WVNS-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WVNS-TV
city = Lewisburg
station_
station_slogan = Where Local Coverage
Comes First
station_branding = CBS 59
Fox West Virginia
(on DT2)
analog = 59 (UHF)
digital = 8 (VHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = CBS
Fox - primary
MNTV - secondary (on DT2)
network =
founded =
airdate = August 12, 1995
location = Lewisburg / Bluefield /
Beckley, West Virginia
callsign_meaning = West Virginia's
News Station
former_callsigns = WVGV-TV (1995-1996)
WVSX (1996-2003)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = West Virginia Media Holdings
licensee =
sister_stations =
former_affiliations = The WB (1995-1996)
Fox (1996-2001)
effective_radiated_power = 1910 kW (analog)
3.68 kW (digital)
HAAT = 568 m (analog)
577 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 74169
coordinates = coord|37|46|22.6|N|80|42|25.8|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.wvnstv.com/ wvnstv.com]

WVNS-TV, channel 59, is the CBS-affiliated television station for Southern West Virginia that is licensed to Lewisburg. Its transmitter is located on Keeney's Knob between Alderson and I-64. Owned by West Virginia Media Holdings, the station has studios on Old Cline Road in Ghent along I-77. Syndicated programming on WVNS includes: "Entertainment Tonight", "The Insider", "Judge Judy", and "The Rachael Ray Show".

WVNS operates the area's primary Fox and secondary MyNetworkTV affiliate on its second digital subchannel. Known on-air as "Fox West Virginia", it is also offered on Suddenlink cable systems. In Beckley it is on channel 10, in Hinton and Princeton on channel 3, and on channel 2 in Bluefield. Programming from MyNetworkTV airs on the weeknights from 11 P.M to 1 A.M. For Saturday prime time, it airs on early Sunday morning from 12:30 to 2:30.

History

The station began broadcasting with the call sign WVGV-TV on August 12, 1995 as an affiliate of The WB. It was the first station in the market not affiliated with one of the big three networks. The station was originally set to sign on as a Fox affiliate, but the network canceled when the sign-on was delayed past the start of the Fall season in 1994. Due to difficulty in selling advertising time in The WB's then primarily urban-oriented programming and the difficulty in competing with a UHF signal in a market used to receiving VHF stations the station was not successful. Furthermore, the late sign-on made it difficult to get carriage on the area's cable systems. This was a serious problem since cable is a must for acceptable television in the market. By May, when cable systems in the market were ready to carry the station, WVGV had agreed to be sold to High Mountain Broadcasting. The new owners took the station "dark" in order to relocate the studios from Lewisburg to Ghent (between Beckley and Bluefield) and move the transmitter site from Cross Mountain to a more central location to better serve Beckley and Bluefield as well as Lewisburg.

The station returned to the air on Christmas Eve 1996 as Fox affiliate WVSX. However, due to problems with the transmitter's unique power supply design, it did not transmit regularly until after January 1, 1997. The station continued to struggle financially. WVSX changed its affiliation to CBS on September 29, 2001. Prior to 2001, WOWK-TV in Huntington served as the CBS affiliate for the West Virginia side of the market while WDBJ in Roanoke served the Virginia portion. Both stations are still available on most of the area's cable systems. On February 28, 2003, the station was again sold this time to West Virginia Media Holdings where it forms the southern part of a four station statewide network. The callsign was changed on June 7 to WVNS-TV. The WVNS callsign is shared with an FM radio station in Nashville, Tennessee.

Bluefield / Beckley / Oak Hill is a relatively small television market. The station has continued to slowly but steadily grow in audience. However, it not only has to contend with local competitors WVVA and WOAY-TV but competes with WOWK and WDBJ (both of which are still available on cable). It is also hampered by lack of satellite coverage. As of 2007, neither DirecTV nor Dish Network offer local feeds for the area. Further, the local economy makes advertising sales as hard to come by as in all of the adjacent television markets. The Fox affiliation was acquired September 13, 2006 following a Summer 2006 retransmission dispute between Charleston's WVAH-TV and Suddenlink Communications (the cable system serving Beckley). The demise of the Foxnet cable network on September 12, 2006 has also played a role. Though it is carried on a digital subchannel, this is practically a return of the Fox network to WVNS which was dropped three years earlier for CBS.

News operation

The station operates its own news department and produces local newscasts while taking advantage of the statewide network to share news content from sister stations WOWK (for state government news and Marshall University sports) and WBOY-TV (for West Virginia University sports). During all WVNS newscasts, weather is provided by WOWK's meteorologists and the forecast segments originate from that station's studios in Huntington. On the weeknights at 5:30, WVNS owner West Virginia Media Holdings produces a half-hour long newscast called "West Virginia Tonight Live". It airs simultaneously on WVNS, WTRF (in Wheeling), WOWK-TV (in Huntington / Charleston), WBOY-TV (in Clarksburg), and stories from a newsroom in Morgantown. In addition, there is a public affairs program called "Decision Makers". Hosted by company president and CEO, Bray Cary, it airs on Saturday mornings at 9 and Sunday mornings at 8 on all West Virginia Media Holdings stations. On the weeknights at 10 o'clock, there is a half-hour newscast on WVNS-DT2. There is also an hour-long broadcast at 7 A.M. that airs weekday mornings on WVNS-DT2.

News team

Anchors
*Alicia Suka - weeknight anchor
*Martin Staunton - weeknight anchor
*Rontina McCann - weekday mornings and Noon
*April Kaull - weeknights at 5:30
**West Virginia correspondent based in Morgantown

"StormTracker 59 Meteorologists"
*Spencer Adkins (NWA and AMS Member) - Chief seen on weeknights
*Alexandra Wilson - weekday mornings and Noon
*Jason Kratzwald - weekends
*Jared Hoffman (AMS Seal of Approval and NWA Member) - fill-in

Sports
*Mike Levin - weeknights at 6, 10, and 11
**weekends and sports reporter

Reporters
*Kate Krivanek - evenings
*Adam Baker
*Hillary Crowder
*Erin Barnett

External links

* [http://www.wvnstv.com/ WVNS-TV/DT "CBS 59"]
* [http://www.myfoxwvtv.com/myfox/ WVNS-DT2 "Fox West Virginia"]
*TVQ|WVNS-TV