WLOS - History

History

The station began broadcasting an analog signal on VHF channel 13 at 316,000 watts on September 18, 1954. It was owned by the Skyway Broadcasting Company along with WLOS radio (1380 AM, now WKJV; and FM 99.9, now WKSF). It has always been an ABC affiliate and is the second-longest tenured primary ABC affiliate south of Washington, D.C. (behind Lynchburg, Virginia's WSET-TV, coincidentally also on channel 13). During the late-1950s, WLOS was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. The studios and transmitter were located in West Asheville (the old 300-foot (91 m) self-supporting tower with its analog batwing antenna is still standing) along with its radio sisters. A few months after the station signed on, the television studios were moved to Battle House (a restored mansion on Macon Avenue northeast of Downtown Asheville) next to the historic Grove Park Inn.

At that same time, the transmitter was moved to the much-higher Mount Pisgah 35 miles (56 km) distant. Due to the higher elevation, FCC rules required channel 13 to cut its transmitter power in half. But even with its power reduced to 178,000 watts, the station still more than doubled its coverage area to include most of Western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina. Soon afterward, the FCC combined the western Carolinas into one giant market with WLOS as the primary ABC affiliate. With its move to Mount Pisgah, the station could now boast the second highest transmitter location east of the Mississippi River at 2,804 feet (855 m) above average terrain (the valley floor) and 6,056 feet (1,846 m) above sea level. At the time, first place belonged to WMTW-TV atop Mount Washington, New Hampshire at 3,871 feet (1,180 m) above average terrain (the valley floor), and 6,374 feet (1,943 m) above sea level.

The new tower location gave WLOS bragging rights to one of the largest coverage areas in the nation. In addition to its primary coverage area of the Western Carolinas, the station also had significant viewership in several other nearby markets as well. WLOS also enjoyed at least secondary coverage in portions of Eastern Tennessee, Southwestern Virginia, and Southeastern Kentucky. It provided city-grade coverage to nearly all of the Tri-Cities market and Grade B coverage of most of the Knoxville market. Channel 13 could also be seen in portions of Georgia under the right conditions. Before the mid to late-1960s, no other full-time ABC affiliate put a clear signal into much of this area. Before WKPT-TV signed on to serve the Tri-Cities, WLOS claimed the Tri-Cities as part of its primary coverage area. Even after WKPT signed on as an ABC affiliate, WLOS was available on cable in the Tri-Cities well into the 1980s. Indeed, many viewers in the Tri-Cities and the eastern part of the Knoxville market received a better over-the-air signal from WLOS than Knoxville's WTVK (now CBS affiliate WVLT-TV) and WKPT. Both of those stations were on UHF and did not get much penetration in their largely mountainous coverage areas. UHF stations, then as now, do not get good reception in rugged terrain.

Until the 1990s, the station was also carried on several separately-owned municipal translator stations in Eastern Kentucky. As mentioned above, WLOS now owns and operates ten analog translators that rebroadcast its digital signal.

The station has also had significant and long-standing viewership in the Charlotte area, particularly in Hickory and points west. Its grade B signal can be seen as far east as Charlotte itself. Until WSOC-TV switched from NBC to ABC in 1978, it was the de facto primary ABC affiliate for the western portion of the Charlotte market. WLOS appeared in the Charlotte Observer television listings for many years (though it was dropped from the weekly listings in the mid-1990s) and advertised its programs in Charlotte-area newspapers well into the 1970s. It is still available on many cable systems in the western portion of the Charlotte market.

WLOS' only ABC competition came from WAIM-TV in Anderson, South Carolina (now WMYA), which also carried a few CBS programs. WAIM had been the default ABC affiliate for the Upstate until WLOS' massive power boost. Unfortunately, WAIM-TV only provided a reliable signal to Anderson itself and nearby Pickens County, South Carolina. However, it still continued to air some ABC programming. Although WLOS was never seriously threatened by WAIM, it pressured ABC to drop its programming from WAIM from the 1960s onward finally succeeding in 1979.

In 1958, Skyway Broadcasting merged with Wometco Enterprises of Miami, Florida (a movie theater company and former owner of the Blue Circle hamburger chain). Wometco promptly sold the AM station, but operated both the television and FM stations as Wometco-Skyway Broadcasting until 1984 when it was sold to the investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (also known as KKR). The FM station was also sold at this time and its antenna remained co-located on the Mount Pisgah tower. Channel 13 was later sold to Anchor Media which in turn was later sold to River City Broadcasting. That company merged with the Sinclair Broadcast Group in 1996.

In 2000, the station made its much-anticipated move to new studios at Technology Drive about 10 miles (16 km) south of Downtown Asheville. Station personnel could now brag about the much shorter driving distance for sales calls and news team coverage to Greenville and Spartanburg, South Carolina. On January 5, 2007, Mediacom dropped all Sinclair-controlled stations, including WLOS and WMYA, from its systems because of a dispute over compensation. Mediacom is the cable provider for much of Western North Carolina (though not Asheville itself), leaving much of WLOS' viewing area without ABC until the dispute was resolved a month later. Additionally, Charter briefly dropped WLOS-DT because of compensation disputes.