WBIR-TV

WBIR-TV channel 10 is the NBC affiliate television station in Knoxville, Tennessee. The station is owned by TEGNA. Its transmitter is located in the broadcasting antenna farm on Sharp's Ridge in Knoxville.

History
WBIR-TV signed on the air on August 12, 1956 as an affiliate of the CBS television network, taking that affiliation away from WTVK (channel 26, now WVLT-TV on channel 8). During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.[1] WBIR-TV was owned and named after Jesse W. "Jay" Birdwell, who also owned WBIR radio (1240 AM, now WIFA; and 103.5 FM, now WIMZ). Although WBIR radio's sign off was "We are the Best In Radio," which spelled out WBIR, the TV station's call letters actually came from the first three letters of Jay Birdwell's last name.

Birdwell was also one of the partners who had put WJHL-TV, channel 11, the CBS affiliate in Johnson City, Tennessee (Tri-Cities), on the air in 1953. Shortly after signing Channel 10 on the air in Knoxville, Birdwell gave up his interest in WJHL-TV because channel 10's city-grade analog signal covered the area between Morristown and Greeneville, which is part of the Tri-Cities market. At the time, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) normally did allow common ownership of two stations with overlapping signals, and would not even consider granting a waiver for a city-grade overlap. Birdwell, who now had lesser partners in the ownership of WBIR-TV, opted to keep WBIR-TV because he still owned WBIR-AM-FM.

However, in 1957, Birdwell abruptly sold his majority interest in the WBIR stations to a group of investors: general manager John P. Hart, Gilmore Nunn, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ashe, and Taft Broadcasting of Cincinnati. On October 29, 1959, Nunn, the Ashes, and Hart sold their 70 per cent of the station outright to Taft, which owned the station for just over a year. On November 16, 1960, Taft sold WBIR-AM-FM-TV to the News-Piedmont Company of Greenville, South Carolina; owner of WFBC-AM-FM-TV in its hometown. In 1967, News-Piedmont merged with Southern Broadcasting to form the Southeastern Broadcasting Corporation. Soon afterward, Southeastern sold all of its radio stations, purchased four more television stations and changed its name to Multimedia, Inc. WBIR-TV and WFBC-TV were its flagship stations.[2]

In 1988, WBIR became an NBC affiliate, swapping affiliations with WTVK just before it moved to channel 8 as WKXT-TV. Ironically, this marked CBS' return to its original affiliate in Knoxville. At the time, NBC was the top-rated network while CBS was in third place near the midpoint of the Laurence Tisch period of that network's history. The biggest reason was that most of Multimedia's stations were NBC affiliates. Companies that own several stations affiliated with the same network generally have more clout with that network. NBC was more than willing to make the switch, since WTVK had been one of its weakest affiliates while WBIR was a solid runner-up to WATE-TV. With the switch, Channel 10 became the last major commercial station in Knoxville to change affiliations. The switch also made channel 10 the third station in Knoxville to carry NBC; the network had previously aired on WATE from 1953 to 1979 before moving to WTVK in 1979.

Multimedia merged with Gannett in 1995.

In 2008, WBIR-TV debuted new graphics & news-music.

Until late March 2011, WBIR-TV produced a 10 p.m. newscast for CW20 (WBXX-TV). On March 28, WBIR-TV began producing a nightly 10 p.m. newscast for Fox affiliate WTNZ (channel 43). WBIR will also begin producing a weekday morning news show at 7 a.m. for that station beginning in June. Both stations' newscasts will begin airing in high definition in June 2011, making WBIR and WTNZ the second and third stations in Knoxville to make the upgrade.

Digital television
The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Digital channel National feeds for NBC Weather Plus ended December 2008

Analog-to-digital conversion
After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion on June 12, 2009, WBIR-TV moved its digital broadcasts back to its former analog channel number, 10.

The Heartland Series
Main article: The Heartland SeriesThe Heartland Series, hosted by Bill Landry, was a popular documentary series produced by WBIR from 1984 until 2009. It was conceived in 1984 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It continued to celebrate the people and the land of the entire Appalachian region, presenting re-enactments of historic events and feature stories about regional culture.[3] In February 2009, WBIR announced that it would suspend production of the series in September 2009, but would continue to show the hundreds of episodes already produced "for as long as the viewers like them."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Morrow_2-1" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[3] The last episode was taped at the Museum of Appalachia in Norris on August 8, 2009 before an audience estimated at 10,000 people, one of the largest crowds in the museum's history.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Brown_3-0" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[4] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[5]

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">During its 25-year history, The Heartland Series received several awards, including four Emmy Awards<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-5" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[6] United States embassies around the world keep tapes of The Heartland Seriesbroadcasts as an information resource on life in Appalachia.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[7]

Our Stories
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">In 2006, WBIR celebrated its 50th anniversary with a special report on some of the past stories captured on WBIR for the past 50 years. These reports were called "Our Stories" and included retrospectives on events such as U.S. Presidents visiting Knoxville and East Tennessee, major crimes and even the 25th Anniversary of the 1982 World's Fair.

Current staff
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">News anchors


 * Robin Wilhoit-Weeknights at 5pm, 6pm and 11pm
 * John Becker-Weeknights at 5pm, 6pm and 11pm Host of Inside Tennessee
 * LaSaundra Brown (Noon)
 * Abby Ham (Weekday mornings)
 * Russell Biven (Weekday mornings and Live at @ Five @ Four)
 * Beth Haynes (Live @ Five @ four)
 * Brittany Bailey-Weekend Mornings
 * Sean Dreher (6pm and 11pm Weekends)

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Sports


 * Steve Phillips (Weekdays)
 * Kris Budden Saturdays at 6 & 11pm
 * Terry Brooks Sundays at 6 & 11pm

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Reporters


 * Brittany Bailey
 * Steve Butera
 * Erin Donovan
 * Sean Dreher
 * Hillary Lake
 * Jim Matheny
 * Allison Bybee
 * Stoney Sharp
 * Emily Stroud
 * Anthony Welsch
 * Ken Schwall (Positively Schwall)
 * Bill Williams (Monday's Child; Mission of Hope)

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">"Live at Five at Four" hosts

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Prior to September 15, 2008, this show was aired at 5:00 p.m. on weekdays under the title "Live at Five." The program was moved to 4:00 p.m. and was temporarily renamed "Live at Five at Four" with WBIR asking for viewers' opinions on a new name. The quirky temporary name, however, was embraced by viewers and "Live at Five at Four" has remained the brand for the 4:00 p.m. program.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">In 2010, Live at Five at Four, debuted new graphics to better reflect programming shown on the newscast.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Hosts are:


 * Russell Bivens
 * Beth Haynes

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Weather


 * Todd Howell
 * Mike Witcher
 * Cheryl Scott-

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Traffic


 * Ed Rupp

Former on-air staff

 * Cheryl Jones, weather
 * Bill Williams, anchor and reporter (Charities)
 * Lisa Cornwell, weekday mornings and Noon (now at Big Ten Network)
 * Moira Kaye, "Style" host
 * Dan Farkas, reporter and sports
 * Ben Senger, anchor (now weekend anchor at WXII-TV, Winston-Salem, NC
 * Josh Roe, sports {now at WWMT-TV)
 * Seth Grossman, anchor
 * Mark Schnyder, anchor and reporter (now at KMOV-TV, St. Louis)
 * Teresa Woodard, anchor and reporter (now at KTVI-TV, St. Louis)
 * Ted Hall, anchor and reporter (now anchor at WXIA-TV, Atlanta)
 * Gary Loe, sports (now anchor of Hockey LoeDown WVLT-TV, Knoxville)
 * Steve Burgin, anchor
 * Byron Webre, weather
 * Jim Early, anchor and news director (deceased)
 * Cassandra McGee, anchor
 * Jennifer Mabe, reporter
 * Rob Braun, anchor and reporter (now anchor at WKRC-TV, Cincinnati)
 * Scott Sams, weather and sports (now anchor at KTVT-TV, Dallas)
 * Rex Rainey, weather
 * Carl Williams, anchor (Retired)
 * Marti Skold, weather (now at KTVX, Salt Lake City)
 * Terri Gruca, anchor (now 6pm/10pm anchor at KVUE-TV, Austin)
 * Bob Kesling, sports (now "Voice of the Vols" at the Vol Network, Host Communications)
 * Chip Carter, sports
 * Doc Johnston, anchor
 * Gene Patterson, anchor and reporter (now Anchor at WATE-TV, Knoxville)
 * Sara Allen, host of "Live at Five"
 * Nicole Henrich, host of "Style"
 * Jim Cline, sports
 * Judy Jenkins, anchor and reporter
 * Kristin Hoke, anchor and reporter (WPBF Palm Beach, FLA) Deceased D.2010
 * Kim Carson, weather
 * Larry Smith, reporter
 * Todd Summers, sports
 * Jim Holliday, sports
 * Phil Rainey, sports
 * Greeley Kyle, reporter
 * JaQuitta Williams, anchor and reporter (now reporter/anchor at WGCL-TV, Atlanta)
 * Bret Dark, anchor
 * Al Klensch, anchor and reporter
 * Van Hackett, reporter
 * Charles Thompson, reporter
 * Steve Dean, reporter
 * Pauletta Jackson, reporter
 * Janet Cunningham, weather
 * Sonja Smith, reporter
 * Edye Ellis, anchor (retired)
 * Margie Ison, weather (retired)
 * Mark Packer, sports (now First at 4 anchor, Sports Overtime Anchor at WVLT-TV Knoxville)
 * Greg Zorb, sports
 * Mark Smith, sports
 * Jennifer Broome, weather
 * Missy Kane, reporter
 * Valerie Hyman, reporter
 * Lindsey Nelson, reporter (deceased)
 * Tony Perkins, reporter
 * Kim Stephens, anchor
 * Faith Fancher, reporter
 * Carol Marin, reporter (now political reporter at WMAQ-TV, Chicago)
 * Deborah Roberts, reporter
 * Bill Harris, weather
 * Mark Nagi, sports (now at WATE-TV, Knoxville)
 * Adina Chumley, anchor and reporter
 * Steve Oglesby, reporter, anchor, newscast producer
 * Jim Acosta, reporter
 * Renee Jameson, reporter
 * Jennifer Leslie, reporter
 * Mark Johnson, weather
 * Alysiah Bond, sports
 * Krista Goldhair, reporter
 * Tom Poe, anchor
 * Wallene Dockery, weather
 * Cheryl Mazur, anchor
 * Alan Williams, sports (now anchor at WVLT-TV, Knoxville)
 * Lori Perry, weather
 * Tim Cox, anchor and reporter (now with WXIN-TV, "Fox 59" Indianapolis as Gene Cox, which is his first name)
 * Lance West, anchor and reporter
 * Lisa Argen, weather
 * Julya Johnson, weather (now morning meteorologist at WATE-TV, Knoxville)
 * David Nelson, anchor and reporter
 * Mary Nelson, anchor and reporter
 * Jason Pack, reporter
 * Jim Ragonese, reporter
 * Syan Rhodes, anchor and reporter (now weekday morning anchor at WESH-TV, Orlando)
 * Carmen Ainsworth, reporter
 * Mary Loos, weather
 * Stephanie Wines, reporter
 * Chuck Denney, reporter
 * Foster Arnett, reporter (now Knox County Clerk, Knoxville)
 * Janice Williamson, reporter
 * Ben Bailey, weather (now at WJBK, Detroit)
 * Gina Miller, sports
 * Jay Beeler, reporter
 * Rebecca Gerben, reporter
 * Laura Hatch, reporter

Newscast titles

 * Big News (1960s–1972)
 * Action 10 News (1972-? & ?–2006)
 * NewsCenter 10
 * 10 News (2006–present)

Station slogans

 * The Best is Right Here on Channel 10 (1973-1974; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
 * See the Best...Channel 10 (1974-1975; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
 * Catch the Brightest Stars on Channel 10 (1975-1976; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
 * Channel 10, We're the Hot Ones (1976-1977; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
 * There's Something in the Air, on Channel 10 (1977-1978; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
 * Channel 10, Turn Us On, We'll Turn You On (1978-1979; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
 * We're Looking Good on Channel 10 (1979-1980; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
 * Looking Good Together, Channel 10 (1980-1981; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
 * Reach for the Stars on TV-10 (1981-1982; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
 * Great Moments on TV-10 (1982-1983; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
 * Straight from the Heart of (East Tennessee) (1983-present)
 * We've Got the Touch, You and TV-10 (1983-1984; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
 * You and TV-10, We've Got the Touch (1984-1985; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
 * We've Got the Touch on Channel 10 (1985-1986; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
 * Share the Spirit on Channel 10 (1986-1987; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
 * Channel 10 Spirit, oh yes! (1987-1988; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
 * Come Home To The Best, Only on Channel 10 (1988-1990; first localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * WBIR, The Place To Be! (1990-1992; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * It's A Whole New Channel 10 (1992-1993; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * The Stars Are Back on Channel 10 (1993-1994; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * It's Channel 10! (1994-1995; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * The Year To Be on Channel 10 (1995-1996; localized version of NBC ad campaign)

Newscast themes

 * The Action News Theme by Unknown Composer (1970-1974)
 * WBIR 1982 News Theme by Unknown Composer (1982-1983)
 * TuesdayC by Tuesday Productions (19??-19??)
 * Theme From Firepower by Gato Barbieri (1983-1985)
 * Power News V.1 and V.2 by 615 Music (1985-1997)
 * WBIR 1994 News Theme by Unkown Composer (19??-19??)
 * Newsmark by 615 Music (1997-2000)
 * Heartland by 615 Music (2000-2008)
 * Gannett News Music Package by Rampage Music (2008-2013)
 * This is Home by Gari Communications (2013-present)