WTNZ

WTNZ, virtual channel 43 (UHF digital channel 15), is a Fox-affiliated television station licensed to Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. The station is owned by Lockwood Broadcast Group, as part of a duopoly with independent station WKNX-TV (channel 7). The two stations share studios on Executive Park Drive (along I-75/I-40) in Knoxville's Green Valley section; WTNZ's transmitter is located on Sharp's Ridge in North Knoxville.

WTNZ
Knoxville, Tennessee
United States
ChannelsDigital: 15 (UHF)
Virtual: 43 (PSIP)
BrandingFox 43 (general)
Fox 43 News (newscasts)
SloganSomething For Everyone
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
OwnerLockwood Broadcast Group
(Marble City TV, LLC)
WKNX-TV
History
First air date
December 31, 1983 (1983-12-31)
Former call signs
WKCH-TV (1983–1994)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:
  • 43 (UHF, 1983–2009)
  • Digital:
  • 34 (UHF, until 2019)
Call sign meaning
TeNneZ (Tennessee)
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID19200
ERP289 kW
HAAT529 m (1,736 ft)
Transmitter coordinates35°59′44.4″N 83°57′23.1″W
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
Websitewtnzfox43.revrocket.us

On cable, the station is available on channel 11 on Charter Spectrum, Comcast Xfinity and WOW!, and channel 43 on AT&T U-Verse.

History

The station signed on December 31, 1983 with the call letters WKCH-TV. It was known on-air as "Catch 43" and aired an analog signal on UHF channel 43. It was locally owned by Knoxville Television, LP. There had been another independent in the area, WINT-TV, but it went dark about a month after WKCH signed on. On October 6, 1986, WKCH became a charter Fox affiliate and became known on-air as "Catch Fox 43".

Knoxville Television, LP declared bankruptcy in the late 1980s, and WKCH was sold to FCVS Communications (the owner of WACH in Columbia, South Carolina) in 1990. FCVS sold all three of its stations (WKCH and WACH, plus WEVU-TV (now WZVN-TV) in Naples, Florida) to Ellis Communications in 1993.

On April 25, 1994, the station changed its call sign to the current WTNZ. Ellis Communications was folded into previous owner Raycom Media in late 1996. Despite the network musical chairs which have occurred in Knoxville over the years, the station has been the area's only Fox affiliate during the network's history.

On June 25, 2018, Raycom Media announced that it agreed to be sold to Gray Television.[1] Gray kept its existing duopoly of WVLT-TV and WBXX-TV and sold WTNZ to a third-party;[2] on August 20, 2018, Gray sold WTNZ, along with fellow Fox affiliates WFXG in Augusta, Georgia, WPGX in Panama City, Florida, and WDFX-TV in Dothan, Alabama, to Lockwood Broadcast Group (owner of Independent station, WKNX-TV).[3] The sale was completed on January 2, 2019.[4]

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[5]
43.1720p16:9WTNZ-DTMain WTNZ programming / Fox
43.2480i4:3WTNZ-BNBounce TV
43.3WTNZ-GTGritTV

Analog-to-digital conversion

WTNZ shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 43, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 34.[6] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 43.

Mobile DTV channel
Channel [7] PSIP Short Name Programming
43.32 WTNZ-HD Mobile DTV Simulcast of 43.1

Programming

Syndicated programming on the station includes Two and a Half Men, The Goldbergs, Everybody Loves Raymond, Paternity Court and The Middle among others.

News operation

In the mid-1980s, it produced a news break each day called WKCH News. The brief news and weather update was anchored by one of the station's staff announcers, Phil Rainey. In 1998, a news share agreement was established with local CBS station WVLT. This resulted in a nightly prime time newscast debuting on WTNZ known as Fox 43 Ten O'Clock News. The show originated from WVLT's studios off Papermill Road in West Knoxville. Liz Tedone, Patrick McMurtry, Nick Paranjape and Craig Edwards anchored the news, weather and sports for the half-hour nightly newscast. Eventually, Fox 43 ended its agreement with WVLT and their news share agreement and entered into a similar contract with ABC's WATE.

In March 2011, WTNZ terminated its agreement with WATE and entered into a new arrangement with NBC affiliate WBIR (owned by the Gannett Company, now part of Tegna, Inc). At the same time, that station stopped producing the WBXX update. On March 28, WBIR took over production of the nightly half-hour newscast which is still known as Fox 43 News at 10.

In 2011, a two-hour weekday morning show (airing from 7 until 9) was added to WTNZ and is known as Fox 43 News This Morning. In addition, the weeknight prime time news at 10 was expanded to an hour. In April 2017, Fox 43 News at 6:30 premiered as the Knoxville market's only local news in that time period. All shows now originate in high definition from WBIR's facilities on Hutchinson Avenue in Knoxville's Lincoln Park section (official address is Bill Williams Avenue).

References
  1. Miller, Mark K. (June 25, 2018). "Gray To Buy Raycom For $3.6 Billion". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheckMedia. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  2. https://www.raycommedia.com/gray-and-raycom-to-combine-in-a-3-6-billion-transaction/
  3. Aycock, Jason (August 20, 2018). "Gray sets divestitures in eight more markets for Raycom deal". Seeking Alpha. Retrieved August 20, 2018.
  4. "Gray Completes Acquisition of Raycom Media and Related Transactions", Gray Television, 2 January 2019, Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  5. RabbitEars TV Query for WTNZ
  6. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  7. http://www.mdtvsignalmap.com/listing/print-listing.php?metroArea=Knoxville,%20TN
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