WCNC-TV

Encyclopedia : W : WC : WCN : WCNC-TV

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WCNC-TV is the NBC affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina. It broadcasts its analog signal on UHF channel 36 and its digital signal on UHF channel 22 and is carried on cable channel 6 on all area cable systems (hence the "6" on its logo). It is owned by the Belo Corporation. Its transmitter is located in Dallas, North Carolina.

The NBC Network News has its satellite news feed headquarters right next door to WCNC. The complex is called the NBC Newschannel and in the 1990s, NBC Newschannel also produced the weather segments for Britain's NBC Super Channel, before that channel folded. In addition, they provided the overnight news feed for NBC stations, in the form of NBC Nightside. It also served as headquarters of the failed Spanish language news venture "Canal de Noticias, NBC" from 1993-1997, before NBC decided to buy Telemundo Network from Sony Pictures.

Early history

The station signed on January 8, 1968 as WCTU-TV, North Carolina's first independent station, beating Hickory's WHKY-TV by only one month. Jim Bakker began his television ministry at WCTU shortly after he broke off from Paul Crouch and TBN. Other than the religious shows a couple hours a day, the station aired cartoons, sitcoms, old movies and sports. The station hit hard times financially and was put up for sale in 1972.

Ted Turner bought the station in 1971 and renamed it WRET (after his initials, Robert Edward Turner). He retained the entertainment format and made it stronger. He made the station profitable almost immediately, as he did in Atlanta with what became WTBS.

In 1978, ABC moved its affiliation from WCCB-TV to WSOC-TV. It was widely expected that WCCB would simply swap affiliations with WSOC and become the NBC affiliate, but Turner scored a major coup when he won WRET the NBC affiliation. A few years earlier, the station had been on the verge of closing down. Turner sold about half of WRET's programming to WCCB, including cartoons, older sitcoms, and movies. The station also began a newscast.

Turner sold the station to Westinghouse Electric Corporation (Group W) in 1980 in order to free up cash to start up CNN. Under Westinghouse, the station changed call letters to WPCQ-TV (Westinghouse People of Charlotte and the Queen City), and added more game shows and talk shows to its lineup. It was the only UHF station owned by Group W, and the only Group W station without news, which was cancelled shortly after the purchase. There was virtually no newscast from 1982 until 1986 aside from hourly cut-ins. From September 1982 until the station was sold in 1984, WPCQ was the only NBC affiliate which did not carry NBC Nightly News, which it dropped due to poor ratings. Even some of Group W's popular shows, like PM Magazine and Hour Magazine, were seen on stations other than WPCQ.

The WRET call letters are now found on the South Carolina Educational Television station in Spartanburg, S.C.

Renaissance Broadcasting bought the station from Group W in 1984, and sold it to The Providence Journal Company in 1988. Journal Broadcasting renamed the station WCNC-TV (for Charlotte, North Carolina) on September 3, 1989. Soon afterward, it moved to channel 6 on all Charlotte area cable systems, and began promoting itself as "WCNC-TV36, Cable 6." Journal Broadcasting merged with Belo in 1997. From 1996 to 2003, the station was known on-air as NBC6, after its cable location. It still calls itself "channel 6" on-air.

The station stumbled in the ratings for much of the 80s, when it was the third station it what was essentially a two-station market--even with NBC's powerful Thursday night lineup. It didn't have a lot going for it, as its major rivals, WBTV and WSOC, had been on the air since the 1950s. Also, longer-established NBC stations in Winston-Salem, Columbia and Greenville were available over the air and/or on cable in much of the Charlotte market, significantly cutting into ratings. But many of this station's problems were of its own making. Besides the lack of a newscast, its signal was much weaker than was usually expected for a network affiliate, at only 2.1 million watts.

When it restarted a newscast in 1986, it initially scheduled its evening news for 5:30 p.m.--Charlotte's first drive-time newscast--knowing at the time that it couldn't compete with WBTV and WSOC at 6 p.m.. It expanded the 5:30 news to one hour in 1987 and boosted its signal to 5 million watts. It finally added a 6 p.m. newscast in 1989. However, it still dragged in the ratings until Belo assumed control. The early-evening news now airs from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM on weekdays.

Ratings Growth

When Belo took over in 1997, it invested large amounts of money in the station by hiring talent away from rival stations. WCNC hired Terri Bennett from WSOC when they refused to give her the Chief Meteorologist position. Ray Boylan, who retired from WSOC, returned to the air for WCNC until Bennett's No Compete Clause was up. WGN's Sonja Gantt, formerly of WBTV was lured back to her hometown from Chicago. Belo also invested large amounts of money into new sets, a news helicopter, a powerful live doppler radar system and other equipment. For much of the early part of the 21st century, it has waged a spirited battle with WBTV for second place behind WSOC.

WCNC is most successful in Mecklenburg County (home to Charlotte itself), and it actually leads WSOC and WBTV in higher income neighborhoods in Charlotte (as opposed to the outlying, more rural metro area). WCNC's viewers tend to be more educated in terms of the percentage that have college education in contrast to WSOC and WBTV. In addition, many newcomers to the Charlotte area seem to pick WCNC as their preferred newscast.

In late 2005, WCNC added Charlotte's first 4:30 newscast on a broadcast station

Newscasts

Weekdays

• 6 News Today - 5 a.m.-7 a.m.
• 6 News Midday - 11 a.m.-NOON
• 6 News at 4:30 - 4:30 p.m.-5 p.m.
• 6 News at 5 - 5 p.m.-5:30 p.m.
• 6 News at 5:30 - 5:30 p.m.-6 p.m.
• 6 News at 6 - 6 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
• 6 News Nightcast - 11 p.m.-11:35 p.m.

Weekends

• 6 News Today
• *Saturdays 7 a.m.-8 a.m.
• *Sundays 7 a.m.-10 a.m.
• 6 News at 6 - 6 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
• 6 News Nightcast - 11 p.m.-11:35 p.m. (till 11:30 on Saturdays)
• Sports Extra - 11:35 p.m.-12:05 a.m. Sundays

Awards

Despite still being in third place, WCNC's news operation is one of the most recognized in the country in terms of quality. They regularly receive more Regional Emmy awards than any station combined in the state or country. They also regularly receive the Edward R. Murrow Award for their news programming.

External links

• [WCNC-TV web site]
• [Query the FCC's TV station database for WCNC]

Broadcast television in the Charlotte market  [(Nielsen DMA #27)]
WBTV 3 (CBS) - WSOC 9 (ABC) - WHKY 14 (Ind) - W16CF 16 / W38CN 38 / W66ST 66 (TBN) - WUNE 17 / WUNG 58 (PBS/UNC-TV) - WCCB 18 (Fox) - WLNN-LP 24 (A1) - WNSC 30 (PBS/SCETV) - WCNC 36 (NBC) - WTVI 42 (PBS) - WJZY 46 (UPN/The CW) - WMYT 55 (The WB/My Network TV) - WAXN 64 (Ind)
Local cable television channels
News 14 Carolina
See also Broadcast television in , and

'''NBC Network Affiliates in the state of North Carolina
WECT 6 () - WITN 7 () - WXII 12 () - WNCN 17 () - WCNC 36 ()
'''See also: , , , , , and stations in North Carolina

 

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