WAVE (TV)

For other meanings, see wave (disambiguation).

WAVE

Louisville, Kentucky
Branding	WAVE 3 (general) WAVE 3 News (newscasts)
Slogan	Working For You
Channels	Digital: 47 (UHF) Virtual: 3 (PSIP)
Subchannels	3.1 NBC 3.2 This TV 3.3 Bounce TV
Owner	Raycom Media, Inc. (WAVE License Subsidiary, LLC)
First air date	November 24, 1948
Call letters' meaning	WAVE = The word wave (as in a radio wave)
Former callsigns	WAVE-TV (1948-1987)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 5 (1948-1953) 3 (1953-2009)
Former affiliations	All secondary: CBS (1948-1950) DuMont (1948-1955)[1] ABC (1948-1961)
Transmitter power	1000 kW
Height	392 m
Facility ID	13989
Transmitter coordinates	38°22′8.3532″N 85°49′47.5716″W / 38.368987°N 85.829881°W / 38.368987; -85.829881 (WAVE) (digital)
Website	www.wave3.com/

WAVE aka "WAVE 3" is the NBC television station in Louisville, Kentucky. Owned by Raycom Media, the station broadcasts from its main studio in downtown Louisville. Their digital transmitter and antenna (over the air channel 47) are co-located with the digital antenna and transmitter of WLKY near Floyds Knobs in New Albany, Indiana.

WAVE referred to its coverage area as WAVE Country in the past, echoing a popular jingle and image campaign the station launched in the early 1970s. In fact, that very jingle was the image campaign of the news music theme Home Country composed by Al Ham. WAVE currently uses the Working for You slogan for promotion. It currently operates its digital signal on digital channel 3 (UHF 47). WAVE also carries This TV on digital subchannel 3.2.

History

WAVE began broadcasting on November 24, 1948, originally on channel 5 using 24,100 watts of power. It was Kentucky's first television station, the 41st in the United States, and was owned by the Norton family, who had begun WAVE (970 kHz, now WGTK) in 1932. At first, it carried programming from all four networks, but was a primary NBC affiliate. WAVE-TV lost CBS in 1950 when WHAS-TV signed on, and lost DuMont programming in 1956 when that network folded, but shared ABC with WHAS-TV until 1961 (when WLKY-TV signed on). It is the only commercial station in Louisville that has never changed its affiliation.^[2]

In 1949, it was the first in the nation to present a live telecast of the Kentucky Derby. The station shipped a canned newsreel to NBC for national broadcast.

In 1953, WAVE-TV moved to channel 3 due to interference from WLWT in Cincinnati and was beginning to outgrow its first studio at 334 E. Broadway (the current home for Metro United Way). WAVE made history again in 1954 as it became the first local station to broadcast in color. Viewers were treated to a vivid image of the new NBC Peacock.

In 1956, WAVE-TV moved into its current studio at 725 S. Floyd in Louisville. Three years later it became the first station to transmit live local color in the region and by 1966, it was the only Kentucky station processing its own news film on color. In 1969, WAVE-TV was first to employ a certified meteorologist and operate its own weather-forecasting system.

Over the years, the Nortons acquired three other television stations and two other radio stations, including WFRV-TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin (and semi-satellite WJMN-TV in Marquette, Michigan); WMT-AM-FM-TV in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and WFIE in Evansville, Indiana. Eventually, the Norton holdings became known as Orion Broadcasting, headquartered in Louisville with WAVE-AM-TV as the flagship station.

Orion merged with The Liberty Corporation in 1981. WAVE-TV became part of Liberty's broadcast arm, Cosmos Broadcasting, while WAVE-AM was sold off. In 1991, the station unveiled a new broadcast tower in Oldham County, KY. Costing $5 million and standing at 1,739 ft, the tower is the tallest structure in the state. Its height, which is 70% taller than average TV towers, increased WAVE’s coverage area and improved the broadcast signal.

When Liberty bowed out of the insurance business in 2000, WAVE came directly under the Liberty banner and in August 2005, Liberty announced that it was being purchased by Raycom Media of Montgomery, Alabama. This sale was completed January 31, 2006.

Digital television

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Subchannel	Programming
3.1	main WAVE-TV programming / NBC
3.2	This TV
3.3	Bounce TV

Analog-to-digital conversion

WAVE-TV shut down analog transmissions on June 12, 2009. The station remained on its pre-transition channel 47. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display WAVE-TV's virtual channel as 3.

News operation

WAVE broadcasts five hours of news over seven newscasts each weekday. On weekends, the station presents an additional two hours of news.

On July 9, 1990, WAVE debuted the first local 5:00 PM newscast. Titled "FirstNews", the newscast was anchored by veteran broadcaster Jackie Hays, the longest-serving female anchor ever at WAVE. She and co-anchor Don Shroeder were voted "Best TV news Anchor Team" and the station was chosen as "Best Source for Local News" by readers of Louisville Magazine.

As of 2008, Chief Meteorologist Tom Wills holds the record as the station's longest-tenured on-air personality, having forecast the weather at WAVE since 1969. Wills retired in July 2009 after 40 years. Wills said he would be a vacation fill-in and may return to the University of Louisville to teach meteorology as he did for several years. The station honored him by having a special two-hour edition of its local talk show "WAVE 3 Listens Live". His family and co-workers were the guests.

Meteorologist John Belski, who left the station in September 2010, received numerous awards during his 20+ years at WAVE, including being named named "Best Of Louisville" by the readers of Louisville Magazine for a number of years and was named "Best of Kentucky" by the readers of Kentucky Monthly magazine. Belski also received LEO's Readers' Choice Award. He received a "Best of the Best" award from Louisville Magazine. This award is given to people and organizations that have won the "Best of Louisville" award more than 10 times. He anchored Emmy Award-winning severe weather coverage. John was also presented the Mark Trail Award for public awareness of NOAA weather radios. This prestigious national award was presented on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C.

Sports Director Kent Taylor was voted Kentucky TV Sportscaster of the Year by the Associated Press in both 2008 and 2009.

On June 30, 2008, WAVE became the first television station in the Louisville market to broadcast its local news in high definition. Currently, although all of Louisville's major news stations broadcast local news in 16:9 widescreen, WAVE is one of the two (along with WDRB) to broadcast local news at least partially in HD. WAVE's live local field video, however, is still in widescreen standard definition.

Ratings

WAVE was the ratings leader in Louisville for over 20 years before WHAS overtook it in the 1970s. It has spent most of the last four decades as runner-up to WHAS, though in recent years it has had to fend off a spirited challenge from WLKY. Louisville is also one of the few markets in the country where all four of the major network affiliated stations have roughly equal ratings in recent years although WLKY pulled ahead of the rest in the May 2011 Nielsen ratings period.

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

• Daily News (1950s)
• WAVE News Report (1960s-mid 1974)
• WAVE Newswatch (late 1974-mid 1983)
• WAVE-TV News (late 1983-mid 1987)
• WAVE 3 News (umbrella title; 1987-present)

Today in WAVE Country WAVE 3 Sunrise WAVE 3 News Midday WAVE 3 FirstNews WAVE 3 News Extra WAVE 3 News NightCast WAVE 3 News at Noon

WAVE 3 News at 5:00 WAVE 3 News at 5:30 WAVE 3 News at 6:00 WAVE 3 News at 7:00 WAVE 3 News at 11:00 Touchdown Friday Night

Station slogans

• WAVE..part of it all (Early 1970's)
• WAVE Country and you (Mid 1970's-early 1980s)
• We're WAVE-3, Just Watch Us Now (1982-1983)
• WAVE-TV There, Be There (1983-1984; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
• The Spirit of WAVE Country (1987-2000)
• Come Home To The Best, Only on WAVE-TV
  • Variations: Working in the Spirit of WAVE Country
• Dedicated. Determined. Dependable. (1991-1992; news slogan, also used by WAGA-TV in Atlanta)
• Where Coverage Comes First (1992-1997; news slogan)
• WAVE Country's News Leader (1997-2000; news slogan)
• Coverage. Community. Commitment. (2000-2006)
• Investigating the Problem. Getting Results. (2006-2010)
• Working For You. (2010-present)

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

On-air staff

Current on-air staff

Anchors

• Scott Adkins - weekend mornings "WAVE 3 Sunrise"
• Maira Ansari^[3] - weekends at 6p and 11p; also weeknight reporter
• Dawne Gee^[4] - weeknights at 5p, 5:30p, 7:30p and 11p
• Connie Leonard^[5] - weeknights at 7p; also 11p investigative reporter
• Lori Lyle^[6] - weekdays at noon; also health reporter
• Janelle MacDonald^[7] - weeknights at 5p and 6p
• Scott Reynolds^[8] - weeknights at 5:30p, 6p, 7p, and 11p
• Cindi Sullivan^[9] - host of "WAVE 3 Listens"; also "Garden Talk" feature reporter
• Jean West^[10] - weekday mornings "WAVE 3 Sunrise"

WAVE 3 Storm Center Weather Team

• Kevin Harned (AMS Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5p, 5:30p, 6p and 11p
• Christie Dutton (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and NWA Seals of Approval - meteorologist; weekday mornings "WAVE 3 Sunrise"
• Brian Goode - meteorologist; weekdays at noon and 7p, 7:30p
• Lauren Jones - meteorologist; weekend mornings "WAVE 3 Sunrise"
• Andy Weingarten (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekends at 6p and 11p

Sports team

• Kent Taylor - sports director; weeknights at 6p and 11p
• Mike Hartnett - sports anchor; Sundays at 6p and 11p; also sports reporter
• Kendrick Haskins - sports anchor/reporter

Reporters

• Katie Bauer - general assignment reporter
• Elizabeth Donatelli - general assignment reporter
• Eric Flack - "Troubleshooter" investigative reporter
• Matt McCutcheon - general assignment reporter
• Chris McGill - traffic and general assignment reporter
• Shayla Reaves - general assignment reporter
• Jaimie Weiss - general assignment reporter
• David Williams - general assignment reporter

Notable former on-air staff

• Allen Denton - anchor (later with KNTV in San Jose, now with KUSI-TV in San Diego)
• Steve Kmetko - anchor
• Carrie Sharp - WAVE 3 Sunrise anchor (2002-2010; now at WNEM in Saginaw, MI)^[11]
• Tom Wills - one of the first sealed television meteorologists in the country (1969-2009) ^[12]

Owners

• 1948–1981: Orion Broadcasting (Norton family)
• 1981–2006: The Liberty Corporation
• 2006–present: Raycom Media

References

1. ^ The DuMont Television Network: Appendix Nine
2. ^ Kleber, John E. Encyclopedia of Louisville. (University Press of Kentucky). pg.872.
3. ^ Maira Ansari
4. ^ Dawne Gee
5. ^ Connie Leonard
6. ^ Lori Lyle
7. ^ Janelle MacDonald
8. ^ Scott Reynolds
9. ^ Cindi Sullivan
10. ^ Jean West
11. ^ Carrie (Weil) Sharp
12. ^ Muhammad, Larry (2009-04-25). "WAVE-3 meteorologist Tom Wills to retire on June 5". The Courier-Journal. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courier_journal/access/2017471371.html?FMT=ABS&date=Apr+24,+2010. Retrieved 2009-04-27. 

External links

• WAVE 3 Website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WAVE
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WAVE-TV