WSAV-TV

[edit] Digital programming
On WSAV-DT2, Time Warner digital channel 121 (in South Carolina), and Comcast digital channel 237 (in Georgia) is the area's MyNetworkTV affiliate. This airs the Retro Television Network (RTV) outside weeknight prime time. It also re-airs Dr. Phil and Oprah from the main channel on weeknights.

History
WSAV-TV went on-the-air on VHF channel 3 on February 1, 1956, co-owned with WSAV-AM 630 (now WBMQ), after a long legal battle over the frequency with WJIV. It initially broadcast from a facility atop a bank building on Broughton Street in downtown Savannah. The flashing WSAV sign was a landmark on the street for many years. WSAV-AM had long been with NBC Radio, so WSAV-TV took the NBC television affiliation. However, it shared ABC with CBS affiliate WTOC-TV until WJCL-TV signed-on in 1970. During the late-1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. [1] WSAV briefly had an FM station using an antenna atop the middle of three AM towers at the transmitter facility on Oatland Island. However, without many listeners to the simulcast programming, FM operation was ended in the 1950s. In 1960, WSAV-AM-TV moved into a brand new facility on Victory Drive where WSAV-TV still is today.

A new tower was built at the site boosting its signal to many of the surrounding counties in Georgia and South Carolina. The current tower was built in 1976. In the same year, WSAV-AM was sold. Just a few months later, WSAV expanded its news department and moved into a former insurance office next door to the Victory Drive studio. In 1982, the station swapped affiliations with WJCL and became an ABC affiliate. That network had become number one in the country and had been searching for stronger affiliates. However, channel 3 returned to NBC in 1986, one year after NBC became #1 again.

In the mid-1990s, like many other commercial television stations in the United States, WSAV was sold several times. Ellis Communications bought it in the early 1990s. However, in 1996, Ellis was sold to Retirement Systems of Alabama, who merged it with Aflac's former broadcasting division to form Raycom Media. Aflac had owned rival WTOC-TV, and Raycom couldn't keep both due to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations forbidding common ownership of two stations in the same market. Raycom opted to keep the higher-rated WTOC and sell WSAV. In early 1997, Raycom traded WSAV to current owner Media General in return for WTVR-TV in Richmond, Virginia and two other stations. In the 2000s, this station acquired the local rights to the syndicated game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!. Both were previously shown on rival WJCL-TV for almost two decades.

On February 1, 2006, WSAV celebrated its 50th anniversary. To commemorate the event, Savannah Mayor Otis Johnson officially announced the date as "WSAV Day" and lauded the station for its many achievements over the decades and its continued service to its viewers always "On Your Side" whenever a viewer needs to get a story out. On September 5, WSAV began carrying MyNetworkTV and the Retro Television Network on a new second digital subchannel. This channel is also available to DirecTV customers in Savannah on channel 29. WSAV-DT2's website and the digital subchannel feature a logo in the upper right-hand corner of the screen that reads "WSAV-DT 3.2 Savannah". WSAV-TV ended analog operations on June 12, 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United States. [2] The station remained on its current pre-transition channel number, 39. [3] Through the use of PSIP, WSAV-TV's main (NBC) signal is displayed as virtual channel 3.

Weather with Captain Sandy
This channel was known for an unusual practice on its newscasts from the 1950s to the 1970s. WSAV was home to "Captain Sandy", who was something of a hybrid between a weatherman and children's show host. The character gave the weather on the evening newscasts working with puppet sidekicks "Wilbur the Weather Bird", "Arthur Mometer" (the thermometer), and "Calamity Clam". Captain Sandy would appear on the news set wearing a vaguely nautical cap and blazer as a nod to the region's dependence on the Atlantic Ocean. The comedy elements of the forecast included the thermometer and the clam. Captain Sandy’s big thermometer was temperamental and would fidget before revealing the next day's high and low temperatures. When Captain Sandy opened Davy Jones' Locker to get the tide information (a crucial component of any weather forecast in the region) out of Calamity Clam, the puppeteer always tried to bite the captain's hand.

By the end of the 1970s, new station ownership found Captain Sandy's routine embarrassing (and likely anachronistic since most television stations had discontinued their local children's shows years before) and the owners made the Captain finally conform to convention prescribing him a suit and tie like the other newscasters. The owners also fired the puppets shortly after to the almost-certain sorrow of area children. One of the personalities behind the Captain Sandy character was smooth-voiced Joe Cox, who later left WSAV to become weatherman at cross-town rival WJCL, where he also hosted an evening radio program on WJCL-FM. The original Captain Sandy, from 1956, was played by Norm Strand.

News operation
Like all RTV stations in the Eastern Time Zone, WSAV-DT2 airs Daytime weekday mornings at 9 for an hour. The main channel then re-airs the show's first half hour at 11:30. Unlike most NBC affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone, WSAV does not air midday,or 5 o'clock newscasts during the week. WSAV-DT2 broadcasts the market's only weeknight 7 p.m. broadcast. Known as My Lowcountry 3, it airs for an hour. Unlike the main channel's local shows, this production focuses on the South Carolina side of the market. WSAV was the featured city during Al Roker's weather forecast on the April 23, 2007 edition of Today. Roker referred to the station as "WSAV NBC 3". All news anchors also serve as reporters. News and weather updates from this station can be heard on WGCO-FM 98.3, WGZO-FM 103.1, WFXH-FM 106.1, WGZR-FM 106.9, WLOW-FM 107.9, and WFXH-AM 1130.

Newscast titles

 * WSAV-TV News (1956-1964)
 * The World Today/The World Tonight (1964-1967)
 * The Sixth Hour Report/The Eleventh Hour Report (1967-1971)
 * TV-3 News (1971-1974)
 * NewsCenter 3 (1974-1990)
 * WSAV NewsCenter (1990-1996)
 * News 3 (1996-present)

Station slogans

 * It's 3 in Savannah and "Keep Your Eyes on 3" (1960s)
 * Channel 3, Proud as a Peacock! (1979-1981; local version of NBC campaign)
 * Channel 3, Our Pride is Showing (1981-1982; before the switch)
 * Come on Along with Channel 3 (1982-1983; after the switch)
 * That Special Feeling on Channel 3 (1983-1984; local version of ABC campaign)
 * We're With You on Channel 3 (1984-1985; local version of ABC campaign)
 * You'll Love It on Channel 3 (1985-1986; before the switch back to NBC)
 * Channel 3, Let's All Be There! (1986; local version of NBC campaign)
 * Come Home to Channel 3 (1986-1988; local version of NBC campaign)
 * Come Home to the Best, Only on Channel 3 (1988-1990; local version of NBC campaign)
 * Coverage You Can Count On (mid 1990s-2006)
 * On Your Side (2006-present)

Newscast music

 * NBC TV-Radio Newspulse by Fred Weinberg Productions, Inc. (1974-1978)
 * WSAV 1978 News Theme by unknown composer (1978-1982)
 * WSAV 1982 News Theme by unknown composer (1982-19??)
 * WSAV 1986 News Theme by unknown composer (19??-19??)
 * KSL 1989 News Theme by unknown composer (19??-19??)
 * This is Your News by Gari Communications, Inc. (1997-2004)
 * The NBC Collection by Gari Communications, Inc. (2004-2006)
 * Media General Station Group Package by JDK Music (since 2006)

Former staff

 * Alaina Anderson, weekend anchor/reporter
 * James Aydelott, meteorologist (now at KOKI-TV, Tulsa, Oklahoma)
 * Jesse Blanco, anchor (now at WJCL-TV, Savannah)
 * Lyndy Brannen, anchor (now at WJCL-TV, Savannah)
 * Tom Chisholm, meteorologist (now at WMTW-TV, Portland, Maine)
 * Dianne Derby, anchor/reporter (now at WSPA-TV, Spartanburg, South Carolina)
 * Paul Floeckher, reporter (now at Georgia Southern)
 * Mike Fuori, meteorologist (2005-2008)
 * Curtis Gaston, photographer (now at CurtisGaston.com)
 * Eric Greene, 11 p.m. anchor
 * Tony Guida
 * Brad Huffines, meteorologist (now at WAAY-TV, Huntsville, Alabama)
 * Michael Jordan, anchor and reporter, 1997-2004 (now president of Cosmos Mariner Productions in Savannah)
 * Dave Kartunen, anchor/reporter (now at WHDH-TV, Boston, Massachusetts)
 * Jayme King, meteorologist (now at KSAZ-TV, Phoenix, Arizona)
 * Steve LaPointe, meteorologist (now at WRGB-TV, Albany, New York)
 * Tim McGinnis, anchor/managing editor (now at WPDE, Florence/Myrtle Beach, South Carolina)
 * Jed Mescon, anchor/reporter (now at WRCB-TV, Chattanooga, Tennessee)
 * Gary Miller, Sports Director (1978-1982) later CNN (now at ESPN)
 * Jim Noble, Sports Director (1988-1992), now TNT/PRN NASCAR reporter
 * Eric Paulsen, anchor (1973-1976) (now at WWL-TV, New Orleans)
 * Kaitlyn Pratt, general assignment reporter (2006-2008, now at WAGA-TV, Atlanta, GA)
 * Paul Rea, anchor/reporter
 * Darrel Richter
 * Richard Rogers, weekend anchor/reporter (now at WRDW-TV Augusta, Georgia.)
 * Ben Smith, meteorologist (now at WFTV, Orlando, Florida)
 * Tom Snyder
 * Don Stone, weatherman (1974-1976) later general manager WAEC Radio, Atlanta, now owner Express Publications, Atlanta, GA)
 * Glenn Zimmerman, reporter (now at WNBC-TV, New York)