WGHP High Point

WGHP channel 8 signed on the air the first time on October 15, 1963. I say signed on the first time since within a couple hours of being on the air, the AC power panel box behind the transmitter burned up and took the station off the air. After several hours of the engineering staff rebuilding the power panel box, WGHP signed back on for the second time. This was a small problem compared to the one that was discovered several months before.

As the new 383 meter (1255 ft) tower was being erected with an on air target date of August, 1963, a small crack was detected in one of the three support legs in the very bottom tower section. Because of the location of the crack, it was decided to replace the section. The tower had reached almost 274 meters (900 feet) by this time so how do you replace a defective section that could bring down the entire structure? It was decided that it would be safer to unstack the tower, replace the bad bottom section and restack the tower. The delay caused by this action was 2 months.

So when WGHP did finally sign on the air the first time on October 15, it was Charlie Harville, a local radio announcer who started out in TV on WFMY had come to work for the new station and spoke the first words every heard on channel 8. 

Things at WGHP were spartan at best. The station had taken temporary residence in the old Sheraton Hotel building in downtown High Point while a permanent location was sought. The Mezzanine level became the studio while the guests rooms became offices. It was said that every office had their own private bathroom. One of the classic stories as told by long time WGHP employees was one day when someone wondered into an office looking for the occupant and heard noise in the bathroom. When the wondering employee walked into the bathroom, they were greeted by the occupant sitting on the toilet looking through the file cabinet that was housed in the bathroom! The wondering employee quickly backed out apologizing only to find out that due to space, it was easier to put the toilet lid down and sit to look through the file cabinet than to try and bring in a chair!

 

For many years during the 1960's and 1970's the Mezzanine/studio was the home of wrestling. The local king of wrestling, Jim Crocker would take his traveling road show from station to station for live and then later taped wrestling matches with early stars of wrestling such as Rip Hawk, Swede Hanson (left with Charlie Harville in the center), Johnny Weaver, George Becker, Gene and Ole Anderson, and Ric Flair. After the matches the ring had to be removed and the news set reconfigured for the late newscast.

For the first 20 years of WGHP's existence, the fate of the station was in doubt. Southern Broadcasting was based out of Winston-Salem and had wanted to have their flagship television station in their hometown. But since WSJS-TV channel 12 was already there, the FCC was not inclined to make a change to the Table of Assignments. Of all of the competing applicants for channel 8, Southern was the only company to not file for channel 8 to be in Greensboro or Winston-Salem. Others around the state were also trying to nab the channel 8 assignment. One of the most fiercest competitors were in Fayetteville. Fayetteville had had a UHF station in the middle 1950's (WFLB-TV channel 18). But as with many of the early UHF's that didn't make it due to lack of tuners, WFLB-TV only lasted 3 years. The television bug was still biting in Fayetteville in the late 1950's when channel 8 became available for a VHF assignment and they saw channel 8 as their way back on the television dial. But Southern prevailed and the channel 8 assignment went to High Point. 15 years later Fayetteville got is television station, WKFT channel 40 and in the early 1980's their second television station, (now WFPX channel 62). (Channel 40 is now a Univison spanish language station WUVC.) Southern had planned to build studios around the Friendly Regional Airport (now Piedmont Triad International Airport) between the three cities. When word leaked out, businessmen in High Point raised a license challenge with the FCC that Southern was trying to move the station away from High Point to Greensboro and if the FCC would issue them the license, they would keep the station in High Point. Southern saw that it couldn't move the station and retain the license so the station was sold to Gulf Broadcasting which continued to fight the local group for another 10 years. Finally Gulf settled the argument by building the studios as far south of High Point as possible so it could never be confused as anything other than a High Point station. On April 1, 1984, WGHP left its temporary digs of 20 years to the new studios south of High Point where the station remains today. 

Early Logo

Several years later Gulf sold the station to Taft Broadcasting. Around 1990 Great American Broadcasting (now Citicasters) bought the Taft television stations except WGHP. WGHP went to the son, Dudley Taft. Dudley Taft bought WPHL, channel 19 Philadelphia to go along with WGHP. Within a couple years, Dudley Taft was out of money and WGHP went back to Great American. In 1994 Citicaster's sold their television division of 5 stations to Ron Perlman's New World Communications.

New World was made up of the old Gillette Broadcast Group, eight stations in medium to large markets and some of the oldest stations in the country; all VHF and all CBS affiliates. New World also had syndication programming services and their own in house ad agency. Within 6 months of the sale to New World though, it was announced that all twelve New World stations, including WGHP, would be changing network affiliations to the FOX Network. This was a major shift in the broadcasting world. In this one move, CBS would loose 9 stations in the Top 35 markets and all with top rated news departments, NBC one, and ABC two including the 30 year ABC affiliation of WGHP. 

In 1995 FOX Television Stations purchased New World Communications and all of their broadcast holdings. Due to group ownership limits in place at the time, FOX would be 2 stations over the limit a single company could when the transaction would be completed. To keep this from happening, New World and FOX created two holding companies whose function were to keep two of the New World stations off the market while FOX divested itself of two of its smaller UHF stations so the remaining two New World stations could be acquired by FOX. The two stations chosen; WBRC-TV Birmingham, AL and WGHP. In the mean time, WGHP switched network affiliations from ABC to FOX on Sunday, September 9, 1995.The first FOX network show was the NFL ON FOX, the opening day of the 1995 NFL football season. The game slotted for WGHP pitted the brand new Carolina Panthers in their first official game losing to the Atlanta Falcons.  

In February 1996, FOX Television Stations, Inc, becomes the new owner of WGHP.

1997-2003 News Set	2003-present News Set

With the advent of digital television, WGHP is first assigned channel 54 in the FCC's Sixth Further Notice Of Proposed Rule Making - Advanced Television Systems and Their Impact upon the Existing Television Broadcast Service, Mass Media Docket No. 87-268, released August 14, 1996 (FCC 96-317) with 1.538 megawatts. On April 21, 1997, in FCC document 97-115, the Federal Communications Commission outlined its final channel allotment plan for Digital TV and WGHP is allocated 726kw on channel 35 and asks for the maximum allowed of 1 million watts and the FCC grants it in 1999. WGHP-DT signs on the air at 5pm April 29, 2002 with a temporarily reduced power of 4200 watts from the 1963 tower site near Randleman.

In January 2005, in the FCC's First Round of Channel Elections for stations permanent digital channels, WGHP elected to give up their digital channel 35 and remain on channel 8 as a digital station once analog transmissions cease on February 17, 2009.

From July 2005 through March 2006 a new tower site is constructed near the original tower site for the channel 8 and channel 35 transmitters/antennas. March 31 2006 at 4:01pm WGHP shifts from the original tower where it had been broadcasting channel 8 since the station signed on in 1963 to the new 1248 ft tower site. On August 24, 2006 at 11:35am, WGHP-DT shifts from the low power transmitter/antenna on the original tower to the new tower and increases to full power of 1 million watts on channel 35. The original tower is now used as an auxiliary site for both channels.

Larcan TTP44MH Channel 8 Transmitter (March 2006)	Larcan DTT60 Channel 35 Transmitter (August 2006)

In July of 2007, the FCC assigns channel 8 as WGHP's permanent digital channel with 15 kw of digital power when analog broadcasting is terminated nationwide on February 17, 2009.

On July 14, 2008, Oak Hill Capital Partner's FoxCo Acquisitions Sub, LLC purchases WGHP along with 7 other FOX owned and operated stations from FOX Television Stations, Inc for $1.1 billion..