| WYMT-TV (semi-satellite of WKYT Lexington, Kentucky) |
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| Hazard, Kentucky | |
| Branding | 57 Mountain News |
| Slogan | Your Mountain Television |
| Channels | |
| Subchannels | 57.1 CBS HD 57.2 CBS SD (WKYT feed) |
| Owner | Gray Television (Gray Television Licensee, Inc.) |
| First air date | October 20, 1969 |
| Call letters’ meaning | We're Your Mountain Television |
| Sister station(s) | WKYT |
| Former callsigns | WKYH-TV (1969-1985) |
| Former channel number(s) | 57 (UHF analog, 1969-2009) |
| Former affiliations | NBC (1969-1985) |
| Transmitter Power | 50 kW |
| Height | 397.6 m |
| Facility ID | 24915 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | 37°11′36.4″N 83°10′52.8″W / 37.193444°N 83.181333°W |
| Website | wkyt.com/wymtnews |
WYMT-TV is the CBS-affiliated television stations for Hazard, Kentucky. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 12 from a transmitter south of the city in Perry County. Owned by Gray Television, the station is sister station to Lexington's CBS affiliate WKYT. Although it identifies as a station in its own right, WYMT is considered a semi-satellite of WKYT. It clears some of that station's syndicated programming and the two share a website. WYMT and WKYT have occasionally co-branded as "Kentucky Television". This station clears all CBS programming except CBS News Sunday Morning and Face the Nation in order to air paid religious programming and college basketball games. WKYT, however, clears both shows. One noticeable difference in the stations' schedules is that The Young and the Restless airs on WYMT at the same time as most other CBS affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone (at 12:30). WKYT airs it at 9 in the morning due to having an hour-long Noon newscast.
The station primarily serves the far eastern part of the Lexington market but also portions of neighboring Virginia and West Virginia. It also appears on the local cable television service in Claiborne County, Tennessee. The station is sister to Huntington / Charleston, West Virginia NBC affiliate WSAZ-TV. Although WYMT is officially a part of the Lexington market, its stated coverage area actually covers portions of four different DMAs. The easternmost counties (Pike, Floyd, Martin, Johnson, and Lawrence) are in the Huntington / Charleston market. Letcher and Leslie counties in Kentucky and Wise County, Virginia are in the Tri-Cities DMA. Bell, Harlan, and McCreary counties are part of the Knoxville market. All other counties in the viewing area are considered part of the Lexington DMA.
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History
It began broadcasting as WKYH-TV (meaning KentuckY Hazard) on October 20, 1969 as an NBC affiliate. Prior to its inception, some counties in southeastern Kentucky were among the last remaining parts of the country unable to clearly receive a commercial television signal over-the-air (Kentucky Educational Television had begun transmitting from a local channel the year before). Although this area is considered part of the Lexington market, none of that city's television signals covered the area. One exception occurred on February 19, 2009 during the previously-mandated (now voluntary) transition to digital broadcasting when FOX affiliate WDKY-TV in Danville was assigned to channel 4 and was able to be received in several parts of the area. However, that station plans to move to a UHF frequency on June 12 and those currently able to receive it might lose the signal again. Until February 19, Lexington was an all-UHF market and those stations do not get decent reception in rugged terrain. Setting up translators in the area was not deemed realistic by the Lexington stations due to the area's extreme poverty which did not allow many families the luxury of owning sets.
Such conditions also made the region also very undesirable for potential outside corporate broadcasters to start a station. Instead, WKYH was founded by local businessman Bill Gorman, who has served eight terms as mayor of Hazard. Not surprisingly, given the region's strong musical traditions, country, bluegrass, and Southern Gospel music constituted a good part of WKYH's early local programs. These shows lasted well into the 1980s after country-music programs had fallen out of favor even on other Southern stations. In 1985, Gorman sold the station to Kentucky Central Life Insurance Company, then owner of WKYT. The new owner changed the calls to the current WYMT (meaning "We're Your Mountain Television"). Around the same time, Kentucky Central had its affiliation changed to CBS to match its new sister station. When Kentucky Central went bankrupt in 1993, WYMT and WKYT were bought by Gray Communications (now Gray Television). WYMT was assigned VHF channel 12 as their final transmission frequency as part of the FCC-mandated transition to digital broadcasting. One benefit to viewers in the area is that VHF signals "bend" over mountainous terrain better than UHF making reception available over a larger area than was previously available. As of February 17, 2009, WYMT is broadcasting exclusively in digital. Currently, WYMT, Christian television stations WLJC-TV in Beattyville (owned by Hour of Harvest, Inc.) and WAGV in Harlan (a satellite of WLFG in Grundy, Virginia), and Kentucky Educational Television satellites WKHA in Hazard and WKPI in Pikeville are the only full-power stations that can be received over-the-air in much of this region. In addition, WOBZ-LP is a low-power station serving the London area. There are also several public access cable channels that serve the region.
Newscasts
In the 1970s, when the station's call sign was WKYH, its newscasts were known as 57 NewsService. During the week, WYMT produces its own morning, 4, 6, and 11 o'clock newscasts. It simulcasts WKYT's weekday Noon (though only the first half hour), 5, and 5:30 broadcasts. This station simulcasts all weekend newscasts from WKYT. During the simulcasted news, WYMT has a separate program open. Sports Overtime is a weekly sports show airing on Friday nights from August to April that covers high school athletics. A Saturday edition focusing on college sports was started in 2006 and ran until the station dropped weekend newscasts at the end of October 2008. To replace the loss of the Saturday show, WYMT now airs Sports Overtime Pregame on Thursday nights. In addition to their main studios, the station operates two news bureaus and shares one with WKYT. This includes the Cumberland Valley Bureau on North 12th Street in Middlesboro and the Big Sandy Bureau on Church Road in Harold. The shared Southern Kentucky Bureau is in Somerset. Along with the reporters listed below, there are other WKYT reporters seen on WYMT. The WKYT broadcasts originate from their studios on Winchester Road in the Brighton section of Lexington.
+ denotes personnel based at WKYT
Anchors
- Kimberly Burcham - weekday mornings and reporter
- + Bill Bryant - weekdays at Noon
- + Barbara Bailey - weekdays at Noon
- Neil Middleton - News Director seen weeknights at 4
- + Sam Dick - weeknights at 5 and 5:30
- + Amber Philpott - weeknights at 5 and 5:30
- Steve Hensley - weeknights at 6 and 11
- occasional sports video journalist and weeknight 11 o'clock producer
- + Mark Kennedy - weekends and reporter
Sky Alert / First Alert Meteorologists
- Jim Caldwell - Chief seen weeknights at 4, 6, and 11
- + T.G. Shuck (Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and NWA Seal of Approval) - weeknights at 5 and 5:30
- Rob Hopkins - weekday mornings
- + Todd Borek (Certified Broadcast Meteorologist) - weekdays at Noon
- + Lauren Raymer - weekends
- Brandon Robinson (Fill-in Weather Anchor for WYMT-TV)
Sports (all are seen on Sports Overtime)
- Jeff Archer - Director seen weeknights at 6 and 11
- Derek Forrest - reporter
- Brian Milam - reporter
- + Dave Baker - weekends
Reporters
- Jeff Allen - Cumberland Valley Bureau Chief
- Phil Pendleton - Southern Kentucky Bureau Chief
- Angela Sparkman - Big Sandy Bureau Chief
- Michel Mason
- Dara Rees
- Angela Beavin
- Mackenzie Bates
- Ashley Reynolds
- + Elizabeth Dorsett - education seen weekdays
Past personalities
- Tony Turner (WYMT news director and anchor) - Died in a 2002 car accident while returning from a news story.
- Jay Crawford (Creator of "Sports Overtime" on WYMT) - Currently the host of ESPN2's "First Take".
- Steve Crabtree (first WYMT news anchor) - Now VP News-Station Operations at co-owned WVLT-TV in Knoxville.
- Darwin Singleton - Now host of "Here's Darwin" at Mobile, AL's WPMI.[1]
- Roger Fannin (Former WYMT Big Sandy Bureau Chief), later Station Manager and News Anchor for TV-12 (local access) in Hindman, Kentucky, currently the Agency Manager for Kentucky Farm Bureau Insurance in Harlan County.
- Dave Shuffett (Last WKYH News Anchor) - Now host of KET's "Kentucky Life". [2]
- Joey Kesler (First Full-Time WKYH Weatherman) - Co-Owner of WOBZ-LP and WJJA-FM.
- Jim Freeman (recent co-host of the WYMT morning show) - Now News anchor for sister station WVLT-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee.
- DeAnn Stephens (Past Mountain News This Morning Anchor) - Formerly a Reporter/Anchor at WKYT, now with WBUL-FM in Lexington, Kentucky
- Scott Dimmich (Former Morning Meteorologist) - Now working as a morning meteorologist at WEHT-TV in Evansville, Indiana
- Scott Burchett (Former Fill-In Weather Anchor) - Now working in the medical field
- Susan Nicholas (former WYMT News Anchor) - Now a weekend anchor for sister station WSAZ in Huntington, West Virginia.
- Bill Taylor, First weekend sports anchor. Eastern Kentucky Native.
- Wes Shirley (Wallace), Former Morning Anchor, now anchor at KFVS-TV in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
- Tony Hensley, Former Reporter, Now working for
WTVQ-TV in Lexington - Casey (Pigman) Kurtis, Former Reporter & Anchor WYMT, WKYT, Now media consultant & continuing education.
- Hershena Hanshaw, Former Morning Producer and Weather Anchor
- MK Combs, Former Morning Weather Anchor, now with WDXC-FM in Pound, Virginia
- Tony Brown, Former Chief Weathercaster - Now a full-time fireman and DJ
- Susannah (Walters) Sizemore - Former Anchor
- Jill (Fraley) Hammond - Former Anchor
- Lindsay Wolfgang Mast - Former Big Sandy Bureau Chief - previously worked as a producer at WGCL-TV in Atlanta. Lindsay Mast now co-owns Sublime Photography and SweetSnaps Portrait Parties in Atlanta.
- Michael Goins - Former Big Sandy Bureau Chief - previously served as a spokesperson for former Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Kentucky Education Cabinet and Kentucky Office of State Budget Director. Goins now serves as Director of Public Relations for Forcht Group of Kentucky, a holding and management company based in Lexington and Corbin.
- Beth (Hudson) Goins - Former part-time reporter - now works as a Senior PR Specialist with the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center.
- Melissa (Wireman) Houshell - Former 6 p.m. producer - now works in the Public Relations department with the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center.
- Keith Farmer - Former sports anchor/reporter - now works as a sports reporter for WLKY-TV, Louisville.
- John Lewis - Former sports anchor/reporter - now works as a sports reporter for WDRB-TV, Louisville.
- Julie (Stewart) Lewis - Former 6 & 11 p.m. anchor - now resides in Louisville.
- Shawn Ley - Former reporter - now works as a reporter for WKRC-TV, Cincinnati.
- Doug Korstanje - Former Big Sandy Bureau Chief - now Director of Marketing and Community Relations for St. Mary's Medical Center in Huntington, West Virginia.
- Drew Deener - Former sports anchor/reporter
- Jennifer (Nime) Palumbo - Former reporter/morning show anchor - now co-anchors morning newscast for WDKY-TV, Lexington.
- Brandon Hensley - Former Sports Director/anchor/reporter - now working on an under-graduate degree at the University of the Cumberlands and working in the school's Sports Information Department. Also doing radio work for WSGS-FM in Hazard.
- Cassie Safrit - former 11 p.m. anchor/reporter - now weekend anchor/reporter at News 14 Carolina.
- Heather Haley - Former anchor/reporter - now a reporter for WVLT-TV in Knoxville.
- Matt Barbour - Former reporter
- Marie Luby - former 6 p.m. anchor and reporter
External links
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