WRIC-TV

WRIC-TV
Petersburg - Richmond, Virginia
United States
City Petersburg, Virginia
Branding WRIC-TV 8 (general)
8 News (newscasts)
Slogan News Where You Live
Channels Digital: 22 (UHF)
Virtual: 8 (PSIP)
Affiliations
Owner Media General
(sale to Nexstar Broadcasting Group pending)
(Young Broadcasting of Richmond, Inc.)
First air date August 15, 1955 (1955-08-15)
Call letters' meaning W-RIChmond
Former callsigns WXEX-TV (1955–1990)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:
  • 8 (VHF, 1955–2009)
Former affiliations
Transmitter power 850 kW
Height 328 m
Facility ID 74416
Transmitter coordinates 37°30′45″N 77°36′5″W / 37.51250°N 77.60139°W / 37.51250; -77.60139
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website wric.com

WRIC-TV, channel 8, is an ABC-affiliated television station located in Richmond, Virginia, USA. It is owned by Richmond-based Media General, as one of two flagship stations. The station is licensed to nearby Petersburg, while its studios are located on Arboretum Place (State Route 76) in Chesterfield County (with a Richmond mailing address). Its transmitter is located in Bon Air.

History


The station began operation in 1955 as WXEX-TV, an NBC affiliate. It was owned by Thomas Tinsley along with WLEE radio. Channel 8's transmitter was located in the Bermuda Hundred area of eastern Chesterfield County, while the main studios were in Petersburg. Originally, it didn't cover Richmond nearly as well as did WTVR-TV (channel 6) and WRVA-TV (channel 12, now WWBT). At first, a Richmond sales office was located at WLEE's studios on West Broad Street in Richmond; later, satellite studios were established just off Midlothian Turnpike in Bon Air, a suburb of Richmond.

The station swapped affiliations with channel 12 in 1965 and became an ABC affiliate. It has been with that network ever since. In 1968, Tinsley sold WXEX-TV and WLEE to Nationwide Communications. In 1969, a fire destroyed its original Petersburg studios. For a few weeks, the station had to broadcast from its transmitter, then set up temporary offices and studios in a vacated store in Petersburg. The station later moved in a brand new facility on Crater Road that it named Blandford Manor. In 1981, Nationwide sold off sister station WLEE.

Former WRIC logo from 2004 to 2016. The ABC logo was later added in 2010. WRIC's stylized "8" logo was used in a circle from 1990 to 2004 and then in a box until it was retired in October 2016.

On April 23, 1990, the station moved its studios to the current location on Arboretum Place in Chesterfield County. With the new studios came new call letters, WRIC-TV. However, it is still licensed to Petersburg; unlike the other stations in the market, it identifies as "Petersburg/Richmond." Nationwide would sell all three of its ABC-affiliated television stations, including WRIC, to Young Broadcasting in 1993.

The station's owner, Young Broadcasting, went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009. The station was part of a bankruptcy auction scheduled for July 14, 2009 but cancelled at the last minute.[1] On July 22, a bankruptcy judge approved a plan in which Young's secured lenders would take over the company.

On September 28, 2011, WRIC-TV became the third commercial station (behind WWBT and WTVR) in Richmond to broadcast local news in high definition.

On November 1, 2011, WRIC-TV ceased to carry The Country Network on the station's 8.2 sub-channel after Young terminated their deal with TCN and dropped the channel on all of its stations that carried it. After Young made a deal to carry ABC's Live Well Network, it launched on June 1, 2012 on WRIC's 8.2 virtual sub-channel.

On June 6, 2013, Young Broadcasting announced that it would merge with Richmond-based Media General. Upon consummation, the merger made WRIC-TV one of two flagships of Media General (WFLA-TV in Tampa serves as the home base of Media General's broadcast division). It was the first legal opportunity for Media General in years to own a station in its hometown. Its predecessor, Richmond Newspapers, lost out in the bidding for WWBT's forerunner, WRVA-TV, in 1956 due to the FCC's preference for a non-newspaper owner. Media General merged with WTVR's then-parent company, Park Communications, but had to immediately put WTVR on the market due to cross-ownership restrictions involving the flagship Richmond Times-Dispatch, which was sold with Media General's newspaper business in 2012 to BH Media. The merger would also make WRIC a sister station to Roanoke's NBC affiliate, WSLS-TV.[2] The merger was approved by the FCC on November 8, after Media General shareholders approved the merger a day earlier;[3] it was completed on November 12.[4] On January 27, 2016, it was announced that the Nexstar Broadcasting Group would buy Media General for $4.6 billion. WRIC will become part of "Nexstar Media Group."[5]

On May 30, 2015 at 4:00am, WRIC-TV (along with all other former-Young Broadcasting stations who were carrying it) ceased to carry Live Well Network on the station's 8.2 sub-channel.

On November 1, 2015, WRIC-TV began carrying ION TV on its 8.2 sub-channel.

On February 3, 2016, WRIC-TV began carrying GetTV on its 8.3 sub-channel.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[6]
8.1 720p 16:9 WRIC TV Main WRIC-TV programming / ABC
8.2 480i 4:3 ION Ion Television
8.3 GetTV GetTV

Analog-to-digital conversion

WRIC-TV shut down 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 22.[7] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers continues to display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 8.1.

As part of the SAFER Act,[8] WRIC-TV kept its analog signal on the air until June 26 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters.

Programming

Syndicated programming on WRIC includes: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Dr. Phil, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, and The Dr. Oz Show among others.

Notable former on-air staff

References

  1. ↑ A vulture's eye view of Young
  2. ↑ Media General, Young Broadcasting To Merge, TVNewsCheck, June 6, 2013.
  3. ↑ FCC Approves Media General-Young Merger Broadcasting & Cable, Retrieved 8 November 2013
  4. ↑ "Media General, Young Now Officially One". TVNewsCheck. November 12, 2013. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
  5. ↑ http://www.mediageneral.com/press/2016/jan27_2016nexs.html
  6. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WRIC
  7. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  8. ↑ "UPDATED List of Participants in the Analog Nightlight Program" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. June 12, 2009. Retrieved June 4, 2012.
  9. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1966/1966-12-26-BC.pdf
  10. ↑ http://www.cleveland.com/tv-blog/index.ssf/2013/03/wilma_smith_announces_she_is_retiring_ending_her_35-year_cleveland_broadcast_career.html

External links

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