![]() As such, it was Charlotte's only VHF station for eight years, carrying affiliations with all four major networks of the time- CBS, NBC, ABC and DuMont. WBTV received one of the last construction permits issued before the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) "freeze" on new television licenses, which lasted until the Commission released its Sixth Report and Order in 1952. In 1970, the media interests were folded into a new subsidiary, Jefferson-Pilot Communications. Jefferson Standard merged with Pilot Life in 1968 (although it had owned controlling interest since 1945) and became Jefferson-Pilot Corporation. Shortly before the television station went on the air, its call letters were modified from WBT-TV to WBTV. Jefferson Standard had purchased WBT from CBS in 1947. At the time, the Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company also had a 16.5% interest in the Greensboro News Company, licensee of WFMY-TV, which signed on from Greensboro two months after WBTV. ![]() WBTV was originally owned by the Greensboro-based Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company, owners of WBT (1110 AM), the city's oldest radio station and the first fully licensed station in the South. Veteran Charlotte broadcaster Jim Patterson was the first person seen on the station, and remained employed there until his death in 1986. ![]() When it debuted, WBTV was the 13th television station in the United States and the first in the Carolinas it is the oldest television station located between Richmond and Atlanta. The station first signed on the air on July 15, 1949. In addition, WBTV's studios continue to house the operations of its former sister radio stations currently owned by Urban One: WBT-AM/ FM and WLNK, as well as WFNZ, which was previously owned by CBS Radio prior to its acquisition by Beasley Broadcast Group in 2014, followed by Entercom (now known as Audacy) in late 2017 and then Urban One in 2020 under a local marketing agreement. The station's studios are located off Morehead Street, just west of Uptown Charlotte, and its transmitter is located in north-central Gaston County. Police said the southbound lanes, which were otherwise empty, of I-77 near Nations Ford Road would remain closed "for an extended period of time" in an update shared to Twitter.īoth the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash.WBTV (channel 3) is a television station in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Gray Television. The aftermath of the crash was captured by highway traffic camera footage, which showed police cars crowded around the crash site. "We just can't tell you the right words right now to tell you how much he meant to us and how much we are thinking of both of their families," Boll added. He would bound through this newsroom with incredible energy and smiles and just cared about everybody here. He'd wave from behind the pilot's chair of the helicopter," Boll said. "Every single day in this newsroom, Chip would wave at you, say hello, ask you how you're doing. to make sure that their wives and their families were notified first."Ī clearly emotional Boll said "the words are hard to come by," adding that the station had been "holding onto this for a while."Īs photos of the deceased were displayed on screen, Boll said he had seen Tayag earlier that morning on the helicopter pad as the pilot was waiting to pick up Myers. And we waited to report this information publicly. "They were coworkers, and they are friends. "It is a heavy day here at WBTV as our family is grieving, alongside Chip and Jason's families," Grantham said. ![]() WBTV anchors Jamie Boll and Molly Grantham were reporting on the crash live for at least 90 minutes, according to The Associated Press, before they interrupted the broadcast to announce that it was two of their colleagues who had been killed. "If that is truly the case then that pilot is a hero, in my eyes, to make sure the safety and security of those driving on the road was not in jeopardy." To me it looks like a heroic incident where the pilot tried to avoid injuring anyone else and putting anyone else in danger," Jennings said. "It seems the pilot that was operating the aircraft made some diversionary moves to avoid hitting traffic. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings said at a news conference that no other vehicles were involved, as the helicopter landed just off of I-77.
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