WSOC-TV
This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2013) |
FCC | |
Facility ID | 74070 |
---|---|
ERP | 1,000 kW |
HAAT | 356 m (1,168 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 35°15′41.1″N 80°43′36.5″W / 35.261417°N 80.726806°W |
Translator(s) | see § Translators |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | www |
WSOC-TV (channel 9) is a
History
The station first signed on the air on April 28, 1957,
WSOC was originally locally owned by Carolina Broadcasting, operated by the Jones family, along with WSOC radio (1240 AM, now
Channel 36 went off the air in 1955. It operated as educational WUTV from 1961 to 1963, then returned to the air in November 1964 as WCCB. WCCB moved to the stronger UHF channel 18 allocation in November 1966, but it continued to be at a competitive disadvantage because many Charlotte-area households did not yet have television sets with UHF tuning capability. As a result, ABC retained a secondary affiliation with WSOC and WBTV, while WCCB aired programs from all three networks (ABC, NBC and CBS) that WSOC and WBTV declined to air. In 1967, WSOC became an exclusive NBC affiliate, while WCCB became a full-time ABC affiliate.[3]
By 1978, ABC had become the highest-rated broadcast television network in the United States for the first time; the network wanted a stronger affiliate in Charlotte than WCCB. WSOC switched its affiliation back to ABC on July 1, 1978, this time as a full-time affiliate. NBC programming was moved over to former independent station WRET (channel 36, now WCNC-TV), due to a promise by then-owner Ted Turner to make $2.5 million in upgrades to that station, including the planned launch of a news department and a more powerful transmitter.[4] WCCB became an independent station by default, remaining so for the next nine years until it affiliated with Fox when that network launched in October 1986. The WSOC radio stations were sold off in the early 1990s (the AM station, now WYFQ, is now owned by Bible Broadcasting Network; WSOC-FM is currently owned by Beasley Broadcast Group).
By the mid-1990s, WSOC-TV had a problem. It owned the rights to a large amount of syndicated programming, but increased local news commitments left it without enough time in its broadcast day to air it all. In 1996, it found a solution in the form of a
On December 21, 2010, a distraught 51-year-old woman armed with a gun entered the WSOC-TV studios, forcing the station to temporarily go off the air just after the start of that evening's 5 p.m. newscast. After a one-hour standoff, the woman was taken into custody; it was later determined that the gun was not loaded. No injuries were reported in the incident.[7]
In February 2019, it was announced that Apollo Global Management would acquire Cox Media Group and Northwest Broadcasting's stations.[8][9] Although the group planned to operate under the name Terrier Media, it was later announced in June 2019 that Apollo would also acquire Cox's radio and advertising businesses, and retain the Cox Media Group name.[10] The sale was completed on December 17, 2019.[11]
News operation
WSOC-TV presently broadcasts 37½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 5½ hours each weekday and five hours each on Saturdays and Sundays); in addition, the station produces an additional 17 hours of newscasts each week for sister station WAXN-TV (in the form of a two-hour extension of WSOC's weekday morning newscast and an hour-long 10 p.m. newscast).
Since the early 1970s, WSOC-TV has used the Eyewitness News brand for its newscasts. However, its overall news presentation is very similar to the Action News format at Atlanta sister station WSB-TV. When channel 9 expanded its 6 p.m. newscast to a full hour, it began airing ABC World News Tonight at 7 p.m. This ended in 1993, when the addition of a newscast at 5:30 p.m. led the station to cut back the 6 p.m. newscast to a half hour and World News Tonight moved back to 6:30.
For most of its first quarter-century on the air, WSOC's newscasts placed a very distant second in the Charlotte market, behind the longer-established WBTV. However, in 1981, the station scored a major coup when longtime WBTV anchorman Doug Mayes moved to WSOC as its noon anchor, where he stayed until his retirement in 1992. Mayes said years later that WSOC made an offer too generous for him to turn down, considering that he had two kids in college at the time.[12] The move quickly paid off; in 1982, it overtook WBTV for the lead at 11 p.m., a lead it held for almost 25 years. It surpassed WBTV in most other timeslots beginning in 1990, but lost the lead in the noon time period to WBTV in 1994.
Channel 9's two-decade dominance of the early evening news timeslots largely stemmed from the former presence of Oprah as a lead-in to the 5 p.m. newscast; the syndicated talk show aired on channel 9 throughout its national run from 1986 to 2011. During the February 2011 ratings period, the station's newscasts won in every time slot except noon and 11 p.m., which were won by WBTV.[13] WSOC-TV lost the lead at noon as well in the February 2013 sweeps period.[14]
By the February 2016 sweeps, however, the departure of a number of key reporters in 2015 resulted in WSOC-TV falling to second place in all timeslots. However, it maintained its historic dominance east of the Catawba River.[15] WSOC-TV would regain the market lead by 2023, where the station leads in three key timeslots.[16]
Since 2000, WSOC-TV has produced a 10 p.m. newscast for sister station WAXN-TV. The program originated on then-Fox affiliate WCCB through a news share agreement established with that station in 1999, until the summer of 1999, when WCNC took over production of the prime time newscast shortly before WCCB launched its own news department in January 2000. During the February 2011 ratings period, WSOC's 10 p.m. newscast on WAXN placed second behind WCCB's in-house newscast; it also placed ahead of the WBTV-produced newscast on then-CW affiliate WJZY (channel 46, now a Fox affiliate), as well as the 11 p.m. newscast on WCNC.[13] Bill Walker served as WSOC's main anchor from 1971 until his retirement in 2005, the longest tenure of any news anchor in Charlotte television history.[citation needed]
On April 22, 2007, WSOC-TV became the first television station in the Charlotte market and the second station in North Carolina overall (after
On August 26, 2012, starting with its 6 p.m. newscast, WSOC-TV debuted a brand new news set and graphics package as well as an updated version of the station's "Circle 9" logo, which has been in use since 1984 (and is similar in resemblance to the "9" logo long used by
Notable former on-air staff
- Peter Daut – anchor/reporter (2012–2014); now at KESQ-TV
- Doreen Gentzler – anchor/reporter (1979–1983); later at WRC-TV until her retirement in 2022
- Chuck Goudie – news reporter/sports anchor (1977–1980); now at WLS-TV
- U.S. House of Representatives, 8th District of North Carolina
- Michelle Kosinski – reporter; now at CNN
- Bob Lamey – sportscaster, former Indianapolis Colts radio play-by-play broadcaster; now retired
- Diana Williams – reporter (1979–1982); later at WABC-TV; now retired
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's signal is
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
9.1 | 720p | 16:9 |
WSOC-TV | Main WSOC-TV programming / ABC |
9.2 | TMNDO | Telemundo | ||
9.3 | 480i | 4:3 |
getTV | Get |
9.4 | 16:9 | CometTV | Comet | |
64.3 | 480i | 16:9 | Mystery | Ion Mystery (WAXN-DT3) |
On March 9, 2017, WSOC-TV announced that it would launch
Analog to digital conversion
WSOC-TV shut down its analog signal, over
NextGen TV
WSOC-TV upgraded to
Translators
Although WSOC-TV's digital transmitter operates at a full million watts, several portions of the market lost coverage when the station switched to digital. The station operates three digital
W26FA-D Marion
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming[27] |
---|---|---|---|---|
6.1 | 720p | 16:9 |
WSOC-TR | Simulcast of WSOC-TV |
6.2 | 480i | WAXN-TR | Ion Mystery (WAXN-TV) |
WSOC-CR Shelby
Channel | Res.
|
Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
9.5 | 720p | 16:9 |
WSOC-CR | Simulcast of WSOC-TV |
9.6 | 480i | Tele-CR | Simulcast of WSOC 9.2 |
WSOC-ST Statesville
Channel | Res.
|
Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
9.9 | 720p | 16:9 |
WSOC-ST | Simulcast of WSOC-TV |
9.10 | 480i | Tele-ST | Simulcast of WSOC 9.2 |
Out-of-market cable and DirecTV carriage
In recent years, WSOC has been carried on
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WSOC-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ a b "Channel 9 Eyewitness News Is Now In High Definition!". Charlotte, NC: WSOC-TV. April 22, 2007. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved February 6, 2012.
- ^ "Channel 9 Will Stick With NBC, Quit ABC," The Charlotte Observer, June 2, 1967, p. 14.
- ^ The Charlotte Observer, Apr 25 and 29, 1978.
- ^ "FCC Revises Local Television Ownership Rules" (Press release). Federal Communications Commission. August 5, 1999. Retrieved January 31, 2007.
- ^ "Television Application For Assignment Of License Granted". Federal Communications Commission. January 31, 2000. Retrieved January 31, 2007.
- ^ "Woman With Gun At WSOC In Custody". TVNewsCheck. December 22, 2010. Retrieved December 22, 2010.
- ^ "Apollo Global Management Acquires Cox's Television Stations Plus Radio & Newspapers In Dayton". RadioInsight. February 15, 2019. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
- ^ Jessell, Harry A. (March 6, 2019). "Cox TV Valued At $3.1 Billion In Apollo Acquisition". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheckMedia LLC. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
- ^ Jacobson, Adam (June 26, 2019). "It's Official: Cox Radio, Gamut, CoxReps Going To Apollo". Radio & Television Business Report. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
- ^ Venta, Lance (December 17, 2019). "Apollo Global Management Closes On Its Acquisition Of Cox Media Group". RadioInsight. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
- ^ "Broadcasting legend, Doug Mayes, returns to WBTV for final broad – WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC". Wbtv.com. September 27, 2013. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
- ^ a b "Classics Rolling-on Everytime". Retrieved March 13, 2011.[dead link]
- ^ [1] Archived September 3, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Washburn, Mark (March 2, 2016). "Historic sweep: WBTV wrestles the news ratings lead from WSOC". The Charlotte Observer.
- ^ Malone, Michael (October 20, 2023). "Local News Close-Up: News Battle Royale in Queen City of Charlotte". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
- ^ "More News Shows Coming-in to beat WSOC's broadcast of GMA". Retrieved August 12, 2010.[dead link]
- Charlotte Observer, August 24, 2012.
- ^ Eyewitness News at 10 p.m. on WAXN-TV 64 expanding to 1-hour WSOC.com, November 21, 2013.
- ^ RabbitEars TV Query for WSOC
- ^ Washburn, Mark (March 9, 2017). "WSOC to launch new TV channel in Spanish". The Charlotte Observer. Charlotte, NC. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
- ^ "WSOC-TV launches Telemundo Charlotte | WSOC-TV". July 31, 2017. Archived from the original on July 31, 2017. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
- ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
- ^ Egitto, Daniel (July 8, 2021). "These Charlotte TV stations upgraded broadcasts. Here's what that means for viewers". The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
- ^ a b FCC Internet Services Staff. "Application View ... Redirecting". Licensing.fcc.gov. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
- ^ "Charlotte, NC – OTA – Page 330 – AVS Forum | Home Theater Discussions And Reviews". AVS Forum. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
- ^ RabbitEars TV Query for WSOC
- ^ [2] Archived May 2, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
External links
- Official website
- Facility details for Facility ID 53891 (W26FA-D) in the FCC Licensing and Management System