states branding cbs 6 general cbs 6 news newscasts slogan working for you . newscasts the weather authority weather channels digital 25 uhf virtual 6 vhf subchannels 6.1 cbs 6.2 antenna tv 6.3 cbs6 xtra affiliations cbs owner tribune broadcasting wtvr license llc first air date april 22 1948 ; 68 years ago 1948 04 22 call letters meaning television richmond former channel number s analog 6 vhf 1948 2009 former affiliations nbc 1948 1955 cbs 1948 1956 ; secondary until 1955 abc 1948 1960 ; secondary until 1956 dumont secondary 1948 1955 transmitter power 410 kw digital height 347 m digital facility id 57832 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 wtvr.com wtvr tv virtual channel 6 is a cbs affiliated television station located in richmond virginia . the station is owned by tribune broadcasting a subsidiary of tribune media company . it broadcasts on physical digital channel 25 using the virtual channel assignment of 6.1 via psip to associate it with its 60 year former position on analog channel 6 1 and its studios and tower are located on west broad street in the west end of the city of richmond . the tower is also the transmitter for former sister station wtvr fm and npr member wcve fm . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 out of market cable and satellite coverage 4.1 catv 5 news operation 5.1 notable former on air staff 6 references 7 external links history edit when the channel 6 license in richmond came up for bids before the federal communications commission it was thought to be a foregone conclusion that the license would go to either larus and brother tobacco company owner of wrva or richmond newspapers owner of wrnl since they were reckoned as virginia s leading broadcasters . however for reasons that remain unknown neither station submitted a bid . the only applicant turned out to be the richmond broadcasting company which was nowhere near as large as either wrva or wrnl . its owner auto parts dealer wilbur havens also owned wmbg am 1380 and wcod 98.1 fm . fcc approval was a mere formality and wtvr took to the air on april 22 1948 2 as the first television station south of washington d.c. wtvr s station id famously proclaimed it to be the south s first television station as a result . it became an nbc affiliate june 1 1948 . 3 for many years it used a colorized version of its original id slide to open newscasts . then as now the station operated from a converted bus garage on west broad street where wmbg had been based since 1939 . in 1953 wtvr activated its tall tower located adjacent to its west broad studios . the 843 foot 257 m 1 049 foot 320 m above sea level tower is considered part of the richmond skyline and can be seen for several miles around richmond . wtvr used a graphical version of the tower in its news opens for several years in the 1980s and early 1990s . as it was one of the last stations to get a construction permit before an fcc imposed freeze on new permits wtvr was the only station in town until 1955 . it carried programming from all four networks of the time nbc cbs abc and dumont but was a primary nbc affiliate . in 1955 wxex tv channel 8 now wric tv signed on from neighboring petersburg and took the nbc affiliation . wtvr then had a brief stint as a primary cbs affiliate ; this ended in 1956 when wrva tv channel 12 now wwbt signed on and took the cbs affiliation due to wrva radio s long history as a cbs radio affiliate . wtvr then carried on as an abc affiliate until 1960 when cbs cut a new deal with havens due to channel 12 s low ratings . wtvr has been with cbs ever since . during the late 1950s the station was also briefly affiliated with the nta film network . 4 havens sold wtvr wmbg and wcod to roy h. park communications in 1966 earning a handsome return on his original 500 investment when he started wmbg in 1927 . after taking ownership of the properties the radio stations adopted the tv station s wtvr call letters . when park died in 1993 the company s assets were sold to a lexington kentucky group of investors that sold the radio properties separately to various owners with wtvr am fm going to clear channel in 1995 . wtvr fm is still owned by what is now iheartmedia while the am station bought by salem communications in 2001 and programmed as christian talk was later sold by salem and is now spanish religious station wbtk . channel 6 began suffering in the ratings in 1994 when cbs lost the rights to broadcast national football league games to fox cbs returned to nfl broadcasting in 1998 . however it recovered by the turn of the century and since then has been a solid runner up sometimes waging a spirited battle for second place with wric in news ratings . park merged with media general successor to richmond newspapers in may 1997 . however media general could not keep wtvr tv alongside its flagship newspaper the richmond times dispatch because fcc rules of the time did not allow cross ownership of newspapers and television stations in the same market . as a result media general swapped wtvr to raycom media in exchange for wjtv in jackson mississippi its semi satellite whlt in hattiesburg mississippi and wsav tv in savannah georgia two months later . wtvr was the only cbs station between richmond and roanoke until wcav tv signed on in charlottesville in 2004 . local features and community programs have included for kids sake paws for pets and battle of the brains and a 24 hour weather news channel called cbs 6 xtra broadcast on broadband digital cable and digital sub channel 6.2 in the area . the station carried raycom s 24 7 music television format the tube on wtvr dt3 until its shutdown on october 1 2007 . in march 2011 wtvr dt3 became the new home of cbs 6 xtra while 6.2 carries antenna tv see below . wtvr tv s first logo as cbs 6 versions of which were used from october 2003 until april 2015 . the 6 has been used in wtvr s logos since the late 1980s . on november 12 2007 raycom media announced its intention to purchase the television broadcasting and production properties of lincoln financial media including rival wwbt . since fcc rules do not allow one person to own two of the four largest stations in a single market raycom decided to keep wwbt and sell wtvr to another owner . 5 on june 24 2008 sinclair broadcast group announced its intent to purchase wtvr and sell local fox affiliate wrlh tv channel 35 . 6 however the justice department under provisions of a consent decree with raycom media denied raycom permission to sell wtvr tv to sinclair in august 2008 . 7 on january 6 2009 raycom and local tv llc announced that they would be swapping stations in richmond and birmingham . in this deal raycom transferred wtvr plus 83 million to local tv in exchange for that company s fox affiliate wbrc in birmingham . the transfer closed on march 31 2009 . 8 as a result of the trade local tv owned virginia s two largest cbs affiliates ; it already owned wtkr tv the cbs affiliate in norfolk the market just to the east of richmond . local tv added hampton roads cw affiliate wgnt in 2010 after buying it from cbs . for three months after the swap deal was completed wtvr s web site remained in the old raycom era format . this changed in late june 2009 a few days after wbrc relaunched its web site when wtvr migrated its web site to the tribune interactive platform used by the web sites of other local tv owned stations . as of 2012 local tv migrated its web sites to wordpress.com vip . on july 1 2013 local tv announced that its stations would be acquired by the tribune company . 9 the sale was completed on december 27 . 10 on august 21 2015 wtvr s newsroom was named in honor of stephanie rochon who anchored the weeknight newscasts from 1999 to 2014 . rochon had died that june after a long struggle with cancer . 11 12 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 13 6.1 1080i 16 9 wtvr hd main wtvr programming cbs 6.2 480i 4 3 cbs6ant antenna tv 6.3 cbs6xtr cbs 6 xtra the station became a charter affiliate of antenna tv upon its launch in march 2011 . it is carried on digital subchannel 6.2 . 14 channel 6.3 had been carrying a loop of current weather maps and recorded weather forecasts until mid 2015 when it switched to live simulcasts of the station s newscasts with repeats of the most recent newscast airing when there wasn t a live newscast . the subchannel also airs required e i programming on weekend mornings . analog to digital conversion edit wtvr tv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 6 in the late morning of june 12 2009 after more than 60 years 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 25 . 15 through the use of psip digital television receivers continues to display the station s virtual channel as its former vhf analog channel 6.1 . prior to the transition the audio component of wtvr s analog channel 6 signal at 87.75 mhz had been heavily promoted as available to listeners tuning to 87.7 on a standard fm radio receiver . wtvr lost this benefit of the analog channel 6 allocation when analog transmission ended . wtvr showed the star spangled banner with images of wtvr tv s history as well as the raising the flag on iwo jima programming edit syndicated programming on wtvr includes the ellen degeneres show steve harvey access hollywood and extra among others . out of market cable and satellite coverage edit outside of the richmond market wtvr is carried in northern virginia in front royal and luray . in central virginia it is carried on service providers in charlottesville fredericksburg madison and staunton . in southside virginia in mecklenburg county wtvr is carried near the north carolina state line in bracey along lake gaston . it is also carried in chase city and south hill . catv edit in the 1970s and 1980s wtvr was once received as far south in halifax and enfield in north carolina . in southern maryland wtvr was once carried in leonardtown st. marys county . 16 news operation edit wtvr was the overall ratings leader in richmond until the late 1980s when wwbt surpassed it mainly in local news ratings and due to strength from wwbt s affiliation with nbc and its top rated primetime lineup . for most of the time since then the station has waged a spirited battle with wric for second place . during the late 1980s early 1990s and into the 2000s wtvr won numerous awards including the rtnda news operation of the year for two consecutive years . on august 10 2010 starting with the noon newscast wtvr became the second commercial station behind wwbt to broadcast local news in