WSAZ NBC Affiliate Television Channel

Owned by Gray television, WSAZ is a television station based in Huntington, West Virginia. It is the NBC affiliate for the Huntington-Charleston market and covers 61 countries covering central West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and southeastern Ohio. The station is also available on cable Parkersburg. The transmitter of the station is located in Ona, West Virginia and it is broadcasted on channel 3.

WSAZ-TV's programming can also be seen in the Kanawha Valley on translator W16CE (channel 16) in Charleston. The station is very popular for its unique split newscasts. Since 1956, WSAZ's newscasts have featured two anchors, one at the main studio in Huntington and the other in Charleston.

At 6:00 and 11:00 p.m., the two anchors appear together on screen until a certain point (usually 10-15 minutes into the newscast) when the newscast will split. Viewers in the 28 counties of the Kanawha Valley will then be able to watch a newscast targeted specifically to them, while viewers in the other 33 counties will see a newscast featuring news from Kentucky and Ohio as well as West Virginia. WSAZ calls this concept two-city news.

WSAZ-TV, which is the oldest television station in West Virginia, commenced broadcasting in 1949. The Huntington Herald-Dispatch along with WSAZ radio then owned it. It is the only commercial station that has never changed its primary affiliation and is NBCs longest continuously-affiliated station south of Washington, D.C.In 1961, The Herald-Dispatch sold WSAZ-AM-TV to the owner of WJR radio in Detroit and WJRT-TV in Flint, Michigan called Goodwill Stations. Goodwill merged with Capital Cities Communications in 1964. Capital Cities further sold WSAZ-TV in 1971 to Lee Enterprises. Emmis Communications bought the station in 2000 after Lee decided to quit broadcasting. Finally, in 2005, Emmis sold WSAZ to Gray Television.

In 1950, WSAZ-TV received permission from FCC to build a private microwave link to Cincinnati that would allow viewers to get NBC programming live.In 1952, the FCC made a change in channel alignment and WSAZ-TV was forced to move to channel 3 from channel 5. As part of the frequency switch, the FCC granted WSAZ a boost in broadcast power, which at the time was the highest ever authorized for a television station. The station was credited to have the tallest transmission tower in North America until WIS-TV in Columbia, South Carolina activated a taller tower in 1959.

Today, WSAZ is one of the countrys most popular television stations, thanks to its unique newscasts. It has always managed to maintain its top position although once in the late 1990s WOWK overtook WSAZ for first place in the northern (Charleston) side of the market. In September 2005, the station launched My Z TV on WSAZ-DT 3.2 and telecasts shows from My Network TV along with programs currently on WSAZ's main feed at different times, although it does feature some exclusive program. Wikipedia

WSAZ NBC Affiliate Television Channel