Richmond station rebrands, changes website domain

WWBT, the Gray-owned NBC affiliate in Richmond, Virginia, has rebranded. 

Previously, the station was known on air as “NBC 12” and “12 News.”

Starting the week of Dec. 11, 2023, it is now known as “12 On Your Side,” a name that incorporates its previous “On Your Side” tagline. 

The station has updated its website address to 12onyourside.com (it was previously nbc12.com). 

Its social media handles were also updated.

The old WWBT logo.

Another notable update is that the station logo has been updated to remove the NBC peacock. 

The logo throughout most of the station’s version of the GrayONE graphics package has been updated. 

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KMOV switches to ‘First Alert 4’ branding for entire news operation

The move follows the rebranding at fellow Gray station KMOV in St. Louis, Missouri, which switched to “First Alert 4” for its news branding and domain name the same week as WWBT.

The St. Louis changes also saw the network logo removed from the station logo, in KMOV’s case it was the CBS eye.

Neither WWBT or KMOV changed or dropped network affiliations.

It’s not uncommon for stations to bounce back and forth between using network logos and branding and not. The shifts can sometimes be driven by how well the network schedule is performing or simply the whims of management. 

The removal of network icons from station logos also allows stations to create a more standalone, local brand, which can be key in the current environment of numerous choices for consuming video content. 

Gray’s use of alternate domain names feels similar to a late 1990s trend when Hearst-owned stations used the domain schema The(CityName)Channel.com for their digital presence.