WCSC-TV
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| WCSC-TV | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Charleston, South Carolina | |
| Branding | Live 5 |
| Slogan | The Lowcountry's News Leader |
| Channels | Analog: 5 (VHF) |
| Affiliations | CBS |
| Owner | Raycom Media, Inc. (WCSC, Inc.) |
| First air date | June 19, 1953 |
| Call letters’ meaning | Wonderful Charleston, South Carolina |
| Former affiliations | All secondary: NBC (1953-1954) ABC (1953-1962) DuMont (1953-1955) |
| Transmitter Power | 100 kW (analog) 1000 kW (digital) |
| Height | 596 m (analog) 521 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 71297 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Website | www.live5news.com |
WCSC-TV, channel 5, is the CBS-affiliated television station for Charleston, South Carolina. Its transmitter is located on Seewee Road in Awendaw. Owned by Raycom Media, the station has studios on Charlie Hall Boulevard in the West Ashley section of Charleston.
Contents |
[edit] History
WCSC-TV signed on in 1953 from East Bay Street in downtown Charleston. It was the second television station in South Carolina and it is the oldest continuously broadcasting in the state (the first was WCOS-TV in Columbia). WCSC is the only station in Charleston to keep its original network affiliation since its sign-on.
WCSC was originally owned by the Rivers family along with WCSC radio (AM 1390, now WXTC; and 96.9 FM, now WIWF). The Rivers family sold the stations to Crump Communications of Houston, Texas in 1987. Crump sold off the radio stations in 1989 but kept channel 5 until selling it to Jefferson-Pilot Corporation in 1994. Jefferson-Pilot merged with Lincoln Financial Group in 2006 with their broadcast properties assuming the new corporate name of Lincoln Financial Media.
Many of WCSC's early talents were former disc jockeys who became involved with the new medium of television in 1953. Al Stone, formerly of WGAR in Cleveland, Ohio, hosted an American Bandstand-like dance show for local teens. Carroll Godwin hosted a local daytime talk show in the 1960s. Rainee Evans hosted the popular children's program, The Happy Raine Show. Ken Clyce was another popular news personality.
In 1997, the station moved to newly built studios located on Charlie Hall Boulevard in the West Ashley section of Charleston. The facilities were named for WCSC's longtime weatherman and one of its most popular personalities. Hall signed on the station in 1953 and worked there covering events including Hurricane Hugo's impact on Charleston in 1989 until his death in March of 1997.
Local sports coverage has also been prominent at WCSC. In the early-1980s, Charleston Cougars games were broadcast on WCSC. The station broadcast the Cooper River Bridge Run from 1986 to 1990 and resumed in 2004. The broadcast features reporters on the course. WCSC is the local outlet for Atlantic Coast Conference basketball and Southeastern Conference football which have been produced by its parent company since the 1980s.
In 2004, Jefferson-Pilot management effectively forced out Warren Peper, who had been with the station since 1974, by offering him only a one-year extension of his contract with no renewal option. The popular anchor, who had handled both news and sports during his time at WCSC, was also the play-by-play announcer for WCSC's live coverage of college basketball and the Cooper River Bridge Run. After the station was sold to Jefferson Pilot, he was a sideline reporter for their syndicated college football broadcasts. Peper went to Media General's WCBD-TV after a one-year non-compete agreement in the market expired. Viewers wrote that they hoped WCSC would not force out Bill Sharpe or Debi Chard (another longtime WCSC anchor) the same way. Ironically, WCSC had seized meteorologist Bill Walsh away from rival WCIV in 1994 and had to hide his identity with thunderclouds when running station promotions during his non-compete agreement.
On November 12, 2007, Lincoln Financial Media entered into an agreement to sell WCSC, along with the company's two other television stations--WBTV in Charlotte and WWBT in Richmond--and Lincoln Financial Sports, to Raycom Media for $583 million dollars. Raycom took ownership of the station on April 1, 2008. [1]
[edit] News operation
WCSC has long been the dominant station in Charleston, and according to some reports, is the strongest network affiliate in South Carolina. It is one of the strongest CBS affiliates in the country. The station had the same 6:30 p.m. news anchors from the mid-1970s until 1991. Bill Sharpe became an employee at the station in 1973 after a short time at WTMA radio and has now been with the station for 35 years. WCSC has been a trend-setter in South Carolina for newscasts as it expanded its local evening news programming from 30 minutes to two hours. In 1991, it began a one-hour newscast at 6 o'clock. In 1997, it began a 90-minute block from 5 to 6:30 followed by the CBS Evening News.
In January of 2000, WCSC launched its regional weather radar called "Live Super Doppler 5000". The weather system uses 4 live NOAA NWS radars from various sites along with the only TV station owned doppler radar in the market. In 2004, it added a 30-minute 4 o'clock newscast now totaling two hours of local news between 4 and 6:30. WCSC is the only station in the market to air local news weekdays at 4. With an anchor and format change at the CBS Evening News and concerns over ratings, Lincoln Financial added a 7 P.M. newscast to "piggyback" with the network newscast in August of 2006. WCSC and ABC affiliate WCIV are the only stations in the market to broadcast news weeknights at 7. WCSC recently expanded its weather product with "Live 5 Storm TRACKER Mobile Storm Center".
It is the first vehicle of its kind in the region and allows WCSC meteorologists access to their weather data away from the station and the ability to send back live weather data for display on-air. The station previously had a mobile weather van known as the "McElveen Mobile Storm Center" named for the local car dealership which sponsored it. The station has a news share agreement with FOX affiliate WTAT-TV (which is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group). WCSC produces nightly 10 o'clock and weekday 7 A.M. newscasts on that station. The 10 P.M. news is currently the second highest rated news in the market behind WCSC's own broadcasts. The future status of the news share agreement between WCSC and WTAT is uncertain now that Raycom owns WCSC.
[edit] News team
Anchors
- Bill Burr - weekday mornings
- Amy Lutz - weekday mornings
- Bill Sharpe - weekdays at Noon, 4, 5, and 6
- Ann McGill - weekdays at Noon, 4, and 5
- consumer reporter
- Raphael James - weeknights at 5:30, 7, and 11
- Debi Chard - weeknights at 5:30, 6, 7, and 11
- Erin Colgan - weeknights at 10
- reporter
- Anthony Miller - weekends
- reporter
Live 5 News Meteorologists
- Bill Walsh (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - Chief seen on weeknights at 5, 6, 7, and 11
- Scott Williams (AMS CBM Seal of Approval and NWA Member) - weeknights at 4, 5:30, and 10
- Chad Watson (NWA Seal of Approval) - weekday mornings and Noon
- Brad Miller (AMS and NWA Member) - weekends at 6, 10 (FOX), and 11.
Sports
- Andy Pruitt - weeknights at 6, 7, 10, and 11
- Kevin Bilodeau - weekends
- sports reporter
- Bob Behanian - sports reporter
- host of Friday Night Lights
Reporters
- Nicole Johnson
- Harve Jacobs
- Marika Kelderman
- Katie Crawford
- Hatzel Vela
- Ian Silver
- Sheldon Dutes
- Tracey Amick
[edit] Former talent
- Jan Jeffcoat - now at WFLD
- Mandy Gaither - now at WYFF-TV
- Erin Kienzle - now weekend meteorologist at WTAE-TV
- Mark Morgan - now at ESPN
- Tim Lake - now main anchor at WCAU
- Craig Birnbach - now at KATU
- Carolyn Murray - now at WCBD
- Warren Peper - now at WCBD
- Karyn Greer - now at WXIA
- Keith Nichols - meteorologist from 1985 to 2005 (deceased)
- Bob Knowles - deceased
- Charlie Hall - deceased
- Al Stone - deceased
- Ken Klice - deceased
- Carroll Godwin - deceased
- Jill Miller
- Sherry Ray
- Michael Hughes
- Tia Brewer
- Gurnal Scott
- Mike Hiott
- Michael Trouche
- Rameka Leary
- Amanda Fitzpatrick
- Betty Davis - now at The Weather Channel
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- WCSC-TV
- WTAT-TV "Fox 24"
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WCSC-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WCSC-TV
Template:Raycom Media
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||
|
||||||||
