WSMV-TV
This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2013) |
kW | |
HAAT | 413 m (1,355 ft) |
---|---|
Transmitter coordinates | 36°8′27″N 86°51′56″W / 36.14083°N 86.86556°W |
Translator(s) | see § Translators |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | wsmv |
WSMV-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power Telemundo affiliate WTNX-LD (channel 29). The two stations share studios on Knob Road in west Nashville, where WSMV-TV's transmitter is also located.
History
Early years
WSMV first signed on the air as WSM-TV on September 30, 1950, at 1:10 p.m. CT. It was Nashville's first television station and the second in Tennessee, behind fellow NBC affiliate WMCT (now sister station WMC-TV, then also on channel 4) in Memphis. As a result of the WSM-TV sign-on, WMCT was forced to switch to channel 5 to avoid co-channel interference. WSM-TV was owned by WSM, Inc., a subsidiary of the locally based National Life and Accident Insurance Company, which also owned WSM radio (650 AM) and the original WSM-FM (103.3; shut down in 1951); the AM station is renowned for broadcasts of the country music show The Grand Ole Opry, which has been heard on the station since 1925. The station took its call letters from its parent's slogan, "We Shield Millions".
The television station has been an NBC affiliate from its sign-on, although it also carried some programming from
WSM-TV's studios were originally located at 15th Avenue South and Compton Avenue in south Nashville, near the present Belmont University. In 1957, the station attempted to a build a larger tower in west Nashville, near Charlotte Avenue. During the construction process, the new tower's supporting wires failed. This caused the tower to collapse, which took the lives of several people.[6] Afterward, WSM-TV purchased its present property on Knob Road (farther west than the previous site, and allowable since WMCT in Memphis had switched to channel 5 from channel 4) and built a tower there in a forested section away from potential damage to life and property.[4][7]
Growth into the 1960s and 1970s
WSM-TV shared its broadcast facilities with non-commercial station WDCN-TV (channel 2, now WNPT on channel 8) when that station signed on in 1962. In 1963, National Life and Accident Insurance built new studios for WSM-AM-TV adjacent to the transmission tower on Knob Road. This left WDCN-TV as the sole occupant of the south Nashville building, where that station remained until 1976. WSM-TV was the first station in Nashville to begin broadcasting in color in 1965.[4] In 1974, NL&AI reorganized itself as a holding company, NLT Corporation, with the WSM stations (by then including a new WSM-FM at 95.5) as a major subsidiary.
Ownership changes
Beginning in 1980, Houston-based insurer American General–which owned the WLAC stations until 1975–began purchasing blocks of NLT stock, eventually becoming NLT's largest shareholder and setting the stage for an outright takeover. However, American General was not interested in NLT's non-insurance businesses. It opted to sell off the broadcasting interests, the Grand Ole Opry, the then-decrepit Ryman Auditorium, and the now-defunct Opryland USA. Gillett Broadcasting (operated by George N. Gillett Jr.) bought WSM-TV on November 3, 1981, and changed the station's callsign to WSMV on the same day (officially modified to WSMV-TV on July 15, 1982).[8] The new callsign allowed channel 4 to continue trading on the well-known WSM calls while at the same time separating it from its former radio sisters. The change was brought on due to an FCC rule in place at that time forbidding TV and radio stations in the same city but with different owners from sharing the same call letters. However, channel 4 would later engage in news department cross promotions with WSM-AM-FM.
WSMV-TV was sold on June 8, 1989, to Cook Inlet Television Partners, an
Meredith Corporation ownership
Cook Inlet sold WSMV on January 5, 1995, to the Meredith Corporation.[10] WSMV was not part of the affiliation deal between several Meredith stations and CBS (which included Meredith's only other NBC affiliate at the time, WNEM-TV in Bay City, Michigan) because the purchase was announced after the affiliation deal had been finalized. As a result, WSMV became the only NBC affiliate in Meredith's portfolio until their 2021 sale.
In early March 2009, it was announced that WSMV's master control operations would be hubbed at Meredith-owned sister station WGCL-TV (now WANF) in Atlanta. The new hub operation launched in summer 2009.
On September 8, 2015,
Sale to Gray Television
On May 3, 2021, Gray Television announced its intent to purchase the Meredith Local Media division for $2.7 billion. The sale was completed on December 1.[15]
Gray also immediately changed the station's positioning from "News 4" to "WSMV 4" and implemented a new graphics scheme, resulting in the 4 logo switching from primarily black to primarily white. In 2022, the station launched a heavily localized imaging campaign, reviving the "Nashville's Station" nickname, and inviting viewers to "Come On Back" after years of ratings losses.
In December 2023, the NBC Peacock was removed from WSMV's logo as part of a company-wide initiative within Gray to strip network marks from station logos.
Programming
Country music programming
The WSM stations' close ties to Nashville's country music business has meant that the Knob Road facility and/or its personnel was, from time to time, used for the recording of network and syndicated programs featuring Nashville-based performers. This was especially the case during the 1960s and 1970s. Most if not all of these shows were packaged by Show Biz, Inc., headquartered in Nashville and a subsidiary of
Sports programming
Since 2006, channel 4 airs any
From 1987 until March 2002, WSMV-TV was the primary Nashville home to syndicated
Past programming preemptions and deferrals
In 1982, WSMV dropped the Tonight Show to air sitcom reruns such as Three's Company, Alice, Barney Miller, Family Ties, and Rosie. NBC was able to get the show on in Nashville on then-independent station (now Fox affiliate) WZTV. WSMV re-added The Tonight Show in January 1989.[19]
In early 2006, WSMV attracted some attention by becoming the largest NBC affiliate in terms of market size to refuse to carry the controversial NBC show The Book of Daniel on its schedule, after the premiere episode. This action, along with that of several smaller affiliates in the Midwest and South, as well as low ratings, prompted NBC to cancel the series after only three episodes.
On October 26, 2014, WSMV accidentally preempted parts of the first half of the Manchester United–Chelsea Premier League match and instead aired Poppy Cat from the NBC Kids block. This triggered negative responses from social media.[20]
News operation
This section needs additional citations for verification. (September 2014) |
WSMV-TV broadcasts 53 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with nine hours each weekday and four hours each on Saturdays and Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the highest local newscast output among all broadcast television stations in the Nashville market.
WSM-TV's news department was the first in the United States to receive satellite photographs when it first used them in 1964.
On March 5, 1973, the
In September 1973, WSM-TV decided to fill the 6:30–7 p.m. time slot opened up by the Prime Time Access Rule in 1971 by expanding its 6 p.m. newscast to one hour. This has proven so successful that to this day WSMV programs a newscast from 6 to 7 p.m. (although it is now broken up into two 30-minute segments). Upon the success of the expanded 6 p.m. newscast on channel 4 (and after years of low-rated syndicated offerings in the 6:30 slot), WTVF followed suit in 1989 by expanding its 6 p.m. newscast to one hour. WSMV and WTVF are among the few stations in the Central Time Zone to run newscasts at 6:30 (stations elsewhere have attempted it since the 1970s with varying degrees of success). WKRN is the only traditional network affiliate in the Nashville market to run only a half-hour of news at 6 p.m., with Wheel of Fortune (hosted by former WSM personality Pat Sajak) airing at 6:30.
In the early 1980s, WSMV introduced the Snowbird character, a scarf- and earmuff-wearing
During the May sweeps period that began on April 26, 2007, WSMV debuted its own news helicopter known as Air 4, becoming the second station in Nashville to do so (WTVF's news helicopter Sky 5 debuted a year earlier, in 2006). On September 15, 2008, beginning with the 5 p.m. newscast, WSMV became the second television station in Nashville (after WTVF) to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition.
On May 26, 2011, WSMV debuted an hour-long 4 p.m. newscast, serving as a replacement for The Oprah Winfrey Show, which ended its 25-year run the day before; this came on the heels of the expansion of other non-news local programming such as More at Midday and Better Nashville, indicating a decreased reliance on syndicated programming.[25] On January 25, 2014, WSMV was the first station to expand its weekend morning newscast to 5 a.m. in the Nashville TV market.[26]
On July 17, 2017, WSMV changed its newscast branding from Channel 4 News to News 4. In January 2018, the station's news graphics and music were updated.
On August 18, 2022, it was reported that WSMV would drop all syndicated programming and air expanded newscasts and locally produced programming outside of network hours. On September 5, 2022, WSMV became the first station in Nashville to offer local news at 3 p.m., while also expanding its midday newscast to two hours, and moving Today in Nashville to 2 p.m., replacing the canceled
Past on-air staff
The station's former staff include
Ralph Emery, the longtime country music disc jockey on WSM radio for many years, hosted morning (and at times, afternoon) shows on channel 4 from the mid-1960s until 1993; for much of that time, The Ralph Emery Show was the highest-rated locally produced early morning shows on American television. Although the show included regular news briefs, its main focus was on general entertainment, including a heavy emphasis on live country music performed in studio. It featured acts by prominent country stars like Tex Ritter and current star Lorrie Morgan; also, the studio band consisted of top-notch Music Row session musicians. Emery would achieve widespread fame by hosting a national version of the show, entitled Nashville Now, weeknights on The Nashville Network from 1983 to 1993. Upon Emery's retirement, WSMV briefly produced a local version of NBC's Today to serve as a lead-in to the national show. As Nashville Today failed to live up to expectations, WSMV finally programmed full-scale newscasts in early mornings, becoming the last of the three major Nashville stations to do so.
Larry Munson, WSM-TV's sports director from 1956 to 1967 and later known as the play-by-play announcer for radio broadcasts of Georgia Bulldogs football (and, for a time, the NFL's Atlanta Falcons), created and hosted a long-running hunting and fishing show called The Rod & Gun Club. Paul Eells replaced Munson as sports director in 1967. Like his predecessor, Eells served as the voice of the Vanderbilt Commodores football team during his time at WSM. Eells left to become the sports director at KATV in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1978. There, he also served as radio play-by-play announcer for the Arkansas Razorbacks for 28 years until his death in 2006. Munson died in 2011.
In 1974, Bill Hall joined the staff as a weather reporter and morning news anchor. He briefly worked as a weekend news anchor in 1976 before moving into his role leading the weather team in 1977. His unique style and personality made him one of Middle Tennessee's most well known local television personalities. He punctuated his weather discussions with comments about gardening, cooking, and hunting and fishing. During his channel 4 career, Hall also hosted Land and Lakes, an outdoors show focusing on local hunting and fishing adventures. Hall retired in 2005, and later died on December 23, 2011.[31][32][33]
Rudy Kalis began anchoring the morning newscasts in 2014 after working in the sports department for 40 years. He was the second sportscaster in Nashville to move to anchoring the morning news in the past year.[34] He retired in November 2017, after 43 years with channel 4.[35]
Longtime anchor Demetria Kalodimos was let go after her contract expired at the end of 2017.
Notable former on-air staff
- Crook and Chasetelevision show and countdown)
- Huell Howser – (1970s; died January 7, 2013)
- Demetria Kalodimos – anchor (worked with station from 1984 to 2017)
- Sondra Locke – (1960s; died November 3, 2018)[36]
- Carol Marin – investigative reporter/anchor (1976–1978; later with WMAQ-TV in Chicago as the station's political editor)
- Dan Miller – anchor (died April 8, 2009)
- Robin Roberts – sports anchor/reporter (1986–1988; now anchor of Good Morning America)
- Pat Sajak – weather reporter (1970s; now host of the syndicated game show Wheel of Fortune)
- John Tesh – musician; former anchor of Entertainment Tonight
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's signal is
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
4.1 | 1080i | 16:9 |
WSMV-HD | Main WSMV-TV programming / NBC |
4.2 | 720p | The365 | The365
| |
4.3 | 480i | Cozi | Cozi TV | |
4.4 | Oxygen | Oxygen | ||
4.5 | 4:3 | GetTV | Get | |
30.3 | 480i | 4:3 | Comet | Comet (WUXP-DT3) |
Analog-to-digital conversion
WSMV-TV shut down its analog signal, over
Translators
Out-of-market coverage
South-central Kentucky
For its first 50 years on the air, WSMV had been the default NBC affiliate of record for the Bowling Green
Mediacom also carries WSMV on its systems in
Western Kentucky
In addition to the station's cable coverage in south central Kentucky, WSMV-TV, and the other two "
WSMV was also previously available in some southern areas of the
West Tennessee
WSMV, along with WMC-TV in Memphis, was historically carried on cable systems in the Jackson, Tennessee, market on the Jackson Energy Authority's EPlus Broadband system. In November 2014, WSMV was dropped from that cable system when WNBJ-LD (channel 39) signed on as that area's own NBC affiliate.[49] WNBJ replaced WSMV on JEA channel 4, with WMC-TV being left intact. In spite of the existence of WNBJ-LD in Jackson, WSMV remains on WK&T Telecom's cable system in Gibson County, in the northernmost area of the Jackson market.[50] WSMV is also still available on cable in Carroll County as well.
Huntsville/Northern Alabama
At sometime from 1957 until the 1980s, cable television systems in northern Alabama, including Knology (now
References
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- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WSMV-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ "Pulse Local Ratings For November". Billboard: 14–15. January 13, 1958.
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- ^ "Satellite Booster Station Takes TV Programs Into Rural Region". St. Joseph News Press. September 27, 1953. p. 8B. Retrieved August 5, 2023 – via Google Books.
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- ^ "WSMV-TV Call Sign History". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved August 19, 2014.
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- ^ nashvilledtvnews.info - WSMV Adding More News
- ^ Malone, Michael (May 19, 2023). "Local News Close-up: Nashville Newsrooms Catch Their Breath". Broadcasting & Cable. Archived from the original on May 21, 2023. Retrieved May 21, 2023.
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- ^ "Resolution No. RS2006-1126: A resolution recognizing and commending Bill Hall for his outstanding contributions to Nashville and Davidson County as he retires after thirty-one years on television". Council of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. January 9, 2006. Retrieved May 20, 2011.
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