, also known as '''''"NewsChannel5"''''', is the
CBS affiliate in
Nashville, Tennessee . The station is owned by
Landmark Communications .
WTVF also owns and operates , a spinoff
Cable channel, viewable on Channel 50 on most of
Middle Tennessee 's cable systems. NewsChannel5+ airs replays of the mother station's news broadcasts, as well as original and exclusive call-in and interview shows. NC5+ also goes live during severe weather, and will sometimes air local news live if CBS programming pre-empts WTVF's regular local news time slot, such as during the
NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament .
WTVF also airs ''Talk of the Town'', a midday magazine show that ranks among the highest-rated locally-produced television shows in the
United States . ''Talk of the Town'' began airing daily in
1984 and features cooking and fashion segments, along with celebrity interviews, live music, and news/weather updates. The station is currently considering moving "TOTT" exclusively to NewsChannel5+ in September 2006, a possibility that has already proven unpopular among the show's fans.
Along with their website,
newschannel5.com , the stations are positioned as the .
WTVF signed on the air on
August 6 ,
1954 as WLAC-TV, owned by the Life and Casualty Insurance Company and Nashville businessman Guilford Dudley. Channel 5 was part of a triopoly along with
WLAC-AM 1510 , and later WLAC-FM (now WNRQ-FM). The call letters, of course, reflected those of the insurance company. It took the CBS affiliation from WSIX-TV (now
WKRN-TV ), since WLAC-AM had been Nashville's CBS affiliate since
1928 . Channel 5 was sold to the Hobby family of
Houston in
1975 and changed its callsign to WTVF. Landmark bought WTVF in
1994 .
During the
1970s and
1980s , the station used the
Eyewitness News moniker; it has used the brand "NewsChannel5" since
1989 .
During its years as WLAC-TV, the station helped launch the career of a young African-American reporter named
Oprah Winfrey by making her a regular
News Anchor . The station's Studio B, which was built in
1967 near the Tennessee State Capitol building, was also the home of the hit show ''
Hee Haw '' for most of its
1968 –
1993 run (its last few years were recorded at studios in the now-defunct Opryland complex). Channel 5's relation to WLAC-AM, which was known for many years for nighttime
Soul Music programming, led it to air a groundbreaking show during the late
1960s called "Night Train," which featured R&B performances and dancing, similar to "
American Bandstand ." Rumor has it that
Don Cornelius , then a
Chicago TV host, used it as a model for his successful "
Soul Train " years later.
WTVF has long battled with
WSMV --which itself started as WSM-TV, the television arm of another Nashville heritage radio station,
WSM-AM --for the top spot in the Nashville ratings. It is more popular in the city of Nashville itself than in the more conservative suburbs (e.g.,
Williamson and
Sumner counties) because of its emphasis on
Hard News and investigative reports, as opposed to WSMV's emphasis on softer stories. Amazingly, the reverse was true some 15 to 20 years ago, as WSMV earned numerous awards for hard-hitting coverage, while WTVF did not make many waves, relying mainly on newscast staples like crime coverage. Still, Nashville is one of the fastest-growing TV markets in the U.S., and any number of factors could change the playing field for both stations.
- Behind Winfrey, the station's second-most notable anchor is perhaps Chris Clark . He has been the station's main anchor since 1966 --longer than anyone in Nashville television history (and probably one of the longest-tenured in the U.S.). Clark, whose real name is Christopher Botsaris, recently announced that he will retire in 2007 .
- Former NFL quarterback Neil O'Donnell now works for the station as a Tennessee Titans analyst.
- The station's chief investigative reporter, Phil Williams , is considered to be one of the best in the country. In 2002 , Williams began a series called ''Friends in High Places'', which launched an investigation into insider state contracts secured during the administration of Don Sundquist , who was governor of Tennessee from 1995 to 2003 . A state and federal investigation from the story led to contract reform on the state's Capitol Hill and resulted in indictments and/or jail sentences for several top Sundquist Administration officials. The story earned Williams his second Peabody Award and a DuPont-Columbia Award , the station's fifth. One Nashville political strategist said about Williams:
"If the press calls, call your PR person. If Phil Williams calls, call your lawyer because you're in trouble."
- Though WTVF's parent company also owns The Weather Channel , WTVF has never been involved in any type of cross-promotion with the cable network, and very seldom utilizes any of its news packages (usually only during major Hurricane s).
