WCNC-TV
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WCNC-TV, channel 36 is the NBC affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina, the 28th largest television market in the United States. Since 1997, it has been owned by the Dallas-based Belo Corporation.
It signed on in 1968 as WCTU-TV, Charlotte's first independent station. Jim Bakker began his television ministry at WCTU shortly after he broke off from Paul Crouch and TBN.
Ted Turner bought the station in 1973 and renamed it WRET (after his initials, Robert Edward Turner). Five years later, ABC moved its affiliation from WCCB-TV to WSOC-TV. It was widely expected that WCCB would simply swap affiliations with WSOC and become the NBC affiliate, but Turner scored a major coup when he won WRET the NBC affiliation. A few years earlier, the station had been on the verge of closing down. Turner sold the station to Westinghouse in 1980, and the new owners renamed the station WPCQ-TV. A local group bought the station in 1985 and renamed the station WCNC-TV (for Charlotte, North Carolina) in 1989. The Providence Journal Company bought WCNC-TV in 1990 and merged with Belo in 1997. From 1996 until 2003, the station was known on-air as NBC6 because it can be found on channel 6 on most area cable systems.
Despite numerous owners, this station has only recently figured out how to be a real network affiliate. For much of the 80s, it was the third station it what was essentially a two-station market--even with NBC's powerful Thursday night lineup. It didn't have a lot going for it, as its major rivals, WBTV and WSOC, had been on the air since the 1950s. Also, longer-established NBC stations in Winston-Salem, Columbia and Greenville were available over the air in much of the Charlotte market, significantly cutting into ratings. But much of this station's problems were of their own making--it had no local news from 1980 to 1986. The station finally became competitive in the 90s, but is still in third place. A big reason for the station's growth was NBC's decision to base the NBC News Channel at WCNC's studios.
External link
- WCNC's Web site (http://www.wcnc.com)