beach virginia branding fox 43 general wavy news 10 newscasts slogan on your side during wavy produced newscasts channels digital 29 uhf virtual 43 psip subchannels 43.1 fox translators 36 wpmc cd mappsville 45 wnlo cd norfolk affiliations fox 1998 present owner media general sale to nexstar broadcasting group pending wavy broadcasting llc first air date march 22 1993 ; 23 years ago 1993 03 22 call letters meaning virginia beach television sister station s wavy tv former channel number s analog 43 uhf 1993 2009 former affiliations independent 1993 1995 the wb 1995 1998 transmitter power 1 000 kw height 241 m facility id 65387 transmitter coordinates 36 49 14 n 76 30 41 w 36.82056 n 76.51139 w 36.82056 ; 76.51139 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website fox43tv.com wvbt channel 43 is a television station licensed to virginia beach virginia usa serving as the fox affiliate for the hampton roads area of virginia comprising the cities of virginia beach norfolk portsmouth newport news hampton and environs and the outer banks region of north carolina . wvbt is owned by media general and is a sister station to nbc affiliate wavy tv channel 10 . the two stations share studios and offices located on wavy street in portsmouth and wvbt broadcasts from a transmitter located in the driver neighborhood of suffolk virginia . wvbt s programming can also be seen on two class a repeaters wpmc cd channel 36 in mappsville virginia ; and wnlo cd channel 45 in norfolk . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channel 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 translators 4 newscasts 5 controversies 5.1 lin tv cox dispute 6 references 7 external links history edit logo from 1998 until 2008 . wvbt began operation on march 22 1993 with home shopping network programming along with infomercials and religious shows . it became a charter affiliate of the wb starting on january 11 1995 . shortly thereafter the station s original local owners signed a local marketing agreement lma with lin tv . under that agreement wavy took over the station s operations and wvbt moved to wavy s studios in portsmouth . in may 1996 wvbt began broadcasting from a new transmitter giving it a coverage area comparable to the other major hampton roads stations . before then its over the air signal was effectively limited to virginia beach and parts of norfolk . lin tv reached an affiliation agreement with fox in november 1995 and outright purchased the station in 2002 . due to an affiliation deal between the wb and wtvz s channel 33 owner sinclair broadcast group wtvz swapped affiliations with wvbt in august 1998 1 . 2 until january 2007 wavy operated a 24 hour local weather channel called wavy weather station on wvbt s second digital subchannel taking advantage of its 720p signal to present the service without interfering with video quality on either wavy or wvbt . it was made cable only in 2007 for unknown reasons and eventually went dark in 2011 . it was seen on mediacom channel 9 charter channel 22 and cox digital channel 227 . 3 there were live current conditions updated forecasts and a live feed of super doppler 10 . on march 21 2014 it was announced that media general would acquire lin . 4 the merger was completed on december 19 bringing wavy tv and wvbt under common ownership with wric tv in petersburg and wsls tv in roanoke . 5 digital television edit digital channel edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 6 43.1 720p 16 9 wvbt main wvbt programming fox analog to digital conversion edit wvbt discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over uhf channel 43 at 9 a.m. on june 12 2009 as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television . 7 8 the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 29 using psip to display wvbt s virtual channel as 43 on digital television receivers . what is now wnlo cd began as w45bg call sign assigned november 1993 becoming wnlo lp in november 2000 and wnlo ca in january 2002 . it went all digital in january 2005 making it one of the first low power stations in the country to begin digital broadcasting . its calls became the current wnlo cd cd for class a digital in july 2009 . this should not be confused with a cw affiliated sister station in buffalo new york that uses the same call letters in full power form . the station could have used the calls wvbt ca for the repeater as most of these situations in other markets do but likely decided against it to avert any confusion to viewers due to the mere two channel separation between channels 43 and 45 . translators edit wvbt is rebroadcast on two low powered class a translators . 9 10 11 12 while one translator wnlo cd is licensed in norfolk virginia with its digital transmitter located in driver virginia the other one wpmc cd is licensed in mappsville virginia with its transmitter located in bloxom virginia in accomack county of which is in the eastern shore of virginia . both class a translators are owned and operated by wavy broadcasting llc and lin tv . wpmc cd channel 36 mappsville wnlo cd channel 45 norfolk newscasts edit when wvbt made the switch to fox in 1998 wavy started producing a nightly prime time newscast on this station called fox 43 news at 10 . it was not the market s first broadcast in the time slot as cbs affiliate wtkr produced a short lived show on wgnt from 1995 until 1997 . 13 abc affiliate wvec tv aired its own prime time broadcast on low powered wpen lp from 1995 until it started cable only lnc 4 eventually renamed lnc 5 in 1997 . 14 wvec continued to produce a 10 o clock show on the cable channel until january 30 2009 . wvbt s news has been very successful over the years with consistent viewership and ratings and is the only offering of late local news an hour earlier . the nightly 45 minute broadcast is followed by the fox 43 sports wrap that airs for fifteen minutes featuring sports news and highlights . it is similar in format to a highlight program currently seen weeknights on sister station wnac tv . on july 21 2008 the station s newscast and sports show started to be produced in high definition after wavy made the upgrade . on february 2 2009 wvbt added fox 43 news at 7 on weekday mornings with local news weather and traffic updates along with various entertainment lifestyle features . this morning show which was essentially an hour long extension of wavy s morning broadcast ended january 8 2010 . the program was then replaced by the hampton roads show which launched january 18 2010 from a new secondary set complete with a fully functional kitchen . 15 the hampton roads show moved to wavy at 11 in the morning on september 12 2011 . 16 it is a similar broadcast to one currently seen on sister station wpri tv called the rhode show . in 2012 wvbt aired the daily buzz on weekdays from 6 00 7 00 and again from 8 00 9 00 a.m. sandwiched in between those 2 hours is the revised program of wavy news 10 at 7 00 on fox 43 which was originally cancelled back in 2010 . as of 2013 the daily buzz no longer airs on wvbt and the morning newscast became a two hour show . on october 28 2013 wvbt s 10 00 newscast was renamed wavy news 10 at 10 on fox 43 . 17 controversies edit lin tv cox dispute edit on january 1 2000 people in hampton roads lost connection on channel 43 due to cox placing the channel between 2 and 14 due to the pay channel hbo family occupied channel 43 . it was not until february 6 2000 that wvbt was again available on channel 43 . references edit fox to change affiliation in september 1998 fox plans to move from wtvz in norfolk to wvbt in virginia beach locals still buzzing about fox switch 1 sruthi ramakrishnan 21 march 2014 . media general to buy lin media for 1.6 billion . reuters . retrieved 21 march 2014 . media general completes merger with lin media press release media general retrieved 19 december 2014 rabbitears tv query for wvbt http www.wavy.com dpp news dtv wavy analog signal to continue 20090208 list of digital full power stations permanent dead link http www.rabbitears.info market.php request station search & callsign wpmc cd station http easternshore.vartv.com http www.rabbitears.info market.php request station search & callsign wnlo cd station http hamptonroads.vartv.com same stuff on wtkr news and wgnt wvec wpen team up on prime time programming http www.fox43tv.com dpp entertainment fox says goodbye http hamptonroads.com 2011 09 hampton roads show moves wavytv 10 https twitter.com vartv statuses 395132380895137793 external links edit wvbt fox 43 wavy tv query the fcc s tv station database for wvbt query tv fool s coverage map for wvbt biafn s media web database information on wvbt tv v t e television stations in the hampton roads region including virginia beach norfolk portsmouth and newport news virginia reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television digital television wund 2.1 pbs 2.2 kids 2.3 explorer 2.4 north carolina wtkr 3.1 cbs 3.2 this tv wsky tv 4.1 ind 4.2 escape 4.3 laff wgbs ld 7.1 retro tv 7.2 infomercials 7.3 heartland wavy tv 10.1 nbc 10.2 bounce 10.3 gettv wvec 13.1 abc 13.2 justice 13.3 metv w14dc 14.1 hsn2 whro 15.1 pbs 15.2 world 15.3 kids 15.4 create wysj ca 19 classic tv wtpc tv 21.1 tbn 21.2 church 21.3 juce tv 21.3 smile 21.4 enlace 21.5 salsa wvra dt 23.1 pbs 23.2 uni wvad ld 25.1 daystar wgnt 27.1 cw 27.2 antenna wtvz 33.1 mntv 33.2 asn 33.3 comet 33.4 grit wjgn cd 38.1 nrb wvbt 43.1 fox wpxv tv 49.1 ion 49.2 qubo 49.3 ion life 49.4 ion shop 49.5 qvc 49.6 hsn analog television wvbn lp 18 wjhj lp 39 the walk tv cable television cox 11 defunct stations wpen lp 68 ind. local news on cable wavy weather station virginia broadcast television areas by city bristol bluefield charlottesville harrisonburg norfolk richmond roanoke washington dc north carolina broadcast television areas by city asheville charlotte greensboro greenville nc myrtle beach sc norfolk va raleigh wilmington see also salisbury tv v t e fox network affiliates in the commonwealth of virginia wahu cd 27 charlottesville wfxr 27 wwcw 21.2 roanoke lynchburg wrlh 35 richmond wsvf cd 43 harrisonburg wvbt 43 virginia beach see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in virginia v t e media general inc. corporate directors j. stewart bryan iii cob marshall n. morton o. reid ashe jr. john a. schauss diana f. cantor charles a. davis thompson l. rankin rodney a. smolla walter e. williams coleman wortham iii h. graham woodlief jr. james a. zimmerman kirk read stephen y. dickinson george l. mahoney lou anne j. nabhan john a. schauss james f. woodward abc network affiliates ktka tv 1 wate tv wbay tv 2 whtm tv wjbf wjhl dt2 wlaj 1 wkrn tv wotv wric tv wten wcdc tv wtnh wytv 1 cbs network affiliates kelo tv kclo tv kdlo tv kplo tv kimt 2 klfy tv koin krqe kbim tv krez tv wane tv wbtw whlt wiat wivb tv wjhl tv wjtv wkbn tv wkrg tv wlfi tv 2 wlns tv wncn wnct tv wpri tv wrbl wspa tv wthi tv 2 cw network affiliates khon tv knva 1 ktka tv 1 kwbq krwb tv 1 kxtu ld wbdt 1 wcbd dt2 wfna