WCHS-TV (channel 8) is a
television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...
licensed to
Charleston, West Virginia
Charleston is the capital and List of cities in West Virginia, most populous city of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk River (West Virginia), Elk and Kanawha River, Kanawha rivers, the city had a population of 48,864 at the 20 ...
, United States, serving the Charleston–
Huntington market
Market is a term used to describe concepts such as:
*Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand
*Market economy
*Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market
Geography
*Märket, an ...
as an affiliate of
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
and
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
. It is owned by
Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...
, which provides certain services to
Decades
A decade () is a period of ten years. Decades may describe any ten-year period, such as those of a person's life, or refer to specific groupings of calendar years.
Usage
Any period of ten years is a "decade". For example, the statement that "du ...
affiliate
WVAH-TV
WVAH-TV (channel 11) is a television station licensed to Charleston, West Virginia, United States, serving the Charleston– Huntington market as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Decades. It is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, whi ...
(channel 11, also licensed to Charleston) under a
local marketing agreement
In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or tim ...
(LMA) with
Cunningham Broadcasting
Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation is an owner of broadcast television stations in the United States. The company currently owns fifteen stations – eight affiliated with Fox, three affiliated with The CW, two affiliated with ABC, and two affili ...
. However, Sinclair effectively owns WVAH-TV as the majority of Cunningham's stock is owned by the family of deceased group founder Julian Smith. Both stations share studios on Piedmont Road in Charleston, while WCHS-TV's transmitter is located atop Coal Mountain, south of
Scott Depot, West Virginia
Scott Depot is an unincorporated community in Putnam County, West Virginia, United States. It is located along Crooked Creek at and downstream from the creek's intersection with Teays Valley Road. The ZIP code is 25560. It is part of the census ...
.
Along with sister station
WSYX
WSYX (channel 6) is a television station in Columbus, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC, MyNetworkTV and Fox. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to TBD station WTTE (channel 28, owned by Cunningham ...
in
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
, WCHS-TV also doubles as a default ABC affiliate for the
Parkersburg, West Virginia
Parkersburg is a city in and the county seat of Wood County, West Virginia, Wood County, West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Ohio River, Ohio and Little Kanawha River, Little Kanawha rivers, it is the state's fourth-largest city and ...
–
Marietta, Ohio
Marietta is a city in, and the county seat of, Washington County, Ohio, United States. It is located in southeastern Ohio at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers, northeast of Parkersburg, West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, Mar ...
market since that area does not have an ABC station of its own. WCHS-TV serves the West Virginia side of the market.
History
WCHS-TV signed-on August 15, 1954, and was originally owned by the Tierney Company, alongside
WCHS radio (580 AM). WCHS-TV was the second station in Charleston after
WKNA-TV
WKNA-TV was a television station in Charleston, West Virginia, United States, which broadcast on UHF channel 49 from 1953 to 1955.
The station first signed on with a test pattern on September 21, 1953; regular broadcasts began on October 12. It ...
, which launched on UHF channel 49 as an ABC affiliate in 1953 but went dark in 1955 due to lack of viewership. Originally a
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
station sharing ABC with
WSAZ-TV
WSAZ-TV (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Huntington, West Virginia, United States, affiliated with NBC. It serves the Charleston–Huntington market, the second-largest television market (in terms of geographical area) east of t ...
(channel 3), channel 8 became a full CBS affiliate when WHTN-TV in Huntington signed-on in 1955. During the late-1950s, it was also briefly affiliated with the
NTA Film Network
The NTA Film Network was an early American television network founded by Ely Landau in 1956. The network was not a full-time television network like CBS, NBC, or ABC. Rather, it operated on a part-time basis, broadcasting films and several first ...
.
In 1958, WCHS swapped affiliations with WHTN and became an ABC affiliate. The WCHS stations were sold to Rollins Telecasting in 1960. The station reversed the swap and went back to CBS in 1962. For reasons that remain unknown, WCHS did not carry the ''
CBS Evening News
The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featuring news reports, feature s ...
'' for several years after returning to CBS. On June 1, 1986, the station swapped affiliations once again with channel 13, now known as
WOWK-TV
WOWK-TV (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Huntington, West Virginia, United States, serving the Charleston–Huntington market as an affiliate of CBS. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios on Quarrier Stre ...
.
In 1987, Rollins Telecasting merged with Heritage Broadcasting to form
Heritage Media
Heritage Media Corporation (NYSE: HTG) was a media company which owned television and radio stations across the United States, as well as in-store and direct marketing companies. It was based in Dallas, Texas, from 1987 to 1997.
History
Heritage ...
. In December 1987, the station relocated from its longtime studios on Virginia Street East to their current location on Piedmont Road in Charleston. The company sold off WCHS-AM in 1991. Heritage sold all of its remaining broadcasting properties (four television stations, LMAs for two other television stations, and 24 radio stations) to
Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...
in 1997 just as Heritage itself was being swallowed up by
News Corporation
News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Ne ...
(that sale being for Heritage's
supermarket marketing operations, rather than for its television stations). None of Heritage's stations thus switched network affiliations.
Shortly afterwards, in 1998, Sinclair bought out Sullivan Broadcasting, owners of WVAH, which it had acquired three years before when it merged with Abry Communications, and the license assets were transferred to Glencairn as the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) did not permit duopolies at the time. However, Glencairn's stock was almost entirely controlled by the Smith family, owners and founders of Sinclair. In effect, Sinclair now owned both stations. The company further circumvented the rules by entering into a local marketing agreement with WVAH, with WCHS as senior partner. The other station retained its own studios on Mount Vernon Road in
Hurricane
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
along
I-64
Interstate 64 (I-64) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States. Its western terminus is at I-70, U.S. Route 40 (US 40), and US 61 in Wentzville, Missouri. Its eastern terminus is at an interchang ...
even although most of its operations were merged with WCHS. Eventually, WVAH's separate facilities were put up for sale.
Sinclair tried to merge with Glencairn in 2001 after the FCC decided to allow duopolies but could not repurchase WVAH because the FCC does not allow common ownership of two of the four highest-rated stations in a single market. Glencairn changed its name to Cunningham Broadcasting and the local media agreement with WCHS continues to this day. There is overwhelming evidence that Glencairn/Cunningham is merely a
shell corporation
A shell corporation is a company or corporation that exists only on paper and has no office and no employees, but may have a bank account or may hold passive investments or be the registered owner of assets, such as intellectual property, or s ...
used by Sinclair to circumvent FCC ownership rules.
On February 1, 2021, Sinclair moved its Fox network affiliation from WVAH 11.1 to WCHS 8.2, although it still markets the signal as "Fox 11" and more formally as "Fox 11, WCHS 8.2", likely due to similar moves of Fox affiliations (which were on stations owned by
Cunningham Broadcasting
Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation is an owner of broadcast television stations in the United States. The company currently owns fifteen stations – eight affiliated with Fox, three affiliated with The CW, two affiliated with ABC, and two affili ...
like WVAH, which has nearly all services outside of license holding provided to it to Sinclair) at the beginning of 2021 to subchannels of sister stations owned by Sinclair in the
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County, Iowa, Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River (Iowa River), Cedar River, north of Iowa City, Iowa, Iowa City and north ...
;
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
; and
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...
markets.
News operation
For most of its history according to
Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
, WCHS has been a distant runner up to longtime dominant WSAZ-TV. This station and WOWK are usually more competitive in Charleston but WCHS ultimately has higher viewership, however neither is competitive in Huntington, or in the counties of Ohio and Kentucky that are in the market. This is because both stations generally ignore news outside of Charleston. In 2013, however, WCHS opened a small studio and news office in Huntington. WSAZ came in a close second to WCHS for a short period in late 2009–early 2010. This was due to lower lead-in numbers originated by ''
The Jay Leno Show
''The Jay Leno Show'' is a talk show created and hosted by Jay Leno. Premiering on NBC on September 14, 2009, the program aired on weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ET/ PT through February 9, 2010. The program was modeled upon the format of a late ...
'' and WSAZ has since regained its first place ratings.
WCHS currently uses the ''
Eyewitness News'' branding for its news operation and produces three newscasts for WCHS-DT2. This includes ''Eyewitness News This Morning on Fox 11'' seen for an hour on weekday mornings from 7 until 8. There is also an hour-long nightly prime time broadcast known as ''Eyewitness News at 10 on Fox 11''. For many years, WVAH's 10:00 p.m. news broadcast was the market's only hour-long late evening newscast. This changed on March 31, 2014, when WSAZ moved their 10:00 p.m. newscast from MyNetworkTV affiliate WSAZ-DT2 to
CW affiliate
WQCW
WQCW (channel 30), branded on air as Tri-State's CW, is a television station licensed to Portsmouth, Ohio, United States, serving as the CW affiliate for the Charleston– Huntington, West Virginia market. It is one of two commercial televisio ...
(channel 30) and expanded the broadcast from a half-hour to a full hour.
Transition to local HD
WCHS and WVAH started the switch over to
high definition in June 2012 by first installing a new HD Master Control room. In July 2012, the station started to remove the set from the studio that was installed in the late '90s. The old news desk, backdrop, monitors, and the chroma key wall were moved to a small conference room in the station until the transition to HD news was completed. In late July 2012, the new set arrived from Devlin Design Group based out of
Crested Butte, Colorado. During the months of August and September, the new set was installed. On September 29, 2012, WCHS and WVAH became the third and fourth stations in the market to launch high definition newscasts.
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's digital signal is
multiplexed
In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...
:
For a period of time it carried a service called
TheCoolTV
TheCoolTV was a digital broadcast television network and online music video " jukebox" streaming service owned by Cool Music Network, LLC of Lawrence, Kansas.
History
As a digital broadcast television network
Launched in March 2009, the netw ...
on 8.2, but like all other Sinclair stations, it dropped this without announcement on August 31, 2012.
Analog-to-digital conversion
WCHS-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over
VHF channel 8, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States
transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition
UHF channel 41.
[CDBS Print](_blank)
/ref> Through the use of PSIP
The Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) is the MPEG (a video and audio industry group) and privately defined program-specific information originally defined by General Instrument for the DigiCipher 2 system and later extended for the AT ...
, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel
In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...
as its former VHF analog channel 8.
Carriage disputes
Dish Network
Sinclair and Dish Network
DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV. A ...
were both in a brief dispute over retransmission fees on May 17, 2005. This dispute was resolved on May 20 and the notice was taken down.
Suddenlink Communications
In summer 2006, Charter Communications
Charter Communications, Inc., is an American telecommunications and mass media company with services branded as Spectrum. With over 32 million customers in 41 states, it is the second-largest cable operator in the United States by subscribers, ...
streamlined its operations which included selling off portions of its cable system which were "geographically non-strategic". Charter accounts in WCHS' market area were purchased by Suddenlink Communications
Suddenlink was an American telecommunications subsidiary of Altice USA trading in cable television, broadband, IP telephony, home security, and advertising. Prior to its acquisition by Altice, the company was the seventh largest cable operator wi ...
(formerly known as Cebridge). Sinclair requested a $40 million one time fee and a $1 per sub per month fee from Suddenlink for retransmission rights of WCHS and WVAH on the Suddenlink cable system. This led to a protracted media battle between the two companies and Sinclair pulled the two stations off-the-air in the Beckley market. After several weeks of negotiations, the two companies reached an agreement allowing WCHS and WVAH to continue transmission over the Suddenlink cable system. The terms of the agreement were not released to the public.
Time Warner Cable
It was announced on December 20, 2006, that Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...
systems in the Charleston–Huntington market would lose WCHS and WVAH starting December 31. However, this only applied to cable subscribers that were previously owned by Adelphia. An extension agreement was made until January 12, 2007, for negotiations.[http://www.timewarnercable.com/midohio/programming/notice.html]
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wchs-Tv
ABC network affiliates
Fox network affiliates
Antenna TV affiliates
Charge! (TV network) affiliates
TBD (TV network) affiliates
Sinclair Broadcast Group
CHS-TV
Television channels and stations established in 1954
1954 establishments in West Virginia