tv . wvlt tv knoxville tennessee united states branding local 8 volunteer tv general local 8 news newscasts myvlt dt2 slogan more local channels digital 30 uhf virtual 8 psip subchannels 8.1 cbs 8.2 mntv antenna tv owner gray television gray television licensee llc first air date october 18 1953 ; 62 years ago 1953 10 18 call letters meaning volunteer state sister station s wbxx tv former callsigns wtsk tv 1953 1954 wtvk 1954 1988 wkxt tv 1988 1997 former channel number s analog 26 1953 1988 8 1988 2009 former affiliations primary cbs 1953 1956 abc 1956 1979 nbc 1979 1988 secondary abc 1953 1956 dumont 1953 1956 dt2 upn 2003 2006 transmitter power 398 kw digital height 551.3 metres 1 809 ft digital facility id 35908 transmitter coordinates 35 59 44 n 83 57 23 w 35.99556 n 83.95639 w 35.99556 ; 83.95639 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.local8now.com wvlt tv vhf channel 8 is the cbs television network affiliate station serving knoxville tennessee the 58th dma in america according to nielsen media research . the station is owned and operated by gray television as part of a duopoly with cw affiliate wbxx tv with studios located on papermill drive near i 40 i 75 on the city s westside and its transmitter is on sharp s ridge in north knoxville . syndicated programming on wvlt tv includes the dr. oz show entertainment tonight and the andy griffith show . contents 1 history 2 vol network affiliation 3 digital television 3.1 digital channels 3.2 analog to digital conversion 4 former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit wvlt tv debuted on october 18 1953 as wtsk tv on channel 26 . it was tennessee s first uhf station and the second television station in east tennessee signing on just a few hours after wrol tv in knoxville channel 6 now wate tv . the station was a cbs affiliate but also shared abc programming with wrol tv . channel 26 found the going difficult at first since television manufacturers weren t required to build in uhf tuning capability at the time . viewers needed an expensive converter to watch wtsk and even then the picture quality was marginal at best . in addition most of east tennessee is very mountainous and uhf signals at the time usually did not carry very well over rugged terrain . in 1954 the station s original local owners sold the station to south central communications a radio company in evansville indiana who changed its calls to wtvk . when wbir tv signed on in 1956 and took the cbs affiliation wtvk became a full time abc affiliate . however it spent most of the next 20 years as a very distant third in the ratings . while this was due in part to abc being a much weaker network it wouldn t be on par with cbs and nbc in terms of programming until the 1970s another problem was the terrain issue . many viewers didn t get a clear signal from channel 26 until cable arrived in knoxville in the 1970s . in fact many viewers got a better signal from wlos tv channel 13 in asheville north carolina ; wlos transmitter is located almost 118 miles east of knoxville . in september 1979 the station swapped affiliations with wate tv and became an nbc affiliate . by this time abc had become the highest rated network in the country and was seeking to affiliate with stronger stations . under the circumstances abc jumped at the chance to move its programming to long dominant wate tv . even as nbc dominated the ratings in the 1980s channel 26 stayed in the local ratings basement . however it did win the rights to broadcast a daily one hour show from the 1982 world s fair held in knoxville . the program was hosted by jim hess and jim hampton and featured news updates with wtvk news anchors including melinda kramer . on september 10 1988 the station returned to cbs swapping affiliations with wbir tv ; shortly afterward the station changed its calls to wkxt tv and moved to channel 8 one of the last remaining vhf channel allocations in the u.s. the wtvk call letters were later used by wxcw in naples fort myers florida which used wtvk calls from 1995 to 2007 . it became one of the few stations in america to have been a primary affiliate of all big 3 networks . soon after the move to the vhf band south central sold the station to a local ownership group in 1992 . current owner gray communications now gray television bought the station in 1996 . the new owners changed the callsign to the current wvlt tv on february 10 1997 . in 1998 when cbs regained national football league rights it became the primary american football conference broadcaster . wvlt has aired most tennessee titans formerly oilers games since . wvlt also airs tennessee volunteers football and basketball games through cbs since 1988 . southeastern conference football and basketball games originated from raycom sports formerly jefferson pilot lincoln financial sports from the 1990s until 2009 when espn plus oriented sec network now sec tv took over from 2009 until 2014 . the package was previously run on wbir and or wtnz then wkch throughout the 1980s and the early half of the 1990s until wvlt acquired local rights . 1 wvlt carried the sec tv package throughout its entire 2009 2014 existence although it was shared with wvlt dt2 . however due to the launch of the new cable exclusive sec network as part of a multi year contract between the southeastern conference and espn sec tv was dissolved because of the new cable network s launch . 2 wvlt still airs a large number of sec football games through cbs sec package . wvlt is currently serving as an affiliate of raycom s acc network which brings atlantic coast conference football and basketball but the affiliation is currently shared with wbxx tv . on january 9 2011 channel 8 s 11 p.m. newscast became the first in the knoxville market to originate in high definition . 3 on april 20 2013 wvlt became the last station in the market to add a weekend morning newscast . 4 vol network affiliation edit in 2007 wvlt and the vol network the broadcasting arm of the university of tennessee s athletic department entered into a new 10 year agreement for wvlt and myvlt to be the exclusive home of all vol tv network programing in the knoxville area . wvlt paid ut 4.95 million for the 10 year contract . this gives the two stations the exclusive rights to the weekly highlights shows featuring head football coach head men s basketball coach cuonzo martin head women s basketball coach pat summitt and other ut athletic related programs in the knoxville market . with this the vol tv network ended a 10 year relationship with nbc affiliate wbir tv . 1 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 5 8.1 1080i 16 9 wvlt dt main wvlt tv programming cbs 8.2 720p myvlt mynetworktv & antenna tv analog to digital conversion edit wvlt 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 30 . 6 7 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former vhf analog channel 8 . as part of the safer act 8 wvlt 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 . former on air staff edit adele arakawa main news anchor for kusa tv in denver ed hooper author references edit jefferson pilot sports sec syndication package brochures 1993 1994 & 1995 http www.secdigitalnetwork.com news tabid 473 article 244763 sec network faq.aspx http www.volunteertv.com home headlines wvlt volunteer tv announces first to market high definition news and local programming 113190709.html wvlt adds weekend morning newscast tvspy april 12th 2013 rabbitears tv query for wvlt dtv tentative channel designations for the first and the second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . cdbs print updated list of participants in the analog nightlight program pdf . federal communications commission . june 12 2009 . retrieved june 4 2012 . external links edit official website query the fcc s tv station database for wvlt tv biafn s media web database information on wvlt tv program information for wvlt at titantv.com v t e broadcast television in east tennessee including knoxville reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television local stations wate tv 6.1 abc 6.2 gettv 6.3 laff wknx tv 7.1 ind 7.2 daystar wvlt tv 8.1 cbs 8.2 mntv ant wbir tv 10.1 nbc 10.2 metv 10.3 justice w14cx d 14.1 3abn rel . 14.2 3abn proclaim 14.3 3abn dare to dream 14.4 3abn latino 14.5 3abn radio 14.6 3abn radio latino 14.7 radio 74 wkop tv 15.1 pbs etpbs 15.2 world tn chan 15.3 create wbxx tv 20.1 cw 20.2 escape wdtt ld 24.1 daystar wtnz 43.1 fox 43.2 bounce tv 43.3 grittv wagv 44.1 rel . w45df d 45.1 hsn wvlr 48.1 ctn wpxk tv 54.1 ion 54.2 qubo 54.3 life 54.4 ion shop 54.5 qvc over air 54.6 hsn wkxt ld 61.1 pbj cable television ctv the volunteer channel outlying areas wjdp ld 11.1 the walk tv pigeon forge atsc m h mobile dtv wbir tv 10.10 nbc wtnz 43.34 fox defunct stations wkxe lp 4 independent wfem lp 14 ind. heiskell weee lp 32 uatv upn familynet w40cm 40 hsn w50bk 50 3abn wcpt tv 55 wint tv 20 ind. w60cf 60 tbn w61dg 61 tbn morristown adjacent locals tri cities tn va wcyb tv 5.1 nbc 5.2 the cw 5.3 decades wemt 39.1 fox 39.2 movies western carolinas wlos 13.1 abc hd 13.2 mynetworktv 13.3 grit wunw 27.1 unc ex . 27.2 pbs unc tv 27.3 pbs kids wunf tv 33.1 pbs unc tv 27.2 pbs kids 27.3 unc ex wmya tv 40.1 mynetworktv 40.2 gettv 40.3 bounce tv southeast ky wkso tv wkha 29.1 35.1 pbs ket 29.2 35.2 pbs encore ket2 29.1 35.1 kentucky channel ket ed wymt tv 57.1 cbs 57.2 this tv tennessee broadcast television areas by city chattanooga jackson knoxville memphis nashville paducah ky tri cities kentucky broadcast television areas by city bowling green charleston wv cincinnati oh evansville in knoxville tn lexington louisville paducah see also asheville tv v t e cbs network affiliates in the state of tennessee wreg 3 memphis wtvf 5 nashville wbbj 7.3 jackson wvlt 8 knoxville wjhl 11 johnson city wdef 12 chattanooga see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in tennessee v t e gray television abc network affiliates kcrg kgns 1 kjct knoe 1 kolo kota khsd ksfy kaby kpry kspr 2 wbko whsv wjrt wtok wtvg wvaw cbs network affiliates kalb 1 kgwn kstf kktv kmvt knoe knpl koln kgin kosa kwch kbsd kbsh kbsl kwtx kbtx kxii kxjb kylx wagm 1 wcav wctv wswg wdbj wecp wibw wifr wiye wkyt wymt wrdw wsaw wsvf 1 wtvy wvlt the cw network affiliates 1 kbtx kcwy kgwn kstf kjct knoe kscw ksfy kaby kpry kwtx kxjb kycw kylx wagt wbko wbxx wjhg wkyt wmtv wqcw wswg wtok wtvg wymt fox network affiliates kevn kiit kndx kxnd ksvt kxii 1 wagm wahu wbko 1 wluc 1 wova wsvf wzaw mynetworktv affiliates 1 kktv