WIS (TV)
kW | |
HAAT | 481 m (1,578 ft) |
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Transmitter coordinates | 34°7′30″N 80°45′22″W / 34.12500°N 80.75611°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | www |
WIS (channel 10) is a
History
The station first signed on the air on November 7, 1953. The station's first telecast was a college football game between the University of South Carolina and the University of North Carolina. The Liberty Life Insurance Company, owners of WIS radio (560 AM, now WVOC) through its Broadcasting Company of the South subsidiary, and the Maresco Corporation, owners of WMSC (1320 AM, now WISW) merged their competing applications to avoid what could have been years of hearings and delays. Seven of WMSC's stockholders sold their shares in Maresco and joined the board of the television station, which was initially operated separately from WIS radio.[5][6] However, the station was based alongside WIS radio at a new facility on Bull Street, where channel 10 is still headquartered today.
Charles Batson signed the station on the air, and remained the station's president and general manager until his retirement in 1983. It was the fourth television station to sign on in South Carolina and the third in the Columbia market, signing on just four months after WCOS-TV (channel 25)—which ceased operations in 1956—and two months after WNOK-TV (channel 67, now WLTX on channel 19, where it moved in 1961). WIS is the third-longest continuously operating station in the state, behind WCSC-TV in Charleston and WNOK/WLTX.
WIS radio (whose call letters stood for "Wonderful Iodine State", in reference to the abundance of
WIS-TV was a major beneficiary of an exception to the
Originally, Columbia was assigned two VHF licenses, channels 7 and 10. This did not sit well with Walter J. Brown, owner of
With this move, Columbia was now sandwiched between
WIS-TV was fortunate to gain that license, providing many people in that part of South Carolina with their first clear reception of a television signal. Until the FCC mandated all-channel tuning in 1964, viewers needed a converter to watch UHF stations, and picture quality was marginal at best even with a converter. This allowed channel 10 to become one of the most dominant television stations in the country; it has been the far-and-away market leader for most of its history.[7]
Channel 10 originally broadcast from a self-supporting tower atop its studios on Bull Street. In 1959, WIS-TV activated its current transmitter tower in Lugoff; the tallest structure located east of the Mississippi River at the time, it more than doubled the station's coverage area and provided at least secondary coverage as far north as Charlotte, as far south as Augusta, as far west as Greenwood and as far east as Florence. This included all but five of the state's 46 counties; in fact, until the arrival of cable television in the market in the late 1970s, channel 10 was one of only two stations that brought a clear signal to much of the outlying portions of the market—the other being WRLK-TV (channel 35), one of the two South Carolina Educational Television stations that serve the area. It would remain the tallest structure in South Carolina until Florence's WPDE-TV activated its signal in 1981. The station's original tower is still used as a backup; it is a longtime fixture of Columbia's skyline and is turned into a "Christmas tree of lights" during the holiday season.
For many years, WIS was one of two NBC affiliates that served the Florence–Myrtle Beach market, since that market was one of the few areas on the East Coast without its own NBC affiliate. It was the NBC affiliate of record for the Pee Dee (Florence) side of the market while Wilmington's WECT was the affiliate of record for Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand. However, most cable systems on the Myrtle Beach side of the market began carrying WIS in the mid-1980s. After the FCC passed the syndication exclusivity rule in 1989, WIS set up a "virtual station" for cable systems in the Florence–Myrtle Beach market that aired separate syndicated programming for the area. It also began selling advertising specific to the market as well, mostly on the Pee Dee side. This ended when Raycom Media signed on an NBC affiliate within that market, WMBF-TV, in August 2008.
WIS had modest viewership on the South Carolina side of the Charlotte market for several years, especially after that city's NBC affiliation moved to WRET (channel 36, later WPCQ-TV and now WCNC-TV) in 1978. WRET's UHF signal did not have nearly as much penetration as the VHF signal of former NBC affiliate WSOC-TV (channel 9). Even after new owner Westinghouse Broadcasting doubled channel 36's transmitter power in 1979, many viewers on the South Carolina side of the market got a better signal from WIS even though its transmitter was 80 miles (129 km) south of Charlotte. WIS appeared in The Charlotte Observer television listings well into the 1990s, and was carried on many cable systems on the South Carolina side of the Charlotte market well into the 21st century. A similar situation prevailed in Augusta, where WIS provided a stronger signal than WATU/WAGT (channel 26, now defunct) even though its transmitter was 100 miles (161 km) north of Augusta. It remained on most Augusta-area cable systems, including in Augusta itself, well into the new millennium.
The Broadcasting Company of the South acquired several other television stations over the years. It was renamed as the Cosmos Broadcasting Corporation in 1965, with WIS radio and television serving as its flagship stations. Later in the decade, Liberty Life reorganized itself as the Liberty Corporation, with Liberty Life and Cosmos as subsidiaries. Cosmos sold WIS radio in 1986, but kept the WIS calls for channel 10. Liberty sold off its insurance businesses in 2000, bringing channel 10 directly under the Liberty Corporation banner. In 1991, after being known on-air as "TV 10" for most of its history, the station began branding itself as simply "WIS" (this was one year before the "-TV" suffix was officially dropped from its callsign); this lasted until 2003, when it branded as WIS News 10 for both general and newscast branding purposes.
On August 25, 2005, Liberty agreed to merge with
In February 2003, the station signed on its digital signal, becoming the last "
On June 25, 2018, Atlanta-based Gray Television announced it had reached an agreement with Raycom to merge their respective broadcasting assets (consisting of Raycom's 63 existing owned-and/or-operated television stations, including WIS), and Gray's 93 television stations) under Gray's corporate umbrella. The cash-and-stock merger transaction valued at $3.6 billion – in which Gray shareholders would acquire preferred stock currently held by Raycom – resulted in WIS gaining new sister stations in nearby markets, including CBS affiliate WRDW-TV and NBC affiliate WAGT-CD in Augusta (while separating it from WFXG) in addition to its current Raycom sister stations.[10][11][12][13] The sale was approved on December 20,[14] and was completed on January 2, 2019.[15][16]
On May 29, 2019, Gray announced that WIS' second digital subchannel would become Columbia's CW affiliate effective September 30, 2019, with "Columbia's CW" replacing WKTC (channel 63).[17] As part of the new affiliation, Bounce TV was moved to WIS-DT3, with Grit moving to WKTC-DT7.
Programming
WIS formerly preempted the
Over the years, channel 10 preempted NBC programming in moderation—most notably, the
In 1963, the station debuted a long-running
WIS maintains the local rights to the highlight program from the
News operation
WIS presently broadcasts 40 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with seven hours on weekdays, two hours on Saturdays and three hours on Sundays); in addition, the station produces the
For the better part of channel 10's history, its newscasts dominated the ratings in Columbia. Cosmos/Liberty made it a point to pour significant resources into its stations' news departments from the 1950s onward. This resulted in a higher-quality product than conventional wisdom would suggest for a market of Columbia's size. Although Columbia was the state's largest city for most of the 20th century and well into the new millennium, it has always been a small-to-medium-sized market because the surrounding suburban and rural areas are not much larger than the city itself. The station took full advantage of its near-statewide coverage to establish a tradition for strong local news coverage that continues today. Its dominance was helped by the fact that it was the only VHF station in the market. From the late 1970s until the mid-1990s, it was the only station in the market that offered a full schedule of local newscasts in all four dayparts (morning, midday, early and late evening).
Another factor behind WIS' run atop Columbia's ratings has been talent continuity. These staffers included news anchors Ed Carter and
Channel 10's news operation has long been well respected in the industry. In 1997, for instance, Hank Price of Northwestern University's Media Management Center recalled that whenever South Carolina was mentioned in television circles, "WIS' name will quickly come up" because it was seen as "a model for success." NBC affiliate relations director Lloyd Segal said that WIS was so dominant because it was "a midsize market station that acts like a major-market station." He added that at the time, WIS was one of 10 stations that NBC considered "outstanding partners" in gathering local news; WIS was by far the smallest station in that group, the other nine were in large markets.[20]
While WIS still leads overall, it has spent the new millennium in a spirited battle for first place with WLTX. It has consistently lost the #1 ranking in the noon timeslot to WLTX (mainly because of that station's CBS Daytime programming lead-in), and the early morning ratings crown has switched between the two stations multiple times. In 2019, WIS lost the early evening timeslot to WLTX for the first time in memory. While WIS still led the late news race overall, WLTX had pulled well ahead among adults aged 25–54.
WIS has won numerous awards for station quality and its news productions, including the Southeast
In 1963, WIS moved its evening newscast from 6 to 7 p.m., in hopes of taking advantage of having
In 2006, WIS built a new set for its newscasts in preparation to an upgrade to high definition; the new set debuted in January 2007. On November 4, 2010, WIS became the second television station in the Columbia market (after WOLO) to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. With the upgrade, the set received a refresh and a modified graphics package was introduced; the station also changed its weather branding to "First Alert Weather". On June 16, 2013, WIS expanded its news programming on weekend mornings with the debut of the market's first Sunday morning newscast, airing at 10 a.m.[21]
Notable former on-air staff
- Susan Audé (Fisher) – anchor (1978–2006; retired)
- Angie Goff (now at WTTG in Washington, D.C.)
- Emmy Awardin 2006)
Subchannels
The station's signal is
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
10.1 | 1080i | 16:9 |
WIS-NBC | NBC |
10.2 | 720p | WIS-CW | The CW | |
10.3 | 480i | Bounce | Bounce TV | |
10.4 | The365 | The365
| ||
10.5 | Oxygen | Oxygen | ||
10.6 | Outlaw | Outlaw |
Out-of-market cable and satellite carriage
WIS is carried on cable systems as far southwest as
When
References
- ^ "Facility No. 13990 Callsign History". FCC CDBS.
- ^ "Raycom Media - WIS". Retrieved April 14, 2013.
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WIS". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ "The Archives @ BostonRadio.org: WIS-TV (10 Columbia, DT 41), 1741 Tower Rd., NE of Ft. Jackson". Index of photo galleries. March 23, 2003. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
- ^ "Rivals Merge; TV License Is Granted Here". The State. February 13, 1953. p. 11-B. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
- ^ "WIS Television to Start at 1:25 This Afternoon". The State. November 7, 1953. p. B-1. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
- ^ a b Nye, Doug (April 13, 1997). "Thanks to FCC, WIS-TV dominated the area from the beginning". The State. p. TV Weekly 35. Archived from the original on April 25, 2023. Retrieved April 25, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ FCC Document [dead link]
- ^ Global news wistv.com Retrieved June 25, 2009
- ^ "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.
- ^ John Eggerton (June 25, 2018). "Gray Buying Raycom for $3.6B". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media.
- ^ Dade Hayes (June 25, 2018). "Gray Acquiring Raycom For $3.65B, Forming No. 3 Local TV Group". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation.
- ^ Eggerton, John (December 20, 2018). "FCC OK With Gray-Raycom Merger". Broadcasting Cable. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
- ^ "Gray Closes On $3.6 Billion Raycom Merger". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheckMedia. January 2, 2019. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
- ^ "Gray Completes Acquisition of Raycom Media and Related Transactions", Gray Television, January 2, 2019; Retrieved January 2, 2019.
- ^ Miller, Mark K. "The CW Moving To WIS-TV Columbia In Fall". TV News Check. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
- ^ David Travis Bland (September 1, 2018). "He was Mr. Knozit, a weatherman, a news reporter and more. Now Joe Pinner is retired". The State.
- ^ "Battery's 2024 home matches to broadcast locally on WCSC and WIS". Charleston Battery. March 20, 2024. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
- ^ Nye, Doug (April 6, 2003). "In the catbird's seat: WIS sits on top—and it's up to others to knock it down". The State. pp. E3, E7. Archived from the original on April 25, 2023. Retrieved April 25, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Creative Jobs :: Careers for Graphic Designers, Copywriters, Social Media Managers, Proof Readers and More". Creative Jobs. August 29, 2018. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
- ^ "RabbitEars TV Query for WIS". RabbitEars.info.
- ^ Cable Search fcc.gov [dead link]