WMBF-TV

WMBF-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Grand Strand and Pee Dee areas of South Carolina that is licensed to Myrtle Beach. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter in Bucksville. It can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 10 and in high definition on digital channel 805. Owned by Raycom Media, the station has studios along U.S. 17 on Frontage Road East in Myrtle Beach. Syndicatedprogramming on WMBF includes: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Access Hollywood, and The Doctors.

Digital programming
Its signal is multiplexed. On WMBF-DT2, HTC Cablevision digital channel 92, and Time Warner digital channel 808 is a 24-hour local news and weather channel known as "WMBF News XTRA". Launched in June 2009 on the same channel occupied by the defunct NBC Weather Plus, programming consists of simulcasts and repeats of newscasts as well as weather. On WMBF-DT3 and Time Warner digital channel 807 is This TV.

History
Raycom started construction on the station in late-2007. The company inherited the license for this channel when it merged with The Liberty Corporation, owner of WIS-TV in Columbia, which had operated a virtual station in the market since the 1990s. WMBF-TV signed-on for testing in late-July 2008 with a station ID slide. [1] On August 7, it officially signed-on at 11:59 p.m. with NBC welcoming the station on-air the following day on Today, NBC Nightly News, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. The sign-on of WMBF occurred in time for the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Before WMBF's launch, the Myrtle Beach/Florence area had been one of the few areas on the East Coast without its own NBC affiliate. Traditionally, WECT in Wilmington was the affiliate of record for Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand while WIS served Florence and the Pee Dee. However, both stations were available on most of the area's cable systems.

With WMBF's sign-on, WECT and WIS were dropped from cable systems due to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules. WECT long provided Grade B coverage of Myrtle Beach but this ended on September 8, 2008 when Wilmington's early digital transition moved that station to the UHF band. While Myrtle Beach itself is just outside the fringe of WECT's digital signal, North Myrtle Beach is just inside it. WECT and WIS have been sister stations since Raycom's merger with Liberty in 2005. WMBF signed on without an analog signal joining several other digital-only television stations in the United States such as KPXJ in Shreveport, Louisiana, WMFD-TV in Mansfield, Ohio, and KVMD in Southern California. Since the sign-on, its digital signal had been multiplexed with NBC Weather Plus until the national network's demise on December 1, 2008. WMBF cost $10 million to build. [2].

Availability and replacement
Florence, the market's second-largest city, is just outside WMBF's over-the-air fringe area. This is because it must conform its signal in order to protect the digital signal of WRLK-TV (also on channel 32) in Columbia and the analog signal of WJPM-TV (on channel 33) in Florence. However, the station is available on all of the market's cable systems. According to its website, WMBF now holds the channel 10 position on South Carolina Time Warner cable systems where WIS was located. WMBF's terrestrial digital signal does not reach the North Carolina side of the market including Lumberton. However, parts of that area once received WECT's analog signal from only 10-15 miles away in nearbyBladen County. The digital signal in Delco in central Brunswick County, reaches Lumberton but not all of Robeson County. WMBF is also seen on Metrocast (formerly Northland Cable) in Bennettsville, South Carolina.

In Georgetown County, South Carolina, part of the Charleston market, WMBF is carried in most of the southern Grand Strand. The Surfside Beach area has lost WECT and WIS, but WCBD-TV in Charleston remains on the lineup. Cable systems in the southern end of the Grand Strand in DeBordieu Beach do not carry WMBF but it can be received by antenna there. [3] [4] [5] Despite how young WMBF is, it is carried out of market in Cheraw on digital cable channel 805. That area is in Chesterfield County which is part of the Charlotte market.

Newscasts
WMBF is the first in the market to broadcast its local newscasts in high definition. CBS affiliateWBTW and ABC affiliate WPDE airs there local news in 16:9 standard definition widescreen. It is not the same as true high definition, however. WMBF is also the only station in the market to offer local news weeknights at 4, 4:30, and 5:30, but unlike the other two Raycom Media stations based in South Carolina (WIS and WCSC), does not have a 7 PM newscast. Unlike most NBC affiliates, the station does not air news at noon during the week. It uses the "NBC - Flagship" theme from The NBC Collection by Frank Gari and Gari Communications, Inc. WMBF shares regional news content with other Raycom Media stations in the Carolinas and throughout the Southeast. In addition to its main studios, it operates a Florence Bureau on South Cashua Drive. The station uses a mobile weather vehicle, known as the "WMBF News Storm Chaser", that was obtained from a local dealership.

Current on-air staff

Anchors


 * Paula Caruso - Weekday Mornings
 * Danner Evans - Weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6, and 11PM
 * Jason Belk - Weeknight Sports Anchor at 6 and 11PM
 * Chandi Lowry - Weeknights at 4, 5:30PM/Reporter
 * Michael Maely - Weeknights at 5, 6, and 11PM
 * Matthew Nordin - Weekday Mornings/Reporter
 * Laura Thomas - Weekends at 6 and 11PM/Reporter
 * Heather Biance - Weekends Mornings/ Reporter
 * Matt Moore - Weekend Sports Anchor at 6 and 11PM

WMBF Storm Team


 * Jamie Arnold - Weekends at 6 and 11PM
 * Marla Branson - Weekend Mornings/Reporter
 * Rob Hatchell - Chief Seen Weeknights at 4, 4:30, 5, 5:30, 6, and 11PM
 * Jessica Ryan - Weekday Mornings

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">WMBF Sports Team


 * Jason Belk- Sports Director
 * Matt Moore- Sports Reporter

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Reporters


 * Ian Dorety - Photographer
 * Kyle Grainger - General Assignment
 * Drew Hansen - Chief Photographer
 * Brandon Herring - General Assignment
 * Ashley Johnson - General Assignment
 * Evan Lambert - General Assignment
 * Alisha Laventure - General Assignment
 * Mark Meredith - General Assignment
 * Michael Walter - Photographer
 * Meghan Miller - General Assignment and Traffic reporter weekday mornings
 * Will Whitson - General Assignment

Former on-air staff

 * Greg Argos - Reporter/Anchor May 2008-May 2010. Now at WCNC-TV, Newschannel 36 in Charlotte, NC as a reporter.
 * Jason Barr - Weekday Mornings/4PM anchor 2008-2009.
 * Nikki Gaskins-Reporter/Producer/Fill-in Anchor March 2008-June 2009. Now at WJCL-TV/WTGS in Savannah, GA as the crime reporter/anchor; Host of "Savannah's Most Wanted."
 * Lindsay Housaman - Reporter 2008-2010. Now the 10PM Anchor/Reporter at WJCL-TV in Savannah, Georgia.
 * Kerri O'Hara - 4PM anchor/Fill-in 2008-2010. Now at KARK-TV in Little Rock, Arkansas as the Sports Director.
 * Kaylin Krashesky- Videojournalist/Associate Producer from 2009-2010. Now at KDRV-TV in Medford, Oregon as Morning Anchor and Reporter.
 * Trey Paul - Anchor/Reporter 2009-2010. Now at WICS-TV in Springfield, Illinois as Morning anchor.
 * Katy Morgan - Morning Meteorologist 2008-2010. Now at WXIX-TV in Cincinnati, OH as Morning Meteorologist.
 * Lindsay Curtin- Reporter Now at WECT-TV in Wilmington, NC as a Reporter. WECT is also a Raycom Media Station
 * A.J. Ross - Reporter/Weekend Mornings Anchor 2008-2010. Now a Reporter at WSYX-TV in Columbus Ohio.
 * Justin Felder - Weeknights Sports Anchor 2008-2010. Now Sports Anchor/Reporter at WLUK-TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
 * Jennifer Grove - Reporter 2008-2011. Now a reporter at WXIX-TV in Cincinnati, OH.