WNCT-TV

WNCT-TV


Greenville/Washington/New Bern/
Jacksonville, North Carolina
City of license Greenville
Branding 9 On Your Side
Eastern North
Carolina CW (on DT2)
Channels Digital: 10 (VHF)
Virtual: 9 (PSIP)
Subchannels 9.1 CBS
9.2 The CW
Network CBS
Owner Media General
(Media General Communications
Holdings, LLC)
First air date December 22, 1953
Call letters' meaning We're North
Carolina Television
Sister station(s) WBTW, WNCN
Former callsigns WNCT (1953-1978)
Former channel number(s) 9 (VHF analog, 1953-2009)
Former affiliations DuMont (secondary, 1953-1955)
ABC (secondary, 1953-1962) [1]
Transmitter power 35 kW
Height 575 m
Class DT
Facility ID 57838
Transmitter coordinates 35°21′55″N 77°23′38″W / 35.36528°N 77.39389°W
Website www.wnct.com

WNCT-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Eastern North Carolina's Inner Banks. Licensed to Greenville, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 10 (or virtual channel 9.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter in Grifton Township along NC 118. Owned by Media General, WNCT has studios on South Evans Street in Greenville.

Digital channels

Channel PSIP short name Video Aspect Programming
9.1 WNCT-DT 1080i 16:9 Main WNCT-TV programming / CBS
9.2 720p Eastern North Carolina CW

History

The station signed-on December 22, 1953 and aired an analog signal on VHF channel 9. It is the fourth-oldest continuously operating television station in North Carolina (behind Charlotte's WBTV, Greensboro's WFMY-TV, and Winston-Salem's WXII-TV) and the oldest station in the eastern part of the state. The station was originally owned by The Daily Reflector along with WNCT radio (1070 AM and 107.9 FM).

It has always been a primary CBS affiliate but also carried some ABC shows (along with NBC outlet WITN-TV) until WNBE-TV (now WCTI-TV) signed-on from New Bern in 1963. WNCT maintained a secondary relation with DuMont from 1953 until the network shut down in 1955. From 1959 until 1998, it aired a weekday morning talk show known as Carolina Today. WNCT was the first station in the area to broadcast in color.

Roy H. Park bought The Daily Reflector and WNCT-AM-FM-TV in 1961. The television station added the -TV suffix to its calls on August 1, 1978. The television station remained the flagship of Park Communications until it merged with Media General in 1997.[2] It served part of the Wilmington market (mostly Pender County) until that city got its own CBS affiliate, WJKA-TV, in 1984. When that outlet switched to Fox in 1994 and became WSFX-TV, WNCT resumed serving as the default CBS affiliate for parts of the Wilmington area until low-powered WILM-LP (now WILM-LD) signed-on in 2000. However, WNCT still serves some parts of that area which cannot obtain WILM's off-air signal and/or on cable.

On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced the two networks would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined service would be called The CW with the letters representing the first initial of corporate parents "C"BS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. WCTI offered UPN on its third digital subchannel while The WB aired on cable-only "WGWB". On September 18, WNCT changed its second digital subchannel to become part of The CW through The CW Plus (a similar operation to The WB 100+).

WNCT-DT2 originally served as a non-audio feed of WNCT's regional Doppler weather radar known as "Live VIPIR 9". The station's CBS high definition signal was picked up by DirecTV on January 7, 2009 and this is also carried on Dish Network. On June 12, 2009, WNCT's digital signal remained on channel 10 when the analog to digital conversion was completed.[3] On that date at 6:30 in the evening, the station signed-off its analog signal for the final time.

Programming

Syndicated programming on the station includes Family Feud, Steve Harvey, Dr. Phil, The Doctors, and Entertainment Tonight among others. The former two are hosted by Steve Harvey himself.

News operation

9 On Your Side open at 10.

Even before a full news department was established, WNCT offered weather forecasts to area farmers. For coverage of severe weather events such as hurricanes and floods, the station received a national Edward R. Murrow Award and was the smallest television station to get this recognition. It also won a Service to America Award.[4]

In terms of ratings, Eastern North Carolina is usually not fiercely competitive during sweeps periods. Generally, WNCT trades the ratings crown with WITN and WCTI. In July 2008, this station became the area's most watched outlet after taking first place weeknights at 6 and 11. But since then, it has fallen to 3rd place weeknights at 6. As of May 2010, WITN has won the sign-on to sign-off honors for two consecutive ratings periods. The NBC station won all news time periods except for the weekday noon time slot.[5]

In the late-1990s, WNCT began producing the market's original prime time newscast on Fox affiliate WFXI/WYDO (then owned by Piedmont Television) through a news share agreement. Known on-air as Fox News at 10, the broadcast could be seen every night for thirty minutes. Although it featured most of WNCT's on-air team, the show did maintain a separate news anchor. The outsourcing arrangement was terminated in December 2007 after WCTI became a sister station to WFXI/WYDO through their management by the Bonten Media Group.

Initially in January 2008, WCTI began repeating its nightly 6 o'clock newscast in the 10 o'clock time slot on WFXI/WYDO. Eventually, a new nightly prime time broadcast (produced by WCTI) was added to the Fox affiliate on January 28. Meanwhile, WNCT began airing a new newscast at 10 on its CW-affiliated subchannel. This program is currently known as 9 on Your Side at 10 on The CW and can be seen every night for a half-hour competing with the WFXI/WYDO broadcast (seen for an hour on weeknights, thirty minutes on weekends). Like all CW Plus outlets, WNCT-DT2 also airs the nationally syndicated weekday morning show The Daily Buzz.

During weather forecast segments, the station features a live NOAA National Weather Service weather radar originating from the Local Forecast Office on Roberts Road in Newport (on-air, this is known as "Live VIPIR 9"). In addition to the main studios, WNCT operates a bureau in New Bern on Center Avenue (along U.S. Route 17 Business/Clarendon Boulevard). On October 17, 2013, WNCT became the area's third television outlet to upgrade news production to high definition behind WCTI and WITN. The station provides weather updates for WZGO-FM 91.1, WIKS-FM 101.9, WMGV-FM 103.3, and WNCT-FM 107.9.

References

  1. ↑ http://jeff560.tripod.com/1952tv.html Commercial Television Stations of the U. S., 1952
  2. ↑ http://www.wnct.com/nct/online/site_information/
  3. ↑ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
  4. ↑ http://www2.wnct.com/about-us/
  5. ↑ http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6579887.htmlLink 3

External links