WEAR-TV

Its transmitter is located near Foley, Alabama, and its studios are located on Mobile Highway (US 90) in southwest Pensacola.

Digital television
On June 12, 2009, WEAR-TV left channel 3 and moved to channel 17 when the analog to digital conversion completed.[1]

History
WEAR began operation on January 13, 1954, which was almost a year after WALA-TV began. The station was founded by Charles Smith and Mel Wheeler. Initially the station was a primary CBS affiliate, while sharing ABC with WALA. When WKRG-TV signed on in 1955, WEAR became strictly an ABC affiliate.

In 1959, WEAR was sold to Rollins Telecasting. In 1987, Rollins Telecasting merged with Heritage Broadcasting to form Heritage Media. In October 1997, WEAR and the other Heritage stations were sold to Sinclair Broadcasting, just as the remainder of Heritage Media was merging with News Corporation (the parent company of Fox). This sale also protected former longtime NBC affiliate WALA as the market's Fox affiliate; otherwise, WEAR would have been forced to switch its network affiliation to Fox.

WEAR started producing newscasts in HD on September 7, 2008. The station installed a new digital control room and re-built its news set. As of October 2010, it is the only news operation in the Mobile/Pensacola market to produce a local newscast in high definition.

WEAR's newscasts tend to focus on coverage of the Northwestern Florida area as opposed to WKRG, WALA, and WPMI-TV, which predominantly feature news for the Alabama side of the market. WEAR has operated a bureau in Foley in southern Baldwin County, Alabama; however, the station rarely covers events in Mobile itself.

Sinclair prohibited its ABC affiliates, including WEAR, from airing a Nightline broadcast in 2004 because the company felt it was near anti-war rhetoric.[2]

[edit] Mediacom dispute
In late 2006, Sinclair entered into negotiations with Mediacom, the main cable provider for much of the Florida side of the Mobile-Pensacola market (including Santa Rosa County and Pensacola Beach). The two companies could not reach agreement over compensation rights. As a result, Mediacom pulled all of Sinclair's stations, including WEAR, from its systems on January 6, 2007. The dispute ended on February 2, when the two sides reached an agreement that restored WEAR to Mediacom systems.

Upon the expiration of the 2007 agreement on January 1, 2010, Mediacom was prepared to drop WEAR and WFGX once again from its systems. Sinclair agreed to a temporary extension until January 8 on December 31, 2009 (so the BCS games could be viewed on Sinclair's ABC and FOX affiliates over Mediacom), and eventually, a one-year agreement was reached which will keep Sinclair stations on Mediacom until 2011.

Current on-air staff
Anchors/hosts First Warning Weather Team Sports team Reporters
 * Mollye Barrows - weekdays at 4, and weeknights at 10 p.m.; also reporter
 * James T. Jackson - Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5 and weekends at 10 p.m.; also reporter
 * Liz Nagy - weekend mornings 3 In The Morning
 * Bree Sison - weekday mornings 3 In the Morning; also reporter
 * Bob Solarski - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
 * Sue Straughn - weekdays Dayside (11 a.m.), 5 and 6 p.m.; also host of Straughn & Company and producer
 * Jared Willets - weekday mornings 3 In the Morning and Dayside (11 a.m.)
 * Allen Strum (AMS/NWA Seals of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist; weekdays at 4, weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
 * Jim Carmack - Weather Anchor; Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5 and weekends at 10 p.m., also reporter
 * Kathryn Daniel - Meteorologist; weekend mornings 3 in the Morning and Dayside (11 a.m.), also reporter
 * Christian Garman (AMS/NWA Seals of Approval) - Meteorologist; weekday mornings 3 in the Morning, also entertainment reporter
 * Dan Shugart - Sports Director; weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
 * Steve Nissim - Sports Anchor; Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5 and weekends at 10 p.m., also sports reporter
 * Laurie Bernstein - general assignment reporter
 * Laura Hussey - general assignment reporter
 * Jaimee Lee - traffic reporter
 * Greg Neumann - general assignment reporter; also fill-in anchor
 * Bill Pearson - general assignment reporter
 * Jake Peterson - general assignment reporter
 * Bob Solarski - host of Channel 3 News This Week; also producer
 * Dan Thomas - general assignment reporter

Former staff

 * Jim Pennington (former anchor & news director)
 * Mary Ollie Newman (former anchor)
 * Ashley Chisholm (chief meteorologist) - at WEAR from 1993 until 2000 before leaving TV. Now with EW Bullock Associates.[3]
 * Dale Emanuel (weekend news anchor) - now public relations representative at Goodwill Industries Portland, Oregon area.
 * Lance Sandstead (news anchor)
 * Hank Astengo (sport anchor) - now sports anchor for WCJB in Gainesville, Florida.
 * Katie Horner (chief meteorologist) - now chief meteorologist at KCTV in Kansas City, Missouri.[4]
 * Jeff Weeks (morning weather) - produces "Conversations with Jeff Weeks" on WSRE23 (PBS at Pensacola Junior College).[5]
 * William Jackson (weekend sports) - left to KCTV and now with Comcast Sportsnet Chicago.
 * Steve Berthiaume (weekend sports) - now with ESPN SportsCenter
 * Beth Morgan (weekend weather)
 * Sarah Pitzen (weekend weather)
 * Annette Falwell (weekend news anchor) - now anchor-reporter at WCTI-TV in New Bern, North Carolina.
 * Dave Daughtry (news anchor) - went to WALA in Mobile, Alabama, and is now host of the local WEBY radio morning show.
 * Drexel Gilbert (weekend anchor) Left for WPEC and eventually at WKRG and WPMI. Now owner of Drexel Gilbert Enterprises, Inc.[6]
 * Heather Tesch - former reporter, now a meteorologist at the Weather Channel
 * Ann Kerian - former anchor/military affairs reporter - now "Executive Coach, Consultant and Public Speaker"
 * Bob O'Brien (weather anchor)
 * Shauna Dunlap - former morning anchor, left WEAR and began working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation
 * Charles Basset - former weekend anchor, now at KWTV in Oklahoma City
 * Catherine Pegram - former morning anchor, now at WABI in Bangor, Maine
 * Sherri Hemminghaus
 * Doug Mouton - former weekend sports anchor, now works as a reporter at WWL-TV in New Orleans
 * Rob Manning - former news reporter
 * David Brandao - former news reporter
 * Sara Baumgartner - anchor
 * Byron L. Pfordte - former reporter/newscast director, currently Art Director for Sinclair Broadcast Group stations WXLV & WMYV in Greensboro, NC and Owner of bp Multimedia.
 * Erin Ovalle - former reporter, now reporter at Sinclair sister station WGME-TV in Portland, ME
 * Francesca Maxime - former 10 p.m. anchor, now hosting the daily TV show Currents in New York.
 * Liz Swaine - began career at WEAR-TV; voted "Best Journalist in the Nation" while at KTBS-TV in Shreveport; candidate for mayor of Shreveport, 2006
 * Tara Brown - former morning anchor
 * Tom Siler - former meteorologist
 * Tom Rieland - Reporter and Mobile Bureau Chief 1980-83. Now General Manager at WOSU Public Media in Columbus, OH

Newscast titles

 * The Gulf Coast Newsreel (1954–1961)
 * The Gulf Coast Report (1961–1967)
 * TV-3 News (1967–1974)
 * Eyewitness News (1974-early 1980s)
 * Gulf Coast News 3 (early 1980s)
 * Channel 3 News (mid 1980s-present)

Station slogans
This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.==External links==
 * We're Still the One, on Channel 3 (1977–1978 and 1979–1980; local version of ABC ad campaign)
 * We're the One You Can Turn To, Channel 3 (1978–1979; local version of ABC ad campaign)
 * You and Me and Channel 3 (1980–1981; local version of ABC ad campaign)
 * Now is the Time, Channel 3 is the Place (1981–1982; local version of ABC ad campaign)
 * Come Along With Channel 3 (1982–1984; local version of ABC ad campaign)
 * We're With You on Channel 3 (1984–1985; local version of ABC ad campaign)
 * You'll Love It On Channel 3 (1985–1986; local version of ABC ad campaign)
 * Together on Channel 3 (1986–1987; local version of ABC ad campaign)
 * If It's WEAR-3, It Must Be ABC (1992–1993, local version of ABC ad campaign)
 * TV is Good, on WEAR-3 (1997–1998; local version of ABC ad campaign)
 * We Love TV, on WEAR-3 (1998–1999; local version of ABC ad campaign)
 * Your Clear Choice for News (2000–2006)
 * First. Live. Local. (2006–present)
 * Official site
 * Query the FCC's TV station database for WEAR
 * BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WEAR-TV
 * Program Information for WEAR at TitanTV.com