WTVZ-TV

WTVZ-TV
CityNorfolk, Virginia
Channels
BrandingMyTVZ
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
History
FoundedMay 1978
First air date
September 24, 1979
(45 years ago)
 (1979-09-24)
Former call signs
WTVZ (1978–1982)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 33 (UHF, 1979–2009)
  • Digital: 38 (UHF, 2006–2009)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID40759
ERP590 kW
HAAT360.5 m (1,183 ft)
Transmitter coordinates36°48′31.8″N 76°30′11.3″W / 36.808833°N 76.503139°W / 36.808833; -76.503139
Links
Public license information
Websitemytvz.com

WTVZ-TV (channel 33) is a television station licensed to Norfolk, Virginia, United States, serving the Hampton Roads area as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station maintains studios on Clearfield Avenue in Virginia Beach, and its transmitter is located in Suffolk, Virginia.

WTVZ signed on September 24, 1979, as the second independent station in the Hampton Roads area. It was owned by a consortium of local investors known as the Television Corporation of Virginia. The investors soon formed a station group: Television Corporation Stations, later TVX Broadcast Group, which was headquartered in Norfolk. WTVZ was immediately competitive in local ratings and battled with the more religiously oriented WYAH-TV throughout the 1980s. As with other TVX stations, it joined Fox at its launch in 1986.

TVX sold WTVZ to its general manager, Charles A. McFadden, in 1989; at the time, the company was selling smaller stations to reduce debt. McFadden's group, later known as Max Television, dallied with the possibility of producing a local newscast for the station throughout the early 1990s but never followed through. Sinclair acquired WTVZ in 1995; that year, Fox announced it would move its affiliation to WVBT (channel 43) in 1998 due to a business dispute with Sinclair. The station then joined The WB in 1998 and MyNetworkTV in 2006.

  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WTVZ-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.