WCCB

For the station in Buffalo, New York that uses the callsign formerly used by this sttaion, see WUTV.

Contents

1954	January–March 1955	1962–1963	1964–1966	1966–1967	1967–1970


1970–1972	1972–1974	1974–1978	1978–1982	1982–1986	1986–1993


1993–1996	1996–2002	2002–2013	March–June 30, 2013 (primary); 2013–present (secondary)	2013–present

WAYS-TV

1954

LOGO MISSING

WCCB traces its roots to WAYS-TV, a primary ABC and secondary NBC affiliate, which signed on the air on January 5, 1954. Broadcasting on UHF channel 36, it was North Carolina's second UHF station (after WNAO-TV in Raleigh), as well as the second television station in the Charlotte market. It was owned by George Dowdy and his company, Inter-City Advertising, owners of WAYS radio (610 AM, now WFNZ); Intercity had filed for channel 11 prior to the 1948 TV freeze, amended its application to specify channel 9 in 1952, then sought channel 36 instead to avoid a comparative hearing.

WQMC-TV

January–March 1955

LOGO MISSING

WUTV

1962–1963

LOGO MISSING

WCCB (-TV)

1964–1966

In June 1964, businessman Cy Bahakel—who moved from Roanoke, Virginia, to Charlotte—bought the dormant channel 36 license and facilities from Century for $175,000. An addition would be made to the studio building as part of Bahakel's efforts to return the station to the air. He returned the station to air on November 1 of that year as WCCB-TV (for "Charlotte Cy Bahakel"). Charlotte had only two network-affiliated stations and no full-time ABC affiliate.

1966–1967

On November 1, 1966, WCCB moved from channel 36 to channel 18, broadcasting from a new tower located on Newell Hickory Grove Road in northeast Charlotte. The new channel 18 facility was capable of 1.35 million watts of power, giving WCCB a coverage area comparable to those of WBTV and WSOC-TV. In 1967, WSOC-TV dropped all ABC programming and became a full-time NBC affiliate; WCCB-TV then exclusively aligned with ABC. The state's largest market got a full-fledged ABC affiliate after the state's two smallest markets, Greenville/New Bern/Washington and Wilmington, received ABC affiliates of their own (WCTI-TV and WWAY respectively). However, despite the stronger signal and the first consistent airing of all network programs in Charlotte TV history, WCCB-TV remained a distant third in the ratings.

1967–1970

1970–1972

1972–1974

1974–1978

In 1977, ABC announced that it had lured away WSOC-TV, then an NBC affiliate, to be its new outlet in the Charlotte market beginning July 1, 1978, replacing WCCB-TV. That decision set off a two-station showdown between WCCB and WRET-TV channel 36 for the NBC affiliation in Charlotte. WCCB, which had a news department (unlike WRET-TV), was seen as the favorite; sources at NBC were said to see channel 36 as their last option, behind WCCB, with its stronger signal, and WBTV, which the network was trying to woo from CBS to no avail.

1978–1982

1982–1986

In 1986, WCCB became the last station in a top-50 market to join Fox as one of the upstart network's charter affiliates, since it was doing so well in the ratings as an independent. WCCB affiliated with the network when it launched on October 9 of that year. For most of the next quarter-century, WCCB was one of the strongest Fox stations in the country – even claiming to be the highest-rated Fox affiliate in the nation during the 2008–09 television season. The station reaped a major windfall after the NFL moved its National Football Conference television package from CBS to Fox in 1994. By coincidence, this made WCCB the unofficial "home" station of the Carolina Panthers upon the team's 1995 inception. WCCB carried most Panthers regular season games during the team's first 18 seasons, and later acquired the local rights to the team's preseason games from WBTV. Panthers games had generally been the most-watched programs in the market during the NFL football season. After having branded itself as "TV18" since sign-on, WCCB changed its branding to "Fox 18" in 1988 and then to "Fox Charlotte" in 2002.

1986–1993

1993–1996

1996–2002

2002–2013

2013–present

March–June 30, 2013 (primary); 2013–present (secondary)

Used during the transitional period between Fox and The CW. On January 28, 2013, Fox Television Stations announced the purchase of CW affiliate WJZY (channel 46) and MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYT-TV (channel 55) from Capitol Broadcasting Company for $18 million. While WCCB had been one of the network's strongest affiliates, Fox had been looking to buy a station in what had become the 25th-largest market. It also wanted to own as many stations in NFC markets as possible; at the time Charlotte was the only NFC market in the Eastern Time Zone where the Fox station was only an affiliate. Another likely factor in the purchase was an option by Fox to purchase the Raleigh–Durham CW/MyNetworkTV duopoly of WLFL and WRDC from Sinclair Broadcast Group, which would have resulted in WRAZ (a sister station to WJZY and WMYT at the time) losing its Fox affiliation.