As part of the frequency switch, the FCC granted WSAZ a boost in broadcast power, which at the time, was the highest ever authorized for a television station. The channel move also created an opening for a new channel 5 station in Weston, which signed on as WJPB-TV (now sister station WDTV) in March 1954. As a result, WSAZ-TV moved to channel 3 to alleviate interference with fellow NBC affiliate WLWT in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati link was replaced in favor of one from Columbus, Ohio in 1952.Īlso in 1952, the FCC released its Sixth Report and Order, which ended the four-year-long freeze in awarding station licenses and included a realignment of VHF channel assignments. The first live broadcast was scheduled for a Labor Day baseball game, but the system broke down for four hours and forced WSAZ to broadcast a fire at a nearby hotel. As one of the nation's first privately owned microwave systems, it was a remarkable feat for one of the smallest cities in the country to have a television station (at that time). In 1950, WSAZ-TV received Federal Communications Commission (FCC) permission to build a private microwave link to Cincinnati allowing viewers to get NBC programming live. However, the myth persists that the calls stand for "Worst Station from A to Z," which WSAZ radio itself helped spread by using it as a slogan for many years. Chase later claimed that the station proved such a headache to him that he asked for the call letters WSAZ to signify that it was the "Worst Station from A to Z." A more likely explanation is that the call letters were sequentially assigned by the United States Department of Commerce between WSAX in Chicago (now defunct) and WSAY in Port Chester, New York.
#WSAZ WEATHER FULL#
It moved across and down the Ohio River to Huntington in 1926, in part because Chase had his hands full keeping the station going. One story of how the station's call letters originated dates from WSAZ radio's origins in 1923, when radio engineer Glenn Chase began airing semi-regular broadcasts from Pomeroy, Ohio. It is the only commercial station in the market that has never changed its primary affiliation. In 1955, WSAZ-TV dropped DuMont after the network shut down. When WCHS-TV (channel 8) signed on from Charleston in 1954, it took over the CBS affiliation and the two television stations shared ABC programming until WHTN-TV (channel 13, now WOWK-TV) signed on from Huntington a year later. However, it was a primary NBC affiliate due to WSAZ radio's long affiliation with NBC Radio. The station was originally owned by the Huntington Publishing Company along with the Huntington Herald-Dispatch and WSAZ radio (930 AM, now WRVC), and carried programming from all four networks at the time (NBC, CBS, ABC, and DuMont). The oldest television station in West Virginia, WSAZ-TV began broadcasting November 15, 1949, on VHF channel 5.
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