WHSV-TV
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Harrisonburg, Virginia United States |
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| Branding | WHSV-TV3 (general) WHSV News 3 (newscasts) The Valley's Fox (DT2) MyValley (DT4) |
| Slogan | Working Hard For You. |
| Channels |
Digital: 49 (UHF) Virtual: 3 () |
| Subchannels | 3.1 ABC 3.2 CBS 3.4 MyNetworkTV/MeTV |
| Translators | 42 (UHF) Harrisonburg 51 (UHF) Staunton |
| Affiliations | ABC (secondary until 1968) |
| Owner |
Gray Television (Gray Television Licensee, LLC) |
| First air date | October 1953 |
| Call letters' meaning |
Harrisonburg Shenandoah Valley or Harrisonburg/ Staunton, Virginia |
| Sister station(s) | WSVF-CD, WCAV, WVAW-LD, WAHU-CD, WDBJ |
| Former callsigns | WSVA-TV (1953–1976) |
| Former channel number(s) | 3 (VHF analog, 1953–2009) |
| Former affiliations |
NBC (1953–1975; secondary from 1968) CBS (secondary, 1953–1963) Fox (secondary, 1994–1996) |
| Transmitter power | 65 kW (digital) |
| Height | 639 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 4688 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 38°57′36″N 78°19′52″W / 38.96000°N 78.33111°W |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
| Website | www.whsv.com |
WHSV-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for Harrisonburg, Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 49.1 (virtual channel 3.1 via ) from a transmitter west of Stanley on Massanutten Mountain. Owned by Gray Television, WHSV maintains studios on North Main Street (U.S. 11) in downtown Harrisonburg, and operates a newsroom in Staunton serving Augusta County.
WHSV operates two fill-in digital translators: the first on UHF channel 42, which is licensed to Harrisonburg, but located on Signal Knob near Strasburg, Virginia and serves the Winchester/Front Royal area; and the second on UHF channel 51 in Staunton. Its signal is also relayed in Moorefield, West Virginia on low-powered translator W40AS-D, which is owned by Valley TV Cooperative, Inc.
Channel 3 signed on October 6, 1953 as WSVA-TV (for We Serve Virginia Agriculture). It was owned by Frederick L. Allman and his Shenandoah Valley Broadcasting Corporation along with WSVA radio (AM 550 and FM 100.7, now WQPO). The station was a primary NBC affiliate, with secondary CBS and ABC affiliations. The station also carried DuMont programs. It was the only commercial station between Richmond and Roanoke until WVIR-TV signed on from Charlottesville in 1973. Although it was owned by one of Virginia's leading broadcasters, WSVA-TV operated on a shoestring budget. Station engineers switched to and from the signals of the three network affiliates in Washington, D.C. because it was unable to afford direct network feeds. The station did not air any locally produced programs (except for local newscasts) until 1956, when it built a studio along U.S. Route 33 in unincorporated Rockingham County. That year, Allman sold the WSVA stations to Transcontinent Television of Buffalo, New York, with NBC executive Hamilton Shea as a minority partner. Allman earned a handsome return on his original investment of 21 years earlier. In 1959, the Washington Evening Star, owner of WMAL AM-FM-TV in Washington, acquired Transcontinent's controlling interest, as well as 1% of Shea's stake. The CBS affiliation was dropped in 1963.
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