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WFMY-TV

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WFMY-TV
CityGreensboro, North Carolina
Channels
BrandingWFMY News 2
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
September 22, 1949 (74 years ago) (1949-09-22)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 2 (VHF, 1949–2009)
  • Digital: 51 (UHF, until 2020)
Call sign meaning
Began as the television sister of FM station WFMY
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID72064
ERP743 kW
HAAT568.8 m (1,866 ft)
Transmitter coordinates35°52′13.3″N 79°50′24.1″W / 35.870361°N 79.840028°W / 35.870361; -79.840028
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.wfmynews2.com

WFMY-TV (channel 2) is a television station licensed to Greensboro, North Carolina, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for the Piedmont Triad region. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on Phillips Avenue in Greensboro and a transmitter in Randleman, North Carolina.

WFMY began broadcasting in 1949; it was the second television station in North Carolina and the first to originate a live broadcast. It was owned by the Greensboro News Company, publishers of the Greensboro Daily News and Daily Record. It aired programming from all major networks in its early years, when it was the only station in the Triad, though it was always primarily a CBS affiliate. WFMY became the highest-rated station in the market and the traditional ratings leader, with such regionally popular local shows as The Old Rebel Show and The Good Morning Show. Beginning in the late 1990s, sharper competition from the other major stations in the market has reduced and at times eliminated the lead WFMY-TV once had.

History[edit]

Early years[edit]

WFMY was the site of the first live television broadcast in North Carolina; the plaque read "FROM THIS SITE ON AUGUST 18, 1949 AT 6:10 PM WFMY-TV ORIGINATED THE FIRST LIVE TELEVISION BROADCAST IN THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA"

The Greensboro News Company, publisher of the Greensboro Daily News and Daily Record newspapers, began its foray into broadcasting with FM radio. On January 8, 1947, ground was broken on a tower for a new FM radio station, WFMY, near the Daily News building on Davie Street.[2] Construction proceeded slowly; the tower was not completed until December,[3] and WFMY made its first broadcast on March 14, 1948,[4] on 97.3 MHz.[5]

A month before WFMY radio debuted, the Greensboro News Company applied on February 26, 1948, for authority to build a television station.[6] The Federal Communications Commission approved the request on June 2,[7] but preparations for the new station began in earnest in April 1949, after final construction approval for changes.[8] Among the last items was a modification to the existing WFMY radio tower, which was set back by the failure of a cable, causing the antenna to drop and be damaged.[9][10]

WFMY-TV made its first test broadcasts on August 18, 1949. At 6:10 p.m., viewers saw staff announcer Don Hardison. This was the first live television broadcast in North Carolina; while WBTV in Charlotte was already on the air, it lacked the capability to originate local broadcasts.[11] Full programming began on September 22, 1949, and the station initially aired six days a week, going off the air every Saturday.[12] WFMY-TV was a primary affiliate of CBS,[13] but it had arrangements to use programming from all four networks of the day, including NBC, ABC, and DuMont Television Network.[14][15] Network programs were presented by kinescopes—filmed recordings of telecasts as seen in New York—until September 1950, when network coaxial cable service reached Greensboro.[16] WFMY radio closed on April 19, 1953, with its studio space and personnel absorbed into the growing television operation.[17]

WFMY and WBTV were the only authorized television stations in North Carolina prior to the FCC's freeze on new television station awards, which lasted from October 1948 to July 1952.[18][19] As a result, channel 2 was the first television station to provide dependable service not only to the Triad but areas of east-central North Carolina; this included the state capital, Raleigh, which did not get a local station until July 1953. Even then, WNAO-TV was an ultra high frequency (UHF) station and required a converter to view, so many households in Raleigh continued to mostly watch WFMY.[20] The end of the freeze also brought new stations to the Triad. WFMY-TV became a sole CBS affiliate in September 1953 when two new stations went on the air in Winston-Salem. First on air was WTOB-TV (channel 26), an affiliate of ABC and DuMont,[21] followed by NBC affiliate WSJS-TV (now WXII-TV) on channel 12.[22] WTOB-TV closed in 1957, and channels 2 and 12 split ABC programming[23] until WGHP began on channel 8 in 1963.[24]

Beginning at the end of 1953, WFMY-TV built new facilities and a new tower, 659 feet (201 m) high plus a 101-foot (31 m) antenna, at its present studio site at Phillips and Summit avenues.[25] The new building was six times larger than the 4,500-square-foot (420 m2) facility on Davie Street and boasted two studios, each larger than the original studio of 14 by 26 feet (4.3 by 7.9 m).[26] The station moved to the new studios on January 2, 1955, and simultaneously increased its power to the maximum of 100,000 watts.[27]

A vintage WFMY-TV microphone

Over the course of the 1950s, WFMY-TV launched three long-running local programs. In 1951, the station debuted the children's show Six-Gun Playhouse. It was hosted by George Perry, who noted a fad of Confederate fashion at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and adopted a "Rebel cap" for his character. The Old Rebel Show—filmed before a live studio audience of dozens of children—remained on the station for 26 years, first in afternoons and then in mornings before becoming a weekly Saturday program in its final year.[28][29] What's Cooking Today, a cooking series hosted by Cordelia Kelly, ran for 18 years from 1953 to 1971.[30]

In 1965, the News Company was bought by what eventually became Landmark Communications. The station was acquired by Harte-Hanks Communications in 1976.

In 1980, it built its current tower near Sophia, North Carolina, south of Greensboro. The 1,914-foot (583 m) mast cost $3 million to build and was part of a plan to increase WFMY-TV's coverage area, though it also impaired reception for residents in its shadow.[31][32]

In 1984, Harte-Hanks underwent a leveraged buyout that saddled it with $700 million in debt. To reduce this load, Harte-Hanks put a number of its divisions up for sale in October 1987, including three newspapers, seven cable systems, and WFMY-TV and WTLV in Jacksonville, Florida.[33] That December, Gannett agreed to buy WFMY-TV and WTLV for $155 million.[34] The transaction was completed in February 1988.[35]

On June 29, 2015, the Gannett Company split in two, with one side specializing in print media and the other side specializing in broadcast and digital media. WFMY was retained by the latter company, named Tegna.[36]

During the analog television era, WFMY boasted one of the largest signal coverage areas in the Southeastern United States. It provided grade B coverage as far south as Charlotte and as far east as Raleigh; its transmitter is located almost halfway between the two cities. The channel 2 signal traveled a very long distance under normal conditions. It appeared in The Charlotte Observer television listings well into the 1990s, in part because it frequently aired network shows that were preempted by Charlotte's WBTV–mainly game shows and cartoons. It appeared in The News & Observer television listings well into the turn of the millennium.

Although its digital signal operates on UHF, WFMY's secondary coverage area in digital is almost as large as that of its former analog signal.

Programming[edit]

WFMY's local programming, which includes the long-running news program The Good Morning Show with Lee Kinard and children's program The Old Rebel Show, preempted CBS' various attempts at morning programming from 1957 through the 1980s. WGGT (channel 48, now WMYV) aired the CBS Morning News until 1985; WFMY then began to run the program on tape delay from 8 to 10 a.m. following The Good Morning Show. Lee Kinard later moved to the station's weeknight newscasts until he retired in the 1990s. Another important local daytime program from the 1970s was Sandra and Friends, hosted by longtime news anchor Sandra Hughes. This was one of the first television programs in the region to be hosted by an African-American female.

Since March 2013, WFMY has also carried Let's Make a Deal at 10 a.m., following CBS This Morning. Prior to then, the program aired on WFMY at its recommended 3 p.m. slot, where a double-run of The Andy Griffith Show relocated after the scheduling change. In September 2016, Andy Griffith was moved to 4 p.m., switching timeslots with The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

On December 2, 2019, WFMY instituted a number of changes to its daytime schedule, moving CBS This Morning to its recommended time of 7 a.m., followed by Ellen at 9 a.m. This meant dropping the last hour of The Good Morning Show, which had been airing from 4:30 to 8 a.m. Ellen was replaced at 3 p.m. by Daily Blast Live and the daytime episode of Jeopardy!. Finally, WFMY joined WGHP and WXII with a 4 p.m. newscast, as well as replacing its 2 Wants to Know at 5:30 with another half-hour of news. All this meant that Andy Griffith is being seen only on weekends. The station also added the Saturday edition of CBS This Morning at 7 a.m. effective December 7, with the Saturday edition of The Good Morning Show airing from 5 to 7 a.m. Also in December 2019, WFMY began clearing the full hour of Face the Nation from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Sundays, with In Touch following at 11:30.[37]

On September 12, 2022, WFMY debuted a 9 a.m. version of The Good Morning Show, replacing Ellen after the show ended its run.

News operation[edit]

WFMY-TV presently broadcasts 43 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with seven hours each weekday, three hours on Saturdays and five hours on Sundays). On January 5, 2010, beginning with its noon newscast, WFMY began broadcasting its local newscasts in widescreen standard definition; pre-recorded stories and live remote video were also presented in the format.[citation needed] On July 27, 2011, WFMY aired a news story claiming there had been a "series" of "violent flash mob" attacks at a downtown Greensboro park.[38] The report made numerous allegations that were not substantiated and were subsequently refuted by the Greensboro Police Department.[39]

On the evening of September 25, 1984, the station's Bell JetRanger news helicopter, "Sky 2", crashed while attempting to assist in the rescue of a construction worker trapped atop a water tower in Kernersville (near Winston-Salem). The tower was being dismantled when a piece of steel snapped and trapped the worker for hours, causing him to bleed profusely; "Sky 2" was called in to assist in the rescue. Pilot Tom Haroski began lowering the chopper above the tower, as an EMS worker on board was preparing to rescue the man. The chopper's tail rotor hit one of the steel beams as it hovered over the tower, sending it spiraling nose first into the ground, killing Haroski and the rescue worker instantly (it was later determined that the construction worker had bled to death before the chopper ever took off). Video of the accident was captured by competitor WXII-TV and was broadcast around the country.[40] WFMY began using a new version of "Sky 2" (painted black) after the accident, but eventually retired the chopper altogether.

On November 13, 2011, beginning with its 11 p.m. newscast, WFMY began broadcasting its newscasts in high definition. The station also introduced a new format for its newscasts titled News 2.0.[41] On April 25, 2013, WFMY debuted a news/investigative program, 2 Wants To Know; it replaced a third daily airing of The Andy Griffith Show in that program's longtime 5:30 p.m. slot, a move which has angered some viewers, as indicated in stories in the Greensboro News & Record and the Winston-Salem Journal.

Technical information[edit]

Subchannels[edit]

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of WFMY-TV[42]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
2.1 1080i 16:9 WFMY HD CBS
2.2 480i Crime True Crime Network
2.3 Mystery Ion Mystery
2.4 Quest Quest
2.5 OPEN The365
2.6 Crimes Outlaw
2.7 QVC QVC Over the Air
2.8 HSN HSN

Analog-to-digital conversion[edit]

WFMY-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal on June 12, 2009, as part of the FCC-mandated transition to digital television for full-power stations.[43] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 51, using virtual channel 2. As part of the SAFER Act, WFMY-TV kept its analog signal on the air until July 12 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters.[44]

On May 15, 2020, under the provisions of the FCC's spectrum reallocation program, WFMY's transmissions moved to channel 35, while continuing to display channel 2 as its virtual channel.

Out-of-market cable and DirecTV carriage[edit]

In recent years, WFMY has been carried on cable in multiple areas outside of the Greensboro television market including within the Charlotte, Raleigh and Roanoke, Virginia, markets. On DirecTV, WFMY has been carried in multiple areas within the Raleigh and Roanoke markets.[45]

During the 1970s and 1980s through CATV, WFMY was once carried in Rockingham, Southern Pines, Henderson, Durham, and Roxboro in North Carolina, and Rocky Mount and Clifton Forge in Virginia.[46]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WFMY-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "Ground Broken for New FM Radio Station". Greensboro Daily News. Greensboro, North Carolina. January 9, 1947. p. 2:1. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "WFMY Antenna Hoisting To End Building Of Tower". Greensboro Daily News. Greensboro, North Carolina. December 18, 1947. p. 2:1. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Kelley Announces April 13 Opening Of Radio Station". Greensboro Daily News. Greensboro, North Carolina. March 15, 1948. p. 2:1. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Point Your FM Dial to 97.3 Sunday, Mar. 14". Greensboro Daily News (Advertisement). Greensboro, North Carolina. March 10, 1948. p. 1:2. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "News Company Applies For Television Permit". The Greensboro Record. Greensboro, North Carolina. February 27, 1948. p. 5. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "History Cards for WFMY-TV". Federal Communications Commission.
  8. ^ "Television Dream Becomes Reality". Greensboro Daily News. Greensboro, North Carolina. August 19, 1949. p. 2:1. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Television Antenna Damaged When Supporting Cable Snaps". Greensboro Daily News. Greensboro, North Carolina. August 2, 1949. p. 2:1. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Schumaker, Leo (August 11, 1949). "WFMY-TV Antenna Is Finally Hoisted". Greensboro Daily News. Greensboro, North Carolina. p. 2:1. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Live Television Show Broadcast At Greensoro [sic]". Statesville Daily Record. Statesville, North Carolina. August 19, 1949. p. 1. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "About 20,000 See WFMY's TV Inaugural". The Greensboro Record. Greensboro, North Carolina. September 23, 1949. p. 1-B. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "WFMY-TV Station Signs With CBS For Television". Greensboro Daily News. Greensboro, North Carolina. June 17, 1949. p. 1. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "WFMY-TV Enters Contract With DuMont For Television". The Greensboro Record. Greensboro, North Carolina. June 28, 1949. p. 1-B. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Preliminary Scenes from Greensboro's Television Station Are Expected to Be on Screen Here Today". The Chapel Hill News. Chapel Hill, North Carolina. August 12, 1949. p. 1. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Cable to WFMY-TV". Broadcasting. October 2, 1950. p. 73. ProQuest 1401186749.
  17. ^ "WFMY Petitioning To Discontinue Broadcasting". Greensboro Daily News. Greensboro, North Carolina. March 31, 1953. p. 1:7. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ Crater, Rufus (October 4, 1948). "Television Freeze: FCC Action Halted Pending Definite Policy". Broadcasting. pp. 22A, 57. ProQuest 1040475180.
  19. ^ "Thaw July 1: 617 VHFs, 1436 UHFs in 1291 Markets; Educators Win". Broadcasting. April 15, 1952. pp. 23, 67–68. ProQuest 1285696665.
  20. ^ Welch, Jane A. (September 30, 1979). "When TV hit the airwaves in Carolina". The News and Observer. Raleigh, North Carolina. pp. 1-V, 11-V. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ Thomas, George (April 10, 1966). "Television: From Faint Flicker to Full Color". Winston-Salem Journal and Sentinel. p. J2. Archived from the original on April 7, 2023. Retrieved April 6, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "Series Opener Provides WSJS First Video". Winston-Salem Journal. Winston-Salem, North Carolina. October 1, 1953. pp. 1, 4. Archived from the original on April 7, 2023. Retrieved April 6, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ "A Third Television Channel". Winston-Salem Journal (Editorial). Winston-Salem, North Carolina. April 12, 1962. p. 4. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ "New TV Station Operating". Winston-Salem Journal. Winston-Salem, North Carolina. October 15, 1963. p. 21. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ "Crew En Route To Erect New Video Tower". Greensboro Daily News. Greensboro, North Carolina. December 31, 1953. p. 13. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ "TV Station Construction To Begin: City Firm To Build WFMY-TV Home". Greensboro Daily News. Greensboro, North Carolina. March 22, 1954. p. 2:1. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ^ "TV Officials Report Successful Expansion". The Greensboro Record. Greensboro, North Carolina. January 3, 1955. p. B-3. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ^ Starbuck, Richard (August 31, 1977). "'Old Rebel' Ending Run". The Sentinel. Winston-Salem, North Carolina. pp. 13, 14. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ York, John (November 25, 1980). "George Perry, 'The Old Rebel,' Dies At 58". The Charlotte Observer. Charlotte, North Carolina. p. 2B. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ^ Schlosser, Jim (January 14, 1988). "TV cook Cordelia Kelly dies at 82". News & Record. Greensboro, North Carolina. pp. D1, D2. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  31. ^ Alston, Blanche (May 30, 1980). "Antenna boon or blight? Depends on view of TV 2". The Greensboro Record. Greensboro, North Carolina. pp. B1, B8. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  32. ^ Sill, Melanie (July 8, 1980). "Kinks remain in Channel 2 tower". The Greensboro Record. Greensboro, North Carolina. pp. B1, B2. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  33. ^ Memmott, Mark. "Media group plans sale". USA Today. p. 3B. ProQuest 305947450.
  34. ^ "Harte-Hanks selling two TV's to Gannett for $155 million". December 7, 1987. pp. 94–95. ProQuest 1014722057.
  35. ^ "In Brief". Broadcasting. February 8, 1988. p. 136. ProQuest 1014726271.
  36. ^ "Separation of Gannett into two public companies completed | TEGNA". Tegna. June 29, 2015. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
  37. ^ "New show means new program flow on WFMY News 2: Four 2 Five, along with Jeopardy II and other changes". WFMY-TV. December 2, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  38. ^ "Downtown Greensboro "Flash Mob" Beating Investigated By Police – digtriad.com". Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  39. ^ "Police: No "flash mob attacks" in Greensboro : News-Record.com : Greensboro & the Triad's most trusted source for local news and analysis". Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  40. ^ "ATL84FA297". February 18, 2005. Archived from the original on February 18, 2005.
  41. ^ WFMY Greensboro Debuting HD 'News 2.0', TVNewsCheck, November 10, 2011.
  42. ^ "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  43. ^ "List of Digital Full-Power Stations" (PDF).
  44. ^ "UPDATED List of Participants in the Analog Nightlight Program" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. June 12, 2009. Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  45. ^ "SVTV Stations – The things you care that others won't". Archived from the original on May 2, 2012. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  46. ^ "Cable Search". Retrieved August 13, 2023.

External links[edit]

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