WCCB is the Fox affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina. The station's headquarters are located just outside Uptown, off Independence Boulevard across from Cricket Arena at 35°12′15.7″N, 80°47′53.1″W. It is the flagship station of its owner and operator, Bahakel Communications. WCCB is carried on channel 11 on most cable systems. Its transmitter is located in Charlotte. Image File history File links WCCB-TV.jpg Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... “Charlotte” redirects here. ... A brand includes a name, logo, slogan, and/or design scheme associated with a product or service. ... “Fox News” redirects here. ... In broadcasting, a channel is a range of frequencies (or, equivalently, wavelengths) assigned by a government for the operation of a particular broadcast station. ... Analog television (or analogue television) encodes television and transports the picture and sound information as an analog signal, that is, by varying the amplitude and/or frequencies of the broadcast signal. ... This article is about the radio frequency. ... Digital Terrestrial Television (DTTV or DTT) is an implementation of digital technology to provide a greater number of channels and/or better quality of picture and sound using aerial broadcasts to a conventional antenna (or aerial) instead of a satellite dish or cable connection. ... Ultra high frequency (UHF) designates a range (band) of electromagnetic waves whose frequency is between 300 MHz and 3. ... An affiliate is a commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or a larger entity. ... The Fox Broadcasting Company, usually referred to as just Fox (the company itself prefers the capitalized version FOX), is a television network in the United States. ... Bahakel Communications is a communications company, owning radio and television stations in the United States. ... is the 341st day of the year (342nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 227th day of the year (228th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... Call sign can refer to different types of call signs: Airline call sign Aviator call sign Cosmonaut call sign Radio and television call signs Tactical call sign, also known as a tactical designator See also: International Callsign Allocations, Maritime Mobile Service Identity This is a disambiguation page — a navigational... Call sign can refer to different types of call signs: Airline call sign Aviator call sign Cosmonaut call sign Radio and television call signs Tactical call sign, also known as a tactical designator See also: International Callsign Allocations, Maritime Mobile Service Identity This is a disambiguation page — a navigational... An affiliate is a commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or a larger entity. ... The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) operates television and radio networks in the United States and is also shown on basic cable in Canada. ... CBS Broadcasting, Inc. ... The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American television network headquartered in the GE Building in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos and other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... The Fox Broadcasting Company, usually referred to as just Fox (the company itself prefers the capitalized version FOX), is a television network in the United States. ... “Charlotte” redirects here. ... Night skyline of Charlotte Center City Charlotte center city (also known as Uptown Charlotte) is the area comprising the township and original city of Charlotte, North Carolina. ... United States Highway 74 is an east-west United States highway that runs for 524 miles (843 km) from southeast North Carolina to Chattanooga, Tennessee. ... The Cricket Arena is a 9,605-seat multi-purpose arena and sports venue in Charlotte, North Carolina. ... Bahakel Communications is a communications company, owning radio and television stations in the United States. ...

History

WCCB traces its roots to WQMC-TV, which signed on December 7, 1953. It broadcast on channel 36, and was an NBC affiliate with a secondary ABC affiliation. It was North Carolina's second UHF station, after WNAO-TV in Raleigh, as well as the second station in Charlotte. The original owners were George Dowdy and Hugh Deadwyler. In 1954, Deadwyler became the sole owner of the station. Deadwyler already owned WAYS-AM 610 (now WFNZ), so he changed channel 36's call letters to WAYS-TV. is the 341st day of the year (342nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American television network headquartered in the GE Building in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) operates television and radio networks in the United States and is also shown on basic cable in Canada. ... This article is about the radio frequency. ... For other uses of this name, see Raleigh. ... WFNZ-AM is a sports talk station in Charlotte, North Carolina. ...

The station went into receivership for a brief period in 1956, in part because it was virtually unviewable without an expensive converter. Television set manufacturers were not required to include UHF tuning capability at the time. Even with a converter, UHF pictures were marginal at best. As a result, it made almost no headway against CBS affiliate WBTV. In 1957, Century Advertising bought the station and changed the call letters to WUTV. However, soon after Century took over, WSOC-TV signed on and took the NBC affiliation, leaving WUTV with struggling ABC. At that time, ABC was not nearly on the same footing as CBS and NBC (and wouldn't be until the 1970s). It was further hampered by ABC's decision to permit WBTV and WSOC to cherry-pick its more popular shows. Without the stronger ABC shows to sustain it, the station finally went dark in 1959. Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... CBS Broadcasting, Inc. ... WBTV, channel 3, is the CBS affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina. ... Year 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar). ... WSOC-TV, channel 9 is the ABC affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina, the United States 28th largest television market. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In 1964, Charlotte businessman Cy Bahakel bought the dormant channel 36 license. He returned the station to air on August 15 as WCCB-TV (for Charlotte Cy Bahakel). The station was nominally an ABC affiliate. However, the FCC had only required television sets to have all-channel tuning just a few months before, and most Charlotte homes did not have UHF-capable sets. The more popular ABC shows continued to be seen on WBTV or WSOC, while WCCB picked up some of the CBS and NBC shows that the stronger stations turned down. 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... Cy N. Bahakel (April 12, 1919 - April 20, 2006) was a former state Senator from North Carolina and an American media magnate. ... is the 227th day of the year (228th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

In November of 1966, WCCB moved from channel 36 to channel 18 broadcasting from a new tower located on Newell Hickory Grove Road in northeast Charlotte. The station's former tower was located adjacent to the studio in the parking lot of the old Charlotte Coliseum, now Cricket Arena. In 1967, NBC informed WSOC-TV that it wanted a full time affiliate in the Charlotte market. NBC's ratings were higher than ABC's, so WSOC dropped its secondary affiliation with ABC. Beginning in the fall of 1967, WCCB was a full-time affiliate of ABC.

By 1978, ABC had become the nation's most watched network and wanted a stronger Charlotte outlet than WCCB. ABC took its programming to WSOC. Conventional wisdom suggested WCCB would simply take the NBC affiliation. But Ted Turner, who owned WRET (which had been on the verge of closing down a few years earlier), bid strongly for NBC to move its affiliation to that station instead. There are conflicting reports for why this happened; while some accounts say that NBC turned down Bahakel's offer because it didn't want ABC's "leftovers," others say that Bahakel himself turned it down because NBC was performing badly in the ratings. With WCCB left to fend for itself as an independent station, it acquired most of the cartoons WRET no longer had time to air since becoming an NBC affiliate, along with some older sitcoms. For a time in the late 1970s and early 1980s, after-school cartoons were hosted by the costumed Sonic Man space alien character. Year 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar). ... Robert Edward Turner III (born November 19, 1938) in Cincinnati, Ohio[1]) is an American media mogul and philanthropist. ... Sonic Man was a childrens afternoon television show host for WCCB-TV channel 18, in Charlotte, North Carolina. ...

WCCB carried on for almost a decade as a typical UHF general entertainment independent station. In 1987, WCCB became the last top-50 market station to join the newly-launched Fox network as one of its charter affiliates. Since then, WCCB has been one of the strongest Fox stations in the country, particularly since the NFC Football Package transferred from CBS to Fox in 1994. The move came as a later benefit for WCCB just in time: it became the flagship for the newest NFL team, the Carolina Panthers upon their debut in 1995; the station airs the preseason games, and the Fox network airs the regular season games. The Panthers games are generally the most-watched programs in the market during each week of the football season. Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar). ... National Football Conference logo. ... CBS Broadcasting, Inc. ... NFL redirects here. ... City Charlotte, North Carolina Other nicknames The Cardiac Cats Team colors Black, Carolina Blue, and Silver Head Coach John Fox Owner Jerry Richardson General manager Marty Hurney Mascot Sir Purr League/Conference affiliations National Football League (1995–present) National Football Conference (1995-present) NFC West (1995-2001) NFC South (2002... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ...

News

The station's early-morning newscast places a distant fourth behind WSOC, WBTV and WCNC, while its 10 PM newscast beats its direct competition on WJZY and WAXN and also draws a larger audience than WCNC's at 11 PM.^[1] Since 2000, WCCB has produced its own news programming; this came after WSOC, after years of producing prime time news for WCCB, relocated its shared production to the newly-jumpstarted WAXN.

Programming

In addition to all of Fox's national programming, Fox Charlotte airs the following programs:

The 700 Club is the flagship news talk show of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing on cables ABC Family and in syndication throughout the United States and Canada. ... The Bernie Mac Show was an half-hour American sitcom featuring the comedic antics of comedian Bernie Mac. ... Blind Date is a United States reality show. ... Not to be confused with C.O.P.S. (TV series). ... The Ellen DeGeneres Show, often shortened to Ellen, is a syndicated television talk show hosted by actress/comedienne Ellen DeGeneres and distributed by Warner Brothers Television. ... Everybody Loves Raymond is an American sitcom originally broadcast on CBS from 1996 to 2005. ... Extra is an entertainment television news program covering events and celebrities which debuted on September 5, 1994. ... The Jerry Springer Show (first aired September 20, 1991) is an internationally known television tabloid talk show, hosted by Jerry Springer, a former politician. ... This article is about the television program. ... The King of Queens is an Emmy nominated, American comedy series that ran for nine seasons, from 1998 until 2007. ... Maury Povich, the shows host. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... TMZ on TV will be a syndicated entertainment and gossip news television show that will premiere on Monday September 10th, 2007. ... The Tyra Banks Show is an American two-time Emmy Award-winning talk show hosted by former supermodel and Americas Next Top Model creator Tyra Banks. ...

Station Branding

After being known as "TV18" since sign-on, it was rebranded as "Fox 18" in 1988 and as "Fox Charlotte" in 2002. Since WLFL in the Triangle switched to The WB in 1998, WCCB has been the only remaining original Fox affiliate in North Carolina. Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... WLFL, channel 22, is The CW affiliate for the Raleigh-Durham-Fayetteville, North Carolina television market. ... The WB Television Network is a television network in the United States, founded as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ...

Old FOX 18 logo used until 2002 before rebranding to FOX Charlotte.

Image File history File links Wccb_fox18_charlotte_oldlogo. ... Image File history File links Wccb_fox18_charlotte_oldlogo. ...

Owner

Cy Bahakel owned WCCB from 1964 until his death on April 20, 2006. Bahakel was an original partner in the Charlotte Hornets, and WCCB was the flagship station of the Hornets television network for the team's first four seasons. is the 110th day of the year (111th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

Hosting WOLO-TV

In 2002, Bahakel Communications moved the operations of its ABC affiliate in Columbia, South Carolina (two hours south of Charlotte), WOLO-TV to WCCB, where they stayed for three years. During that time, WCCB's studios played host to WOLO's newscasts. This was one of the first instances of "central casting," in which several stations' operations are hosted by one station. The practice of producing a local newscast in a different market was roundly criticized. WOLO's ratings, already dead last in the Columbia market, plunged even further and have never recovered, even after news production moved back to Columbia in 2005. WOLO and WCCB continue to share some operations and personnel. Also see: 2002 (number). ... Nickname: Location in Richland County in the state of South Carolina Coordinates: , Country United States State South Carolina Counties Richland County, South Carolina Government  - Mayor Bob Coble, (D) Area  - City  133. ... WOLO-TV channel 25 is the ABC television affiliate for Columbia, South Carolina. ...

References

1. ^ Mark Washburn, The Charlotte Observer, May 26, 2007, p. 1E.

External links

• WCCB web site
• Businessman's visions can still be seen around Charlotte (from Charlotte Observer)

• Query the FCC's TV station database for WCCB