WOAY-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to Oak Hill, West Virginia, United States, serving the Bluefield–Beckley–Oak Hill market as an affiliate of ABC. It has been locally owned by the Thomas family since its inception, and its studios and transmitter are co-located on Legends Highway in Scarbro, just outside the Oak Hill city limits (though with an Oak Hill mailing address).
History
The first television station in southern West Virginia, WOAY-TV, began operations on December 14, 1954, on channel 4.[2] The station was founded by local businessman Robert R. Thomas Jr., and operated as a sister station to WOAY radio (860 AM and 94.1 FM, now WAXS). The station began as a primary ABC affiliate, but in its early years maintained a secondary relationship with the DuMont Television Network, which it lost when DuMont shut down in 1956. In 1959, it switched its primary affiliation to CBS, retaining a secondary affiliation with ABC.
Channel 4 became a full ABC affiliate on February 19, 1967, opting to affiliate with what then-station manager Robert Brown referred to as "the nation's fastest-growing network,"[3]