WHNT-TV

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WHNT-TV
Huntsville/Decatur
Branding	News Channel 19
Slogan	Taking Action. Getting Results.
Channels	19 (UHF) analog, 59 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	CBS
Owner	The New York Times Company (sale pending to Oak Hill Capital [1])
Founded	1963
Call letters meaning	HuNTsville
Former callsigns	None
Former affiliations	None
Website	www.whnt.com

WHNT-TV is the CBS television affiliate in northern Alabama, airing on UHF Channel 19. The signal also reaches counties in southern middle Tennessee. WHNT is also the only station in Huntsville that has never changed its affiliation.

Contents 1 History 2 Newscasts 3 Anchors 3.1 News Anchors 3.2 Weather Anchors 3.3 Sports 3.4 Other Reporters 3.5 Former Reporters/Anchors 4 Notes 5 References 6 External links

[edit] History

WHNT began operations on Thanksgiving Day 1963 and has always been an affiliate of CBS. The FCC originally licensed the frequency for WHNT to the city of Fort Payne, Ala. Founded by local businessman Charles Grisham (now deceased), WHNT has been under the ownership of the New York Times Company since 1980. In September 2006, The New York Times announced that it would put its entire broadcast group up for sale. Eight other stations will be affected in addition to WHNT. In January of 2007, the annoucement was made that an agreement in principle had been reached to sell the stations to Oak Hill Capital. The sale has been given FCC approval. Ownership will officially change on April 30, 2007.

WHNT's studios are located in downtown Huntsville, where the station moved in 1987 from its original location on Monte Sano Mountain. (For use during an emergency, a backup broadcast capability for news remains at the Monte Sano site.) WHNT is the only station in Huntsville to operate from a facility actually constructed specifically for broadcasting purposes. WAAY-TV operates out of a former grocery store; WAFF-TV, out of an old jewelry store; and WZDX-TV, out of an office building. The transmitter and tower remain on Monte Sano, however, because it provides the highest elevation in the immediate area. In 2003, WHNT allowed competing stations WAAY and WZDX to use space on its tower after a tower both stations used on WAAY's property collapsed, killing three men.

WHNT first used 16 mm film for most of its commercial and news gathering. In 1979, the station switched to using the 3/4 inch video tape format. The station used this system until 1998, when new Panasonic DVC machines and cameras were purchased. DVC is still being used. However, in the Spring of 2006, new cameras were purchased for the station's Shoals Bureau and Sand Mountain Bureau. The cameras are Panasonic P2 cameras which record on 4gig cards. WHNT's video archives goes back to 1980. For security reasons, part of the archives is stored at the station's news bureau in Albertville.

Generally speaking, over the years, WHNT has always been competitive in terms of ratings with rivals WAAY-TV and WAFF-TV. In fact, WHNT is the only station among the three Huntsville television stations that broadcast regular newscasts to have never finished in last place in the Nielsen ratings. It brands its newscasts presently as "News Channel 19." The station's current general manager is Craig Marrs; Denise Vickers serves as news director.

In May 2002, WHNT became the first commercial station in Huntsville to begin broadcasting in high definition, on digital channel 59. The station will revert to channel 19 for its digital broadcasts once analog signals are turned off; channel 59 will no longer be available for television broadcasts after the digital conversion.

Since fall 2004, WHNT-TV has used the ARMOR Doppler Radar system in weather forecasting.

WHNT-TV has been noted for live coverage of breaking news, such as the shooting death of a Huntsville police officer, the 2006 Huntsville Bus Accident [2], and the most recent Amber Alert hoax [3].

[edit] Newscasts

Weekdays

• NewsChannel 19 This Morning - 5:00-8:00am
• NewsChannel 19 at Noon - 12:00-12:30pm
• NewsChannel 19 at 5 - 5:00-5:30pm
• NewsChannel 19 at 6 - 6:00-6:30pm
• NewsChannel 19 at 10 - 10:00pm-10:35pm (repeat at 1:05-1:40am)

Weekends

• Saturdays
  • NewsChannel 19 This Morning - 6:00-8:00am
  • NewsChannel 19 at 6 - 6:00-6:30pm
  • NewsChannel 19 at 10 - 10:00pm-10:35pm (repeat at 1:05-1:40am)
• Sundays
  • NewsChannel 19 at 6 - 6:00-6:30am
  • NewsChannel 19 This Morning - 7:00-8:00am
  • NewsChannel 19 at 5 - 5:00-5:30pm
  • NewsChannel 19 at 10 - 10:00pm-10:35pm

[edit] Anchors

[edit] News Anchors

• Jerry Hayes - 6pm & 10pm
• Elise Morgan - 6pm & 10pm
• Kym Richardson - 5pm & health reporter
• Greg Screws - mornings & 5pm anchor
• Lisa Washington - mornings
• Steve Johnson - mornings
• Robert Reeves - mornings

[edit] Weather Anchors

• Dan Satterfield - Chief Meteorologist
• James-Paul Dice
• Spencer Denton

[edit] Sports

• John Pearson
• Tom Woodard

[edit] Other Reporters

• Greg Privett - Chief Investigative Reporter/Weekend Anchor
• Carson Clark - Sand Mountain Bureau chief
• Janine Reyes -
• Ellis Eskew -
• Amber Stuart -
• Barry Hiett -
• Tiffany Golden -

[edit] Former Reporters/Anchors

• Amy George - resigned in February 2007 to head development for a prenatal care fund named in memory of her late daughter. ^[1]

[edit] Notes

The Huntsville-Decatur television market is only one of two in the Southeastern U.S. to have only UHF channel allocations; Lexington, Ky. is the only other. No full-power VHF stations exist at all in the state of Alabama north of Birmingham; thus, none of the North Alabama-based channels have ever suffered a disadvantage from competing against established VHF stations in the same area, a problem that particularly affected UHF broadcasters elsewhere, well into the early 1980s.

[edit] References

1. ^ WHNT.com - Amy George resignation announcement

[edit] External links

• The NewsChannel 19 Team
• Official website of WHNT-TV
• Official Station History Page
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WHNT