WAAY-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WAAY-TV
city =
station_
station_slogan =
station_branding = WAAY 31
analog = 31 (UHF)
digital = 32 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = ABC
network =
founded =
airdate = August 1, 1959
location = Huntsville/Decatur, Alabama
callsign_meaning = The word WAY with an extra A
former_callsigns = WAFG-TV (1959-1963)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Calkins Media, Inc.
licensee = Huntsville Broadcast Corporation
sister_stations =
former_affiliations = NBC (1968-1977)
effective_radiated_power = 1120 kW (analog)
468 kW (digital)
HAAT = 540 m (analog)
537.8 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 57292
coordinates = coord|34|44|12.7|N|86|31|58.9|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.waaytv.com/ www.waaytv.com]

WAAY-TV is an ABC-affiliated television station, broadcasting on channel 31 from Huntsville, Alabama. The station's transmitter is on Monte Sano, to the east of Huntsville.

History

Channel 31's first broadcast was on August 1, 1959, using the callsign WAFG-TV. When the station was sold to Smith Broadcasting (owners of WAAY, now WLOR, radio) in 1963, the callsign was changed to WAAY-TV. The station switched network affiliation to NBC in 1968, but returned to ABC in 1977, citing higher network ratings and the lack of a duplicate ABC affiliate in Florence (where WOWL, now WHDF, was then an NBC affiliate) as reasons.

Smith Broadcasting sold WAAY-TV to GOCOM Broadcasting (later renamed Piedmont Communications) in 1999. The Smith family, who previously owned broadcasting properties in Birmingham before coming to Huntsville, was the last local owner of a Huntsville television station, as rivals WHNT and WAFF had been sold to larger corporations years before (WZDX, the first station in North Alabama not affiliated with the traditional networks or the educational TV system, has always belonged to outside interests). The Smith family also owned radio stations in Fort Walton Beach, Florida and South Pittsburg, Tennessee.

At one time, all three of Huntsville's major-network affiliates, WAAY included, had studios located beside their transmitters and towers on Monte Sano. After a 1982 fire gutted the building of WAFF, however, that station, and later WHNT, moved their offices and production facilities into the city itself, employing microwave relays to send signals to their transmitters. Only WAAY continues to maintain its full operations on Monte Sano Boulevard. (WHIQ-TV, the PBS affiliate, is a translator relay of Alabama Public Television; programming originates from Birmingham or Montgomery, not Huntsville.)

On September 4, 2003, the 1000-foot broadcasting tower leased by WAAY collapsed, killing three people.

In 2006, Piedmont Broadcasting agreed to sell WAAY to Calkins Media, a Pennsylvania-based mass media company that owns several small newspapers in Pennsylvania and two other television stations: WWSB in Sarasota, Florida and WTXL in Tallahassee, Florida. The sale to Calkins became official on February 1, 2007. WAAY is Calkins' first broadcasting property outside of Florida.

On July 16, 2007 at 5 p.m. WAAY unveiled a new set and a new graphics package similar to that of their sister stations, WWSB and WTXL.

News/Station Presentation

Newscast Titles

*"WAFG-TV News" (1959-1963)
*"The WAAY of the World" (1963-1970)
*"31 News" (1970-1976, 1996-2007)
*"31 NewsCenter" (1976-1977)
*"31 Eyewitness News" (1977-1996)
*"31 News" (1996-2007)
*"WAAY 31 News" (2007-present)

Digital Television

The station's digital channel:

In 2009, WAAY-TV will leave channel 31 and move to channel 32 when the analog to digital conversion is complete.http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf]

Anchors

* Karen Adams - weekdays, 5, 6, and 10 p.m.
* Erin Dacy - weekday mornings 5-7 a.m.
* Christy Douglas - weekday mornings/midday 5-7 a.m. and 11 a.m. - 12 p.m.
* Alcides Segui - weekends 5 and 10 p.m.

Weather Anchors:
* Brad Huffines - chief/weekday evening meteorologist 5, 6, and 10 p.m.
* Gary Dobbs - weekday mornings and some middays, also on WBHP (AM)
* Keller Watts - weekend meteorologist 5 and 10 p.m., also some middays

Sports Anchors:
* T.W. Starr - Sports Director
* Kyle Burger - Weekends

Reporters

* Haley Baker
* Laura Beth Ezzell
* Justin McFarland
* Regina Raccuglia
* Alcides Segui
* Candace White
* Brittany Woodby

Former anchors/reporters

* Don Phelps- now at WHNT as part of the sales department.
* Denise Agent - now at TV3 Winchester (Virginia)
* Linda Allen (morning news anchor) - in Infantry, U.S. Army, now at WJTV, Jackson, Mississippi
* Nick Banaszak (former reporter)- now at WHNT, Huntsville, news/sports anchor
* Bob Baron (meteorologist) - creator of VIPIR (radar); president, Baron Services, Inc.
* Dave Brazelton (former sports reporter, producer, videographer) - now videographer/editor, WMAR-TV Baltimore; announcer, CBS Radio and XM Satellite Radio
* Craig Boswell (former anchor) - Fox News Correspondent
* Clint Brown (former Sand Mountain Bureau Chief, former Decatur/Limestone Bureau Chief, former reporter] - Respiratory Franchise Marketing Director, Merck & Co., Inc., Philadelphia, PA
* Heather Burns (former anchor) - retired
* Shane Butler (former chief meteorologist) - now in Lynchburg, Virginia
* Kirk Chaisson
* Anna Clayton
* Dave Cody (sportscaster)
* Dave Coffey (sports) - now vice-president, Alabama Steeldogs arena football team, Birmingham, Alabama
* Jamie Cooper (feature reporter) - now owns ZTV-11, a low-power television station in nearby Athens, Alabama
* Kristen Cornett - now with NBC Weather Plus/MSNBC
* Rick Davis (former sports anchor) - later sports writer, "Huntsville Times," now director, Cummings Research Park, Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce
* Adrian Gibson - served as news anchor and weather forecaster on the station for over 35 years. Retired in 2004
* Lisa Greer
* Tim Hall (former weekend anchor, weather forecaster) - now with WHNT-TV as a reporter and assignment manager.
* Dave Hargrove (inaugural anchor of "Live at 5") - now regional manager, AT&T, Huntsville
* Gus Hergert (Sports Director/Creator of "Friday Night Football" which won the 1998 Emmy Award) - Retired & Author
* Cliff Hill (news anchor at 5 p.m. and 10 p.m.) - Huntsville attorney
* Bill Hubscher (producer, reporter, anchor) - now producer for the Marshall Space Flight Center's t.v. studio and part of the "GAM" fantasy football league.
* Liz Hurley - now anchor, WAFF-TV, Huntsville
* Gus Johnson (former 10 p.m. sports anchor) - now with CBS Sports
* Reginald Jones (producer,assignments, EP, & weekend morning anchor) now 5,6,10pm anchor WTVY-TV and Minister of a local church.
* Tony Jordan - deceased
* Bob Labbe (sports) - now does public relations work and television commercials; heard on weekly program, "Reelin' in the Years," on public radio station WLRH-FM, Huntsville
* David Lamb (weekend sports anchor) - now anchor, WIAT-TV, Birmingham
* Walt Lehmann (Sports) - sports presenter for Mediacom, Des Moines, Iowa, TV Color Commentator AHL Iowa Stars and PDL Des Moines Menace
* Wayne MacKenzie (weekend meteorologist) - research meteorologist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville
* Mark Marcus (sports videographer, weekend sports anchor, sports director) - creative director of local church.
* Jim Marsh (lead anchor)
* Rick Mecklenburg (weather anchor) - now at WSBT-TV, South Bend, Indiana
* Matt Neal (executive producer for sports/sports productions/co-creator of "Friday Night Football") - retired
* Violet Parker
* Pam Oliver - now reporter for TNT, FOX Sports
* Greg Screws - now news anchor, WHNT-TV, Huntsville
* Gary Shore (chief meteorologist) - held same position at KCAU-TV in Sioux City, Iowa from 2001 until his death Feb. 25, 2008
* Alicia Smith (bureau chief) - deceased
* Jeff Speegle (10 p.m. sports anchor) - now sports anchor, ABC 33/40, Birmingham
* Belle Taylor (reporter) - now Executive Director, Pharmacy Access Partnership
* Beverly Taylor
* Al Whitaker - now spokesman, U.S. Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville
* Dot White (news producer, anchored weekend morning sports)Spokesperson for City of Garland (Dallas) Texas
* Amy Witte (former morning anchor)
* Brenda Wood - now with WXIA-TV in Atlanta, Georgia
* Dave Deeley (10pm Sports Anchor) (1996-1998), Sports Anchor/Reporter WWSB (1991-1996), Sports Director WNCF (1999-2002), Professor, Truman State University (2002-2004), Ph.D. Alumni Graduate Fellow, University of Florida, (2004-Present).
* Michael Scott - Former evening anchor during 2007 to 2008. Dismissed from WAAY 31 on May 28, 2008

News programming

WAAY's "31 News" broadcasts air weekdays from 5:00-7:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m., 5:00-5:30 p.m., 6:00-6:30 p.m. and 10:00-10:35 p.m., and weekends at 5:30 and 10:00 p.m. WAAY maintains news bureaus in Decatur and Florence. In the ratings as of spring 2007, all of the station's major newscasts rank in third place, though they often ranked in first place from the 1970s through the early 1990s, when the station was still family-owned.

The station previously had weekend morning newscasts and a 4:00 p.m. newscast, but has discontinued both. WAAY also produced a 9 p.m. news for WHDF briefly during the early 2000s.

For many years, WAAY's newscasts used the branding "31 Eyewitness News," and "Coverage You Can Count On." Now the station uses the simple "WAAY (pronounced "way") 31 News".

References

External links

* [http://www.waaytv.com/ WAAY-TV official website]
*TVQ|WAAY
*BIA|WAAY|TV|TV
*TitanTV|WAAY
* [http://www.31alumni.com WAAY-TV Alumni]
* [http://www.waaytv.com/Global/Category.asp?c=118535 WAAY-TV Christmas Parade]