View source for WVVA

{{Short description|Television station in Bluefield, West Virginia}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox television station
| callsign               = WVVA
| city                   = Bluefield, West Virginia
| logo                   = WVVA 2023 3D.svg
| logo_size              = 250px
| image                  = WVVA-DT2 2024.svg
| image_size             = 180px
| branding               = {{ubl|WVVA|Two Virginias' CW 6.2 (on DT2)|MeTV Two Virginias' (on DT3)}}
| analog                 =
| digital                = 17 ([[UHF]])
| virtual                = 6
| affiliations           = {{ubl|'''6.1:''' [[NBC]]|'''6.2:''' [[CW+]]|''for others, see {{section link||Subchannels}}''}}
| translators            = 
| subchannels            = 
| founded                = October 29, 1954<ref>{{cite web|title=For the record: Actions of the FCC–New TV stations–Actions of FCC.|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/54-OCR/1954-11-08-BC-OCR-Page-0113.pdf|periodical=[[Broadcasting and Cable|Broadcasting – Telecasting]]|page=113|date=November 8, 1954}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=FCC grants two TVs, one satellite.|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/54-OCR/1954-11-08-BC-OCR-Page-54.pdf|periodical=Broadcasting – Telecasting|page=54|date=November 8, 1954}}</ref>
| airdate                = {{start date and age|1955|7|31|p=y}}
| location               = {{ubl|[[Bluefield, West Virginia|Bluefield]]–[[Beckley, West Virginia|Beckley]]–|[[Oak Hill, West Virginia]]}}
| country                = United States
| callsign_meaning       = [[List of U.S. state abbreviations#Postal codes|Postal abbreviations]] of [[West Virginia]] and [[Virginia]]
| former_callsigns       = WHIS-TV (1955–1979)
| former_channel_numbers = {{ubl|'''Analog:''' 6 ([[VHF]], 1955–2009)|'''Digital:''' 46 (UHF, 2001–2019)}}
| owner                  = [[Gray Media]]
| licensee               = Gray Television Licensee, [[LLC]]
| erp                    = 545 [[kW]]
| haat                   = {{convert|370|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| facility_id            = 74176
| coordinates            = {{coord|37|15|21.1|N|81|10|53.3|W|type:landmark_scale:2000}}
| licensing_authority    = [[FCC]]
| website                = {{URL|www.wvva.com/}} 
}}

'''WVVA''' (channel 6) is a [[television station]] licensed to [[Bluefield, West Virginia]], United States, serving the Bluefield–[[Beckley, West Virginia|Beckley]]–[[Oak Hill, West Virginia|Oak Hill]] [[media market|market]] as an affiliate of [[NBC]] and [[The CW Plus]]. Owned by [[Gray Media]], the station maintains studios on [[U.S. Route 460 in Virginia#Big Rock to Bluefield|U.S. Route 460]] in Bluefield, West Virginia, and its transmitter is located atop East River Mountain, near the West Virginia–Virginia border.

== History ==
The station went on the air on July 31, 1955, as WHIS-TV.<ref>[https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=87050 FCC History Cards for WVVA]. [[Federal Communications Commission]].</ref> It was named in honor of longtime West Virginia politician [[Hugh Ike Shott]], who had died two years earlier. It was owned by the Shott family's Daily Telegraph Publishing Company, which owned the ''[[Bluefield Daily Telegraph]]'' along with WHIS radio ([[WHIS|1440 AM]] and 98.7 FM, now [[WHAJ]]). Channel 6 signed on under the special commitment of a [[VHF]] allotment to Bluefield after the release of the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC)'s ''Sixth Report and Order'' in 1952. Because of its proposed antenna height and location on East River Mountain, the channel 6 allocation in Bluefield was short-spaced to [[WATE-TV]] (also on channel 6) in [[Knoxville, Tennessee]], and side-spaced to [[WCYB-TV]] (on adjacent channel 5) in [[Bristol, Virginia]]. As a result, the proposed station on the channel 6 frequency would therefore be limited to one-half of the visual maximum [[effective radiated power]] for analog channels 2 through 6, or 50,000 [[watt]]s.

Unable to obtain a network feed, the Shotts were forced to construct a privately owned microwave relay system to receive NBC programming from [[WSLS-TV]] in [[Roanoke, Virginia]], the closest and most accessible city receiving network signals via the [[Bell System|AT&T]] Long Lines system.<ref>{{cite web|title=WHIS-TV gets new relay.|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/55-OCR/1955-12-26-BC-OCR-Page-0055.pdf|periodical=Broadcasting – Telecasting|page=55|date=November 8, 1954}}</ref> When it was completed in September WHIS-TV began carrying NBC programs, the first being ''[[The Pinky Lee Show]]''. The station's operations were originally housed in the [[Municipal Building (Bluefield, West Virginia)|Bluefield Municipal Building]]; on January 1, 1967, the WHIS stations moved into new facilities on Big Laurel Highway ([[U.S. Route 19 in West Virginia|US 19]]–[[U.S. Route 460|460]]), known as "Broadcast Center," and channel 6 began full color operations.

For a long time, the WHIS stations were the only broadcasting outlets in Bluefield. Although the Shotts' media holdings were considered a monopoly by some (as highlighted in a July 1974 ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'' article<ref>Elliott, Karen J. "Media monopoly." ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', July 23, 1974.</ref>), only the newspaper was a vehicle for their [[conservatism in the United States|conservative]] political views. But in 1975, the FCC decreed that a [[concentration of media ownership|single company could not own all of the media outlets in one area]], and required several small-market broadcast-print combinations to be broken up by 1980. The Shotts opted to keep the ''Daily Telegraph'' and the radio stations and sell channel 6.<ref>"FCC at last defines policy on newspaper-broadcast crossownership." ''Broadcasting'', February 3, 1975, pp. 23-24. [http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/75-OCR/1975-02-03-BC-0023.pdf][http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/75-OCR/1975-02-03-BC-0024.pdf] "Under the new rule, newspaper-television acquisitions will be barred if the television station puts a Grade A signal over the community in which the newspaper is published. And the rule requires divestiture by Jan. 1, 1980, if the only daily newspaper and only television station placing a city-grade signal over the community are commonly owned. The stations affected are [[WGWW|WHMA-TV]] [[Anniston, Ala.]]; [[WALB-TV]] [[Albany, Ga.]]; [[KGLO-TV]] [[Mason City, Iowa]]; [[WTOK-TV]] [[Meridian, Miss.]]; [[WWNY-TV]] [[Watertown, N.Y.]]; [[KTAL-TV]] [[Texarkana, Texas|Texarkana, Tex.]]; and WHIS-TV Bluefield, W. Va."</ref> In 1979, after four years of appeals, the Shotts sold WHIS-TV to [[Quincy, Illinois]]–based [[Quincy Newspapers]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Changing hands.|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/79-OCR/BC-1979-04-23-Page-0043.pdf|periodical=Broadcasting|page=43|date=April 23, 1979}}</ref> After the sale was completed, the new owners changed the station's call letters to WVVA (so as to comply with an FCC rule in effect at the time that required TV and radio stations in the same market, but with different ownership to use different call letters) on May 1, 1979; the call letters refer to the states that channel 6 serves, West Virginia and Virginia.

On February 17, 2009, WVVA switched to "[[Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act|Digital Nightlight]]" service on its analog signal showing information on the transition to exclusive [[digital television]] and its nightly 6 o'clock newscast. Post-transition digital operations continued on channel 46, remapping to [[virtual channel]] 6. The station's analog service was terminated altogether in late-April 2009.

On February 1, 2021, [[Gray Television]] announced its intent to purchase Quincy Media for $925 million.<ref name="graybuysquincy">{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2021/02/gray-television-quincy-media-for-925-million-in-cash-1234684531/|title=Gray Television Acquires Quincy Media For $925 Million In Cash|first=Jill|last=Goldsmith|work=[[Deadline Hollywood]]|publisher=[[Penske Media Corporation]]|date=February 1, 2021|access-date=February 1, 2021}}</ref> The acquisition was completed on August 2,<ref name="graycomplete">{{cite press release|url=https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/08/02/2273228/0/en/Gray-Television-Closes-Quincy-Acquisition.html|title=Gray Television Closes Quincy Acquisition|first=Hilton|last=Howell Jr.|work=[[Gray Television]]|publisher=[[Globe Newswire]]|date=August 2, 2021|access-date=August 2, 2021}}</ref> making WVVA [[sister station|sister]] to Gray stations in nearby markets, including CBS affiliates [[WDBJ]] in Roanoke and [[WDTV]] in [[Clarksburg, West Virginia|Clarksburg]], ABC affiliate [[WHSV-TV]] in [[Harrisonburg, Virginia|Harrisonburg]] and fellow NBC affiliates [[WSAZ-TV]] in [[Huntington, West Virginia|Huntington]]–[[Charleston, West Virginia|Charleston]], [[WTAP-TV]] in [[Parkersburg]] and [[WVIR-TV]] in [[Charlottesville]]. This leaves the [[Wheeling, West Virginia|Wheeling]]–[[Steubenville]] market and the portions of the [[Washington, D.C.]], and [[Pittsburgh]] markets that extend into West Virginia as the only parts of the state not covered by a Gray station (though Washington houses a national political bureau for Gray).

=== WVVA-DT2 ===
From 1995 until late 1998, [[The WB]]'s programming was available in the Beckley–Bluefield–Oak Hill market via [[WGN-TV]]'s [[NewsNation|national feed]]. The station launched in late-1998 as a cable-only station with the fictional call sign "WBB". It was a WB affiliate through [[The WB 100+]] which was a similar operation to the current [[CW Plus]] service. "WBB" was identified on-air as "West Virginia's WB 18" (based on its channel location on cable). WVVA provided promotional and advertising services for this station. On January 24, 2006, it was announced that The WB and [[UPN]] would end broadcasting and merge to form a new combined service, which would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of corporate parents [[CBS Corporation|CBS]] (the parent company of UPN) and the [[Warner Bros.]] unit of [[WarnerMedia|Time Warner]].

When The CW launched on September 18, "WBB" was added to a new second digital subchannel of WVVA to offer non-cable subscribers access to the network. At this point, it began using the WVVA-DT2 calls in an official manner. For a few weeks during the summer of 2007, WVVA produced a weeknight prime time newscast at 10 on WVVA-DT2. Airing for thirty minutes, the show featured news anchor Erica Greenway (no longer with station), chief meteorologist Corey Henderson, and sports director P. J. Ziegler (now with [[WJW (TV)|WJW]] in [[Cleveland]]). It is unknown why the program was dropped after such a short run.

== Newscasts ==
WVVA remains one of the strongest NBC affiliates in the country and continually averages high [[Nielsen rating]] shares in the mountainous nine county market. WVVA began broadcasting local newscasts in high definition from a totally renovated studio with new sets as well as a new control room in June 2012. In addition to its main studios, WVVA operates a Beckley Bureau (on Main Street along North Kanawha Street/[[WV 210]]) and a "virtual" [[Greenbrier Valley]] Bureau (covering [[Summers County, West Virginia|Summers]], [[Monroe County, West Virginia|Monroe]], and [[Greenbrier County, West Virginia|Greenbrier]] counties in West Virginia as well as [[Giles County, Virginia]]).

==Subchannels==
The station's signal is [[multiplex (TV)|multiplexed]]:

{| class="wikitable"
|+Subchannels of WVVA<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WVVA#station|title = RabbitEars TV Query for WVVA|website=RabbitEars.info}}</ref>
! scope = "col" | [[Digital subchannel#United States|Channel]]
! scope = "col" | [[Display resolution|Res.]]
! scope = "col" | [[Aspect ratio (image)|Aspect]]
! scope = "col" | Short name
! scope = "col" | Programming
|-
! scope = "row" | 6.1 
| [[1080i]] || rowspan="6" | [[16:9]] || WVVANBC || [[NBC]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 6.2 
| [[720p]] || WVVACW || [[The CW Plus]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 6.3 
| rowspan="4" | [[480i]] || WWVAME || [[MeTV]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 6.4 
| COURTTV || [[Court TV]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 6.5 
| START || [[Start TV]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 6.6
| || [[The365]]
|}

WVVA currently has a [[construction permit]] for a digital fill-in translator on channel 43 from a transmitter near [[Layland, West Virginia|Layland]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/prefill_and_display.pl?Application_id=1320098&Service=LD&Form_id=346&Facility_id=74176|title=Application View ... Redirecting}}</ref> This will have the same call sign as the main signal and primarily serve the northern portion of the market.

== See also ==
*[[Channel 6 virtual TV stations in the United States]]
*[[Channel 17 digital TV stations in the United States]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.wvva.com/ WVVA website]
* [http://jeff560.tripod.com/whis2.html WHIS-TV/WVVA history]
* [http://yourcwtv.com/partners/bluefield/ WVVA-DT2 "Two Virginias' CW"]

{{Bluefield TV}}
{{NBC West Virginia}}
{{NBC Virginia}}
{{CW Virginia}}
{{Gray_TV}}

[[Category:1955 establishments in West Virginia]]
[[Category:Mass media in Bluefield, West Virginia]]
[[Category:Court TV affiliates]]
[[Category:The CW affiliates]]
[[Category:Gray Media]]
[[Category:MeTV affiliates]]
[[Category:NBC affiliates]]
[[Category:Start TV affiliates]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1955]]
[[Category:Television stations in West Virginia|VVA]]
[[Category:Mass media in Oak Hill, West Virginia]]
[[Category:Mass media in Beckley, West Virginia]]