Louisville, Kentucky United States |
|
---|---|
Branding | WAVE 3 (general) WAVE 3 News (newscasts) |
Slogan | Expect More. Right Now. |
Channels |
Digital: 47 (UHF) Virtual: 3 () |
Subchannels | |
Affiliations | |
Owner |
Raycom Media (WAVE License Subsidiary, LLC) |
First air date | November 24, 1948 |
Call letters' meaning | WAVE = The word wave (as in a radio wave) |
Former callsigns | WAVE-TV (1948–1987) |
Former channel number(s) | |
Former affiliations | |
Transmitter power | 1,000 kW |
Height | 392 metres (1,286 ft) |
Facility ID | 13989 |
Transmitter coordinates | 38°22′8.35″N 85°49′47.57″W / 38.3689861°N 85.8298806°W |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
Website | www.wave3.com |
WAVE, virtual channel 3 (UHF digital channel 47), is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The station is owned by Raycom Media. WAVE maintains studio facilities located on South Floyd Street in downtown Louisville, and its transmitter in New Albany, Indiana (alongside the digital transmitter of CBS affiliate WLKY). On cable, WAVE is available on Spectrum channel 6 and in high definition on digital channel 906.
The station first signed on the air on November 24, 1948, originally broadcasting on VHF channel 5. The station's transmitter originally broadcast at 24,100 watts. WAVE was the first television station to sign on in the state of Kentucky, and the 41st to debut in the United States. It was founded by the Norton family, who had signed on WAVE radio (970 AM, now WGTK) in 1932. The station has been a primary NBC affiliate since its debut, owing to its sister radio station's longtime affiliation with the NBC Red Network; however, it also initially carried secondary affiliations with ABC, CBS and the DuMont Television Network.
WAVE-TV lost CBS programming when WHAS-TV (channel 11, now an ABC affiliate) signed on in March 1950; it later lost DuMont when the network folded in August 1956. Channel 3 continued to share ABC programming with WHAS-TV until WLKY (channel 32) signed on as a full-time affiliate in September 1961. It has remained with NBC since then, and as such, WAVE is the only commercial television station in the Louisville market that has never changed its primary network affiliation. On May 7, 1949, WAVE-TV became the first television station in the United States to present a live telecast of the Kentucky Derby. The station shipped a canned newsreel to NBC to broadcast the event nationally. The telecast was the first use of Zoomar lenses in a television sports broadcast.