newschannel 5 on dt2 slogan your news and information leader channels digital 25 uhf virtual 5 psip subchannels 5.1 cbs 5.2 newschannel 5 5.3 laff translators 5 vhf nashville affiliations cbs laff dt3 owner e. w. scripps company scripps broadcasting holdings llc first air date august 6 1954 ; 62 years ago 1954 08 06 call letters meaning television five former callsigns wlac tv 1954 1975 former channel number s analog 5 vhf 1954 2009 digital 56 uhf 1999 2009 5 vhf 2009 2012 former affiliations dt3 this tv 2009 2015 transmitter power 1000 kw height 425 metres 1 394 ft facility id 36504 transmitter coordinates 36 16 5 n 86 47 16 w 36.26806 n 86.78778 w 36.26806 ; 86.78778 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.newschannel5.com wtvf virtual channel 5 uhf digital channel 25 is a cbs affiliated television station located in nashville tennessee united states . the station is owned by the e. w. scripps company . wtvf s studios are located on james robertson parkway in downtown nashville and its transmitter is located north of downtown along i 24 near whites creek . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.1.1 newschannel 5 2.1.2 wtvf dt3 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 famous programs and on air staff 3.1 sports programming 4 news operation 4.1 notable former on air staff 5 out of market coverage 5.1 southern kentucky 5.2 western kentucky 5.3 other areas of tennessee 5.4 northern alabama 6 references 7 external links history edit wtvf first signed on the air august 6 1954 as wlac tv ; it was owned by the life and casualty insurance company along with nashville businessmen guilford dudley al beaman and thomas baker . life and casualty s chairman of the board paul mountcastle and his investment group also held a majority ownership of wate tv channel 6 in knoxville . ever since its inception its analog signal was short spaced to memphis wmc tv also on vhf channel 5 coincidentally wmc tv began on channel 4 and was immediately short spaced to wsm tv in nashville now wsmv . wlac tv was owned alongside wlac radio 1510 am and later wlac fm 105.9 fm now wnrq . the call sign reflected the initials of the insurance company . it immediately took the cbs affiliation from wsix tv channel 8 eventually wkrn tv on channel 2 because wlac am had been nashville s cbs radio affiliate since 1928 . with wlac tv nashville became the smallest city in the united states to have three network affiliated commercial television stations . american general corporation a houston based insurer bought l & c and wlac am fm tv in the 1960s . wlac tv was sold in 1975 to the hobby family owners of kprc am tv and the now defunct houston post who changed the station s call sign to the current wtvf . american general l & c eventually sold wlac am fm to other interests and the other stations have had several owners over the years . in 1983 the hobbys reorganized their broadcast holdings as h & c communications after the post was sold . landmark communications based in norfolk virginia bought wtvf from the hobbys in 1994 . on january 30 2008 landmark announced its intention to sell wtvf along with sister station klas tv in las vegas and cable network the weather channel . 1 this was followed on july 14 2008 with an announcement that wtvf would be sold to bonten media group which already owned 16 broadcast television stations in five states . 2 however the deal was called off due to the economic crisis of 2008 as bonten informed landmark that it could not close on the purchase after its key financial backer for that purchase lehman brothers went bankrupt . 3 landmark communications changed its name to landmark media enterprises in september 2008 . although the sale of the weather channel and some other assets was eventually completed landmark took most of its other properties off the market in october 2008 . as a result wtvf and klas remained owned by landmark . wtvf would have become the largest station owned by bonten as well as the first cbs affiliate in its portfolio . on may 1 and 2 2010 wtvf s newsroom was flooded with three feet of water and became non operational for three months as it was being rebuilt . during the flooding equipment was hastily moved to other locations around the building to prevent disruption of the station s news operation . on september 4 2012 milwaukee based journal communications announced that it would purchase wtvf from landmark for 215 million . 4 5 the fcc approved the sale on october 22 and it was consummated on december 6 . 6 7 8 with the transaction s completion wtvf became the largest journal owned station by market size displacing flagship wtmj tv which is now the second largest . it also made wtvf the sister station of klas s rival ktnv tv . on july 30 2014 less than two years after landmark sold the station to journal it was announced that journal communications would be bought out by the e. w. scripps company in an all stock transaction . scripps retained the companies broadcast holdings including wtvf and spun off their print holdings into journal media group . this marks the second time that scripps has owned a tennessee television station as it owned wmc tv in memphis from its 1948 sign on until 1993 . 9 the fcc approved the deal on december 12 2014 . it was approved by the two companies shareholders on march 11 2015 10 and it closed on april 1 . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 11 5.1 1080i 16 9 wtvf dt main wtvf programming cbs 5.2 480i nc5 newschannel 5 5.3 4 3 laff laff newschannel 5 edit wtvf dt2 carries newschannel 5 which features locally produced programming repeats of local news from the main channel and additional syndicated shows . there is also live gavel to gavel coverage of high profile criminal trials in the nashville area including those of paul dennis reid perry march and mary winkler . wtvf dt2 goes live during severe weather and will sometimes air local newscasts if cbs programming preempts the main channel such as during the ncaa men s basketball tournament . it also carries the saturday edition of cbs this morning which wtvf does not run . newschannel 5 began in september 1996 as a local cable only news and information channel . 12 it became available over the air on virtual channel 5.2 starting on june 21 2009 when the station began utilizing multi casting . wtvf dt2 is currently streamed online via livestream and on the station s website . 13 wtvf dt3 edit wtvf dt3 the third digital subchannel which is also available on comcast channel 249 was launched as an affiliate of classic movie network this tv on the same day as the over the air relaunch of newschannel 5 on wtvf dt2 . on september 24 2015 it was replaced by laff a katz broadcasting operated comedy oriented multi cast network . 14 analog to digital conversion edit wtvf shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 5 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 relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 56 which was among the high band uhf channels 52 69 that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition to its analog era vhf channel 5 for post transition operations . 15 16 since wtvf s transition to that channel some viewers in the immediate nashville area were having reception problems of the vhf digital channel . on july 6 2009 the station filed an application to operate a low powered digital translator on uhf channel 50 broadcasting at 100 kw to serve viewers that could not receive the vhf signal . 17 the original application to operate this translator has yet to be granted but stas have been approved . 18 on july 31 2009 wtvf began multicasting on its digital subchannels the over the air relaunch of newschannel 5 originally a cable only channel on 5.2 and the addition of classic movie network this tv on 5.3 . on september 7 2012 wtvf relocated its main digital signal to uhf channel 25 ; it also shut down its uhf fill in translator on channel 50 and converted its former full power operations on vhf channel 5 to a fill in translator to serve the far fringes of the station s viewing area . 19 20 21 famous programs and on air staff edit as wlac the station helped launch the career of a young african american reporter and native nashvillian named oprah winfrey by making her a regular news anchor in the early 1970s . the station s studio a which was built in 1967 near the tennessee state capitol building was also the home of the hit show hee haw for most of its 1968 to 1993 run ; its last few years were recorded at the nashville network s studios adjacent to the now defunct opryland usa theme park . additionally the 1970s syndicated version of candid camera originated from the station s facilities for most of its run . the station s relation to wlac am which was known for many years for its nighttime soul music programming led it to air a groundbreaking show on friday and saturday nights during the mid and late 1960s called night train hosted by noble blackwell a disc jockey on nashville soul radio station wvol 1470 am which featured r & b performances and dancing similar to american bandstand . from 1972 to 1975 show biz inc. s the bobby goldsboro show was recorded at the wlac wtvf studios . behind winfrey the station s most notable anchor is greek american chris clark real name christopher botsaris who served as the station s main anchor for 41 years from 1966 to 2007 longer than anyone in nashville television history . in june 2006 clark reduced his daily anchoring schedule to only the weeknight 6 p.m. newscast and announced his retirement at the end of his contract in 2007 . clark s final broadcast aired on may 23 2007 . the station ran a number of on air tributes in the days leading up to clark s departure . he signed off with a tribute to his co workers and friends and gave his closing line a final time i ll see you then ... . rhori johnston the co anchor on the weeknight 5 and 10 p.m. broadcasts succeeded clark at 6 p.m. before arriving at wlac wtvf clark a graduate of the university of georgia worked for stations in his native georgia in atlanta and albany . while at albany s walb tv clark interviewed martin luther king jr. bryan staples kevin wisniewski phil williams ben hall iain montgomery sandy boonstra and michelle bonnett of news channel 5 at the 73rd annual peabody awards for questions of influence . in 1998 wtvf tv hired investigative reporter phil williams who had previously been a finalist for the pulitzer prize while working at the tennessean 22 and a recipient of the george foster peabody award while working for wkrn tv . 23 as a result wtvf created one of the country s most highly acclaimed investigative units which it branded as its newschannel 5 investigates team . as the team expanded williams assumed the title of chief investigative reporter . in 2001 williams and photojournalist bryan staples received the prestigious ire medal