From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia WBIR-TV
WBIR-TV
WBIR-TV
History
WBIR-TV signed on the air on August 12, 1956 as an affil-
iate of the CBS television network, taking that affiliation
away from WTVK (channel 26, now WVLT-TV on chan-
nel 8). During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly
affiliated with the NTA Film Network.[1] WBIR-TV was
owned and named after Jesse W. "Jay" Birdwell, who al-
so owned WBIR radio (1240 AM, now WIFA; and 103.5 FM,
Knoxville, Tennessee now WIMZ). Although WBIR radio’s sign off was "We are
City of license Knoxville the Best In Radio," which spelled out WBIR, the TV sta-
tion’s call letters actually came from the first three let-
Branding Channel 10 (general)
ters of Jay Birdwell’s last name.
10 News (newscasts)
Birdwell was also one of the partners who had put
Slogan "Straight from the Heart" WJHL-TV, channel 11, the CBS affiliate in Johnson City,
Tennessee (Tri-Cities), on the air in 1953. Shortly after
Channels Digital: 10 (VHF)
signing Channel 10 on the air in Knoxville, Birdwell gave
Subchannels 10.1 NBC up his interest in WJHL-TV because channel 10’s city-
10.2 NBC Plus grade analog signal covered the area between Morris-
Affiliations National Broadcasting Company town and Greeneville, which is part of the Tri-Cities mar-
ket. At the time, the Federal Communications Commis-
Owner Gannett Company, Inc.
sion (FCC) normally did allow common ownership of two
(Gannett Pacific Corporation)
stations with overlapping signals, and would not even
First air date August 12, 1956 consider granting a waiver for a city-grade overlap. Bird-
Call letters’ We’re Best In Radio well, who now had lesser partners in the ownership of
meaning WBIR-TV, opted to keep WBIR-TV because he still owned
WBIR-AM-FM.
Former Analog:
However, in 1957, Birdwell abruptly sold his majority
channel 10 (VHF, 1956-2009)
number(s) Digital: interest in the WBIR stations to a group of investors: gen-
31 (UHF) eral manager John P. Hart, Gilmore Nunn, Mr. and Mrs.
Robert Ashe, and Taft Broadcasting of Cincinnati. On Oc-
Former CBS (1956-1988)
affiliations
tober 29, 1959, Nunn, the Ashes, and Hart sold their 70
per cent of the station outright to Taft, which owned the
Transmitter 40.9 kW station for just over a year. On November 16, 1960, Taft
power
sold WBIR-AM-FM-TV to the News-Piedmont Company
Height 529.6 m of Greenville, South Carolina; owner of WFBC-AM-FM-TV
in its hometown. In 1967, News-Piedmont merged with
Facility ID 46984
Southern Broadcasting to form the Southeastern Broad-
Transmitter 36°0′19″N 83°56′23″W / 36.00528°N casting Corporation. Soon afterward, Southeastern sold
coordinates 83.93972°W / 36.00528; -83.93972 (digital) all of its radio stations, purchased four more television
Website www.wbir.com/ stations and changed its name to Multimedia, Inc. WBIR-
TV and WFBC-TV were its flagship stations.[2]
WBIR-TV channel 10, is the NBC affiliate television sta-
WBIR-TV, In 1988, WBIR became an NBC affiliate, swapping af-
tion in Knoxville, Tennessee. The station is licensed to filiations with WTVK just before it moved to channel 8 as
the Gannett Pacific Corporation, a subsidiary of Gannett. WKXT-TV. Ironically, this marked CBS’ return to its orig-
Its transmitter is located in the broadcasting antenna inal affiliate in Knoxville. At the time, NBC was the top-
farm on Sharp’s Ridge in Knoxville. rated network while CBS was in third place near the mid-
point of the Laurence Tisch period of that network’s his-
tory. The biggest reason was that most of Multimedia’s
stations were NBC affiliates. Companies that own several
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia WBIR-TV
Channel Name Video Aspect Programming
10.1 WBIR-HD 1080i 16:9 Main WBIR-TV/NBC programming
10.2 WBIR-WX 480i 4:3 10 Weather Plus
stations affiliated with the same network generally have viewers like them."[3] The last episode was taped at the
more clout with that network. NBC was more than will- Museum of Appalachia in Norris on August 8, 2009 before
ing to make the switch, since WTVK had been one of its an audience estimated at 10,000 people, one of the largest
weakest affiliates while WBIR was a solid runner-up to crowds in the museum’s history.[4] [5]
WATE-TV. With the switch, Channel 10 became the last During its 25-year history, The Heartland Series re-
major commercial station in Knoxville to change affili- ceived several awards, including four Emmy Awards[6]
ations. The switch also made channel 10 the third sta- United States embassies around the world keep tapes of
tion in Knoxville to carry NBC; the network had previ- The Heartland Series broadcasts as an information re-
ously aired on WATE from 1953 to 1979 before moving to source on life in Appalachia.[7]
WTVK in 1979. Multimedia merged with Gannett in 1995.
In 2008, WBIR-TV debuted new graphics and news mu- Our Stories
sic. On June 1st, 2011, WBIR-TV & WTNZ-TV debuted a In 2006, WBIR celebrated its 50th anniversary with a spe-
new High-Definition news set & weather studio and a full cial report on some of the past stories captured on WBIR
makeover of branding. However, WBIR-TV retained their for the past 50 years. These reports were called "Our Sto-
logo by adding the HD symbol to the right of the logo. ries" and included retrospectives on events such as U.S.
Presidents visiting Knoxville and East Tennessee, major
Digital television crimes and even the 25th Anniversary of the 1982
World’s Fair.
The station’s digital channel is multiplexed:
Digital channels
The national NBC Weather Plus network is defunct as of News operation
December 1, 2008, and has since been revamped as an af- Prior to September 15, 2008, this show was aired at 5 p.m.
filiate of NBC Plus, utilizing the same graphics as Weather on weekdays under the title Live at Five. The program was
Plus (and is now a computer-updated loop of regional moved to 4 p.m. and was temporarily renamed Live at Five
satellite/radar images, current temperatures, and daily at Four with WBIR asking for viewers’ opinions on a new
forecasts) and without the national on-camera meteorol- name. The quirky temporary name, however, was em-
ogist segments (though the local OCM segments remain). braced by viewers and Live at Five at Four has remained
It also airs FCC-mandated "E/I" programming on week- the brand for the 4 p.m. program. In 2010, Live at Five at
end mornings. Four debuted new graphics to better reflect programming
shown on the newscast.
Analog-to-digital conversion Until late March 2011, WBIR-TV produced a 10 p.m.
After the analog television shutdown and digital conver- newscast for CW affiliate WBXX-TV. On March 28, WBIR-
sion on June 12, 2009, WBIR-TV moved its digital broad- TV began producing a nightly 10 p.m. newscast for Fox
casts back to its former analog channel number, 10. affiliate WTNZ (channel 43). WBIR will also begin produc-
ing a weekday morning news show at 7 a.m. for that sta-
Programming tion beginning in June. Both stations’ newscasts began
airing in high definition on June 1, 2011, making WBIR
and WTNZ the second and third stations in Knoxville to
The Heartland Series make the upgrade.[8]
Main article: The Heartland Series
The Heartland Series, hosted by Bill Landry, was a popular News/station presentation
documentary series produced by WBIR from 1984 until
2009. It was conceived in 1984 to commemorate the 50th Newscast titles
anniversary of the founding of the Great Smoky Moun- • The Esso Reporter (1956–1960)
tains National Park. It continued to celebrate the people • The Big News (1960–1970)
and the land of the entire Appalachian region, presenting • 24 Hours (1970–1974)
re-enactments of historic events and feature stories • NewsCenter 10 (1974–1977)
about regional culture.[3] In February 2009, WBIR an- • Action 10 News (1977–2004)
nounced that it would suspend production of the series • 10 News (2004–2011)[9]
in September 2009, but would continue to show the hun- • 10 News HD (2011-present) [10 News is still used in
dreds of episodes already produced "for as long as the news opening and primary branding]
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia WBIR-TV
Station slogans • Kris Budden – sports anchor; weekends at 6 and 11
• Straight from the Heart (of East Tennessee) p.m., also weekday fill-in
(1983–present) Reporters
• Come Home To The Best, Only on Channel 10 (1988–1990; • Allison Bybee – general assignment reporter
localized version of NBC ad campaign) • Steve Butera – general assignment reporter
• Erin Donovan – general assignment reporter
This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; • Hillary Lake – general assignment reporter
you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions. • Jim Matheny – general assignment reporter
• Ed Rupp – weekday morning traffic reporter
Newscast themes • Ken Schwall – Positively Schwall feature reporter
• The Action News Theme by Unknown Composer • Stoney Sharp – general assignment reporter
(1970–1974) • Emily Stroud – general assignment reporter
• NBC TV-Radio Newspulse by Fred Weinberg • Anthony Welsch – general assignment reporter
Productions, Inc. (1974–1982) • Bill Williams – Monday’s Child and Mission of Hope
• WBIR 1982 News Theme by Unknown Composer feature reporter
(1982–1983)
Notable former on-air staff
• Theme From Firepower by Gato Barbieri (1983–1985)
• Power News V.1 and V.2 by 615 Music (1985–1997) • Jim Acosta – reporter
• Newsmark by 615 Music (1997–2000) • Lindsey Nelson – reporter (deceased)
• Heartland by 615 Music (2000–2008)
• Gannett News Music Package by Rampage Music References
(2008–present)
[1] "Require Prime Evening Time for NTA Films",
News team Boxoffice: 13, November 10, 1956, http://issuu.com/
boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_111056-1
Current on-air staff[10] [2] Television Factbook #49, WBIR-TV, WFBC-TV
Current anchors Histories, 1980 Edition)
• Brittany Bailey – weekend mornings; also weeknight [3] ^ Terry Morrow, WBIR stops production of ’The
reporter Heartland Series’, Tele-Buddy’s Tinseltown Tales,
• John Becker – weeknights at 5 p.m., 6 p.m., and 11 knoxnews.com, February 12, 2009
p.m.; also host of Inside Tennessee [4] Fred Brown, ’Heartland Series’ says goodbye; Many
• Russell Biven – weekday mornings and host of Live at turn out to celebrate longtime WBIR series,
Five at Four Knoxville News Sentinel, August 9, 2009
• Sean Dreher – weekends at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.; also [5] Terry Morrow, 10,000 fans turn out for last
weeknight reporter ’Heartland Series’ taping, Knoxnews.com, August
• Abby Ham – weekday mornings 12, 2009
• Beth Haynes – weekday afternoons Live at Five at Four [6] Knoxville News / Knoxville Weather,
• Robin Wilhoit – weeknights at 5 p.m., 6 p.m., and 11 KnoxvilleTennessee.com website, accessed October
p.m. 6, 2009
• Moira Kaye - weekday mornings and Noon [7] WBIR-TV, Gannett website, accessed October 6,
Weather team 2009
• Todd Howell (NWA member) – chief meteorologist; [8] 10News now broadcasting in high definition on
weekday afternoons Live at Five at Four, and WBIR & WTNZ [1],"10News now broadcasting in
weeknights at 6 and 11 p.m. high definition on WBIR & WTNZ"
• Cheryl Scott – meteorologist; weekend mornings, [9] WBIR NBC 2010 Open
and weekends at 6 and 11 p.m. [10] Meet the Team, WBIR.com. Retireved May 16, 2011.
• Mike Witcher (AMS Certified Broadcast
Meteorologist and NWA Seals of Approval) – External links
meteorologist; weekday mornings (4:30-7:00 on
• WBIR-TV
WBIR and 7:00-9:00 on WTNZ) and noon.
• Query the FCC’s TV station database for WBIR
Sports team
• BIAfn’s Media Web Database -- Information on WBIR-
• Steve Phillips – sports director; weeknights at 6 and
TV
11 p.m.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WBIR-TV"
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia WBIR-TV
Categories: NBC network affiliates, Gannett TV, Channel 10 digital TV stations in the United States, Television channels
and stations established in 1956, Television stations in Knoxville, Tennessee
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