WVEC

About WVEC

WVEC is a television station licensed to Hampton, Virginia, broadcasting on channel 13 and serving the Hampton Roads area as an affiliate of ABC. Branded as 13News Now, with the slogan "Telling the Stories Now," the station is owned by the Tegna subsidiary of Nexstar Media Group. It began operations September 19, 1953, on UHF channel 15 as an NBC affiliate, signed on by the Peninsula Broadcasting Corporation, and switched to ABC in 1959. The call letters stand for "We Value Every Customer." The station's main studio is in downtown Norfolk, with its transmitter in the Driver neighborhood of Suffolk, Virginia.

Signing on in 1953

The station began operations September 19, 1953, on UHF channel 15 as an NBC affiliate, signed on by the Peninsula Broadcasting Corporation, co-owned by Hampton businessman Thomas P. Chisman and other stockholders, along with WVEC radio. In those days, UHF stations struggled against VHF competitors, as the FCC did not yet require television sets to have UHF tuners.

On October 13, 1958, WVEC-TV moved to VHF channel 13, and two years later the channel 15 position was occupied by WHRO-TV, Virginia's first educational station. The station switched affiliations to ABC in 1959, when WAVY-TV took the NBC affiliation, and was briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network in the late 1950s.

Ownership history

In 1980, Chisman sold the station to Corinthian Broadcasting, a unit of Dun & Bradstreet. At the time, it was the last locally owned and operated Big Three station in Hampton Roads. Four years later, Dun sold Corinthian to Belo, owner of the Dallas Morning News and WFAA-TV. In 1997, WVEC joined with The Virginian-Pilot and Cox Communications to launch LNC4, later LNC5, a 24-hour local cable news channel featuring repeats of WVEC newscasts and a live 10 p.m. newscast, which closed December 31, 2010.

Gannett announced plans to acquire Belo in 2013, taking control that December. In 2014, Gannett split into two companies, with the broadcasting assets including WVEC coming under Tegna. The Tegna-Nexstar combination in 2026 brought the station into the nation's largest station group.

13News Now

Branded as 13News Now, with the earlier slogan "Your Local News Leader," WVEC's news operation covers the Hampton Roads region's distinctive stories, from the military community and shipbuilding to tourism, hurricanes, and the Chesapeake Bay. The station launched high-definition local newscasts in 2008 and became a true HD operation in 2013 after upgrades.

The newsroom's coverage of the region's vulnerability to sea-level rise and recurrent flooding has been nationally recognized.

The LNC experiment

The 1997 launch of LNC4 with The Virginian-Pilot and Cox Communications was an early experiment in local cable news, predating the digital era's streaming news channels. The 24-hour channel featured repeats of WVEC newscasts and original programming, carried on Cox channel 5 in Hampton Roads.

The venture reflected the station's innovative approach to local news distribution, though changing economics eventually led to its closure.

Military and maritime coverage

Hampton Roads' identity as a military and maritime region shapes WVEC's journalism. The station covers Naval Station Norfolk, shipbuilding at Newport News, and the commercial port, along with the tourism economies of Virginia Beach and Williamsburg.

The station's hurricane coverage is critical in a coastal market vulnerable to Atlantic storms, and its meteorologists guide viewers through evacuations and recovery.

Technical operations

WVEC broadcasts on digital UHF channel 35, displayed as virtual channel 13, with an effective radiated power of 1,000 kW from its Suffolk transmitter. The station has moved across several digital channels through the repacking process, ending analog programming on VHF channel 13 in 2009.

The station's subchannels carry additional programming services, extending its multicast offerings.

Community presence

As Hampton Roads' ABC affiliate for more than six decades, WVEC has been a fixture of the region's civic life. The station's community service, from storm coverage to charitable partnerships, has made 13News Now a trusted brand across southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.

The downtown Norfolk studios place the station at the heart of the region's largest city.

Digital presence

WVEC's digital home is 13newsnow.com, offering live streaming, on-demand video, and comprehensive coverage of Hampton Roads news, weather, and sports. The station maintains mobile apps and active social media accounts under the 13News Now brand.

As part of Tegna, now a Nexstar subsidiary, the station's digital operations are integrated with the company's digital media platforms. Its official website is https://www.13newsnow.com.

The fight for channel 13

WVEC began broadcasting on UHF channel 15 on September 19, 1953, from studios in Hampton. It was the second television station in Hampton Roads and broke the monopoly on television programming and affiliations held by WTAR-TV, now WTKR, which broadcast on a VHF channel. The station was originally an NBC affiliate; NBC provided pre-launch support to the new station, at a time when UHF stations could only be seen by viewers with specially fitted converters. The station was a modestly successful second-place outlet until 1957, when Hampton Roads gained a second VHF station: WAVY-TV in Portsmouth, originally the ABC affiliate. WVEC-TV lost viewers and some NBC programs to the new VHF station, which could be seen in all homes. It was successful in encouraging the Federal Communications Commission to allocate a third VHF channel, channel 13, to Hampton Roads. It merged with the other applicants for the channel, and WVEC-TV moved to channel 13 on November 13, 1959. It simultaneously opened its current Norfolk studio and switched to a full-time ABC affiliation. The channel 15 facilities were then used for educational television by WHRO-TV, which began in 1961.

Corinthian, Belo, and the cable news experiment

The station was sold to Corinthian Broadcasting in 1980; Corinthian was a part of Dun & Bradstreet. At the time of transfer, it was the last locally owned-and-operated Big Three service broadcasting from Hampton Roads. After four years, Dun sold its unit to Belo, which already had ownership of the Dallas Morning News and WFAA. WVEC launched LNC4 in 1997, a 24-hour cable news service carrying rebroadcasts of WVEC newscasts while simulcasting the 10 p.m. newscast; Cox Communications carried the service on channel 5 in the Hampton Roads area. Pilot 13-News at 10 ceased production on January 30, 2009, and LNC5 was closed on December 31, 2010. On January 12, 2008, WVEC started producing local newscasts in digital widescreen 16x9; though not truly high definition, the digital widescreen broadcasts were rescanned and up-converted from standard definition to 1080i before transmission. It remained the only major station in the Hampton Roads market to air its newscasts in enhanced definition widescreen rather than true high definition until it upgraded to full HD in 2013.

The Tegna era

On June 13, 2013, the Gannett Company announced that it would acquire Belo; the sale was completed on December 23. In August 2014, Gannett announced it would split its broadcast and digital holdings into a new company, Tegna; the split became official on June 29, 2015, and WVEC was retained by Tegna. After the acquisition, the station was standardized on air as 13 News Now, though still using the ABC logo on screen. In February 2018, the logo for WVEC was updated along with a new theme curated by Sixieme Son entitled "C Clarity" used for the newscasts. The station is owned by the Tegna subsidiary of Nexstar Media Group; Nexstar also owns NBC affiliate WAVY-TV channel 10 and Fox affiliate WVBT channel 43 in the market. WVEC's studios are on Woodis Avenue in Norfolk, with its transmitter near Driver in Suffolk. Its slogan is "Telling the Stories Now," and its digital home is 13newsnow.com.