WVAW-LP
Encyclopedia
WVAW-LD is the low-powered ABC
-affiliated television station
for Charlottesville, Virginia
. It broadcasts a high definition
digital signal on UHF channel 16 from a transmitter on Carters Mountain. The station can also be seen on Comcast
channel 3 and in high definition on digital channel 210. Owned by Gray Television, WVAW is sister to CBS
affiliate WCAV
and low-powered Fox affiliate WAHU-CD.
All three share studios, known as the "Charlottesville Newsplex", on 2nd Street Southeast in Downtown Charlottesville. In addition, some behind-the-scenes duties are run alongside that of sister station WHSV-TV
in Harrisonburg
(which the "Newsplex" has a resource sharing alliance with). Syndicated
programming on the station includes: Inside Edition
, Ellen
, The Real Housewives of New York City
, and The Wendy Williams Show
.
's WRIC-TV
puts a strong signal into Charlottesville. In 2004, W64AO moved to UHF channel 16, gained the WVAW-LP call letters, and became the market
's first ABC affiliate not long after WCAV signed-on. However, it was still officially licensed as a translator station according to the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC).
In early-2005 after the launch of WCAV and WVAW, Gray Television launched a third station in the area, Fox affiliate WAHU-CA. Since 2006, the three have been the official flagships of University of Virginia
sports. WVAW was temporarily taken off-the-air by a fire on its transmitter tower at the top of Carters Mountain on November 9, 2006. The signal was restored on November 13. On December 28, WVAW moved to Comcast channel 3. After performing a flash-cut
, the station replaced its analog signal with a 15 kW digital signal on the same frequency on February 16, 2009. It also changed its calls to the current WVAW-LD with "LD" standing for low-powered digital.
Of all of the Richmond and Washington, D.C.
stations replaced on the main tier for the new Charlottesville ABC, CBS, and Fox affiliates, only WTTG
survived. On Comcast digital cable, Richmond channels include WRIC and WTVR-TV
. WUSA
is not on digital cable nor is any other district station. Other Comcast systems north and west of Charlottesville do pick up Washington and Richmond locals either on the main tier or digital lineup. On October 27, 2009, WVAW's digital transmitter had a glitch over-the-air. The signal was put on WAHU-DT2 for a short time and the problem was fixed a day later.
Anchors
Weather Authority Meteorologists
Sports
Reporters
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...
-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...
for Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
. 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 UHF channel 16 from a transmitter on Carters Mountain. The station 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 3 and in high definition on digital channel 210. Owned by Gray Television, WVAW is sister to CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
affiliate WCAV
WCAV
WCAV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Charlottesville, Virginia. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 19 from a transmitter on Carters Mountain. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 6 and in high definition on digital channel 212...
and low-powered Fox affiliate WAHU-CD.
All three share studios, known as the "Charlottesville Newsplex", on 2nd Street Southeast in Downtown Charlottesville. In addition, some behind-the-scenes duties are run alongside that of sister station WHSV-TV
WHSV-TV
WHSV-TV, channel 3 , is an ABC affiliate television station for the Harrisonburg, Virginia, market. WHSV News 3, as it is known on-air, is owned by Gray Television and has its transmitter located west of the town of Stanley on Massanutten Mountain...
in Harrisonburg
Harrisonburg, Virginia
Harrisonburg is an independent city in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia in the United States. Its population as of 2010 is 48,914, and at the 2000 census, 40,468. Harrisonburg is the county seat of Rockingham County and the core city of the Harrisonburg, Virginia Metropolitan Statistical...
(which the "Newsplex" has a resource sharing alliance with). Syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
programming on the station includes: Inside Edition
Inside Edition
Inside Edition is a thirty-minute American television syndicated news program, first aired on CBS on October 9, 1988. It was originally similar to the programs Hard Copy and A Current Affair, but now more closely resembles a condensed version of breakfast television, exclusively with pre-recorded...
, Ellen
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show, often shortened to Ellen, is an American television talk show hosted by comedian/actress Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it is produced by Telepictures and airs in syndication, including stations owned by NBC Universal. For its first five seasons, the show...
, The Real Housewives of New York City
The Real Housewives of New York City
The Real Housewives of New York City is an American reality television program on the Bravo cable TV network, a spin-off of the Bravo series The Real Housewives of Orange County. New York is the second city featured in The Real Housewives of... franchise...
, and The Wendy Williams Show
The Wendy Williams Show
The Wendy Williams Show is a syndicated talk show hosted by Wendy Williams that premiered on July 14, 2008, as six-week sneak peek, in Detroit, Dallas, Los Angeles, and New York City. The test run was picked up for a full season that began its run on July 13, 2009 in over 70% of the country in...
.
Digital programming
On WVAW-DT2 is a standard definition simulcast of WCAV.| Channel | Video | Aspect 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,... |
Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16.1 | 720p 720p 720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan... |
16:9 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 ... |
main WVAW programming/ABC HD |
| 16.2 | 480i 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... |
4:3 | WCAV "CBS 19" |
History
What is now WVAW-LD originally began in 1979 on analog UHF channel 64 with the call sign W64AO. The station was a low-powered repeater of WHSV which was the area's default ABC affiliate even though RichmondRichmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
's WRIC-TV
WRIC-TV
WRIC-TV, virtual channel 8 , is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Richmond, Virginia market. It is owned by Young Broadcasting. The station is licensed to nearby Petersburg, while its studios are just off the Powhite Parkway extension in the Arboretum office park in western...
puts a strong signal into Charlottesville. In 2004, W64AO moved to UHF channel 16, gained the WVAW-LP call letters, and became the market
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...
's first ABC affiliate not long after WCAV signed-on. However, it was still officially licensed as a translator station according to 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).
In early-2005 after the launch of WCAV and WVAW, Gray Television launched a third station in the area, Fox affiliate WAHU-CA. Since 2006, the three have been the official flagships of University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
sports. WVAW was temporarily taken off-the-air by a fire on its transmitter tower at the top of Carters Mountain on November 9, 2006. The signal was restored on November 13. On December 28, WVAW moved to Comcast channel 3. After performing a flash-cut
Flash-cut
A flash-cut, also called flash-cutover, is an immediate change in a complex system, with no phase-in period.Some telephone area codes were split immediately, rather than being phased in with a permissive dialing period. An example is telephone area code 213, which was split into 213 and 714 all at...
, the station replaced its analog signal with a 15 kW digital signal on the same frequency on February 16, 2009. It also changed its calls to the current WVAW-LD with "LD" standing for low-powered digital.
Of all of the Richmond and Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
stations replaced on the main tier for the new Charlottesville ABC, CBS, and Fox affiliates, only WTTG
WTTG
WTTG, channel 5, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, located in the American capital city of Washington, D.C...
survived. On Comcast digital cable, Richmond channels include WRIC and WTVR-TV
WTVR-TV
WTVR-TV, virtual channel 6, is a CBS television affiliate based in Richmond, Virginia owned by Local TV, the broadcasting arm of Oak Hill Capital Partners...
. WUSA
WUSA (TV)
WUSA is a television station broadcasting on channel 9 in Washington, D.C.. Owned by the Gannett Company, WUSA is an affiliate of the CBS television network, and the longest-tenured affiliate of that network...
is not on digital cable nor is any other district station. Other Comcast systems north and west of Charlottesville do pick up Washington and Richmond locals either on the main tier or digital lineup. On October 27, 2009, WVAW's digital transmitter had a glitch over-the-air. The signal was put on WAHU-DT2 for a short time and the problem was fixed a day later.
Newscasts
WVAW and its sister stations employ the largest television news team dedicated exclusively to the Charlottesville market. While WVIR dedicates some staff to adjacent areas, WVAW focuses its coverage solely on the counties that comprise the Charlottesville viewing area. As the primary station in the "Charlottesville Newsplex" operation, WCAV airs the most newscasts. WVAW simulcasts the second hour of Good Morning Charlottesville on weekday mornings, Charlottesville Tonight weeknights at 7, and CBS 19 News Nightcast weeknights at 11. It also simulcasts news from WCAV on weeknights from 5 until 6:30.Anchors
- Bo Sykes - weekday mornings
- Stephanie Satchell - weekday mornings and reporter
- Jim Hanchett - News Director seen weeknights at 5 and 5:30
- Dan Schutte - weeknights at 6 and 11
- John Rodgers - weeknights at 7
- Tara Wheeler - weeknights at 7 and reporter
Weather Authority Meteorologists
- Travis Koshko (NWANational Weather AssociationThe National Weather Association is an American professional association with a mission to support and promote excellence in operational meteorology and related activities...
Seal of Approval) - Chief seen weekday mornings - Brantley Ussery - weeknights
Sports
- Damon Dillman - Director seen weeknights
- Kristi Fulkerson - sports reporter
Reporters
- Beth Duffy - Special Correspondent and "Beth on the Bright Side" segment producer
- Bailey Disselkoen - producer
- Carter Johnson
- Jessica Jaglois
- Chris Stover
- Frankie Jupiter
- Rachel Ryan