WCYB-TV
Encyclopedia
WCYB-TV is the NBC
-affiliated television station
serving the Tri-Cities
area of Northeastern Tennessee
and Southwestern Virginia
. It broadcasts a high definition
digital signal on VHF
channel 5 from a transmitter on Rye Patch Knob of Holston Mountain
in the Cherokee National Forest
. Owned by the Bonten Media Group, the station operates Fox
affiliate WEMT
(owned by Esteem Broadcasting, LLC) through a local marketing agreement
(LMA), whose transmitter is co-located with WCYB. The two share studios on Lee Street in Bristol, Virginia
; where the station is licensed.
Although WCYB-TV is the only commercial station in the Tri-Cities that is licensed to the Virginia side of the market, the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) requires it to include Kingsport and Johnson City, Tennessee in its legal station identification.
digital subchannel. This can also be seen on Comcast
channel 4, hence its branding of Tri-Cities CW 4 branding comes from. Although most other affiliates of The CW Plus
are on other stations, WCYB-DT2 is not part of the national service.
WCYB's digital signal is multiplexed:>
Channel
Aspect
Video
Programming
5.1
16:9
1080i
Main WCYB programming / NBC
5.2
4:3
480i
"Tri-Cities CW 4"
5.3
Unknown
Live Well Network
On August 23, 2011, Disney-ABC Television Group
announced an affilation agreement with WCYB to carry Live Well Network, a lifestyle-oriented digital broadcast network, likely on a new third digital subchannel; it is unknown when the network will begin broadcasting over WCYB's digital signal.
affiliate although it carried a secondary ABC
affiliation (shared with WJHL-TV
) until 1969 when WKPT-TV
signed on and took the ABC affiliation.
In the 1960s, this station produced a live weekday cartoon show called the Looney Tunes
Club hosted by Ed Spiegel. The 1960s also saw three locally-produced quiz shows: Kiddle Kollege (which pitted young students from different local schools against each other), Classroom Quiz (whose contestants were older high school students) as well as Klub Kwiz (which did the same using members of local civic and service clubs).
In mid-December 2006 as a result of Bluestone Television's acquisition by Bonten Media Group, Esteem Broadcasting acquired Aurora's stock in Fox affiliate WEMT-TV, Channel 39, Greeneville which counting as a sale. Esteem would then pay $1.4 million in outstanding debt. WEMT moved from its studios on Hanover Road in Johnson City
to WCYB's facilities.
digital stations requesting a power increase after it experienced signal problems as a result of changing its digital channel from UHF
to VHF. WCYB has construction permits to operate two UHF fill-in digital translators. This will help viewers alleviate some signal reception issues on VHF-low channel 5. One repeater will operate on channel 29 licensed to Bristol, Virginia with a transmitter with the main channel 5 signal on Holston Mountain. Another one will be on channel 21 licensed to Kingsport with a transmitter on Bays Mountain. Both translators will serve the immediate part of the Tri-Cities area and some of the surrounding areas.
rules, broadcasters can either allow cable systems in their market to carry their signals for free or charge a fee under retransmission consent
provisions. On November 24, 2008, TVS Cable (a cable operator which serves several counties in Eastern Kentucky) notified its customers that it would "most likely" drop WCYB on January 1, 2009 due to a retransmission consent dispute. The letter also stated that the system would replace WCYB with a MyNetworkTV
affiliate if negotiations fail. However, NBC programming would not be affected because the system currently carries WLEX-TV
in Lexington, Kentucky
and will intend to do so in the future. TVS Cable later notified customers through their bills stating that there was a thirty day extension granted through the month of January to carry WCYB.
Another Eastern Kentucky cable operator, Inter Mountain Cable (IMC), has also stated that it would remove WCYB from their lineup unless an agreement was reached. According to The Mountain Eagle
, this dispute caused concern among officials in the city of Fleming-Neon
where IMC holds the cable television franchise there. The city council in Fleming-Neon stated that the removal of WCYB would violate IMC's franchise agreement. On January 13, it was announced that WCYB would be dropped from the DirecTV
local channels lineup in the Tri-Cities market effective January 15 over a similar dispute. That same day, it was announced that an agreement had been reached and WCYB would continue to be provided on DirecTV.
, WCYB was available until August 18, 2011 on Time Warner Cable
in Tazewell
, which is part of the Bluefield, WV
DMA
.
In West Virginia
in the 1970's and 1980s through CATV, WCYB was once carried in McDowell County
.
In Kentucky
, WCYB is available on Hazard TV Cable in Hazard
and TVS Cable in Hindman
, which are part of the Lexington
DMA. During the 1970's and 1980s through CATV, WCYB was once carried in Pikeville.
In North Carolina
, WCYB is available on Charter Communications
in Boone
, SkyBest TV in Sugar Mountain
, Ashe County Cable and Morris Broadband in West Jefferson
, and Zito Media in Creston
, which are part of the Charlotte
DMA. The NBC affiliate for that DMA, WCNC
, is not available in West Jefferson and Creston. WCYB is also available on Charter Communications and Country Cablevision in Burnsville
, which is part of the Greenville, SC
DMA. During the 1970's and 1980s through CATV, WCYB was once carried in Wilkesboro
.
WCYB's long dominance was largely due to the presence of the station's longtime anchorman Merrill Moore. He joined the station in 1962 as weeknight 11 o'clock anchor and added the weeknight 6 P.M. broadcast in 1964. He remained the station's top anchorman until his retirement in 2000. In the 1960s, News Director Walter Crockett also delivered editorials at 6:25 P.M. daily and Evelyn Booher was one of the first woman newscasters in the Tri-Cities at that time. For most of the time from the 1980s to the early 2000s, WCYB claimed to be the highest-rated television station in the United States
. Their branding is currently "Accurate. Reliable." Formerly, it was "Accurate. Reliable. To the Point." The latter phrase was dropped from the branding as of the Noon telecast on Tuesday, October 2, 2007. After beginning local production of news in high definition, the branding was changed to "Accurate. Reliable. High Definition."
Starting with the 5 P.M. news on October 13, 2008, the NewsCenter 5 name was changed to News 5. WEMT's nightly 10 o'clock newscast started on September 12, 2005 and is produced by WCYB. Originally a half-hour long, it was expanded to an hour on September 11, 2006. In October 2008, they dropped WCYB's on-air look. Instead of using all blue graphics, WEMT now uses blue and red. That station also renamed the weather forecasting and modified many other elements of the broadcast. Paul Johnson, who was formerly Sports Director and weeknight sports anchor for both stations, now only appears on WEMT. Former weekend meteorologist David Boyd is now WEMT's main meteorologist with Dave Dierks only appearing on WCYB. At one point in time, WCYB-DT2
aired an hour long extension of the main channel's weekday morning show at 8. This has since been dropped and that station continues to air the nationally syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz
on weekdays from 6 to 9.
On June 17, 2010, WCYB's newscasts became the first in the Tri-Cities market to broadcast in high definition
.
Meteorologists
Sports
Reporters
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
-affiliated television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
serving the Tri-Cities
Tri-Cities, Tennessee
In Tennessee and Virginia the name "Tri-Cities" refers to the region comprising the cities of Kingsport, Johnson City and Bristol and the surrounding smaller towns and communities in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia...
area of Northeastern Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
and Southwestern Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. It broadcasts a high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
digital signal on VHF
Very high frequency
Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...
channel 5 from a transmitter on Rye Patch Knob of Holston Mountain
Holston Mountain
Holston Mountain is a mountain ridge in Upper East Tennessee and southwest Virginia, in the United States. It is in the Blue Ridge Mountains part of the Appalachian Mountains...
in the Cherokee National Forest
Cherokee National Forest
The Cherokee National Forest is a large National Forest created on July 19, 1936, by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, operated by the U.S. Forest Service and encompassing some 640,000 acres .-Location:...
. Owned by the Bonten Media Group, the station operates Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
affiliate WEMT
WEMT
WEMT is the Fox-affiliated television station for the Tri-Cities area of Northeastern Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia licensed to Greeneville, Tennessee. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 38 from a transmitter at Rye Patch Knob on Holston Mountain...
(owned by Esteem Broadcasting, LLC) through a local marketing agreement
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
(LMA), whose transmitter is co-located with WCYB. The two share studios on Lee Street in Bristol, Virginia
Bristol, Virginia
Bristol is an independent city in Virginia, United States, bounded by Washington County, Virginia, Bristol, Tennessee, and Sullivan County, Tennessee....
; where the station is licensed.
Although WCYB-TV is the only commercial station in the Tri-Cities that is licensed to the Virginia side of the market, the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) requires it to include Kingsport and Johnson City, Tennessee in its legal station identification.
Digital programming
WCYB operates the area's CW affiliate on a secondWCYB-DT2
WCYB-DT2 is the CW-affiliated television station for the Tri-Cities area of Northeastern Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia. The station is part of The CW Plus, a special CW feed that broadcasts on cable and / or over-the-air on a digital signal. WCYB-DT2 is a second digital subchannel of the...
digital subchannel. This can also be seen on Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
channel 4, hence its branding of Tri-Cities CW 4 branding comes from. Although most other affiliates of The CW Plus
The CW Plus
The CW Plus is a group of primarily digital sub-channels, analog, and non-broadcast cable television outlets for the CW Television Network, for markets below the top 99 television media markets in the United States....
are on other stations, WCYB-DT2 is not part of the national service.
Aspect ratio
The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,...
16:9
16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...
1080i
1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels...
480i
480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC...
On August 23, 2011, Disney-ABC Television Group
Disney-ABC Television Group
Disney-ABC Television Group manages all of The Walt Disney Company's worldwide entertainment and news television properties...
announced an affilation agreement with WCYB to carry Live Well Network, a lifestyle-oriented digital broadcast network, likely on a new third digital subchannel; it is unknown when the network will begin broadcasting over WCYB's digital signal.
History
The station began broadcasting on August 13, 1956. It has always been a primary NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliate although it carried a secondary ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliation (shared with WJHL-TV
WJHL-TV
WJHL-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Tri-Cities area of Northeastern Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia that's licensed to Johnson City, Tennessee. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 11 from a transmitter on the southwest slope of Holston High Point...
) until 1969 when WKPT-TV
WKPT-TV
WKPT-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Tri-Cities area of Northeastern Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia that is licensed to Kingsport, Tennessee. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 27 from a transmitter at Holston High Point on Holston Mountain in...
signed on and took the ABC affiliation.
In the 1960s, this station produced a live weekday cartoon show called the Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
Club hosted by Ed Spiegel. The 1960s also saw three locally-produced quiz shows: Kiddle Kollege (which pitted young students from different local schools against each other), Classroom Quiz (whose contestants were older high school students) as well as Klub Kwiz (which did the same using members of local civic and service clubs).
In mid-December 2006 as a result of Bluestone Television's acquisition by Bonten Media Group, Esteem Broadcasting acquired Aurora's stock in Fox affiliate WEMT-TV, Channel 39, Greeneville which counting as a sale. Esteem would then pay $1.4 million in outstanding debt. WEMT moved from its studios on Hanover Road in Johnson City
Johnson City, Tennessee
Johnson City is a city in Carter, Sullivan, and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, with most of the city being in Washington County...
to WCYB's facilities.
Analog-to-digital conversion
The WCYB digital channel is being seen via PSIP on digital channel 5. The station was one of more than ten VHFVery high frequency
Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...
digital stations requesting a power increase after it experienced signal problems as a result of changing its digital channel from UHF
Ultra high frequency
Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...
to VHF. WCYB has construction permits to operate two UHF fill-in digital translators. This will help viewers alleviate some signal reception issues on VHF-low channel 5. One repeater will operate on channel 29 licensed to Bristol, Virginia with a transmitter with the main channel 5 signal on Holston Mountain. Another one will be on channel 21 licensed to Kingsport with a transmitter on Bays Mountain. Both translators will serve the immediate part of the Tri-Cities area and some of the surrounding areas.
Retransmission consent controversies
Under federal must-carryMust-carry
In cable television, governments apply a must-carry regulation stating that locally-licensed television stations must be carried on a cable provider's system.- Canada :...
rules, broadcasters can either allow cable systems in their market to carry their signals for free or charge a fee under retransmission consent
Retransmission consent
Retransmission consent is an option granted to US television stations as part of the law that granted such stations the option to elect must-carry rights. Under retransmission consent, a full-power US television station may elect to negotiate with a cable system operator for carriage of its...
provisions. On November 24, 2008, TVS Cable (a cable operator which serves several counties in Eastern Kentucky) notified its customers that it would "most likely" drop WCYB on January 1, 2009 due to a retransmission consent dispute. The letter also stated that the system would replace WCYB with a MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
affiliate if negotiations fail. However, NBC programming would not be affected because the system currently carries WLEX-TV
WLEX-TV
WLEX-TV, channel 18, is the NBC-affiliated television station for Lexington, Kentucky and the East-Central Kentucky region. Its transmitter is located in Southern Lexington near Hamburg Pavilion on WTVQ-DT's tower. WLEX-TV's studio is on Russell Cave Road in northern Fayette County.-Digital...
in Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
and will intend to do so in the future. TVS Cable later notified customers through their bills stating that there was a thirty day extension granted through the month of January to carry WCYB.
Another Eastern Kentucky cable operator, Inter Mountain Cable (IMC), has also stated that it would remove WCYB from their lineup unless an agreement was reached. According to The Mountain Eagle
The Mountain Eagle (newspaper)
The Mountain Eagle is a local weekly newspaper published in Whitesburg, Kentucky. It is the main newspaper of Letcher County, Kentucky and one of the primary newspapers of Eastern Kentucky....
, this dispute caused concern among officials in the city of Fleming-Neon
Fleming-Neon, Kentucky
Fleming-Neon is a city in Letcher County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 840 at the 2000 census.-History:The city was established by the Elkhorn Coal Corporation which moved in to the area in 1913. Fleming was the location of the mine and named for its first president George W. Fleming...
where IMC holds the cable television franchise there. The city council in Fleming-Neon stated that the removal of WCYB would violate IMC's franchise agreement. On January 13, it was announced that WCYB would be dropped from the DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
local channels lineup in the Tri-Cities market effective January 15 over a similar dispute. That same day, it was announced that an agreement had been reached and WCYB would continue to be provided on DirecTV.
Out-of-market cable coverage
In VirginiaVirginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, WCYB was available until August 18, 2011 on Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
in Tazewell
Tazewell, Virginia
Tazewell is a town in Tazewell County, Virginia, USA. The population was 4,206 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Bluefield, WV-VA micropolitan area, which has a population of 107,578. It is the county seat of Tazewell County....
, which is part of the Bluefield, WV
Bluefield, West Virginia
Bluefield is a city in Mercer County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 10,447 at the 2010 census. It is also the core city of the Bluefield WV-VA micropolitan area which has a population of 107,342.-Geography & Climate:...
DMA
Media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...
.
In West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
in the 1970's and 1980s through CATV, WCYB was once carried in McDowell County
McDowell County, West Virginia
McDowell County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The land that became McDowell was originally part of Tazewell County, Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 22,113. Its county seat is Welch. McDowell county is the southern-most county in the state, geographically...
.
In Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, WCYB is available on Hazard TV Cable in Hazard
Hazard, Kentucky
As of the census of 2000, there were 4,806 people, 1,946 households, and 1,266 families residing in the city. The population density was 684.6 people per square mile . There were 2,291 housing units at an average density of 326.4 per square mile...
and TVS Cable in Hindman
Hindman, Kentucky
As of the census of 2000, there were 787 people, 356 households, and 220 families residing in the city. The population density was 232.5 people per square mile . There were 415 housing units at an average density of 122.6 per square mile . The racial makeup of the city was 97.59% White, 0.38%...
, which are part of the Lexington
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
DMA. During the 1970's and 1980s through CATV, WCYB was once carried in Pikeville.
In North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, WCYB is available on Charter Communications
Charter Communications
Charter Communications is an American company providing cable television, high-speed Internet, and telephone services to more than 4.7 million customers in 25 states. By revenues, it is the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States, behind Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Cox Communications...
in Boone
Boone, North Carolina
Boone is a town located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, United States. Boone's population was reported as 17,122, as of 2010...
, SkyBest TV in Sugar Mountain
Sugar Mountain, North Carolina
Sugar Mountain is a village in Avery County, North Carolina, United States. The village is located on Sugar Mountain's north slope. The population was 226 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Sugar Mountain is located at ....
, Ashe County Cable and Morris Broadband in West Jefferson
West Jefferson, North Carolina
West Jefferson is a town in Ashe County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,081 at the 2000 census.-History:West Jefferson was incorporated as a city in 1909, and it is the second-oldest incorporated town in Ashe County. West Jefferson has the distinction of having the only cheese...
, and Zito Media in Creston
Creston, North Carolina
Creston is an unincorporated community in Ashe County, North Carolina, southwest of Grayson. It lies at an elevation of 2,861 feet ....
, which are part of the Charlotte
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
DMA. The NBC affiliate for that DMA, WCNC
WCNC-TV
WCNC-TV is the NBC affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina. It broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 22 and is carried on cable channel 6 on most area cable systems. It is owned by the Belo Corporation...
, is not available in West Jefferson and Creston. WCYB is also available on Charter Communications and Country Cablevision in Burnsville
Burnsville, North Carolina
Burnsville is a town in Yancey County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,623 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Yancey County.-Geography:Burnsville is located at ....
, which is part of the Greenville, SC
Greenville, South Carolina
-Law and government:The city of Greenville adopted the Council-Manager form of municipal government in 1976.-History:The area was part of the Cherokee Nation's protected grounds after the Treaty of 1763, which ended the French and Indian War. No White man was allowed to enter, though some families...
DMA. During the 1970's and 1980s through CATV, WCYB was once carried in Wilkesboro
Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Wilkesboro is a town in and the county seat of Wilkes County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 3,159 at the 2000 census, and it is the second largest municipality in the county. The 2010 Census listed the town's population at 3,044. The town is located along the south bank of the...
.
News operation
For most of the last thirty years, WCYB has been the dominant station in the Tri-Cities. While WCYB still wins most timeslots, it recently lost the lead at 11 PM to WJHL.WCYB's long dominance was largely due to the presence of the station's longtime anchorman Merrill Moore. He joined the station in 1962 as weeknight 11 o'clock anchor and added the weeknight 6 P.M. broadcast in 1964. He remained the station's top anchorman until his retirement in 2000. In the 1960s, News Director Walter Crockett also delivered editorials at 6:25 P.M. daily and Evelyn Booher was one of the first woman newscasters in the Tri-Cities at that time. For most of the time from the 1980s to the early 2000s, WCYB claimed to be the highest-rated television station in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Their branding is currently "Accurate. Reliable." Formerly, it was "Accurate. Reliable. To the Point." The latter phrase was dropped from the branding as of the Noon telecast on Tuesday, October 2, 2007. After beginning local production of news in high definition, the branding was changed to "Accurate. Reliable. High Definition."
Starting with the 5 P.M. news on October 13, 2008, the NewsCenter 5 name was changed to News 5. WEMT's nightly 10 o'clock newscast started on September 12, 2005 and is produced by WCYB. Originally a half-hour long, it was expanded to an hour on September 11, 2006. In October 2008, they dropped WCYB's on-air look. Instead of using all blue graphics, WEMT now uses blue and red. That station also renamed the weather forecasting and modified many other elements of the broadcast. Paul Johnson, who was formerly Sports Director and weeknight sports anchor for both stations, now only appears on WEMT. Former weekend meteorologist David Boyd is now WEMT's main meteorologist with Dave Dierks only appearing on WCYB. At one point in time, WCYB-DT2
WCYB-DT2
WCYB-DT2 is the CW-affiliated television station for the Tri-Cities area of Northeastern Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia. The station is part of The CW Plus, a special CW feed that broadcasts on cable and / or over-the-air on a digital signal. WCYB-DT2 is a second digital subchannel of the...
aired an hour long extension of the main channel's weekday morning show at 8. This has since been dropped and that station continues to air the nationally syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz
The Daily Buzz
The Daily Buzz is a nationally syndicated breakfast television news and infotainment program. The show is produced by Fisher Communications and is owned and distributed by ACME Communications; it is broadcast every weekday morning from studios at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida...
on weekdays from 6 to 9.
On June 17, 2010, WCYB's newscasts became the first in the Tri-Cities market to broadcast in high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
.
News team
Anchors- Tarah Taylor - weekday mornings and Noon
- Johnny Wood - weekday mornings and weekday Noon weather
- Garick Zikan - weeknights at 5, 5:30 and 11
- Ann Carter - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6 and 11
- Preston Ayres - weekend evenings at 6 and 11
Meteorologists
- Dave Dierks - Chief Meteorologist, 5, 5:30, 6 and 11
- Marcus Lynch - weekday mornings
- Donnie Cox - weekends
Sports
- Jordan Conigliaro - Sports Director/Anchor, weeknights 6 and 11
- Casey Goetz - sports reporter, weekend sports anchor
Reporters
- Leslie Almaroad
- Sherrie Evans
- Velden Linn
- Angela Yingling