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WYCW, virtual channel 62 (VHF digital channel 7), is a CW-affiliated television station licensed to Asheville, North Carolina, United States, serving Western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, as part of a duopoly with Spartanburg, South Carolina-licensed CBS affiliate WSPA-TV (channel 7). The two stations share studios on International Drive (next to the I-26 and I-85 Business/Veterans Parkway interchange) in Spartanburg and transmitter facilities on Hogback Mountain in northeastern Greenville County (southwest of Tryon, North Carolina).

History

Original Channel 62 allocation

Asheville’s first television station, WISE-TV, signed on Channel 62 on August 2, 1953. It was a primary NBC affiliate which also carried programs from ABC, CBS, and DuMont. ABC and DuMont moved to WLOS-TV, Channel 13, when that station signed on in September 1954. In 1968, the station dropped its remaining NBC and CBS programming, and was granted FCC permission to move to Channel 21 as independent WANC-TV.

Current allocation

Channel 62 returned to the air on October 31, 1984 as WASV-TV. Originally locally owned, even though it was licensed as a full-power outlet, the station initially operated at low-power, simulcasting Christian-oriented programming from Greenville-based WGGS-TV (channel 16). This was necessary in the days before cable gained much penetration in this vast market, much of which is very mountainous. WASV began to run infomercials and shop-at-home programming in the early 1990s.

It was sold to Pappas Telecasting (which previously owned Fox affiliate WHNS (channel 21)) in 1995 and began to transmit its analog signal at full-power in 1996. At that time, Pappas entered into a local marketing agreement with CBS affiliate WSPA-TV (channel 7), which took control of WASV's programming and airtime. In October 1997, WASV became the market's WB affiliate, taking the affiliation from WSPA, which carried the network on a secondary basis beginning at the network's launch in January 1995. At the same time, the station also became a secondary affiliate of UPN. The station branded on-air as "The New 62" from 1997 to 2002, which was then changed to "Super 62" in 2002, lasting until early 2004. From 1998 to 2000, WASV aired sporting events from CBS and NBC that those networks' local affiliates WSPA and WYFF (channel 4) pre-empted in favor of local programming, breaking news or severe weather coverage, or annual telethons.

Logo used as WASV from September 2002 to September 2006.

The WB affiliation moved to rival WBSC (channel 40, now WMYA-TV) on September 6, 1999 and WASV became a full-time UPN station, branding as "UPN 62." WASV continued its LMA with WSPA even after the latter station was sold to Media General in 2000. Channel 62 was purchased by Media General outright in 2002, creating the market's first television duopoly. From 1997 to 1998, WASV signed off nightly from around midnight until 7:00 a.m. Later in 1998, it began broadcasting 24 hours a day with the addition of a block of programming from the Shop at Home Network during the overnight hours. In late-2005/early 2006, the station dropped Shop at Home programming, and replaced it with a mix of off-network sitcoms and court shows in the overnight during the week, and off-network dramas and sitcoms as well as movies on weekends.

On January 24, 2006, the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner and CBS Corporation announced that the two companies would shut down The WB and UPN and combine the networks' respective programming to create a new "fifth" network called The CW.[1][2] On March 2, 2006, Sinclair Broadcast Group announced that WBSC would become an affiliate of another new network, MyNetworkTV, which launched on September 5. Nearly four weeks later on March 28, it was confirmed WASV would join The CW.

Corresponding with the upcoming network change, the station officially changed its call letters to WYCW on April 22, 2006. However, it continued to use the WASV call sign on-air until UPN officially ceased operations on September 15, 2006. When The CW launched on September 18, the station rebranded itself as "Carolinas CW". In recent years, WYCW has been carried on cable in portions of the Columbia, South Carolina market, as well in the South Carolina side of the Augusta, Georgia market (including Aiken and North Augusta).[3]

On September 8, 2015, Media General announced that it would acquire the Meredith Corporation for $2.4 billion, with the combined group to be renamed Meredith Media General once the sale is finalized. Because Meredith already owns WHNS, and the two stations rank among the four highest-rated stations in the Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville market in total day viewership, the companies will be required to sell either WHNS or WSPA to comply with FCC ownership rules. WYCW is the only one of the three stations that would not be affected and could either remain under its existing duopoly with WSPA or form a new duopoly with WHNS, as its total day viewership ranks below the top-four ratings threshold and is therefore eligible to be run by the merged company in any event since that station's total day viewership ranks below the top-four ratings threshold.[4][5] However, on January 27, 2016, Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Media General, resulting in the termination of Meredith's acquisition by Media General.

On April 13, 2017, the FCC identified WYCW will be compensated $45.6 million to have its digital 45 go off-the-air as part of the Spectrum auction.[6] On April 1, 2018, WYCW moved their digital broadcasts to subchannels of WSPA while retaining channel 62 as their virtual channel.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[7]
62.1 1080i 16:9 WYCW-HD Main WYCW programming / The CW
62.3 480i Get TV getTV

On March 1, 2009, WYCW began carrying sister station WSPA-TV on a second digital subchannel, due to the collapse of channel 7's broadcast tower on Hogback Mountain (southwest of Tryon, North Carolina).

On February 2, 2016, WYCW began carrying GETTV on 62.3.[8]

Analog-to-digital conversion

WYCW discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 62, on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 45.[9] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 62, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

As part of the SAFER Act,[10] WYCW kept its analog signal on the air until March 3 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters.

Programming

Syndicated programs broadcast by WYCW include Judge Judy, CSI: Miami, The Office, The People's Court and Everybody Loves Raymond. WYCW also carries the second half-hour of CBS' political discussion program Face the Nation on Sunday mornings at 11:00 a.m., as WSPA only clears the first half-hour of the program (which airs in the half-hour prior to the airing of the second half of the program on channel 62).

Newscasts

WSPA-TV presently produces 16 hours of locally produced newscasts each week for WYCW (with three hours on weekdays and a half-hour each on Saturdays and Sundays). Since the early 2000s, WSPA has produced a nightly primetime newscast for WYCW, currently known as 7 News at 10 on CW 62. The newscast, which airs for an hour on weeknights and a half-hour on weekends, competes with an hour-long in-house newscast seen on Fox affiliate WHNS and a half-hour newscast on MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYA (the latter of which is produced by WLOS). In the late 2000s, WSPA also began producing a two-hour extension of WSPA's weekday morning newscast for WYCW. Currently known as 7 News Daybreak on CW 62, the program airs from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. and competes against the in-house morning newscast on WHNS.

On September 16, 2007, WSPA became the first television station in the Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville market to begin broadcasting its newscasts to high-definition; the WYCW newscasts were included in the upgrade, which introduced a graphics package similar to that used at the time by Media General flagship WFLA-TV in Tampa, Florida. In 2008, news anchor Amy Wood launched the "CW Live Chat" feature during the weeknight edition of the 10:00 p.m. newscast. At the time, it was one of the first interactive live broadcasts in the United States, with an anchor hosting the chat live while simultaneously anchoring on-air.

In addition to the main studios in Spartanburg, WSPA/WYCW opened a street front studio in downtown Greenville in January 2017. Known as "7 On Main", the studio is located at the corner of Main Street and Falls Park Drive. The stations also operate a news bureau on Main Street/SC 28 in Anderson. Nexstar maintains a Capitol bureau in Columbia, covering state government issues for the company's South Carolina stations.

References

  1. ^ 'Gilmore Girls' meet 'Smackdown'; CW Network to combine WB, UPN in CBS-Warner venture beginning in September, CNNMoney.com, January 24, 2006.
  2. ^ UPN and WB to Combine, Forming New TV Network, The New York Times, January 24, 2006.
  3. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-05-02. Retrieved 2012-09-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ "Media General Acquiring Meredith For 2.4 Billion". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. September 8, 2015.
  5. ^ Cynthia Littleton (September 8, 2015). "TV Station Mega Merger: Media General Sets $2.4 Billion Acquisition of Meredith Corp". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
  6. ^ "FCC Broadcast Television Spectrum Incentive Auction" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. April 13, 2017. p. 1. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
  7. ^ RabbitEars TV Query for WYCW
  8. ^ http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/91977/gettv-in-multimarket-deal-with-media-general
  9. ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  10. ^ "UPDATED List of Participants in the Analog Nightlight Program" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. June 12, 2009. Retrieved June 4, 2012.
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