WXII-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WXII-TV
city =
station_
station_slogan = Your Home for Piedmont-Triad and Southwest Virginia News
station_branding = WXII 12 (general)
WXII 12 News (newscasts)
analog = 12 (VHF)
digital = 31 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = NBC
NBC Weather Plus (DT2)
network =
founded =
airdate = September 30, 1953
location = Winston-Salem/Greensboro/High Point, North Carolina
callsign_meaning = XII=Roman numeral 12
former_callsigns = WSJS-TV (1953-1972)
WXII (1972-1982)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc.
licensee = WXII Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc.
sister_stations =
former_affiliations = Secondary:
ABC (1953-1963)
effective_radiated_power = 316 kW (analog)
815 kW (digital)
HAAT = 604 m (analog)
572 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 53921
coordinates = coord|36|22|30.5|N|80|22|25.4|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.wxii12.com/ www.wxii12.com]

WXII, channel 12, is the NBC television station licensed for the Greensboro–High Point–Winston-Salem, North Carolina (Piedmont Triad) designated market area. It is licensed to Winston-Salem and is currently owned by Hearst-Argyle Television, a unit of the Hearst Corporation. Its transmitter is located on Sauratown Mountain in Stokes County, North Carolina. The station is carried on cable channel 11 in most parts of the market.

NBC Weather Plus is offered on WXII's digital feed titled "WXII 12 WeatherPlus."

History

The station began operation on September 30, 1953 as WSJS-TV. It is the third-oldest surviving station in North Carolina, behind Charlotte's WBTV and Greensboro's WFMY-TV. The station at first was owned by a subsidiary of Piedmont Publishing, publishers of the "Winston-Salem Journal" and "Twin City Sentinel" along with WSJS radio (600 AM and 104.1 FM, now WTQR), and Hollywood star Mary Pickford and her husband Buddy Rogers. ["The Winston-Salem Journal, Magnolia Trees and Pulitzer Prizes", by Frank V. Tursi, page 182.]

Johnny Beckman, an early employee, recalls working at WSJS-TV in those early years.

There were three of us, and we all did multiple jobs -- the weather, commercials, a teenage dance party. We were all scrambling around trying to make a living. Broadcasting was not high-paying then. The pay has certainly improved, but it was a more enjoyable career than it has become now. [Bill Montgomery, "What Ever Happened to ... Johnny Beckman," "Atlanta Journal-Constitution", December 11, 2006.] .

The station has always been affiliated with NBC. ABC was shared with WFMY until WGHP signed on in 1963. The station first broadcast from the basement of WSJS studios on Spruce Street in Winston-Salem. The first broadcast was of the first game of the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The station originally broadcast from an antenna near Kernersville. The tower was moved to Sauratown Mountain in 1955.

When Piedmont Publishing was sold to Media General in 1968, Gordon Gray, the longtime publisher of both papers, held onto WSJS-AM-FM-TV as Triangle Broadcasting. Gray also received the franchise for the city's cable system. However, the FCC ruled that TV stations could not also own the cable systems in their markets. Gray was thus forced to sell WSJS-TV in 1972 to Multimedia Inc., who renamed the station WXII-TV. The letters "XII" from "WXII" are the Roman numerals for the number "12", which is the station's channel number. At the time of the call letter change, the station ran a promotional ad parodying the death of Julius Caesar to amplify the Roman numeral theme.

Multimedia swapped WXII and WFBC-TV in Greenville, South Carolina (now WYFF) to Pulitzer in 1983 in exchange for KSD-TV in St. Louis (now KSDK). When Pulitzer bowed out of broadcasting in 1997, Hearst bought the entire group, including WXII.

Programming

Syndicated programs on WXII12 include: "Live with Regis and Kelly", "Dr. Phil", "Oprah", "Inside Edition", and "Entertainment Tonight".

Promotional campaigns

WXII used the "Hello News" theme package in the early 1980s. Their campaign song was "Hello Piedmont." The tune began with the words, "There's a feeling in the air that you can't get anywhere except the Piedmont. You taste a thousand yesterdays and you can feel the magic ways of the Piedmont. From the rolling country side you can feel the magic pride of the Piedmont. Hello Piedmont! Hello Piedmont! Channel 12 loves you!"

Following the HELLO campaign of the early 80s, WXII hired a Florida production company to put together a new image campaign, "COUNT ON US". This was used for little more than a year and then dropped.

In the early 90s WXII was rebranded "Your Carolina News Connection".

As with most TV stations, WXII used custom versions of NBC campaigns-- one example being "Come Home to WXII". They also made a local version of "Come Home to the Best, Only on NBC" in 1988, featuring shots of NBC's stars and WXII's anchors throwing a party to coincide with the station's 35th anniversary. The latter clip can be seen on YouTube (originally uploaded by the station itself).

Ratings began to increase following a series of severe weather events in the late 80s and early 90s.

In the mid-to-late 1990s, WXII branded itself as NewsChannel 12, and its positioning statement was "Complete Local Coverage of the Western Piedmont." Once Hearst took full control (around 1999-2000), both the "NewsChannel" and positioning statement were dropped. The station then began branding itself as WXII 12 News. As of 2008, the station refers to itself (TV and Web) as WXII Digital Media.

Cable and Satellite Carriage Outside Of the Market

WXII is carried on West Jefferson cable outlets in Ashe County, which is part of the Charlotte DMA. WXII can be seen on DirecTV in some Virginia border counties and independent cities. These counties are Carroll, Henry and Grayson. The independent cities are Danville and Martinsville.

Personalities

Current

Anchors:

* [http://www.wxii12.com/newsteam/66243/detail.html Cameron Kent] , Anchor 5,6,&11pm News

* [http://www.wxii12.com/newsteam/68632/detail.html Wanda Starke] , Anchor 5,6,&11pm News

* [http://www.wxii12.com/newsteam/66232/detail.html Kimberly Van Scoy] , Morning Anchor

* [http://www.wxii12.com/newsteam/8464783/detail.html Nicole Ducouer] , Morning Co-Anchor

* [http://www.wxii12.com/newsteam/66230/detail.html Margaret Johnson] , Anchor Noon News

* [http://www.wxii12.com/newsteam/14458517/detail.html Kenny Beck] , Weekend Morning Anchor

* [http://www.wxii12.com/newsteam/17556052/detail.html Ben Senger] , Weekend Evening Anchor

Meteorologist:

* [http://www.wxii12.com/newsteam/966112/detail.html Lanie Pope] , AMS Chief Meteorologist 5,6,&11pm

* [http://www.wxii12.com/newsteam/74008/detail.html Austin Caviness] , AMS Meteorologist 5am-7am

* [http://www.wxii12.com/newsteam/972532/detail.html Michelle Kennedy] , AMS Meteorologist Noon & Weekend Evenings

* [http://www.wxii12.com/newsteam/4751959/detail.html Brian Slocum] , AMS Meteorologist Noon & Weekend Mornings

Sports:

* [http://www.wxii12.com/newsteam/66235/detail.html Dave Goren] : Sports Director

* [http://www.wxii12.com/newsteam/11292223/detail.html Craig Thomas] : Assistant Sports Director

Reporters:

* [http://www.wxii12.com/newsteam/15970202/detail.html Kathy Cheek] , General Assignment Reporter

* [http://www.wxii12.com/newsteam/17326447/detail.html Kim Gebbia] , General Assignment Reporter

*Jim Holmes, Financial Expert

* [http://www.wxii12.com/news/6002934/detail.html Sally Kidd] , Washington Bureau Reporter

* [http://www.wxii12.com/news/14449342/detail.html Nikole Killion] , Washington Bureau Reporter

* [http://www.wxii12.com/news/6002776/detail.html Laurie Kinney] , Washington Bureau Reporter

* [http://www.wxii12.com/newsteam/3840118/detail.html Bill O'Neil] , General Assignment Reporter

* [http://www.wxii12.com/newsteam/6280317/detail.html Jennie Stencel] , Traffic Reporter

* [http://www.wxii12.com/newsteam/16352175/detail.html Jermont Terry] , General Assignment Reporter

Past

* [http://cbs5.com/bios/Elizabeth.Wenger.traffic.9.791277.html Elizabeth Wenger] , former Weekend Evening Anchor, Traffic Anchor CBS 5 San Francisco
* Nicole Jacobs, former reporter, now general assignment reporter at WTIC-TV Hartford (FOX)
*Rick Amme, former anchor (1980s-early 1990s).
*John Beard, former anchor/reporter.
* [http://www.wxii12.com/news/9832046/detail.html Tolly Carr] , former morning anchor, charged with felony death by vehicle, felony serious injury by vehicle and driving while intoxicated in March 2007. [ [http://news14.com/content/top_stories/581778/carr-indicted-by-grand-jury/Default.aspx News 14 Carolina] ] He was sentenced to 25-39 months in prison in August 2007. [ [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20252815/ "Tolly Carr Learns His Fate," MSNBC] ]
*Aixa Diaz, weekend morning anchor, WESH in Orlando, Florida. [ [http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/ "New anchor, reporter coming aboard at WESH," Orlando Sentinel TV blog] ]
*Harvey Dinkins, farm reporter from 1954-1962. Dinkins was billed as "North Carolina's Favorite Farmer." ["The Winston-Salem Journal, Magnolia Trees and Pulitzer Prizes", by Frank V. Tursi, page 179]
*Denise Franklin, former anchor (1983-1992).
*Bob Gordon, the station's first announcer. Gordon, real name Robert Gordon Van Horn, hosted "Bob Gordon Theater" for 19 years.
*Jeff Hardin, former meteorologist (1998-2001). Currently Director of Communications for the [http://www.ncleague.org/www/ NC Credit Union League] .
*Chris Horne, former morning anchor. Currently a realtor with Prudential Carolinas in Forsyth County, NC
*Damany Lewis, former reporter/fill-in anchor (2004-2007) Now a reporter with KCRA (Sacramento, CA)
*Monica Malpass, former anchor & reporter. Has been the co-anchor at WPVI (Philadelphia) since 1988
* [http://www.nwcn.com/about/bios/stories/NWCNbios-Manning.2faa56c29.html Shaniqua Manning] , Former Weekend Anchor, Currently Weekend Anchor at NWCN
*Melissa Marsh, former reporter/anchor (2002-2007)
*Steve Adamson, former Weekday Morning and Noon Meteorologist (1986-1994) Now at WXIA TV Atlanta
*Mike McClellan, former meteorologist. Currently working at Mobile Weather in Washington, IL
*Kathy Murphy, former anchor. Went to work for WGCL in Atlanta in the late 90s.
*Gene Overby, sports anchor and former voice of Wake Forest University athletics.
*Angela Pellerano, former reporter/fill-in anchor. Now weekend anchor/reporter with WTVR (Richmond, VA).
*Dan Rath, former sports anchor. Currently a realtor in Forsyth County, NC. Hosted weekly sports segment titled "I Dare Dan", in which viewers would challenge Rath at sporting or gaming competitions
*Chris Runge, former weatherman (1987 to 1996) Left WXII and went to work for WXLV (ABC affiliate in Winston-Salem). Now station manager for Educational TV Channel and school system spokesperson.
*Ben Salt, Former General Assignment Reporter and Anchor
*Glenn Scott, former weatherman and longtime morning man on WSJS radio.
*Debbie Severs, former weather person.
*Mary Ann Sheboy, reporter for station for 19 years. [ [http://www.breakthrufilms.org/trials/presskit5-21-06.pdf breakthrufilms.org] ]
*Bonnie Schneider, meteorologist (joined CNN in 2005).
*Fred Shropshire, former general assignment reporter (2002-2004). Shropshire worked as a reporter and fill-in anchor at WGN Chicago before becoming the weekend anchor for WTVD in Durham, North Carolina. [ [http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=bios&id=5183142 Fred Shropshire bio] ]
*Teresa Taylor, Former Anchor and Reporter
*John Wendel, meteorologist for WCNC-TV in Charlotte, North Carolina since January 2001. [ [http://www.wcnc.com/about/bios/john_wendel.html John Wendel bio] ]
*Anthony Wilson, reporter & substitute anchor from 1990-1993; currently a weekend anchor and reporter at WTVD in Durham. [ [http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=bios&id=3238185 Anthony Wilson bio] ]
*Scott Zahorik, former meteorologist.
*Paul Dellegatto, former chief meteorologist (1986-1990), now chief meteorologist at WTVT.

News/Station Presentation

Newscast Titles

*"WSJS-TV News" (1953-1967)
*"Eyewitness News" (1967-1977)
*"NewsCenter 12" (1977-1985)
*"Channel 12 News" (1985-1992)
*"Newswatch 12" (1992-1996)
*"NewsChannel 12" (1996-2000)
*"WXII NewsChannel 12" (2000-2003)
*"WXII 12 News" (2003-present)

tation Slogans

*"Your Home for Piedmont-Triad and Southwest Virginia News" (2007-present)

External links

* [http://www.wxii12.com/ WXII 12]
*TVQ|WXII-TV
*BIA|WXII|TV|TV

References