WNCT-TV

WNCT-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Eastern North Carolina that is licensed to Greenville. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 10 from a transmitter east of Grifton along NC 118. Owned by Media General, the station has studios on South Evans Street in Greenville. Syndicated programming on WNCT includes: Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, Dr. Phil, and The Doctors.

Digital programming
It operates the area's CW affiliate on a second digital subchannel. Known on-air as Eastern North Carolina CW, this can also be seen on Suddenlink channel 6, Charter channel 17, and Time Warner digital channel 111. WNCT-DT2 gets all of its programming from The CW Plus. It is available in standard definition digital on DirecTVchannel 15 and Dish Network satellite. The main WNCT signal is available in SD and high definition digital on both systems.

History
WNCT signed-on December 22, 1953. It is the fourth-oldest continuously operating television station in North Carolina (behind Charlotte's WBTV, Greensboro's WFMY-TV, and Winston-Salem's WXII-TV) and the oldest station in the eastern part of the state. It was owned by The Daily Reflector along with WNCT radio (1070 AM and 107.9 FM). The station has always been a CBS affiliate but also carried some ABC shows until WNBE-TV (now WCTI-TV) signed-on from New Bern in 1963. From 1959 until 1998, it aired a weekday morning talk show known as Carolina Today. WNCT was the first station in the area to broadcast in color. Roy H. Park bought the Daily Reflector and WNCT-AM-FM-TV in 1961, and the station remained the flagship of Park Communications until it merged with Media General in 1997. [2]

WNCT-TV also served part of the Wilmington market (mostly Pender County) until that city got its own CBS affiliate, WJKA-TV, in 1984. When WJKA switched to Fox in 1994 as WSFX-TV, WNCT served as the default CBS affiliate for part of the Wilmington market until low-powered WILM-LP (now WILM-LD) affiliated with the network in 2000. However, WNCT still serves some parts of the Wilmington market that cannot get WILM's signal over-the-air or on cable.

On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced that they would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined network would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of its corporate parents: CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros. Warner Bros.] unit of Time Warner. WCTI offered UPN on its third digital subchannel while The WB aired on cable-only "WGWB". On September 18, WNCT changed its second digital subchannel, which had been serving as a non-audio feed of the station's weather radar, to become part of the new network. Its CBS high definition signal was picked up by DirecTV on January 7, 2009 and it is also carried on Dish Network. On June 12, 2009, WNCT's digital signal remained on channel 10 when the analog to digital conversion was completed. [3] On that date at 6:30, the station shut off its analog transmitter.

News operation
Even before a full news department was established, WNCT offered weather forecasts to area farmers. For coverage of severe weather events such as hurricanes and floods, the station received a national Edward R. Murrow Award and was the smallest television station to get this recognition. It also won a Service to America Award.

In terms of ratings, Eastern North Carolina is usually not fiercely competitive during sweeps 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.

In the late-1990s, WNCT began producing the market's original prime time newscast on Fox affiliate WFXI/WYDO (then owned by Piedmont Television) through a news share agreement. Known on-air as Fox 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 the Bonten 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 as 9 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). Like all CW Plus outlets, WNCT-DT2 also airs the nationally syndicated weekday morning show The Daily Buzz.

During weather forecast segments, the station features a live NOAA National Weather Service weather radar originating from the Local Forecast Office on Roberts Road in Newport (on-air, this is known as "Live VIPIR 9"). In addition to the main studios, WNCT operates bureaus in New Bern on Center Avenue (along US 17 BUS/Clarendon Boulevard) and 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 for WZGO-FM 91.1, WIKS-FM 101.9, WMGV-FM 103.3, and WNCT-FM 107.9.

Newscast titles

 * The Shell News Report
 * Channel 9 News
 * Newswatch 9 (1970s–1978)
 * 9-Alive News (1978–1980s)
 * WNCT-TV News (1980s)
 * NewsCenter 9 (1980s–1998)
 * Eyewitness News 9 (1998–2012)
 * 9 On Your Side (2012–2021)
 * WNCT 9 News (2021–present)

Station slogans

 * First in Television from the Capital to the Coast
 * Turn to 9 (early 1990s)
 * On Your Side (1998–present)

News team
Anchors Storm Team 9 Meteorologists Sports
 * Andrea Blanford - weekday mornings and weekdays at noon
 * Ryan Peterson - weeknights at 5, 5:30, and 10
 * Angela Green - weeknights at 6 and 11
 * Jeff Varner - weeknights at 6 and 11
 * Maria Satira - weekends
 * David Sawyer - Chief Meteorologist;  weeknights
 * Dontae Jones - meteorologist; weekday mornings and weekdays at noon
 * Patrick Ellis - meteorologist; weekends

Digital journalists
 * Brian Bailey - Sports Director; weeknights at 6, 10, and 11
 * also Touchdown Friday host
 * Cliff Pyron - weekends
 * Madeleine Wright - New Bern Bureau Chief
 * Katie Banks - fill-in anchor
 * Brandon Goldner
 * Erica Anderson
 * Andrew Ruiz
 * Josh Birch