WVLT-TV

This article is about the television station formerly known as WTVK. For the station in Naples, Florida, that used this call sign from 1995 to 2007, see WXCW.

WVLT-TV
Channels
Branding
  • WVLT; WVLT News
  • My VLT (DT2)
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
WBXX-TV
History
First air date
October 18, 1953
(71 years ago) (1953-10-18)[a]
Former call signs
  • WTSK-TV (1953–1955)
  • WTVK (1955–1983)
  • WTVK-TV (1983–1988)
  • WKXT-TV (1988–1997)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 26 (UHF, 1953–1988), 8 (VHF, 1988–2009)
  • Digital: 30 (UHF, 1999–2019)
  • CBS (1953–1956)
  • ABC (secondary 1953–1956; primary 1956–1979)
  • DuMont (secondary, 1953–1956)
  • NBC (1979–1988)
Call sign meaning
"Volunteer TV", moniker adopted in 1997
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID35908
ERP1,000 kW
HAAT551.5 m (1,809 ft)
Transmitter coordinates35°59′44.4″N 83°57′23.1″W / 35.995667°N 83.956417°W / 35.995667; -83.956417
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.wvlt.tv

WVLT-TV (channel 8) is a television station in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with CBS and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Crossville-licensed dual CW/Telemundo affiliate WBXX-TV (channel 20). The two stations share studios on Papermill Drive (near I-40/I-75) on the west side of Knoxville; WVLT-TV's transmitter is located on Sharp's Ridge in North Knoxville.

WVLT-TV traces its history to Knoxville's second-oldest television station, which signed on in 1953 as WTSK-TV and changed its call letters to WTVK two years later. As an ultra high frequency (UHF) station, it spent most of its first three decades on the air as an also-ran against two very high frequency (VHF) competitors. At various times, it was an affiliate of all three major networks.

In 1988, after the addition of channel 8 as a "VHF drop-in"—an extra channel on the VHF band—to Knoxville, WTVK's owners merged with a competing applicant for channel 8 and essentially moved WTVK there under a new call sign, WKXT-TV, and new management. After years of continued struggles in the ratings, Gray Television purchased the station in 1996; the new owners changed the call sign to WVLT-TV. The station has remained in third place most of the time despite Gray's efforts to expand the news operation.


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