WTVD

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Template:Infobox Broadcast WTVD, "ABC11", is a broadcast television station based in Durham, North Carolina. It is the ABC owned-and-operated station for the Raleigh-Durham television market, the nation's 29th largest. Its main studios, office, and newsroom are located in downtown Durham, along with a newly-built studio and newsroom set in downtown Raleigh, and a separate studio in Fayetteville. The WTVD transmitter is located just off US 70 near Garner, North Carolina.

Veterans of WTVD's staff include musicians John Tesh and John Loudermilk, and ESPN sports anchor Stuart Scott, as well as former Good Morning America co-host David Hartman.

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History

WTVD began broadcasting on September 2, 1954 as an NBC affiliate. Their initial studios were located in a former tuberculosis sanitorium at 2410 Broad Street, with a transmitter located atop Signal Hill, off NC 157 in northern Durham County. It is the Triangle's oldest surviving television station, having signed on a few months after WNAO-TV, channel 28. Around 1958, WTVD built a 1,500-foot tower at their present transmitter site in Garner to better serve the market.

When WRAL-TV signed on and took the NBC affilation in 1956, WTVD switched its primary affiliation with CBS. When WNAO signed off in 1959 due to financial difficulties, WTVD took on a secondary affiliation with ABC. After WRAL took the ABC affiliation full-time in 1962, WTVD broadcast a limited amount of NBC programming since the area only had two commercial stations at the time. NBC would not return to the Triangle full-time for another six years until 1968, when channel 28 returned to the airwaves as WRDU-TV (now WRDC-TV). While its capacity to broadcast in color was achieved as early as 1958, its first regular color local programming began in 1966.

In 1978, WTVD attempted to expand its broadcast coverage to the Fayetteville area, which had been without a broadcast TV station for nearly two decades. Its studios were relocated to 411 Liberty Street in Downtown Durham on a parcel of land it shares with the Durham County Library, while a new 2,000 foot tower was built at the Garner, North Carolina transmitter site. A fire in March 1979 caused extensive damage to the newly-built studio building, however the newsroom and a number of other key components had been rebuilt within a month. By that time, much of WTVD's operations had returned to normal, although it had resorted to temporary setups during the interim such as holding the newscasts in one of the meeting rooms that survived the aforementioned crisis unscathed.

In 1985, the station switched affiliations with WRAL and became an ABC station when its parent company, Capital Cities Communications, purchased the ABC network. In 1996, WTVD became a Disney entity with Disney's acquisition of Capital Cities.

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Newscasts

  • Eyewitness News at 5 a.m./6 a.m.:
News: Barbara Gibbs, John Clark
Weather: Chris Hohmann
Traffic: Steve Forgy
  • Eyewitness News at Noon
News: Barbara Gibbs, John Clark
Weather: Chris Hohmann
Specialty: Mr. Food (sponsored by Kroger)
  • Eyewitness News at 5 p.m.
News: Larry Stongner, Tisha Powell
Weather: Joanne Feldman (chief meteorologist)
Speciality: Troubleshooter with Diane Wilson
  • Eyewitness News at 5:30 p.m.
News: Steve Daniels & Tisha Powell
Weather: Joanne Feldman (chief meteorologist)
Sports: Mark Armstrong
  • Eyewitness News at 6 p.m.
News: Angela Hampton and Larry Stogner
Weather: Joanne Feldman (chief meteorologist)
Sports: Mark Armstrong
  • Eyewitness News at 11 p.m.
News: Angela Hampton, Steve Daniels, and Katina Rankin
Weather: Joanne Feldman (Chief Meteorologist)
Sports: Mark Armstrong
  • Weekends:

(Morning)

News: Anthony Wilson and Amber Rupinta
Weather: Jason Brewer

(Evening)

News: Mike Dunston and Shae Crisson
Weather: Glenn Willey
Sports: Joe Mazur
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Syndicated Programming

The station carries the following syndicated programming:

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Syndicated Shows Formerly Run on WTVD

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External links


Template:Raleigh-Durham TV Template:Disney

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