WLOS

WLOS, virtual and VHF digital channel 13, is an ABC-affiliated television station located in Asheville, North Carolina, United States. The station is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group; Sinclair also operates MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYA-TV (channel 40) under a local marketing agreement with owner Cunningham Broadcasting. The two stations share studio facilities located on Technology Drive (near I-26/US 74) in Asheville, WLOS maintains transmitter facilities located on Mount Pisgah in Haywood County, North Carolina. On cable, the station is available on Charter Communications channels 3 (in North Carolina) and 13 (in South Carolina), and in high definition on Charter digital channels 703 (in North Carolina) and 713 (in South Carolina).

History

The station first signed on the air on September 18, 1954; broadcasting at 316,000 watts, it was founded by the Skyway Broadcasting Company, owners of WLOS radio (1380 AM, now WKJV; and 99.9 FM, now WKSF). Having been with the network since its sign-on, WLOS is the second-longest tenured primary ABC affiliate located south of Washington, D.C. (behind Lynchburg, Virginia's WSET-TV, also on channel 13 and also owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group). During the late-1950s, WLOS was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. The station's original studios and transmitter facilities were based alongside its radio sisters in West Asheville (the 300-foot (91 m) self-supporting tower with an analog batwing antenna atop it remains standing to this day). A few months after the station signed on, the television station relocated its operations to Battle House (a restored mansion on Macon Avenue, northeast of downtown Asheville, next to the historic Grove Park Inn).