WVLT-TV

WVLT-TV (VHF channel 8) is the CBS television network affiliate station serving Knoxville, Tennessee, the 58th DMA in America according to Nielsen Media Research. The station is owned and operated by Gray Television, with studios located on Papermill Drive (near I-40/I-75) on the city's westside and its transmitter is on Sharp's Ridge in North Knoxville. Syndicated programming on WVLT-TV includes The Dr. Oz Show, Entertainment Tonight, and The Andy Griffith Show.

History

WVLT-TV debuted on October 18, 1953 as WTSK-TV on channel 26. It was Tennessee's first UHF station, and the second television station in East Tennessee, signing on just a few hours after WROL-TV in Knoxville (channel 6, now WATE-TV). The station was a CBS affiliate, but also shared ABC programming with WROL-TV.

Channel 26 found the going difficult at first, since television manufacturers weren't required to build in UHF tuning capability at the time. Viewers needed an expensive converter to watch WTSK, and even then the picture quality was marginal at best. In addition, most of East Tennessee is very mountainous, and UHF signals at the time usually did not carry very well over rugged terrain. In 1954, the station's original local owners sold the station to South Central Communications, a radio company in Evansville, Indiana, who changed its calls to WTVK.