Originally signed on the air as WMCT on December 11, 1948, it was Tennessee's first television station, the 47th of the United States and a primary NBC affiliate owned by The E.W. Scripps Company.
1952–1960[]
1960–1967[]
WMC-TV[]
1967–1990[]
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"Channel 5, proud as a peacock!" (1979–1980)
WMC-TV 5 Brenda Wood ad 1980
"Channel 5, let's all be there!" ID (1984–1985)
Action News 5 at 10 promo (September 9, 1985)
1990–1995[]
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Scripps sold the WMC stations to Atlanta businessman Bert Ellis and his new company Ellis Communications, on July 19, 1993.
"Channel 5, the place to be!" ID #1 (1990–1991)
"Channel 5, the place to be!" ID #2 (1991)
1995–present[]
Print version
In 1995, WMC-TV debuted a die-cut "5" based on the alignment of the Mississippi River fork running along the western edge of Memphis (and stretching from St. Claire to West Memphis, Arkansas),[1] accompanied by a base logo inspired by the original version of the current logo of Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB-TV introduced the year prior, containing an outline of the station's longtime riverboat insignia on the red panel. (The WSB-inspired logo would become a standardized design for Ellis Communications' other television stations.) Ellis was acquired by Raycom Media in July 1996.
On July 23, 2021, coinciding with the start of NBC's coverage of the Tokyo Olympics, WMC reverted to the Action News 5 branding (removing the call letters from the moniker after seven years). The "River 5" logo used since 1995 was retained (albeit placed on a square rounded on the bottom right corner, and the NBC logo placed next the mouth of the "5").
The logo omits the riverboat emblem that had been part of WMC-TV's logo imaging in some form since 1952 (with a minor exception from 1990–95, during which time the riverboat was relegated to on-air station IDs).
Action News 5 logo (2021–2023)
2023–present[]
WMC would drop the "NBC 5" branding, and remove the NBC peacock from its logo, in December 2023.
Action News 5 logo (2023–present)
WMC-TV news opens-0
Note[]
↑As illustrated in abstract in the station's 1995–2001 newscast opens.
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