NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — NewsChannel 5 is celebrating a major anniversary. August 6 marks 70 years since the station first started broadcasting. We're taking a look back at those earliest days, back when the station was known as WLAC.
"I was impressed with the people and the management at Channel 5," said longtime NewsChannel 5 anchor Chris Clark. "Super friendly. Super professional. All hands on."
At 5, Chris met anchor Bill Jay. Bill Jay's son is Buddy Bumpus.
"He just came across as a real affable, fun loving guy that people just took to immediately," Buddy remembered of his father.
"He was a professional in every sense of the word, and when it came to news, he never fooled around," Chris added.
It was the early 1950s in Nashville.
"Being the third station on the air, it was the first station with maximum tower height and maximum power," Chris said. "That meant for people in northern Tennessee and southern Kentucky, we became their first TV station."
A letter was mailed out. For Immediate Release. WLAC-TV schedules regular broadcasts on Channel 5, Friday, August 6, 1954.
"The business office and the studio was located next to the L&C Tower," Chris continued. "It was technically called the L&C Annex."
It was 1956 when Bill Jay arrived.
"He was hired as an announcer," Buddy said of his father. "I think it was called The Big News back then."
"He came to WLAC when there wasn't a way to do news," Chris added. "They were just inventing it."
"He was very devoted to his family," Buddy continued. "He'd do the six, come home and have dinner with his family, turn around and do the 10 o'clock news. My mother would tell stories of us constantly having to wipe the TV set clean from her three children kissing their daddy goodnight."
Now, this was a different time. In pioneering days of local television, a news anchor wasn't limited to one thing, and Bill certainly wasn't.
"On The Popeye Show, he was Captain Bill," Buddy said, remembering a children's show on the station.
Bill was also a news anchor who knew where the fish were biting.
"Woods and Waters was an outdoors TV show he started shortly after he came to Channel 5," Buddy said. "Of all the things he was known for in Nashville, he was probably most known for Woods and Waters. Wildly popular for many, many years."
Buddy held up an old picture.
"Dad's on the left. Gentleman on the right is Bill Clay. He was father's co-host on Woods and Waters for many, many years. Partner in crime."
All sorts of shows were being created by WLAC. There were shows of country music, cooking shows, and puppet shows.
"They were into puppet shows cause they were cheap!" Chris laughed. "They could do 'em fast. Easy. The network service didn't start until prime time. There was nothing else to do. It was just fun. Shoot by the hip! Here's a great idea, let's try it! It was a cramped little studio. Not very clean. The whole building was very small. You were just close to everybody and that led to some kind of camaraderie."
When Chris, then an Atlanta news anchor, arrived for an interview in 1966, he was partly drawn to what was on WLAC's air.
"They had a weather radar," he remembered. "They had a guy, Bob Lobertini, who was a terrific weather man, terrific personality, and he could sell that stuff, and he did."
"Having Black musicians perform on television in Nashville was unheard of," Chris continued, referring to the show Night Train. "Nobody'd ever done it. We did it."
There were the immediate friendships, like the one between Chris and Bill.
"Bill Jay was the kind of friendly uncle you didn't want to make mad," Chris smiled. "He was the kind of guy, soft spoken. If you ever did anything wrong, he'd whipser in your ear, 'I wish you wouldn't do that again.' You'd say, 'yes, sir. I won't do that again.' I never did!"
WLAC was about to move. In 1968, a new WLAC building was ready to open on James Robertson Parkway.
"We made the move to accommodate color television," Chris said. "It was bigger offices. Two studios. We had the idea we would produce television shows for the network. It was state of the art. We promoted it as the only station in Nashville specifically designed for color television. We brought in some stars of some CBS programs of the day. We had thousands of people come to the station."
The following years were exciting ones for what was done in this space. Comedy and music variety show Hee-Haw began production at WLAC in 1969.
In 1974 WLAC introduced a news anchor named Oprah Winfrey. Bill knew this was someone special.
"He said, 'Oprah Winfrey, you watch. She's going someplace. She's going somewhere. She's going to be really something,'" Buddy remembered.
It was 1975 when NewsChannel 5 would no longer be known as WLAC.
"The television station was sold," Chris explained. "We went to something else, WTVF. Television Five. There was a lot of concern among the rank and file that we couldn't keep the LAC, but TVF caught on just fine, and Channel 5's pretty good at promoting things. Seamless. Seamless change."
The memories of those early days of the station are in good hands, with great storytellers who lived it like Chris and those who are proud to carry a legacy.
"What do you want people to remember about your dad more than anything?" I asked Buddy.
"That he really cared," he answered. "He really cared about what he was doing. People have talked about the contribution he made, but father said, 'I haven't made a contribution. I received a contribution.' I think he truly believed that."
Stay with NewsChannel 5 in the coming weeks and months as we show you more stories about the shows and people who defined the station. We'll be celebrating 70 years of the station through the rest of 2024.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
