WCSC-TV

WCSC-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for South Carolina's Lowcountry area licensed to Charleston. Its broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 47 (PSIP channel 5.1) from a transmitter in Awendaw. The station can also be seen on Time Warner channel 5 as well as Comcast and Knology channel 9. There is a high definition signal offered on Comcast digital channel 433, Time Warner digital channel 810, and Knology digital channel 902. Owned by Raycom Media, it has studios on Charlie Hall Boulevard in the West Ashley section of Charleston. The road is named for the station's original personality who died just months before its relocation to the current facilities. Syndicated programming on WCSC includes: Two and a Half Men, The Wendy Williams Show, and The Doctors.

Digital programming
On WCSC-DT2, Knology digital channel 146, Comcast digital channel 212, and Time Warner digital channel 811 is an Independent station known as "Live 5 Plus". Syndicated programming on this channel includes: George Lopez, My Name Is Earl, The Insider, and Inside Edition. On weekday mornings, it simulcasts Up to the Minute and CBS Morning News from the main channel. There are also re-airings of the weekday morning, midday noon, and weeknight 11 o'clock newscasts as well as a periodical live feed of WCSC's own regional weather radar, "Super Doppler HD".

History
Previous signature logo.WCSC-TV began broadcasting on June 19, 1953 from studios on East Bay Street in Downtown Charleston. It was the second television station in South Carolina and the oldest continuously broadcasting channel in the state (the first was WCOS-TV in Columbia now WOLO-TV). It is the only station in Charleston to keep its original network affiliation since sign-on. The channel aired an analog signal on VHF channel 5 and was originally owned by the Rivers family along with WCSC radio (AM 1390 now WSPO, and 96.9 FM now WIWF).

Many of WCSC's early on-air staff were former disc jockeys who became involved with the new medium of television in 1953. Al Stone, formerly of WGAR-FM in Cleveland, Ohio, hosted an American Bandstand-like dance show for local teens. Carroll Godwin hosted a local daytime talk show in the 1960s. Loraine (Rainee) Evans hosted the popular children's program The Happy Raine Show. Ken Clyce was another popular news announcer.

The Rivers family sold WCSC-TV to Crump Communications of Houston, Texas in 1987 while the radio stations were sold to Ralph Guild of New York City. Crump kept the station until selling it to the Jefferson-Pilot Corporation in 1994. Jefferson-Pilot merged with the Lincoln Financial Group in 2006 with its broadcast properties assuming the new corporate name of Lincoln Financial Media. In 1997, the station moved to newly built studios on Charlie Hall Boulevard in the West Ashley section of Charleston. The facilities were named for WCSC's longtime weatherman and one of its most popular on-air staff. Hall signed-on the station in 1953 and worked there covering events including Hurricane Hugo's impact on Charleston in 1989 until his death in March 1997. Local sports coverage has also been prominent at WCSC. In the early-1980s, Charleston Cougars games were aired on the station. It aired the Cooper River Bridge Run from 1986 until 1990 and resumed the telecasts in 2004. The broadcasts feature reporters on the course.

WCSC is the local outlet for Atlantic Coast Conference basketball and Southeastern Conference football which have been produced by its parent company since the 1980s. In 2004, Jefferson-Pilot management effectively forced out Warren Peper (who had been with the station since 1974) by offering him only a one-year extension of his contract with no renewal option. The popular anchor, who had handled both news and sports during his time at WCSC, was also the play-by-play announcer for the station'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 the company's syndicated college football broadcasts. Peper went 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. WCSC had lured meteorologist Bill Walsh away from rival WCIV in 1994 and had to hide his identity with thunderclouds when running station promotions during his non-compete agreement.

On November 12, 2007, Lincoln Financial Media entered into an agreement to sell WCSC and the company's two other television stations (WBTV in Charlotte, North Carolina and WWBT in Richmond, Virginia) and Lincoln Financial Sports to Raycom Media for $583 million. Raycom took ownership of the station on April 1, 2008. This made WCSC sister to WIS in Columbia. WCSC-TV shut down its analog signal, on June 12, 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United States. [1] The station remained on its pre-transition channel 47 [2] using PSIP to display WCSC-TV's virtual channel as 5.

Outside of the Charleston area, WCSC is carried on Horry Telephone Cooperative's cable system in the Northern Grand Strand and the rural portions of Horry County, South Carolina alongside WBTW. To the north, it is carried in Southern Florence and Orangeburg Counties. Although Orangeburg is part of the Columbia market, WCSC usually trounces WLTX and WIS in ratings. An attempt to drop this channel from Orangeburg in 1997 led to protests that resulted in the station's restoration in 1999. Raycom has effectively assigned the Orangeburg area to WCSC rather than WIS. To the south, it is carried in most of the South Carolina side of the Savannah, Georgia market including Beaufort, Bluffton, and Hilton Head Island. There is no DirecTV out-of-market carriage for WCSC. Appling County, Georgia in the far western end of the Savannah market has this station listed as significantly viewed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This also includes Independent station WJXT out of Jacksonville, Florida. It is the only county in Georgia listed by the FCC that picks up WCSC. [3]

News operation
News open weeknights at 5:30.It has long been the dominant station in Charleston, and according to some reports, is the strongest network affiliate in South Carolina. It is also one of the strongest and top performing CBS affiliates in the country.[citation needed] The station had the same two news anchors weeknights at 6:30 from the mid-1970s until 1991 and the same three news anchors were together until 1997. Bill Sharpe became an employee at the station in 1973 after a short time at WTMA-AM 1250 radio and has now been with the station for 35 years. WCSC has been a trend-setter in South Carolina for newscasts as it expanded its local evening news programming on weeknights from thirty minutes to two and a half hours and has the most newscasts in the state within a broadcast day.

After Fox requested its affiliates to air local news in the early-1990s, WTAT-TV (then owned by Act III Broadcasting) entered into a news share agreement with WCSC. This resulted in a nightly prime time broadcast known as The Fox 24 News at 10 to debut. It was one of the first prime time shows in South Carolina along with Fox affiliate WACH in Columbia which had a similar arrangement with NBC affiliate WIS in that market. Eventually, an hour long morning show on weekdays called The Fox 24 News at 7 also produced by WCSC launched on WTAT. Both shows originate from a secondary set at WCSC's studios. The 10 o'clock news is currently the second highest rated broadcast in the area behind this channel's news operation.

In 1991, this station began airing a one-hour broadcast weeknights at 6 which later became ninety minutes from 5 to 6:30 followed by CBS Evening News in 1997. Prior to this, the national news aired at 7. In January 2000, WCSC launched its regional weather radar called "Live Super Doppler 5000". Now known as "Super Doppler HD", the system comprises of four regional live NOAA National Weather Service radars and its own Collins radar sold by Advanced Designs Corporation in Bloomington, Indiana (which makes the station the only one in the market to operate its own radar). The channel has often shared weather radars with fellow Raycom stations since the practice started after being purchased by Jefferson-Pilot.

In 2004, it added a thirty minute newscast weeknights at 4 now totaling two hours of local broadcasts between 4 and 6:30. WCSC is the only station in the area to air local news at 4. In August 2006 with an anchor and format change at CBS Evening News and concerns over ratings, it added a prime time show weeknights at 7 to "piggyback" with the network newscast. WCSC and ABC affiliate WCIV are the only stations in the area to offer news in this time slot.

The station expanded its weather product with the "Live 5 Storm TRACKER Mobile Storm Center". It is the first vehicle of its kind in the region and allows WCSC meteorologists access to weather data away from the station and ability to send back live weather data for display on-air. On September 29, 2008, WCSC set another broadcasting benchmark in the area when it became the first to offer newscasts in high definition. The upgrade included new custom Raycom corporate graphics, a re-designed HD logo, and updated music package. The WTAT broadcasts were initially not included in the new HD production because that station was not yet equipped to broadcast local or syndicated programming in high definition. As of January 24, 2011, the WTAT news shows are now in HD. Starting August 31, 2009, the weeknight prime time show at 10 on WTAT was expanded to an hour and added a second news anchor.

Newscast titles

 * TV-5 News (1970-1972)
 * Live 5 News (1972-present)
 * Live 5 News HD (2008-present)

Station slogans

 * "Channel 5 Says Hello" (1980s, featured when station used Frank Gari's "Hello News")
 * "Count On The Best!" (late 1980s)
 * "Your LIVE 24 Hour News Source" (1990-2001)
 * "The Lowcountry's News Leader" (2001-present)

News team
Anchors Live 5 News Storm Team Sports (both seen on Friday Night Lights) Reporters
 * Bill Burr - weekday mornings
 * Ann McGill - weekday mornings and consumer reporter
 * Bill Sharpe - weekdays at noon, 4 and weeknights at 5 and 6pm
 * Debi Chard - Managing Editor; seen weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6, 7, and 11pm; also medical reporter
 * Raphael James - weeknights at 5:30, 7, 10 on WTAT and 11
 * KeKe Collins - weeknights at 10 on WTAT and reporter
 * Aisha Tyler - weekdays at 4pm and reporter
 * Bill Walsh (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - Director of Meteorology and Chief seen weeknights (also heard on WIHB-FM 92.5, WIOP-FM 95.9, WXST-FM 99.7, WAVF-FM 101.7, WSPO-AM 1390/W255BW-FM 99.3)
 * Chad Watson (NWA Seal of Approval) - weekday mornings and noon
 * Brad Miller - weekends
 * Andy Pruitt - sports anchor; Tuesday-Thursdays at 6, 7, 10 on WTAT, and 11pm, also managing editor
 * Kevin Bilodeau - sports anchor; Saturdays-Mondays at 6 and 11pm, and Mondays at 7pm and 10pm on WTAT; sports reporter
 * Chip Walker - Assistant Chief Photographer and "Chip's Morning Moment" segment producer
 * Harve Jacobs - "Most Wanted" segment producer
 * Tracey Amick - fill-in news anchor
 * Nicole Johnson
 * Alan Campbell
 * Jordan Smith
 * Deja Knight
 * Patsy Hicken - deceased
 * Host of one of the first TV shows produced in South Carolina "Homemaking is Fun"(1953-1958). In 1976 Ms. Hicken became the Curator of the "WCSC Broadcast Museum" which later under an endowment from the Rivers family moved to the College of Charleston and became "The John Rivers Communications Museum."
 * Marta Costello - now producing "gnooze" a web-based news and satire program at [1]
 * Jan Jeffcoat - now at WFLD
 * Mandy Gaither - now at WYFF-TV
 * Erin Kienzle - now weekend meteorologist at WTAE-TV
 * Mark Morgan - now at ESPN
 * Tim Lake - now main anchor at WCAU
 * Craig Birnbach - now at KATU
 * Carolyn Murray - now at WCBD
 * Warren Peper - now with The Post and Courier
 * Karyn Greer - now at WXIA
 * Lu Parker - now at KTLA
 * Keith Nichols - meteorologist from 1985 to 2005 (deceased)
 * Bob Knowles - deceased
 * Charlie Hall - deceased
 * The original on-air personality for WCSC in 1953, Hall died just months before WCSC was to move from downtown to its current West Ashley location. Afterwards, the road where the station is located was named in his memory.
 * Al Stone - deceased
 * Ken Klyce - deceased
 * Carroll Godwin - deceased
 * Betty Davis - now at The Weather Channel
 * Sherry Ray - now at WTSP
 * Jill Miller
 * Michael Hughes
 * Tia Brewer
 * Gurnal Scott
 * Mike Hiott
 * Michael Trouche
 * Rameka Leary
 * Amanda Fitzpatrick
 * Amy Lutz - now at WSYX-TV
 * Erin Colgan - now at WCIV
 * Kristen McFann
 * Marika Kelderman
 * Scott Williams - now at The Weather Channel
 * Steve Hrize - deceased
 * George Norwig - deceased
 * Bob Smith
 * Liz Brisacher