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WBIR-TV, channel 10, is the NBC affiliated television station for East Tennessee, Southeastern Kentucky, Swain County, North Carolina and Lee County, Virginia, located in Knoxville, Tennessee. WBIR-TV is owned by Tegna, its studios are located at 1513 Bill Williams Avenue in the Belle Morris section of the city, and transmitter on the broadcasting antenna farm on Sharp's Ridge in Knoxville. == History == WBIR-TV signed on the air on August 12, 1956, as a CBS affiliate, taking that affiliation away from WTVK (channel 26, now WVLT-TV on channel 8). During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. WBIR-TV was originally owned by a consortium headed by J. Lindsay Nunn and his son, Gilmore Nunn, owners of WBIR radio (1240 AM, now WIFA; and FM 103.5, now WIMZ-FM). The station's call letters come from Jesse W. "Jay" Birdwell, who founded WBIR radio in 1941; Birdwell sold the station to the Nunns in 1944.〔"FCC approves sales and transfers of 5 stations." ''Broadcasting - Broadcast Advertising'', January 17, 1944, pg. 22. ()〕 The Nunns shared ownership with WBIR general manager John P. Hart; Knoxville residents Robert and Martha Ashe, and the Taft family of Cincinnati.〔"FCC okays ownership shifts for KTHT, WBIR." ''Broadcasting - Telecasting'', April 13, 1953, pg. 52. ()〕 In October 1959 the Tafts' broadcast subsidiary, Radio Cincinnati, Inc., purchased the remaining 70 percent of the WBIR stations outright from the other parties.〔("Changing hands." ''Broadcasting'', October 12, 1959, pg. 54 )〕 In January 1961 the Tafts sold WBIR-AM-FM-TV to the News-Piedmont Company of Greenville, South Carolina, owner of WFBC-AM-FM-TV in its hometown.〔("Changing hands." ''Broadcasting'', September 26, 1960, pg. 50 )〕〔"Principals complete WBIR-AM-TV transfer." ''Broadcasting'', January 16, 1961, pg. 53. ()〕 In 1967, News-Piedmont merged with Southern Broadcasting to form the Southeastern Broadcasting Corporation. Soon afterward, Southeastern sold off most of its radio stations (including WBIR-AM-FM), purchased four more television stations and changed its name to Multimedia, Inc.〔"Southeast newspapers, stations plan merger." ''Broadcasting'', August 14, 1967, pp. 54-55. ()()〕 WBIR shared flagship status with WFBC-TV.〔Television Factbook #49, WBIR-TV, WFBC-TV Histories, 1980 Edition)〕 On September 10, 1988,〔http://www.wbir.com/about/〕 WBIR became an NBC affiliate, swapping affiliations with WTVK just before it moved to channel 8 as WKXT-TV. Ironically, this marked CBS' return to its original affiliate in Knoxville. At the time, NBC was the top-rated network while CBS was in third place near the midpoint of the Laurence Tisch period of that network's history. The biggest reason was that most of Multimedia's stations were NBC affiliates. Companies that own several stations affiliated with the same network generally have more clout with that network. NBC was more than willing to make the switch, since WTVK had been one of its weakest affiliates while WBIR was a solid runner-up to WATE-TV. With the switch, channel 10 became the last major commercial station in Knoxville to change affiliations. The switch also made channel 10 the third station in Knoxville to carry NBC; the network had previously aired on WATE from 1953 to 1979 before moving to WTVK in 1979. Multimedia merged with Gannett in 1995. For a time in the 1980s, WBIR was seen on several ten-watt translators across East Tennessee and even Virginia. One of them, W04BM, was licensed to LaFollette, Tennessee and operated on channel 4. In 2008, WBIR-TV debuted new graphics and news music. On June 1, 2011, WBIR-TV and Fox affiliate WTNZ-TV, for whom WBIR-TV was producing a 10 p.m. newscast, debuted a new high-definition news set and weather studio and a full makeover of branding. However, WBIR-TV retained their logo by adding the HD symbol to the right of the logo. In 2013, WBIR and WTNZ debuted new on air graphics and new music and New logos. On June 29, 2015, the Gannett Company split in two, with one side specializing in print media and the other side specializing in broadcast and digital media. WBIR was retained by the latter company, named TEGNA. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「WBIR-TV」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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