WSLS-TV (channel 10) is a television station licensed to
Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke ( ) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 100,011, making it the 8th most populous city in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the largest city in Virginia west of Richmond. It is lo ...
, United States, serving the Roanoke–
Lynchburg 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
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
. Owned by
Graham Media Group
Graham Media Group (formerly Post-Newsweek Stations) is the television broadcasting subsidiary of the Graham Holdings Company. It is now headquartered in Detroit, co-locating with its local NBC affiliate WDIV-TV, after spending 10 years in Chic ...
, the station maintains studios on Fifth Street in Roanoke, and its transmitter is located on
Poor Mountain
Poor Mountain is a ridge of high peaks located in Roanoke County, Virginia and Montgomery County, Virginia. At 3,928 feet, Poor Mountain is the tallest mountain in the immediate area.
Poor Mountain has the largest known population, by far, of ...
in
Roanoke County
Roanoke County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 96,929. Its county seat is Salem, but the county administrative offices are located in the unincorporated Cave ...
. It is the third-oldest continuously operating station in Virginia, behind
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
's
WTVR-TV
WTVR-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Richmond, Virginia, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. Its studios are located on West Broad Street on Richmond's West End, and its transmitter is located i ...
and
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
's
WTKR
WTKR (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Norfolk, Virginia, United States, serving the Hampton Roads area as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by E. W. Scripps Company alongside Portsmouth-licensed CW affiliate WGNT (channel 27). Bo ...
, as well as the state's oldest station west of Richmond.
History
WSLS-TV first signed on the air on December 11, 1952, by the
Shenandoah Life Insurance Company
The Shenandoah Life Insurance Company is an insurance company based in Roanoke, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1916, the company operated until 2012 as a policyholder-owned mutual insurance company when it was sold to United Prosperity Life ...
, after which the station was named ("Shenandoah Life Stations"). WSLS-TV was co-owned with two of Roanoke's first radio stations, WSLS (610 AM) and WSLS-FM (99.1).
Rights to channel 10 were granted to Shenandoah Life after a competitive battle was fought between Shenandoah Life, WROV (now
WGMN
WGMN is a news/talk broadcast radio station licensed to and serving Roanoke, Virginia. WGMN is owned and operated by Three Daughters Media. The station went on the air in 1946 as WROV and broadcast a Contemporary hit radio format in the 1970s. WRO ...
), and WDBJ (now
WFIR
WFIR (960 kHz "WFIR 960 AM - 107.3 FM") is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Roanoke, Virginia and serving the Roanoke Valley. It is owned and operated by Mel Wheeler, Inc. and airs a News/Talk radio format. WFIR broadcasts at 10,000 wa ...
). Originally set to fully launch on December 10, 1952, WSLS-TV was taken off the air an hour into a
test pattern
A test card, also known as a test pattern or start-up/closedown test, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast (often at sign-on and sign-off).
Used since the ear ...
on the evening of the 10th, when a storm shattered a window in the studio and blew a control panel's fuse, while a lightning bolt also struck near the station's transmitter. The station successfully launched a day later. The inaugural anchor team was composed of Tom Wright, Joe Moffatt, and Ed Thomas, with Moffatt becoming the state's first television editorialist when he began his daily editorials in 1961.
In 1955, WSLS-TV moved from the Shenandoah Building on First Street to a new studio on Third Street.
The television station has always been a primary NBC affiliate, but in its first two years spent around one-quarter of its broadcast day carrying programs from
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 Entertainmen ...
;
Lynchburg's
WLVA-TV
WSET-TV (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Lynchburg, Virginia, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for the Roanoke–Lynchburg market. The station is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, and has studios on Langhorne Ro ...
(channel 13) was the nearest primary CBS affiliate, but its transmitter location at the time did not cover Roanoke at all.
All CBS programming was dropped when
WDBJ-TV
WDBJ (channel 7) is a television station licensed to Roanoke, Virginia, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for the Roanoke– Lynchburg market. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Danville-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WZBJ, chann ...
signed on in 1955 as Roanoke's primary affiliate. In the late-1950s and the 1960s, WSLS-TV also aired locally produced programming, including ''Echo'', ''Klub Kwiz'' (a competitor to WDBJ's ''Klassroom Kwiz''), ''Ebb and Andy'', ''Spectrum'', ''Glen Howell'', ''Cactus Joe'', and ''Profile''.
The station was first to broadcast in "full living color," telecast from a remote location, use video tape and electronic news gathering equipment, broadcast network programming in stereo, and broadcast live local news in HD in the Roanoke/Lynchburg market.
In 1969, WSLS-TV was purchased from Shenandoah Life Insurance Company by
Roy H. Park for $7.5 million. This separated it from its radio sisters, now
WPLY and
WSLQ
WSLQ (99.1 FM "Q99") is a commercial radio station licensed to Roanoke, Virginia, serving the New River Valley and Southwest Virginia. The station airs an adult contemporary radio format and is owned and operated by Mel Wheeler, Inc. The studios ...
; due to FCC rules, the television station was the only one to retain the original WSLS call sign.
In 1992, WSLS-TV launched "The Spirit of Virginia" promotional campaign, emphasizing the station's new "down home" news philosophy that included more features and a stronger emphasis on soft, community oriented news. In September 1995, WSLS-TV ended "The Spirit of Virginia" campaign and revamped the look and focus of the station, shedding the "down home" philosophy in favor of a more hard-news approach. In 1996, WSLS-TV signed a deal with
Grant Broadcasting
Grant Broadcasting System II (also referred to as Grant Communications and Grant Company) was an owner of various television stations in the United States, Based in Roanoke, Virginia.
Grant Broadcasting was founded in 1990 by Milton Grant (May 1 ...
, the owner of Roanoke's
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 ...
affiliates
WFXR
WFXR (channel 27) is a television station licensed to Roanoke, Virginia, United States, serving as the Fox affiliate for the Roanoke– Lynchburg market. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Lynchburg-licensed CW owned-and-operated sta ...
and
WJPR, to produce a 10 p.m. newscast for the Fox stations. ''The Fox 10 O'Clock News'' with Frances Scott and John Carlin premiered on October 28, 1996.
On January 1, 1997,
Media General
Media General was an American media company based in Richmond, Virginia. The company's origins can be traced back to 1887 when Richmond attorney Joseph Bryan acquired ''The Richmond Daily Times'', which later became ''The Richmond Times-Dispatch' ...
acquired Park Communications and became the station's new owner. The station was rebranded to match
WFLA-TV
WFLA-TV (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Tampa, Florida, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Tampa Bay area. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside St. Petersburg–licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WTTA (channe ...
, Media General's flagship station in
Tampa, Florida
Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...
. On April 14, WSLS-TV re-launched itself as ''NewsChannel 10'' during the 5 p.m. newscast. A new campaign called "10 Listens" was launched, which encouraged viewers to set up a "10 Listens Community Forum". Through the forums, viewers communicated directly with its news anchors and management about concerns facing their community, yielding exclusive story ideas for WSLS-TV and improved its image within the market. A combination of factors caused the station to eventually abandon the forum concept. In 1999, Media General began the process of renovating the WSLS-TV studios in downtown Roanoke, moving the station's news department to a larger newsroom on the first floor adjacent to the news studio. On October 1, 2015, the news sharing agreement between WSLS-TV and WFXR ended when the latter launched its own in-house news department.
On January 27, 2016, Media General announced that it would be acquired by
Nexstar Broadcasting Group
Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarter offices in Irving, Texas; Midtown Manhattan; and Chicago, Illinois. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 te ...
in a deal valued at $4.6 billion. Since Nexstar already owned WFXR and WWCW through satellite exemptions and the Roanoke–Lynchburg market had too few stations to permit a duopoly,
on May 27, Nexstar announced that it would sell WSLS, along with
WCWJ
WCWJ (channel 17) is a television station in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by Graham Media Group alongside independent station WJXT (channel 4). Both stations share studios at 4 Broadcast Place on the ...
in
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...
, to the
Graham Media Group
Graham Media Group (formerly Post-Newsweek Stations) is the television broadcasting subsidiary of the Graham Holdings Company. It is now headquartered in Detroit, co-locating with its local NBC affiliate WDIV-TV, after spending 10 years in Chic ...
for $120 million.
The sale was approved by 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 ...
on January 11, 2017, and completed on January 17.
In February 2018, WSLS-TV announced it had purchased a warehouse on Fifth Street to build a new television studio and would sell its existing Third Street facilities upon moving into the new building.
On April 29, 2019, the new studio made its on-air debut.
Cable and satellite carriage
On
cable
Cable may refer to:
Mechanical
* Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof
* Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
, WSLS-TV can be seen as far south as
Yanceyville, North Carolina
Yanceyville is a town in and the county seat of Caswell County, North Carolina, United States. Located in the Piedmont Triad region of the state, the town had a population of 1,937 at the 2020 census.
The settlement was founded in 1792 and was ...
, as far east as
Clarksville, as far west as
Marion Marion may refer to:
People
*Marion (given name)
*Marion (surname)
*Marion Silva Fernandes, Brazilian footballer known simply as "Marion"
*Marion (singer), Filipino singer-songwriter and pianist Marion Aunor (born 1992)
Places Antarctica
* Mario ...
and as far north as
Harrisonburg,
Staunton and
Snowshoe, West Virginia
Snowshoe is an unincorporated community in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, United States, centering on the Snowshoe Mountain ski resort. It is situated in the Allegheny Mountains at a bowl shaped convergence of two high mountain ridges — Ch ...
.
Shentel
Shentel, officially Shenandoah Telecommunications Company, is a publicly traded telecommunications company headquartered in Edinburg, Virginia. It operates a digital wireless and wireline network in rural Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pen ...
Cable in
Franklin, West Virginia
Franklin is a town in Pendleton County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 486 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Pendleton County. Franklin was established in 1794 and named for Francis Evick, an early settler.
History
...
dropped WSLS-TV at some point in 2009. Sometime in the late 2000s,
Comcast
Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...
in Harrisonburg added WSLS-TV to
digital cable
Digital cable is the distribution of cable television using digital data and video compression. The technology was first developed by General Instrument. By 2000, most cable companies offered digital features, eventually replacing their previou ...
, which at one time may have been on the main tier cable lineup.
WSLS-TV and all of the Roanoke stations are carried on
DirecTV
DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. It ...
in
Patrick County
Patrick County is a county located on the central southern border of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,608. Its county seat is Stuart. It is located within both the rolling hills and valleys of the Pi ...
due to Nielsen placing the county in the
Greensboro–High Point–Winston-Salem market. WSLS-TV is also carried out of market for North Carolina DirecTV viewers in the counties of
Caswell and
Rockingham.
Programming
As an NBC affiliate, WSLS-TV clears the network's entire lineup of programs. The station's lineup of syndicated daytime programming include shows such as ''
Tamron Hall
Tamron Hall (born September 16, 1970) is an American broadcast journalist and television talk show host. In September 2019, Hall debuted her self-titled syndicated daytime talk show, which earned her a Daytime Emmy Award. Hall was formerly a n ...
'', ''
Hot Bench
''Hot Bench'' is a nontraditional panel-based court show that made its debut in first-run syndication on September 15, 2014. The series is produced by ''Judge Judy''s Judge Judy Sheindlin, who also created the program and concept with executi ...
'', ''
Dr. Phil'', ''
The Kelly Clarkson Show
''The Kelly Clarkson Show'' is an American daytime television variety talk show hosted by American singer Kelly Clarkson. It is produced and distributed by NBCUniversal Syndication Studios and features Clarkson interviewing celebrities and seg ...
'', and ''
Inside Edition
''Inside Edition'' is an American news broadcasting newsmagazine program that is distributed in first-run syndication by CBS Media Ventures. Having premiered on January 9, 1989, it is the longest-running syndicated-newsmagazine program that is n ...
''. Weekend programming includes reruns of ''
In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley
In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley is a television series sponsored by In Touch Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and hosted by Charles Stanley.
History
The series began airing in 1978. The show has been translated in 50 langu ...
''.
WSLS-TV has also produced several local talk shows throughout its history. In the 1950s, Betty Bond, often referred to as Roanoke's "first lady of television" and wife of American author
Nelson S. Bond, hosted Roanoke's first local television talk show, ''The Betty Bond Show''.
She interviewed notable locals on the women-oriented program and also shared fashion tips and household interests, among other topics.
In the early 1960s, Priscilla Young and Kit Johnson hosted ''Profile'', which was awarded "Best Women's Program" in 1962 by the Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters.
In 1983, Greta Evans was hired at WSLS-TV as a reporter and community affairs coordinator to host ''Reaching Out'', a community affairs program examining community issues that aired monthly on Sundays.
In March 2010, Natalie Faunce, a former anchor from WFXR, and Jay Prater, a radio disc jockey from
WROV-FM
WROV-FM (96.3 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Martinsville, Virginia. WROV-FM is owned and operated by iHeartMedia and airs a classic rock radio format. WROV-FM's signal covers the Roanoke- Lynchburg media market, including t ...
, helped launch ''Our Blue Ridge'', an entertainment-oriented talk show focusing on community and lifestyle news that replaced the traditional hour-long noon newscast.
However, in February 2011, WSLS-TV announced it would revamp ''Our Blue Ridge'' by renaming it ''Daytime Blue Ridge'', with continued discussion of similar topics along a more heightened emphasis on the community. Mike Wilson, a former minister, replaced Prater and joined Faunce as co-host. The revamp premiered in September 2011.
''Daytime Blue Ridge'' was condensed by 30 minutes in November 2014 and began airing at 12:30 p.m.
News operation
WSLS-TV presently broadcasts 31 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with five hours each weekday and three hours each on Saturdays and Sundays).
In 1989, the station debuted ''First News at 5:30'', which was solo-anchored by John Carlin and included live feature segments from a field reporter. The show was not popular at first, though ratings improved in 1992 when it was moved to 5 p.m. On September 21, 1998, it was moved back to 5:30, though returned to 5:00 in February 2002. In August 2004, WSLS added a 5:30 newscast to the existing 5 and 6 p.m. shows, creating the first 90-minute evening news block in the market. A half-hour 7 p.m. show was added in September 2009. The 1997 rebranding of the station's news operation as ''NewsChannel 10'' coincided with the debut of "Storm Team 10". The "Storm Team" was created to give weather a stronger emphasis on the station and to emphasize that meteorologists were a team, with the title of "chief meteorologist" being dropped. The title of "chief meteorologist" would later be brought back with the addition of weathercaster Ros Runner in 2007. After the station's acquisition by Media General in 1997, several investments were made to improve the station's news coverage. One of these was the purchase of a satellite news gathering truck so that the station would no longer have to rent or borrow equipment from other stations for satellite live shots. Several departures in the late 1990s and early 2000s harmed the reputation of the station, including the firing of news anchor Dave Mellon and Chief Meteorologist Chuck Bell in 1999, the resignation of Sports Director Greg Roberts the same year, and the dismissal of evening co-anchor Barbara Gibbs in 2000.
A renewed emphasis was placed on local news in the early 2000s, particularly in the eastern and southern portions of the Roanoke/Lynchburg market. In the spring of 2001, additional news bureaus were established in
Martinsville and
Bedford
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...
, each with its own reporter and photographer. The Martinsville bureau was intended to cover
Henry County,
Pittsylvania County
Pittsylvania County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 60,501. Chatham is the county seat.
Pittsylvania County is included in the Danville, VA Micropolitan Statistical A ...
,
Halifax County, and the
independent cities that lied within those areas, while the Bedford Bureau covered
Bedford County,
Campbell County,
Amherst County
Amherst County is a county, located in the Piedmont region and near the center of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The county is part of the Lynchburg Metropolitan Statistical Area, and its county seat is also named Amherst. ...
, and the independent cities of Lynchburg and Bedford. In 2004, the personnel from the two bureaus were moved to the offices of the ''Lynchburg News and Advance'' and the ''Danville Register and Bee'', respectively, in an attempt by Media General to converge its newspaper and television properties as a single newsgathering entity. Between 2008 and 2012, coverage of these areas was maintained through shared content from its newspaper partners. When Media General sold its newspapers to World Media Enterprises in 2012, the partnership with WSLS ended and the station was forced to rely on its own resources to cover the eastern side of its market.
In 2007, the on-air branding was changed from the ''NewsChannel'' to "WSLS 10 On Your Side", with the station updating its set and graphics for the launch of
high-definition. The station launched the first high-definition local newscast in Virginia that year.
In the beginning of the 2010s, WSLS-TV implemented several changes to its news programming. In March 2010, the weekday noon newscast was replaced with ''Our Blue Ridge''.
The change had not been met with ratings success and ''Our Blue Ridge'' was revamped, being replaced by ''Daytime Blue Ridge'' in 2011.
For the fall 2011 and spring 2012 sweeps periods, WSLS-TV placed third against Roanoke competitors, WDBJ and WSET, in its prime time newscasts.
The "On Your Side" slogan was also dropped in 2012, along with a change to the newscast's graphics.
In July 2013, after anchor Jay Warren departed in April, former anchor John Carlin returned to the station after five years in public relations to anchor the 5, 5:30, 6, and 11 p.m. newscasts. On November 3, 2014, WSLS-TV brought back its weekday 12:00 p.m. newscast with the launch of ''WSLS 10 at Noon'', anchored by Patrick McKee. The newscast's return shortened ''Daytime Blue Ridge'' by 30 minutes to begin airing at 12:30 pm.
Following its acquisition by Graham Media Group in early 2017, WSLS-TV introduced new station graphics and a new music score and also rebranded as ''10 News'', with the new slogan, "Working for You."
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 ...
:
On digital subchannel 10.2 and
Cox
Cox may refer to:
* Cox (surname), including people with the name
Companies
* Cox Enterprises, a media and communications company
** Cox Communications, cable provider
** Cox Media Group, a company that owns television and radio stations
** ...
digital channel 110 is "WSLS 10.2 GO", which carries
GetTV
getTV is an American digital multicast television network owned by the Sony Pictures Television Networks subsidiary of Sony Pictures Television. Originally formatted as a movie-oriented service, the network has since transitioned into a genera ...
, a digital multicast network that broadcasts classic television programs; previously, WSLS-DT2 aired a continuous image of "Live VIPIR 10." On digital subchannel 10.3 and Cox digital channel 111 is
MeTV
MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television program ...
, offering classic television series from the
CBS Television Distribution
CBS Media Ventures, Inc. (formerly CBS Television Distribution, Inc. and CBS Paramount Domestic Television, Inc.) is an American television distribution company owned by CBS Studios, part of CBS Entertainment Group, a division of Paramount Glob ...
,
20th Television
20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Compa ...
and
NBCUniversal Television Distribution
NBCUniversal Syndication Studios (a.k.a. NUSS), formerly known as NBCUniversal Television Distribution (a.k.a. NUTD), Universal Domestic Television, Studios USA Television Distribution and MCA TV, is the television syndication division of NBCUnive ...
program libraries.
Analog-to-digital conversion
WSLS-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over
VHF
Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter.
Frequencies immediately below VHF ...
channel 10, 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
Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...
channel 30,
using
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 A ...
to 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 10.
References
* May/June 1975, Roanoker Magazine, p26
*"Channel 10's Decade of Decline", Holiday 1979, Roanoker Magazine, p18
*"Lights, Camera, News!", March/April 1980, Roanoker Magazine, p32
*"Roanoke Media Comparison", February 1988, Roanoker Magazine, p19
*''Roanoke Times & World-News'', Thursday, April 27, 1978, p C-4
*http://www.roanoke.com/sports/etc/wb/176432
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wsls-Tv
Graham Media Group
SLS-TV
NBC network affiliates
Television channels and stations established in 1952
GetTV affiliates
MeTV affiliates
Movies! affiliates
Start TV affiliates
1952 establishments in Virginia
2017 mergers and acquisitions