WECT
kW | |
| HAAT | 592.2 m (1,943 ft) |
|---|---|
| Transmitter coordinates | 34°7′54″N 78°11′16″W / 34.13167°N 78.18778°W |
| Translator(s) |
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| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WECT (channel 6) is a television station in Wilmington, North Carolina, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Gray Television, which provides certain services to Fox affiliate WSFX-TV (channel 26) under a shared services agreement (SSA) with American Spirit Media. The two stations share studios on Shipyard Boulevard in Wilmington; WECT's transmitter is located near Winnabow, North Carolina.
History
Channel 6 began broadcasting on April 9, 1954, with the call sign WMFD-TV. It aired an
At its launch, channel 6 was affiliated with all four networks of the day—NBC,
In 1969, WECT moved to a 2,000-foot (610 m) tall tower near
For its first half-century on the air, the station served as the default NBC affiliate for the northern and eastern portions of the
Atlantic Telecasting sold the station to the News-Press & Gazette Company in 1986. That company then sold its entire station group to the first incarnation of New Vision Television in 1993. New Vision turned around and sold its entire group to Ellis Communications in 1995. Ellis was folded into Raycom Media in 1997. In 2006, Raycom bought out the Liberty Corporation, owner of WWAY. However, FCC duopoly rules forced Raycom to spin off WWAY to Morris Multimedia as a condition of the Raycom–Liberty merger.
On May 8, 2008, the FCC announced that five stations in Wilmington (including WECT) had agreed to voluntarily cease analog broadcasting on September 8
WECT's coverage has been reduced as a result of the digital transition which left the station on
On August 8, 2008, Raycom signed-on WMBF-TV, a new digital-only NBC affiliate in Myrtle Beach covering the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing as part of its first network programming.[11] Due to FCC regulations, WECT disappeared from most cable systems in the Florence–Myrtle Beach market when WMBF signed on. For longtime viewers, this was controversial as this station had been on cable systems in Laurinburg and Lumberton for decades. On December 1, 2008, WECT returned to the Time Warner Cable lineup in Lumberton, but was placed in the digital tier.
This station is one of the few NBC affiliates that refused to air
Sale to Gray Television
On June 25, 2018,
News operation
On September 22, 2003, through a news share agreement, WECT began producing a nightly half-hour prime time newscast on WSFX (Fox 26 News at 10 (now Fox Wilmington News at 10)). This was eventually joined by an sixty-minute extension of WECT's weekday morning show on September 13, 2006, called Carolina in the Morning on Fox 26 (now Carolina in the Morning on Fox Wilmington), seen from 7 to 8 on WSFX offering an alternative to the national morning shows seen on the market's big three network-affiliated stations.
On August 31, 2008, WECT became Wilmington's first television outlet to upgrade local news production to high definition level and the broadcasts on WSFX were included in the change. At some point in time, WECT added a third newscast to WSFX, under the title Fox 26 News at 6:30 (later became Fox Wilmington News at 6:30). It only aired on weeknights and attempted to compete against the national evening newscasts seen on the big three networks. It would be canceled by the end of 2013 in preparation to expand the weeknight edition of the 10 p.m. show to an hour (which occurred on January 15, 2014).
After WWAY stopped producing weekend evening newscasts on August 1, 2009, WECT and WSFX became the only outlets in Wilmington to offer evening broadcasts seen seven nights a week. Although WWAY eventually reintroduced a local newscast airing Sunday nights at 11, WECT and WSFX remain the only channels in the market to air newscasts throughout the weekend. All newscasts on WSFX air from WECT's primary set but with modified duratrans indicating the Fox-branded shows.
Subchannels
The station's signal is
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.1 | 1080i | 16:9
|
WECT DT | NBC |
| 6.2 | 480i | Bounce | Bounce TV | |
| 6.3 | The365 | The365 / MyNetworkTV
| ||
| 6.4 | LAFF | Laff | ||
| 6.5 | Escape | Ion Mystery | ||
| 6.6 | Justice | True Crime Network | ||
| 6.7 | Oxygen | Oxygen |
Prior to September 26, 2012, WECT-DT2 aired a 24-hour local weather channel with the branding "WECT Plus". The subchannel also aired repeats of the main channel's weeknight 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts as well as local traffic and travel information. Occasionally, other special programming aired on WECT-DT2. From April 15, 2005, until the end of December 2008, WECT-DT2 carried the defunct NBC Weather Plus. WECT replaced the local weather channel with Bounce TV on August 18, 2014.
Escape (now Ion Mystery) was added to a new subchannel.
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WECT". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ TV Factbook 1963 worldradiohistory.com [dead link]
- ^ TV Factbook 1977 worldradiohistory.com [dead link]
- ^ a b c Michael Futch, "No more WECT on radio since transition," The Fayetteville Observer, March 26, 2009, Business section.
- ^ Cable Search fcc.gov [dead link]
- ^ FCC Document [dead link]
- ^ FCC Document [dead link]
- ^ "WECT TV6 - WECT.com - Wilmington, NC news and weather - Wilmington Goes Digital First". Retrieved August 13, 2023.
- ^ Alison Lee Satake, "Only 52 days remain until analog television screens in the greater Wilmington region lose their pictures," Star-News, July 18, 2008, News section.
- ^ Catherine Pritchard, "Stations don't have to provide antennas," The Fayetteville Observer, November 14, 2008, Local & State section.
- ^ Wayne Faulkner, "Myrtle Beach gets its own NBC affiliate," Star-News, August 7, 2008, News section.
- ^ a b Brooks, Drew (September 21, 2012). "Steel from demolition of TV tower in Bladen County to help Green Beret Foundation". The Fayetteville Observer. Retrieved October 16, 2012.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "WECT (Raycom) Television Tower - NEW WORLD RECORD! - Controlled Demolition, Inc". YouTube.
- ^ "GRAY AND RAYCOM TO COMBINE IN A $3.6 BILLION TRANSACTION". Raycom Media (Press release). June 25, 2018.
- ^ Miller, Mark K. (June 25, 2018). "Gray To Buy Raycom For $3.6 Billion". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheckMedia. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
- ^ Eggerton, John (June 25, 2018). "Gray Buying Raycom for $3.6B". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media.
- ^ Hayes, Dade (June 25, 2018). "Gray Acquiring Raycom For $3.65B, Forming No. 3 Local TV Group". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation.
- ^ "FCC OK with Gray/Raycom Merger", Broadcasting & Cable, December 20, 2018, Retrieved December 20, 2018.
- ^ "Gray Completes Acquisition of Raycom Media and Related Transactions", Gray Television, January 2, 2019, Retrieved January 2, 2019.
- ^ "RabbitEars TV Query for WECT". RabbitEars.info.
External links
Media related to WECT at Wikimedia Commons