WSOC-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WSOC-TV
city =
station_
station_slogan = Covering the Carolinas in HD
station_branding = "Channel 9" (general)
"Channel 9 Eyewitness News" (newscasts)
analog = 9 (VHF)
digital = 34 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = ABC
Severe Weather Center 9 NOW (DT2)
network =
founded =
airdate = April 28, 1957
location = Charlotte, North Carolina
callsign_meaning = We Serve Our Community
-or-
Sounds Of Charlotte
(both from WSOC radio)
former_callsigns =
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Cox Enterprises, Inc.
licensee = WSOC Television, Inc.
sister_stations = WAXN-TV
former_affiliations = Primary:
NBC (1957-1978)
Secondary:
ABC (1957-1967)
effective_radiated_power = 316 kW (analog)
1000 kW (digital)
HAAT = 364 m (analog)
348 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 74070
coordinates = coord|35|15|41.2|N|80|43|36.6|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.wsoctv.com/ www.wsoctv.com]

WSOC-TV ("Channel 9") is the ABC affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is owned by Cox Enterprises. The station's studio is located at North Tryon and 23rd Streets, just north of Uptown Charlotte, and is shared with sister station WAXN-TV (channel 64). The transmitter is located just outside Charlotte's northeastern city limits, in the Newell-Hickory Grove area. WSOC-TV is carried on cable channel 4 on cable systems in Charlotte, Gastonia and Rock Hill and on channel 9 in most outlying areas.

History

WSOC-TV signed on on April 28, 1957. [http://www.wsoctv.com/news/12833433/detail.html] It was Charlotte's third television station, after WBTV and WAYS-TV, which broadcast on channel 36 from 1954 to 1955. WSOC was the second station on the VHF band, and is now Charlotte's second-oldest continuously operating station.

It was originally owned by the Jones family along with WSOC radio (AM 1240, later on AM 930 and now WYFQ; and FM 103.7). WSOC-AM was Charlotte's second radio station, having signed on the air in 1929, seven years after WBT.

Originally, Channel 9 was a primary NBC affiliate, and shared ABC programs with WBTV. Cox Communications of Atlanta bought WSOC AM-FM-TV in 1959.

Channel 36 returned to the air in 1964 as WCCB. WCCB moved to channel 18 in 1966, but it continued to be at a competitive disadvantage because many Charlotte-area homes did not yet have sets with UHF tuning capability. For the next three years, WSOC and WCCB split both NBC and ABC programming roughly equally; WBTV continued to air some ABC programs as well. WCCB aired programs from all three networks that the other two stations declined.

In 1967, NBC, which has historically been very intolerant of local pre-emptions, told channel 9's management to start clearing all of NBC's programming as a condition of renewing its affiliation with the station. WSOC then dropped all remaining ABC programming and became a sole NBC affiliate, while WCCB became a full-time ABC affiliate with no NBC programming.

By 1978 ABC had become the country's highest-rated network for the first time, and wanted a stronger outlet in Charlotte than WCCB. Cox quickly cut a deal to switch both WSOC and its flagship station, WSB-TV in Atlanta, to ABC affiliation. WSOC joined ABC on July 1, 1978 (WSB-TV joined ABC two years later). NBC was sent over to WRET (channel 36, now WCNC-TV), and WCCB became an independent station (it is now affiliated with Fox). The radio stations were sold off in the early 1990s; the AM station is now owned by Bible Broadcasting Network, and WSOC-FM by CBS Radio.

In 1996, WSOC-TV entered into a joint sales agreement with WKAY-TV, channel 64. As part of the deal, WKAY moved its operations to WSOC-TV's studios and changed its calls to WAXN-TV. Cox bought WAXN outright in 2001.

WSOC-TV was Charlotte's home of the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon from 1974 to 2001; the program now airs on WAXN.

Digital television

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Newscasts

Since the early 1970s, WSOC-TV has used the Eyewitness News moniker for its newscasts. However, its style is very similar to the Action News format at sister station WSB-TV.

For many years, WSOC's news was a very distant second in the Charlotte market, behind the older WBTV. However, in 1981 it scored a major coup when it poached WBTV's longtime anchorman, Doug Mayes. The move quickly paid off; in 1982 it overtook WBTV for the lead at 11 PM, a lead it held for almost 25 years. It surpassed WBTV in most other time slots beginning in 1990, but lost the lead at noon to WBTV in 1994. It has been able to dominate the early news timeslots largely because of the presence of "Oprah" as a lead-in; the show has aired on channel 9 since its national premiere in 1986. In the February 2008 ratings, WSOC led in every time slot. [http://www.charlotte.com/326/story/526542.html] . However, during the May 2008 sweeps, WSOC lost the lead at 11 PM to WBTV. The subsequent July 2008 ratings period showed WSOC-TV at 11 pm back on top.

Since 1994, WSOC-TV has produced a 10:00pm newscast, which now airs on its sister station, WAXN-TV. Its 10:00 news aired on WCCB until that station launched its own local news operation in 2000. In November 2007, WAXN's newscast was second in the 10 PM news ratings, behind WCCB and ahead of the WBTV-produced newscast on WJZY. [http://www.charlotte.com/326/story/386253.html]

Bill Walker was WSOC's main anchor from 1971 until his retirement in 2005, longer than anyone in Charlotte television history.

WSOC-TV started producing local high definition newscasts on April 22, 2007 [http://www.wsoctv.com/news/12833433/detail.html] . That made WSOC the first television station (and currently the only one) in Charlotte and the second station in North Carolina (behind Raleigh's WRAL-TV) to do newscasts in HD.

DirecTV carriage outside the market

The FCC in recent years have allowed some out of market counties to receive "significantly viewed" stations [http://www.fcc.gov/mb/significantviewedstations.pdf] . The following North Carolina counties that can receive WSOC on DirecTV are Alleghany, Davidson, Davie, Montgomery, Wilkes and Yadkin. One of the likely reasons that WSOC is carried in some counties is because of the high viewership and the weaker WXLV signal that does not reach all of the Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem market where WSOC is easier to receive. Alleghany County used to be in the Charlotte market but switched to the Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem market.

Current Personalities

News

*Mark Becker, General Assignment Reporter
*Jamie Bowers, Traffic Reporter
*Jim Bradley, General Assignment Reporter
*Erica Bryant, 5:30PM and 10PM Anchor/Reporter
*Tim Caputo, General Assignment Reporter
*Vince Coakley, 5PM, 6PM, and 11PM Anchor/Reporter
*Debi Faubion, 5PM, 6PM, and 11PM Anchor/Reporter
*Dave Faherty, General Assignment Reporter
*Don Griffin, Consumer and Business Reporter
*Ashlea Kosikowski, General Assignment Reporter
*Ken Lemon, General Assignment Reporter
*Kara Lusk, Daybreak Reporter
*Brigida Mack, Sunday Morning and Midday Anchor/Reporter
*Ron Magnuson, General Assignment Reporter
*Blair Miller, 5:30PM and 10PM Anchor/Reporter
*Ann Marie O'Keefe, Saturday Morning and Midday Anchor/Reporter
*Natalie Pasquarella, Daybreak and Midday Anchor/Reporter
*Rene Romo, General Assignment Reporter
*Brian Stickley, Traffic Reporter
*Greg Suskin, South Carolina Bureau Reporter
*Ben Thompson, Weekend 6PM, 10PM, and 11PM Anchor/Reporter
*Susan Tran, Weekend 6PM, 10PM, and 11PM Anchor/Reporter
*Scott Wickersham, Daybreak and Midday Anchor/Reporter

AccuWeather

*John Ahrens, Weekend Evening Meteorologist (AMS Certified)
*Steve Udelson, Chief Meteorologist (AMS-CBM)
*Mark Watkins, Daybreak and Midday Meteorologist (AMS Certified)
*Keith Monday, Weekend Morning Meteorologist (AMS Certified)

ports

*Bill Voth, Sports Anchor/Reporter
*Tiffany Wright, Sports Anchor/Reporter
*Jarod Latch, Sports Anchor/Reporter

Former Personalities

*Diana Williams - reporter (1979-1982; now at WABC-TV in New York City)
*Holly Bristow, General Assignment Reporter (2003-2006, now at WOFL)
*Harold Johnson, Sports Director (1979-2006, retired)
*Ray Boylan, Meteorologist (1986-1996, retired)
*Terri Bennett, Meteorologist (1991-1996, at WCNC-TV Charlotte 1997-2007)
*Steve Adamson, Meteorologist (1994-1996, now at WXIA-TV Atlanta)
*Cullen Ferguson, Anchor/Reporter (1969-2005, retired)
*Doreen Gentzler, Anchor/Reporter (1979-1983, now at WRC-TV Washington)
*Bill Walker, Anchor/Reporter (1968-2005, retired)
*Patty Pan, General Assignment Reporter (2002-2005, now at WAGA-TV Atlanta)
*Tracey Neale, Anchor/Reporter (?-1994, last seen at WUSA-TV Washington)
*Michelle Kosinski, Reporter (?-2001, now at NBC)
*Rob Boisvert, Anchor/Reporter (?-?, now at News 14 Carolina)
*Meg MacDonald, Anchor/Reporter (1983-1990, later at WCAU-TV Philadelphia and Inside Edition)
*Cory Kessler, Sports Anchor/Reporter (?-?, now at Fox Sports Net South)
*Jeff Sonier, Reporter (1980's-1990's, now at WCNC-TV)
*Joe Johns, Reporter (?-?, later at WRC-TV and NBC, now at CNN)
*Jeremy Reiner, Meteorologist (1999-2006, now at WHDH-TV)
*Bob Pearse, Sports Anchor (1978-1980, now at Cable News 2, Rock Hill, SC)
*Brett McMillan, Sports Anchor (1980's, now at WBT)
*John Humphries, Sports Reporter/Anchor (1980's, now at WYFF)
*Melonie Holt, Anchor/Reporter (1996-2004, now at WFTV)
*John Cochran, Reporter (1960's, later at NBC, now at ABC)
*Doug Mayes, Anchor (1981-1989, retired)
*Brooke Sanders, Reporter (1995-1998, now at WMC-TV)
*Sean Hennessey, Reporter (1993, now at WCBS-TV)
*Jerry Peterson, Meteorologist (1970's and 1980's, now at WRHI-AM/WRHM-FM, Rock Hill, SC)
*Steve Litz, Reporter (1998-2006)
*Brad Lacey, Co-Anchor/Update Desk, "Good Morning Carolina" anchor, (1970s, deceased 1984)
*Jack Callaghan, Program Host, News Anchor, Station Manager and Editorial Director (1957-1995, deceased)
*Bob Tyson, Weekend Weather (1980's)
*David Hains, Reporter (1980's, now spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte)
*Tad Maguire, Meteorologist (1980's)
*Amanda Nissen, Reporter (1990's)Other notable employees include editor John Bultmann (1988-1996) and producer Lee Baber (1992-1997).

External links

* [http://www.wsoctv.com/ WSOC-TV Homepage]
*TVQ|WSOC-TV
*BIA|WSOC|TV|TV

References