WVLT-TV

WVLT-TV

Knoxville, Tennessee United States
Channels	Digital: 34 (UHF) Virtual: 8
Branding	WVLT; WVLT News My VLT (DT2)
Programming
Affiliations	8.1: CBS 8.2: MyNetworkTV for others, see § Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	Gray Television (Gray Television Licensee, LLC)
Sister stations	WBXX-TV
History
First air date	October 18, 1953 (70 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)
Former affiliations	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 ID	35908
ERP	1,000 kW
HAAT	551.5 m (1,809 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	35°59′44.4″N 83°57′23.1″W / 35.995667°N 83.956417°W / 35.995667; -83.956417
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	www.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 the WTVK intellectual unit there under new call letters, WKXT-TV. 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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