WNCN
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| WNCN | |
|---|---|
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| Goldsboro/Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina | |
| Branding | NBC 17 |
| Slogan | Accurate, Balanced, to the Point |
| Channels | Analog: 17 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | NBC NBC Weather Plus (DT2) |
| Owner | Media General, Inc. (Media General Communications Holdings, LLC) |
| First air date | April 11, 1988 |
| Call letters’ meaning | North Carolina's NBC (or North Carolina's News, from before NBC acquisition) |
| Former callsigns | WYED (1988-1994) |
| Former affiliations | independent (1988-1995) The WB (January-September 1995) |
| Transmitter Power | 5000 kW (analog) 525 kW (digital) |
| Height | 610 m (analog) 628 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 50782 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Website | www.nbc17.com |
WNCN ("NBC 17") is the NBC affiliate in the Triangle region of North Carolina (the Raleigh-Durham-Fayetteville DMA), broadcasting on analog channel 17 and digital channel 55. It is licensed to Goldsboro, but its studios are just outside of downtown Raleigh. The station is carried on cable channel 6 in Raleigh, cable channel 2 in Durham and Chapel Hill, channel 10 in Fayetteville, channel 13 in Goldsboro, channel 9 in Carrboro, and cable channel 7 in most other places, including Cary. WNCN's transmitter is located in Auburn, North Carolina.
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[edit] History
WNCN began life on April 11, 1988 as WYED-TV, a small station airing some children's programming during the morning such as Super Mario Bros. Super Show! and the Home Shopping Network the rest of the day. WYED was the first (and only) television station of Beasley Broadcasting Group, which was owned by George Beasley who got his start in 1961 by signing on radio station WPYB radio in nearby Benson, North Carolina. Studios were located in Clayton, along with a 1,550-foot (470 m) tower nearby broadcast 2.6 million watts of power. In 1992, WYED added some barter cartoons and some low budget barter syndicated shows such as talk/reality and game shows. While the station could be seen clearly in Raleigh and Durham, it couldn't be seen as clearly in the far western and northern reaches of the Triangle.
In 1994, Outlet Communications of Providence, Rhode Island bought the station, and on January 1, 1995, changed its call letters to WNCN (North Carolina's News). The new WNCN increased its signal to 5 million watts, boosting its coverage area to the entire Triangle. The station also added more sitcoms and first-run syndicated shows. It began to carry programming from the WB network in January 1995.
A month later, NBC signed a long-term affiliation deal with Outlet. Outlet had very good relations with NBC; it owned two of NBC's strongest affiliates, WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island and WCMH-TV in Columbus, Ohio. Channel 17 immediately began to run NBC programming pre-empted by the network's existing affiliate, WRDC-TV, which had been one of NBC's lowest-rated affiliates for several years. NBC had been looking for a way to get on another station for some time, especially since WRDC frequently preempted its programming. WNCN completely replaced WRDC as the Triangle's NBC station in September after WRDC's affiliation contract ran out, sending the WB affiliation to WRAZ-TV. At that time, WNCN launched newscasts at 6am, 7pm and 11pm. It also moved into WLFL's former studios in North Raleigh.
NBC merged with Outlet in 1996. Of note, this resulted in NBC's first UHF O&O since the 1950's, when the network owned WBUF-TV in Buffalo, New York (which ironically also broadcasted on channel 17; now occupied by PBS station WNED-TV) and WNBC in Hartford on channel 30 (the "NBC" stood for New Britain, Connecticut; the station has since been re-acquired by NBC as WVIT).
In 2000, WNCN abandoned its 1,550-foot (470 m) tower in Clayton for a 2,000-foot (610 m) perch on an arm of Capitol Broadcasting Company's new digital candelabra tower eight miles (13 km) closer to Raleigh. WNCN-DT signed on at UHF channel 55 at the same time. The station had to get a waiver from the FCC to do this, as FCC rules require a station's transmitter to be no further than 15 miles (24 km) from its city of license.
WNCN is the fourth station in the Triangle to affiliate with NBC. NBC had first aired on WTVD-TV from 1954 to 1956, then WRAL-TV from 1956 to 1962. After WRAL became a full-time ABC affiliate in 1962, WTVD shoehorned CBS and NBC onto its schedule until 1968, when WRDU-TV signed on channel 28 that year. Channel 28 changed its calls to WPTF-TV in 1978 and WRDC in 1991. When WNCN became a full NBC affiliate, it marked the first time that network's full schedule had aired in the Triangle since WRAL added ABC part-time in 1959.
In the last decade, WNCN's newscasts have never gotten out of third place in the Nielsen ratings. However, they have been far more competitive than WPTF's efforts at local news programs ever had been (channel 28 dropped newscasts July 31, 1991, before becoming WRDC later that fall).
Since becoming an NBC station, WNCN has almost never used its call letters on-air, except during legal IDs.
NBC17 recently launched a new hour-long local newscast at 7 p.m. Monday - Friday. The station aired a half-hour 7 p.m. newscast when it launched as an NBC affiliate in 1995, but the newscast was canceled due to low ratings.
On January 9, 2006, NBC Universal announced it was putting WNCN up for sale[1] along with WVTM-TV in Birmingham, Alabama and the other two former Outlet stations, WJAR and WCMH. On April 6, 2006, it was announced that Media General would acquire these stations.[2] This made WNCN a sister station to WNCT-TV in Greenville. The sale was finalized on June 26, 2006. [1] For the time being, no new changes for the station are expected.
For several months after Media General acquired the stations from NBC Universal, WNCN's website and those of the other three stations remained in the format used by the websites of NBC O&O stations. In early December 2006, WNCN's website, as well as that of sister station WJAR, were redesigned; they now credit Media General in their copyright notices, and are no longer operated by Internet Broadcasting. WVTM's website followed suit on December 11, 2006, with WCMH's redesigned website launching on December 14.
NBC17 launched a brand-new graphics package at the beginning of 2008, getting rid of the old NBC O&O-style supers and opens, and the studios were renovated at the beginning of 2008, featuring a new weather center and a sports video wall.
[edit] Digital television
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
| Channel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 17.1 / 55.1 | main WNCN/NBC programming |
| 17.2 / 55.2 | NBC Weather Plus |
[edit] Post-analog shutdown
After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009[3], WNCN will move its digital broadcasts back to its present analog channel number, 17.[4]
[edit] Trivia
- When WNCN was owned by NBC Universal, it was one of three network-owned stations on the UHF dial alongside KNSD in San Diego and WVIT in Hartford.
- Under the network's ownership at the time, WNCN was the other owned and operated station of any network in the Raleigh-Durham market alongside ABC-owned WTVD.
- The call sign WNCN originally belonged to a classical music radio station (104.3 FM) in New York City (now WAXQ). An enthusiast's webpage on the radio station can be found at [2] .
- NBC Weather Plus is offered on WNCN's digital feed by the name "NBC 17 WeatherPlus".
- WNCN reporter Eric Watson was arrested April 18, 2008 by Apex, NC police, for peeping into an occupied dwelling.
[edit] Current personalities
[edit] News
(One on WNCN's reporters was dismissed after being caught peeping in a womans personal restroom.)
- Jaclyn Asztalos, Reporter
- Laura Barron, Reporter
- Candice Combs, Reporter
- Carolyn Costello, Reporter
- Chris Cowperthwaite, Reporter
- Bill Fitzgerald, Anchor (NBC 17 News at 6, 7, and 11 PM)
- Kim Genardo, Your Life Reporter
- Frank Graff, Reporter
- Kerry Hall, Reporter
- Lauren Hills, Reporter
- Donald Jones, Anchor (NBC 17 News Today)
- Paul Matadeen, Reporter
- Shirley Min, Restaurant Recipes Reporter
- Sergio Quintana, Reporter
- Melanie Sanders, Anchor (NBC 17 News at 6, 7, and 11 PM)
- Steve Sbraccia, Reporter
- Sharon Tazewell, Anchor (NBC 17 News Today)
- Jennifer Turk, Reporter
[edit] Precision Weather
- Wes Hohenstein, Chief Meteorologist (NBC 17 News at 6, 7, and 11 PM)
- Peter Kunisch, Meteorologist (NBC 17 Weekend Today)
- Bill Reh, Meteorologist (NBC 17 Today)
[edit] Sports
- Penn Holderness, Sports Director/Anchor (NBC 17 News at 6, 7, and 11 PM)
- Maya Starks, Sports Anchor (NBC 17 Weekend News at 6, 7, and 11 PM)
[edit] External links
- NBC17 Website
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WNCN
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WNCN-TV
[edit] References
- ^ Cox, Jonathan B.. "NBC to sell station: Network puts 3 others on the block", Raleigh News & Observer, January 10, 2006.
- ^ "Triangle's NBC affiliate station to be sold", Raleigh News & Observer, April 6, 2006.
- ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
- ^ CDBS Print
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