WHTV

History
WHTS, UHF digital channel 10, is a RKO Network owned-and-operated television station that serves Haley Top, Staniel and the entire Southern Topple area. It maintains studios and the newsroom at 9000 Chrysler Road in the south section of the city. Its transmitter (720 kW) is located at Coxfield Avenue in the Coxfield neighborhood. WHTS also has original programming that won numerous Emmy and Gemini Awards through their three programs that began as the station was taking form in 1967 (Life and Home, The Puppet Puppies, and Coffee Break). Syndicated programming includes The Doctors, Family Guy, and Star Trek: Voyager. HistoryHistoryChannel 10 started as a low-powered station known as WHTV, the call letters meaning Haley Top TV, as it signed on officially on March 19, 1967. It was the only television station at the time. It included original programming such as Life and Home, The Puppet Puppies, and Coffee Break, where as those programs became popular not only in the local area, but nationally as well in syndication. RKO investors saw this in a meeting once on February 3, 1968, and contacted the station. The top priorities at WHTV were very interested into being an affiliate for their network. Later in March of that year, they both held a proposal meeting at the RKO headquarters in New York City for the. It turned to be very successful with an investment of $3 million to include the previous three programs produced by WHTV in the RKO national lineup. In the summer of that year, WHTV moved studios from West Oak Avenue in Hillside, and over to 9000 Chrysler Road in Southern Haley where the studios are still used there up to this date. Throughout the '70s to '90s, Channel 10 was known as "The 'Top of Television," signifying that they were the most-watched station in the area behind Channel 9 (CBS), Channel 2 (ABC), Channel 12 (NBC), and Channel 24 (FOX). They also gained coverage for the Haley Giants (football), the Haley Grinders (ice hockey), and the Haley Toppers (basketball), and are still airing today. From October 1981 to August 1987, the WHTV studios hosted a weekday afternoon dance show called Dancin' Noonafter, hosted by Dan Marke.On November 2, 1993, Tribune and the Warner Bros. Television division of Time Warner announced the formation of The WB Television Network. Due to the company's minority interest in the network (initially 12.5%, before expanding to 22%), Tribune and RKO chose to affiliate the majority of its independent stations with the upstart network, resulting in WHTV becoming a network affiliate for the first time in its history upon The WB's January 11, 1995 debut. In September of that year, the station changed its on-air identity to "Haley Top's WB 10". For most of The WB's run, WHTV was one of The WB's strongest affiliates, even if it was a secondary affiliate of the network. After 2006 when The WB ended, it still remained an RKO Network affiliate with the original and syndicated programming.