TV3 Winchester is pleased to announce that Bill Duvall has been named the station's first News Director. Duvall has 18 years of experience as a broadcast journalist, most recently as an anchor of Charlottesville s NBC 29 News at Sunrise, one of the highest-rated morning news shows in the country. He will also serve as a main co-anchor on TV3 Winchester s flagship early evening newscast, set to launch later this year.
    
"My family's home is in this area," Duvall said, "and bringing the residents of Frederick, Warren, Clarke and Shenandoah counties a local television news choice that focuses on relevant news to their lives is something I'm very excited about."

 With the move to TV3 Winchester, Duvall's career comes full circle in a sense. He covered Winchester area news as a reporter for Martinsburg's WYVN-TV from 1991 to 1994.

"At WYVN, I covered one of the biggest stories of my career, the crash of a C-130 military transport plane," Duvall said. "We were one of the first crews to arrive, and that scene of devastation is one I'll never forget."

Duvall will spend the next few months building the TV3 Winchester staff of producers, reporters, and anchors, and building relationships with a variety of government, civic, and business leaders in the northern Shenandoah Valley.
    
"We are so thrilled to have Bill join our team," said TV3 Winchester general manager Brad Ramsey. "His vast experience, combined with his knowledge of this area, will serve our viewers very well."

Duvall's excellence in journalism has earned awards from the Associated Press of Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. His work has also been honored by the Virginia Association of Broadcasters.

Duvall's television journalism experience includes stints as a business reporter at WTVR-TV in Richmond, weekend anchor at WXII-TV in Winston-Salem, NC, and Winston-Salem bureau chief at WGHP-TV of Greensboro, NC. His start in the television business came as a production assistant for the Larry King Show in 1984. Duvall graduated from George Mason University and later earned a Master's Degree in Journalism from West Virginia University.
    
TV3 Winchester will initially employ approximately 25 staff members, including producers, reporters and anchors who will deliver live evening newscasts at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m., seven days a week, beginning in December 2006. An early morning newscast will be added in 2007. In addition to local news, TV3 Winchester will provide viewers with vital weather information and forecasts, as well as coverage of local high school and college sports.

TV3 Winchester's presence in the northern Shenandoah Valley is made possible in part by a partnership with Shenandoah University. In addition to broadcasting from the studio in the Shenandoah University Television Center, TV3 Winchester will provide significant internship opportunities and hands-on learning experience to SU students. The station's sales, creative, engineering, and production staff will also operate from the SUTV Center.