From The Archives: 1993 Grocery Store TVs
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - Grocery store lines are always evolving. Local consumers are grousing about the rising number of stores that are forcing us over to self-checkout. But 30 years…
From The Archives: 1983 Tear Gas incident at East Ridge Middle
EAST RIDGE, Tennessee (WDEF) - Today's school kids have seen a lot compared to what their parents and grandparents saw at school. We found an example from our…
From The Archives: 1983 New Car Deals
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - The models change, the technology changes and even the names change, but there is something about buying a new vehicle that hasn't changed. And that's looking…
From The Archives: Christmas Movies in 1986
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - While your family make hunker down for some serious steaming over Christmas weekend, the tradition used to be of bundling them all up to go to…
From The Archives: Reaction to Sandy Hook school shooting
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - Ten years ago, our area was reeling after the worst school shooting our country had ever seen. For our Thursday Throwback, we share several of…
From The Archives: 1982 December flooding
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - While we've seen a lot of rain this week in our area, it has actually been a fairly dry fall heading into winter. We've seen much worse.…
From The Archives: 1983 Holiday Shopping
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - Christmas season shopping has changed a lot over the years. While you go to Amazon, your parents went to discount malls. For tonight's Thursday Throwback, we take you…
From The Archives: 1980 Parking Garage
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - Chattanooga turned off the parking meters to attract holiday shoppers downtown through Saturday. There is a long history of trying to improve the parking situation for downtown stores.…
From The Archives: 1982 Catalogue Shopping
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - Holiday shopping has changed a lot in the last few years. Before there was Amazon, shopping by mail was a much slower process. In 1982, our reporters…
From The Archives: 1982 Thanksgiving meals
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - If you've been shopping for Thanksgiving meal ingredients, you know how inflation is impacting the traditional holiday meal. We're seeing double-digit price increases in turkey, potatoes, stuffing,…
From The Archives: Honey Alexander
MARYVILLE, Tennessee (WDEF) - We remember a First Lady of Tennessee who passed away on Sunday at the age of 77. Honey Alexander may be best known as the wife of…
From The Archives: 1982 Vols Vs Bama
KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (WDEF) - There have been a lot of colorful moments for fans on the Third Saturday in October. But we found one old Bama-Vols showdown in…
From The Archives: 1992 Ketner's Mill Fair
WHITWELL, Tennessee (WDEF) - Ketner's Mill is a testament to the old ways. And so is the annual fall festival at the mill. This year's Ketner's Mill Country Arts &…
From The Archives: 1992 Hamilton County Fair
HAMILTON COUNTY, Tennessee (WDEF) - After years of fall events at Chester Frost Park, the Hamilton County Fair is in transition. Of course, the annual event has missed a few…
From The Archives: 1988 Rock Music Warning Labels
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - If you are a fan of the show "Stranger Things," one of the themes in the most recent season was parents' reactions to heavy meddle music…
From the Archives: 1992 student worries
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - Can parents really relate to the trouble school kids face today? School shootings, sexting, meth and fentanyl, and the devaluation of a college degree are all fairly…
From The Archives: 2017 Hurricane Harvey issues
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - We've had a very calm hurricane season so far in our part of the world. But that generally is not the case this time of year.…
From The Archives: Pat Boone Invitational
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - Lipscomb University is reminding us this week that singer Pat Boone is a member of their Hall of Fame. Boone was a popular singer, movie star and…
From The Archives: The First Riverbend Festival
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - Just how, when and why the Riverbend Festival began is still a matter for debate. But the first full Festival happened in August of 1982. This was…
From The Archives: 1982 Flooding
HAMILTON COUNTY, Tennessee (WDEF) - We usually think of summertime as hot and dry in our area. But this year is an outlier. It has been hot, but we've…
From The Archives: Hamilton Place Mall Opening
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - This was a big week for Chattanooga 35 years ago. In back to back days, Hamilton Place Mall officially opened to customers and local leaders…
From The Archives: The Dancing Cowboy
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - It's the job of Louie The Lookout to entertain fans at the ballpark. But ten years ago, a guy in the stands helped him out. Longtime Lookouts…
From The Archives: 1988 Vakhtang Jordania's tribute to freedom
CHICKAMAUGA, Georgia (WDEF) - The Pops On The River concert returns to Coolidge Park on Saturday after missing a couple of years due to the pandemic. The…
From The Archives: 1988 Heat & Drought
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - On Tuesday, the temperature hit 99 degrees. Patrick tells us that's the hottest day we've seen since 2019. So is it unusual for temperatures to get…
From The Archives: 2012 Lauren Alaina closes Riverbend Festival
(CHATTANOOGA) - Ten years ago, the Riverbend scored a big homecoming show to close out that year's festival. Country singer Lauren Alaina was just starting her professional…
From The Archives: 1985 Commercials
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - If you are watching CBS this week, you may notice the new promos for their summer daytime lineup. The campaign is an homage to their…
From The Archives: "extras" at the filming of 42 in Chattanooga
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - Ten years ago this week, hundreds of Chattanoogans came out to watch actor Chadwick Boseman do his thing. But they also hoped to get into his movie.…
From The Archives: 1992 North Shore
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - Modern Chattanoogans may take it for granted that people want to move to the Southside, Riverfront and North Shore. But it wasn't always that way. 30 years…
From The Archives: Friday the 13th superstitions
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - Is Friday the 13th really the right day to try something new? The date has become linked to bad luck, like walking under ladders or…
From The Archives: 1992 reaction to the Rodney King beating verdict
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - Police arrests caught on video are all over the news these days. But controversial arrests are nothing new. Thirty years ago, the most infamous case of all…
From The Archives: The 1992 Tennessee Aquarium Opening
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - This weekend, the Tennessee Aquarium celebrates their 30th birthday. "On May 1, 1992, Chattanooga came together as the Tennessee Aquarium opened its doors, igniting the 'Renaissance on the River.'" So they are holding a Riverfront Celebration all…
From The Archives: 1987 Sunrise Service
COLLEGEDALE, Tennessee (WDEF) - An Easter tradition is returning to Collegedale on Saturday after a two year break for Covid. The SonRise Resurrection Pageant begins at 9 AM…
From The Archives: 1982 Alabama Homecoming Concert
RAINSVILLE, Alabama (WDEF) - Rainsville, Alabama isn't really their hometown, but it was close enough in 1982. County music fans in our area should be able to tell…
From The Archives: 1982 World's Fair
KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (WDEF) - If you visit Knoxville these days, pay a visit to World's Fair Park. It's a greenway and public performance area downtown. The park is built…
From The Archives: 1992 stars
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - We couldn't pick just one star for you in tonight's Thursday Throwback. So we came up with three. Our stars come from the fields of music, politics…
From The Archives: 2002 Tri-State Crematory scandal
NOBLE, Georgia (WDEF) - We are marking the 20th anniversary this week of one of the most bizarre stories ever in our area. This week, authorities had just begun to…
From the Archives: 1992 Valentine's Day
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - Our Valentine's Day traditions haven't changed all that much over the years. For our Thursday Throwback, we're going back 30 years to celebrate in 1992. The technology…
From The Archives: Chattanooga Air Pollution
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - Chattanooga leaders like to talk about how far we've come as a green city. The main evidence comes from our history with air pollution. When the city…
From The Archives: 1982 French Chef Visit
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - These days, you can find a cooking show just about every where you turn. But 40 years ago, chefs had to hit the road to reach…
From The Archives: Year in Review of the 2011 tornado outbreak
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - This is the week we usually spend reflecting back on the previous year. Ten years ago, it was obvious what was the biggest story of the year here…
From The Archives: 1991 Christmas Song
RAINSVILLE, Alabama (WDEF) - Each year, we get a new bundle of holiday songs. Some last, some don't. Which takes us to a seasonal hit from 30 years…
From The Archives: 1991 rating the Mall Santas
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - The problem with more online Christmas shopping is where will people go to sit on Santa's lap? For generations, parents took their kids to visit Santa while…
From The Archives: 1991 Oh, Calcutta controversy
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - The Tivoli Foundation is at a crossroads these days. They are still trying to survive the pandemic, while pushing a major expansion to the Tivoli…
Chip's Good Word: Desmond Doss
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - One of the most famous veterans from the Tennessee Valley is buried at the National Cemetery. Desmond Doss was born in Virginia and moved to our area later…
From The Archives: Remembering Chattanooga's Streetcar system
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - Before buses took over the job of moving Chattanoogans around town, the city had a thriving streetcar system. Streetcars used electricity to power them instead of combustion engines.…
From The Archives: The Timeline for the Fallen Five attack
A year after the terror attack in Chattanooga on July 16, 2015, reporter Erik Avanier recreates just what happened and when.
From The Archives: Wedding Troubles
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - Imagine getting a call on your honeymoon saying that your wedding was really legal! It happened to a pair of couples in Chattanooga back in 1991. And one of them was radio personality Parker…
News 12 Then: 1981 Armed Forces Day Parade
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - Chattanooga will hold its 72nd Armed Forces Day Parade on Friday. The parade starts at 10:30 AM at the intersection of MLK Boulevard and Market Street. It will then proceed up Market to the…
Tenth Anniversary of the 2011 tornado outbreak
It was 10 years ago on this day when a deadly tornado outbreak rocked the Chattanooga region to its core, in what was among the deadliest outbreaks in modern history. We endured dozens of confirmed tornadoes that…
From the Archives: Easter Services in 1981
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - On this Good Friday, we're taking a look back at Easter services from our past. We're going back 40 years. Our story takes us from Rome to Chattanooga's National Cemetery. We'll see Easter Bonnets and singing crosses.…
