WTOB-TV

[2] However, the FCC soon awarded Winston-Salem's VHF channel 12 to radio station WSJS, and its WSJS-TV had secured the NBC affiliation by August, leaving WTOB-TV with ABC.

[3] To accommodate television, WTOB radio and the new TV operation moved from the former's existing studios to the Smoke House on Stratford Road, where a 557-foot (170 m) tower, billed as the tallest man-made structure in North Carolina, was erected.

[9] In 1956, Winston-Salem Broadcasting unsuccessfully asked the FCC to assign channel 8 there; the firm cited its financial losses, which had forced cutbacks in service, and the preference of advertisers to have ABC shows air on a secondary basis on fringe VHF stations instead of a locally based UHF network affiliate.

[12] In a later article on the company, in 1964, chairman Gick Johnson attributed the failure of WTOB-TV not to the disadvantages of UHF broadcasting at the time—such as the need to convert sets—but rather to an underdeveloped ABC network.

That station's owners, the Sir Walter Television Company, then teamed with Winston-Salem Broadcasting on a proposal to assign VHF channel 8 to the Piedmont Triad.

[20] After WTOB-TV ceased broadcasting, Thruway Shopping Center merchants obtained permission to string the former channel 26 tower with lights and illuminate it at Christmastime.

[21] The "Tower of Light" became a local landmark during the holiday season and claimed to be the tallest Christmas tree in the world; several airlines advised passengers to look for it on night flights over North Carolina.