WOAI-TV
kW | |
HAAT | 457 m (1,499 ft) |
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Transmitter coordinates | 29°16′11.5″N 98°15′55.9″W / 29.269861°N 98.265528°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website |
WOAI-TV (channel 4) is a
History
The station first signed on the air on December 11, 1949, as WOAI-TV.[2] It was the first television station in the San Antonio market, owned by Southland Industries along with AM 1200 WOAI. WOAI-TV and WOAI radio are among the few broadcast stations located west of the Mississippi River that have a call sign beginning with "W." In the early days of broadcasting, most Central Time Zone states were in the "W" territory. In 1923, the dividing line was changed to the Mississippi River. Since WOAI Radio was already on the air, it kept its W call letters and when it put a TV station on the air, it shared that call sign.
WOAI-TV has been an NBC affiliate since its sign-on, due to WOAI (AM)'s longtime affiliation with the
On May 27, 1965, Crosley Broadcasting announced that it was purchasing the WOAI stations for $12 million.[3] The FCC approved the sale on September 16, 1965[4] and Crosley's ownership became effective at midnight on October 27.[5] Crosley would change its name to Avco Broadcasting Corporation effective January 17, 1966.[6]
On November 25, 1974, Avco, which had, at that time, decided to exit broadcasting, announced that
).When KRRT (channel 35, now KMYS) dropped its affiliation with the United Paramount Network (UPN) to join The WB in January 1998, KMOL began carrying UPN programming during the overnight hours. At the time, Chris-Craft had owned a 50% interest in UPN. The UPN affiliation later moved to Fredericksburg-licensed KBEJ (channel 2, now MyNetworkTV affiliate KCWX), which signed on the air in August 2000.
On August 12, 2000, Chris-Craft Industries sold its television stations to the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of News Corporation for $5.5 billion.[11] The deal was finalized on July 31, 2001. News Corporation then traded KMOL and sister station KTVX in Salt Lake City to Clear Channel in exchange for WFTC in Minneapolis. This tradeoff protected future sister station KABB (channel 29) from losing its Fox affiliation. Not only did the purchase reunite KMOL-TV with WOAI Radio, but channel 4 also became the television flagship of the San Antonio-based conglomerate. Speculation immediately began that Clear Channel would restore the heritage WOAI-TV call sign to channel 4. This officially occurred on September 1, 2002. Although Clear Channel's San Antonio radio cluster was located in Northwest San Antonio, off I-10, WOAI-TV remained based in its downtown studios on Navarro Street.
On November 16, 2006, after being bought by private equity firms, Clear Channel announced that it would sell all of its television stations.
In May 2008, Newport Television agreed to sell WOAI-TV and five other stations to High Plains Broadcasting because of ownership conflicts. Providence Equity Partners also holds a 19% ownership stake in
On July 19, 2012, Newport Television/High Plains Broadcasting reached a deal to sell 22 of the company's 27 stations to Sinclair, Nexstar and
The operations of KABB and KMYS initially remained separate from WOAI-TV, with the two stations retaining competing news operations.[17] On the morning on March 19, 2013, a fire started in offices located on the second floor of WOAI-TV's studios, which resulted in the evacuation of the station's staff and forcing channel 4 to carry the papal inauguration of Pope Francis from Vatican City for about six hours; with WOAI-TV unable to broadcast from the building, the station used a makeshift set in a nearby parking lot for that day's late afternoon newscasts, before temporarily moving to KABB/KMYS' facility on Babcock Road.[18] Station and San Antonio Fire Department representatives cited an electrical short for causing the blaze.[19] WOAI-TV moved back to the downtown facility on March 24.[20] In October 2013, the San Antonio Express-News reported that Sinclair planned to move WOAI-TV's sales, promotions and executive offices from its Navarro Street studios to a new building adjacent to KABB and KMYS' shared facility; the transition of WOAI-TV employees to the KABB/KMYS complex was finalized in the summer of 2014, with the completion of a shared newsroom on the second floor of the building that accommodates both WOAI-TV and KABB's respective news staffs.[21][22]
Programming
WOAI-TV carries the entire NBC programming schedule. However, the station airs several of the network's programs out of pattern: the
Outside of a delay of The CW's One Magnificent Morning block to early Monday mornings, WOAI-DT2 carries the entire CW programming schedule.
WOAI-TV also produces the hour-long daytime talk show San Antonio Living, which airs weekdays at 10 a.m.
The station has aired many Spurs games through NBC's broadcast rights with the NBA from 1990 to 2002. This includes the team's 1999 NBA Finals championship victory. WOAI's subchannel 4.2 carries a package of select Spurs games, split with KENS-TV and produced by Bally Sports Southwest.
News operation
WOAI-TV presently broadcasts 27 hours, 25 minutes of locally produced newscasts each week (with 5 hours, 5 minutes each weekday and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays); in addition, the station produces the half-hour sports highlight program Sports Sunday, which airs Sundays at 10:30 p.m. The station is branded as News 4 San Antonio, with the largest TV news operation in the city.
On September 16, 2009, WOAI-TV became the third television station in the San Antonio market (after KSAT and KENS) to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in
On September 6, 2010, WOAI-TV expanded its 6 p.m. newscast to one hour, with the addition of a half-hour extension at 6:30 p.m.[26] In 2011, the station's chief meteorologist, John Gerard (who announced his departure from WOAI in April 2014, to become the weekend meteorologist at CBS owned-and-operated station WFOR-TV in Miami[27]), developed the "4-Zone Forecast"—a zonal forecast for four specific sub-regions of south Texas, compared to the broader regional forecasts for the area that are used by other local stations. In February 2012, WOAI introduced a storm chasing vehicle provided by Ancira, which is used during severe weather situations affecting south Texas. On January 25, 2016, WOAI debuted a half-hour noon newscast, which has now extended to a full hour.
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's signal is
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
4.1 | 1080i | 16:9
|
WOAI-DT | NBC |
4.2 | 720p | CW | The CW | |
4.3 | 480i | Antenna | Antenna TV | |
4.4 | Charge! | Charge! |
Analog-to-digital conversion
WOAI-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WOAI-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1950 page 300
- ^ "WOAI-TV, Radio Stations Sold". San Antonio Light. May 28, 1965. p. 27.
- ^ "FCC Okays Sale of WOAI". San Antonio Light. September 16, 1965. p. 14.
- ^ "WOAI Radio, TV Sale Now Effective". San Antonio Light. October 28, 1965. p. 36.
- ^ "Crosley Now Avco". The Cincinnati Enquirer. January 17, 1966. p. 41. Retrieved September 24, 2021.
- ^ "WOAI-TV 'a Good One'". San Antonio Light. November 26, 1974. p. 2-C.
- ^ a b "Channel Changes Letters". San Antonio Light. December 11, 1974. p. 6-B.
- ^ "Agree to Sell Station". San Antonio Light. April 30, 1974. p. 7-C.
- ^ "KMOL-TV Sale Reported". San Antonio Light. November 5, 1975. p. 20-A.
- ^ Hofmeister, Sallie (August 12, 2000). "News Corp. to Buy Chris-Craft Parent for $5.5 Billion, Outbidding Viacom". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
- Gannett Company. November 16, 2006. Retrieved November 17, 2006.
- Clear Channel Communications. April 20, 2007. Archived from the originalon April 25, 2007. Retrieved April 20, 2007.
- ^ a b "Newport stations drift to High Plains". Television Business Report. May 21, 2008. Archived from the original on September 22, 2008. Retrieved September 28, 2008.
- ^ "Application Search Details". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved September 28, 2008.
- ^ Newport Sells 22 Stations For $1 Billion, TVNewsCheck, July 19, 2012.
- ^ Jakle, Jeanne (December 5, 2012). "WOAI, KABB won't join forces". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
- ^ WOAI-TV back on air 6 hours after fire, San Antonio Express News, March 19, 2013.
- TVSpy, March 20, 2013.
- ^ Home again! News staffers return to WOAI offices, San Antonio Express-News, March 24, 2013.
- ^ WOAI, KABB to share home, news, San Antonio Express-News, May 20, 2013.
- ^ KSAT anchors thrilled about new TV digs, San Antonio Express-News, October 22, 2013.
- ^ "WOAI Programs". WOAI.com. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
- ^ Changes cause day time shake up for local stations
- ^ "News 4 WOAI is now in high definition". WOAI.com. September 16, 2009. Retrieved September 16, 2009.
- ^ Jeanne Jakle: KMYS to nab youth market as new CW affiliate, San Antonio Express-News, August 18, 2010.
- ^ WOAI-TV losing its weatherman, San Antonio Express-News, April 29, 2014.
- ^ RabbitEars TV Query for WOAI
- ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
- ^ FCC TV spectrum Phase Assignment Table, FCC Incentive Auction Television Transition Data Files, April 13, 2017.