WBIR-TV
 
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Knoxville, Tennessee United States |
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| City | Knoxville |
| Branding | Channel 10 (general) 10 News (newscasts) |
| Slogan | "Straight from the Heart of East Tennessee" |
| Channels | Digital: 10 (VHF/) |
| Subchannels | 10.1 NBC 10.2 MeTV 10.3 Justice Network |
| Owner |
Tegna Media (Gannett Pacific, LLC) |
| First air date | August 12, 1956 |
| Call letters' meaning | Jesse W. BIRdwell (founder of WBIR radio) |
| Former channel number(s) | 10 (VHF analog, 1956–2009) 31 (UHF digital, –2009) |
| Former affiliations | CBS (1956–1988) |
| Transmitter power | 40.9 kW |
| Height | 529.6 m |
| Facility ID | 46984 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 36°0′19″N 83°56′23″W / 36.00528°N 83.93972°W |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
| Website | www.wbir.com/ |
WBIR-TV, channel 10, is the NBC affiliated television station for East Tennessee, Southeastern Kentucky, Swain County, North Carolina and Lee County, Virginia, located in Knoxville, Tennessee. WBIR-TV is owned by Tegna, its studios are located at 1513 Bill Williams Avenue in the Belle Morris section of the city, and transmitter on the broadcasting antenna farm on Sharp's Ridge in Knoxville.
WBIR-TV signed on the air on August 12, 1956, as a CBS affiliate, taking that affiliation away from WTVK (channel 26, now WVLT-TV on channel 8). During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. WBIR-TV was originally owned by a consortium headed by J. Lindsay Nunn and his son, Gilmore Nunn, owners of WBIR radio (1240 AM, now WIFA; and FM 103.5, now WIMZ-FM). The station's call letters come from Jesse W. "Jay" Birdwell, who founded WBIR radio in 1941; Birdwell sold the station to the Nunns in 1944. The Nunns shared ownership with WBIR general manager John P. Hart; Knoxville residents Robert and Martha Ashe, and the Taft family of Cincinnati. In October 1959 the Tafts' broadcast subsidiary, Radio Cincinnati, Inc., purchased the remaining 70 percent of the WBIR stations outright from the other parties.
In January 1961 the Tafts sold WBIR-AM-FM-TV to the News-Piedmont Company of Greenville, South Carolina, owner of WFBC-AM-FM-TV in its hometown. In 1967, News-Piedmont merged with Southern Broadcasting to form the Southeastern Broadcasting Corporation. Soon afterward, Southeastern sold off most of its radio stations (including WBIR-AM-FM), purchased four more television stations and changed its name to Multimedia, Inc. WBIR shared flagship status with WFBC-TV.
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