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WSAV-TV
WSAV-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Savannah, Georgia, United States, affiliated with NBC. Its second digital subchannel serves as an owned-and-operated station of The CW (via The CW Plus), and also airs programming from MyNetworkTV. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios on East Victory Drive/US 80/SR 26 in Savannah's Live Oak section, and its transmitter is located on Little Neck Road in unincorporated northwestern Chatham County, near Pooler.
The station began broadcasting on VHF channel 3 on February 1, 1956, and was co-owned with WSAV radio (630 AM; later WBMQ) after a long legal battle over the frequency with the owners of WJIV (900 AM). It initially aired an analog signal from a transmitter on top of a bank building on Broughton Street in Downtown Savannah. The flashing WSAV sign was a landmark on the street for many years. WSAV radio had long carried NBC Radio programming, so WSAV-TV took the NBC television affiliation.
It shared ABC with CBS affiliate WTOC-TV (channel 11) until 1970, when WJCL-TV (channel 22) started operations as a full-time ABC affiliate. During the late 1950s, WSAV-TV was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.[unreliable source?] WSAV briefly had an FM station using an antenna atop the middle of three AM towers at the transmitter facility on Oatland Island. However, without many listeners to the simulcast programming, the FM operation was ended in the 1950s.
In 1960, WSAV-AM-TV moved into a brand-new facility on Victory Drive, where WSAV-TV still is located today. A new tower was built at the site boosting its signal to many of the surrounding counties in Georgia and South Carolina. The current tower near Pooler was built in 1976. In the same year, the WSAV stations were sold to different parties, with WSAV-TV going to the News-Press & Gazette Company. In 1982, the station swapped affiliations with WJCL and became an ABC affiliate. That network had become number one in the country and was searching for stronger affiliates. However, by 1985, WSAV was one of several ABC affiliates nationwide that were disappointed with the network's weak prime time programming offerings, particularly on Thursday nights, which were bogging down WSAV's otherwise successful lineup. Meanwhile, WSAV returned to NBC a mere three years later in 1985, one year before that network became number one again, reversing the 1982 affiliation swap.
In the 1990s, like many other commercial television stations in the United States, WSAV was sold several times. NPG sold its entire broadcasting group of the time to the first incarnation of New Vision Television in 1993. Ellis Communications bought the New Vision stations in 1995.
In 1996, Ellis was sold to Retirement Systems of Alabama who merged it with AFLAC's former broadcasting division to form Raycom Media. Since AFLAC had owned rival WTOC, Raycom could not keep both stations due to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations at the time forbidding common ownership of two stations in the same market; this rule would be partially repealed in 2000 when the FCC allowed common ownership of two stations in the same market provided that both of them are not the four highest-rated stations in a market with eight unique station owners. Savannah had only six full power stations at the time of the merger, which was too few to permit a duopoly in any case. As a result, Raycom opted to keep the higher-rated WTOC and sell WSAV. In early 1997, Raycom traded WSAV and two other stations to Media General in return for WTVR-TV in Richmond, Virginia.
In the 2000s, WSAV acquired the local rights to the syndicated game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!. Both were previously shown on rival WJCL for almost two decades. On February 1, 2006, WSAV celebrated its 50th anniversary. To commemorate the event, Savannah Mayor Otis Johnson officially announced the date as "WSAV Day" and lauded the station for its many achievements over the decades. Its continued service to its viewers being always "On Your Side" whenever a viewer needs to get a story out was also recognized.
On March 21, 2014, LIN Media entered into an agreement to merge with Media General in a $1.6 billion deal. Because LIN already owned ABC affiliate WJCL and operated Fox affiliate WTGS (channel 28), the companies were required to sell either WSAV or WJCL and its SSA with WTGS to another station owner in order to comply with FCC ownership rules as well as planned changes to those rules regarding same-market television stations which would prohibit sharing agreements. On August 20, 2014, Media General announced that it would keep WSAV and sell WJCL to Hearst Television, with WTGS going to Sinclair Broadcast Group. The sale was completed on December 19, and Hearst closed on its purchase of WJCL and Birmingham-based WVTM-TV (the latter of which was acquired due to an ownership conflict with WIAT) three days later.
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WSAV-TV
WSAV-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Savannah, Georgia, United States, affiliated with NBC. Its second digital subchannel serves as an owned-and-operated station of The CW (via The CW Plus), and also airs programming from MyNetworkTV. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios on East Victory Drive/US 80/SR 26 in Savannah's Live Oak section, and its transmitter is located on Little Neck Road in unincorporated northwestern Chatham County, near Pooler.
The station began broadcasting on VHF channel 3 on February 1, 1956, and was co-owned with WSAV radio (630 AM; later WBMQ) after a long legal battle over the frequency with the owners of WJIV (900 AM). It initially aired an analog signal from a transmitter on top of a bank building on Broughton Street in Downtown Savannah. The flashing WSAV sign was a landmark on the street for many years. WSAV radio had long carried NBC Radio programming, so WSAV-TV took the NBC television affiliation.
It shared ABC with CBS affiliate WTOC-TV (channel 11) until 1970, when WJCL-TV (channel 22) started operations as a full-time ABC affiliate. During the late 1950s, WSAV-TV was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.[unreliable source?] WSAV briefly had an FM station using an antenna atop the middle of three AM towers at the transmitter facility on Oatland Island. However, without many listeners to the simulcast programming, the FM operation was ended in the 1950s.
In 1960, WSAV-AM-TV moved into a brand-new facility on Victory Drive, where WSAV-TV still is located today. A new tower was built at the site boosting its signal to many of the surrounding counties in Georgia and South Carolina. The current tower near Pooler was built in 1976. In the same year, the WSAV stations were sold to different parties, with WSAV-TV going to the News-Press & Gazette Company. In 1982, the station swapped affiliations with WJCL and became an ABC affiliate. That network had become number one in the country and was searching for stronger affiliates. However, by 1985, WSAV was one of several ABC affiliates nationwide that were disappointed with the network's weak prime time programming offerings, particularly on Thursday nights, which were bogging down WSAV's otherwise successful lineup. Meanwhile, WSAV returned to NBC a mere three years later in 1985, one year before that network became number one again, reversing the 1982 affiliation swap.
In the 1990s, like many other commercial television stations in the United States, WSAV was sold several times. NPG sold its entire broadcasting group of the time to the first incarnation of New Vision Television in 1993. Ellis Communications bought the New Vision stations in 1995.
In 1996, Ellis was sold to Retirement Systems of Alabama who merged it with AFLAC's former broadcasting division to form Raycom Media. Since AFLAC had owned rival WTOC, Raycom could not keep both stations due to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations at the time forbidding common ownership of two stations in the same market; this rule would be partially repealed in 2000 when the FCC allowed common ownership of two stations in the same market provided that both of them are not the four highest-rated stations in a market with eight unique station owners. Savannah had only six full power stations at the time of the merger, which was too few to permit a duopoly in any case. As a result, Raycom opted to keep the higher-rated WTOC and sell WSAV. In early 1997, Raycom traded WSAV and two other stations to Media General in return for WTVR-TV in Richmond, Virginia.
In the 2000s, WSAV acquired the local rights to the syndicated game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!. Both were previously shown on rival WJCL for almost two decades. On February 1, 2006, WSAV celebrated its 50th anniversary. To commemorate the event, Savannah Mayor Otis Johnson officially announced the date as "WSAV Day" and lauded the station for its many achievements over the decades. Its continued service to its viewers being always "On Your Side" whenever a viewer needs to get a story out was also recognized.
On March 21, 2014, LIN Media entered into an agreement to merge with Media General in a $1.6 billion deal. Because LIN already owned ABC affiliate WJCL and operated Fox affiliate WTGS (channel 28), the companies were required to sell either WSAV or WJCL and its SSA with WTGS to another station owner in order to comply with FCC ownership rules as well as planned changes to those rules regarding same-market television stations which would prohibit sharing agreements. On August 20, 2014, Media General announced that it would keep WSAV and sell WJCL to Hearst Television, with WTGS going to Sinclair Broadcast Group. The sale was completed on December 19, and Hearst closed on its purchase of WJCL and Birmingham-based WVTM-TV (the latter of which was acquired due to an ownership conflict with WIAT) three days later.
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