Колумбия, Оңтүстік Каролинадағы WIS телеарнасының тарихы

NBC/CW affiliate in Columbia, South Carolina

WIS (channel 10) is a television station in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, affiliated with NBC and The CW. The station is owned by Gray Television, and maintains studios on Bull and Gervais Streets (US 1/US 378) in downtown Columbia and a transmitter on Rush Road (southeast of I 20) in rural southwestern Kershaw County, outside Lugoff.

The station first signed on the air on November 7, 1953. The station's first telecast was a college football game between the University of South Carolina and the University of North Carolina. The Liberty Life Insurance Company, owners of WIS radio (560 AM, now WVOC) through its Broadcasting Company of the South subsidiary, and the Maresco Corporation, owners of WMSC (1320 AM, now WISW) merged their competing applications to avoid what could have been years of hearings and delays. Seven of WMSC's stockholders sold their shares in Maresco and joined the board of the television station, which was initially operated separately from WIS radio. However, the station was based alongside WIS radio at a new facility on Bull Street, where channel 10 is still headquartered today. Charles Batson signed the station on the air, and remained the station's president and general manager until his retirement in 1983. It was the fourth television station to sign on in South Carolina and the third in the Columbia market, signing on just four months after WCOS TV (channel 25)—which ceased operations in 1956—and two months after WNOK TV (channel 67, now WLTX on channel 19, where it moved in 1961). WIS is the third longest continuously operating station in the state, behind WCSC TV in Charleston and WNOK/WLTX. WIS radio (whose call letters stood for "Wonderful Iodine State", in reference to the abundance of iodine in the South Carolina soil) received the last new three letter call sign in the U. S. on January 23, 1930, and the call sign was later shared with its television sibling. The station has been an NBC affiliate since its inception, owing to its radio sister's longtime affiliation with the NBC Red Network. However, until 1961, when a new channel 25 signed on as WCCA TV (now WOLO TV), it maintained a secondary affiliation with ABC, airing its programming outside of NBC network timeslots. WIS TV was a major beneficiary of an exception to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s "2 1/2 + 1" plan for allocating VHF television bandwidth. In the early days of broadcast television, there were twelve VHF channels available, and 69 UHF channels (which was later reduced to 56 with the removal of high band channels 70 83 in the early 1980s). The VHF bands were more desirable because signals broadcasting on that band traveled a longer distance. Because there were only twelve VHF channels available, there were limitations as to how closely the stations could be spaced. With the release of the FCC's Sixth Report and Order in 1952, the Commission outlined a new allocation table for VHF licenses and opened up the UHF band. Through these initiatives, almost all of the United States would be able to receive two commercial VHF channels plus one non commercial allocation. Most of the rest of the country ("1/2") would be able to receive a third VHF channel. Other areas of the country would be designated as "UHF islands", since they were too close to larger cities for VHF service. The "2" networks became CBS and NBC, "+1" represented non commercial educational (public television, usually affiliated with NET) stations, and "1/2" became ABC, which, as the smallest and weakest network then, usually wound up with the UHF allocation where no VHF allocation was available. Originally, Columbia was assigned two VHF licenses, channels 7 and 10. This did not sit well with Walter J. Brown, owner of WSPA (950 AM) and WSPA FM (98.9) in Spartanburg. He pressed Governor and fellow Spartanburg resident James F. Byrnes to use his influence with the FCC to move channel 7 from Columbia to Spartanburg, allowing him to launch WSPA TV in 1956. With this move, Columbia was now sandwiched between Charlotte (which had respectively been awarded channels 3 and 9) to the north, Florence–Myrtle Beach (channel 8, later 13) to the east, Charleston (channels 2, 4, 5, and 7) and Savannah (channels 3, 9, and 11) to the south, Augusta (channels 6 and 12) to the west, and Greenville–Spartanburg–Asheville (channels 4, 7, and 13) to the northwest. This created a huge "doughnut" in central South Carolina where there could be only one VHF license. WIS TV was fortunate to gain that license, providing many people in that part of South Carolina with their first clear reception of a television signal. Until the FCC mandated all channel tuning in 1964, viewers needed a converter to watch UHF stations, and picture quality was marginal at best even with a converter. This allowed channel 10 to become one of the most dominant television stations in the country; it has been the far and away market leader for most of its history. For a week after the transition, some viewers lost access to NBC programming because WIS used its backup transmitter, which was not operating at full power. The station signed on a full time digital transmitter from its Lugoff tower on June 19. On June 25, 2018, Atlanta based Gray Television announced it had reached an agreement with Raycom to merge their respective broadcasting assets (consisting of Raycom's 63 existing owned and/or operated television stations, including WIS), and Gray's 93 television stations) under Gray's corporate umbrella. The cash and stock merger transaction valued at $3.6 billion – in which Gray shareholders would acquire preferred stock currently held by Raycom – resulted in WIS gaining new sister stations in nearby markets, including CBS affiliate WRDW TV and NBC affiliate WAGT CD in Augusta (while separating it from WFXG) in addition to its current Raycom sister stations. The sale was approved on December 20, and was completed on January 2, 2019. On May 29, 2019, Gray announced that WIS' second digital subchannel would become Columbia's CW affiliate effective September 30, 2019, with "Columbia's CW" replacing WKTC (channel 63). As part of the new affiliation, Bounce TV was moved to WIS DT3, with Grit moving to WKTC DT7.

WIS formerly preempted the third hour of the Today Show to air WIS Today; the third hour now airs on the station. However, as with most NBC affiliates, the station occasionally airs one hour of its The More You Know block on Saturday mornings prior to the station's weekend morning newscast in the event that NBC schedules a sports event during the noon hour on that day. Over the years, channel 10 preempted NBC programming in moderation—most notably, the soap opera Search for Tomorrow during its NBC tenure from 1982 to 1986, and the 1990–91 NBC revival of Let's Make A Deal during its entire run. Although NBC has historically been far less tolerant of programming preemptions than the other networks, it was more than satisfied with WIS, which was one of its strongest affiliates. Although WIS broadcasts on a 24 hour schedule, it is one of the few remaining U. S. television stations that continues to sign off during the overnight hours for reasons other than necessary transmitter maintenance, occurring annually during the early morning hours of Christmas Day. In 1963, the station debuted a long running children's program Mr. Knozit, which was hosted by weather anchor Joe Pinner, who had been hired by WIS TV a few months before. Four years later, the series would receive a Peabody Award for excellence in public service by way of children's programming. The show ran for 37 years, airing its final episode in 2000. Pinner, known in his later years as "Papa Joe", went into semi retirement in 2000, but continued to provide weather reports and feature segments on the Friday edition of its noon newscast. He retired for good on September 1, 2018, after 55 years at the station. WIS maintains the local rights to the highlight program from the South Carolina State Bulldogs (which it airs on Sunday mornings during the college football season); it had held rights to the South Carolina Gamecocks coach's show until the University of South Carolina decided to move the program to regional sports network Fox Sports Carolinas. After the Gamecocks joined the Southeastern Conference, WIS obtained the local television rights to Southeastern Conference football and men's basketball games (which made the station the home of the South Carolina Gamecocks); WOLO TV (channel 25) and WKTC (channel 63) assumed rights to the games starting with the conference's 2010–11 athletic season. Since 2024, WIS's 4th subchannel has aired select matches featuring the Charleston Battery of the USL Championship.

WIS presently broadcasts 40 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with seven hours on weekdays, two hours on Saturdays and three hours on Sundays); in addition, the station produces the public affairs program Awareness, which airs Sundays at 11 a. m. WIS is a partner in the Raycom News Network, a system designed to rapidly share information on air and online among Raycom's and Meredith Corporation's widespread groups of television stations (now all owned by Gray). In South Carolina, the company developed a regional network between WIS, WMBF, WCSC TV in Charleston, WBTV in Charlotte and WHNS TV in Greenville, in which stations share information, equipment such as satellite trucks and stories filed by the stations. Between them, these five stations cover almost all of South Carolina. Wilmington's WECT and Savannah's WTOC TV also play a small part in the regional network. For the better part of channel 10's history, its newscasts dominated the ratings in Columbia. Cosmos/Liberty made it a point to pour significant resources into its stations' news departments from the 1950s onward. This resulted in a higher quality product than conventional wisdom would suggest for a market of Columbia's size. Although Columbia was the state's largest city for most of the 20th century and well into the new millennium, it has always been a small to medium sized market because the surrounding suburban and rural areas are not much larger than the city itself. The station took full advantage of its near statewide coverage to establish a tradition for strong local news coverage that continues today. Its dominance was helped by the fact that it was the only VHF station in the market. From the late 1970s until the mid 1990s, it was the only station in the market that offered a full schedule of local newscasts in all four dayparts (morning, midday, early and late evening). Another factor behind WIS' run atop Columbia's ratings has been talent continuity. These staffers included news anchors Ed Carter and Susan Audé, who gained notoriety for her accomplishments as a reporter and anchor. Audé used a wheelchair due to having been paralyzed in an automobile accident. Carter became the station's main anchor in 1972, and Audé—by then known as Susan Audé Fisher (she divorced in 2000)—joined him at the anchor desk in 1982. The two remained paired together on its weekday evening newscasts until Carter retired in 1998; Audé later retired in 2006. As mentioned above, Joe Pinner served as a weatherman and children's host at the station from 1963 until his retirement in 2018. Jim Gandy, the station's chief meteorologist from 1984 to 1999, was known as "South Carolina's Weatherman"; he was the only area forecaster to predict Hurricane Hugo would make landfall in Charleston. Channel 10 continues to enjoy a staff with remarkably long tenures for a market of Columbia's size, including Jack Kuenzie, Judi Gatson, Dawndy Mercer Plank, Ben Tanner and Rick Henry, some of whom have been figures at the station for two decades. Channel 10's news operation has long been well respected in the industry. In 1997, for instance, Hank Price of Northwestern University's Media Management Center recalled that whenever South Carolina was mentioned in television circles, "WIS' name will quickly come up" because it was seen as "a model for success." NBC affiliate relations director Lloyd Segal said that WIS was so dominant because it was "a midsize market station that acts like a major market station." He added that at the time, WIS was one of 10 stations that NBC considered "outstanding partners" in gathering local news; WIS was by far the smallest station in that group, the other nine were in large markets. While WIS still leads overall, it has spent the new millennium in a spirited battle for first place with WLTX. It has consistently lost the #1 ranking in the noon timeslot to WLTX (mainly because of that station's CBS Daytime programming lead in), and the early morning ratings crown has switched between the two stations multiple times. In 2019, WIS lost the early evening timeslot to WLTX for the first time in memory. While WIS still led the late news race overall, WLTX had pulled well ahead among adults aged 25–54. WIS has won numerous awards for station quality and its news productions, including the Southeast Emmy Award for Best Newscast, the Edward R. Murrow Award, and several of the South Carolina Broadcasters Association's "Best Station of the Year" designation. In August 2007, Craig Melvin was named "Anchor of the Year" by SCBA. The station's on air staff are named in the Best of the Media awards by the Columbia Free Times, and the station has been voted the "Best" by readers of The State newspaper several times. In 1963, WIS moved its evening newscast from 6 to 7 p. m., in hopes of taking advantage of having The Huntley Brinkley Report as a lead in. It was one of only a few stations in the Eastern Time Zone at the time to air a local newscast at 7 p. m. Most of Cosmos/Liberty's other stations followed WIS' lead and moved their early newscasts to 7 p. m. (6 p. m. in the case of Cosmos' stations in the Central Time Zone). It added a 6 p. m. newscast in 1991 as part of increased coverage of the Persian Gulf War. In 1970, WIS TV premiered Awareness, a weekly public affairs program focusing on social and political issues concerning the minority population of the Midlands. In 1996, WIS entered into a news share agreement with Fox affiliate WACH to produce a 10 p. m. newscast for that station, which—buoyed by WIS's ratings dominance—became one of the highest rated prime time newscasts in the United States; the agreement ended in March 2007, when WACH launched its own news department. In 2006, WIS built a new set for its newscasts in preparation to an upgrade to high definition; the new set debuted in January 2007. On November 4, 2010, WIS became the second television station in the Columbia market (after WOLO) to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. With the upgrade, the set received a refresh and a modified graphics package was introduced; the station also changed its weather branding to "First Alert Weather". On June 16, 2013, WIS expanded its news programming on weekend mornings with the debut of the market's first Sunday morning newscast, airing at 10 a. m.

WIS is carried on cable systems as far southwest as Aiken and as far northeast as Wadesboro, North Carolina. Until late 2009 or early 2010, it had been available on cable in Augusta, Georgia, despite the presence of an in market NBC affiliate, WAGT. Even though WIS is carried in Wadesboro, Charlotte NBC affiliate WCNC TV operates a translator in nearby Lilesville, W24AY, which covers Wadesboro. WIS' analog signal tended to be more receivable along the US 74 corridor between Wadesboro and Rockingham than the Lilesville translator. Until August 8, 2008, WIS was carried on digital cable in Rowland and Laurinburg, North Carolina. On that date, WMBF TV signed on as the NBC affiliate for the Myrtle Beach–Florence market. DirecTV customers in Scotland and Robeson Counties in North Carolina received WIS as the default NBC station instead of WECT in nearby Wilmington. For many years, WECT has served this area, especially the town of Lumberton. Metrocast Cable (formerly Northland Cable)'s system in Bennettsville was one of the few providers in the Florence–Myrtle Beach–Lumberton market that did not drop WIS; it has since been dropped by that system also. Just outside that market, WIS remains on cable providers in many areas around South Carolina such as Georgetown and Williamsburg counties. When CATV was first introduced in the area in the 1970s, WIS was carried in many border counties in North Carolina such as Mecklenburg, Richmond, southern Moore, Scotland, Robeson and Columbus counties. Of these areas, WIS only remains available in the Anson County town of Wadesboro. In Georgia, the station was formerly carried in the Screven County town of Sylvania.