WAVY-TV

WAVY-TV, virtual channel 10 (UHF digital channel 19), is an NBC-affiliated television station licensed to Portsmouth, Virginia, United States, serving the Hampton Roads area of southeastern Virginia (comprising the cities of Portsmouth, Norfolk, Newport News, Virginia Beach, Hampton and environs), and the Outer Banks region of northeastern North Carolina. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, as part of a duopoly with Virginia Beach-licensed Fox affiliate WVBT (channel 43). The two stations share studios on Wavy Street in downtown Portsmouth and transmitter facilities on Kings Highway (SR 125) in the Driver neighborhood of Suffolk, Virginia.

This article is about a television station serving the Hampton Roads area. For the radio station in Atlantic City, New Jersey, see WAYV (FM).
WAVY-TV
Portsmouth/Norfolk/Newport News/
Virginia Beach, Virginia
United States
CityPortsmouth, Virginia
ChannelsDigital: 19 (UHF)
Virtual: 10 (PSIP)
BrandingWAVY TV 10 (general)
WAVY News 10 (newscasts)
Slogan10 On Your Side
Programming
Affiliations10.1: NBC (1959–present)
10.2: Bounce TV
10.3: getTV
10.4: CBN News
Ownership
OwnerNexstar Media Group
(Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.)
Sister stationsWVBT
History
First air dateSeptember 1, 1957 (1957-09-01)
Former channel number(s)Analog:
10 (VHF, 1957–2009)
Digital:
31 (UHF, until 2020)
Former affiliationsABC (1957–1959)
Call sign meaningWAVY and logo are references to Atlantic Ocean or Chesapeake Bay; also rhymes with "navy", as Navy sailors have a large presence in the Hampton Roads area.[1]
Technical information
Licensing authorityFCC
Facility ID71127
ClassDT
ERP524 kW (STA)
1,000 kW (CP)
HAAT220.3 m (723 ft) (STA)
280.4 m (920 ft) (CP)
Transmitter coordinates36°49′15″N 76°30′40″W
Translator(s)See below
Links
Public license informationProfile
LMS
Websitewww.wavy.com

History

WAVY-TV, the Hampton Roads area's third-oldest television station, began operations on September 1, 1957. It was originally owned by Tidewater Teleradio along with WAVY radio (1350 AM, now WGPL). It originally signed on as an ABC affiliate but traded network affiliations with NBC affiliate WVEC-TV (channel 13) in 1959 due to its radio sister's long affiliation with NBC radio. In 1968, it became the second station owned by what was then known as LIN Broadcasting.

In April 1989, WAVY-TV moved into its current studio, located on Wavy Street in downtown Portsmouth. The station previously broadcast from a former farmers market on Middle Street, also in downtown Portsmouth. The Wavy Street studio is located across the street from the Atlantic Union Bank Pavilion and near or across the street from the Elizabeth River.

Shortly after WVBT became the area's WB affiliate in 1995, WAVY began operating that station though a local marketing agreement (LMA). LIN TV came to an affiliation agreement with Fox in November 1995, and WVBT took the affiliation from original Fox affiliate WTVZ (channel 33) in 1998. LIN TV purchased that station out-right in February 2002. WAVY was the first in the market to broadcast a digital signal in 2001.

On March 21, 2014, Richmond-based Media General announced that it would buy LIN Media in a $1.6 billion deal, described as a "merger."[2] The merger was completed on December 19, at which point WAVY and WVBT came under common ownership with ABC affiliate WRIC-TV in Petersburg (serving the Richmond market).[3]

On September 8, 2015, Media General announced that it would acquire the Des Moines, Iowa-based Meredith Corporation for $2.4 billion with the intention to name the combined group Meredith Media General if the sale were finalized.[4][5][6][7][8] However, on September 28, Irving, Texas-based Nexstar Broadcasting Group made an unsolicited cash-and-stock merger offer for Media General, originally valued at $14.50 per share.[9] On November 16, following opposition to the merger with Meredith by minority shareholders Oppenheimer Holdings and Starboard Capital (primarily because Meredith's magazine properties were included in the deal, which would have re-entered Media General into publishing after it sold its newspapers to BH Media in 2012 to reduce debt) and the rejection of Nexstar's initial offer by company management, Media General agreed to enter into negotiations with Nexstar on a suitable counter deal, while the Meredith merger proposal remained active; the two eventually concluded negotiations on January 6, 2016, reaching a merger agreement for valued at $17.14 per share (an evaluation of $4.6 billion, plus the assumption of $2.3 billion debt).[10]

On January 27, Meredith formally broke off the proposed merger with Media General and accepted the termination fee of $60 million previously negotiated under the original merger proposal; Media General subsequently signed an agreement to be acquired by Nexstar, in exchange for giving Meredith right of first refusal to acquire any broadcast or digital properties that may be divested (a clause that Meredith did not exercise).[11][12][13][14] The transaction was approved by the FCC on January 11, 2017; the sale was completed on January 17, at which point the existing Nexstar stations and the former Media General outlets that neither group had to sell in order to rectify ownership conflicts in certain markets became part of the renamed Nexstar Media Group; this brought WAVY-TV and WVBT under common ownership with the Roanoke duopoly of Fox affiliate WFXR and CW affiliate WWCW (which necessitated Media General to sell its NBC-affiliated station in that market, WSLS-TV, to Graham Media Group in order to alleviate said ownership conflict with the two existing Nexstar-owned stations).[15][16][17]

On December 3, 2018, Nexstar announced it would acquire the assets of Chicago-based Tribune Media—which has operated CBS affiliate WTKR (channel 3) and CW affiliate WGNT (channel 27) through a shared services agreement with partner company Dreamcatcher Broadcasting since December 2013—for $6.4 billion in cash and debt. Nexstar was precluded from acquiring WTKR/WGNT directly or indirectly while owning WAVY/WVBT, as FCC regulations prohibit common ownership of more than two stations in the same media market, or two or more of the four highest-rated stations in the market. (WAVY and WTKR consistently rank among the top four in terms of total-day viewership in the Norfolk–Virginia Beach–Hampton Roads market, while WVBT and WGNT have occasionally rotated between fourth and fifth place, a situation that allowed for Media General and, later, Nexstar to acquire WVBT directly in their respective group acquisitions involving the WAVY/WVBT duopoly. Furthermore, any attempt by Nexstar to assume the operations of WTKR/WGNT through local marketing or shared services agreements would have been subject to regulatory hurdles that could have delayed completion of the FCC and Justice Department's review and approval process for the acquisition.) As such, on January 31, 2019, Nexstar announced it would retain the WAVY/WVBT duopoly and sell WTKR and WGNT to a different buyer; it was announced on March 20, 2019 that the WTKR/WGNT duopoly, along with sister station WTVR-TV in Richmond, would be sold to the E. W. Scripps Company.[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]

Translators

In addition to its main signal, WAVY-TV is rebroadcast on five translators.[31][32][33][34] Both W14DY-D and W18EG-D are located in the Eastern Shore of Virginia and are municipally-owned by Accomack County rather than Nexstar. Those in the Greater Hampton Roads area are owned and operated by Nexstar.

Call letters Channel City of license Transmitter location
WKTD-CD17PortsmouthWAVY - Driver Tower
WITD-CD23Chesapeake
W14DY-D14Onancock
W18EG-D18Onancock

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[35]
10.11080i16:9WAVYMain WAVY-TV programming / NBC
10.2480i4:3BounceBounce TV
10.316:9GET-TVgetTV
10.4CBNCBN News Channel

WAVY-TV added Bounce TV upon its launch on September 26, 2011.[36]

On October 1, 2018, WAVY launched a digital subchannel on virtual channel 10.4 to serve as a charter affiliate of the CBN News Channel, a Christian-oriented news channel owned by the Christian Broadcasting Network. (Incidentally, CBN – which is based in Virginia Beach – previously owned WGNT [channel 27, now a CW affiliate] from 1961 to 1989.)[37]

WAVY Weather Station

The WAVY Weather Station is a local cable channel, formerly seen as a digital subchannel of WAVY-TV and later WVBT-TV 43.2. The WAVY Weather Station broadcasts taped weather segments by WAVY-TV's meteorologists. It also shows live Super Doppler 10 imagery and Super Doppler 10 WeatherNet data.

The WAVY Weather Station started in 1995 as Local Weather Station, or LWS. It was one of the first 24-hour cable weather channels for LIN TV, the name was also used on other LIN-owned stations such as WISH-TV and WANE-TV. The name was changed to WAVY Weather Station in 2003.

The WAVY Weather Station was available over-the-air as a digital subchannel, but was pulled at the start of 2007 for unknown reasons.

The WAVY Weather Station can be seen on Cox Cable digital channel 227 in the Greater Hampton Roads area.[38] The WAVY Weather Station can also be seen on other cable systems and channels across Hampton Roads, Northeastern North Carolina, Northern Outer Banks of North Carolina and the Eastern Shore of Virginia.[38]

Analog-to-digital conversion

WAVY-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 10, at 9 a.m. on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[39] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 31, using PSIP to display WAVY-TV's virtual channel as 10 on digital television receivers.[40]

On August 7, 2009, WAVY began offering Mobile TV using BlackBerry.[41]

News operation

WAVY airs thirty hours of local news a week. It operates its own weather radar, called "Super Doppler 10", at its studios. It was the first in the area to air a local broadcast at 5:30 in the morning (beginning in 1992) and added weeknight 5:00 (in 1989) and 5:30 (in 1994) newscasts.[42] It is known for being the first Hampton Roads station to use a helicopter to cover local news after introducing "Chopper 10" in 1982. The current Bell 206 Longranger helicopter has been used since 2000.[43] On November 20, 2015; WAVY became the first station in the area to use drone aircraft in their newscasts, known as "Drone 10".[44]

When WVBT made the switch to Fox in 1998, WAVY started producing a nightly 10 o'clock newscast on that station. It was not the market's first prime time show as CBS affiliate WTKR produced a short-lived newscast on WGNT from 1995 until 1997.[45] ABC affiliate WVEC-TV also produced a prime time show on WPEN-LP from 1995 until it started LNC 4 (later LNC 5; now defunct) in 1997.[46] WVEC continued to produce a 10 o'clock news on that station until January 30, 2009. The 45-minute broadcast on WVBT is followed by the Fox 43 Sports Wrap with sports news and highlights.

On July 21, 2008 at noon, WAVY and WVBT became the first stations in the market and their station group company to produce local newscasts in high definition. This is in contrast to rival WVEC's news being produced in 16:9 digital widescreen which is not true high definition but matches the ratio of HD television screens (WVEC would ultimately upgrade their own newscasts to true high definition in August 2013).[47] WVBT added an hour-long extension of WAVY's weekday morning news on February 2, 2009. The show airs in an entertainment-and-lifestyle program format.

Until January 2007, WVBT operated a 24-hour local weather channel on its second digital subchannel 43-2. Known on-air as the "WAVY Weather Station", it was made cable-only in 2007 for unknown reasons. It was seen on Mediacom channel 9, Charter channel 22, and Cox digital channel 227 before going dark in 2011.[48] There were live current conditions, updated forecasts, and a sweep of "Super Doppler 10".

On September 12, 2011, The Hampton Roads Show, an hour-long local lifestyle and entertainment program, moved from WVBT at 8 a.m. to WAVY at 11 a.m. With the move, weekend sports anchor Chris Reckling became co-host.[49]

Notable current on-air staff

Notable former on-air staff

Out-of-market cable carriage

In the 1970s and 1980s, WAVY was once received as far west as Lawrenceville, Brunswick County and Halifax and Enfield in North Carolina. To the north in Crisfield, Maryland, it was also once carried there as well.[50]

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References
  1. http://articles.dailypress.com/1999-05-15/features/9905150026_1_wtkr-stations-letters
  2. Sruthi Ramakrishnan (March 21, 2014). "Media General to buy LIN Media for $1.6 billion". Reuters. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
  3. "Media General Completes Merger With LIN Media". Media General (Press release). December 19, 2014. Archived from the original on December 19, 2014.
  4. "Media General Acquiring Meredith For 2.4 Billion". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. September 8, 2015.
  5. Cynthia Littleton (September 8, 2015). "TV Station Mega Merger: Media General Sets $2.4 Billion Acquisition of Meredith Corp". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
  6. "Media General, Meredith To Combine To Create Meredith Media General: A New Powerful Multiplatform And Diversified Media Company" (Press release). Meredith Corporation. PR Newswire. September 8, 2015.
  7. "Meredith will be acquired by Media General in a television merger". Kansas City Star. The McClatchy Company. September 8, 2015. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
  8. "KCTV, KSMO will get new owner". Kansas City Business Journal. American City Business Journals. September 9, 2015.
  9. "Meredith, Media General stand by deal despite report". The Des Moines Register. Gannett Company. October 8, 2015. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
  10. "Media General Rejects Nexstar's $1.9B Offer, But Agrees To Talk". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. November 16, 2015.
  11. "Nexstar-Media General: It's A Done Deal". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. January 27, 2016. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  12. Leslie Picker (January 27, 2016). "Nexstar Clinches Deal to Acquire Media General". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  13. "NEXSTAR BROADCASTING GROUP ENTERS INTO DEFINITIVE AGREEMENT TO ACQUIRE MEDIA GENERAL FOR $4.6 BILLION IN ACCRETIVE CASH AND STOCK TRANSACTION". Media General (Press release). January 27, 2016. Archived from the original on January 30, 2016.
  14. "Prather Buys 5 TVs From Nexstar-Media Gen". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. June 13, 2016. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  15. "Nexstar Broadcasting Group Completes Acquisition of Media General Creating Nexstar Media Group, The Nation's Second Largest Television Broadcaster". Nexstar Media Groupdate=January 17, 2017 (Press release). Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  16. Harry A. Jessell (January 11, 2017). "FCC OKs $4.6B Nexstar-Media General Merger". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
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  18. Allabaugh, Denise. "Nexstar plans to sell WNEP-TV". www.citizensvoice.com. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  19. "Acquisition of Tribune Media Company" (PDF). Nexstar Media Group. December 3, 2018.
  20. Mark K. Miller (December 3, 2018). "Nexstar Buying Tribune Media For $6.4 Billion". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media.
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  22. Gerry Smith; Nabila Ahmed; Eric Newcomer (December 3, 2018). "Nexstar to buy WGN owner Tribune Media for $4.1 billion". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Publishing. Bloomberg News.
  23. Arjun Panchadar; Sonam Rai (December 3, 2018). "Nexstar to buy Tribune Media for $4.1 billion". Reuters.
  24. Jon Lafayette (December 3, 2018). "Nexstar Announces Deal to Buy Tribune for $6.4B". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media.
  25. Adam Jacobson (December 3, 2018). "It's Official: Nexstar Takes Tribune In Billion-Dollar Stock Deal". Radio-Television Business Report. Streamline-RBR, Inc.
  26. Harry A. Jessell; Mark K. Miller (December 3, 2018). "Nexstar To Spin Off $1B In Stations". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media.
  27. "Nexstar Media Group Enters into Definitive Agreement to Acquire Tribune Media Company for $6.4 Billion in Accretive Transaction Creating the Nation's Largest Local Television Broadcaster and Local Media Company". Nexstar Media Group. December 3, 2018. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
  28. "Nexstar Media Group Enters Into Definitive Agreement To Acquire Tribune Media Company". Tribune Media. December 3, 2018. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
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  30. Nabila Ahmed; Anousha Sakoui (March 20, 2019). "Nexstar to Sell Stations to Tegna, Scripps for $1.32 Billion". Bloomberg News. Bloomberg, L.P.
  31. http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WKTD-CD#station
  32. http://hamptonroads.vartv.com/
  33. http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=W14DY-D#station
  34. http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=W18EG-D#station
  35. RabbitEars TV Query for WAVY
  36. http://www.vartv.com/pdf/WAVY_2011_09_23.pdf
  37. "The Christian Broadcasting Network Launches CBN News Channel: The First 24-Hour News Channel from a Christian Perspective". CBN News (Press release). Christian Broadcasting Network. October 1, 2018. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
  38. https://web.archive.org/web/20081026033347/http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=682213
  39. List of Digital Full-Power Stations
  40. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-10-04. Retrieved 2009-02-10.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  41. Eggerton, John (2009-08-07). "LIN TV Develops Blackberry App For Mobile TV Service". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
  42. WAVY TV 10 - News, Weather, Traffic, Sports for Hampton Roads, Virginia - North Eastern North Carolina - Our Apologies
  43. WAVY TV 10 - News, Weather, Traffic, Sports for Hampton Roads, Virginia - North Eastern North Carolina - Chopper 10
  44. http://wavy.com/2015/11/20/wavy-news-10-introduces-drone-10/
  45. Same Stuff On Wtkr News And Wgnt
  46. Wvec, Wpen Team Up On Prime-Time Programming
  47. "13News takes a wider look at life | TOP STORIES". WVEC.com - News for Hampton Roads, Virginia. Archived from the original on 2007-06-10. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
  49. http://hamptonroads.com/2011/09/hampton-roads-show-moves-wavytv-10
  50. http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/coals7/forms/search/cableSearchNf.cfm
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