WBTV premieres "PM Magazine" with hosts Bob Lacey and Moira Quinn. WBTV, WBT, and WLNK continue to stay based in the same building at One Julian Price Place, as they have been since 1955. The FCC denies a request by WBTV to increase the antenna height and move its transmitter to a site near Denver, NC. Charles Crutchfield is credited with giving the idea to Billy Graham to "televise" his crusades to reach a wider audience. WBTV begins a reading program to aid Carolinians who cannot read or write. Hurricane Hugo strikes the Carolina coastline and moves inland while retaining its Hurricane force winds to batter Charlotte and the Western Piedmont of NC and the Upstate section of SC. The event is held at the Carowinds theme park and is the largest celebration of high school seniors in the United States. It is the first production model of this newer recorder. Filmed programs ran from 6:30 pm to sign-off. WBTV sign-on, July 15, 1949. Also this month, WBTV and area TV set dealers hold a contest for the 100,000th television set purchased in the coverage area. But he's not calling it 'retirement.'. It will help thousands of Carolinians find jobs with special programming and "job fairs" located in the viewing region's shopping malls. WBTV's older brother, WBT Radio celebrates its 75th Anniversary of receiving those call letters. WBTV upgraded to ATSC 3.0 on July 7, 2021. He last worked at WBTV News in 1982, but his legacy lives on. WBTV underwrites the cost of the trip for the Oratorio Singers of Charlotte to sing at the National Christmas Tree Lighting at the White House, at the invitation of President Johnson. WBTV begins a major public service campaign on Diabetes awareness. WBTVforms its"Creative Services Group" to operate as part of the Programming Department in cooperation with the Sales Department. Underwood introduces "Consumer Corner." The show is hosted by John Kilgo and Lisa Cooley and is called "Live at Five". Traffic. (Three cameras were used for the telecast. Watch Live. WBTV in Charlotte said her husband Roger and her family . A news anchor who " punched out " at WIS TV-10 (NBC - Columbia, S.C.) last fall after only one year at the station has been hired as to anchor the news in her home state of Minnesota. Lori Wilson joined the WSB-TV Channel 2 in 2017. In early 2008, Raycom Sports and Lincoln Financial Sports officially merged under the Raycom Sports banner. WBTV is making big changes to its morning and afternoon-evening news anchor teams, giving longtime station personalities Alex Giles and John Carter new roles. WBTV begins the operation and broadcasting of the local "WeatherNet" information. WBTV hosts a "Habitat for Humanity" telethon to raise money and awareness for the group. In 1965, the show was the third most-watched women's program in the United States. Underwood. The deals closed in early 2008. Contests. WBTV News in a partnership with First Union Bank becomes the first television station in the United States to develop computerized election returns projections. WBTV increases power to the maximum allowed for channel 3 on the VHF dial - 100,000 watts. It is the only commercial television station in the market that has never changed its primary affiliation. WBTV is the first television station in Charlotte to broadcast Live from a helicopter in flight. As of 2023, she is around 60 years old. You can watch Fred and Vanessa Ruffes at 5, 6 and 11 p.m. CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - With the uncertainty surrounding us amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), its challenging finding the positives in life. Channel 3 did not face a serious challenge by any other news-producing station in the market until 1981. . Transcontinental television was inaugurated with President Truman's address to the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco. From 2010 onward, the package was branded as the ACC Network. Marshall Scott's piloting skills are given credit for both men to be able to "walk away" from the crash. The program's original host is Lester Strong. WBTV begins sponsorship of "Project Graduation". The station airs at least two games a year, typically when the team plays host to an AFC opponent at Bank of America Stadium; starting in 2014, through the NFL's new "cross-flex" broadcast rules, games that would normally air on Fox (locally on WJZY) can be moved arbitrarily to CBS and vice versa. WBTV favored the Redskins while WSPA favored the Falcons, in tandem with most CBS affiliates in their respective states. WBTV broadcasts the first "Lou Rawls Parade of Stars for UNCF". It is renamed WWBT on November 28, 1968. When WAGA-TV in Atlanta, which signed on the air four months before WBTV, switched to Fox in December 1994, WBTV became the longest-tenured CBS affiliate located south of Washington, D.C. WFMY-TV in Greensboro, the second-oldest station in the Carolinas, is the network's second-longest tenured affiliate south of the capital; it signed on three months after WBTV. Partners in this massive community service effort are CVS Pharmacies and the Salvation Army. Mathis, whose antics have made him a YouTube star, landed a gig out west on Good Day Sacramento for the CW affiliate by the end of the year. WBTV becomes the first television station in the World to record and rebroadcast programs on color video tape. Former WBTV Good News reporter Kristen Hampton provides a positive message amid uncertain times, Medical Marijuana bill passes NC Senate; some cannabis supporters against bill, 8-year-old helps raise money for favorite Waffle House worker in need of car, North Carolina Supreme Court to revisit school funding, Vigil to be held Saturday in memory of three men killed in Rock Hill 25 years ago, Re-using the cheater beans from breakfast for dinner with Chef Elizabeth, Product Test: Elissia and Caroline try out bundt cake pan with removable bottom, PLAN AHEAD: Latest Weather Forecast Video. WBTW in Florence, SC is sold. WBTV's digital TV station, WBTV-DT Channel 23 is the first digital television station in the United States to broadcast at the fill power of one million watts. (The First Union computer was one of the first giant computers in Charlotte.). It was fed to other TV stations on the air in the Carolinas region.). A special demonstration of WBTV's mobile television truck is conducted in Greenville. WBTV and WBT personalities auction thousands of dollars of donated merchandise to Carolina viewers. It is called "The Alan Newcomb Memorial Park Shell.". Channel 36 returned to the air in November 1964 as WCCB (later moving to channel 18 in November 1966), carrying whatever CBS programs that WBTV turned down in order to carry ABC programs. WBTV celebrates its 50th Anniversary. Jefferson Standard files an application with the FCC for a television station to be called WBT-TV. WBTV was purchased by Montgomery, Alabama based Raycom Media Inc. Introduction : Maureen O'Boyle is an American news anchor and presenter, most popular for the segment "Stretching Your Dollar," which broadcasts on WBTV News in Charlotte, NC. That is one of the most common questions we receive about WTOV9 alums. WBT General Manager Charles H. Crutchfield also eyes Spencer Mountain as the site for a possible television transmitter he is persuading company President Joseph M. Bryan to look into. [28] The morning newscast ended in spring 2018, and the 8 p.m. newscast ended on August 17, 2018. WBTV News in the evening expands to an hour long program from 5:30 to 6:30om. The program is called "Mike McKay's Newscope.". Introduction : Maureen O'Boyle is an American news anchor and presenter, WBTV joins CBS Inc. in support of its application to the FCC for development of "High Definition Television" and an HDTV satellite delivery system. News Apps. It claims to be the first station in the Southern U.S. to air color test patterns and color ID slides. Jennifer Abney WPDE is an American Murrow Award-Winning journalist working as the co-anchor of the 5, 6, 7 & 11 pm news with Trey Paul. The WBTV news helicopter crashed . She will co-anchor the weekday 10 p.m. news on KXAS beginning on Sept. 22, KXAS announced earlier this month. Among those present are Andy Griffith, Edward R. Murrow, Shepherd Strudwock, John Scott Trotter, Norman Cordon, Anne Jeffreys, David Brinkley, Sydney Blackmer and Governor Terry Sanford. WBTV is awarded the rights as "Official Television Station" of the NFL's Carolina Panthers. [9][10][11][12] The sale was approved on December 20,[13] and was completed on January 2, 2019. Jefferson Standard Broadcasting buys land on top of Spencer Mountain in Gaston County to serve as the transmitter site for WBT-FM radio. WBTV begins a high school student quiz show called "High Q." WBTV anchor Knowles dies at age 42: MARK WASHBURN Staff Writer WBTV anchor Bob Knowles died Tuesday, three years after he was diagnosed with a rare cancer that flared up again on his honeymoon two months ago. Mecklenburg County alone has 76,100 TV sets. CVS Pharmacies accepted donations at all 120 locations in the viewing and listening area, and the Salvation Army delivered the donated items. WSOC-TV's commitment to news and information is helped by resources that include its sister station WAXN-TV, Action 64. Company President Charles Crutchfield is named Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on "American Values". WBTV begins a monumental public service campaign focusing on Deafness. An addition to the WBTV studio and building is completed adding 7,500 square feet to the building. Its hard to say that, but if you can look at it that way and change your perspective a little bit, it helps.. The station aired a tribute at their 4:30 p.m. newscast where the anchors shared their grief. The station's digital signal is multiplexed: WBTV had previously carried a standard-definition simulcast of the station's main channel on its second digital subchannel. However, WBTV still shares the Julian Price Place studio with its former radio sisters, and they also retain a news partnership. And by the end of 1949 the number had risen to 8,500 television sets. From 1982 to 2019, WBTV was the flagship station of syndicated over-the-air coverage of Atlantic Coast Conference sports. Locally originated programming this week is "signed" for the deaf. It aired on February 4, 1960. She grew up in Hendersonville, NC, and graduated from UNC. WBTV begins transmitting color test patterns, the first television station in the southeastern United States to do so. TV-1 is now renamed The Feezor Studio in memory of Betty Feezor. A much-remembered women's/homemaker's show, The Betty Feezor Show, aired on channel 3 from the 1950s until 1977 (usually after the soap opera Search for Tomorrow, and in its 15-minute format, Guiding Light). Followed by "The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite" at 6:30pm. On November 15, 2013, both WBTV and WBT were dedicated with a North Carolina historical marker at the corner of Tryon and Third Streets (reading "WBT/WBTV Oldest broadcast stations in North Carolina established 1922. 5 TV market in the country, according to the 2020-21 . Also this month, "Boy Scout Ben" premiers as a voice of conservation of natural resources in a major WBTV/WBT public service campaign. He was, and always will be, Charlotte and the Carolinas' first anchorman. Over $86,000 was raised to buy well drilling equipment and install water systems in several African villages. This was in part due to being the only reliably viewable station in town for nine years, as well as the station's long tradition of strong local news coverage. The cash-and-stock merger transaction valued at $3.6 billionin which Gray shareholders would acquire preferred stock currently held by Raycomresulted in WBTV gaining new in-state sister stations, including NBC affiliates WECT in the Wilmington, North Carolina market and WITN-TV in the Washington-Greenville market, in addition to its current Raycom sister stations. Morning Anchor Steve Johnson. The Betty Feezor Show was replaced by an hour-long midday news and variety show, Top O' the Day. WBTV and WBT Radio present a "Salute to Our Heroes" telethon to raise money and awareness for the Mecklenburg county Vietnam Memorial. (WCSC is the first television station on the air in the state of South Carolina, signing on in 1953. It marks the first live demonstration of TV in Greenville and in the state of South Carolina. . Phil Agresta, Nelson Benton and Earl Wells are in charge of the broadcast. WBTV is the first station in Charlotte to feature Traffic reports in morning news programs including live "Sky 3" helicopter traffic reports. "WBTV's Story Lady" premieres with Jackie Torrence. WBTV viewers raised money for African communities hit hard by the worst drought of the 20th century. In the evening, WBTV's 6:00pm "Early News" attracts more audience than 53 of the 81 local early evening news programs aired in the top 25 markets. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Amazingly, a LIVE feed from the photographer's camera was being sent back to the station during the entire crash and the aftermath. WBTV returns to broadcasting local Editorials. This happened at the World 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Channel 3 took on secondary affiliations with NBC and ABC until Charlotte's second VHF station, WSOC-TV (channel 9), took the NBC affiliation when it signed on in April 1957. In 2006, Jefferson-Pilot merged with the Philadelphia-based Lincoln National Corporation. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. Raycom had produced ACC basketball games in partnership with Jefferson-Pilot/Lincoln Financial since 1982. WBTV originates for ABC TV Network the "Circus Spectacular" featuring Ernie Kovacs and the entire Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus from the Charlotte Coliseum (now Bojangles' Coliseum). It claims to have been the first station in the country to develop computerized election return projections, to broadcast CBS' ExtraVision teletext service, and to produce a local newscast for a PBS member station (WTVI, channel 42). In September 2010, WBTV debuted an hour-long 4 p.m. newscast, which competes with what at the time was a half-hour newscast (which has since expanded to one hour) on WCNC-TV. Prior to joining in 2004, evening anchor Maureen O'Boyle, a Charlotte native and graduate of West Charlotte High School, served as anchor of the syndicated newsmagazines A Current Affair and Extra. Evening News: Traffic Anchor at WBTV Charlotte. At 8:00 pm the "54th Street Review" was broadcast. WBTV becomes the home of the CBS News Southeast Regional Bureau. Lincoln Financial also sold its Charlotte radio stations to Braintree, Massachusettsbased Greater Media, effectively breaking up Charlotte's last co-owned radio/television station combination. The first was WBTW in Florence, South Carolina, which was built and signed on in 1954; indeed, the call letters were chosen specifically because "W" is the next letter in the alphabet after "V." The two stations were separately programmed, but shared a microwave system from 1959 onward. At this time of this year there are 1,004,400 television sets in the Charlotte market. WBTV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 3, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The FCC informs WBT-TV's Chief Engineer M.J. Minor, that permission is granted to WBT to change the name of its telestation from WBT-TV to WBTV. Moving to6 to 7pm a year later. The H-D-T-V station will be called WBTV-DT and be on channel 23. After visiting the station and speaking with the staff, the newscast was broadcast from the top of the Charlotte School of Law building located next to the WBTV studios. Web Extra Links. News. Viewers also saw for the first time on Carolina television the personalities they had heard so often, and for so long, on WBT Radio. About WBTV. Traffic. [22] The ACC syndication package moved to cable's ACC Network in 2019. Jennifer Abney Age and Birthday. On November 22, 2022, at 11:57 a.m.,[16] a 1999 Robinson R44 helicopter nicknamed "WBTV Sky3" crashed onto the grass verge of I-77 in south Charlotte. Kamie . By Thoden Janes. Jefferson-Pilot sold WBTW in 1968 because WBTW provided a fairly strong grade B signal to the eastern portion of the Charlotte market, and neither station would have been able to expand their signals as long as Jefferson-Pilot owned both of them. Lincoln Financial retained Jefferson-Pilot's broadcasting division, which was renamed Lincoln Financial Media, with WBTV retaining its status as the flagship station.[3]. Programming included "Kukla, Fran and Ollie", "The Arthur Godfrey Show", "Perry Como"," Fred Waring", and "Hopalong Cassidy". Katie then moved to the WBTV evening news team, reporting the traffic. From 1958 to 1974, WBTV's studio facilities served as the home for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling telecasts. WBTV's first "Children's Miracle Network Telethon" is broadcast. Hosts Paul Cameron and Maureen O'Boyle will take a look at the growth of the station over the past 60 years. However, if there is one person who knows how to find the good in anything, it is WBTV friend Kristen Hampton, a former WBTV reporter. WBTV begins airing color slides for the first time. WBTV presents the first local Live Color program. The signal was broadcast on a sub-channel on the VHF 3. CBS News anchorwoman Katie Couric hosts The CBS Evening News from Charlotte. Anchor/Reporter 1981-1997 formerly of WXIA-TV, now at HD Net Cheryl White Weekday morning meteorologist and Traffic Analyst 2006-2012 Kelly Wolf General Assignment Reporter Brenda Wood Anchor/Reporter 1988-1997 now at WXIA-TV: Judy Woodruff Anchor/Reporter 1970-1975 now on PBS's News Hour The FCC approved the sale of WBTV on March 25, 2008, and Raycom formally took control of the station on April 1. WBTV inaugurates a new Internet business venture, called "ClickCarolina.com." WBTV is first in Charlotte and among the first television stations in the United States to use a satellite news gathering truck. WBTV televises a "Star Salute" from the NC Trade Fair honoring North Carolinians who have gained national prominence. Hosted by Doug Mayes, viewers would meet Doug and tell him their opinion on various issues for later broadcast on the nightly news. Tower SkyscraperPage.com, sorted by primary channel network affiliations, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WBTV&oldid=1138068495, Television stations in Charlotte, North Carolina, Television channels and stations established in 1949, Articles with dead external links from December 2017, Articles with permanently dead external links, Articles with dead external links from June 2016, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles using infobox television station, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 7 February 2023, at 21:39. Fred Shropshire. This studio is the home of commercial productions and special live programming. Bonanza Productions NBC's Revolutionsince Jul 2012 Fox 26/WECTTV6 Former TV News Anchor/Producer and Investigative Reporter2008 - 2010. [35], In recent years, WBTV has been carried on cable in several areas outside of the Charlotte television market, including cable systems within the adjacent GreensboroWinston-SalemHigh Point and Asheville markets in North Carolina and South Carolina, and the Tri-Cities market in Tennessee and Virginia.[36]. Over the . Meet the WBTV News Team! Dallas-Fort Worth is the No. WBTV airs the continuous coverage from CBS News of the terrorist Attacks on America. It is the first building in the USA specifically built for color telecasting. WBTV begins a year-long focus "For Kids Sake". [23] Jefferson-Pilot management, who only a few years earlier had touted Mayes as part of the station's campaign, "Turn to People You Know," wanted to make its newscasts appeal to a younger audience and made little effort to retain him. WBTV was originally owned by the Greensboro-based Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company, owners of WBT (1110 AM), the city's oldest radio station and the first fully licensed station in the South. The enterprise website will focus on employment opportunities and recruitment. The editorials are written by a ten member station panel. He then continued filing stories.). It will bring "cable" television to the Carolinas. WBTV begins an undated series based on the original "Spearhead" show. It is for The United Appeal fund. WBTV presents a patriotic musical "Our Country Tis of Thee" with Ty Boyd, Pat Lee and Clara Lowry.