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| City | Greenville, North Carolina |
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| History | |
First air date | December 22, 1953 (71 years ago) (1953-12-22) |
Former call signs | WNCT (1953–1965)[1] |
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Call sign meaning | North Carolina Television |
| Technical information[3] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 57838 |
| ERP | 35.2 kW |
| HAAT | 573.6 m (1,882 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 35°21′55.9″N77°23′34.6″W / 35.365528°N 77.392944°W /35.365528; -77.392944 |
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Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WNCT-TV (channel 9) is atelevision station inGreenville, North Carolina, United States, affiliated withCBS and owned byNexstar Media Group. Its second subchannel serves as anowned-and-operated station ofThe CW (viaThe CW Plus), as Nexstar owns a majority stake in the network. WNCT-TV's studios are located on South Evans Street in Greenville, and its transmitter is located inGrifton Township alongNC 118.
WNCT-TV is recognized as the oldest operating television station inEastern North Carolina and the fourth oldest in North Carolina.[4]
The station signed on December 22, 1953, and aired ananalog signal on VHF channel 9. It is the fourth-oldest continuously operating television station in North Carolina (behindCharlotte'sWBTV,Greensboro'sWFMY-TV, andWinston-Salem'sWXII-TV) and the oldest station in the eastern part of the state. The station was originally owned byThe Daily Reflector along with WGTC radio (1590 AM and beginning in 1963, 107.7 FM).
It has always been a primary CBS affiliate but also carried someABC shows along withWashington-basedNBC outletWITN-TV (channel 7). It became an exclusive CBS affiliate when WNBE-TV (channel 12, nowWCTI-TV) signed on fromNew Bern in 1963. WNCT maintained a secondary relation withDuMont from 1953 until the network shut down in 1955. From 1959 until 1998, it aired a weekday morning talk show known asCarolina Today, which included local hosts such as Robert Allen (aka "Slim Short"),[5] Jim Woods[6] and JudgeCharles H. Whedbee. WNCT was the first station in the area to broadcast incolor.
Roy H. Park boughtThe Daily Reflector and WNCT in 1961, followed by WGTC radio in 1963.[7][8] The radio stations changed their calls toWNCT-AM-FM by 1965, at which time the TV station added the "-TV" suffix to its callsign.[9][1] The television station remained the flagship of Park Communications until it merged withMedia General in 1997.[10]
WNCT-TV served part of theWilmingtonmarket (mostlyPender County) until that city got its own CBS affiliate, WJKA-TV, in 1984. When that outlet switched toFox in 1994 and becameWSFX-TV, WNCT resumed serving as the default CBS affiliate for parts of the Wilmington area untillow-power WILM-LP (nowWILM-LD) switched its affiliation to CBS in 2000. However, WNCT still served some parts of that area which could not obtain WILM's off-air signal and/or oncable until 2017 whenWWAY acquired the CBS affiliation for its second digital subchannel.
The station's CBShigh-definition signal was picked up byDirecTV on January 7, 2009, and this is also carried onDish Network. WNCT's broadcasts became digital-only, effective June 12, 2009.[11] On that date at 6:30 in the evening, the station signed off its analog signal for the final time.
WNCT-DT2, brandedEastern North Carolina CW, is theCW Plus-affiliated seconddigital subchannel of WNCT-TV. It originally carried a full-time image of WNCT'sDopplerweather radar. The current iteration of the channel launched on the network's first day of operation on September 18, 2006 (whenThe WB andUPN merged;WCTI-DT3 was the UPN affiliate, which was also shut down), replacing the market's former WB affiliate "WGWB", which had launched on September 21, 1998.
Even before a full news department was established, WNCT offeredweather forecasts to area farmers. For coverage ofsevere weather events such ashurricanes and floods, the station received a nationalEdward R. Murrow Award and was the smallest television station to get this recognition. It also won aService to America Award.[12]
In terms ofratings, Eastern North Carolina is usually not fiercely competitive duringsweeps 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.[13]
In the late-1990s, WNCT began producing themarket's original prime time newscast onFox affiliateWFXI/WYDO (then owned byPiedmont Television) through a news share agreement. Known on-air asFox 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 theBonten 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 as9 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).
Duringweather forecast segments, the station features a liveNOAANational Weather Service weather radar originating from the Local Forecast Office on Roberts Road inNewport (on-air, this is known as "Live VIPIR 9"). In addition to the main studios, WNCT operates a bureau in Jacksonville (on South Marine Boulevard/US 17 BUS). 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 forWZGO-FM 91.1,WIKS-FM 101.9,WMGV-FM 103.3, andWNCT-FM 107.9.
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
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| 9.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WNCT-DT | CBS |
| 9.2 | 720p | WNCTCW | The CW Plus | |
| 9.3 | 480i | 4:3 | REWIND | Rewind TV |
| 9.4 | 16:9 | Mystery | Ion Mystery |
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** Owned by third parties but operated by Nexstar through various agreements. | ||
