TRIAD TV HISTORY

The Piedmont Triad of North Carolina is an area that encompasses a 16 country area around the three cities of Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point that form an upside down triangle.. This area has developed into a regional metropolitan area with over 1.25 million people.

Back in the late 1940's, each city was it's own island, even though Greensboro and its smaller neighbor to the southwest, High Point are in the same county and now share a common border.

Radio had been a large part of the Triad area as it had been in the rest of the country. In the 1940's when television came on the scene, Jefferson-Pilot Insurance Company owned WBIG-AM in it's home town of Greensboro and the Winston-Salem Journal-Sentinel newspaper owned WSJS-AM and in High Point, WMFR-AM was owned by local business men.

In 1948, Landmark Publishing company the publisher of the Greensboro News and Daily Record signed on FM station WFMY-FM on 97.3 FM. One year later they signed on WFMY-TV channel 2 as the second television station in North Carolina. (the first being none other than Greensboro's own Jefferson-Pilot Insurance Company's WBTV, Charlotte, channel 3) Within several years WFMY-FM signed off for good as television began to grow and FM radio was waiting 20 years to take off.

Over in Winston-Salem, The Journal-Sentinel newspaper was also doing well in radio with WSJS-AM and FM. In 1955 they added WSJS-TV on channel 12. About this same time Southern Broadcasting, based in Winston-Salem and owner of WTOB-AM signed on WTOB-TV channel 26, but when channel 8 in Florence, SC went dark, Southern Broadcasting applied for channel 8 in High Point. In 1963, WGHP-TV channel 8 signed on.

Greensboro's second TV station, WUBC-TV channel 48 signed on and then left the air in the middle to late 1960's. In the late 1970's, WGNN-TV channel 45 in Winston-Salem signed on. In 1981 the state run UNC public television system signed on WUNL-TV on the long dark channel 26, followed in mid 1981 by another station , again on channel 48, WGGT-TV in Greensboro and then in late 1981, video jukebox WLXI-TV channel 61, Greensboro. In 1982, WRDG, channel 16, Burlington signed on. In 1983, WEJC-TV, Lexington signed on from their transmitter building south of Greensboro.

The Triad TV stage was set.

But I am jumping ahead of myself. Let's look at the stations in more depth. ENJOY!

If you have any information or pictures you would like to share about the television stations of the Triad, contact the webmaster at clayno at w4cl dot net.