WWAY-TV

Digital programming
On WWAY-DT2, Time Warner digital channel 106, and Charter digital channel 148 is the Retro Television Network (RTV).

History
WWAY signed-on October 1964 as the second television station in Wilmington preceded by WECT by more than ten years. It has been an ABC affiliate since its inception. This was somewhat unusual for a two-station market (especially one of Wilmington's size) and the reason is not clear to this day. In most two-station markets, ABC was usually relegated to secondary status on existing stations. WWAY was founded by local Wilmington interests, but by the mid-1980s, the station was owned by Clay Communications. It underwent a revolving door of owners over the course of the next two decades.

In 1987, Clay sold its broadcasting interests, including WWAY, to Price Communications. [2] In 1988, Price sold WWAY to Adams Television [3] who flipped the station to Hillside Broadcasting a few years later. Hillside then sold WWAY to Cosmos Broadcasting, a subsidiary of The Liberty Corporation, in 1999. [4] That company sold off its insurance interests two years later bringing WWAY directly under the Liberty banner. In 2005, it merged with Raycom Media. That company already owned WECT and could not keep both stations due to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) duopoly rules that do not allow common ownership of two of the four largest stations in a single market.

Raycom opted to keep the higher-rated WECT and spun-off WWAY to current owner Morris Multimedia in 2006. However, the station still retains its Liberty-era logo. On May 8, 2008, the FCC announced that five stations in Wilmington, including WWAY, had agreed to voluntarily cease analog broadcasting on September 8 [5] serving as a test market for the 2009 national digital television transition. On June 15, WWAY started broadcasting the Retro Television Network on its second digital channel. This had previously served as a 24-hour local weather channel.

Cable and satellite availability
In North Carolina, WWAY is still carried in Rowland which is part of the Florence/Myrtle Beach/Lumberton market. Rowland and all of Robeson County used to be part of the Wilmington market and even earlier the Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville DMA. Lumberton, the county seat of Robeson County, used to carry WWAY as well until around 1999. Jacksonville still carries WWAY even though it is part of the Greenville/Washington/New Bern market. In South Carolina, WWAY used to be carried in Myrtle Beach and Surfside Beach up until the late-1990s. It was carried along the South Carolina borderbelt communities near the North Carolina state line but no longer is. WWAY is not carried on satellite outside of the market in the Carolinas. In Brunswick County, the station is carried on ATMC channel 5.

News operation
News open seen weeknights at 6.For its entire history, WWAY has been ranked at a distant second place behind WECT. Besides being the first station in Wilmington, that channel offers the most newscasts including throughout the weekend. Low-powered CBS affiliate WILM-LD does not operate a news department of its own unlike most big three stations. It simulcasts some shows from WRAL-TV in Raleigh with local weather inserts targeted toward Wilmington.

From March 10, 2008 until February 27, 2009 through a news share agreement, WWAY produced a prime time newscast weeknights at 7 on WILM that offered local coverage. On August 1, 2009, this station discontinued its airing of weekend newscasts leaving WECT/WSFX-TV as the only outlet. According to the Star-News, WWAY said it would restart those broadcasts when the economy recovers.

As of October 10, 2010, the station has brought back weekend broadcasts with a Sunday night show at 11. WWAY currently airs its newscasts in 16x9 widescreen enhanced definition. Although not truly high definition, the broadcasts match the ratio of HD television screens. Unlike most ABC affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone, WWAY does not air a full two-hour morning or midday show during the week. Like all RTV affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone, WWAY-DT2 airs Daytime weekday mornings at 9 for an hour. That channel also repeats the weeknight 5 and 6 o'clock shows at 7 and 7:30 respectively.

Newscast titles

 * News Scope (1964–1971)
 * TV 3 News (1971–1978)
 * Channel 3 Eyewitness News (1978–1991)
 * NewsChannel 3 (1991–2003)
 * WWAY NewsChannel 3 (2003–present)

Station slogans

 * "Your WWAY" (1980s)
 * "First, Live, and Local" (1990s-2000s)
 * "Live. Local. Interactive." (2007–present)

News team
Anchors StormTrack 3 Meteorologists Sports Reporters
 * Marcy Cuevas - weekday mornings
 * Greg Privett - Managing Editor seen Sundays through Friday nights
 * Grace Swartz - Your Home Town Show host
 * Jerry Jackson (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief seen weeknights
 * Tim Buckley - weekday mornings and news reporter
 * Asha Dave - Sundays at 11 and news reporter
 * John Rendleman - weeknights at 6 and 11
 * sports and news reporter
 * Coach's Corner and Friday Night Fifth Quarter host
 * Trot Nixon - Friday Night Fifth Quarter host
 * Jesse Jones - sports reporter
 * Kevin Wuzzardo - News Content Manager
 * "The Rant", "Fugitive Files", "Coastal Carolina Closeup", and "Kitchen Cops" segments producer
 * Art Ginsburg - "Mr. Food" segment producer
 * Hailey Winslow - website
 * Chris Allen
 * Joe Mauceri
 * Nadine Maeser
 * Ramon Hererra

Notable former staff

 * Ben Baird
 * Steve Beverly
 * Jerry Brown (now at WMBB in Panama City, FL)
 * Jenna Caiazzo
 * Kaci Christian
 * Douglas Clark
 * Kim Downing (deceased)
 * Dawn Davenport (current sports reporter/anchor at WKRN in Nashville, TN)
 * Jon Evans
 * Kitty Fitzgibbon
 * Chris Francis
 * Shirley Gilbert (deceased)
 * Dina Garrett
 * Carisa Lawson
 * Jeff Lennox (now reporter.anchor at "WESH 2 News", NBC Orlando, FL)
 * Mark Mcginnis (Chief Meteorologist at WDJT Milwaukee)
 * Chris Marshall
 * Gene Motley
 * Kim Ratcliff (now at WECT/WSFX- Carolina in the morning anchor and WECT NEWS AT NOON)
 * Monica Rix
 * Richard Rogers (now 6 & 11 o'clock anchor News 12 Augusta, Georgia)
 * Jill Rogers (now in Augusta, Georgia)
 * Karen Schradin
 * Daniel Seamans (6 pm and 11 pm anchor at WOLO)
 * Stella Shelton
 * Sonya Stevens- (now morning/noon meteorologist at WMAZ in Macon, GA)
 * Latricia Thomas- (current 5:00 and 5:30 anchor at WTVC in Chattanooga, TN)
 * Ken Watlington (now sports anchor/reporter at BCSN/WTOL in Toledo, OH)
 * Steve Rondinaro
 * Margo Gray (now at WAFF TV)