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WCSC-TV

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WCSC-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Charleston, South Carolina. Licensed to the city, the station broadcasts an analog signal on VHF channel 5 and a digital signal on UHF channel 47. WCSC's transmitter is located in Seewee Road in Awendaw. The station's studios are located on Charlie Hall Boulevard in the West Ashley section of Charleston. WCSC is owned by Lincoln Financial Media and is known on-air as "Live 5 News".

History

WCSC signed on in 1953 from its original studios on East Bay Street in Downtown Charleston. While it was the second television station to sign on in South Carolina, it is the oldest continuously broadcasting station in the state. The first station to sign on in the state was WCOS-TV in Columbia, a few months before WCSC. However, it went dark in 1956 and did not return to the air until 1961 as WCCA-TV. That station is now known as WOLO-TV. WCSC is the only station in Charleston to keep its original 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 WSUY). The Rivers Family sold WCSC-AM-FM-TV to Crump Communications of Houston 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 on October 10, 2005. The sale became final on April 3, 2006, with the Jefferson-Pilot stations assuming the new corporate name of Lincoln Financial Media.

In 1997, WCSC moved to newly built studios located at 2126 Charlie Hall Boulevard in the West Ashley section of Charleston. The facilities were named for the station's longtime weatherman, who signed the station on in 1953 and stayed at WCSC until his death in March of 1997. From the mid-1970s until 1991, the anchors of the 6:30 PM newscast stayed consistent. Of the long-running three-man staff, Bill Sharpe became an employee at the station in 1973 after a short time at WTMA Radio and has been with the station for more than 30 years.

The station has been a trend-setter in South Carolina for newscasts as it expanded its evening newscast from one 30-minute broadcast to two hours combined. In 1991, WCSC switched to a one-hour format at 6 PM. In 1997, the station moved the CBS Evening News from 7 PM to 6:30 PM, resulting in an 90-minute local newscast beginning at 5 PM. In 2004, a 30-minute 4 PM newscast was added totaling two hours of news from 4 PM until 6:30 PM. The station stopped using DVC Pro playback and switched to video storage in late-2003.

WCSC has long been the dominant station in Charleston, and according to some reports is the strongest network affiliate in South Carolina, ahead of Columbia's dominant NBC affiliate, WIS. It is one of the strongest CBS affiliates in the country.

With a massive change at the CBS Evening News and concerns over ratings, Lincoln Financial added a 7 PM newscast to "piggyback" with the network newscast in August of 2006 on both of its CBS affiliates in the Carolinas (WBTV and WCSC). WCSC recently expanded its weather product with the roll out of the "Live 5 Storm TRACKER Mobile Storm Center". It is the first vehicle of its kind in the region that 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 in the mid-1990s that was the predecessor to the current mobile storm vehicle. The van was known as the "McElveen Mobile Storm Center" named for a local car dealership by the same name who sponsored the van.

Local sports coverage has also been well known at WCSC. In the early-1980s, the NAIA Charleston Cougars would have games broadcasted live on WCSC (they are now NCAA Division I). WCSC is the host broadcaster for the Cooper River Bridge Run and has done such airings between 1986-1990 and again since 2004. The sports broadcasts features reporters on the course, with anchor Bill Sharpe reporting from the course in 2005. WCSC is the local outlet for Atlantic Coast Conference Basketball and Southeastern Conference Football which has been produced by its parent company since the 1980s.

In January of 2000, WCSC launched its regional weather radar called "Live Super Doppler 5000". The weather system uses 5 live NOAA NWS radars from various sites.

On November 12, 2007, Lincoln Financial Media entered into an agreement to sell WCSC, along with the company's two other television stations and Lincoln Financial Sports, to Raycom Media for $583 million. [1]

On December 13, 2007 WCSC debuted new graphics, news opens, and also has recently changed there 5-Day Forecast to a new 7 Day Forecast.

Station Controversy

In 2004, controversy erupted with station viewers when Jefferson-Pilot management forced out Warren Peper (who had joined the station in 1974 following his graduation from nearby Baptist College) by awarding him a one-year extension of his contract (with no renewal option) set to expire in 2004.

The popular anchor, who was initially signed for news but jumped to sports in the late-1970s before a double stint (news and sports together) during the 11 PM newscast in the late-1990s, 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 college football broadcasts syndicated by Jefferson Pilot.

Peper later jumped 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 seized meteorologist Bill Walsh away from rival WCIV in 1994 and had to hide his identity with thunderclouds when running station promotions during the non-compete agreement.

Newscasts

WCSC has a news share agreement with the area's FOX affiliate WTAT-TV that is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. WCSC produces daily 10 PM and weekday 7 AM newscasts on that station. The 10 PM news is currently the second highest rated newscast in the market behind WCSC. The future status of the news share agreement between WCSC and WTAT is unknown now that WCSC is being sold to Raycom.

News Team

Anchors

  • Bill Burr - weekday mornings
  • Amy Lutz - weekday mornings
  • Bill Sharpe - weekdays at Noon, 4, 5, and 6 PM
  • Ann McGill - weekdays at Noon, 4, and 5 PM (also consumer reporter)
  • Raphael James - weeknights at 5:30, 7, and 11 PM
  • Debi Chard - weeknights at 5:30, 6, 7, and 11 PM
  • Erin Colgan - weeknights at 10 PM on WTAT (also reporter)
  • Anthony Miller - weekends


Live 5 Weather Meteorologists

  • Bill Walsh - Chief seen weeknights at 5, 6, 7, and 11 PM
  • Scott Williams - weekdays at 4, 5:30, and 10 PM (on WTAT)
  • Chad Watson - weekday mornings and Noon
  • Brad Miller - weekends


Sports

  • Andy Pruitt - weeknights at 6, 7, 10 (on WTAT), and 11 PM
  • Kevin Bilodeau - weekends (also weekday sports reporter)
  • Bob Behanian - sports reporter (also part of "Friday Night Lights", a local high-school football show)

Reporters

  • Amanda Fitzpatrick
  • Nicole Johnson
  • Harve Jacobs
  • Marika Kelderman
  • Katie Crawford
  • Hatzel Vela
  • Ian Silver
  • Sheldon Dutes
  • Tracey Amick

Administration

  • Sandy Smith - General Sales Manager
  • Georgia Brown - National Sales Manager
  • TBD - Local Sales Manager
  • Amanda Lawrence - Sales Marketing and Community Affairs Director


Account Executives

  • Elizabeth McDowell
  • Ruthie Tripp
  • Joe Hauhn
  • Mark Smith
  • Margaret McConnell
  • John White
  • Jamie Bickley
  • Mike Gallagher

Former Talent

  • Jan Jeffcoat (now at WFLD in Chicago
  • Mandy Gaither (now at WYFF-TV)
  • Erin Kienzle (now weekend [meteorologist] at WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh
  • Tia Brewer
  • Bob Knowles (Deceased)
  • Mark Morgan (Now at ESPN)
  • Brad Neuhoff (was producer at KWGN/Denver)
  • Michael Trouche
  • Tim Lake (now main anchor at WCAU Philadelphia)
  • Craig Birnbach (now at KATU in Portland,OR)
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