WSMV-TV

WSMV first signed on the air as WSM-TV on September 30, 1950, at 1:10 p.m. It was Nashville's first television station and the second in Tennessee, behind fellow NBC affiliate WMCT (now WMC-TV, then also on channel 4) in Memphis. As a result of the WSM-TV sign-on, WMCT was forced to switch to channel 5 to avoid co-channel interference. WSM-TV was owned by WSM, Inc., a subsidiary of the locally based National Life and Accident Insurance Company, which also owned WSM radio (650 AM and 95.5 FM); the AM station is renowned for broadcasts of the country music show The Grand Ole Opry, which has been heard on the station since 1925. The station took its call letters from its parent's slogan, "We Shield Millions."

The television station has been an NBC affiliate from its sign-on, although it also carried some programming from CBS, DuMont, and ABC. Its secondary affiliation with CBS ended in 1953, when WSIX-TV (channel 8, now WKRN-TV on channel 2) signed on as a primary CBS affiliate. WSM-TV shared ABC programming with WSIX-TV for a year until WLAC-TV (channel 5, now WTVF) signed on in 1954 as the market's new primary CBS affiliate, leaving WSIX-TV to take the ABC affiliation. During the first few years of operation, AT&T would not run telephone lines for WSM-TV to receive network programming until there was another TV station in town. This problem was solved by the station running a private microwave relay transmission from fellow NBC affiliate WAVE-TV in Louisville, Kentucky.

WSM-TV's studios were originally located at 15th Avenue South and Compton Avenue in south Nashville, near the present Belmont University. In 1957, the station attempted to a build a larger tower in west Nashville, near Charlotte Avenue. During the construction process, the new tower's supporting wires failed. This caused the tower to collapse, which took the lives of several people. Afterward, WSM-TV purchased its present property on Knob Road (farther west than the previous site, and allowable since WMCT, Memphis had switched to Channel 5 from Channel 4) and built a tower there in a forested section away from potential damage to life and property.

WSM-TV shared its broadcast facilities with non-commercial station WDCN-TV (channel 2, now WNPT on channel 8) beginning in 1962. In 1963, National Life and Accident Insurance built new studios for WSM-AM-FM-TV adjacent to the transmission tower on Knob Road. This left WDCN-TV as the sole occupant of the south Nashville building, where that station remained until 1976. In 1974, NL&AI reorganized itself as a holding company, NLT Corporation, with the WSM stations as a major subsidiary.

Beginning in 1980, Houston-based insurer American General–which owned the WLAC stations until 1975–began purchasing blocks of NLT stock, eventually becoming NLT's largest shareholder and setting the stage for an outright takeover. However, American General was not interested in NLT's non-insurance businesses. It opted to sell off the broadcasting interests, the Grand Ole Opry, the then-decrepit Ryman Auditorium, and Opryland USA. Gillett Broadcasting (operated by George N. Gillett Jr.) bought WSM-TV on November 3, 1981, and changed the station's callsign to WSMV on the same day (officially modified to WSMV-TV on July 15, 1982).[2] The new callsign allowed channel 4 to continue trading on the well-known WSM calls while at the same time separating it from its former radio sisters. The change was brought on due to an FCC rule in place at that time forbidding TV and radio stations in the same city but with different owners from sharing the same call letters. However, channel 4 would later engage in news department cross promotions with WSM-AM-FM.

Gaylord Entertainment Company purchased the remainder of WSM, Inc. nearly two years later, in 1983. Soon afterward, the radio stations moved out of the Knob Road facility into new studios on the Opryland Hotel campus.

WSMV-TV was sold on June 8, 1989, to Cook Inlet Television Partners, an Alaska-based company which was a subsidiary of Cook Inlet Region, Inc., an Alaska Native Regional Corporation.[3]

WSMV's former logo, variations of which have been used since its introduction in 1978. This particular variation was first seen in 1994 and would be used until May 2020, when the golden 4 would be retired. The new 4 logotype is solid white or black, depending on the background contrast.

Cook Inlet sold WSMV on January 5, 1995, to the Meredith Corporation.[4] WSMV was not part of the affiliation deal between several Meredith stations and CBS (however, Meredith's only other NBC affiliate at the time, WNEM-TV in Bay City, Michigan, was) because the purchase was announced seven months after the affiliation deal had been finalized. As a result, WSMV became the only NBC affiliate in Meredith's present-day station group.

In early March 2009, it was announced that WSMV's master control operations would be hubbed at Meredith-owned sister station WGCL-TV in Atlanta. The new hub operation launched in summer 2009.

On September 8, 2015, Media General announced that it would acquire Meredith for $2.4 billion, with the combined group to be renamed Meredith Media General. Because Media General owned WKRN-TV, and the two stations rank among the four highest-rated stations in the Nashville market in total day viewership, the companies would have been required to sell either WSMV-TV or WKRN to comply with FCC ownership rules as well as recent changes to those rules regarding same-market television stations that restrict sharing agreements.[5][6][7] On January 27, 2016, Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Media General. This resulted in the termination of the acquisition of Meredith by Media General.[8]

WSMV-DT2 is the Escape-affiliated second digital subchannel of WSMV-TV, broadcasting in 16:9 widescreen standard definition on VHF channel 10.2 (or virtual channel 4.2 via PSIP).

The subchannel launched in the summer of 2006 as an affiliate of NBC-owned Spanish-language television network Telemundo since the Nashville market lacked a standalone Telemundo affiliate of its own. The second subchannel was branded as Telemundo Nashville. The subchannel went defunct on December 31, 2010, leaving Nashville with only one Spanish-language television station, WLLC-LP (Channel 42), the area’s Telefutura (now UniMás) outlet. (WLLC-LP has since added Univision as their primary affiliation on 42.1, with UniMás moving to 42.2.) The subchannel's spectrum would be used for purposes other than over-the-air broadcasting once the subchannel went dark.

WSMV-DT2 relaunched on November 1, 2012 when it became the flagship station of the new re-incarnation of The Nashville Network. This move reflected the history of WSM radio, the former radio sister of WSMV, as it was one of the original founders of the original pay-TV-exclusive TNN when it launched in 1983.[9] The network was renamed Heartland in October 2013.[10][11] WSMV-DT2 continued to serve as the flagship station of Heartland, with some of the operations of the network still based in Nashville, while the rest of the operations were based in Chattanooga, Tennessee (where Heartland's owner, Luken Communications, has their headquarters).

On November 1, 2016, WSMV's contract with Luken Communications to carry Heartland expired, and Heartland was replaced by Escape, a television channel aimed towards a female audience; the channel also shows crime drama programs & movies aimed towards women. WSMV-DT2 has cleared all of Escape's programming since the switch occurred. Escape can also be seen on Charter Communications cable channel 180, and Comcast Xfinity cable channel 230. The name changed to Court TV Mystery on September 29, 2019.

WSMV-DT3 is the Cozi TV-affiliated third digital subchannel of WSMV-TV, broadcasting in 16:9 widescreen standard definition on VHF channel 10.3 (or virtual channel 4.3 via PSIP).

On March 23, 2015, the Web site TVNewsCheck.com reported that eight stations owned by Meredith Corp. had reached an agreement to add the NBCUniversal-owned Cozi TV to their multicast channels.[12] Included in the list of stations was WSMV. The Web site Rabbitears.info indicates that WSMV is broadcasting Cozi TV on the DT3 subchannel, which began broadcasting on May 28, 2015.[13]

WSMV-DT4 is the Court TV-affiliated fourth digital subchannel of WSMV-TV, broadcasting in 16:9 widescreen standard definition on VHF channel 10.4 (or virtual channel 4.4 via PSIP).

On May 9, 2019, WSMV signed on a fourth subchannel to carry the recently relaunched Court TV.

WSMV-DT5 is the Circle-affiliated fifth digital subchannel of WSMV-TV, broadcasting in 16:9 widescreen standard definition on VHF channel 10.5 (or virtual channel 4.5 via PSIP).

In January 2020, WSMV signed on a fifth subchannel to carry the country music and lifestyle multicast network Circle, a joint venture of Gray Television and Opry Entertainment Group.

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

WSMV-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 4, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 10.[15][16] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 4.

The WSM stations' close ties to Nashville's country music business has meant that the Knob Road facility and/or its personnel was, from time to time, used for the recording of network and syndicated programs featuring Nashville-based performers. This was especially the case during the 1960s and 1970s. Most if not all of these shows were packaged by Show Biz, Inc., headquartered in Nashville and a subsidiary of Holiday Inn. Show Biz, Inc. produced The Porter Wagoner Show, That Nashville Music, The Bill Anderson Show, Dolly! and several other programs seen throughout the U.S., especially on stations in the Southern and rural Midwestern U.S. The company dissolved in the late 1970s when its president, Jane Grams, became vice president and general manager of WTVC-TV in Chattanooga, Tennessee. However, the Show Biz programs were seen on some stations well into the early 1980s.

Since 2006, channel 4 airs any Sunday Night Football games that involve the market's NFL team, the Tennessee Titans. The station also airs Nashville Predators games via NBC's broadcast contract with the NHL; this includes the team's appearance in the 2017 Stanley Cup Final.

From 1987 until March 2002, WSMV-TV was the Nashville home to syndicated Southeastern Conference football and men's basketball games originating from Jefferson Pilot Sports, but sharing some broadcasts with WXMT (channel 30, now MyNetworkTV affiliate WUXP).[18][19][20] Those games moved to WUXP in 2002, and stayed with that station until 2009, when Raycom Sports lost the syndication rights to ESPN Plus. WUXP carried ESPN Plus-oriented SEC TV until 2014, when the SEC Network was launched.

In the mid-1980s, WSMV dropped the Tonight Show to air sitcom reruns such as Three's Company, Alice, Barney Miller, Family Ties, and Rosie. NBC was able to get the show on in Nashville on then-independent station (now Fox affiliate) WZTV (channel 17).

In early 2006, WSMV attracted some attention by becoming the largest NBC affiliate in terms of market size to refuse to carry the controversial NBC show The Book of Daniel on its schedule, after the premiere episode. This action, along with that of several smaller affiliates in the Midwest and South, as well as low ratings, prompted NBC to cancel the series after only three episodes.

The station's former staff include Pat Sajak (announcer and weekend weatherman from 1974 to 1977), Robin Roberts (sports anchor and reporter from 1986 to 1988), John Tesh (news anchor from 1975 to 1976), John Seigenthaler Jr. (weekend anchor in the late 1980s) and Huell Howser (features reporter in the 1970s).

Ralph Emery, the longtime country music disc jockey on WSM radio for many years, hosted morning (and at times, afternoon) shows on channel 4 from the mid-1960s until 1993; for much of that time, The Ralph Emery Show was the highest-rated locally produced early morning shows on American television. Although the show included regular news briefs, its main focus was on general entertainment, including a heavy emphasis on live country music performed in studio. It featured acts by prominent country stars like Tex Ritter and current star Lorrie Morgan; also, the studio band consisted of top-notch Music Row session musicians. Emery would achieve widespread fame by hosting a national version of the show, entitled Nashville Now, weeknights on The Nashville Network from 1983 to 1993. Upon Emery's retirement, WSMV briefly produced a local version of NBC's Today to serve as a lead-in to the national show. As Nashville Today failed to live up to expectations, WSMV finally programmed full-scale newscasts in early mornings, becoming the last of the three major Nashville stations to do so.

Larry Munson, WSM-TV's sports director from 1956 to 1967 and later known as the play-by-play announcer for radio broadcasts of Georgia Bulldogs football (and, for a time, the NFL's Atlanta Falcons), created and hosted a long-running hunting and fishing show called The Rod & Gun Club. Paul Eells replaced Munson as sports director in 1967. Like his predecessor, Eells served as the voice of the Vanderbilt Commodores football team during his time at WSM. Eells left to become the sports director at KATV in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1978. There, he also served as radio play-by-play announcer for the Arkansas Razorbacks for 28 years until his death in 2006. Munson died in 2011.

Dan Miller was co-anchor of the main evening newscasts for nearly 40 years, except from August 1986 to March 1995. During this period, Miller spent time in Los Angeles as a news anchor at KCBS-TV, and as sidekick to friend and former WSM-TV colleague Pat Sajak on his short-lived CBS late-night talk show The Pat Sajak Show. Miller returned to WSMV in 1992 to host 5 O'Clock with Dan Miller, which ran from 1992 to 1993. Miller returned to anchoring duties for the evening newscasts in March 1995, and continued until his sudden death in 2009.[26]

In 1974, Bill Hall joined the staff as a weather reporter and morning news anchor. He briefly worked as a weekend news anchor in 1976 before moving into his role leading the weather team in 1977. His unique style and personality made him one of Middle Tennessee's most well known local television personalities. He punctuated his weather discussions with comments about gardening, cooking, and hunting and fishing. During his channel 4 career, Hall also hosted Land and Lakes, an outdoors show focusing on local hunting and fishing adventures. Hall retired in 2005, and later died on December 23, 2011.[27][28][29]

Rudy Kalis began anchoring the morning newscasts in 2014 after working in the sports department for 40 years. He was the second sportscaster in Nashville to move to anchoring the morning news in the past year.[30] He retired in November 2017, after 43 years with channel 4.[31]

Longtime anchor Demetria Kalodimos was let go after her contract expired at the end of 2017.

• Charlie Chase - (1970s; now host for the Crook and Chase television show and countdown)
• Huell Howser - (1970s; died January 7, 2013)
• Demetria Kalodimos - anchor (worked with station from 1984 to 2017)
• Sondra Locke - (1960s; died November 3, 2018)[32]
• Carol Marin - investigative reporter/anchor (1976–1978; now at WMAQ-TV in Chicago as the station's political editor)
• Katie McCall - reporter (1998 to 2000; now at WTSP in St. Petersburg–Tampa, FL as anchor)
• Dan Miller - anchor (died April 8, 2009)
• Robin Roberts - sports anchor/reporter (1986–1988; now anchor of Good Morning America)
• Pat Sajak - meteorologist (1970s; now host of the syndicated game show Wheel of Fortune)
• John Tesh - (musician; former anchor of Entertainment Tonight)

For its first 60 years on the air, WSMV was the default NBC affiliate for the Bowling Green media market in south-central Kentucky. It had a decades-long monopoly in providing NBC programming for that area from its September 1950 inception until March 27, 2001, when WKNT (now WNKY channel 40) in Bowling Green was forced to dropped its Fox network affiliation due to violation of the terms in their affiliation agreement. Immediately after losing Fox, WNKY signed up with NBC. The station remains on Mediacom cable systems serving the Morgantown (Butler County) and Brownsville (Edmonson County) areas.[33] Even after WNKY switched to NBC in 2001, the Glasgow Electric Plant Board did not drop WSMV and its associated subchannels from their lineup until late 2017 when WNKY claimed market exclusivity on that system in terms of NBC and CBS affiliates.[34]

Mediacom also carries WSMV on its systems in Hart and Metcalfe Counties (including Munfordville and Edmonton, respectively).[35]

In addition to the station's cable coverage in south central Kentucky, WSMV-TV, and the other two "Big Three" stations are also carried in Murray, Kentucky, in the Paducah, KY–Cape Girardeau, MO–Harrisburg, IL media market, via Murray Electric Systems. WK&T Cable also carries both WSMV and WTVF on its cable lineup for its customers in Calloway County.[36] WSMV, along with WTVF, are also available to Mediacom’s customers in Caldwell and Crittenden Counties, respectively including the communities of Princeton and Marion, along with the town of Fredonia. All of those areas are also within the Paducah/Cape Girardeau market, which is the home market to fellow NBC affiliate WPSD-TV.

WSMV was also previously available in some southern areas of the Evansville, Indiana media market, mainly including northwestern Kentucky towns such as Madisonville, Central City, Beaver Dam, and Owensboro and their corresponding counties. The Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer still lists WSMV on its TV listings page. Cable systems in those areas have since dropped the station making Evansville NBC affiliate WFIE the sole NBC affiliate on cable and over-the-air in those areas.

WSMV, along with WMC-TV in Memphis, was historically carried on cable systems in the Jackson, Tennessee market on EPlus Broadband Cable by the Jackson Energy Authority. In November 2014, WSMV was dropped from that cable system when WNBJ-LD signed on as that area's own NBC affiliate.[37] WNBJ replaced WSMV on JEA channel 4, with WMC-TV being left intact. In spite of the existence of WNBJ-LD in Jackson, WSMV remains on WK&T Telecom's cable system in Gibson County, in the northernmost area of the Jackson market.[38] WSMV is also still available on cable in Carroll County as well.

At sometime from 1957 until the 1980s, cable systems in northern Alabama, including Knology (now Wide Open West) and TelePrompTer (later Group W Cable, now Comcast), carried all of Nashville's Big Three stations, only to be dropped due to the increase of new cable channels launching during the 1980s and early 1990s.[39] The Nashville stations were once seen as far south as Decatur.