WSAZ

WSAZ is a television station in Huntington, West Virginia. It is owned by Emmis Broadcasting, a national chain of television and radio stations.

WSAZ is the oldest television station in the United States in a media market outside the top 20. It began broadcasting on channel 5 on October 5, 1949. It became an affiliate of the NBC television network in 1950 and continues that relationship to this day.

In 1952 the FCC moved the station to channel 3, where it remains today, and granted it the highest power ever authorized for a television station in the world. This was to enable the signal to penetrate the hills and hollows of the Appalachian region it served. The "superpowered" signal could be seen from Cuba to Canada however. As domestic television stations were normalized, WSAZ's signal strength was reduced to the same levels as other stations in 1956. The station's tower, however remained the highest in North America until passed by one in North Dakota in 1970.

Because the station was in Huntington, but the seat of West Virginia government was 50 miles away in Charleston, West Virginia the station opened a branch studio in that city in 1956. In news broadcasts, one anchor would cover news from Huntington and another from Charleston. This format was studied by NBC and became the basis for the Huntley-Brinkley format the NBC Nightly News, with one anchor in New York, New York and the other in Washington, DC. All three original US networks have used this format, invented by WSAZ, at one time or another since that time.

WSAZ remains affiliated with NBC, and also with regional networks carrying sports from the University of Kentucky and Marshall University. It has dominated TV news ratings in its market for over 30 years.