WTKR
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WTKR, "Your Hampton Roads' NewsChannel3" is the CBS affiliate serving the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, officially known as the Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News DMA. The station is licensed to Norfolk and broadcasts on channel 3. It is owned by the New York Times Company.
The station began operation on channel 4 in April 1950 as WTAR-TV, Virginia's second television station. It was a primary NBC affiliate, with secondary affiliations with CBS, ABC, and DuMont. It was owned by the Virginian-Pilot along with WTAR radio, Virginia's first radio station. It moved to channel 3 in 1952 and became a primary CBS affliliate. When WVEC-TV signed on a year later as an NBC affiliate, WTAR shared ABC programming with WVEC until 1957, when WAVY-TV signed on as the NBC affiliate and WVEC became solely an ABC station. When the Virginian-Pilot reorganized its various holdings as Landmark Communications in 1969, WTAR-AM-FM-TV became the flagship station.
Over the years, the station expanded its news operation to include about 30 hours of local news production per week. It also produced PM Magazine from the late 1970s to mid-1980s.
After the FCC tightened its ownership restrictions, Landmark sold its Hampton Roads radio and television holdings. WTAR-TV went to Knight-Ridder in 1981. WTAR-AM-FM had been sold to different owners, so Knight-Ridder changed the station's calls to WTKR. The new calls reflected the new ownership and also sounded similar to the old ones. The New York Times Company, WTKR's current owner, acquired the station in 1995.
Ed Hughes, known as the "Walter Cronkite of Hampton Roads," was the station's main anchor from 1967 (dating to its days as WTAR-TV) until losing a battle with cancer in 2004.
WTKR had been the ratings leader in Hampton Roads for many years. WTKR is currently in last place, with Judge Judy on WGNT "UPN27" beating their 6pm newscast.