Many are devoted to examining the lives of hearing-impaired Carolinians. Watch Live; Latest Video; News; First Alert Weather; Calendar; WBTV Investigates; On Your Side Tonight; QC Life; Sports; WBTV News. WBTV-DT broadcasts the first nationally televised HDTV program, the launch of the Space Shuttle with John Glenn returning to space. Ratings come out for various local programs on WBTV. Television sets in the WBTV viewing area now stand at 415,313. Witnesses also claim that Tayag, a pilot with over 20 years of experience, deliberately steered the falling helicopter into the grass to avoid crashing into nearby buildings or onto the Interstate itself, which was crowded with Thanksgiving week traffic at the time. This was the first, and like several to come had as its presenter Jim Patterson, the announcer who first signed on the station in 1949. Cross joined CBS in 1971, becoming the first Black network sports show anchor. WBTV is the first TV station in the World to use a LIVE camera and microwave equipment mounted in a race car. The cash-and-stock merger transaction valued at $3.6 billionin which Gray shareholders would acquire preferred stock currently held by Raycomresulted in WBTV gaining new in-state sister stations, including NBC affiliates WECT in the Wilmington, North Carolina market and WITN-TV in the Washington-Greenville market, in addition to its current Raycom sister stations. Marshall Scott's piloting skills are given credit for both men to be able to "walk away" from the crash. Diana Williams (later at WABC-TV in New York City; now retired) served as an anchor at WBTV during the early 1980s; she was succeeded as the station's main female anchor by Sara James (now a reporter for Dateline NBC). [36], transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts, Channel 23 digital TV stations in the United States, Channel 3 virtual TV stations in the United States, Entercom To Swap Charlotte Stations To Radio One For WPHI, WTEM and St. Louis Duo, "Celebrating WBTV's anniversary WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC", "Lincoln Financial Press Releases LFG Announces Sale of Television, Sports, and Charlotte Radio Properties", Charlotte Observer | 17 November 2007 | Old TV-radio couple breaking up, "State dedicates historic marker to memorialize NC's oldest broadcast station", "Historical marker spotlights Wilder Building, broadcasting's Charlotte birthplace", "GRAY AND RAYCOM TO COMBINE IN A $3.6 BILLION TRANSACTION", "Gray Acquiring Raycom For $3.65B, Forming No. The day has come. Channel 3 had originally operated from a converted radio studio in the Wilder Building, alongside its sister radio station. On November 22, 2022, at 11:57 a.m.,[16] a 1999 Robinson R44 helicopter nicknamed "WBTV Sky3" crashed onto the grass verge of I-77 in south Charlotte. The test pattern is occasionally interrupted by the latest telenews and weather reports. WBTV viewers raised money for African communities hit hard by the worst drought of the 20th century. WBTV later forms a "network" of radio station for the simulcast. WBTV anchor Knowles dies at age 42: MARK WASHBURN Staff Writer WBTV anchor Bob Knowles died Tuesday, three years after he was diagnosed with a rare cancer that flared up again on his honeymoon two months ago. Underwood retires. WBTV News makes the switch to color news film. The first show is emceed by Jim Patterson and includes the President of Jefferson Standard Broadcasting Company, Mr. Joseph M. Bryan, Charlotte mayor Victor Shaw, and Dr. George Heaton of Myers Park Baptist Church. WBTV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 3, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. WBTV airs the first Live network Color program. WBTV also claims to have been the first station in the world to record and rebroadcast programs on color videotape; to use a live camera and microwave relay inside a race car; and to have a fully computerized news operation. Molly Grantham has been an award-winning anchor and reporter at WBTV Charlotte, N.C., for the past 15 years. By a freak atmosphere accident WBTV is received on Channel 3 in a town named Arthur, located inNorth Dakota. Location: Wilmington, North Carolina Area. // ]]>[/one_third] [one_third_last] //