WHAS-TV

WHAS-TV
Louisville, Kentucky
Branding	WHAS 11 (general) WHAS 11 News (newscasts)
Slogan	Coverage You Can Count On (news) Start Here, Stay Here. (general)
Channels	Digital: 11 (VHF)
Subchannels	11.1 ABC 11.2 WHAS Stormteam Weather/The Local AccuWeather Channel
Affiliations	American Broadcasting Company
Owner	Belo Corporation (Belo Kentucky, Inc.)
First air date	March 27, 1950
Call letters’ meaning	Sequentially assigned by the federal government to the AM sister station; unofficially means We Have A Signal
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 9 (1950-1953) 11 (1953-2009) Digital: 55
Former affiliations	Primary: CBS (1950-1990) Secondary: ABC (1950-1961)
Transmitter Power	19 kW (digital)
Height	392 m (digital)
Facility ID	32327
Transmitter Coordinates	38°21′23″N 85°50′52″W / 38.35639°N 85.84778°W / 38.35639; -85.84778
Website	www.whas11.com/

WHAS-TV channel 11 is the ABC affiliated station in Louisville, Kentucky. Owned by Belo Corporation, the station's transmitter is located in Floyd County, Indiana, near the community of Floyds Knobs.

History

The station began broadcasting on March 27, 1950 on channel 9 as Kentucky's second television station. It moved to its current location on channel 11 on February 7, 1953, after an increase in effective radiated power caused interference with WCPO-TV, Cincinnati.

It was owned by the Bingham family, publishers of the The Courier-Journal newspaper, along with WHAS-AM, Kentucky's first radio station. Family patriarch Barry Bingham, Sr. handed over control to his son, Barry, Jr. in 1971. A 15-year family dispute culminated in a decision to split up the family's media holdings. WHAS-TV was sold to The Providence Journal Company in 1986, while WHAS-AM went to Clear Channel Communications and the Courier-Journal went to Gannett. The Journal Company merged with Belo in 1997.

The station originally was a primary CBS affiliate with a secondary ABC affiliation. When WLKY-TV signed on in 1961, WHAS-TV became a sole CBS affiliate. In September 1990, WHAS-TV swapped affiliations with WLKY-TV and became an ABC affiliate. Although at the time of the switch, ABC had higher ratings than CBS, the change ultimately proved to be a terrible mistake, as once-moribund WLKY, a UHF station, made significant progress and has become a viable ratings competitor.

Digital television

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion

After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion on June 12, 2009 ^[1], WHAS-TV moved its digital broadcasts back to its former analog channel number, 11. ^[2]

Special Programming

The station annually broadcasts the WHAS Crusade for Children, a highly successful local telethon benefiting children's charities throughout Kentucky and southern Indiana. It also originated one of the nation's longest-running public service programs, Moral Side of the News, featuring a local interfaith clergy panel discussing the week's events in the light of faith. The panel also administers the annual grants from the Crusade for Children telethon.

News Coverage

Not surprisingly for a station with roots in a newspaper, WHAS-TV has been an innovator in news coverage. It was the first Kentucky station to use newsreel film.

In the late 1970s, WHAS-TV displaced long-dominant WAVE-TV and became the news ratings leader in Louisville. It held the lead through the early 21st century, often by a wide margin. While it still leads WAVE and WLKY in most time slots, its dominance is not nearly as absolute as it once was. In recent years, it has lost the 11 p.m. lead to WLKY. In the May 2006 ratings period, WHAS placed 4th at 11:00 behind Sex and the City re-runs on local Fox affiliate WDRB, but by May 2007 it had regained the runner-up spot behind WLKY. [1]

As a CBS affiliate in the 1970s until 1991, its newscasts were titled "Action 11 News." In 1991, their news branding was changed to "Kentuckiana's News Channel, WHAS-11." Most recently in the late 1990s, the station began using "WHAS 11 News" to brand their news product. Since 1991, WHAS has been using versions of Frank Gari's "Newschannel" music package.

On January 2, 2006, WHAS began producing a 10:00pm newscast on WBKI-TV. On Monday, August 24, 2009, WHAS became the second station (behind WAVE-TV) in Louisville to broadcast its local news in High Definition.

Sports

WHAS-TV originated the first television broadcast of the Kentucky Derby in 1952. When the Derby moved to ABC in 1975 (local affiliate WLKY), Churchill Downs included a provision in the contract requiring ABC to allow WHAS to continue showing the Derby. The provision became moot when WHAS joined ABC several years later. However, after the Triple Crown races moved to NBC in the 1990s, WHAS-TV lost the rights to WAVE, the local NBC affiliate, though in 2006 regained the rights to the Belmont Stakes which has moved back to ABC. WHAS also simulcast the 2006 Breeders' Cup from Churchill Downs that aired on ESPN.

Currently, WHAS is the flagship station for local broadcasts of Louisville Cardinals basketball. Sponsors include Kroger and Louisville Jewish Hospital.

Personalities

Current On-Air Talent

Current Anchors

• Joe Arnold - weekends at 6:30, 10 (on WBKI) and 11PM
• Renee Murphy - weeknights at 5:30PM
• Rachel Platt - weekday mornings "Good Morning Kentuckiana"
• Doug Proffitt - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6, 10 (on WBKI) and 11PM
• Kelsey Starks - weekend mornings "Good Morning Kentuckiana"
• Melissa Swan - weeknights at 5, 6 and 11PM
• Andy Treinen - weekday mornings "Good Morning Kentuckiana"

Reporters

• Chase Cain - general assignment reporter
• Adrianna Hopkins - general assignment reporter
• Melanie Kahn - general assignment reporter
• Gene Kang - general assignment reporter
• Adam Walser - general assignment reporter

First Alert StormTeam

• Monty Webb (AMS Member) - Chief Meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6, 10 (on WBKI) and 11PM
• Jamie Martin - Meteorologist; weekday mornings "Good Morning Kentuckiana"
• Ben Pine (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist/NWA Seal of Approval) - Meteorologist; weekends at 6:30, 10 (on WBKI) and 11PM
• Reed Yadon - Meteorologist; weekend mornings "Good Morning Kentuckiana"

Sports Team

• Kyle Draper - Sports Director; weeknights at 6, 10 (on WBKI) and 11PM
• Danielle Santoro - Sports Anchor; weekends at 6:30, 10 (on WBKI) and 11PM

Notable WHAS alumni

• Mort Crim (later became anchor for KYW-TV Philadelphia and WDIV-TV Detroit, now runs Mort Crim Communications)
• Milton Metz - host
• Chuck Olmstead - 34 years on the job (died March 10th 2009 of a brain aneurysm)
• Hugh Smith (later became anchor for WTVT in Tampa, Florida; died December 16, 2007)
• Stacy Smith (now at KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh)
• Chuck Taylor (died of cancer in 1997)

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

News/Station Presentation

Newscast Titles

• TV 11 News (early 1970s-1975)
• News 11 (1975-1977)
• Action 11 (1977-1987)
• Action 11 News (1987-1991)
• WHAS 11 News (1991-present)

Station Slogans

• Looking Good (1979-1981; localized version of CBS slogan)
• Kentuckiana's Number One News Broadcast (1978-1983)
• Reach for the Stars (1981-1982; localized version of CBS slogan)
• Hello, Louisville, 11 Loves You (1982-1985; during period station used Frank Gari's "Hello News")
• Stand Up and Tell them You're From Kentucky (1985-1989; during period station used Frank Gari's "Turn to News")
• Kentuckiana's 24-Hour News Channel (1991-1993)
• Kentuckiana's News Channel (1993-1997)
• Coverage You Can Count On (1997-present; news slogan)
• Start Here, Stay Here. (2008-present; localized version of ABC slogan)

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

Owners

• 1950-1986: Bingham family
• 1986-1997: Providence Journal Company
• 1997-present: Belo Corporation

See also

• WHAS (AM)
• List of media of Louisville, Kentucky

References

External links

• WHAS 11 Website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WHAS-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WHAS-TV
• WHAS Crusade for Children Website