WSAZ-TV (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Huntington, West Virginia, United States, affiliated with NBC.

The oldest television station in West Virginia, WSAZ-TV, began broadcasting November 15, 1949, on VHF channel 5.

A more likely explanation is that the call letters were sequentially assigned by the United States Department of Commerce after WSAX in Chicago (now defunct) and WSAY in Port Chester, New York.

[3][4] However, the myth persists that the calls stand for "Worst Station from A to Z", which WSAZ radio itself helped spread by using it as a slogan for many years.

In 1950, WSAZ-TV received Federal Communications Commission (FCC) permission to build a private microwave link to Cincinnati allowing viewers to get NBC programming live.

As one of the nation's first privately owned microwave systems, it was a remarkable feat for one of the smallest cities in the country to have a television station (at that time).

Also in 1952, the FCC released its Sixth Report and Order, which ended the four-year-long freeze in awarding station licenses and included a realignment of VHF channel assignments.

As a result, WSAZ-TV moved to channel 3 to alleviate interference with fellow NBC affiliate WLWT in Cincinnati.

As part of the frequency switch, the FCC granted WSAZ a boost in broadcast power, which at the time, was the highest ever authorized for a television station.

The Gray purchase made WSAZ-TV a sister station to fellow NBC affiliate WTAP-TV (channel 15) in Parkersburg.

Being based in Huntington, WSAZ-TV is located 50 miles (80 km) away from West Virginia's state capital, Charleston.

While Charleston and its close-in suburbs receive the main WSAZ signal very well, it was marginal at best in much of the Kanawha Valley due to the area's rugged terrain.

The station came in a close second to WCHS for a short period in late 2009–early 2010 due to lower lead-in numbers originated by The Jay Leno Show.

The station has always devoted significant resources to its news department, resulting in a higher-quality product than conventional wisdom would suggest for what has always been a small-to-medium market.

NBC studied the format and used it as the basis for The Huntley-Brinkley Report anchored by Chet Huntley in New York City and David Brinkley in Washington, D.C. All of the big three networks have used this approach at one time or another since then.

Although it is a digital subchannel, many local cable companies, as well as satellite provider DirecTV,[16] air WSAZ-DT2 as a separate channel on their systems.