WGAL

WGAL, virtual channel and VHF digital channel 8, is an NBC-affiliated television station serving the Susquehanna Valley area, including Harrisburg, York, Lebanon and its city of license Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. since 1949. The station is owned by the Hearst Television subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation. WGAL maintains studio facilities located on Columbia Avenue (PA 462) in Lancaster, and its transmitter is located near U.S. 30 north of Hallam (the site and tower is shared with radio partner, WROZ, 101.3 FM – which once had the WGAL-FM call sign). On cable television, the station is available on Comcast channel 3 and in high definition on digital channel 808.

History

The station first signed on the air on March 18, 1949, originally broadcasting on VHF channel 4; it was the fourth television station in Pennsylvania and the first to sign-on outside of Philadelphia, beating WDTV (now KDKA-TV) in Pittsburgh which began operations in November of that year. It was founded by the Steinman family, owners of WGAL radio (1490 AM, now WLPA, and 101.3 FM, now WROZ) and Lancaster's two major newspapers, the Intelligencer Journal and the Lancaster New Era. At the time, Lancaster was the smallest city in the country with a television station. The station's first formal program was shown on March 22 to a group of RCA executives, television dealers, and radio station personnel at the Stevens House Hotel in downtown Lancaster.