WTAT-TV
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| WTAT-TV | |
|---|---|
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| Charleston, South Carolina | |
| Branding | Fox 24 |
| Channels | Analog: 24 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | Fox |
| Owner | Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation (LMA with Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.) (WTAT Licensee, LLC) |
| First air date | September 7, 1985 |
| Sister station(s) | WMMP |
| Former affiliations | independent (1985-1986) |
| Transmitter Power | 5000 kW (analog) 400 kW (digital) |
| Height | 542 m (analog) 583.3 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 416 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Website | www.wtat24.com |
WTAT-TV, channel 24, is the Fox-affiliated television station in Charleston, South Carolina. Its analog transmitter is located near Woodville. The station's digital transmitter located in North Charleston. WTAT is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting but operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group under a local marketing agreement (LMA) with MyNetworkTV affiliate WMMP. However, due to Cunningham's financial structure, Sinclair effectively owns WTAT (see below). The two stations share studios on Arco Lane in North Charleston. Syndicated programming on WTAT includes Family Feud, Judge Judy, Judge Alex, and Judge Joe Brown.
[edit] History
The station began operations in 1985 under the ownership of Act III Broadcasting. A local group originally held WTAT's construction permit but sold it to Act III before the station went on the air. In 1986, as part of a corporate deal between Act III and News Corporation, it became a charter affiliate of the fledgling Fox network. Abry Communications bought the Act III group in early-1994. Abry merged with Sinclair later that year but WTAT was sold along with WRGT-TV in Dayton, Ohio to Sullivan Broadcasting in compliance with FCC ownership limits of the time. Sullivan, in turn, outsourced the operation of all of its stations (including WTAT) back to Sinclair.
By the time Sinclair tried to acquire Sullivan's stations outright in 2001, it already owned WMMP (which it had purchased outright from Max Media in July of 1998). Sinclair could not legally keep both WTAT & WMMP because Charleston has only six full-power stations which is too few to legally permit a duopoly. Although WTAT was longer-established, Sinclair opted to keep WMMP and sold WTAT to Glencairn, Ltd. Glencairn was owned by Edwin Edwards, a former Sinclair executive, and appeared to be a minority-owned company. However, nearly all of Glencairn's stock was controlled by the Smith family, founders of Sinclair. In effect, Sinclair now had a duopoly in the Charleston market which was a violation of FCC regulations. Glencairn and Sinclair further circumvented the rules by merging WMMP & WTAT's operations under a local marketing agreement with WMMP as the senior partner. In 2001, The FCC fined Sinclair $40,000 for illegally controlling Glencairn. Later that year, Glencairn was renamed Cunningham Broadcasting. However, the Smith family continues to control nearly all of Cunningham's stock. Glencairn / Cunningham has faced numerous allegations that it has served as a shell corporation which Sinclair has been using for the purpose of circumventing FCC ownership rules. Sinclair and Fox recently finalized a six-year affiliation contract extension for Sinclair's 19 Fox affiliates (including WTAT). The station's affiliation contract now expires in March of 2012.
[edit] Newscasts
WTAT has a news share agreement with CBS affiliate WCSC-TV. That station produces weekday morning and nightly 10 o'clock newscasts. The 10 P.M. news is the oldest and longest running 10 o'clock news broadcast in South Carolina. It premiered in the early-1990s after Fox requested its affiliates to air local news. The 10 P.M. news is currently the second highest rated news in the market behind WCSC's own broadcasts. That station has the highest rated newscasts over the other big three affiliates in Charleston. The future status of the news share agreement between WCSC and WTAT is uncertain now that WCSC is owned by Raycom Media. All newscasts originate from WCSC's studios on Charlie Hall Boulevard in the West Ashley section of Charleston. WTAT airs Sinclair's American Crossroads on Sunday nights at 10:35.
Fox 24 Morning News at 7
(Weekday Mornings 7 to 8 A.M.)
- Anchors:
- Bill Burr
- Amy Lutz
- Weather:
- Chad Watson
Fox 24 News at 10 (10 to 10:35 P.M.)
Weeknights
- Anchor:
- Erin Colgan
- Weather:
- Scott Williams
- Sports:
- Andy Pruitt
Weekends
- Anchor:
- Anthony Miller
- Weather:
- Brad Miller
- Sports:
- Kevin Bilodeau
WTAT uses additional news personnel from WCSC. See that article for a complete listing.
[edit] External links
- WTAT-TV/DT "Fox 24"
- WMMP "My TV Charleston"
- WCSC-TV/DT
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WTAT-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WTAT-TV
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