WLOS

WLOS is the ABC-affiliated television station for Western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina licensed to Asheville, North Carolina. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 13 from a transmitter on Mount Pisgah in North Carolina. The station can also be seen on Charter channel 3 (in North Carolina) and channel 13 (in South Carolina). There is a high definition feed offered on Charter digital channel 703 (in North Carolina) and digital channel 713 (in South Carolina).

Owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, WLOS operates MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYA-TV (owned by Cunningham Broadcasting) through a local marketing agreement (LMA). The two share studios on Technology Drive in Asheville near I-26/US 74. Syndicated programming on this channel includes: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Swift Justice with Nancy Grace, and The Dr. Oz Show. It is one of three Sinclair duopolies in North Carolina.

Digital programming
WMYA's signal only provides Grade B coverage to the North Carolina side of the market. To improve that station's over-the-air coverage, WLOS offers a standard definition simulcast on a second digital subchannel. On WLOS-DT3 is a standard definition simulcast of the main channel.

Translators
In addition to its main signal, WLOS operates a network of analog translators throughout the mountains of Western North Carolina. Due to low-powered status, these were exempt from transitioning to digital on June 12, 2009.

History
The station began broadcasting an analog signal on VHF channel 13 at 316,000 watts on September 18, 1954. It was owned by the Skyway Broadcasting Company along with WLOS radio (1380 AM now WKJV, and WLOS-FM 99.9 now WKSF). The television station has always been an ABC affiliate and is the second-longest tenured primary ABC affiliate south of Washington, D.C. (behind Lynchburg's WSET-TV coincidentally also on channel 13). During the late-1950s, WLOS was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. The studios and transmitter were located in West Asheville (the old 300-foot (91 m) self-supporting tower with its analog batwing antenna is still standing) along with WLOS-AM and WLOS-FM. A few months after the station signed on, the television studios were moved to Battle House (a restored mansion on Macon Avenue northeast of Downtown Asheville) next to the historic Grove Park Inn.

At that same time, the transmitter was moved to the much-higher Mount Pisgah 35 miles (56 km) distant, and the FCC reduced its effective radiating power by half. But even with its power reduced to 178,000 watts because of the high location, the station still more than doubled its coverage area to include most of Western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina. Soon afterward, the FCC combined western North Carolina and upper South Carolina into one giant market with WLOS as the primary ABC affiliate. With its move to Mount Pisgah, the station could now boast the second highest transmitter location east of the Mississippi River at 2,804 feet (855 m) above average terrain (the valley floor) and 6,056 feet (1,846 m) above sea level. At the time, first place belonged to WMTW-TV atop Mount Washington, New Hampshire at 3,871 feet (1,180 m) above average terrain (the valley floor), and 6,374 feet (1,943 m) above sea level.

The new tower location gave WLOS bragging rights to one of the largest coverage areas in the nation. In addition to its primary coverage area of the Western Carolinas, the station also had significant viewership in several other nearby markets as well. WLOS also enjoyed at least secondary coverage in portions of Eastern Tennessee, Southwestern Virginia, and Southeastern Kentucky. It provided city-grade coverage to nearly all of the Tri-Cities market and Grade B coverage of most of the Knoxville market. The channel could also be seen in portions of Georgia under certain right conditions.

Before the mid to late-1960s, no other ABC affiliate put a clear signal into much of this area. Before WKPT-TV signed on to serve the Tri-Cities, WLOS claimed the Tri-Cities as part of its primary coverage area. Even after WKPT signed on as an ABC affiliate, WLOS was available on cable in the Tri-Cities well into the 1980s. Indeed, many viewers in the Tri-Cities and the eastern part of the Knoxville market received a better over-the-air signal from WLOS than Knoxville's WTVK (now CBS affiliate WVLT-TV) and WKPT both of which were on UHF and did not get much penetration in the largely mountainous coverage areas. UHF stations, then as now, do not get good reception in rugged terrain. Up until the 1990s, the station was also carried on several separately-owned municipal translator stations in Eastern Kentucky.

The station long had significant viewership in the Charlotte area. Until WSOC-TV switched from NBC to ABC in 1978, it was the de facto primary ABC affiliate for the western portion of the Charlotte market. WLOS appeared in the Charlotte Observer television listings for many years (though it was dropped from the weekly listings in the mid-1990s) and advertised its programs in Charlotte-area newspapers well into the 1970s. It is still available on many cable systems in the western portion of the Charlotte market.

As mentioned above, WLOS now owns and operates ten analog translators that rebroadcast its digital signal. WLOS' only ABC competition came from WAIM-TV in Anderson, South Carolina (now WMYA) which also carried a few CBS programs. WAIM had been the default ABC affiliate for the Upstate until WLOS' massive power boost. Unfortunately, that channel only provided a reliable signal to Anderson itself and nearby Pickens County, South Carolina. However, it still continued to air some ABC programming. WLOS pressured ABC to drop its programming from WAIM from the 1960s onward finally succeeding in 1979.

In 1958, this station was purchased by Wometco Enterprises of Miami, Florida (a movie theater company and former owner of the Blue Circle hamburger chain) which promptly sold the AM station. The company operated both the television and FM stations as Wometco-Skyway Broadcasting until 1984 when it was sold to the investment firm [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohlberg_Kravis_Roberts_%26_Co. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.] (also known as KKR). The FM station was also sold at this time and its antenna remained co-located on the Mount Pisgah tower. The station was later sold to Anchor Media which in turn was later sold to River City Broadcasting. That company merged with the Sinclair Broadcast Group in 1996.

On January 5, 2007, Mediacom dropped all Sinclair-controlled stations including WLOS and WMYA from its systems because of a dispute over compensation. [1] Mediacom is the cable provider for much of Western North Carolina (though not Asheville itself), leaving much of WLOS' viewing area without ABC until the dispute was resolved a month later. Additionally, Charter briefly dropped WLOS-DT because of compensation disputes. [2]

Originally, WLOS aired its digital signal at 834.7 kilowatts on UHF channel 56. However, the high UHF band (channels 52 to 69) was dropped from broadcast use after the February 17, 2009 cutoff date for analog broadcasting. As a result, it moved its digital broadcasts back to its previous analog channel number, 13. After the DTV Delay Act postponed the date to June 12, WLOS intended to keep the original date on February 17 but on February 12 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said stations must justify using the early cutoff date. On February 13, General Manager Jack Connors announced the FCC would also make WLOS end analog broadcasts on its translators leaving many in the mountainous area without a signal. In 2000, the station made its much-anticipated move to new studios at Technology Drive about 10 miles (16 km) south of Downtown Asheville. Station personnel could now brag about the much shorter driving distance for sales calls and news team coverage to Greenville and Spartanburg, South Carolina.

As of November 5, 2010, WLOS is the only Sinclair-owned station that is broadcasting on the VHF dial. Having the second highest transmitter location in the Eastern United States has been good for the WLOS signal. This is received in many counties outside the DMA. In North Carolina, WLOS can be seen in Murphy in the far western end of the state. Murphy and all of Cherokee County are part of the Chattanooga, Tennessee market. In South Carolina, WLOS can be seen on cable in McCormick County. That county is part of the Augusta, Georgia DMA. In the Columbia, South Carolina market, WLOS is seen on cable in Newberry.

[edit] Programming
Despite being an ABC affiliate, WLOS has pre-empted a fair amount of network programming over the years. The station has been the home of popular syndicated game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! since 1985. Prior to that, WYFF aired both programs. The station also produced a local children's show called Mr. Bill and Bozo starring now retired weathermen Bill Norwood and Bob Caldwell (who celebrated his 40th anniversary on the air at WLOS in June 2006). Another popular program on WLOS was Shock Theater, a Saturday afternoon series of black-and-white science-fiction movies from the Warner Brothers/Columbia Pictures/Universal Studios collections of the 1950s. This show was also hosted by Bill Norwood dressed as a Dracula-type character similar to the "Doctor Shock" character at WTVC-TV in Chattanooga of the same era. The channel began broadcasting 24 hours a day 7 days a week between late-2005 and early-2006 having previously signed-off early Saturday mornings from 5 to 6 after the late movie. It may still put up color bars for a few minutes if the movie ends early but otherwise airs paid programming.

WLOS also signed-off every weeknight until 1992 with the introduction of ABC News' overnight newscast World News Now. Later on, the station signed-off late Friday night/early Saturday morning and late Saturday night/early Sunday morning until the early-2000s. According to a particular sign-off clip from 1988, the sign-offs back then included the national anthem played by the Madison County, North Carolina high school band while the color bars afterwords said "Good Morning, 13 WLOS-TV, Asheville, North Carolina". After that, the sign-offs included Sandi Patty's rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner with a video of different people saluting the flag followed by shots of newspaper presses and people voting with ballots. These years used a color version of the Indian-head test pattern and in the center said "13 WLOS Asheville-Greenville-Spartanburg". It now runs the entire ABC schedule with no pre-emptions except for the annual Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon which takes place every Labor Day.

ABC programming that has been preempted on WLOS includes:
 * The Edge of Night (an soap opera broadcast on ABC from 1975-1984)
 * Fudge
 * One Life to Live (early years, replaced with reruns of The Flintstones, the station began clearing the program in 1973)
 * Ryan's Hope (during the later years of the show)
 * ABC Evening News (around the late-1960s to early-1970s replaced with I Love Lucy reruns but was cleared beginning in 1970)
 * All American Girl (a sitcom featuring the first Asian family as main characters on a network program, WLOS did not clear this program during its entire run)
 * Thunder Alley
 * Mike and Maty (replaced by The Jerry Springer Show)
 * Full House (some episodes)
 * America's Funniest Home Videos (some episodes)
 * Dinosaurs (some episodes)
 * The Critic (some episodes, replaced with syndicated reruns of Murphy Brown or local programs)
 * the first season of The Drew Carey Show (replaced with reruns of Murphy Brown, the station cleared Drew Carey in 1996)
 * first three seasons of The View (replaced with The Jerry Springer Show, The View was cleared by WLOS in September 2000)
 * a 2004 airing of Nightline which paid tribute to the soldiers killed in the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq (pre-empted on orders from the Sinclair Broadcast Group, seen instead on WHNS)
 * a 2004 airing of the movie Saving Private Ryan (pre-empted on orders from the Sinclair Broadcast Group)

[edit] News operation
News open seen weeknights at 5.Traditionally, WLOS' newscasts have focused more on the North Carolina side of its sprawling market typically offering more stories from Ashville and the surrounding area. Its ratings tend to be higher in Western North Carolina which is evident in the station's current on-air slogan. In terms of the entire market, WSPA is currently the top rated station winning most broadcasts. Specifically, that channel's weeknight show at 11 is the highest ranked after experiencing tremendous growth. On September 17, 2008, WLOS and WMYA began offering local news in high definition becoming the second pair of stations in the area to upgrade after WSPA and WYCW.

This channel produces three weekday newscasts for WMYA including an hour-long morning show at 9 on weekdays and two half-hour shows weeknights at 6:30 and 10. The earlier program airs against the big three network evening news while the prime time broadcast competes with shows on WYCW and WHNS. In addition to its main studios, WLOS operates news bureaus in Greenville, South Carolina (on Verdae Boulevard) and in Waynesville, North Carolina (on South Main Street/US 23). On March 28th 2011 WLOS began broadcasting their "News 13 Early edition" @ 4:30am.

[edit] Newscast titles

 * Your Esso Reporter (1953-1957)
 * The Night Report (1957-late 1960s)
 * NewsScope (late 1960s-1970s)
 * Your World Today/Your World Tonight (1970s)
 * The Carolinas Today/News '75 ('76) (1975-1976)
 * Dateline 13 News (1977-1984)
 * News 13 (1984-present)

[edit] Station slogans

 * "13 Country and You" (1970s)
 * "The News People" (1977-1979)
 * "Count on 13" (1984-1988 and 1988-1993)
 * "Turn to 13 Together" (1988, used during Frank Gari's "Turn To News" period)
 * "TV is Good, on ABC-13" (1997-1998)
 * "We Love TV, on ABC-13" (1998-1999)
 * "Western North Carolina's News Leader" (1998-present)

[edit] News team
Anchors News 13 Sky Watch Meteorologists Sports Reporters
 * Holly Headrick - weekday mornings (on WLOS) and reporter
 * "Fugitive Files" segment producer
 * Jay Siltzer - weekday mornings and health reporter weeknights at 5
 * fill-in meteorologist
 * Victoria Dunkle - weekday mornings and noon
 * "Craft Corner" segment producer
 * Tammy Watford - weeknights at 5, 5:30, and 6:30
 * "Never Stop Learning" segment producer
 * Darcel Grimes - weeknights at 5, 6, 10, and 11
 * Frank Fraboni - weeknights at 5:30 and 6:30
 * Larry Blunt - weeknights at 6 and 11
 * "Person of the Week" segment producer
 * Russ Bowen - weeknights at 10 and reporter
 * Frank Kracher - weekends and weeknight reporter
 * Jason Boyer (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief seen weeknights
 * Julie Wunder (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - weekday mornings and noon
 * "One Day Wunders", "Carolina Kitchen", and "Pet Pals" segments producer
 * Karen Wynne (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - weekends and environmental reporter
 * Stan Pamfilis - Director seen weeknights 6, 6:30, 10, and 11
 * Jared Fialko - weekends and sports reporter
 * Ingrid Allstaedt - Rutherford, Polk, and McDowell Counties
 * Sherrill Barber - Henderson and Transylvania Counties
 * Tricia Kelly - "Your Next Move" segment producer
 * Marla Cilley - "Flight Plan" segment producer
 * John Le - "Absolute Le" segment producer
 * Megan Schierin - weekday mornings
 * Rex Hodge - Waynesville Bureau
 * Katie Killen - Rutherford County
 * Charu Kumarhia
 * George Sheldon - Freelance Traffic Reporter
 * Merritt Youngdeer - Freelance Fill in Traffic Reporter

Former on-air staff

 * Heather Graf, Field Reporter for Rutherford, Polk and McDowell Counties.
 * Adam Kohler, Sports Anchor
 * Leigh Ann Long, weekday morning anchor for News 13, now the public Relations Director at Hospice of Southern West Virginia
 * Mike Cuevas (Simon), chief meteorologist, now meteorologist at WVLT, Knoxville, TN.
 * Mike Bettes, chief meteorologist, now with The Weather Channel, Atlanta
 * Brenda Burch, a.m. anchor
 * Richard Elliot, Greenville Bureau, now at WSB-TV, Atlanta)
 * Courtney Brennan, now at WPXI-TV, Pittsburgh, Westmoreland County Bureau Chief
 * Ken Bostic, evening weather anchor
 * Michelle Boudin, reporter, 2001-2006) (now at WCNC-TV, Charlotte, NC
 * Meghan McCorkell - Washington, D.C. correspondent, now reporter at WSYX, Columbus, Ohio
 * Jeremy Butterfield, reporter
 * Bob Caldwell, meteorologist (1966-2007), now retired, doing local TV commercials
 * Bob Child, meteorologist, (now at Time Warner Cable's News 14 Carolina in the Raleigh, NC area)
 * Heather Childers, weekend anchor (now at Time Warner Cable's News 14 Carolina in the Raleigh, NC area
 * Karen Coulon, left in 1991 after being indicted on arson charges (later acquitted) [7]
 * Amy Davis, reporter, now at KPRC-TV, Houston
 * Craig Demchak, Washington, D.C. correspondent
 * Jenny Dunn, weekend sports anchor/reporter
 * Monty DuPuy, meteorologist, came from rival WFBC-TV, Greeneville, SC, now retired
 * Donna Foreman, weekend anchor/reporter
 * Terrie Foster, reporter/fill-in anchor
 * Carol Gable, reporter special projects/assistant news director (now producer, Dateline NBC, (NBC News)
 * Jon Greiner, anchor/reporter, now at KDKA-TV, Pittsburgh
 * Hoyt Harris, co-anchor, now anchor at KATC-TV, Lafayette, LA
 * Larry Hawley, sports anchor/reporter
 * Charlie Hicks, sports anchor/reporter (1967-68)
 * Suzanne Hudson, anchor/reporter
 * Mike Hydeck, anchor/reporter, now with WFSB-TV, Hartford, CT
 * Sherrie Johnson, reporter, now with WMAR-TV, Baltimore, MD
 * Morgan King, weekend meteorologist 2003
 * Morris Jones, Washington D.C. correspondent
 * Candice Little, weekend anchor–reporter, now does TV spots for the Hunter Group shown regionally
 * Susan Munday, reporter/anchor weekdays
 * Bill Norwood ("Mr. Bill"), meteorologist, host, now retired
 * Mimi Paige, morning anchor, deceased (killed in automobile collision Dec. 15, 2001 while on her way to host the morning news show)
 * Mark Pompilio, anchor
 * Deborah Potter, anchor/reporter, most recently served as press secretary to U.S. Congressman Charles H. Taylor. Presently Public Relations Manager at the Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa)
 * Kassandra Pride, reporter
 * Carolyn Ryan, news reporter/fill-in anchor
 * Pat Simon, anchor/reporter, now at KSLA-TV, Shreveport, LA
 * Gary Stephenson, chief meteorologist/weekend meteorologist (now chief meteorologist at Time Warner Cable's News 14 in the Raleigh and Wilmington area)
 * Scott Wickersham, anchor/reporter, now at WSOC-TV, Charlotte, NC