virginia branding news 3 slogan taking action getting results channels digital 40 uhf virtual 3 psip subchannels 3.1 cbs 3.2 this tv affiliations cbs secondary until 1953 owner dreamcatcher broadcasting llc local tv virginia licensee llc operator tribune broadcasting first air date april 2 1950 ; 66 years ago 1950 04 02 call letters meaning dual meaning tidewater ; knight ridder former owners 1 tribute nod to wtar rhyming scheme sister station s wgnt former callsigns wtar tv 1950 1981 former channel number s analog 4 vhf 1950 1952 3 vhf 1952 2009 former affiliations primary nbc 1950 1953 secondary dumont 1950 1955 abc 1950 1957 transmitter power 950 kw height 377 m facility id 47401 transmitter coordinates 36 48 31 n 76 30 13 w 36.80861 n 76.50361 w 36.80861 ; 76.50361 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.wtkr.com wtkr channel 3 is a television station licensed to norfolk virginia united states serving as the cbs television network affiliate for the hampton roads area of virginia comprising the cities of norfolk portsmouth newport news hampton virginia beach and environs and the outer banks region of north carolina . wtkr is owned by dreamcatcher broadcasting llc and is part of a duopoly with cw affiliate wgnt channel 27 ; tribune broadcasting operates wtkr and wgnt under a shared services agreement . wtkr and wgnt share a studio office facility on boush street in downtown norfolk . wtkr s transmission tower is located in northwest part of suffolk virginia . contents 1 history 2 eastern shore translator 3 digital television 3.1 digital channels 3.2 analog to digital conversion 4 news operation 4.1 notable current on air staff 4.2 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit the station began operation on channel 4 on april 2 1950 as wtar tv virginia s second television station . it carried programming from all four networks of the time nbc cbs abc and dumont but was a primary nbc affiliate . in its first year of operation when only 600 tv sets existed in the area it had 19 locally originated programs in addition to network shows . within a year of the station s debut it moved into a new radio tv center at 720 boush street . 2 it was owned by norfolk newspapers publisher of the virginian pilot and the ledger star along with wtar radio am 790 now on am 850 virginia s first radio station and wtar fm . 2 it moved to channel 3 in 1952 in order to avoid interference with wrc tv in washington . when wvec tv signed on a year later as an nbc affiliate wtar tv became a primary cbs affiliate retaining its secondary abc and dumont affiliations . wtar became solely affiliated with cbs in 1957 when wavy tv signed on as the abc affiliate wavy and wvec would swap affiliations in 1959 making the latter station the abc affiliate . dumont also shut down in 1956 . in 1967 norfolk newspapers was reorganized as landmark communications wtar am fm tv became the flagship stations . the station was one of several in the country to produce a local version of pm magazine from the late 1970s to mid 1980s . the federal communications commission began tightening its ownership restrictions in the 1970s eventually barring common ownership of newspapers and broadcasting outlets . landmark was able to get grandfathered protection for its flagship hampton roads cluster . however in 1981 it opted to sell channel 3 to knight ridder who changed the station s calls to wtkr on march 4 . the new calls not only reflected the new ownership but also sounded similar to the old ones . knight ridder sold wtkr and sister station wpri tv in providence rhode island to narragansett television in 1989 . narragansett sold wtkr to the new york times company in 1995 . on may 7 2007 ; the times sold its entire broadcasting division including wtkr to local tv . 3 in june 2010 local tv announced that it would be acquiring the cw affiliate wgnt from cbs corporation s television stations group . wtkr managed the station through a time brokerage agreement from that point until local tv closed on the purchase on august 4 . this purchase created the market s second co owned duopoly operation after the lin tv owned combination of wavy and fox affiliate wvbt . on july 1 2013 local tv announced that its 19 stations would be acquired by the tribune company the owner of the daily press in newport news for 2.75 billion ; 4 since this would conflict with fcc regulations that prohibit newspaper television crossownership within a single market 5 although tribune has maintained crossownership waivers for its newspaper television station combinations in four other media markets tribune spun off wtkr and wgnt to dreamcatcher broadcasting an unrelated company owned by former tribune company executive ed wilson . tribune will provide services to the stations through a shared services agreement and will hold an option to buy back wtkr and wgnt outright in the future . 6 the sale was completed on december 27 . 7 tribune later announced on july 10 2013 that it would spin off its newspapers including the daily press into a separate company the tribune publishing company in 2014 pending shareholder and regulatory approval . 8 wtkr logo from 1998 to 2002 . this logo kept the 3 from the previous 1995 98 logo but revised the newschannel branding . wtkr logo from 2002 to 2016 . eastern shore translator edit there is one low powered translator of wtkr on the eastern shore of virginia w18eg d in onancock . 9 it is owned by the accomack county government rather than tribune . 10 wtkr tv and tribune do not own any translators located in the greater hampton roads area . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 11 3.1 1080i 16 9 wtkr dt main wtkr programming cbs 3.2 480i 4 3 thistv this tv on december 6 2014 wtkr added its first digital subchannel . this tv a diginet co owned by tribune media was placed on virtual channel 3.2 . analog to digital conversion edit wtkr began digital broadcasts on channel 40 on march 11 2002 at 4 15pm . the station discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over vhf channel 3 on june 12 2009 as part of the federally mandated from analog to digital television . 12 the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 40 using psip to display wtkr s virtual channel as 3 on digital television receivers . news operation edit not surprisingly for a station with roots in a newspaper channel 3 dominated the news ratings in hampton roads for many years . however its ratings slipped after a botched relaunch in 1994 . the station has recovered somewhat and is now part of a spirited three way race for first with wvec and wavy . over the years the station expanded its news operation to include about 30 hours of local news production per week . during the 2009 ncaa men s division i basketball championship independent station wsky tv aired two weeknight 11 o clock newscasts from wtkr during its coverage of the basketball tournament . the station did broadcast late newscasts at midnight when the coverage concluded . 13 wtkr started the area s first 4 p.m. newscast on september 8 2009 . 14 this is the station s second attempt at a newscast during the 4 p.m. hour as wtkr had aired a short lived 4 30 p.m. newscast in 1995 . 15 wtkr began producing and airing its local newscasts in high definition on january 26 2009 with the 5 00pm broadcast . 16 wtkr is the third station in the hampton roads market after wavy tv and wvbt to begin airing high definition newscasts as opposed to the upconverted widescreen standard definition format of wvec s newscasts . as of august 25 2011 a two hour extension of wtkr s weekday morning newscast airs from 7 to 9 am on sister station wgnt . on july 7 2014 a half hour 7 p.m. newscast made its debut on wgnt featuring former morning anchor laila muhammad les smith and chief meteorologist patrick rockey . it is the first and only newscast at that time slot in the hampton roads area . 17 almost a year later a weeknight 10 p.m. newscast returned to wgnt after 18 years under the name wgnt news at 10 powered by newschannel 3 on june 29 2015 . this isn t the first attempt at a weeknight 10 p.m. newscast for the station ; it ran from 1995 to 1997 as newschannel 3 at 10 00 on upn 27 when wgnt was a upn affiliate . 18 as of june 17 2016 wtkr has ditched it s newschannel 3 branding returning to its former newscast name as news 3 . notable current on air staff edit barbara ciara anchor blaine stewart anchor notable former on air staff edit ed hughes often called the walter cronkite of hampton roads from 1967 as wtar to his death from cancer in 2004 . bob mcallister worked as host on wtar during the 1950s ; later host of wonderama on wnew died in 1998 . paula miller reporter from 1984 until 1999 ; later a member of the virginia house of delegates . bob rathbun sports anchor from 1990 until 1991 . previously at wtar radio for 12 years . now play by play announcer for atlanta hawks . lyn vaughn evening anchor from 1999 until 2001 . previously with headline news from 1984 until 1997 . william whitehurst reporter for wtar from 1950 until 1968 served in united states house of representatives from 1969 87 ; later an occasional analyst for wtkr and serves on old dominion university faculty 19 references edit http articles.dailypress.com 1999 05 15 features 9905150026 1 wtkr stations letters a b wtar tv marks its first year pdf . broadcasting . april 30 1951 . p. 62 . retrieved 8 august 2016 . 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 . channick robert july 1 2013 . acquisition to make tribune co. largest u.s. tv station operator . chicago tribune . retrieved july 1 2013 . walzer phil july 2 2013 . tribune to buy norfolk stations wtkr and cw27 . the virginian pilot . retrieved may 16 2016 . transferee exhibit 15 agreements and summary of transaction . fcc document . retrieved 17 july 2013 . company completes final steps of transaction announced in july tribune company 27 december 2013 tribune co. to split in two . new york times . retrieved july 10 2013 . w18eg d . federal communications commission . http www.rabbitears.info market.php request station search & callsign w18eg d station rabbitears tv query for wtkr list of digital full power stations permanent dead link http www.dailypress.com business dp biz wtkr 0319mar19 0 1611931 . story http www.vartv.com pdf wtkr 2009 08 31.pdf http asoundidea.com articles copy dp010795.html http vartv.com http wgnt.com 2014 06 24 announcing wgnt news powered by newschannel 3 now weeknights at 7pm https changingnewscasts.wordpress.com 2015 06 16 wgnt expanding weekend 1000 pm news to weeknights by wtkr http bioguide.congress.gov scripts biodisplay.pl index w000406 external links edit official website query the fcc s tv station database for wtkr query tv fool s coverage map for wtkr biafn s media web database information on wtkr tv program information for wtkr at titantv.com v t e television stations in the hampton roads region including virginia beach norfolk portsmouth and newport news virginia reception may