WSAV-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Southeastern Georgia's Coastal Empire and Southern South Carolina's Lowcountry. Licensed to Savannah, Georgia, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 39 (or virtual channel 3.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter on Little Neck Road in unincorporated northwestern Chatham County, Georgia. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable and Comcast channel 2 as well as Charter channel 3. There is a high definition feed provided on Comcast digital channel 432, Charter digital channel 703, and Time Warner Cable digital channel 1120. Owned by Media General, WSAV has studios on East Victory Drive/U.S. 80/SR 26 in Savannah's Live Oak section. Syndicated programming on the station includes Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, The Dr. Oz Show, and Dr. Phil among others.

History[link]

The station signed-on VHF channel 3 on February 1, 1956 and was co-owned with WSAV-AM 630 (now WBMQ) after a long legal battle over the frequency with WJIV-AM 900. It initially aired an analog signal from a transmitter on top of a bank building on Broughton Street in Downtown Savannah. The flashing WSAV sign was a landmark on the street for many years. WSAV-AM had long been with NBC Radio, so WSAV-TV took the NBC television affiliation.

It shared ABC with CBS affiliate WTOC-TV until WJCL-TV signed-on in 1970. During the late-1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. ^[1] WSAV briefly had an FM station using an antenna atop the middle of three AM towers at the transmitter facility on Oatland Island. However, without many listeners to the simulcast programming, FM operation was ended in the 1950s.

In 1960, WSAV-AM-TV moved into a brand new facility on Victory Drive where WSAV-TV still is today. A new tower was built at the site boosting its signal to many of the surrounding counties in Georgia and South Carolina. The current tower in Pooler was built in 1976. In the same year, WSAV-AM was sold. In 1982, the station swapped affiliations with WJCL and became an ABC affiliate. That network had become number one in the country and was searching for stronger affiliates. However, this channel returned to NBC in 1986 one year after that network became number one again.

In the mid-1990s, like many other commercial television stations in the United States, WSAV was sold several times. At the beginning of that decade, the station was owned by a subsidiary of the News-Press & Gazette Company, who sold its entire broadcasting group of the time to the first incarnation of New Vision Television in 1993. Ellis Communications bought the New Vision stations in 1995. In 1996, Ellis was sold to Retirement Systems of Alabama who merged it with Aflac's former broadcasting division to form Raycom Media. Since Aflac had owned rival WTOC, Raycom could not keep both channels due to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations forbidding common ownership of two stations in the same market. Raycom opted to keep the higher-rated WTOC and sell WSAV. In early-1997, Raycom traded WSAV and two other stations to current owner Media General in return for WTVR-TV in Richmond, Virginia. In the 2000s, this station acquired the local rights to the syndicated game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!. Both were previously shown on rival WJCL for almost two decades.

On February 1, 2006, WSAV celebrated its 50th anniversary. To commemorate the event, Savannah Mayor Otis Johnson officially announced the date as "WSAV Day" and lauded the station for its many achievements over the decades. Its continued service to its viewers being always "On Your Side" whenever a viewer needs to get a story out was also recognized. On September 5, WSAV began carrying MyNetworkTV and RTV on a new second digital subchannel. This service is also available to DirecTV customers in Savannah on channel 29. WSAV-DT2's website and the digital subchannel feature a logo in the upper right-hand corner of the screen that reads "WSAV-DT 3.2 Savannah". WSAV-TV ended analog services on June 12, 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United States. ^[2] The station remained on its pre-transition channel 39. ^[3] Through the use of PSIP, WSAV-TV's main NBC signal is displayed as virtual channel 3. On September 26, 2011, RTV was replaced with classic programming from Me-TV.

Weather with Captain Sandy[link]

This channel was known for an unusual practice on its newscasts from the 1950s to the 1970s. WSAV was home to "Captain Sandy" who was something of a hybrid between a weatherman and children's show host. The character gave the weather on the weeknight news working with puppet sidekicks "Wilbur the Weather Bird", "Arthur Mometer" (the thermometer), and "Calamity Clam". Captain Sandy would appear on the news set wearing a vaguely nautical cap and blazer as a nod to the region's dependence on the Atlantic Ocean. The comedy elements of the forecast included the thermometer and the clam. Captain Sandy's big thermometer was temperamental and would fidget before revealing the next day's high and low temperatures. When Captain Sandy opened Davy Jones' Locker to get the tide information (a crucial component of any weather forecast in the region) out of Calamity Clam, the puppeteer always tried to bite the captain's hand.

By the end of the 1970s, new station ownership found Captain Sandy's routine embarrassing (and likely anachronistic since most television stations had discontinued local children's shows years before) and the owners made the Captain finally conform to convention prescribing him a suit and tie like other newscasters. The owners also fired the puppets shortly after to the almost-certain sorrow of area children. One of the personalities behind the Captain Sandy character was smooth-voiced Joe Cox, who later left WSAV to become weatherman at cross-town rival WJCL, where he also hosted an evening radio program on WJCL-FM 96.5. The original Captain Sandy from 1956 was played by Norm Strand.

Digital Television[link]

News operation[link]

For most of its history, WSAV has been a solid if distant runner-up to longtime dominant WTOC. While WSAV and WJCL made a serious threat in the 1970s, WTOC has won every timeslot since 1980 often garnering more viewers than its rivals combined. The CBS outlet airs more than seven hours of news a day, a considerable amount for a station in the 97th market and far more than any other television station in Savannah. In 1976 as part of a major expansion of its news department, WSAV moved to a former insurance office that is next door to its original East Victory Drive studios.

Unlike most NBC affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone, WSAV does not offer midday or 5 p.m. newscasts during the week. However, the station previously offered a 5 o'clock show for some time but cancelled it sometime in the early 2000s. The most recent addition to local news on this outlet occurred on June 21, 2010 when it added a broadcast weeknights at 5:30. Before this point in time, WTOC had been the area's only station to air local news in the time slot.

In early-March 2009, WSAV-DT2 launched Savannah's only sixty minute newscast weeknights at 7. Known on-air as My Lowcountry 3, this production is specifically targeted to the South Carolina side of the market featuring coverage from throughout the Lowcountry and the state. There is a weather forecast targeted towards Hilton Head and Beaufort in addition to South Carolina sports headlines. WSAV produces My Lowcountry 3 at its main studios since the station lacks a physical bureau in South Carolina. Ironically, rival WJCL actually operates a newsroom on Fording Island Road in Hilton Head. This is the only physical presence that a Savannah station has on the South Carolina side of the market.

WSAV does maintain a bureau on Assembly Street/SC 48 covering the Capitol in Columbia. The operating expenses are shared among Media General's television stations in South Carolina. WSAV became the last Savannah station to upgrade newscasts to high definition level on March 8, 2011. However, since WSAV-DT2 only transmits in standard definition digital, My Lowcountry 3 was not included in the change. After switching to Me-TV, that broadcast was reduced to a half-hour. News and weather updates from this station can be heard on WGCO-FM 98.3, WGZO-FM 103.1, WFXH-FM 106.1, WUBB-FM 106.9, WXYY-FM 107.9, and WHHW-AM 1130. All news anchors also serve as reporters.

Newscast titles[link]

• WSAV-TV News (1956-1964)
• The World Today/The World Tonight (1964-1967)
• The Sixth Hour Report/The Eleventh Hour Report (1967-1976)
• TV 3 News (1971-1974)
• NewsCenter 3 (1974-1990)
• WSAV NewsCenter (1990-1996)
• News 3 (1996-present)

Station slogans[link]

• "Coverage You Can Count On" (mid 1990s-2006)
• "On Your Side" (2006-present)

News team[link]

News anchors

• Tracy Haynes - weekday mornings
• Kim Gusby - weekday mornings
• Andrew Davis - weeknights at 5 and 5:30 (also reporter weeknights at 11)
• Tina Tyus Shaw - weeknights at 5:30 and 6
• Russ Riesinger - weeknights at 6 and 11
• Holly Bounds - weeknights at 7 and South Carolina multimedia journalist
• TBD - weekends

Other anchors

• Kris Posman (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist seen weeknights
• Lee Haywood (NWA Seal of Approval) - weekday morning meteorologist
• TBD - weekend meteorologist
• Ken Slats - Sports Director seen weeknights at 6, 7, and 11 (also "Slats Superstars" segment producer)
• TBD - weekend sports

Hosts

• Christie Register - Talking Law TV
• Doug Andrews - Talking Law TV
• Michael Shortt - Talking Law TV
• Gene Brooks - Talking Law TV

Reporters

• Amanda Brewer - "My LC3 Book Club" segment producer
• Kris Hummer - "Coastal Link" segment producer
• Robert Kittle - Media General Capitol Bureau
• Alice Massimi - community and military
• Sheila Parker - crime and safety
• Brittany Shane - South Carolina
• JoAnn Merrigan - consumer
• Tuquyen Mach
• Meredith Ley

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• WSAV-TV mobile
• WSAV-DT2 "MyLC"
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WSAV-TV

Joan Lunden
Born	Joan Elise Blunden (1950-09-19) September 19, 1950 (age 61) Fair Oaks, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Sacramento State University
Occupation	Journalist
Years active	1975–present
Children	7

Joan Lunden (born September 19, 1950) is an American journalist, author and television host. She was the co-host of ABC's Good Morning America (GMA) from 1980 through 1997 and is the author of 8 books. Lunden has appeared on the Biography program and Biography Channel.

Early life[link]

Lunden was born as Joan Elise Blunden in Fair Oaks, California, the daughter of Gladyce Lorraine (née Somervill) and Erle Murray Blunden, who was a physician.^[1] She has a liberal arts degree from Sacramento State University. She also studied Spanish and anthropology at the former Mexico City campus of Universidad de Las Americas. She was a visiting instructor at Montclair State College in New Jersey, where she taught a course in broadcast journalism.

She began her broadcasting career in Sacramento, California, where she worked for KCRA-TV and Radio as co-anchor of the daily noon television news program. She also produced the noon news broadcast and hosted KCRA's television specials.

Career[link]

[edit] Good Morning America

Lunden joined GMA in the fall of 1976 as a feature news/consumer reporter, and later became fill-in co-host when former co-host Sandy Hill left to work on ABC's coverage of the Winter Olympics. Lunden's popularity with viewers led to her quick promotion to co-host with David Hartman, the program's original host. Later she would spend the majority of her career hosting with ABC's Charlie Gibson. An Entertainment Weekly national viewer poll named her "television's favorite morning anchor" during her years at GMA.The program lost more than a million daily viewers when Lunden retired from the morning news shift, according to TV Guide.

She reported from 26 countries, covered four presidents, five Olympic Games, and two royal weddings. Her popularity on the GMA program from the 1970s through the 1990s allowed her to interview U.S. Presidents and First Ladies Gerald and Betty Ford, Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, George and Barbara Bush, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and also Texas Governor George and Laura Bush prior to the younger Bush's 2000 election as President.

In 1975, Lunden joined New York's WABC-TV Eyewitness News and a year later became co-anchor on the weekend newscasts. As the co-host of GMA, Lunden traveled the world, covering historic events, such as the 50th anniversary of VE Day (Victory in Europe) in 1995; the 50th anniversary of D-Day; the 1984 and 1988 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo and Calgary; and the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales. She covered the administrations and inaugurations of three presidents: Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan. She was one of only three American journalists to interview Prince Charles during his 1983 visit to the United States.

Lunden was known for her willingness to take risks in her role as host. She climbed and rappelled Alaska's famed Mendenhall Glacier and bungee-jumped off a 143-foot bridge and parapented off a 2,000-foot mountain during the program's highly rated trip to New Zealand. She also navigated the whitewater rapids of a Georgia river for a GMA show in 1994. She has been at the controls of an F-16 jet and flown with the United States Air Force Thunderbirds, as well as flown in a T-34 Naval flight training plane. She is also a skilled horsewoman, jumping thoroughbred horses, and also has gone to bat with the Chicago Cubs at spring training.

Hosting and other work[link]

She was a host on the A&E cable network program Behind Closed Doors (originally aired on ABC as occasional primetime specials) (1996-2001) which was an on-location, undercover reporter program; she also frequently guest hosted A&E's Biography.

Lunden's most recent television shows include hosting DirectTV's series Hometown Heroes and the Emmy-winning special America’s Invisible Children. She is also the face of Murad's skincare line, Resurgence.

Lunden hosts Health Corner, a Lifetime series sponsored by Walgreens.^[2]

Activities and honors[link]

Lunden's dedication to family and civic responsibility have earned her numerous honors and awards, including the Spirit of Achievement Award from the Albert Einstein College of Yeshiva; National Women's Political Caucus Award; New Jersey Division of Civil Rights Award; Baylor University Outstanding Woman of the Year; and the YWCA Outstanding Woman's Award. The New York Women in Communications honored Lunden with a Matrix Award for her outstanding contributions to the broadcasting field. She was voted "Career Mother of the Year" by the National Institute of Infant Services and In 1982-83, honoring her dedication to motherhood, she was voted "Mother of the Year" by the National Mother's Day Committee. She has been a national spokesperson for Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Lunden hosted ABC's broadcast of the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California, from 1989 to 1991, and hosted the Walt Disney World Easter and Christmas Parades with Regis Philbin until the mid-90s.

In April 1991, Lunden was honored by New York Women in Communications with a Matrix Award for her "outstanding contributions to the broadcasting field." Lunden appeared as herself in a brief role in the 2006 film Thank You for Smoking. She also appeared on the cover of Woman's Day in 2004.

Lunden is involved in various personal projects such as her Camp Reveille, a summer weekend getaway for women of all ages in Naples, Maine.

Lunden is on the board of PassportMD, an online personal health record system (that uses Microsoft HealthVault) which allows families to maintain and organize their family health records.

Personal life[link]

Lunden was married to Michael A. Krauss from 1978 until their divorce in 1992; the couple have three daughters: Jamie Beryl Krauss, born July 4, 1980;^[3] Lindsay Leigh Krauss (born 1983); and Sarah Emily Krauss (born 1987). Lunden converted to Judaism when marrying Krauss.^[4][5][6] She married Jeff Konigsberg on April 18, 2000; they have four children: two sets of twins, each consisting of one boy and one girl, Max and Kate,^[7] born on June 10, 2003, and Jack and Kimberly, born on March 1, 2005.^{[citation needed]} The two sets of twins were born with the help of a surrogate mother, and Lunden has become a spokeswoman for surrogacy.^[8]

Books[link]

• Growing up Healthy: Protecting your child now through Adulthood
• Joan Lunden's Healthy Living
• Joan Lunden's Healthy Cooking
• Wake Up Calls: Making the Most Out of Every Day (Regardless of What Life Throws You) - ISBN 0-07-136126-X
• A Bend in the Road is not the End of the Road: 10 Positive Principles For Dealing With Change - ISBN 0-688-16083-2
• Mother's Minutes
• Your Newborn Baby
• Good Morning I'm Joan Lunden
• Exercise Video: Workout America

References[link]

External links[link]

• Joan Lunden's Official Website