WCSC-TV
kW | |
| HAAT | 521 m (1,709 ft) |
|---|---|
| Transmitter coordinates | 32°55′29″N 79°41′57″W / 32.92472°N 79.69917°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WCSC-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Charleston, South Carolina, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Gray Television. The station's studios are located in the West Ashley section of Charleston, and its transmitter is located in Awendaw, South Carolina. Both the studio and road are named for long-time WCSC personalities: Bill Sharpe, a news anchor from 1973 until his retirement in 2021, and Charlie Hall, the station's original personality who died just months before its relocation to the current facilities in 1997.
History
WCSC-TV began broadcasting on June 19, 1953. Originally operating from studios located on East Bay Street in downtown Charleston, it was the second television station in South Carolina and the oldest continuously operating station in the state (the first was
Many of WCSC's early on-air staff were former radio disc jockeys who became involved with the new medium of television in 1953, including Al Stone, formerly recruited from WGAR who at the time worked alongside Alan Freed (Moondog) in Cleveland. Al Stone started with WCSC in 1952 as a radio DJ and the following year started hosting as emcee local program in 1953 called Waxworks and later a local popular American Bandstand–type dance show reviewing music for local teens. Carroll Godwin hosted a local daytime talk show in the 1960s. Loraine (Rainee) Evans hosted the popular children's program The Happy Raine Show. Ken Klyce was another popular news announcer.
The Rivers family sold WCSC-TV to Crump Communications of
WCSC was the local outlet for
After the station was sold to Jefferson-Pilot, Peper was a sideline reporter for the company's syndicated college football broadcasts. Peper went to Media General's WCBD-TV after a one-year non-compete agreement in the market expired. Viewers wrote that they hoped WCSC would not force out longtime anchors Bill Sharpe and Debi Chard in the same way. WCSC had lured meteorologist Bill Walsh away from rival WCIV in 1994 and had to hide his identity with thunderclouds when running station promotions during his non-compete agreement.[citation needed]
On November 12, 2007, Lincoln Financial Media entered into an agreement to sell WCSC and the company's two other television stations (
On October 3, 2013, in honor of Bill Sharpe's 40 years at the station, the studio was renamed the Bill Sharpe Studio.
On June 25, 2018, Gray Television announced its intent to acquire Raycom for $3.65 billion, pending regulatory approval.[4][5] The sale was completed on January 2, 2019.[6]
Local programming
Sports
Since 2024, WCSC's 3rd subchannel has aired select matches featuring the Charleston Battery of the USL Championship.[7]
News operation
WCSC's newscasts have long dominated the ratings in Charleston.[citation needed] The station's various owners have always poured significant resources into the news department, resulting in a much higher-quality product than conventional wisdom would suggest for a market of Charleston's size. The station had the same two news anchors weeknights at 6:30 from the mid-1970s until 1991 and the same three news anchors were together until 1997. Bill Sharpe became an employee at the station in 1973 after a short time at WTMA and has been with the station for over 40 years, with the station naming the primary studio for him in 2013. For most of the time since 1991, he has been teamed with Debi Chard. Sharpe retired on October 28, 2021. WCSC has been a trend-setter in South Carolina for newscasts as it expanded its local evening news programming on weeknights from thirty minutes to two and a half hours and has the most newscasts in the state within a broadcast day.[8]
After Fox requested its affiliates to air local news in the early 1990s, WTAT-TV (then owned by Act III Broadcasting) entered into a news share agreement with WCSC. This resulted in a nightly prime time broadcast known as The Fox 24 News at 10 to debut. It was the first prime time show in South Carolina, in the early 90s, followed by Fox affiliate WACH in Columbia which had a similar arrangement with NBC affiliate WIS, in that market, during the mid to late 90s. Eventually, an hour-long morning show on weekdays called The Fox 24 News at 7 also produced by WCSC launched on WTAT. Both shows originate from a secondary studio at 2126 Charlie Hall Boulevard (not the Sharpe studio). The 10 o'clock news is currently the second highest rated broadcast in the area.
In 1991, this station began airing a one-hour broadcast weeknights at 6 which later became ninety minutes from 5 to 6:30 followed by
In 2004, it added a thirty-minute newscast weekdays at 4 p.m. now totaling two hours of local broadcasts between 4 and 6:30. WCSC is the only station in the area to air local news at 4. In August 2006, with anchor and format changes at the CBS Evening News and concerns over ratings, it added a prime time show weeknights at 7 to "piggyback" with the network newscast. WCSC and ABC affiliate WCIV-DT2 are the only stations in the area to offer news in this time slot, and is similar to fellow Raycom stations in the Carolinas, following the lead of WIS, which has run 7 p.m. since 1963.
The station expanded its weather product with the "Live 5 Storm TRACKER Mobile Storm Center". It is the first vehicle of its kind in the region and allows WCSC meteorologists access to weather data away from the station and ability to send back live weather data for display on-air. On September 29, 2008, WCSC set another broadcasting benchmark in the area when it became the first to offer newscasts in high definition. The upgrade included new custom Raycom corporate graphics, a re-designed HD logo, and updated music package. The WTAT broadcasts were initially not included in the new HD production because that station was not yet equipped to broadcast local or syndicated programming in high definition. As of January 24, 2011, the WTAT news shows are now in HD. Starting August 31, 2009, the weeknight prime time show at 10 on WTAT was expanded to an hour and added a second news anchor.
On January 25, 2014, WCSC-TV expanded its news presence, again, by adding a Saturday and Sunday morning broadcast of Live 5 News This Morning from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m.
On December 31, 2015, WCSC-TV produced its last broadcast for WTAT-TV (with production for that station moving to sister station WCIV). WCSC-TV began producing an expansion to Live 5 News on its Bounce digital subchannel from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. The station also began airing a 7:30 p.m. newscast, in late November, weeknights to bring its 7 p.m. news to a full hour.[9]
Notable former on-air staff
- Ben Mankiewicz – later at TMZ and now at Turner Classic Movies and current co-host of The Young Turks
- Bill Sharpe – anchor (1973–2021)
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's signal is
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.1 | 1080i | 16:9 |
WCSC-HD | CBS |
| 5.2 | 480i | Bounce | Bounce TV | |
| 5.3 | 365 | The365
| ||
| 5.4 | Grit | Grit | ||
| 5.5 | Quest | Quest | ||
| 5.6 | Mystery | Ion Mystery | ||
| 4.2 | 720p | 16:9 | Catchy | Catchy Comedy (WGWG) |
WCSC-TV launched a second subchannel on January 8, 2010, that carries additional programming, branded as Live 5+.[11] Until 2013, the schedule consisted of additional syndicated programming (some of which has moved to other stations) as well as select programming from the main channel aired on 5.2. On December 26, 2013, select programming from This TV was added the channel. As of 2016, syndicated programs are no longer seen on the schedule. WCSC-TV added Bounce TV to 5.3 upon its launch on September 26, 2011.
Analog-to-digital conversion
WCSC-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 5, at 6 a.m. on June 12, 2009, as part of the
On June 1, 2018, as part of the repacking process, WCSC-TV moved its digital signal to channel 19.[15]
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WCSC-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. May 6, 1991. p. 56. Retrieved September 12, 2023.
- ^ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. August 30, 1993. p. 36. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
- ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
- ^ Hayes, Dade (June 25, 2018). "Gray Acquiring Raycom For $3.65B, Forming No. 3 Local TV Group". Deadline. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
- ^ "Press Releases" (PDF). gray.tv.
- ^ "Battery's 2024 home matches to broadcast locally on WCSC and WIS". Charleston Battery. March 20, 2024. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
- ^ Live 5 News Web Staff (October 3, 2013). "Taking a look back at Bill Sharpe's 40 years at Live 5 News". Retrieved February 19, 2016.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Live 5 Plus adds new programming to line-up". December 26, 2013. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
- ^ "RabbitEars TV Query for WCSC". RabbitEars.info. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
- ^ "About LIVE 5+". Live 5 Insider. December 31, 2009. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
- ^ "List of Digital Full-Power Stations" (PDF). hraunfoss.fcc.gov.
- ^ WCSC-TV's DTV Transition (2009-06-12), July 11, 2009, retrieved July 6, 2022
- ^ "CDBS Account Login". Retrieved February 19, 2016.
- ^ "Rescan reminder: Over-the-air antenna Live 5 viewers need to rescan channels". WCSC-TV. June 1, 2018. Retrieved June 6, 2018.