WAXN-TV

WAXN-TV

Kannapolis/Charlotte, North Carolina
Branding	TV 64 (general) Eyewitness News
Channels	Digital: 50 (UHF) Virtual: 64 (PSIP)
Subchannels	64.1 Independent
Translators	36 WAXNTV1 China Grove 42 W42DR-D Marion 30 WSOCTV1, Shebly
Owner	Cox Media Group (WSOC Television, Inc.)
First air date	October 15, 1994
Call letters' meaning	AXN = "action" (from former on-air name "Action 64")
Sister station(s)	WSOC-TV
Former callsigns	WKAY (1994-1996)
Former channel number(s)	64 (UHF analog, 1994-2009)
Former affiliations	Pax (third-party, 1998-2000)
Transmitter power	150 kW Directional
Height	364 m
Facility ID	12793
Transmitter coordinates	35°15′41.2″N 80°43′36.6″W
Website	wsoctv.com/waxntv

WAXN-TV is an Independent television station for Charlotte, North Carolina that is licensed to Kannapolis. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 50 from a transmitter near Reedy Creek Park in the Newell section of Charlotte. Owned by Cox Enterprises, the station is sister to ABC affiliate WSOC-TV and the two share studios on North Tryon Street (U.S. 29/NC 49) north of Downtown Charlotte. Syndicated programming on WAXN includes: Friends, The Wendy Williams Show, The Insider, and Judge Joe Brown. The station can be seen via digital repeaters on channel 36 (64.7)in China Grove, channel 30 (64.5) from Crowder's Mtn. and W42DR-D channel 42 (6.2) in Marion (from a transmitter southwest of Connelly Springs).

History

The station debuted on October 15, 1994 as WKAY-TV. It was owned by Kannapolis Television Company, a subsidiary of Truth Temple in Kannapolis. The channel had originally received a construction permit as WDZH but changed the calls to WKAY on November 15, 1989. The pastor of Truth Temple, Garland Faw, named the station WKAY after his wife Kay. The station aired a mix of religious programming, old movies, and barter syndicated programming. Kannapolis Television entered into a joint sales agreement (JSA) with WSOC and formally changed the call letters to WAXN-TV in August 1996. Under this agreement, Cox invested over $3 million toward relaunching the station and other improvements.

Under the agreement, WSOC took over WAXN's operations and re-branded the station as "Action 64". Soon after the arrangement took effect, WAXN significantly upgraded its programming. WSOC-TV owned the rights to a large amount of syndicated programming, but no longer had enough time in its broadcast day to air it all. WSOC-TV placed much of this programming on WAXN. One of these shows was The Andy Griffith Show, which had aired on that channel for many years.

The station also boosted its signal to a level comparable with other Charlotte stations. Previously, it could only be seen on cable in most of the area. Its over-the-air analog signal barely made it out of Cabarrus County. From 1998 to 2000, WAXN aired many programs from Pax although it was never formally affiliated with the network. Charlotte is the largest market not to have a Pax/i/Ion affiliate. It later began airing repeated episodes of Dr. Phil and Oprah in primetime seen earlier in the day on WSOC.

On August 5, 1999, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reversed its long standing regulations against duopoly ownerships in the same television market. As stipulated in the original joint sales agreement, Cox was now able to purchase this station outright for $3 million. The sale was officially approved by the FCC in 2000. In 2007, WAXN dropped the "Action" moniker and is currently known as "Carolinas' TV 64". On May 10, 2009, it increased its digital transmission power from 50 to 91 kW with the addition of a larger transmitter. On July 13, 2011, WAXN saw a further increase in power to 150 kW with a new directional antenna to protect the signal of WFMY-TV in Greensboro. In recent years, WAXN has been carried on cable in Mountain City, Tennessee, which is within the Tri-Cities media market.

Newscasts

Since 1996, WAXN has aired a nightly 10 o'clock newscast produced by WSOC. The station is number one in the time slot beating rival efforts on Fox affiliate WCCB and CW affiliate WJZY (produced by CBS affiliate WBTV). The strong lead-ins of Dr. Phil and Oprah re-airings have been cited as a contributing factor for this success. WAXN aired the first high definition prime time broadcast in the Charlotte market in October 2008. The shows on WSOC had already been produced in HD since April 22, 2007 but was down-converted for airing on this channel through the stations' shared master control facility. In September 2010, WAXN added a two-hour long extension of WSOC's weekday morning show at 7.

Eyewitness News This Morning on TV 64 (weekday mornings 7 to 9)

• Anchors:
  • Scott Wickersham
  • Robyn McGlohn
• Weather:
  • Keith Monday
• Traffic:
  • Jamie Bowers
• Reporters:
  • Ken Ward - weekday mornings
  • Linzi Sheldon - weekday mornings

Eyewitness News at 10 on Carolinas' TV 64 (10 to 10:35 p.m.)
weeknights

• Anchors:
  • Erica Bryant
  • Blair Miller
  • Natalie Pasquarella
• Weather:
  • Steve Udelson
• Sports:
  • Tiffany Wright

weekends

• Anchor:
  • Holly Maynard
• Weather:
  • John Ahrens
• Sports:
  • Bill Voth

WAXN features additional personnel from WSOC. See that article for a complete listing.

External links

• WAXN-TV "Carolinas' TV 64"
• WSOC-TV channel 9
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WAXN-TV
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W42DR-D