city knoxville branding channel 10 general 10 news newscasts slogan straight from the heart of east tennessee channels digital 10 vhf psip subchannels 10.1 nbc 10.2 metv 10.3 justice network owner tegna media gannett pacific llc first air date august 12 1956 ; 60 years ago 1956 08 12 call letters meaning jesse w. birdwell founder of wbir radio former channel number s analog 10 1956 2009 digital 31 until 2009 former affiliations cbs 1956 1988 transmitter power 40.9 kw height 529.6 m facility id 46984 transmitter coordinates 36 0 19 n 83 56 23 w 36.00528 n 83.93972 w 36.00528 ; 83.93972 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.wbir.com wbir tv channel 10 is the nbc affiliated television station for east tennessee southeastern kentucky swain county north carolina and lee county virginia located in knoxville tennessee . wbir tv is owned by tegna its studios are located at 1513 bill williams avenue in the belle morris section of the city and transmitter on the broadcasting antenna farm on sharp s ridge in knoxville . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 2.3 mobile dtv channel 3 programming 3.1 the heartland series 3.2 our stories 3.3 friends across the mountains telethon 4 news operation 4.1 notable current on air staff 4.2 former on air staff 5 out of market coverage 6 references 7 external links history edit wbir tv signed on the air on august 12 1956 as a cbs affiliate taking that affiliation away from wtvk channel 26 now wvlt tv on channel 8 . during the late 1950s the station was also briefly affiliated with the nta film network . 1 wbir tv was originally owned by a consortium headed by j. lindsay nunn and his son gilmore nunn owners of wbir radio 1240 am now wifa ; and fm 103.5 now wimz fm . the station s call letters come from jesse w. jay birdwell who founded wbir radio in 1941 ; birdwell sold the station to the nunns in 1944 . 2 the nunns shared ownership with wbir general manager john p. hart ; knoxville residents robert and martha ashe and the taft family of cincinnati . 3 in october 1959 the tafts broadcast subsidiary radio cincinnati inc. purchased the remaining 70 percent of the wbir stations outright from the other parties . 4 in january 1961 the tafts sold wbir am fm tv to the news piedmont company of greenville south carolina owner of wfbc am fm tv in its hometown . 5 6 in 1967 news piedmont merged with southern broadcasting to form the southeastern broadcasting corporation . soon afterward southeastern sold off most of its radio stations including wbir am fm purchased four more television stations and changed its name to multimedia inc. 7 wbir shared flagship status with wfbc tv . 8 on september 10 1988 9 wbir became an nbc affiliate swapping affiliations with wtvk just before it moved to channel 8 as wkxt tv . ironically this marked cbs return to its original affiliate in knoxville . at the time nbc was the top rated network while cbs was in third place near the midpoint of the laurence tisch period of that network s history . the biggest reason was that most of multimedia s stations were nbc affiliates . companies that own several stations affiliated with the same network generally have more clout with that network . nbc was more than willing to make the switch since wtvk had been one of its weakest affiliates while wbir was a solid runner up to wate tv . with the switch channel 10 became the last major commercial station in knoxville to change affiliations . the switch also made channel 10 the third station in knoxville to carry nbc ; the network had previously aired on wate from 1953 to 1979 before moving to wtvk in 1979 . multimedia merged with gannett in 1995 . for a time in the 1980s wbir was seen on several ten watt translators across east tennessee and even virginia . one of them w04bm was licensed to lafollette tennessee and operated on channel 4 . in 2008 wbir tv debuted new graphics and news music . on june 1 2011 wbir tv and fox affiliate wtnz tv for whom wbir tv was producing a 10 p.m. newscast debuted a new high definition news set and weather studio and a full makeover of branding . however wbir tv retained their logo by adding the hd symbol to the right of the logo . around the first week of october 2012 gannett entered a dispute against dish network regarding compensation fees and dish s autohop commercial skip feature on its hopper digital video recorders . gannett ordered that dish discontinue autohop on the account that it is affecting advertising revenues for wbir . gannett threatened to pull wbir from dish should the skirmish continue beyond october 7 and dish and gannett fail to reach an agreement wtnz was not involved in the dispute as the station is owned by raycom media rather than by gannett which continues to produce its newscasts via wbir . 10 11 the two parties eventually reached an agreement after extending the deadline for a few hours . 12 in 2013 wbir and wtnz debuted new on air graphics and new music and new logos . on june 29 2015 the gannett company split in two with one side specializing in print media and the other side specializing in broadcast and digital media . wbir was retained by the latter company named tegna . 13 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 14 10.1 1080i 16 9 wbir hd main wbir tv programming nbc 10.2 480i 4 3 wbir me metv 10.3 justice network the national nbc weather plus network is defunct as of december 1 2008 and was revamped as an affiliate of nbc plus utilizing the same graphics as weather plus and is now a computer updated loop of regional satellite radar images current temperatures and daily forecasts and without the national on camera meteorologist segments though the local ocm segments remained . in late 2011 it was replaced with the local accuweather channel branded as 10 weather now . on october 8 2012 it was replaced with metv . 15 in early 2015 wbir added a third digital channel channel 10.3 which currently broadcasts the justice network . analog to digital conversion edit wbir tv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 10 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 31 to vhf channel 10 . 16 mobile dtv channel edit channel psip short name programming 10.10 17 wbir hd mobile dtv simulcast of 4.1 programming edit syndicated programming on wbir tv includes dr. phil the ellen degeneres show the doctors wheel of fortune and jeopardy . 18 the heartland series edit main article the heartland series the heartland series hosted by bill landry was a popular documentary series produced by wbir from 1984 until 2009 . it was conceived in 1984 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the great smoky mountains national park . it continued to celebrate the people and the land of the entire appalachian region presenting re enactments of historic events and feature stories about regional culture . 19 in february 2009 wbir announced that it would suspend production of the series in september 2009 but would continue to show the hundreds of episodes already produced for as long as the viewers like them . 19 the last episode was taped at the museum of appalachia in norris on august 8 2009 before an audience estimated at 10 000 people one of the largest crowds in the museum s history . 20 21 during its 25 year history the heartland series received several awards including four emmy awards 22 united states embassies around the world keep tapes of the heartland series broadcasts as an information resource on life in appalachia . 23 our stories edit in 2006 wbir celebrated its 50th anniversary with a special report on some of the past stories captured on wbir for the past 50 years . these reports were called our stories and included retrospectives on events such as u.s. presidents visiting knoxville and east tennessee major crimes and even the 25th anniversary of the 1982 world s fair . friends across the mountains telethon edit wbir co produces a yearly telethon with asheville north carolina abc affiliate wlos benefiting friends of the smokies and great smoky mountains national park . the proceeds from the telethon help support critical programs and projects in the park . it is co hosted by wbir anchor emeritus bill williams and wlos anchor larry blunt . news operation edit logo used until 2014 wbir has been the market leader in east tennessee for more than 30 years . citation needed specifically the morning and 6 p.m. newscasts normally get better ratings than wate and wvlt s newscasts combined . citation needed currently wbir has the largest news team in east tennessee citation needed and produces the most news programming in the area . citation needed prior to september 15 2008 this show was aired at 5 p.m. on weekdays under the title live at five . the program focused on community events and celebrity interviews . in 2008 the show was moved to 4 p.m. and was temporarily renamed live at five at four with wbir asking for viewers opinions on a new name . the quirky temporary name however was embraced by viewers and live at five at four has remained the brand for the 4 p.m. program . in 2010 live at five at four debuted new graphics to better reflect programming shown on the newscast . until late march 2011 wbir tv produced a 10 p.m. newscast for cw affiliate wbxx tv . on march 28 wbir tv began producing a nightly 10 p.m. newscast for fox affiliate wtnz channel 43 . wbir also begin producing a weekday morning news show at 7 a.m. that begin in june 2012 for that station . both stations newscasts began airing in high definition on june 1 2011 making wbir and wtnz the second and third stations in knoxville to make the upgrade . 24 on october 28 2013 wbir expanded their 10 news weekday noon newscast from 25 minutes to one full hour . notable current on air staff edit bill williams anchor emeritus and special reporter former on air staff edit jim acosta reporter and fill in anchor ; now national political correspondent at cnn 25 bill landry heartland series host carol marin now with wmaq tv lindsey nelson reporter deceased deborah roberts reporter and fill in anchor ; now at abc news bill williams anchor emeritus and special reporter out of market coverage edit wbir is carried on cable television systems in southeast kentucky including community telecom services in the monticello area of wayne county kentucky . 26 the station is also available on zito media cable systems in knox and whitley counties . 27 wbir tv is the only knoxville based broadcast outlet available on time warner cable systems in the somerset pulaski county area . references edit require prime evening time for nta films boxoffice 13 november 10 1956 fcc approves sales and transfers of 5 stations . broadcasting broadcast advertising january 17 1944 pg . 22 . 1 fcc okays ownership shifts for ktht wbir . broadcasting telecasting april 13 1953 pg . 52 . 2 permanent dead link changing hands . broadcasting october 12 1959 pg . 54 permanent dead link changing hands . broadcasting september 26 1960 pg