CL65 CREW BEGAN A VISUAL APCH TO THE WRONG ARPT; AT NIGHT WITH RESTR VISIBILITY.

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ARR TO TYS WAS BUMPY WITH A BROKEN LAYER AT APPROX 7000 FT MSL. VISIBILITY WAS APPROX 8 MI WITH HAZE. APCH CTLR WAS OPERATING MULTIPLE FREQS AND WAS VERY SLOW TO RESPOND TO OUR INQUIRIES. WE WERE TOLD TO 'EXPECT A VISUAL APCH TO RWY 23L' AS BROADCAST ON THE ATIS. WE DID NOT RECEIVE ANY RADAR VECTORS; RATHER A COUPLE OF ADVISORIES AFTER REPEATED REQUESTS. APCH DID CALL RWY AT 11 O'CLOCK POS AND AT 9 MI. WE REQUESTED APCH CTL TO 'TURN UP THE LIGHTS FOR RWY 23L.' AFTER A SECOND REQUEST AND ANOTHER 15 SECONDS WE OBSERVED A SINGLE RWY AT ABOUT 11 O'CLOCK POS AT WHAT APPEARED TO BE ABOUT 8 OR 9 MI; WHICH WAS IN THE RANGE OF WHAT APCH CTL HAD ADVISED. WE CALLED 'THE RWY IN SIGHT' (LATER WE DISCOVERED IT WAS NOT RWY 23L AT TYS) TO WHICH WE WERE CLRED FOR THE APCH AND TO LAND. WE INQUIRED ABOUT THE LIGHTING TO RWY 23L AT LEAST 2 OR 3 TIMES (CREW WAS BEGINNING TO FEEL 'AWKWARD ABOUT THE SIT') AND DID NOT RECEIVE A REPLY. ACFT APPEARED TO BE ABOUT 1 OR 2 DOTS TO THE L OF THE LOC AND HIGH ON THE VASI. AS THE CHKLIST WAS IN THE PROCESS OF COMPLETION; WE RECEIVED THE 'TOO LOW TERRAIN MESSAGE' TO WHICH AN IMMEDIATE CLB STRAIGHT AHEAD WAS INITIATED. AGAIN WE CALLED APCH CTL; THEIR REPLY WAS 'NO THAT'S NOT IT; ARPT 11 O'CLOCK POS; AND 6 MI.' CREW SPOTTED THE TYS ARPT UNEQUIVOCALLY. APCH AND LNDG WAS NORMAL AND WITHOUT FURTHER INCIDENT. ALSO; WHEN THE CLB WAS INITIATED IN RESPONSE TO THE TERRAIN MESSAGE AND SUBSEQUENT ALT ADVISORY BY APCH WAS 'CLB TO 7500 FT MSL;' CREW WAS ALREADY CLBING THROUGH 3000 FT MSL. REMARKS FROM CTLR ABOUT DISTANCE ARE NOT 100% CERTAIN.