WRIC-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WRIC-TV
city =
station_
station_slogan = Straight To The Point; Live, Local, Late Breaking
station_branding = WRIC TV 8
analog = 8 (VHF)
digital = 22 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = ABC
network =
founded =
airdate = August 15, 1955
location = Petersburg/Richmond, Virginia
callsign_meaning = RIChmond
former_callsigns = WXEX-TV (1955-1990)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Young Broadcasting, Inc.
licensee = Young Broadcasting of Richmond, Inc.
sister_stations =
former_affiliations = NBC (1955-1965)
effective_radiated_power = 269 kW (analog)
450 kW (digital)
HAAT = 321.3 m (analog)
328 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 74416
coordinates = coord|37|30|46.5|N|77|36|4.3|W|type:landmark_scale:2000 (analog)
coord|37|30|45.5|N|77|36|4.7|W|type:landmark_scale:2000 (digital)
homepage = [http://www.wric.com/ www.wric.com]

WRIC-TV is the ABC affiliate for the Richmond, Virginia television market. It is owned by Young Broadcasting. The station is licensed to nearby Petersburg, while its studios are just off the Powhite Parkway extension (State Route 76) on Arboretum Place in western Chesterfield County (unincorporated Richmond). It broadcasts its analog signal on channel 8 from a transmitter that is located nearby.

History

The station began operation in 1955 as WXEX-TV, an NBC affiliate. It was originally licensed to Petersburg, and was owned by Thomas Tinsley, operating as Petersburg Television. During the 50s. 60s ,70s, and early 80s, WXEX had an AM sister station , WLEE-AM, who maintained a separate location in Richmond on West Broad St. The TV station's transmitter was located in the Bermuda Hundred area of eastern Chesterfield County, and the station reached not only Petersburg, but Richmond as well, albeit with a weaker signal than the two stations licensed to Richmond at the time. Within a year, the FCC collapsed Petersburg and Richmond into a single market. The main studios were located in Petersburg. At first, a Richmond sales office was co-located with sister station WLEE-AM on W. Broad St; later, satellite studios were established just off Midlothian Turnpike in Bon Air, Virginia, a suburb of Richmond.

The station had been an NBC affiliate for many years, but switched to ABC in 1965 and has been with that network ever since. In 1968 the station (along with sister station WLEE-AM) was sold to Nationwide Communications

In 1969, a fire destroyed its original Petersburg studios. For a few weeks, the station had to broadcast from its transmitter, then set up temporary offices and studios in a vacated store in Petersburg. The station later moved in a brand new facility on Crater Road that it named Blandford Manor.

In 1981 Nationwide sold off sister station WLEE-AM.

WXEX's call letters were changed in 1990 to WRIC, and the station moved its studios to the current location in The Arboretum Office Park in Chesterfield County. However, it is still licensed to Petersburg; unlike the other stations in the market, it identifies as "Petersburg/Richmond." In 1993 the station was sold to Young Broadcasting.

Former Personalities

*Ric Barrick - Meteorologist (now at WTVR-TV)
*Gretchen Carlson - Reporter/Anchor (now at FOX News Channel)
*Craig Civale - Reporter (now at WFAA-TV in Dallas)
*Bruce Cunningham - Sports Director (now at WBFF-TV Baltimore)
*Derrick Dennis - Reporter (now at WDIV-TV in Detroit)
*Matt Lauer - host of "PM Magazine" in the 1980s, now with NBC News
*Doug Luzader - Reporter, now with FOX News
*Mara MacDonald - Reporter (now at WDIV-TV in Detroit)
*Pam Magee - Reporter, News Director
*Laura Main - Reporter/Anchor (now at KWGN-TV in Denver)
*Chesley McNeil - Weather/Mr. Outside (now at WGRZ-TV in Buffalo)
*Carole Meekins - Anchor (now at WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee)
*Frank Robertson - Anchor (now at WTVT in Tampa)
*Rucks Russell - Reporter (now at KHOU-TV in Houston)
*Cheryl Tan - Weekend Anchor (now anchor/reporter at WAVY-TV in Hampton Roads)
*Ric Young - Anchor (now at WTVR-TV)
*Rich Landrum - News Reporter and co-host of "Dialing for Dollars". Much better known in later years as the host for the nationally syndicated TV show, "World Wide Wrestling".
*Barbara Trear - (better known to the staff as "BJ", short for Barbara Jeane)Co-host of "Dialing for Dollars" & Special Events Reporter. Better known now throughout Maryland, DC & Northern Virginia, for her jazz band, "The BJ Doyle Trio".

Trivia

* In the late 1960s, a weatherman at the station named Hugh Allen was arrested and convicted of murder.

* The station had a very popular show in the seventies that reached almost cult status in Richmond called "Shock Theater" , a horror movie show that was hosted by station employee Bill Bowman , as a character called "The Bowman Body" that became very popular in the Richmond market.

* A fake WRIC newscast is seen in the 2001 film "Hannibal", with reporter Ric Young playing himself. The film was shot on location in Richmond.

* The station received some unwanted publicity in 1989 when former evening news anchor Steve Coleman got into an argument with a news producer and his co-anchor , Lisa Schaffner, tried to intervene and was pushed by Coleman, crashing into a desk and a computer. Coleman was suspended and later fired.

External links

* [http://www.wric.com/ WRIC Homepage]
* [http://www.wwbtads.com/inside/history.htm History of WWBT Television in Richmond]
*TVQ|WRIC-TV
*BIA|WRIC|TV|TV