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WCYB-TV, channel 5, is an NBC-affiliated television station licensed to Bristol, Virginia, USA and serving the Tri-Cities area of northeastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia. WCYB is owned by Bonten Media Group, and has its studio/office facility located on Lee Street in downtown Bristol, and the station's transmitter is based on Rye Patch Knob of Holston Mountain in the Cherokee National Forest. Although WCYB-TV is the only commercial station in the Tri-Cities that is licensed to the Virginia side of the market, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires it to include Kingsport and Johnson City, Tennessee in its legal station identification.〔Television Factbook #49, 1980 Edition, page 882-B〕 By way of a local marketing agreement, WCYB-TV operates the Tri-Cities' Fox affiliate, Greenville, Tennessee-licensed WEMT (channel 39), owned by Esteem Broadcasting, LLC. ==History== The station began broadcasting on August 13, 1956. It has always been a primary NBC affiliate although it carried a secondary ABC affiliation (shared with WJHL-TV) until 1969 when WKPT-TV signed on and took the ABC affiliation. WCYB was originally owned by Appalachian Broadcasting, a consortium of four Bristol businessmen—Robert Smith, J. Fey Rogers, Charles M. Gore, and Harry M. Daniel—along with WCYB radio (AM 690, now WZAP). In 1969, the group sold WCYB to Starr Broadcasting. Starr's president and chief stockholder was William F. Buckley of ''National Review'' fame. Starr sold Appalachian Broadcasting to the DGH Company/Lamco Communications (former publisher of the GRIT newspaper) in 1977.〔 It was sold again to Bluestone Television in 2004, who then merged with Bonten Media Group for $230 million in 2007. Robert Smith Sr. served as General Manager of the station for almost 25 years. During his tenure, well-known newscasters Merrill Moore, Johnny Wood, and Steve Hawkins began their successful careers. Smith also oversaw the construction of a new building in downtown Bristol. The new facility was industry-leading in its design. After Smith's retirement, Joe Conway became General Manager in 1981. During the early 80's, Lamco invested extensively in people, news, programming, equipment, and marketing. The station was marketed as "The News Station". At the same time NBC became the top-rated network with hits like Cosby and Cheers.....and WCYB secured top-rated syndicated programs such as Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. A hot-air balloon with a NBC peacock design was purchased and flown across the region to promote the station. For most of the time from the 1980s to the early 2000s, WCYB claimed to be the highest-rated television station in the United States. In 1984, Joe Conway died suddenly. He was succeeded as General Manager in 1985 by Bob Smith, Jr....who had been the station's News Director for several years. During the 1990s and beyond, Joe Macione, Jim McKernan, and Jack Dempsey followed as General Managers. In the 1960s, this station produced a live weekday cartoon show called the ''Looney Tunes Club'' hosted by Ed Spiegel. The show welcomed fifty youngsters each day to participate on the show and was traditionally visited by children on their birthday. The show opened each show with a rousing "Hi boys and girls!" from Spiegel with "Hi Ed!" shouted back from the kids. The 1960s also saw three locally-produced quiz shows: ''Kiddle Kollege'' (which pitted young students from different local schools against each other), ''Classroom Quiz'' (whose contestants were older high school students) as well as ''Klub Kwiz'' (which did the same using members of local civic and service clubs). WCYB took over WEMT's operations in February 2006 in a deal with WEMT's new owner, Aurora Broadcasting. As part of the Bonten deal later that year, Esteem Broadcasting bought WEMT from Aurora. Esteem would then pay $1.4 million in outstanding debt. WEMT moved from its studios in Johnson City to WCYB's facilities. 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「WCYB-TV」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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