both WTVR and WWBT until it could find a buyer for WTVR, which was eventually swapped to 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:...
for a station in Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
.
MGM and Weigel Broadcasting
Weigel Broadcasting
Weigel Broadcasting is an American locally based television broadcasting company. The company is based in downtown Chicago, Illinois, alongside its flagship station WCIU-TV , at the apt address of 26 North Halsted Street in the Greektown neighborhood.- History :The company was founded by Chicago...
launched This TV, a fledgling digital network broadcasting old movies, in November 2008. WRLH-DT2, a digital subchannel
Digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...
that carries MyNetworkTV, became one of This TV's launch-day affiliates. Sinclair and Fox recently finalized a six-year affiliation contract extension for the 19 Fox affiliates either owned or controlled by Sinclair, including WRLH. Channel 35's affiliation contract now expires in March 2012. It requested and received permission from the FCC to switch-off analog broadcasting on the original transition date of February 17, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. It was the only station in the Richmond market that ended analog broadcasting before the new date of June 12. WRLH did provide "nightlight
Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act
The Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act, or SAFER Act, is a U.S. law to require the Federal Communications Commission to allow the continuation of full-power analog TV transmissions in 2009 for 30 more days, for the purpose of broadcasting public service announcements regarding the...
" analog service for thirty days after. A fake WRLH newscast sporting the "Fox 35" logo is seen at the beginning of the 2001 film Hannibal
Hannibal (film)
Hannibal is a 2001 psychological thriller film directed by Ridley Scott, adapted from the Thomas Harris novel of the same name. It is a sequel to the 1991 Academy Award-winning film The Silence of the Lambs that returns Anthony Hopkins to his iconic role as serial killer Hannibal Lecter...
.
Newscasts
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...
on July 27, 2008. However, the WRLH broadcasts were not included in the upgrade because this channel lacks the necessary equipment to transmit local or syndicated programming in HD.
As a result, it still presents the WWBT news in pillarboxed 4:3 standard definition
Standard-definition television
Sorete-definition television is a television system that uses a resolution that is not considered to be either enhanced-definition television or high-definition television . The term is usually used in reference to digital television, in particular when broadcasting at the same resolution as...
. The nightly prime time newscast did not face competition until March 5, 2007 when CW affiliate WUPV launched a 35-minute weeknight newscast at 10 produced by WTVR. Thirty minute weekend shows on that station began October 20, 2007 and ended a year later on October 19. The final weeknight newscast was November 7. Three days later, WUPV announced that the agreement with WTVR had been canceled due to high financial costs to produce the broadcasts. On January 5, 2009, WWBT began airing a high definition weeknight newscast for WUPV which airs against the national newscasts on the big three networks
Big Three Television Networks
The Big Three Television Networks are the three traditional commercial broadcast television networks in the United States: ABC, CBS and NBC...
.
Anchors
- Ryan Nobles - weeknight news also politics and government reporter
- Diane Walker - weeknight news also consumer and investigative reporter
- Yvette Yeon - weekend news and reporter
- Jim Duncan - Chief Meteorologist seen weeknights
- Ros Runner - weekend meteorologist
- Kevin Jeanes - fill-in meteorologist
- Matt Lincoln - Sports DirectorSports DirectorA sports director is an individual at a television or radio station who is in charge of the sports department. In local news, the sports director is typically the station's primary sportscaster, and often anchors the primetime newscasts on weekdays. They are in charge of sports programming and...
seen weeknights and sports reporter - Marc Davis - weekend sports anchor and reporter
Reporters
- Heather Sullivan - business and economics also "Restaurant Report" segment producer
- Phil Riggan - Executive Producer of New Media
- Andy Jenks - Henrico CountyHenrico County, VirginiaHenrico is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. As of 2010, Henrico was home to 306,935 people. It is located in the Richmond-Petersburg region and is a portion of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area...
and government - Andrea McDaniel - fill-in news anchor
- Tara Morgan - fill-in news anchor, also Chesterfield CountyChesterfield County, VirginiaChesterfield County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. In 2010, its population was estimated to be 316,236. Chesterfield County is now the fourth-largest municipality in Virginia . Its county seat is Chesterfield...
reporter - Colleen Reilly - fill-in news anchor
- Rachel DePompa - Richmond
- Deon Guillory - producer
- Sunni Blevins
- Nicole Bell - Tri-Cities
- Curt Autry
- Gray Hall
Photojournalists
- Matt Boyce - special projects producer
- Jennifer Warnick - special projects
- David Brakke - Assignment Editor
- Dwight Nixon - sports and news
- Willie Redd - Supervisor
- Laura Geller - editor
- Nathan McCann
- Richard Caputo
- Matt Butner
- Matt Neese
- Jamie Rife