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WHNT-TV
Huntsville/Decatur, Alabama
Branding	News Channel 19
Slogan	Taking Action. Getting Results.
Channels	Analog: 19 (UHF) Digital: 59 (UHF)
Affiliations	CBS
Owner	Local TV
Founded	November 28, 1963
Call letters meaning	W HuNTsville
Transmitter Power	1290 kW (analog) 1400 kW (digital)
Height	531 m (analog) 514 m (digital)
Facility ID	48693
Transmitter Coordinates	34°44′19.7″N, 86°31′57.9″W
Website	www.whnt.com

WHNT-TV is the CBS television affiliate in northern Alabama, airing on UHF Channel 19. The signal also reaches counties in southern middle Tennessee. WHNT is also the only station in Huntsville that has never changed its affiliation.

Contents 1 History 2 Anchors 2.1 News Anchors 2.2 Weather Anchors 2.3 Sports 2.4 Other Reporters 2.5 Former Reporters/Anchors 3 Notes 4 References 5 External links

WHNT began operations on Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1963 and has always been an affiliate of CBS. The FCC originally licensed the frequency for WHNT to the city of Fort Payne, Ala, some 40 miles (65 kilometers) to the southeast. The station was founded by a local businessman, Charles Grisham, now deceased. In 1980, he sold WHNT to The New York Times Company, which operated it for over a quarter century. In September 2006, The Times announced that it would put its entire broadcast group up for sale, with eight other stations affected in addition to WHNT. In January 2007, the announcement was made that an agreement in principle had been reached to sell the stations to Oak Hill Capital. The station officially changed hands at 12:01 a.m. on Monday, May 7, 2007. Oak Hill Capital operates WHNT as part of Local TV LLC.

WHNT's studios are located in downtown Huntsville, where the station moved in 1987 from its original location on Monte Sano Mountain, a move prompted by a fire that destroyed rival WAFF-TV's studios, then located on Governors Drive, five years earlier. (For use during an emergency, a backup broadcast capability for news remains at the Monte Sano site.) WHNT is the only station in Huntsville to operate from a facility actually constructed specifically for broadcasting purposes. WAAY-TV operates out of a former gas station; WAFF-TV, out of an old jewelry store; and WZDX-TV, out of an office building. The transmitter and tower remain on Monte Sano, however, because the mountain provides the highest elevation in the immediate area. In 2003, WHNT allowed competing stations WAAY and WZDX to use space on its tower after a tower both stations used on WAAY's property collapsed, killing three men.

WHNT first used 16 mm film for most of its commercial and news gathering. In 1979, the station switched to the 3/4 inch video tape format. The station used this system until 1998, when new Panasonic DVC machines and cameras were purchased; DVC is still being used. However, in spring 2006, new cameras were purchased for the station's Shoals Bureau (northwestern Alabama) and Sand Mountain Bureau (northeastern Alabama). The cameras are Panasonic P2 cameras which record on 4gig cards. WHNT's video archives go back to 1980. For security reasons, parts of the archives are stored at the station's news bureau in Albertville (Sand Mountain).

Generally speaking, over the years, WHNT has always been competitive in terms of ratings with rivals WAAY-TV and WAFF-TV. In fact, WHNT is the only station among the three Huntsville television stations that broadcast regular newscasts to have never finished in last place in the Nielsen ratings. It brands its newscasts presently as "News Channel 19." Denise Vickers serves as news director.

In May 2002, WHNT became the first station in the Huntsville market to begin broadcasting in high definition, on digital channel 59. WHNT's digital signal is broadcast with a power of more than one million watts. Giving the station, by far, the most powerful HD signal in the market. The station will revert to channel 19 for its digital broadcasts once analog signals are turned off; channel 59 will no longer be available for television broadcasts after the digital conversion.

On February 1, 2004, WHNT broadcast the Super Bowl in High Defintion, becoming the first station in the Huntsville market to do so. Super Bowl XXXVIII became famous for Janet Jackson exposing her breast during the halftime show.

Since fall 2004, WHNT-TV has used the ARMOR Doppler Radar system in weather forecasting.

WHNT-TV has been noted for live coverage of breaking news, such as the shooting death of a Huntsville police officer, the 2006 Huntsville Bus Accident [1], and the solving of a 30-year-old murder case in September 2007.

• Jerry Hayes - 6pm & 10pm
• Elise Morgan - 6pm & 10pm
• Greg Screws - mornings & 5pm anchor
• Lisa Washington - mornings
• Steve Johnson - mornings
• Robert Reeves - mornings

• Dan Satterfield - Chief Meteorologist
• James-Paul Dice
• Spencer Denton

• John Pearson
• Tom Woodard

• Greg Privett - Chief Investigative Reporter/Weekend Anchor
• Carson Clark - Sand Mountain Bureau chief
• Nate Adams - First Alert Traffic Reporter
• Ellis Eskew - General Assignment
• Amber Stuart - General Assignment
• Barry Hiett - General Assignment
• Tiffany Golden -

• Amy George - Now serves in a development position with Huntsville Hospital Foundation. The Foundation manages a fund named in memory of her daughter, Melissa, who was born premature. The fund purchases life-saving equipment for Huntsville Hospital's Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit. Amy retains a connection with WHNT through her photo on the station's website, under the section "Working Wonders"; George also hosts a monthly webchat arranged by the station, where she was named special correspondent with features of the same name, "Working Wonders"^[1]
• Sherea Harris - now at WBRC-TV, Birmingham.
• LaTonya Norton - now at WDSU-TV, New Orleans.
• Kym Richardson-Thurman - now at WPMI-TV, Mobile.
• Jason Marks - now at WAVY-TV, Portsmouth, Virginia.

The Huntsville-Decatur television market is only Southeastern U.S. to have only UHF channel allocations. No full-power VHF stations exist at all in the state of Alabama north of Birmingham; thus, none of the North Alabama-based channels have ever suffered a disadvantage from competing against established VHF stations in the same area, a problem that particularly affected UHF broadcasters elsewhere, well into the early 1980s.

1. ^ WHNT.com - Amy George resignation announcement

• The NewsChannel 19 Team
• Official website of WHNT-TV
• Official Station History Page
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WHNT

v • d • e Broadcast television in the Huntsville / Decatur / Florence market  (Nielsen DMA #83)

WBCF 3 (A1) - WXFL 5 (Ind) - WTZT 11 (A1) - WHDF 15 (The CW) - W18BL 18 (Ind) - WHNT 19 (CBS) - WHIQ 25 / WFIQ 36 (PBS / APT) - WYLE 26 (S@H) - WAAY 31 (ABC) - WMJN 43 (FamilyNet) - W46CF 46 / W59CF 59 (UBN) - WAFF 48 (NBC) (WX+ on DT2) - WYAM 51 (Ind) - WZDX 54 (FOX) (MNTV on DT2 via "WAMY") - W64BJ 64 (TBN) Significantly Viewed Out-of-Market Broadcast Stations Reception may vary by geographical location WMAE 12 (PBS / MPB) - WCLP 18 (PBS / GPB) Cable television stations "WAMY" (MNTV)

v • d • e CBS Network Affiliates in the state of Alabama
WTVY 4 (Dothan) - WKRG 5 (Mobile) - WAKA 8 (Selma) - WHNT 19 (Huntsville) - WIAT 42 (Birmingham)
See also: ABC, CW, Fox, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS, and Other stations in Alabama

v • d • e Local TV LLC
Corporate officers: Randy Michaels (Chairman and CEO) · Robert Lawrence ABC: WNEP • WQAD | CBS: KFSM • WHNT • WREG • WTKR | NBC: KFOR • WHO | MyNetworkTV: KAUT | Local Weather Channel: WQAD WX Channel
Annual Revenue: Unknown at this time · Employees: Unknown at this time · Stock Symbol: None, privately held · Website: www.localtvllc.com