branding wreg news channel 3 slogan on your side channels digital 28 uhf virtual 3 psip affiliations .1 cbs .2 news channel 3 anytime .3 antenna tv owner tribune broadcasting wreg license llc first air date january 1 1956 ; 60 years ago 1956 01 01 call letters meaning variation of original calls former callsigns wrec tv 1956 1971 former channel number s analog 3 vhf 1956 2009 transmitter power 906 kw height 313 m facility id 66174 transmitter coordinates 35 10 52 n 89 49 56 w 35.18111 n 89.83222 w 35.18111 ; 89.83222 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website wreg.com wreg tv virtual channel 3 uhf digital channel 28 is a cbs affiliated television station located in memphis tennessee united states . the station is owned by tribune broadcasting subsidiary of the tribune media company . wreg maintains studios located at channel 3 drive off of i 55 near the mississippi river on the west side of memphis and its transmitter is located between i 40 and whitten road approximately 5 miles 8.0 km southeast of bartlett . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 4.1 notable former on air staff 5 out of market coverage 6 references 7 external links history edit the station first signed on the air on january 1 1956 as wrec tv and began regular broadcasts the following day on january 2 . it was originally owned by electrical engineer and radio dealer hoyt wooten who had applied for one of the first television licenses in the country in 1928 along with wrec radio am 600 and fm 102.7 now wegr . the call letters stood for wooten s radio store the wooten radio electric company where he had founded wrec radio in 1922 . it took the cbs affiliation from whbq tv channel 13 which had been a cbs affiliate since it signed on in september 1953 as wrec am had been a cbs radio affiliate since 1929 . wrec tv s original studios were located inside the peabody hotel in downtown memphis . for its first six years wrec tv was the only locally owned station in memphis whbq tv was owned by general tire and wmc tv was owned by scripps . however in 1963 wooten sold wrec am fm tv to cowles communications earning a handsome return on his original investment of 40 years earlier . in turn cowles sold wrec tv to the new york times company in 1971 . the new owners changed the station s calls to the current wreg tv a deliberate play on the old call letters . 1 cowles later sold the radio stations to other interests . 2 four years later the times company built new studio facilities for wreg on one of the highest points on chickasaw bluff overlooking the mississippi river . the station had long since outgrown the peabody hotel and management felt that building a new studio near the mississippi would be appropriate since memphis has long been identified with the river . on march 2 1975 channel 3 signed off from the peabody hotel for the last time and signed back on 45 minutes later with its first transmission from the new studios on channel 3 drive . 3 the station also maintained studio space in the peabody place shopping center adjacent to the peabody hotel marking a partial return of sorts to its early years . the studio was shut down in 2011 when peabody place closed . on september 12 2006 the new york times company announced its intention to sell its nine television stations . on january 4 2007 the company entered into an agreement with private equity group oak hill capital partners to sell the stations to the oak hill operated holding company local tv 4 5 the sale was finalized on may 7 . 6 on july 1 2013 local tv announced that it would sell its stations to tribune broadcasting which formed a management company that operated both tribune and local tv s stations in 2008 for 2.75 billion . 7 the sale was completed on december 27 . 8 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 9 3.1 1080i 16 9 wreg dt main wreg tv programming cbs 3.2 480i 4 3 nc3a dt news channel 3 anytime 3.3 antenna tv antenna tv the station became a charter affiliate of antenna tv upon its launch on january 1 2011 and is carried on digital subchannel 3.3 . 10 analog to digital conversion edit wreg tv discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over vhf channel 3 on june 12 2009 as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television . 11 the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 28 using psip to display wreg tv s virtual channel as 3 on digital television receivers . programming edit syndicated programs seen on wreg tv include inside edition jeopardy and entertainment tonight . wreg is one of the few cbs stations that pre empts cbs this morning saturday airing a three hour saturday morning newscast in its place . over the years wreg has produced many local programs such as news channel 3 knowledge bowl and mid south outdoors later known as news channel 3 outdoors . the station also currently produces live at 9 a weekday morning program that maintains a talk show style format and the public affairs program informed sources which airs on saturday evenings and sometimes sunday nights and discusses current local issues . throughout the early 1960s into the late 1980s wrec wreg claimed to possess the largest feature film library of any television station in the united states which was evidenced in its daily late afternoons and late nights and weekend programming lineup at the time . the station used some of those features for theme weeks such as godzilla week and john wayne week which proved to be very popular with viewers . however like most major network affiliates in the early 1980s wreg tv began cutting back on the heavy amount of movies that occupied much of its off network schedule a move prompted by the presence of cable vcrs and the emergence of then independent competitors wpty channel 24 now watn tv in 1978 and wmkw channel 30 now wlmt in 1983 . news operation edit the station presently broadcasts 40 hours of locally produced newscasts each week with 6 hours on weekdays 4 hours on saturdays and three hours on sundays . for more than two decades wreg has been in a nielsen ratings war for first place with longtime powerhouse wmc tv . wreg did not actually win a ratings period however until february 2006 after it paired former whbq anchor claudia barr and former wmc morning anchor richard ransom as its main evening anchors . since that time wreg has gradually built on its wins in the all important 10 p.m. slot and now consistently dominates that time period . since the february 2014 sweeps period the station s newscasts have placed first in all time slots . wreg tv offers locally produced programs in addition to its news programming . every saturday morning it offers knowledge bowl which features competing high school teams the chance to show their knowledge on a variety of topics . it all leads up to a championship round in which the winning students get scholarships worth thousands of dollars . saturday evenings the station airs informed sources a half hour program whose panel discusses the prior week s top news stories . on june 13 2011 beginning with the 10 p.m. newscast wreg tv became the third station in the memphis market behind wmc tv and whbq tv to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition . however it was the first station to broadcast in 100 % hd including field cameras . the switch came with a refresh of the newsroom set and new graphics however major technical glitches occurred during the week following the conversion . in mid 2011 the wreg news studio received a major overhaul with the unveiling of a newsplex set designed by fx group that occupies a large studio with loft areas and continues into a smaller newsroom area in the back and includes numerous live areas and a set for the live at 9 program . notable former on air staff edit sharon crews out of market coverage edit wreg tv along with little rock s kthv previously served as the default cbs affiliates for the jonesboro area . wreg s signal can reach at least the jonesboro area and it is available on suddenlink cable 12 as well as the cable system of paragould light water and cable in the paragould area . this ended on august 1 2015 when jonesboro based fox affiliate kjnb ld signed on the jonesboro market s first locally based cbs affiliate on its second digital subchannel . 13 this has resulted in the displacement of kthv from suddenlink cable and may also result in the displacement of wreg tv . wreg tv also previously served as the default cbs affiliate for the jackson tennessee media market along with nashville s wtvf . this ended on january 1 2012 when abc affiliate wbbj converted its wbbj dt3 subchannel into a primary cbs affiliate and secondary me tv affiliate for that area . 14 in spite of this both wreg and wtvf remain on jackson energy authority s e plus broadband cable system . 15 at one point in time during the 1980s and 90s wreg operated a translator based in malden missouri k62da which served some northern sections of the memphis market as well as the far southern parts of the paducah kentucky cape girardeau missouri market . 16 references edit the history of wreg tv wreg.com new york times buys first tv . broadcasting november 2 1970 pg . 161 . 1 tv 3 memphis builds on the banks of the mississippi . rca broadcast news vol . 157 december 1975 pg . 19 . 2 ny times co. sell tv group to equity firm for 530m ; second equity group to buy a media business in two weeks . newsinc . via highbeam research january 8 2007 . new york times company investors press release . phx.corporate ir.net . retrieved 2011 03 24 . the new york times company reports april revenues the new york times company financial report press release . business wire . 2007 05 07 . retrieved 2008 08 23 . channick robert july 1 2013 . acquisition to make tribune co. largest u.s. tv station operator . chicago tribune . retrieved july 1 2013 . company completes final steps of transaction announced in july tribune company 27 december 2013 rabbitears tv query for wreg archived copy . archived from the original on november 27 2010 . retrieved march 4 2016 . list of digital full power stations permanent dead link suddenlink cable channel lineup for jonesboro arkansas archived april 2 2015 at the wayback machine . cbs makes debut in northeast arkansas wbbj to add cbs to 7.3 in january 2012 archived april 3 2012 at the wayback machine . . wbbj tv november 2011 . jackson energy authority e broadband cable channel lineup for jackson tenneseee http oldtvguides.com all thumbs 62 k62da % 20 % 28wreg 3 % 29 % 20 % 20 % 20malden % 20mo % 20 % 20 % 20275 % 20mi % 20 % 20 % 202.17 % 20kw.html external links edit wreg.com wreg tv official website wreg.antennatv.tv antenna tv memphis official website query the fcc s tv station database for wreg tv biafn s media web database information on wreg tv v t e broadcast television in western tennessee including memphis northwestern